Obama at N.C. State

Obama visits N.C. State


Well, any doubt I had about enthusiasm for Obama was answered today when Obama spoke in N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum. Actually, those doubts were allayed yesterday when I saw thousands of people waiting to get tickets for today’s speech.

I drove to N.C. State’s McKimmon Center around 9:30 and soon ran into my friend Alan Porter and his daughter, Audrey. We rode the shuttle to campus and waited in line together. Audrey was a wonderful companion, talking with me the whole time. I know she and my daughter Hallie would hit it off.
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Solar pioneers needed

Photo by Gray Watson


I got this email from a organization I signed up for, One Block Off The Grid. It seems Raleigh is only 67 homes short of qualifying for this program of group-purchases of solar panels.

If you’re interested in going solar, sign up at One Block Off The Grid and let’s close the gap!

Hi Mark,

Our national campaign for solar is going strong! So far, 2,198 counties in the U.S. have active group deals on solar available and hundreds of homeowners have received free solar roof evaluations in 40 different states. There are still 943 U.S. counties, though, where the group deal on solar hasn’t tipped yet.
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Job creation reminder at the NCGA

Since I don’t have a job I thought I would head over to the North Carolina General Assembly and remind the bozos in charge that their job is to create jobs. Shawn Rocco of the N&O snapped my picture.

How does this get me a job?

I might not have a job yet but at least my marriage is now safer from teh gays.

Update 9:39 AM Tuesday: My photo ran prominently at the top of page 6A of today’s paper. Maybe I’ll get my question answered, after all!

In all seriousness, I really, really do want the NCGA leadership to explain what this issue has to do with creating jobs. And they were wise not to take public comment yesterday because I would’ve given them an earful. My expression in this photo is one of legitimate frustration.

Appliance rental ripoffs

Highway robbers

I spent Saturday afternoon emceeing the second annual East Raleigh Community Day, which went better than I expected considering it was the make-up day for the original August date. Anyway, I returned to my car to find a yellow paper stuffed under the windshield wiper.

It was an ad for Rent-A-Center, a rental appliance store at the other end of the shopping center. On the paper were the smiling mugs of Hulk Hogan and Troy Aikman, flashing thumbs up signs from the screen of an LG 60″ HDTV. Folks who don’t know any better could have this TV delivered for the special rental price of only $29.99 per week (regularly $39.99 per week). Yes, $29.99 per week. That’s supposedly a deal.
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Democrats Fret Aloud Over Obama’s Chances

If Obama doesn’t stop arrogantly brushing aside the concerns of his grassroots, he’ll soon be handing the White House keys over to President Romney. If there’s any “unity and enthusiasm” over Obama right now, I’m sure not seeing it.

At a gathering of the Democratic National Committee in Chicago this weekend, some party leaders sounded upbeat after they toured the Obama campaign headquarters. But others expressed anxiety that Mr. Obama’s accomplishments were not being conveyed loudly enough to ordinary people, that Republican lawmakers were making it impossible for him to get more done, and that Mr. Obama’s conciliatory approach might be translating to some voters as weakness.

“Now that they’re slapping him in the side of the face, he’s coming back,” said William George, a committee member from Pennsylvania. “He needs to start stomping his foot and pounding the desk.” At the White House and at Mr. Obama’s campaign headquarters in Chicago, officials bristled at the critiques, which they dismissed as familiar intraparty carping and second-guessing that would give way to unity and enthusiasm once the nation is facing a clear choice between the president and the Republican nominee.

via Democrats Fret Aloud Over Obama’s Chances – NYTimes.com.

Ted Cassidy

The kids have discovered the Addams Family TV show courtesy of Netflix. I forgot how good the writing is on this show, and the humorous, amorous interaction between Gomez and Morticia.

While the show is full of great comedy actors, the star of the show in my opinion is Lurch, played by Ted Cassidy. Cassidy has the fewest lines in the show yet he manages to steal every scene he’s in. His timing is perfect. I love the way Lurch simply turns away from Gomez when he doesn’t want to do something.

Cassidy also played Thing in the show. He went on to play memorable roles in other TV shows and do voiceover work until his untimely death in 1979.

Happy anniversary

It was a beautifully sunny day twelve years ago that Kelly and I tied the knot. While others might choose to spend the day feeling sad, today will always be a happy day of remembrance for me.

Smartphones and the world around them

Smart phones should not be new to me. Though I haven’t owned one until a few weeks ago when we bought LG Optimus V phones, I have of course been around them since the first iPhone came out. I would’ve thought that I would be well-familiar with them now but one insight into smartphones really surprised me.

Up until the smartphone, computers were by and large completely ignorant of their surroundings. For instance, old-school computers would not have noticed any effects at all during our recent 5.9-magnitude Virginia earthquake, but a smartphone could’ve! Smartphones can detect movement and motion and direction and position and orientation: a myriad of physical-space properties which were completely alien to most computers not very long ago. Some ambitious geek could write herself an app which aggregates the accelerometer readings of thousands of smartphones and uses that data to detect and pinpoint earthquakes, for instance. This is what fascinates me about my new smartphone: the potential it offers for physical-space interaction.
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