On The Night Train

I was sitting at my desk tonight doing some research for an article I’m writing for the neighborhood newsletter about the rail line next to our neighborhood. The Seaboard Air Line has a colorful history, once bringing passengers and cargo through the heart of the South. As I looked at the multitude of pages on the history of this line, I heard a quite unusual sound. A CSX train’s horn was blowing in the distance.

We get trains here all the time, but typically they are daytime-only. One will pass around 9 AM, another around noon, and one passes by around dinnertime. They don’t even faze us anymore. But tonight’s was special. It was the first train to ever pass our house at night.

I picked up my radio, tuned to the road channel of the train, grabbed my flashlight and stood out on the porch as the rumbling got louder. The locomotive’s horn was blaring far more frequently than usual, owing to its late schedule. It seemed to take forever for it to approach.

The rumbling got louder and I could now see the train’s light flashing through the woods. It was moving at the maximum speed, about twice as fast as daytime trains. The lights showing the train numbers was all I could see of this massive steel beast. Twenty cars went rumbling past, a mere thirty feet from my backyard. My ears told me the cars were empty, my hearing somehow tuned to the multitude of passing sounds.

This phantom night train rumbled past, its insistent horn piercing the night on the way to downtown Raleigh or beyond. I feel its visit during my writing delivered a message to me.

Two hundred years since their invention, trains still carry magic whereever they go. They’ve got me under their spell.

Windows Bug Crashes Air Traffic Control System

Last week, a software glitch caused the loss of the air traffic control communications system for the western United States. Not only did it crash, it stayed down for three whole hours! Two planes came within two miles of colliding during the outage.

This system was originally running on Unix, but a recent so-called “upgrade” switched the platform to Windows 2000 AS. According to links on Doc Searls’ IT Garage, the bug is one well known to Windows users: the 49.7-days-and-hang bug.

If confiscating pocket knives from little old ladies doesn’t bolster your confidence in air safety, how do you feel knowing Microsoft is keeping the skies safe?

Jeanne, Jeannie

Looks like Hurricane Jeanne is through doing doughnuts in the Atlantic and is now heading towards North Carolina.

Is hurricane season over yet?????

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Get Back

I hauled my extra-heavy laptop bag into work yesterday and suffered some minor back pain all day yesterday. Had some trouble sleeping this morning, too. I’m sure it will disappear once I do some stretching to work it out.

Laptop bags are evil. I’m buying a bag with wheels this afternoon. Enough is enough.

New Work

I’m working a new contract now, at a local datacenter. It should be a good exchange of knowledge. I can add a lot to their knowledge and vice-versa. They’re good people, so it’s fun, too.

Also had lunch with an old coworker and friend of mine. He remembered working with me for a brief three months ten years ago and thought to “Google” for me to see what I was up to. It looks like I may be doing work for his company if everything works out.

I also hear from my old Oculan buddies from time to time, and seem to always miss out on whatever outing brings them together. I’ve got to do a better job of keeping in touch.

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The Squeaky Wheel(s)

As you know, a woman hit my car a few weeks ago as I was out getting lunch. The initial repair work was done two weeks afterward, but not to my satisfaction. The new paint doesn’t match the old paint and a bubble has developed on the fender’s paint.

After getting back from vacation, I spoke with the woman’s father and expressed my dissatisfaction with the work. The response was that he or the repairman would call me back that week to get things fixed.

I left a message with him last week asking him to call, but I never heard back from him. It seemed to me that he was just hoping I would go away. The reality is that I was being patient with him. Today I decided my patience had run out.

I typed up a forceful letter, explaining what I wanted done and why I wasn’t happy. I put a deadline in it and explained that if it didn’t get done, I’d pursue other means of persuasion. I faxed it to them and immediately headed for the post office, where I mailed a copy to them, too.

I had just walked out of the post office when I heard from the woman who hit me. She told me she would talk with the repair guy and see what he could do. This was only after she reminded me how old my car is and that the repair was very expensive, yadda, yadda, yadda.

So my car is youth-challenged. It was in great shape and running fine. Then it was crumpled. Now it is back to its old shape, but with a two-tone paint scheme and mismatched headlight. While I could’ve potentially let it slide, I decided I just cannot accept another burden right now.

I want my car fixed. I don’t want it to look like new, I just want it to look like it did before it got smacked.

So I got a call from the repair guy tonight. He’s always been reasonable to talk with and I was glad to hear from him. He explained the headlight was an aftermarket one which was the same one my initial body shop estimate had suggested.

Fine with me on that, I said. But what about the paint?

He told me the paint was the same as the car initially had, which I’m not too convinced of, since it clearly doesn’t match. While the guy who patched the car up the last time I was wrecked didn’t go a fantastic job on the fender, filling it with a ton of Bondo, one thing he did do was match the color correctly. If this so-called inexperienced repairman could do that, this professional should be able to pull it off, right?

I ended the call reiterating my need to have the colors freakin’ match. I’m still not sure the message was received. The plan is to have them fetch the car this weekend and fix it while we’re away. The deadline I imposed is October 1st, less than ten days away.

Here’s hoping the second time’s the charm.

Hi

Hello.

Been busy. Film at eleven.

Tough Loss To Ohio State

I spent most of yesterday contorted in agony watching the Wolfpack self-destruct against Ohio State. Thirteen penalties. Three interceptions. Not to take anything away from Ohio State, who played consistently well, but we were our own worst enemy.

Ohio State played with cool heads, whereas we were excitable puppies, thrilled to be running with the big dogs. You’d think this team had never played and beaten Florida State and Notre Dame before. The players are responsible for running their plays, and the coaches are reponsible for making sure their heads are screwed on straight. Amato failed to find a way to keep his team loose, and we paid for it.

That’s just one of the things that Rivers brought to the game. He just wasn’t one to be rattled, and his demeanor carried through to his teammates. Jay Davis will get there as he gets more comfortable. Perhaps this loss will help him find it.

On the positive side, our defense looks much, much improved. If we can get our offense shored up, then pairing it with our defense should make us a formidible challenge for the rest of the new, improved ACC.

So we lost to Ohio State. Been there, done that. Let’s get on with the rest of the season.