Sweet Rides

I'm sure most of you see the typical pimped out or rice boy cars where you live. I like to see the other end of the spectrum - where folks don't have enough cash or motivation to keep their autos up to par with state inspection standards. Maybe I just notice it more now that I'm back in NC - but it's amusing. Here's what I'm talking about:



But seriously, is a window really that important? Duct tape is great, don't cha think?

Crash

Traffic in Raleigh is nothing compared to DC. But there are still a good share of bad drivers that continue to amaze and frustrate me. I've been cutoff numerous times and was even forced up onto the sidewalk of Capital Blvd by a woman driver that was on the phone, fixing her makeup and dancing while attempting to drive. She really tee'd me off because she didn't even give me the 'I'm sorry' wave after I laid on my horn at her. But I believe in karma, so one day she'll get hers.

On my way to work this week, I saw this beauty:

I'm sure a trailer full of lawn tractors is hard to see when you aren't paying attention. Hopefully this driver will refrain from talking on the phone from now on.

More Raleigh Carnage:

Note to Raleigh drivers: You shouldn't try to make a turn in the median - you could bottom out. And rolling your SUV in the middle of Capital Blvd isn't a good idea either.

I'm Back

Looks like work is slowing down enough for me to update my personal blog. It's been less than a year - get off my back already. A lot has happened since I last posted - here's a short list so you can catch up:

• Sam has 16 teeth, talks in short sentences, runs all over the place and has grown more adorable every day. You can get the specifics on him (and the family) at our other blog - http://barrowbrown.blogspot.com/


• Our feelings toward the previous owners of our house has turned from friendly ambivalence to unfriendly loathing. The hot water heater crapped out 2 days after we moved in - which just happened to be Thanksgiving weekend - guess how many plumbers want to work on that weekend. The upstairs a/c unit crapped out in August - during one of our 100 degree heat weeks. The kicker on this one is that the previous owners knew - there were notes from other repairmen in the a/c unit - and yet they refused to fix this or even disclose this at the sale - jack-holes!


• David bought a new car - the new Nissan Altima


• We went on our annual beach vacation in August - to Ocean Isle Beach, NC. It's a shorter drive than heading to the Outer Banks and it's just as nice. We had a great time and can't wait to go back next year!


• And, my mom got married last week. Nope, she didn't get 'knocked up' - ha ha. Things just worked out that now was the time. So they went to the courthouse and got their papers, then had a nice ceremony in their backyard - on the boat dock. Very nice - check out the pic:

Anyway, I hope to do better about keeping this updated again. So check back when you get some free time.

Interesting Things We Didn't Know Last Year ...

I recently read an article on the BBC News website that listed 100 things we didn't know last year. Did you know:

• there are 200 million blogs that are no longer being updated
• the lion costume from the Wizard of Oz was made from real lions
• each person sends an average of 55 greeting cards per year
• more than 90% of plane crashes have survivors (ha ha - to all you Lost fanatics)
• watching television can act as a natural painkiller for children
• a domestic cat can frighten a black bear to climb a tree

Some of these are specifically british, but there are some very interesting findings on this list also. And yes, there are links to more information on each of these, so you can research further to decide if you find them to be true or not.

Here's the link if you're interested - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/index.html#a007948

A Big Day ...

Today is Sam's 1st birthday! I can't believe it's been a whole year. He's grown so much and learned so many new things. We'll be having a small party with the grandparents this weekend at the house. It'll be Sam's first taste of cake and I can't wait to see how he likes it!

Here are a few pics of him playing around the house. He's quite the crawler - and he just started last week. He'd like to be walking, but his balance isn't quite ready yet. It'll be soon enough I'm sure.