Highlights of 2012: Jupiter the Cat

Jupiter the cat


This past year was a notable one for the way the feral cat that occasionally appeared on our doorstep wound his way into our lives. Jupiter the cat not only came back to us after I put him through the traumatic process of getting fixed, he basically adopted the whole family!

I bought a heated pad to keep him warm in the cold and put out food and water for him. He has taken to spending long stretches parked in the lap of whomever sits in the rocking chair, purring up a puddle of drool in the process.
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Highlights of 2012: Hopscotch


One thing I had to look forward to for almost all of 2012 was Raleigh’s Hopscotch music festival. Kelly gave me Hopscotch tickets as a Christmas 2011 present and for months just thinking about the show made me smile. When September showed up I was ready to go. And you know what? It lived up to its hype!

I scoured all the local websites and picked the brains of my musically hip friends to find out what bands to see. Some of those suggestions were unbelievably good while others were so-so. With a festival as big as Hopscotch you can usually find something that you like.

I decided at the end of the festival the perfect plan for picking what to see at Hopscotch. I will take all the band suggestions gathered from friends and music authorities and then go see all the other bands! I found the most interesting bands were the ones that no one was talking about. Those gems made it all worthwhile.

I hope we can go again to this year’s Hopscotch so it can make next year’s list of highlights!

Home invasion shocks neighborhood

Monday’s home invasion and shooting in Oakwood has left Raleigh’s downtown neighborhoods in shock. It has also shocked me as well. This took things to a new level and as good as the Raleigh Police Department is, there was little they could’ve done to stop it. As the saying goes, shit just got real.

Fortunately, the perps picked the wrong neighborhood to mess with. Oakwood is as close-knit as neighborhoods come, and residents spotted the suspects immediately. Brothers Shabar Marshall and Jahaad Marshall were arrested shortly afterward.

I learned this morning that the rumored neighborhood home invasion did, in fact, occur. A neighbor shared the details today and this previous crime was just as scary as the one this week. The evening of November 19th, a burglar broke into a home on Wake Forest Road in Mordecai and held the daughter at gunpoint there for 10 minutes while he looked for cash. The suspect escaped before anyone was hurt but it shook the family up so much that they moved away. No mention of this incident was made in the media, nor did RPD make any announcements. If it weren’t for the chat I had with the man at the local restaurant over the holidays I wouldn’t have known about it at all.

The good news is that the victim of the previous home invasion believes that Shabar Marshall was the perpetrator of the previous crime. He’s now behind bars, but for many neighbors that’s not good enough. This serious escalation deserves an escalated response from the community. The question is, what do we do?

Home (is germ) free

Kelly started feeling better Saturday afternoon, when we all got out of the house for some outdoor time at Horseshoe Farm Park. By yesterday she was feeling back to 90%.

I think we’re out of the woods on this thing now. While there was nothing funny about my family being sick, I find it amusing that I avoided getting sick and I’m the only one who didn’t get a flu shot. Y’all already know how I feel about flu shots, don’t ya.

Google Fiber shout out in the N&O

N&O Editor John Drescher gave a little shout out to Google Fiber today in his column praising mayors. Says Drescher:

“In Kansas City, Sly James has attracted technology startups by working with Google to provide Internet service 100 times faster than typical broadband.”

I’m hopeful the Triangle area will one day be successful in luring Google’s service here. Our broadband pipes should be collectively owned like our streets and other infrastructure.

Time Warner Cable drops Current after Al Jazeera sale

Current TV, an independent TV channel owned in part by Al Gore, was sold to Al Jazeera this week. Time Warner Cable immediately responded by pulling Current TV off its lineup.

I’m one of the few Americans who can watch Al Jazeera on my television, thanks to my Free to Air satellite dish. Al Jazeera is everything CNN used to be. It offers plucky, daring reporting and strives to report the truth. It is also not beholden to Wall Street. It’s signal is broadcast above America completely free and clear.

What’s more, so much of America’s foreign policy involves the Middle East. Al Jazeera covers the Mideast better than any other network, hands down. I will always recall being transfixed at the live images Al Jazeera beamed from Tahir Square during Egypt’s Arab Spring. Al Jazeera is arguably more successful in spreading democracy than even the U.S. military.

If Americans discovered an independent, reliable news channel existed outside of the monopoly that controls American media, why, they might start paying attention to the important issues of our world. Can’t have that, can we?

Germ-central

Well, that was an interesting 48 hours. The evening following our fun brunch at our neighbors’ home, Kelly remarked how emotional our son was acting. She had a hunch he wasn’t feeling well.

That night, we discovered that Kelly’s Mom Sense was right on the money, only it began with Hallie, not Travis. Both kids spent all night throwing up. We finally turned a corner about 3:30 AM.

I worked from home yesterday, caring for our sick kids and doing a huge amount of laundry. Kelly had to make a business trip to Charlotte, which she somehow successfully did on reduced sleep. When she returned she had zero appetite and, not long afterward, she fell victim, too. She had a rough night last night. Fortunately today the kids seem to be 90% or so and took care of her while I was at work this morning.

Somehow I’ve managed to avoid all of this germy muck, though I was everywhere my family was over the past few days and I’ve also eaten everything they’ve eaten. While the rest of the family was laid low last night, I felt a burst of energy and took down our Christmas tree single-handedly. I’ve often thought I have the most sensitive stomach in the family but I may need to change my thinking.

At any rate, the Turners seem to be all on the mend. Our kids are pining to return to school, too. Things appear to be returning to normal.

Highlights of 2012 forthcoming

I know I don’t usually wait until January to begin my annual Highlights of the year posts. I’ve had tough time narrowing down my choices this time around, however.

Look for the first of these posts shortly.

New year looking bright

I’ve been pondering my reality today, after spending much of the morning and afternoon meeting new friends at our neighbors’ New Year’s Day brunch. The question of what I might wish for in this new year has crossed my mind.

Truth is, I am extraordinarily blessed. Things are going incredibly well for me at the moment. I have a loving family, a good job, plenty of outlets in which to channel my civic passion, health, happiness, good friends, and boundless potential. I am right where I need to be, always.

Does this mean my life is perfect? Not at all. I still have challenges to overcome. We all do. I will do my best to learn from my challenges so that they create in me a better person.

We all have a finite amount of time on this planet. Love what you’re given.