Inland Hurricane
From the Southern Illinoisan's web site:
On the afternoon of May 8, 2009 a storm unlike many had ever seen struck Southern Illinois and parts of southeast Missouri.
The National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky. recorded peak wind gusts at more than 80 miles per hour in Marion and Carbondale, with sustained winds blowing at 68 mph. One observer at the Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale saw an anemometer record a gust as high as 106 mph. Radar images taken at 1:28 p.m. show an “eye” feature that had developed north of Carbondale and moved over Murphysboro. Isolated embedded tornados were also recorded. All told, the destruction to towns, neighborhoods and homes was significant.
Luckily, nobody I knew was hurt, but everybody had damage in some form or another, whether it was fallen trees or a roof that blew off. Read more and check out some photos at the Southern Illinoisan web site.
Posted on: 2009-05-20. Permalink
Moved In
Officially moved into our new house in Durham yesterday. Body aching. Tired. So tired.
Posted on: 2009-04-10. Permalink
Durham
So, looks like we're moving to Durham, assuming all the inspections turn out fine. We considered staying in Raleigh, but we would have wanted to be close to downtown and probably couldn't have afforded it. The house we're (hopefully) buying is 1-2 miles away from all the good stuff in downtown Durham, so we can walk on a nice day (unlike today, as we're buried in snow -- c'mon. snow in march? what the hell?). The house is over 100 years old and is part of the historical society, so I assume we'll be bumping into the ghosts of old dead Durham people all the time. Hey, we need to make some friends here anyway.
Now, the only problem is finding good pizza in Durham. Yeah, we've been to Satisfaction a couple times and Pop's Restaurant was good (although the atmosphere is a little fancy-schmancy for my taste in pizza parlors). We love Lynnwood Grill and Lilly's in Raleigh, but we haven't found anything like that in Durham. In Tallahassee, our favorite pizza place was Decent Pizza, so that's pretty much what we're looking for. Cool, grungy atmosphere. Overwhelming smell of pizza ovens. Unnecessarily loud indie music. Ironic posters of breakfast specials on the walls. Why is that so hard to find here?
Posted on: 2009-03-03. Permalink
Inauguration
So, being in D.C. for Obama's Inauguration was awesome. Can't say I'll be in a crowd of millions again anytime soon. We're going to see Norm MacDonald this weekend in Raleigh, but, let me think. No, probably won't be a crowd of millions there. Maybe pushing a couple hundred. Probably won't be in the presence of so many celebrities ever again either, my stint as an intern on Politically Incorrect aside. I mean, I did get to meet a lot of celebrities during that summer: Mark Hamill, Howie Mandell, Bob AND David on separate occasions, although I didn't know who they were at the time because I didn't have HBO or friends who watched Mr. Show. Yes, I'm still kicking myself. I mean, I walked Bob Odenkirk from the green room to his limo and didn't have any idea who the man was. Bob. David!
Anywho... Lots of hopes and dreams in D.C. last week. Kelle and I were glad to be a part of it (and glad our friends Debby and Justin would put us up for a few days -- we weren't particularly excited about paying a couple hundred bucks to camp on somebody's front lawn in the freezing cold). Now, we just have to hope that Obama fixes everything asap. So, hopefully he gets on that. With the fixing. Of things. As soon as possible. Or as is convenient.
Posted on: 2009-01-26. Permalink
Wrasslin'
Wow, The Wrestler looks really, really good. I'm not sure if it's because of Darren Aronofsky, Mickey Rourke's Oscar-buzzed performance, or the subject matter (I was a big WWF nerd in the 80s), but I really want to see this. I heard it made "Rowdy" Roddy Piper cry or something. That's good enough for me. I hope this comes to Raleigh soon, because I'd actually leave my house to (gasp!) see this movie in the theater. I'm also curious about Valkyrie, the Bryan Singer Nazi movie, although I don't know why Tom Cruise can't pretend to have a German accent. Seems like him sounding like a regular, old American would shatter the suspension of disbelief I'm supposed to have about him being a Nazi. If he couldn't handle the accent, why didn't they get another actor? Like, maybe a German actor who speaks German. Ok, maybe this movie doesn't look so hot. I'll just go watch The Pianist again instead.
Posted on: 2008-12-17. Permalink
Swashbuckler Interactive Is Live
Finally got the site up for my freelance web design company, Swashbuckler Interactive LLC. I started the company back in January 2007, but haven't had a chance to get a site together. Too busy working on client work, which is a good thing. I had been updating my portfolio on this site, but I figure all new stuff will go on my official company's site. Now, I just need to get some business cards made...
Posted on: 2008-11-21. Permalink
Live Chat Is Dead To Me
So, I spent half an hour today in an online chat session with Earthlink tech support. Sometimes with online support chat, it seems that the operator is actually a chatbot. I type in my question, then they parse out the keywords and send useless "helpful" links back to me.
Me: "I think your installation of PHPMyAdmin is broken. It's generating bad queries."
Them: "Visit this link to learn how to form correct MySQL queries."
Me: "No, please listen to what I'm saying. I'm not writing any MySQL queries. All of my queries are awesome. The problem is with PHPMyAdmin, which you guys installed."
Them: "Visit this link to learn how to use PHPMyAdmin."
Me: "I hate you."
So, after thirty minutes of this, I ask to speak to somebody who knows what they're talking about. He (or it?) gives me the tech support phone number, and I solve my problem in about five minutes. Turns out, there's a server-wide problem on Earthlink's end that they're going to have to fix. So, there. Was that so hard, chatbot? Why don't you go back to moderating gaming chat rooms and leave the tech support to people who know what they're talking about.
Okay, done ranting.
Posted on: 2008-10-22. Permalink
Stereolab at Cat's Cradle
Taking a break from obsessing over TV On The Radio's new album Dear Science, we caught Stereolab last night at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. The last time I caught them was in Chicago during their 1999 tour for Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage In the Milky Night. I seriously don't remember them rocking as hard as they did last night. For a band known for their atmospheric, "space-age bachelor pad" sound, they can really pound out the songs on stage. Most of the songs they played were new (I have yet to get their new album Chemical Chords, although I may be purchasing it today), but they performed plenty of classics, including the final song in which Bradford Cox of Atlas Sound joined in. Well worth the 35 minute drive from Raleigh, although it really does take an amazing band like Stereolab to get me out to a 9pm weekday show. The last show we saw was Iron & Wine at The Moon in Tallahassee, and this is our first time in Cat's Cradle since moving here 6 months ago. It was definitely a much smaller venue than, say, The Moon, but that just added to it's intimacy and powerful acoustics. I mean, how can you not love a venue with an old-school arcade (although they need to get Double Dragon working again – please get on that pronto).
Here are photos from Stereolab's Athens show on Saturday. Just pretend Lætitia is wearing a purple dress and there's not a sign for 40 Watt Club in the background.
Posted on: 2008-09-30. Permalink
Summer!
First day of summer. Sold a house today. Finished a book (Stephen King's It). Moved my biz to North Carolina. Crazy day. Jam packed full of stuff.
Posted on: 2008-06-20. Permalink
Goodbye, Tallahassee!
It's been fun. But, the pollen. It's a bit much, don't you think?
Posted on: 2008-04-17. Permalink
70% Chance Of Smoke
Wildfires map with smoke plumes. See current map
It's weird when you wake up and the weather forecast for the day is "smoky." Not "Smoky Mountains" smoky, but more like "wildfires burning in the area that fill the air with smoke" smoky. It's been like this for a few weeks now, as we've had a major drought and Northern Florida / Southern Georgia has been burning down around us.
So, remember, kids. Only you can prevent forest fires. Well, and God, with the lightning and the lack of rain making everything as dry as a bowl of shredded wheat (sans milk). Okay, there's actually nothing you can do. Just remember to wear a face mask when you go outside and try not to breathe too much.
Posted on: 2007-05-25. Permalink
Kelle Barrick, “Student Star”
Kelle?s "FSU Featured Student" write-up was just posted on the FSU site. She and only 9 other students were chosen out of over 2000 graduate and undergraduate candidates. Yay, Kelle!