Highlights of 2011: Family time

It was a big year for the family, full of growth for all of us.

This time last year, Travis was still in kindergarten. He had been put through a few aptitude tests at Kelly and my insistence, as we knew he wasn’t being challenged by the coursework. Then one afternoon last December, we got called in to meet with the school staff to review Travis’s results.

We’d been told again and again that grade promotion was extremely rare and not to get our hopes up, so Kelly and I weren’t fully expecting a change. Instead, we heard from wide-eyed teachers that Travis was not only performing above a first grade level, he was even above-average for second grade! I don’t know who was more astonished, them or us!

After much serious thought and discussion, Kelly and I decided it was best for Travis to advance a grade. Thus, Travis started kindergarten in the fall of 2010 and jumped into the second half of first grade in January 2011. He had a little adjusting to do but he caught on quickly and is now thriving in his new grade!
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Could you pass a citizenship test?

Remember when I suggested that all citizens who wish to maintain their citizenship take a citizenship test? I was being facetious, of course, but now the Christian Science Monitor asks its readers if they could pass the test and provides a handy sample test online.

Give the test a try here.

(For the record, I got a perfect score.)

The NDAA’s historic assault on American liberty

It’s a sad day for America. I suppose the Pledge of Allegiance now needs to be rewritten to say “with liberty and justice for some.”

The Obama administration and Democratic members are in full spin mode – using language designed to obscure the authority given to the military. The exemption for American citizens from the mandatory detention requirement (section 1032) is the screening language for the next section, 1031, which offers no exemption for American citizens from the authorisation to use the military to indefinitely detain people without charge or trial.

Obama could have refused to sign the bill and the Congress would have rushed to fund the troops. Instead, as confirmed by Senator Levin, the White House conducted a misinformation campaign to secure this power while portraying the president as some type of reluctant absolute ruler, or, as Obama maintains, a reluctant president with dictatorial powers.

via The NDAA’s historic assault on American liberty | Jonathan Turley | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

Weather station extremes for 2011

I needed to reset my weather station’s stats today which calls for a post noting the highs and lows it recorded.

Highest temperature: 106.9 degrees Fahrenheit the afternoon of 29 July 2011. Lowest temperature: 19.6 degrees Fahrenheit the morning of 23 January 2011.

Highest humidity: 96% on the morning 24 Sept 2011. Lowest humidity: 15% on the afternoon of 29 July 2011 (that’s a serious fire danger, there).

Total recorded rainfall here at MT.Net: 30.93 inches. This is well below RDU’s official tally of 43.70 inches, which is actually .36 inches above normal.

Find a summary of more significant weather events of 2011 from the Raleigh NWS office.

More ink in the N&O

An alert reader pointed me to today’s edition of the Midtown Raleigh News, where an abbreviated version of my RCAC press release ran in the Notables section on page 2M:

Turner to lead citizens council

Mark Turner, outgoing chairman of the East Citizens Advisory Council, has been elected to lead the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council. The RCAC is made up of the chairmen and other leaders of each of the 18 geographically based Citizens Advisory Councils in Raleigh. It provides a forum for the leaders to discuss citywide issues.

Turner, who lives in the Bennett Woods neighborhood, became involved in the East Citizens Advisory Council after he attended the Raleigh Neighborhood College in 2008. The series of classes is sponsored by the Community Services Department to inform residents about the work of city government and how they can have a role.

Turner also serves as chairman of the City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Greenway Advisory Board.

I’m glad they mentioned Raleigh Neighborhood College, too. Hopefully other folks will be encouraged to step up and do great things for the city.

First Night pic

At the People's Procession

N&O photographer Robert Willett captured part of the Turner clan walking in the People’s Procession at last night’s First Night Raleigh celebration.

The disembodied arm in the lower left belongs to Hallie. I’m walking behind her with half of my face out of the frame. Travis is to my left with his face completely out of the frame because he was wearing a box on his head. As for Kelly, she was right behind the gentleman and his daughter so she can’t be seen at all.

Police: Motorcycle was doing 80 mph before fatal crash :: WRAL.com

It’s unfortunate that this motorcyclist died Friday night, but it’s also unfortunate the driver was charged in the accident.

I’m sorry for the family of Mr. Johnson, but if you drive recklessly at almost twice the speed limit and someone turns in front of you, it’s your fault. I hope the charges are dropped against Ms. McCormick.

Officers who investigated the crash that killed Samuel Zachary Johnson, 24, of 220 Elizabeth St. in Chapel Hill said they found 114 feet of skid marks at the scene on westbound Glenwood Avenue between Triangle and Angus drives.

Police charged the driver of the car, Carolyn McCormick, 37, with a safe movement violation and misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. They estimated that her 1993 Chevrolet was going about 10 mph as she was pulling out of parking lot at 9016 Glenwood.

via Police: Motorcycle was doing 80 mph before fatal crash :: WRAL.com.

Hello 2012

The Acorn drops in Raleigh on New Years Eve 2011 at 7 PM


Happy 2012, everyone! I expect it to be a great year.

I’ve heard some saying “good riddance” to 2011, calling it a “tough year,” but I don’t see it that way. The way I see it, any year in which you make it to the end is a good year.

I wish you peace, prosperity, and happiness in 2012!

Highlights of 2011: McNultys move

It hit me harder than I expected when our next-door neighbors the McNultys moved away earlier this month. They’d been here to welcome us when we moved in and now they’re in St. Louis.

Whenever their daughter Lily was out in their driveway my kids would almost always drop what they were doing to go play with her. It was really sweet to watch. When the grownups needed time away from the kids we would trade nights of kid-sitting. And we would gather around their chimnea to roast marshmallows on occasion.

Being the last house on a dead-end street definitely makes it tougher when your next-door neighbor moves away. I wish them well in their new city, though, and hope they visit here again soon.

Highlights of 2011: Earthquake

I would never thought an event lasting 15 seconds would become a highlight of the year, but this year’s earthquake made a big impression on me!

Sure, my West Coast friends doubled over with laughter at the panic the quake caused on the East Coast. The truth is, though, that we don’t get earthquakes as strong as this, and certainly we don’t build our buildings to withstand them. When the photos came back of the damage at Mineral, Virginia there were a number of buildings that became rubble.

As I write this, word comes that a minor earthquake measuring 4.0 rocked the state of Ohio. I wonder if we’ll be seeing more of these with all the fracking that’s now going on.

We could be in for a bumpy ride.