The big chair

I attended my first Raleigh CAC meeting (as opposed to the East CAC ones that I lead). I sat at the City Council table for the first time and the meeting was televised on RTN channel 11.

The meeting was dull for the most part. Up until the end, that is, which came after the meeting stopped its scheduled airing on cable. That’s when some longtime CAC chairs unloaded about the perceived lack of cooperation they have been getting from the city’s community services department. Though I was missing half of the televised presidential debate I couldn’t pull myself away from the fireworks.

Yet another unexpectedly-exciting first meeting I’ve attended!

Trickle-down economics

A friend of my coworker works at a local homeless shelter. He says homelessness is up 30% now due to the economy. Urban Ministries of Durham is warning of the same increase in homeless people.

“The current economic condition of our country is pushing many people into homelessness, and Durham will be no exception,” said Greg Rowland, Urban Ministries’ vice-chair. “We are committed to increasing our capacity to provide food, clothing, shelter and recovery to everyone who walks through our door.”

It might hurt to lose pretend money in the stock market but its important to remember those for whom the economic stress is painfully tangible: our homeless.

Warm fall days

Its sunny and clear with a temperature of 85 degrees. Its a perfect spring day here in North Carolina. Slightly warmer than usual, but fine. Its perfect weather for the North Carolina State Fair, which kicks off this weekend. It should get off to a nasty start, though, with temperatures plunging Friday and rain predicted. Sunday should be nice, though.

Ticker shock

I was in a funk most of yesterday: Monday night I got some discouraging news about my new cholesterol results. Rather than improving after months of regular exercise and better eating my cholesterol has gotten slightly worse. Now I am facing medication. Is it the end of the world? Not by a long shot, but I assumed things would trend better and I’m puzzled when they did not.
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Test-driving a dog

Every now and then we’ve talked about adding a dog to the family. We wanted to be sure the kids were ready for it, and that we had the home and yard that would support it. We had reached this comfort level about the time I got an email saying Lab Rescue of North Carolina was looking for foster homes for labrador retrievers. We checked out their website, found some dogs we were interested in, filled out their comprehensive application, and waited.

We got an interview call this weekend from one of the facilitators and was referred to a foster dog owner here in Raleigh. Another call Sunday night and we arranged to meet this dog. We prepped the kids beforehand, letting them know this might not be the right dog for us. They seemed to understand, though, and looked forward to the meeting.

Last evening, the dog and its foster parents came over. We watched as Rocket, a 2-year-old lab, explored the back yard and got to know us as we got to know him. The kids gleefully chased the dog around, patting him on the back and tossing sticks for him to “retrieve.” Rocket also seemed to feel at home inside, and before long was lounging on the floor and licking faces clean.

Kelly and I think Rocket might be our dog. We’re going to wait until tonight to share the news with the kids, maybe to give us more time to consider things. Getting a dog is a big commitment but one that should reward us for years to come. Judging by the looks on our kids’ faces its the right thing to do.

Raleigh in high-rez

I just updated the Wikipedia entry for Raleigh with a sweet picture of downtown I took today. Knowing how the Wikipedia anarchy operates I’m under no illusion regarding how long the picture will last in Raleigh’s entry. The weather was just too perfect not to pop out for a quick picture or three. I only spent an hour tooling around taking pictures, though, as there was grass to be cut and neighborhood trash to be picked up.

I could’ve used a polarized filter on the lens to bring out more of the blue sky, but other than that I wouldn’t change a thing. I really like the view from the Western Boulevard overpass – better than the traditional South Saunders view, actually. I wonder why we don’t see more of it.

Just like my previous pictures, this shot is public domain. I look forward to seeing it pop up in various places.

Inflation

I got the tire fixed today that went flat Friday night. Turns out it was a tiny hairline cut at the base of the valve stem. Bizarre.

Glad we had road hazard coverage, since it was fixed for free.

Put yourself on the map

Remember how Google Maps forgot my address? I decided to find out how to get my address put back in. Google’s help pages are quite confusing in this regard, so it took a few tries before I found the cheese, so to speak.

Beginning at the Google Maps Help Page, I found a notice that the mapping info Google Maps uses had recently changed. Aha! The source of my missing map issue!

So what do you do when you suddenly go missing? You contact Tele-Atlas, the new supplier of Google Maps data, directly. I pulled up the link to Tele-Atlas’s Map Insight feedback page and submited my address for correction.

So what happens now? Tele-Atlas built a Flash-based tutorial that describes the process. I reckon their marketing department has a lot of time on its hands!

Ouch

If removing trash from the streets wasn’t enough to send me running for the ibuprofen, I took on another mammoth project today. Raleigh is having a sale on mulch until November 15th where if you buy one truckload you get one free.

Kelly and I have long wanted to put new mulch down so we jumped at this chance. We borrowed a friend’s trailer and early this morning I drove to the Yard Center on N. New Hope to pick up a load. Ten minutes and $16 later, I had 2.5 cubic yards of wood chips. (Wood chips weren’t supposed to be part of the deal, but who am I to argue with the man in the booth?)
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