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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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.

Oven over

Our gas oven has finally sputtered out. The thermocouple – the electronic pilot light that fires up the gas – no longer heats up and so the oven is out of commission.

While I might be able to fix it with a part from the great D&L Parts Company on Atlantic Boulevard, I’d rather not play with gas. So, if any of you local MT.Net readers want to recommend an appliance repair service, please leave a comment!

Train visits near the end of the line

Co And Don

Just after the kids went to bed tonight we had a southbound CSX train work its way down our track. Knowing my backyard train watching chances will soon be over, I hopped up from the living room for one more pass. As I watched from the warm moonlit deck, I saw the train driver wait until he was past our yard before he throttled up again.

The crew was tiptoeing through our neighborhood. Seeing that kinda choked me up.
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