Highlights of 2009: Public service

It makes me laugh when I think of my coworkers seeing me rush to take a call during the day. They have no clue that I’m often talking with city councilors, police officials, company bigwigs, or reporters. That was the case in 2009: another banner year for me for public service. I did things this year that I’d never done before and those challenges paid handsome dividends.

I began to really come into my own as chair of the East Citizens Advisory Council (East CAC). The presentations were interesting, the fedback was glowing, and people began to take notice. Several of my initiatives resulted in the largest attendance ever at the CAC. I created CAC business cards, started a CAC blog, ordered signs for putting out days before our meetings, and even dabbled in streaming video of the meetings on the Internet. I even held a “history night.” I believe these were all firsts for a CAC.

The chairpersons of other CACs began to take notes on what I was doing. It’s becoming a leader of leaders. And it seems now our area earns more respect from city leaders. Plans are being drawn up right now to completely revitalize East Raleigh’s major thoroughfares. It’s an exciting time to be in East Raleigh.
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509-362-9994

I got a Spanish-language call from 509-362-9994 today. Other sites claim it says the callee has won $500.

It was a nice reminder that one of my goals this year is to sue a telemarketer.

Myth clues

I’ve been resigned lately to having my Myth Frontend not keep pace on playing back HDTV content. My theory has been that the laptop PC I’ve set up for this task is just not peppy enough.

Well, today the kids were watching the latest NOVA episode and I noticed that the every-two-second blip seemed to sometimes stop for 10 or more seconds at a time. The content, however, seemed to be just as intense as before. This seemed to tell me that the frontend hardware is capable of keeping up with the HD stream but something else is keeping it from doing so.

I’ll have to investigate all the little performance tweaks for the frontend to see what might be the magic step.

Highlights of 2009: GPS talks at Conn Elementary

One of the most unexpected joys I had during 2009 was my series of GPS talks for fifth graders at Conn Elementary. It was October 2008 when I stumbled into this unusual speaking gig but January 2009 was when I finally tried it. Soon the accolades poured in and I felt like a star.

It’s hard to stay away from the spotlight once you’ve had a taste of fame, so I signed up for repeat performances again, again, and again. Each time my presentation seems to improve and the kids seem more engaged. I’ve also used my connections to find neighborhood speakers for other topics, too.

The GPS talks have allowed me to see what teaching is like, if only for an hour every other month. I’ve found that it suits me. There is nothing like seeing a kid light up when learning is taking place and he or she discovers the answer. It’s addictive, and just one of the many ways I choose to give back to the community.

Highlights of 2009: Municipal internet

I got a whole new education in politics in 2009 with a few visits to the North Carolina General Assembly. Now-Former Rep. Ty Harrell sponsored H.1252, a bill written by Time Warner Cable that would effectively prevent municipalities from offering Internet service. Because this was the second time in two years we’d seen this activity and it happened right as Time Warner Cable was moving to cap its users’ Internet usage, I felt I had to get involved.

What did I do? I teamed up with others to get the word out about how bad a bill this was. When word got out that Chapel Hill would officially oppose this bill, I successfully convinced Raleigh to do the same. With a lot of hard work, a little luck, and some big friends, we got the bill shelved. For now, at least.
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Netflix streaming with the Samsung BD-P1600

For Christmas, my parents gave us a gift card to apply towards a Blu-ray player that could stream Netflix. I did some research on models this morning and picked out what I wanted: the Samsung BD-P1600. I don’t own any Blu-ray discs and may not ever. All I wanted was a player that would excel at streaming Netflix movies. If it could play discs too, well, so much the better.

I spent the evening playing around with it. How does it perform? Fantastically. On the first power-up, it took several minutes for the system to download an apply a firmware update. After that, though, it’s worked very well. I was stunned at the picture quality when I tried streaming some movies: it’s amazingly good. So much so that I’m not at all surprised now that the big cable companies are shitting bricks over this technology. The writing is on the wall for cable TV: I have 12,000+ titles of movies and television shows available for watching anytime. Why would I want to saddle myself with a costly cable subscription?
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Highlights of 2009: Elections

There was a city election this year and once again I found myself in the middle of it. I pitched in with the campaigns of Rodger Koopman and Russ Stephenson.

Kelly and I hosted a meet-and-greet for Russ that had to get moved to a friend’s house when our daughter suddenly got sick. I also recorded a robo-call on behalf of Russ that went out to the neighborhood. We were happy to help Russ as he’s been helpful to our community. Then there was the all-day poll greeting I did, which I find is an odd combination of being exhausting and yet strangely energizing.

Unfortunately for Rodger, a reelection was not to be. In spite of my efforts he was defeated. I believe part of his undoing were the Wake school board elections, which brought out the angry voters. Still, Rodger may not be at the table now but he’s not through with politics. I’d like to see him take one of the Wake County Commissioners seats that will undoubtedly go Democratic this year. We’ll see.

The end of 2009

The year 2009 has been a good one overall. As the minutes tick away before 2010 I feel confident that the new year will be a wondrous one. May your new year be full of peace and prosperity.

Highlights of 2009: Anniversaries

This year I celebrated two important milestones in my life: my 40th birthday and ten years of marriage to my wife, Kelly.

I’d not paid much attention to my birthdays since my 21st, really. My thinking was that they were just another day. Still, there’s something a little more compelling when one turns 40. Here I am with half of my life in the bag and half to go. There is no doubt that my thirties had been good to me but a lot of the time before them was spent figuring out who the heck I am. When seen in that light it becomes clear that the years I have ahead are certain to be more productive than the ones behind.

I was also recently pondering how the pathways available to me in life are narrowing as I get older. In my younger days I took some comfort in knowing that I had some time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve always had wide-ranging interests and I never wanted to say never. Well, now that 40 has come (and almost gone), “never” is being said for me. Those things I’m planning to do are now called “bucket list” items but the thought it the same: there are still lots of ways I can improve myself. I look forward to them, and to the life ahead.
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