My photo of Raleigh seen again in the wild

My public domain picture of Raleigh I uploaded to Wikipedia continues to make the rounds. Flipping through the newspaper this morning, I spotted a small ad on page 2B of the Triangle section. The ad, placed by the City of Raleigh Recycling, featured the picture in the header, with a “swoosh” ribbon thing coming out of it. There’s no doubt that it’s my picture as the cars line up perfectly.

Some photographers get upset when their work gets used without their permission. I suppose there might be a time in the future when I work professionally as a photog. Even then, though, there will be shots I take that I’ll be happy to pass around, either because it’s the right thing to do or because it’s a great way to advertise my skills.

Hallie’s complaint to the library

Hallie checked out a book from the library which was bound incorrectly, getting the chapters out of order. Not one to let a problem go unreported (she takes after her dad), Hallie write the library a note to bring this to their attention.

The note reads:

To: Library

The Book Young Cam Jansen And the substitute Mystery is totally MIXED UP! The chapters should go like this 1,2,3,4,5. In the book, they go 1,2,4,5,3. No wonder it doesn’t make sense! It was bound out-of-order! Somebody already wrote the correct Page numbers in the book. I know it isn’t good to write in books, but What Are You Supposed To DO When You Find A mystery in a mystery?

-Hallie Turner,
age 8

Graffiti delete-y?

Since my blog posting about the Beltline graffiti attracted so much attention, I thought it only right that I publicly thank the N.C. DOT for being on the case. I sent this email to them this past Thursday:

From: Mark Turner
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 2:56 PM
To: Jones, Brandon H
Cc: Jernigan, Hannah; Halsey, Steven M; Holmes, Jason M; Elmore, Thomas R; Bowman, John W; Hopkins, Joey
Subject: Re: Graffiti

Mr. Jones,

I see that graffiti around the I-440 Beltline is being painted over. Thanks to you and the NCDOT for your prompt service in addressing this. Already it has made a huge difference in Raleigh’s appearance. I do appreciate it!

Regards,

Mark Turner

This drew this prompt response from Mr. Brandon Jones:
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Posting boasting

I have to give a shout out to my blogging friend Chris O’Donnell on his 5,000th post. That’s a lot of blogging, and quite an accomplishment.

Personally, this marks my 4,553rd published post. I expect to break 5,000 within a year, though I have to say my increasing use of Twitter or Facebook has slowed my pace a bit. A quick update to those microblogs is like a quick scratch of an itch, whereas a blog post is like a full-blown bath in calamine lotion!

My LTE ran today

The N&O ran my letter to the editor today.

I don’t understand why some people (including certain reporters) don’t like Meeker. While there are lots of things I wish he would do differently, I think Meeker is an honest, hardworking mayor who cares about the city. Unlike many politicians, he doesn’t appear to be in it for ego or to treat it as a stepping stone to higher office. I think some people forget what a thankless job being mayor is; that it’s essentially an unpaid job. We’re lucky that people still choose to do it.

That being said, I see nothing wrong with disagreeing with a politician’s choices or decisions. In fast, that’s healthy. But I do not agree with hating someone personally for the decisions they make.

There are a lot of misguided political leaders out there and many have raised my hackles. Even so, I like knowing I could sit down with them and calmly discuss our differences without it becoming personal.

Biking in Durham via Amtrak, part I

Meeting the train in Raleigh

Kelly and I were pondering how we would spend our rare, unscheduled Saturday this past weekend when a note came in from our neighbor, Reid.

“Hey, Jacob and I are heading to Durham on the Piedmont at noon today w/ our bikes. Will we catch the next train heading to Raleigh around 3pm. Only 10 bucks round trip, not bad?” it said.

It was already after 10 AM at that point but with nothing else lined up to do we scrambled to gather our bikes, snacks, and sunscreen for a fun trip on the train and bikes.
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Hot weather slows us down

We took a family train ride to Durham today, then rode our bikes around the city for two hours. It was fun but, boy, were we all soaked with sweat by the time we had lunch. After our ride we drove over to Ridge Road Pool but didn’t even get out of the car before the thunder cleared the pool. Then we didn’t even get cooled off by the thunderstorm because it never got near us. Thanks for nothing, storm!

I was planning to get in another ride Sunday morning with my neighbor and brother but the heat index Sunday will be 102 degrees. No thanks! I think I’ll pace myself during outdoor time tomorrow.

During breakfast I found my mind wandering in an effort to escape the heat. I daydreamed of what it must be like in the San Juan Islands right now. Then I made the mistake of checking the forecast.

High of 67 degrees today. Arrghh! I so wish we could afford to jet up there again for another week of cool weather and gorgeous scenery. It was almost cruel to think about.

Amtrak’s perplexing fares

I’m taking the train up to Virginia over the Fourth of July weekend to meet Kelly and the kids. Booking my travel on Amtrak provided an interesting choice in fares.

I’ve got two choices for travel: one leaves Raleigh at 10:56 AM and arrives at Fredericksburg at 3:39 PM. The other choice leaves Raleigh at 8:54 AM and arrives at Fredericksburg at 3:39 PM, but provides a convenient extra two hours to wander around the Richmond train station. So with an extra four hours of travel time you’d think they’d offer a cheaper fare, right? So what does Amtrak charge? An extra fifteen bucks!

I’m still not sure what makes doubling the travel time worth extra money. Bizarre. Maybe this is just a sign of how far rail travel in America has yet to go.

Bonus link: Check out RailServe for promotional codes and good tips about traveling by train.