The American Tobacco Trail, part of a national rails to trails push is being completed in stages. When finished it will run 22 miles from The Durham Bulls Athletic Stadium south to Beaver Creek. I had a chance to jog from the southern most trail head to White Oak Church Rd. in Wake County and found it very fine. The traffic was light with 2 equestrian riders, a few mountain bikers and a mom on foot behind a baby stroller. It is a rural section of wide packed white sand and shaded by tall pines and hardwoods. 5.1 miles
All posts by cs
best of both
I do have some windowz only apps and didn’t want to mess with emulation or be without so I’ve committed sacrilege and installed the Microsoft OS on my new Apple notebook using virtual machine software called Parallels. SMS thinks that I am going to go to hell for doing that 
dawn kitchen patrol
warning: critters were harmed in the making of this post 
The exterminator service is sooo fired. Pesky ant varmits are winning the battle. I have found a temporary remedy and one that uses no chemicals or carcinogens. It is not harmful to the environment. Safe for pets. A torn piece of masking tape is quick and clean. Most satisfying, you can yell “Freeze!” or “Die You Gravy Sucking Pigs!” as you stick the sink and counter space.
15 miles before lunch
Triggered by the Floyd Landis story I pedaled hard for the park. Just as I came off of the trail, but with a ways to go, a tire went soft. Ruh oh. Sans patch kit or air pump, cell, ID, contact list, cash or keys…
Meanwhile back at the keyboard I can review my adventure. Gmaps Pedometer is a nifty tool that puts it all into perspective. Oh! and BTW S’man, thanks for the roadside rescue!
Asics + iPod
Convergence is underway amongst the peripherals. A sucker for a slick gadget, this one is a $29 iPod accessory attachment. Its receiver measures the beat in stride using 2.4 GHz wireless telemetry. [photopress:IMG_0567.jpg,full,alignleft] Data translates to distance traveled, pace, and calories burned all the while playing musical incentive through the ear buds. In theory, to complete the Nike + iPod sport kit one must purchase special shoes. Hoping to avoid that expense I learned of a hacker work-around shoe mod which secures the kit’s accelerometer transmitter using velcro. Innovative B.O.U.R.Girl came up with a similar DIY solution using materials on hand. Her custom stitched soft pouch attaches directly to the lace and secures the goods. Now for a test run…
on a slow boat
Making a visit to the Apple Store, on a Saturday, was a less than ideal choice in timing. The place was wall to wall with customers. Apple has been enjoying a swelling interest in their newly released Mactel machines. Still, what a contrast in presentation compared to the plain ordinary BestBuyCircuitCity drab. A helpful staffer, one of many extra on duty that busy day, approached and responded when asked: Would there be an advantage to buy from their beautiful store as opposed to ordering from Apple’s online website? — “Well… [she formulated her answer] if you buy here you take delivery on the spot and carry it home. [immediate gratification] Otherwise, it’s gotta’ come from CHINA and could take a couple of weeks.” A powerful argument. I had visions of my potential purchase jostling about on some container ship in the salty Pacific. On leaving the store I had already discounted her sales pitch as fantastic NE incredulous and made up my street smart mind to custom spec my new computer as I have always done. What a line: 2 weeks from China… I snickered during dinner table conversation. Realize that the actual assembly does take place in a far away third world but surely they would have them stacked high in some Midwestern distribution facility.
Epilogue:
Imagine my chagrin to receive this order status email with FedEx tracking number:
11:16 AM Left origin SHANGHAI CN
Trust in apple. She spoke the truth. It wasn’t a line. I was a doubter. I’ll never live this down!
jet set
B.O.U.R.Girl is a fast woman — faster than most! Mach .92 in a screaming Citation X and with record speed to Des Moines, she’s helping to transport Special Olympians to their 2006 event. It’s as close as you can get to the sound barrier in a civilian aircraft. She “forgot” her wedding band when she left home this A.M. and later she phoned to say that she’d be late for dinner !? Uh huh, thanks for volunteering. With a taste for luxury, I’m afraid that she may now be spoiled for airport security lines and plain vanilla airline biz. Go baby Go! (but plz comeback) 🙂
rescue 8
Newspaper: Rescue squad members help a motorist whose car stalled on a flooded road…
Woot! Luckily they had a safety helmet and a USCG approved preserver for the dufus otherwise he’d of had to make a swim for it. Oh wait… it’s knee deep. Perhaps the clip is merely a re-enactment or training exercise. Surely this guy didn’t wait there in his waterlogged vehicle for frontpage humiliation to arrive.
In shallow water, much less treacherous, I tried a similar stunt with my AWD except we sailed through at speed with geysers of water thrown high while others took the more cautious approach. I paid for my thrill afterward when I learned that I’d lost a hubcap ($57). I was irritated that the deep water had taken it and even sorrier to shell out for an overpriced plastic piece.
However, my neighbor one upped that he’d stalled out in a flooded street. Had to be towed. Operator spotted an oil slick. A connecting rod had created a hole and departed the engine block. I haven’t inspected the carnage but am guessing that greenwater from the front bumper’s bow wave snorkeled into the air intake and hydraulic lock — busted the engine. ($17,000).
I guess I be the lucky one.
netflix
A rental disc arrives on Wednesday and I’m able to have it back in the mailbox for pickup on Thursday. The postal service, and an efficient local distribution center, can get me the next selection from my queue two days later for viewing over the weekend. Unless there’s a Monday holiday, this cycle permits 8 DVDs/mo. goes into 10.64 = 1.33 per movie. I’m liking that but maybe neflix is not. An “May we please have a moment of your time?” email arrived with a survey request. “We received Monarch of the Glen: Series 2: Disc 1 this morning and would like to learn when you returned this DVD…” (READ – we are tracking your rapid returns) Uh oh. I’ve heard stories about the Netflix throttle.
TV turnerdowner
Back in the day, before FastForward on the VCR and a Mute button for the remote, one suffered through the annoying commercials about cigarettes and head or stomach pain pills. As a work around we fabricated a simple clicker switch from the hobbyist parts bin at Sparky’s. This was a simple hardwired interrupt to one of the input leads on the speaker which killed the audio. Now there is software. Follows is a short list of Firefox Extensions that remove the clutter from your web browsing experience:
- Flashblock Flash can add coolness to page presentation but more and more of these animations are obnoxious promotional distraction. By default Flashblock hides the ads. If desired, you can override with a mouse click.
- Adblock for hands on click removal / banning
- Adblock filterset.G Updater (used in conjunction with Adblock) automates the entire removal process