Sadly, this kid closely resembles more than a few people I know, but will not name in an effort to keep at least one or two of my friends:
Boozing Baby
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Author Archives: Jon Lowder
Pound Turd
Celeste made me a very special pound cake for Valentines Day.
A Life in Passing
Winston-Salem is not a large city. Even so it is like every other city in the world, welcoming any number of people who are looking for someplace new or who are simply passing through. Through the wonders of Google I stumbled upon the story of one such person:
Their eyes met and she smiled as she passed Martin Tucker at an intersection in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The photographer and documentary filmmaker had been downtown setting up a photo exhibit at a local gallery.
"I don't know what it was about her," he said. "She looked dynamic in some way. She looked like she had a story."
Tucker chased down Patulla, who couldn't catch the northbound train until the next day> He wanted to meet up the next day, bring his cameras and audio recorder.
"Well," she replied, "I'm a hobo."
The next day, the two met and talked about religion, politics and relationships. No topic was off limits and she spoke openly, almost too openly, Tucker thought.
In the early evening, Tucker could tell she was antsy to catch her train. She signed a photo release form and was gone, leaving behind only an e-mail address. In hindsight, Tucker wished he had gone with her to the tracks, but he thought he had a complete story…
Tucker produced a 22-minute documentary, "Patty: This is My Normal," based off their afternoon together. The show premiered at a November film festival and will show at another in April.
Tucker read about her death a month later in a Texas newspaper.
He thought he'd told her life's story, but realized then had hadn't.
"I have more questions than I have answers at this point," Tucker said in a recent telephone interview. "This vibrant, 29-year-old woman who seemed like she had everything to live for but decided to check out, was quite a shock. I was crushed. I felt like I had lost a friend."
On any given day you can sit in a car idling at a stoplight on Jonestown Road, Five Corners, Stratford Road or any number of other intersections in Winston-Salem and see them. They are people who sleep outside, who may be passing through or have settled here for whatever reason, and their stories are likely as tragic as Patulla Williams'. We can only pray that theirs don't end as tragically.
It Began With Kinect
Our big family Christmas gift (i.e. the gift for the whole family) last year was a new TV for the family room and an Xbox Kinect to attach to it. I'm not a big gamer, but when the Wii came out I played more games in one week than I'd played in the prior ten years, and I can tell you that Kinect is even better. There aren't many games for it yet, but that's just a matter of time. All of that is to tell you why I think the video of a BBC story about Microsoft that I've pasted below (found via bookofjoe) should not be seen as merely a PR stunt for the company that burdened us with Office. Methinks the next few years are going to bring us gadgets that make an iPad look like an abacus.
Harry Baals
Honestly, you can't make this stuff up. The city of Ft. Wayne, Indiana is asking people to vote for a name for its new municipal building and the leading vote getter is former mayor Harry Baals. Yes, the pronunciation is what you probably think it is, although his descendents changed the pronunciation to sound like something you do with hay. Anyhoo, I have great admiration for the reporter who kept a straight face despite having to repeatedly say "Harry Baals Government Center," although I do wonder if he really needed to say it might be the "butt of jokes."
How To Facebook Video by Local Food Blogger
You may not know it, but Winston-Salem is home to a food star. Rebecca Subbiah is a Brit living in our fair town and she has a great food blog called Chow and Chatter. She's also a wiz at Twitter and Facebook and she's been generous enough to share her Facebook wisdom by making a how-to video. I think her target audience is other foodies, but her advice pertains really to anyone trying to use Facebook for their business. Oh, and she's my new hero for using her Twitter feed to share a link to this story about beer being good for heart health. Gotta love when a vice is magically transformed into a virtue.
Greensboro – Where Real Men Disappear Into a Swamp of Sensitivity
According to Redbox on "date night" more romantic comedies are rented in Greensboro than any other city in the country.
Renting a higher percentage of romantic comedies from Redbox than any other city, Greensboro has earned the title of the most romantic city in America.
According to the national Redbox Date Night Survey of Redbox renters, Greensboro had the highest percentage of romantic comedies rented in 2010.
The only other city in the southeast that ranked in the company's top 10 is Tuscaloosa, Ala. at #3.
I shudder to think where Greensboro ranks in the sale of mani-pedis for men.
Liquid Courage
I watched the majority of the video below wondering what could possibly motivate a guy to do something so incredibly insane. He provides the answer at the end.
Funerals and Weddings
I've written here before that I serve on the Lewisville Planning Board. Generally we spend our time on thrilling conversations concerning things like where to put driveway cuts downtown, but this week we're ramping it up a notch at our public meeting (Wednesday, 7:30 at Town Hall). We have a case that involves three lots downtown that Hayworth Miller is requesting to be rezoned so that they can build a funeral home. I've heard that several of our citizens aren't real pleased with the location for the funeral home, so I expect we'll have a lively crowd tomorrow night. If you plan on coming to see the festivities bring your own refreshments since there isn't a concession stand at Town Hall.
At our last work session the folks at Hayworth Miller presented some initial drawings and took questions from the Board and one of the questions asked by a fellow member of the Board just about knocked me out of my chair. He asked, and I'm paraphrasing here, "What other uses are you considering for the facility?" I have to admit that I kind of thought he'd lost it when he asked the question because, I mean, what else would you use a funeral home for? Ends up he hadn't lost it. Apparently a new trend in the funeral home business is the use of their chapels for weddings. I'll let you think about that a minute and see if you enjoy, as much as I did, the thought of so many jokes that just write themselves about a marriage that begins at a funeral home. (Feel free to share them in the comments).
Anyhoo, I expect tomorrow night's meeting to be a long and rather interesting one. If you're a Lewisville citizen and want to say your piece then come on out and join us.
