Everything is Illuminated

Kelly and I had been so busy that we left our last Netflix film languishing for over a month. Last week we finally sat down to watch it and were so happy we did. The film, Everything is Illuminated, turned out to be one of the best we’ve seen in a while.

We didn’t know what to expect but the film sort of scooped us up and took us along for the ride. The character development is excellent, the cinematography is outstanding, and the plot is well-paced right up to the end. The soundtrack is woven nicely into the film, complimenting it rather than distracting from it.

While there are one or two scenes near the end which suffered from the editing, as they weren’t well-explained in the final cut, overall it was quite a journey.

If you haven’t seen it I recommend you do. Its a quirky little masterpiece you’re sure to enjoy. And if you do wind up renting it, invite us over. We’d like to see it again!

Silent streets

Kelly figured out that her daily errands take her six miles each way from home. She wondered if we might trade one of our gas vehicles in for an all-electric one, which would comfortably fit that range. If we can find one thats affordable and doesn’t roll to a stop just outside of walking distance from where it started, we might give it a try. But there is another drawback to an electric car (or benefit, depending on how you look at it): they’re whisper quiet.

One thing I’ve noticed in my months of biking to work is how attuned people are to the sound of an approaching car or truck. Many times I’ll cringe as people open their car doors or walk out in front of me, paying no attention to the bike closing in on them. And its not just a matter of of not seeing me: they don’t even look for me. My bike is not loud enough.

If your vehicle isn’t making a racket, expect to brake for all kinds of chaos.

Raleigh 911!, part II

Here’s the second part of my Raleigh 911! post. When we left our intrepid hero, he was on the way to bust a murder suspect.

We approached the area and the two officers discussed their capture strategy.

Chris then turns to me. “If I get out to run or have to leave in a hurry, ” he said, “just sit tight in the car with the doors locked. No one will mess with you.”

Gulp. Ok, we’re not playing around anymore. I nodded and felt my pulse double in an instant.
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More mall musings

I was reading this article about other cities’ battles with teens loitering around malls and it got me thinking: do we want to discourage teens from going to malls – a place where they can be better supervised? Do we really want to disperse them elsewhere? That sounds like a bad idea.

I mean, while the mall melee was scary, no one was seriously hurt (a credit to our police agencies). And as far as I know, before the fight broke out these kids weren’t committing any serious crimes. Perhaps an occasional shoplifting, but not drug-dealing or shootings.

At the mall, the ways kids can get into trouble are limited. Perhaps the answer is simply to beef up mall security.

Might minimizing multiple Mountain Dews mitigate mall melees?

A friend suggests the easiest way to keep teens from loitering in mall food courts is to eliminate the food court’s free drink refills. While it wouldn’t be the only solution I think it would be a step in the right direction.

There’s also the “mosquito” method as well. It would need to be used where teens are and not kids, however, so that rules out a food court. Might be good for the open-air drug markets around town, though.

Sidetracked

Remember the North Carolina Museum of Transportation excursion train I was psyched to ride from Spencer to Charlottesville? I happened upon the museum’s webpage last night to discover that tickets were already being sold. Though I had “sent an email for more information” way back, the museum left me in the lurch. It would seem important to know when one could actually purchase tickets, so I’m not sure why I wasn’t told about this.
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The Sir Walter

Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel

Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel


I took another lunchtime walk down F-street today. This time as I took in the sights of a changing Raleigh downtown, I began to really appreciate one building which has stayed the same: the Sir Walter Raleigh hotel. It is truly a beautiful, grand old building, one that still shows the ritz it was known for when it was still a hotel.

If I ever won the lottery I’d buy it and reopen it as one of downtown Raleigh’s most elegant hotels.

Raleigh 911!, part I

I don’t care what you may think you know about your neighborhood, you don’t know it as well as your local beat cop does. Period. The best way to learn about your neighborhood, then, is to have a cop be you tour guide. This is what I did Friday night when I rode along with my local police officer. As you’ll read below, the night didn’t disappoint.

I showed up at the district substation at 7:30 PM, called the cellphone of the sargent on duty, and was invited inside to wait while an officer came to pick me up. After handing in my waiver, I accompanied Chris, my officer, to our first call: a domestic disturbance.
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Our outrageous phone bill

We just got our phone bill today – and boy, was it outrageous. It isn’t outrageously expensive, though: its outrageously cheap!

We’ve been charged $20 for our phone service. That’s right: twenty bucks … since May 15th! That’s $20 for ten weeks of service! And its all because we switched our phone service from AT&T to the Voice over IP (VoIP) provider Vitelity. We get two phone numbers, CallerID, and the ability for more than one simultaneous call.

Our base Bellsouth/AT&T bill used to be around $47.00/month. Long distance calling would tack on an extra $20 to that. Thus, our phone bill was often above $60/month.

Put another way, what we used to pay $60 per month for we now get for a jaw-dropping $8 per month! And through the magic that VoIP brings, we’re getting more features now for far, far less!

Voice over IP phone service isn’t rock solid, and it doesn’t always have the highest call quality. To save an extra 52 bucks each month, though, we can live with it!

Gang fight at Triangle Town Center?

So, uh, North Raleigh needs to deal with its gang problem. Three hundred gang members fighting at the normally-quiet (and sometimes dull) Triangle Town Center mall? Whodathunkit?

On the way back from our balloon adventure we passed two police cars screaming north up Capital Boulevard. The fact that multiple agencies were responding made me guess the call was a big one. Still, I never would’ve guessed it was a gang fight at that mall.

I think this incident might open people’s eyes to the fact that no one is immune to the problem of gangs.