Posted by
Sue – April 21, 2010 – Share on Facebook
A friend has had a reservation at the Grove Park Inn for about a year for a conference scheduled 1.5 years ago (conference is next week this weekend). He received an interesting contact from the GPI recently. Summarized, they told him:
- They need to move some people (not everyone, about 10 rooms’ worth, he thinks) out of the GPI because the Obamas are vacationing there [and the Tea Party is welcoming them and notes that when a President visits, it's good for the economy]. (I like a group who hates the President but appreciates the dollar-value of his visit.)
- The GPI is paying for his room for 2 nights in another hotel in downtown Asheville.
- They’re giving him free shuttle service to the GPI to and from the conference. (One assumes there will be a security check point when he arrives.)
- They’re giving him a $100 gift certificate for something. Might be shopping in Asheville. I told him to go to the Captain’s Bookshelf & buy me something.
You think the Grove Park Inn is absorbing this cost or are our tax dollars stimulating again?
Posted by
Sue – October 3, 2009 – Share on Facebook
When the best engineer you know asks for help with the Kernersville Rotary Club’s fundraising for the Flight of Honor, you just say yes. TechTriad is proud of its donated fundraising brochures and print materials that helped make this one heck of a day for one heck of a group of veterans.
See all the WXII (great coverage!) videos here.
Almost 100 Winston-Salem veterans flew to DC to visit the World War II memorial as part of this national day of honor. One said, “It’s more fun to fly when they’re not shooting at you.”
Posted by
Sue – July 29, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Amazon re-enrolls Hawaii after the Internet tax is struck down. What about us, North Carolina?
Earlier this month, Governor Linda Lingle vetoed the unconstitutional tax collection scheme passed by the Hawaii legislature in HB 1405. Because the effective date of that bill preceded both her veto and the legislature’s veto override session, we had little choice but to end our advertising relationships with all Hawaii-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program. Now that the override session is over, and the legislature did not override Governor Lingle’s veto of HB 1405, we would like to invite all Hawaii Associates whose accounts were closed due to the pending legislation to re-enroll in the Associates Program.
Posted by
Sue – June 30, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Update: from Binker’s re-tweet – boycott Amazon? No, I don’t think so. It’s the only place I can get things I need at best prices. Great delivery. Reviews I rely on. Better solution: compromise this situation and support small businesses in NC.
–
How do we elect these business-unfriendly legislators? From the mouth of an NC Legislator, House Speaker Joe Hackney no less (and no more):
“I have my own way of dealing with it, which is I just won’t deal with Amazon.”
Background here and here.
Posted by
Sue – June 26, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Am informed today, like probably all other NC Amazon affiliates, that my account has been dropped. Thank you, NC Legislators for a really stupid piece of legislation with implications that you didn’t understand when writing this ridiculous law and probably still don’t understand today. Thanks also for hurting small businesses and entrepreneurs in North Carolina (aka “voters”).
Amazon writes,
We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 26, 2009. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional tax collection scheme expected to be passed any day now by the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) and signed by the governor. As a result, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com after June 26. We were forced to take this unfortunate action in anticipation of actual enactment because of uncertainties surrounding the legislation’s effective date.
(06302009: fixed misspelled word)
Posted by
Sue – June 21, 2009 – Share on Facebook
We attended the Triangle Gay Men’s Chorus concert this afternoon at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Durham. Kid #2 treated her dad to lunch (me, too) at a great Mexican restaurant (dad’s choice) in the Brightleaf Square area (another successful downtown Durham renovation project). After lunch, we figured out where the church was and attended the “Brave Souls and Dreamers” cantata performed by the chorus.
Brightleaf Square is a welcoming shopping/walking pedestrian-friendly walkably-near downtown Durham. It has a fleeting European/big city feel – with bistros, outdoor seating and pet-friendly. We have nothing like this in Greensboro and that still astounds me.
Photo of the Triangle Gay Men’s Chorus – fabulous sound, excellent performance and an all-round wonderful afternoon’s enjoyment.
Posted by
Sue – May 2, 2009 – Share on Facebook
US neighborhoods ranked by walkability. Not one in the state of North Carolina.
Posted by
Sue – April 29, 2009 – Share on Facebook
NC Congresswoman Virginia Foxx is an idiot. Even Binker thinks so but probably is too polite to use that word.
Posted by
Sue – April 3, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Ruby had a baby and announced it, as far as I can tell, in almost real time on Facebook. (you might need to be a Facebooker to find that link)
Posted by
Sue – March 30, 2009 – Share on Facebook
After the great show at the DPAC yesterday, I received timely email today with a short and well-thought-out online survey (I bought tickets online so they had my email address) about my experience at the performance. I have not been spammed (I requested no email advertisements) and the survey was fair and covered all parts of my experience, including driving, parking, food & drinks, the neighborhood (safety) and even the bathrooms! Note to locals: the 20-oz bottle of Diet Coke was 50-cents cheaper than at the Eagles Concert and the parking was $15 cheaper (it was FREE). We also got onto the Durham Freeway within minutes of leaving the venue. The DPAC is a class act.
Posted by
Sue – March 29, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Lovely Sunday in Durham at the ATC and DPAC. The Durham Performing Arts Center, where we enjoyed the heck out of Bill Cosby (he did 2 1/4 hours of nonstop funny) was the grand finale to a day of walking and touring the ATC (see map here) and lunching at Tylers with Kid #2. We met up with Tami and Yi Shin, last year’s Passover guests and two of Kid #2’s better friends. The weather was beautiful and eating outdoors made for a really great day.
The DPAC is enviable; it seats 2800 and from the time the show was over till we got on the Durham Freeway was about 8 minutes. They do traffic almost as well as they train DPAC staff. When leaving, I complimented a worker about how nice a facility it was and how I wish we had one in Greensboro. She replied without missing a beat, “Come on back until you get one.” Classy.
We walked the ATC (pics are on Kid #2’s camera; will post when she forwards them) and what all of us noticed, aside from how beautiful the center is, was how many signs they had and how useful the signs were to find our way around. Simple signs. They said, “DPAC” and had an arrow. You think we could figure out the value of signage ’round here?
Posted by
Sue – March 19, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Via Facebook, our favorite Ruth sends info that her local paper thinks North Carolina is a top place to visit in the US. Ruth certainly enjoyed her year with us and she made a lifelong impact on Kid#1 and Kid#2.
A snippet:
Then we entered the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, and it soon became clear that we had arrived in a place unlike any other in the United States. Asheville is a case in point. Although the darkly wooded hills surrounding it were full of Baptist churches, barbecue shacks and billboards threatening eternal damnation, the city itself (pop 72,000) proved to be an oasis of stylish liberalism with a distinctly Southern accent. [..] … [a]s we followed fog-shrouded Route 74 out of prosperous but bland Charlotte. Our first stop was Chimney Rock, a stunning formation rising from the surrounding forest.
This is Kid #2 with Ruth when we were all in the UK in 2004. (At least one of them has had Lasik surgery since then and is a mere sliver of her former self.)
Our favorite Ruth
Posted by
Sue – March 12, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Posted by
Sue – March 9, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Sen. John McCain insulted not only North Carolina beavers, but also the state and federal wildlife officials who claim to have saved nearly $5 million last year in potential flood damage to farms, timber lands, roadways and other infrastructure through its Beaver Management Assistance Program – the same one McCain was making fun of in Washington.
Posted by
Sue – January 15, 2009 – Share on Facebook
Charlotte-bound plane crashes into the Hudson River near the 50s in NYC. Kid #1 IMs to tell me he’s OK; it’s not near him. This is a VERY good kid who knows his mother. Apparently, he’s getting tons of IMs and tweets to see if he’s OK from all his very concerned friends.
Details: USAirways flight 1549, apparently took off from LaGuardia Airport at 3:26 p.m. and was bound for Charlotte, N.C. and had 146 passengers and 5 crew members.
First picture via iPhone from a Twitter user in the first rescue group. (Picture has been resized. Go see the original.)
