Of course the economy would make it to my list of highlights of 2008. You’d have to be under a rock not to have noticed. It certainly did affect us here at MT.Net.
We began the year pretty well-off financially. I’d picked up my job at the address verification company and life was good. News of layoffs elsewhere gave me pause but I assumed I was in a good spot working for an international company.
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I got my first paycheck in a long while today. What a feeling that is!
Two years ago my shipmate Dave Bullock signed me up to Facebook. I took a look around and forgot about it until another shipmate, Matt Feath, hit me up again a few weeks ago. Now I’m hooked, and I’m finding people I haven’t crossed paths with in many, many years.
I’d long ago set up a LinkedIn profile but have begun drifting away from it. LinkedIn began to seem kind of static. I use Twitter from time to time, too. I like the immediacy it offers. I don’t do much SMS texting but I can see that it would be a great tool if I did.
Facebook, on the other hand, offers what LinkedIn and Twitter do all in one package – plus so much more. So much more, in fact, that it could easily become a Major Time Sink.
I once scoffed at the idea that Facebook could be worth $15 billion. I’m not scoffing any more.
Someday, someone’s going to invent the staple-less stapler.
I’m still chuckling over the late Ricardo Montalban’s use of the totally made-up term “Corinthian Leather” in the Chrysler commercials he shot in the 1970s.
If anyone can sell a fake type of leather, it was Montalban. That was acting, my friends.
I think “Island Caretaker” will look good as the next thing on my resume.
Now if only their website was working I could apply.
(h/t COD)
Given a choice between commuting through I-40 traffic in my car and commuting on downtown Raleigh streets on my bike, I’ll take my bike any day.
Drivers on I-40 are constantly panicked that two miles ahead some massive accident will make them two hours late. Thus they drive like any minute now they’ll grind to a halt. Frequently it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Contrast this with downtown Raleigh streets. Most drivers know they’re only a mile or two away from their destination. They know that anything that blocks traffic can be easily driven around. And the speed limit is 35 MPH (and many one-way streets), so there’s much less kinetic energy involved. Not to mention wide streets that are friendly to sharing the road with bikes.
I actually feel safer biking downtown than I do commuting on I-40.
Well, either the economy isn’t as bad as its cracked up to be or Wall Street doesn’t care that I was out of work for two months. I got an offer for a Discover card in the mail today.
Up until last year I’d been pretty good at avoiding car accidents. I try to drive defensively, watch my speed (more or less), and aside from a fender bender that wasn’t my fault its paid off in keeping me out of wrecks. All good things must come to an end, and that streak ended in November when I wrecked our minivan while towing an overloaded load of mulch. (And two days later I lost my job, but that’s the subject of another post).
If I had to total my car this wasn’t a bad way to do it: with no injuries, no other vehicles involved, no traffic ticket, and a decent payoff from the insurance company. The worst damage was to my pride and my wallet, in towing charges and insurance hikes. And the minivan’s transmission was only eight months old. It was a great car in great shape. Until.
We still haven’t replaced the minivan yet. We’re still shopping around, and a neighbor has graciously loaned us their extra car in the meantime.
Funny how just a few seconds can make such an impact in your life, so to speak.
The year 2008 was the year that I got much more involved with civic affairs. I’d always been interested in playing a bigger role in Raleigh but it was after the Raleigh Neighborhood College that I began to consider it more seriously. As I mentioned in my RNC post, it led me to become the East CAC chair and a member of Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation, and Greenways Advisory Board.
The East CAC thing seemed like a natural fit for me. I’d been to a few meetings and got a lot out of them. I was also impressed at the large number of neighbors who came each month. When the former chair, Lynette, said she was stepping down, I felt I had to step up. Besides, the easiest election to win is the one where you’re unopposed!
I was perfectly happy being CAC chair when word came ’round that there was an opening on the Parks board. I’d been angling for a spot on a city board for over a year and couldn’t turn down the chance when I finally got it.
Both are lots of work, but the CAC probably takes more of my time. I have a newfound appreciation for the kind of time our volunteers put forth in improving the city of Raleigh.
