The Way I Are
Timbaland (featuring: Keri Hilson, D.O.E.) (YouTube)
I ain’t got no money
I ain’t got no car to take you on a date
I can’t even buy you flowers
But together we can be the perfect soulmates
Talk to me girl
Oh, baby, it’s alright now, you ain’t gotta flaunt for me
If we go Dutch you can still touch my love, it’s free
We can work without the perks just you and me
Thug it out ’til we get it right
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Just keep telling yourself “we have the best health care in the world… we have the best health care in the world …”
Our family would’ve gotten coverage from this insurance provider when I worked at that Annapolis-based open-source network monitoring company but we were not Maryland residents. I guess we were lucky, considering the way they treat their customers.
My wonderfully pleasant experience at Cary’s Booth Amphitheatre this weekend got me wondering if Raleigh’s proposed downtown amphitheatre could be as good.
Probably not. It turns out that Raleigh is negotiating with Live Nation to run the facility. Live Nation is the company responsible for trashing Walnut Creek. Thus, we can reasonably expect the smaller downtown amphitheatre to be trashy but on a smaller scale.
Perhaps part of Booth Amphitheatre’s charm is that it’s preferred promoter is not Live Nation but Outback Concerts. Since Raleigh and Live Nation can’t seem to hammer out any kind of deal after a year of negotiations perhaps the city would be wise to give Outback a look.
The New York Times has details about the NSA’s new email collection system named Pinwale which has been used to collect not only foreign email conversations but domestic ones, too.
As a former cryptographer, this seriously disturbs me. As I said before, it used to be that the folks at the NSA took their responsibility to protect Americans and their privacy seriously. It’s a shame that that’s apparently changed.
Sunday’s Elvis Costello show at Cary’s Koka Booth Amphitheatre was civilized in every sense of the word. We drove right up, parked so close to the gates that we didn’t need a shuttle to reach them, waltzed through the security check collecting smiles as we went, and were comfortably settled on the lawn in no time. Our spot on the lawn had a great view of the stage, the sound was perfect – not too loud or soft, and decent food could be ordered ahead for pickup. The management even sent me a customer survey afterward to see how they did.
And you know what? I gave them marks that were off the charts! The facility runs circles around the Raleigh-owned dump with the pretentious name of Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek.
Cary does amphitheatres the way they should be done. Raleigh has a new standard to beat should it ever get its proposed downtown amphitheatre started.
Before last Friday’s DTV transition, when all analog TV signals were switched off in favor of digital ones, We used to receive the digital signals from Chapel Hill’s WUNC-TV Channel 4.1 like a cannon, thanks to our attic’s mega-huge Yagi antenna being pointed right at the tower. All that changed during Friday’s transition, however. The stations changed their channels’ frequencies as part of the move and UNC-TV mysteriously disappeared from all of my TVs.
Bits and pieces of information filtered out of UNC-TV. This was posted on the unctv.org website on Sunday:
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I’m fascinated with what I’m seeing happening in Iran right now. It’s beautiful to see people standing up for democracy and doing it in a peaceful manner. I also find it notable that many of the people demonstrating in the streets were not alive during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. They do not remember the oppressive Shah or the Ayatollah Khomeini. More importantly, in spite of what their government tells them they’ve never had any real reason to hate America. Indeed, many just want their freedom and friendship like their neighbors in Europe.
Even so, I’m still wary because of what happened in China twenty years ago this month. Could it happen to Tehran?
And there’s the fact that Iran is a republic in name only, as a small, unelected, powerful few actually rule.
It’s been an amazing civic day! I began my morning with a meeting at 8 with the police chief and his staff to discuss an increased police presence at a nearby intersection. I’m optimistic about the outcome and think it’s a big step forward.
After work I led another great East CAC meeting, moving items along so that it actually ended ahead of schedule. We heard from a committee I initiated to get help out with CAC matters and I’m extremely proud of the caliber of neighbors who have stepped up to serve. Things are actually getting organized and its making our business run much more smoothly.
After the “drudge work” was done, we held out first “summer social,” with chicken wings provided by our Vice chair’s restaurant. It was thrilling to look around at 30 neighbors happily chatting and getting to know each other as they enjoyed the snacks. It was incredibly fun, and I knew that the bonds and connections that get created will strengthen our community in ways I hardly imagine.
I came home and talked Kelly’s ear off about the whole event. I sat there for a while, staring at the ceiling with a stupid grin on my face, relishing how cool it feels to empower people and watching where it leads.
Laura Leslie from WUNC’s Isaac Hunter’s Tavern brings up the same question I had about the N&O’s story about state employee comp time: when did it become a perk to be paid for your work?
Says Leslie:
… comp time is mostly given in lieu of overtime to employees who aren’t eligible for the latter. And one reason employees are earning so much of it is because staffing in many departments is thinner than it’s been for years. When there’s more work to do and fewer people to do it, employees end up working extra hours to complete what needs to be done. Last time I checked federal labor laws, a one-to-one trade for overtime worked is not a “perk.”
Seems like a big hole in the N&O’s argument and one that should’ve been considered before running the story.
If seeing one band play wasn’t enough for a weekend, we’re heading out soon to see Elvis Costello play at Cary’s Booth Amphitheatre. This show won’t be free like Friday’s Zydecopious show but it will be worth it nonetheless.
