Citizen 1,235,824

Only six people came in to  Court Square Tavern  this evening, but I worked a full night anyway. Because it was slow, I cleaned as much as I could. and scrubbed some things that hadn't been scrubbed in a while. As it was Boxing Day, I cleaned up a lot of packaging material in the office. The six people who came in were all fantastic. At one point, two couples met. They didn't know each other before, but now they do. They have a lot in common. They also got to listen to me rant ing a bit, as I am wont to do behind my bar, on my stage. The third couple was made up of two high school friends who had the chance to catch up. At the end, I asked the one who lives in the area why he picked Court Square Tavern. He said he used to bring people from Europe there all the time when he worked downtown, and that the guest he brought always remembered they would always comment on how authentic it seems. That's what hooked me in from the very beginning. Next year will be my fifteen

Last night I saw many of you in a dream I had where I was at a conference somewhere. There were so many absurd vignettes, including one scary one where I was told one of you is dead. You're not dead, though, and I woke up grateful for that. In the dream I dealt with angry people, dealt with a close-talker with an enormous face who was really interested in my views on planning and fell in love with someone based on the appearance of a star in her eye. While I was helping with crowd control during the break between two sessions, two bumbling idiots decided to walk into a decorative buffer next to a staircase. The latter action caused a tremendous disturbance in a small stream that flowed through this room, making channelized nature slightly dangerous. But what woke me up was the site of a man whose head was opened and his brain had been scooped out clean, and his skull was made of plastic. As he died, he told me what I needed to be careful of. Music from a spy film played as I woke u

I just read a report from the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative on whether governance structures all over the world are ready for programs that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Such efforts might be necessary if humanity as a collective cannot lower greenhouse gases in an effort to stop the rate of global warming.  In 2015, everyone who participates in the climate change agreements brokered by the United Nations agreed to put policies in place to limit the increase to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.  "The goal is to be operationalized in part through achievement of a balance between the anthropogenic emissions by sources and removal by sinks," reads the opening paragraph of the report, which is not written for a lay audience.  Admittedly, I skimmed the report. It took about 45 minutes or so. Much of the same information is repeated several times and I'm going to refer to it in the future

I just completed a long day at work in my new job. I worked on the Downtown Mall to get ready, and felt charged by the snow falling. It's winter now,  my favorite season, and I wanted to just watch it happening while I prepared two public comments I made at the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting. I didn't want to put the above on Facebook, but that's the kind of status update I used to feel comfortable rattling off without any thought. When I joined the site, I was a reporter for Charlottesville Tomorrow. I think. I think that was back in 2008 or so? At the time, I had gotten so used to posting on this blog, which I consider public record. What I have written on this site since 2005 or so is a document of my life during that time.  I stopped posting here on a regular basis a long time ago. I would post items to Facebook, in part because I wanted a larger audience. I wanted to communicate to more people than I could reach here, and I wanted interaction.

On the second day of my trip to England, I decided to go for a long walk here in Dunstable, where my fraternal aunt and cousins live. I was well-rested after a long sleep and I was raring to try out the new hiking shoes I'd purchased from High Tor Gear Exchange . I picked up a map from the tourism bureau which offered a walk up Blow's Down , a natural area that's to the south of the down. After a long walk through the town, trying to read the map, I finally went through a kissing gate and found this sign which described this "mosaic of grasslands and scrub on the steep scarp slopes of the Chilterns." I'd remembered going here when I was a child and again when I was here in the summer of 2013. This time, though, I know a little bit more about the need to have wildlife areas within proximity of urban density. Here's a close-up of this sign. To me, it's informative to learn how natural areas are managed. People must better understand how our sy

I'm about to take Route 4 downtown. I'm checking the real time map to make sure the bus is on schedule. I'll begin my five minute walk in just a moment.  (bit.ly/2Ka1mYO) Along the way I found these vegetables made available by one of my neighbors. I would not have noticed this is it I had chosen to drive today. Neighbors being neighbors!  I have an uphill walk to get to the bus. Good thing there is a place to sit while I wait for it to arrive. The app says I have another few minutes to wait. It’s nice to sit here and relax a minute. Down a steep hill and up a steep hill to get here!  Taking the bus gives you the chance to see Charlottesville up close. I tried to get a picture of this new building. The building is the new medical center at the University of Virginia So far, no bugs. Just interesting things to look at on the journey. Also ran into someone I know and it’s nice to have a conversation. The person I ran into was my daughter, who was on he

Saturday July 7, 2018 was one of the most beautiful days of the year. After a week of temperatures in the 90's, the air settled into a calm, pleasant pattern over central Virginia. Perfect weather. However, Saturday July 7, 2018 was also the second day of quarter-finals for the FIFA Men's World Cup and England was playing. For that occasion, I drove down to Lynchburg to visit my parents. immigrants from Liverpool who have been here for over 50 years now.  There was a certain happiness that came with being with them as England went through to the semi-finals for the first time since 1990. Of course, I had to watch and see who they were playing so I stayed inside to watch the Russia-Croatia match. At this point in the tournament, I'm losing patience as there are other things I want to do on my weekends! So while those two sides battled it out I began to plot at least a little bit of a trip. I'm not much of an outdoors person, but I want to be. In my new job, I w

This is where I sometimes upload things that I make . It is experimental and I don't claim that it's anything that is meant for general consumption. But here it is for anyone who still gets this feed. Not many, I think. I'm okay with that. There are times when I love obscurity and love the idea of being free to do whatever I want with sound. But of course I want these things to be heard. I have well over a hundred hours of stuff that almost no one in the world has listened to. Maybe they shouldn't listen to any of it, but I'm glad to have anything weird I've done out there. I'd like to put out more.  Anyway. This is supposedly public so I guess this is a first step. It's a small one. But the path must be taken if one is to climb. 

I'm not sure what this blog is anymore, if it's anything. I do know that I want to make a post today. So this is a list of affordable housing stories from Charlottesville Tomorrow published in 2017. City Planning Commission weighs in on affordable housing recommendations Council grants $240,000 in funding for four land trust home Council moves forward with creation of rental assistance program Council briefed on new ideas for affordable housing development Albemarle to participate in 96-unit affordable housing project Two city panels meet to further discuss affordable housing policies City Council funds affordable housing projects Council seeks clarity on rental assistance program At local forum, experts talk mixed-income housing City to ask legislature for ability to require development of low-income units City-run housing voucher program stalled