Press released

In my inbox today was a request from the City of Raleigh’s public affairs department for my resume and bio. The city is apparently working up a press release about my becoming chair of the city’s Parks board and my fellow boardmember Kimberly Siran becoming vice-chair.

Of course, it would have to take a really, really slow news day for this to get into print anywhere. I’m talking like double-dog slow. Even so, it’s pretty novel for me to be the subject of a press release.

At least one news source will be covering it: my blog! Once it’s released I’ll post a copy!

St. Aug candidate forum

I attended a candidate forum at St. Aug Monday where two mayoral candidates and all the District C candidates were addressing the mostly-student audience. The audience was a bit reserved and the candidates mostly spoke of vague goals. In general, the forum seemed kind of dull.

Then Raquel Williams, one of four candidates for the District C seat, stood up and told her remarkable story. Ms. Williams is a smart, hard-working woman who has far more education than I’ll ever have and she earned it as a single parent of four children. Her personal narrative described her path through college, which was sidetracked four times by pregnancies.
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It begins at home

I was talking to a teacher who was helping the kids move safely through the school’s carpool line. While we both watched in amazement, an impatient father pulled into the line and his son hopped out, racing across two lanes of traffic to the sidewalk. The teacher marched right up to the car and rightfully berated the father for letting his kid run through the parking lot.

“It’s an emergency,” the man pleaded. “Just this one time. I promise I’ll never do it again.”
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Too Much Time On My Hands

This not-having-a-job stuff is getting old.

Too Much Time On My Hands
Styx

Yeah, I’m sittin’ on this bar stool talking like a damn fool
Got the twelve o’clock news blues
And I’ve given up hope for the afternoon soaps
And a bottle of cold brew
Is it any wonder I’m not crazy?
Is it any wonder I’m sane at all?
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Safe neighborhoods

Two weeks ago, one of my neighbors reported on our neighborhood email list that his girlfriend’s car had been broken into and her iPod stolen. While it’s a shame her $100 car window was broken to steal her $50 iPod, what caught my attention was what the responding officer said: that this was the first motor vehicle larceny our neighborhood has suffered in months. I’m flabbergasted we went nearly the whole summer without any car break-ins.
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Karaoke

Belting it out (with bonus Elvis sneer)

We went to a neighbor’s 80s-themed birthday party Saturday night which featured a karaoke machine. I’d been bragging about how it’s impossible to drag me away from a karaoke microphone, and that I used to work at a karaoke company, but this was different. I love to sing but I usually only do it when I’m alone. My previous karaoke performances have always been around family and good friends. Could I get up in front of total strangers and sing?
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New Raleigh bonds earn Triple A rating

There are some who want to make a big deal about Raleigh’s debt. In reality, Raleigh’s AAA rating has been earned over decades and provide our city with the cheapest financing for making our investments in our city.

It’s smart money.

Fitch Ratings has assigned its highest Triple A rating to two new general obligation bond packages, totalling $34.5 million, being sold by the City of Raleigh.

The agency also reaffirmed the AAA status of the city’s other $219 million in outstanding general obligation, or GO, bonds. The ratings outlook is stable.

via New Raleigh bonds earn Triple A rating from Fitch – Triangle Business Journal.

Magic Mushrooms Can Bring About Lasting Personality Changes

Interesting.

Taking magic mushrooms (psilocybin) can have a lasting change on the individual’s personality, making them more open about their feelings and the way they perceive things, researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, wrote in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. The authors explained that those who had mystic experiences while on psilocybin were more likely to subsequently exhibit certain personality changes, making them more forthcoming about their feelings, becoming more focused on being creative, curious, and appreciative about artistic things.

via Magic Mushrooms Can Bring About Lasting Personality Changes.

What to do about Pakistan?

I’ve been meaning to write about the remarkable comments made last week by outgoing Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen regarding Pakistan. In unusually frank terms, Adm. Mullen pointed the finger at Pakistan’s ISI secret service as being a “veritable arm” of the terrorist group the Haqqani network, which is accused in the bombing the American Embassy in Kabul. Retiring soon or not, Admiral Mullen wouldn’t dare make this accusation if there wasn’t solid intelligence backing it up.
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Aging drivers

Yesterday afternoon I watched as an elderly woman driving a Mercedes stopped completely in the left lane of Six Forks Road, put her turn signal on, and then (waiting for traffic to clear) drove right through two lanes of traffic to get into Costco (no, it wasn’t that lady). As I followed her car in the parking lot, I watched as she approached a crosswalk where a couple were waiting to cross. She slowed down to the point where the people began to walk through the crosswalk, only to have to back up when the woman kept driving on through. The couple angrily stared at her as she drove on, inching up to the next row of cars and stopping for 20 seconds before slowly rolling to the next row.

She was obviously no longer able to drive safely. I shook my head and remembered the moment it became obvious to me how elderly drivers in Raleigh are completely screwed when the day comes that they are no longer able to drive safely. So much of Raleigh was built in a car-centric manner that these poor folks have no alternative than to drive beyond their ability to do so safely.

I was wishing there was a way I could alert the drivers’ loved ones that she was a danger to her herself and others. There are a few services out there but nothing that seems to exactly fit my needs. If anyone finds one they like, let me know.