I Voted

It’s voting day here in Chapel Hill. I love voting here. I love walking to and from the polls on the crushed gravel sidewalks littered with orange maple and brown oak leafs. It’s also fun to see the workers at the polls get excited to see someone under the age of 50 in our precinct. And finally, my vote matters! The polls have been open for two hours and CP was vote 14 and I’m 15. That’s a lot more say than I have in any of the national elections.

What Dentists are Like in North Carolina

On this day I am very thankful for my dentist who is kind, conservative, and reassuring. I’d recommend him to anyone.

I also really like it that he has all Sports Illustrated covers featuring UNC basketball framed and prominently displayed in the entry hallway and that all the Duke SI covers are prominently framed and displayed in the bathroom.

Let’s hope Coach K has a different dentist.

Gotta love it.

Guerrilla Art

Each day I leave the building where my office is (which is too ugly to show pictures of) and walk across the sidewalk to this building where my computer lab awaits me.  Its a place where the hum of the florescent lights and dual screen monitors is covered over by the roar of the air changer and click click click of graduate students typing into their statistical packages.

Each day as the chipmunks scurry away at the sight of me approaching I see this little bit of graffiti on the corner of the building and I’m grateful that it’s there.   I like that it’s unassuming.  I like that the boy looks thoughtful and out of place in his military garb.  I like that it’s stuck behind an ugly, loud piece of AC equipment.  I think it reminds me that there are interesting things happening in unremarkable places.

How Early are 8am Classes?

So early that the streetlights were still on this morning when I biked to campus.  That made me laugh.

Go Heels!

We’re in full basketball mode here in Chapel Hill.  I did a grocery run after the game ended around 8pm and it was hilarious to see almost every late evening shopper in all three stores dressed in blue.

My bracket on ESPN.com is somewhat deflating.  Currently I’m ranked as number 2,680,282 and that’s up 200,000 spots from this morning.  Being in the 42nd percentile strikes at my pride by confirming that I am indeed below average.  Most people think they’re above average, myself included.  It’s a little rough to be confronted so regularly with irrefutable evidence that in this realm of life, I’m decidedly not.  I think it’s good for me.

Here’s hoping the Heels keep winning.

Snow on Campus

It doesn’t snow much in Chapel Hill these days but it has twice this year (which is twice more than Charity’s first 3.5 years here).   Instead of tearing across campus on my bike concentrating on dodging pedestrians, when it snows or rains I trade quick for dry and stroll through campus with an umbrella.  I’m pretty thankful for how pretty my commute is and it’s nice to slow down occasionally and really take it in.

The North Quad.  The brick path leads to my building.

The Old Well.  I like the bright color of the bricks behind this landmark.

A final shot of the North Quad with snow covered lampposts running off to the background.

DPP Day 17 – 14,000 Steps

The internet informs me that this is close to 7 miles.  Dang!

DPP Day 10: This Bicycle is Yielding

I don’t understand what this sign is all about.  Is this an imperative to bicycles to yield to pedestrians?  Is this a warning to pedestrians that bicycles will be trying to get out of the way?  Either way, why is it parallel to the sidewalk?  Who can read it?

I also want to know if the bike owner tied the bike up with a sense of irony.

DPP Day 9: At the Gym

I’ve wanted to get this shot for a while as I really like the lines and the colors.  I took it from the floor of the weight room and got some strange looks for having a camera down there.

Opening Weekend

I’ve been pretty excited about college football for the last month.  Clemson was ranked #9 and picked to win the ACC.  UNC, with lots of returning starters from a team that lost many a close game last year, was the conensus #2 pick in their division.

Then came Saturday.

First I find out that UNC squeaks by McNeese State. (who?) Then I watch Clemson get blown out and flat out embarrassed by Alabama. (ugh) And, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I find out that UNC even botched the pregame, big time: the parachute guys landed in the wrong stadium. 

Maybe I’ll reclaim my Saturdays and give up on college football this year.

And so the season ends . . .

It was a fantastic season . . . I wish it could have ended when with a better game.

The Flag on Central Campus

Today I took a walk over to the library to return some books. The cold front was just sweeping through and the clouds charged overhead from west to east bring clear skies behind them on this warm winters day. It was beautiful to walk across campus with the barren trees and huge empty quads.  I love the spindly emptiness of the bare trees in contrast to their lush sway through most of the year.  It was a real treat.

My IMDB Connections

It’s late and after finishing a thriller of a novel and I decided to surf around the web a bit.  What should I find but one of my very best friend’s profiles on IMDB.  How cool is that?  Add that to the fact that we live across from the street from someone with a rather longer IMDB profile and we’re just swimming in Hollywood connections!

No Food for You!

After my morning conference calls I went up to Franklin St. to grab a burrito from my favorite burrito dive ($3.17 for a black bean beauty. Yum!). Unfortunately today the credit card machine was broken I wandered back into the crowded swelter of Franklin St and looked around for another spot to eat.

Because I still had a hanker’n for a burrito I went to what I thought was the Burrito Bunker but is in fact now Joe’s Shack. “What the hay” I thought “why not try something new?”

So I went inside, noticing the slightly cold looks from the three grubby looking patrons. I walked up to the small counter and stood beside the register gazing at the menu of burgers, fries and burritos, thinking that this slightly restored dive had a certain eccentric quaintness about just how greasy it was.

I looked the lady behind the counter who was standing, facing me three feet away and I tried to make eye contact. She determinedly watched the fry cook. “What the heck” I thought “I’ll watch the fry cook too, maybe something important needs to happen before she’s ready to take my order.”

The fry cook emptied the fryer and filled a basket with glistening fries and a chili dog. The lady at the counter, a slightly alternative and grim looking 40ish white woman, ferried the food past me to her equally alternative and grim looking patrons before returning to stand directly in front of me, again staring stoically at the Hispanic fry cook. No acknowledgment of my existence. No eye contact.

20 seconds pass and the scene repeats.

Finally after ferrying three plates past me and standing behind the register rearranging the stuff on the counter between ferrying food another customer walked in and stands directly to my right, not a foot away.

The lady looks up, smiles/glares and says “How can I help you?”

I left and had better food else where.

On the whole I am pretty bemused by this. For one, having watched the fry cook work my stomach was turning at the thought of the food I was about to order but social norms kept me from just walking out. For two, this place wasn’t exactly rolling in business so I think it’s hilarious that they were to proud to serve the likes of me. For three, I think it is hilarious that I was to . . . to . . . preppy? to be served at such an establishment. I’ve never been denied service before and I think it’s hilarious that I was today for wearing an un-tucked button down, khakis, and brown leather shoes (and this isn’t even Carrboro!).

Oi!

It’s HOT.

100+ yesterday, today and tomorrow . . . come on sweet fall!