Happy birthday, Mr. Rogers.
On a related note, this week I named one of my company’s servers McFeely, the name of the postman on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (and also Fred Rogers’s middle name).
Skyscraper music
Its another very windy March day here in downtown Raleigh. When the wind blows through the framework of the still-being-constructed RBC building it makes an eerie whistling sound.
Every time I hear it I expect Godzilla to appear above the neighboring building or something.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke
Legendary science fiction writer and visionary Sir Arthur C. Clarke died yesterday at his home in Sri Lanka. He was 90. Clarke invented geostationary satellites, space elevators, and wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey, among other notable achievements.
Our world would look very different if it wasn’t for Clarke. Enjoy your journey through the stars, Sir Arthur.
East CAC meeting
I went to my first meeting of the Raleigh East CAC last night. I’ve wanted to see what was on the minds of our future neighbors so this seemed the perfect opportunity. Since the meetings are held at Lions Park which is a stone’s throw of our new house, I won’t have much excuse for missing them.
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First meeting of Raleigh Neighborhood College
I went to my first meeting of the Raleigh Neighborhood College last Thursday. I would’ve blogged about it that night but it turned out I was out later than I expected.
The classes are held at Peace College, incredibly convenient to my job. I arrived a little after five, walked into the dining hall, got introduced to Charlene Willard (one of Raleigh’s Community Specialists) and enjoyed a fine dinner while getting to know my fellow classmates. Twenty-five citizens from all over the city share the class. They’re a very energetic, friendly bunch, too, from what I’ve gathered.
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Two showing day
Here it is, a Tuesday, and we actually had two showings today! One was 10 AM and the other was in the afternoon. We’ll find out by tomorrow how they went, but I’m blown away that we were probably someone’s first house seen today. Anyway, this is all just a whole lot of hassle until a contract appears.
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Guitar gods shred
Check out these hilarious YouTube videos of guitar greats playing with atrocious overdubbed music from Finnish media artist Santeri Ojala.
Its hilarious watching these awesome guitarists “play” so badly. I was laughing so hard I was crying!
(via BoingBoing)
Cooking with gas (again)
MT.Net’s gas oven is working again after a trip to D&L Parts on the way home from work. After popping the oven’s model number into The Google, I discovered PartSelect.Com, a site that not only has all the schematics and part numbers listed but also has advice from other Do-It-Yourselfers on how to install them.
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An inside-out view of a stroke
Ten years ago, neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor suffered a stroke in her brain’s left hemisphere. As someone who studies the brain, she found herself in a unique position to experience and describe what she’d only studied before. Her story is fascinating, compelling, and deeply moving.
Take 18 minutes today to listen to her talk about her stroke at last month’s TED conference [self-playing Flash video]. You’ll be glad you did.
(hat tip, O’Donnellweb)
(I note Dr. Taylor sells her book on Lulu.)
Two scheduled, one showing
Kelly’s phone rang twice this weekend as we had two scheduled showings. We could see the first prospects had looked around but couldn’t see any evidence the second set had visited. It turns out they turned tail as soon as they saw the tracks. They never got a chance to read my “Tracks Facts” sheet which may have answered their questions.
On the other hand, on Sunday we showed it to a real estate friend who seemed to like the house. She suggested a financing move which may make it easy for our renting neighbors to buy the house – something we’d like to see happen.
We would be very happy to sell it to our neighbors even if we don’t get as much as we might otherwise. It would feel good knowing we helped give our friends a permanent spot in the neighborhood they already know and love.