I’m not much impressed with the leaked diplomatic cables provided by Wikileaks and its director, Julian Assange. I’ve not seen in the press anything that strikes me as being particularly deserving of classification. I suppose it’s because the source of the documents is the State Department, which apparently gathers all of its intelligence at embassy cocktail parties.
Boooorrring. Even the Hee Haw gossip girls could do that.
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My son’s repeat watching of the superhero kids movie The Incredibles has given me an idea for a new superhero: Superhero Close Enough for Government Work (CEFGoW for short).
My superhero would mostly save the day. The damsel would be almost totally clear of the tracks when the train arrives. He would leap most of the way up tall buildings. To impressive heights, if not all the way over. Overall, you’d be significantly better off from the help of Superhero Close Enough for Government Work, if not outright saved.
I think I may be on to something here.
For the past few holiday seasons I’ve been saying I would create a CD of me singing Christmas songs but I’ve never gotten it done. I began this season determined to do it. After considering inviting a friend to accompany me on piano, I decided to go a more polished route and use some professional musicians.
Recalling my early job as a recording engineer at the karaoke-like Sing-A-Song Recording Studios, I searched online for some vocalless tracks I could buy. Finding just what I needed at Singray Digital’s The Karaoke Channel, I purchased a dozen or so tracks and tried mixing my voice in with them.
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It’s been a long and busy day for me. Travis had his last tennis lesson tonight: a two-hour session that began at 9. I spent most of that time playing tennis against Gabrielle, the parent of another student. When Travis complained about not feeling well, we headed for the car. There he had a change in heart and returned to his lesson, at which time I began to play tennis with Reid Serozi.
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My feelings for health insurance companies are about as low as they can get. I’ve long been disgusted by their arbitrary rate hikes and discriminatory pricing. So imagine my joy when we received a hefty refund from BCBS for their having overcharged us in the past. The North Carolina Department of Insurance discovered the overcharging and demanded BCBS refund the money to its customers.
I wonder what other hidden charges insurance companies are padding their revenues with? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this wasn’t the only case of these companies blatantly gouging the public.
Wow, what a week. Working in sales this time of year is keeping me busy, with at least two big proposals going on simultaneously. I’ve been gathering (and disseminating) as much info as I can about the burglars in the neighborhood. And I’ve had meetings and parties to go to, too.
Last night I worked feverishly at the end of my work day to fix some networking issues. Then Travis and I spent some time putting our Christmas tree together. We had to drop what we were doing to head over to the Conn PTA holiday party (which was great fun, I might add). I left early from the party to attend the New Bern Avenue Corridor Study Workshop at Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church. Returning home around 8:30, I had more networking issues to work out so that Kelly could make a phone call to Guam for her work.
Tomorrow promises to be busy, too, but fun things. My big-ticket things to do include taking Travis for a bonus two-hour tennis lesson, during which I plan to play a few matches of tennis myself. Then I head up to north Raleigh to help with trash pick-up on portion of Baileywick Road adopted in honor of my friend Gerry Reid. I scoot from there over to Brier Creek where we bought dining room furniture Wednesday night. I will be picking up the last of the furniture from the seller and hauling it back home.
Sure, I’ve got a lot going on but life is pretty darn good. Work is busy but it’s all good. I am very lucky to be where I am, without a doubt.
Michael Darnell Green
I got word today that yesterday’s foot chase through the nearby Mordecai neighborhood yielded an arrest of a suspect in the area’s recent burglaries. Michael Darnell Green, age 37, was arrested and charged with numerous offenses, including breaking and entering, possession of burglary tools, possession of stolen goods, and possession of a firearm by a felon, among others. Green has a long history of B&Es, and with his build of 5’10” and weight of 160, he certainly fits the description of the guy my neighbors saw on our front porch when our alarm went off Friday. Police are charging him with at least 9 area burglaries and more are pending, I’m sure.
It goes to show you … don’t mess with East Raleigh!
A few more thoughts to share on the break-in.
1. The guy must not be from around here because our home actually makes a terrible target. While it is on the end of a street, many of our neighbors walk right by our house constantly. Any intruder is bound to be seen. On this particular day one of our neighbors had walked by just minutes before.
2. Our would-be intruder was seen, by at least two alert neighbors. Our neighbors look out for each other in a big way. We know who lives here and who is a stranger in our midst. Many neighborhoods in Raleigh can’t say that. I sleep well at night knowing the neighborhood’s got our backs.
3. Our would-be intruder was recorded on video. It pays to live in a geeky neighborhood.
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Break-in suspect
After our attempted break-in Friday, a friend reminded me of a neighbor’s security cameras outside his home, suggesting his cameras might have filmed the perpetrator. On a whim I asked my neighbor to check his system. Sure enough, his camera did capture video of the suspect on Friday (empty-handed, I might add). The video is here. [some weird M$-proprietary WMV format]
The detective working our case told me today that the fingerprints they recovered from our window are being processed by CCBI. Hopefully, we’ll have an identification of the guy soon. In the meantime, the photo of the suspect has been distributed to all the line officers in RPD’s downtown and southeast districts, and rides in the cab of Engine 7 of the Raleigh Fire Department. It’s good to have friends in uniform!
