Shoes optional

I’m just now putting shoes on for the first time today. That’s one of the cool things about working from home.

Thank goodness it wasn’t a fiber line

How many thousands of gallons of fresh water are being wasted on the current Cary gas line fire? And for what? The drilling truck involved has long ago burned off its fuel, the truck (and road) is a total loss anyway, there is nothing around it that can catch fire (or that hasn’t already caught fire), and firefighters aren’t trying to extinguish the fire but are letting it burn out. Can some of my firefighter buddies tell me what these guys hope to accomplish by aiming hoses at it, other than practicing their aim?

On a related note, is there a reason firefighters must use fresh water to fight fires? Can’t they use reuse water just as easily and safely?

Bonus link: Check out the fire from the perspective of the N.C. DOT traffic camera on the scene.

Koopman Krushes!

Yesterday was a huge victory for Raleigh’s grassroots as District B city council candidate Rodger Koopman not only put Jessie Taliaferro on notice, he thoroughly cleaned her clock – coming within five percent of booting her out outright. As a volunteer for the Koopman campaign I have relished the chance to put our citizens back in the driver’s seat when it comes to deciding Raleigh’s future.
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Rain!

I hopped off a conference call this afternoon and was surprised to see it actually raining! Woohoo! Of course I grabbed my umbrella and went out in it. How could I not?

I did have to hook up my downspout to my water tank again, as its been hanging idle for two weeks. In just a short amount of time the light rain added dozens of gallons of rainwater to my tank. I guess I got about 80 gallons from an hour’s rain. So much that I chose to drain the tank into a garbage can to make sure I saved every drop.
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Taser abuse, again

Last year an Alamance County man mouthed off to an Elon cop and the next day the cop tasered him for no apparent reason. John Wayne Paylor was essentially assaulted by the cops in what was clearly revenge.

I support the police but there’s no way anyone can excuse this behavior with a straight face. If Paylor caused an incident the day before, why was he not arrested right then and there? This cop should be looking for work now, if not looking at a judge as a defendant. I’d be embarrassed about this if I were a cop.

This makes you wonder how often this happens and no one finds out about it.

Motion-activated air filter

I’ve noticed that when my cat paws through her catbox it raises a lot of dust. I run an air filter near it but I don’t want/need to run it all day or turn it on by hand every time she uses the catbox.

Its the Internets to the rescue! This gentleman blogged about a motion-sensor outlet, which turns any appliance into a motion-activated one. Now I can hook the air filter up and only have run it when the cat’s near the catbox.

Problem solved. Thanks for the tip, Joe!