And now for my last and most important event of 2007: my work on the Raleigh City Council campaign of Rodger Koopman. I felt like I was finally in my element: helping with strategy, studying voters, hosting a meet-and-greet, minding campaign signs until late in the night, knocking on hundreds of doors, and finally managing poll greeters on election day. It was hard work – possibly the hardest volunteer work I’ve done – but I loved every minute of it.
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Rainwater Solutions
Decided to get out of the house for a change on Thursday. My destination was Raleigh’s Rainwater Solutions, makers of rain barrels and cisterns. Having had a water tank for months now (a full one, I might add), I wanted to see what the next step up would be.
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Cheviot Hills to become Chevrolet Hills
When I drive home on Capital Boulevard from a trip into town, my eyes always drift over to the old Cheviot Hills Golf Course, which has sat idle since June of 2006 after being sold to car salesmen. The property has always intrigued me for some reason. Especially the clubhouse, portions of which were built in the 1800s.
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Highlights of 2007: Smitty’s death
The day I dreaded for the past couple of years finally arrived last month when my feline companion for 16 years, Smitty, had to be put to sleep. Her kidneys had failed and I think she knew it was time. I’m still amazed at how a furball that could be so damn aggravating could also be so loved.
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Ibiblio spam
Yesterday I switched my .forward on my Ibiblio account to point to my Gmail address. Poof! About 99% of the spam I was getting moved with it.
If my Ibiblio account wasn’t so useful or Ibiblio’s mission so important, I’d have probably axed it a long time ago, simply for the amount spam it generates.
Highlights of 2007: Trip to China
One unforgettable event of 2007 was my trip to China in early March. I spent ten days between Beijing and Shanghai and had a wonderful time in this most unusual country. I was there for training but got a little sightseeing in, too, including the obligatory trip to the Great Wall, though few can probably boast of sliding down the Great Wall on their keister the way I did.
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Another dead Western Digital drive
A dozen years ago I was a young IT manager at a Raleigh software company. I had just ordered new Gateway 2000 PCs for our developers but something was terribly wrong. After just six months of service, the Western Digital hard drives in the new PCs all failed, taking a lot of work with them and adding a lot of work for me to rebuild the systems. I swore I would never buy another Western Digital hard drive.
Time moves on and the anger subsides. WD did the right thing by replacing all the defective drives. Quality improved. I dared purchase more WD stuff.
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Highlights of 2007: Benjamin’s birth
It was a great honor to welcome our newest nephew into the world when Benjamin Kaelin Turner was born to my brother Allen and his wife, Tanya. As typical for Allen and Tanya’s children, Benjamin was born while we were on vacation. So we didn’t get to meet him until we returned, at which point he already weighed 205 pounds and had a mean fadeaway jumper. Dang, but Turner kids grow up fast.
Benjamin is almost certainly the last Turner niece or nephew we’ll have. Now that makes me feel old.
Highlights of 2007: Orcas Island vacation
Kelly and I typically don’t splurge on stuff. We’ve got a modest house and reliable cars and generally spend money wisely. One luxury we do enjoy, however, is travel. I’d live in a shoebox if it meant I could see new places (and I did just that when I called the USS Elliot home for three years).
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MT.Net weather stats for 2007
Time to reset the counters on MT.Net’s weather station. Here are the records for the year:
Highest temperature: 111.9 F on August 9th, 12:54 PM
Lowest temperature: 16.9 F on February 6th, 6:45 AM
Lowest humidity: 10% on March 3rd, 6 PM
Highest dew point: 86 F on July 11th, 4:03 PM
Highest wind gust: SSW at 15.4 MPH on December 23rd, 1:09 PM (wow, that’s recent)
Lowest wind chill: -9 F on January 24th, 6:09 PM
Total rainfall: 31.38 inches