Category Archives: Winston-Salem

I Wonder If It Was Cathartic?

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I read the front page article in the Winston-Salem Journal about the public airing of grievances by UNCSA's outgoing conductor at his final concert and thought, "I wonder if it felt as good to vent his spleen as he expected it to?"  Who hasn't daydreamed about letting loose like that at their boss/teacher/nitwit co-worker in a big public venue?

Back in the mid-90s I worked for a company that could best be described as a soul sucking black hole run by amoral jackals.  I fantasized about calling my bosses on the carpet at a large company function and listing their various misdeeds in excruciating detail.  Alas I just quit and went to a better job, but to this day I wonder what it would have felt like to let it rip.

BTW, check out all comments on the article about the conductor's rant.  Based on the number you'd think the article was about an illegal immigrant representing the ACLU in a protest against sectarian prayer at the county commissioners' meeting.

West Forsyth H.S., Mathematician’s Paradise

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For the second time in three years a West Forsyth H.S. math teacher has been named Teacher of the Year in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School system.  Hopefully this means my kids will leave H.S. with a much stronger grasp of the subject than their old man has.

Congrats to Heather King for the recognition.

Smitty Writes About Whoopi

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Found this at Smitty's Notes and thought it very worthwhile to share:

It's not too often an idea so simple and worthwhile takes a life of its own. In the past few weeks, I've watched something local on Facebook do just that. Many of you may know or seen the elderly homeless woman who rides a pink girl's bike around town. She can be normally found around the Stratford Rd and Peters Creek Parkway area. Often, many refer to her as "Whoopi" because she favors actress Whoopi Goldberg with her looks and long dreadlocks. The lady is Ester Deaver. She is 70 years old, homeless and survived on the streets of Winston-Salem for over thirty years. However, she is known all over town. Deaver has touched many hearts of people who live here or have passed through over the years.

A group of Facebook members have taken an interest in Deaver and created a "Where's Whoopi" group page. The purpose is to keep track of her around town. Since being started last month, the page has quickly grown to close to 6,000 fans. Yvonne Rorrer, a lifelong Winston-Salem citizen, is the group page owner who has taken an interest in befriending Ms. Deaver, and helping with her well being. So much, she has been able to have donated some medical care and made sure Deaver has made it to appointments. Much has come of this friendship that Deaver has asked for one thing. To get her "bus" back. Apparently, Deaver use to own a yellow conversion van years ago. It was "decommissioned" by the city for various reasons which is why she is riding her pink bicycle. Rorrer has set up the Ester Smiles Foundation to help Deaver get a used "bus" that will help transport her get around town and have a safe place to lay her head.  They hope to have it for her 71st birthday on June 9, 2010.  The goal is to raise $10,000.  The Foundation has applied for 501 (c) (3) status and over $1,500 already been donated. Monies raised will go toward the van, it's future upkeep and supporting the homeless senior citizen community in Winston-Salem.

You can get more info at Smitty's place, and/or visit the following Facebook pages:

Where's Whoopi

Esther Smiles Foundation  

Very Berry at The Children’s Home

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The Journal's Michael Hastings writes today about the strawberry patch at The Children's Home in Winston-Salem, and I'd like to personally vouch for the greatness of those berries.  Last Saturday I was at The Children's Home to help give a presentation to The Children's Home Alumni Association about the Labor of Love project the organization I work for did back in February.  The folks at The Children's Home fed us some of the first berries picked from the patch and I can tell you they blow away any of the store bought strawberries I've had this year.  Seriously, you need to head over to TCH and get yourself some. 

Congrats to a/perture

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Looks like Lawren and crew over at a/perture are making a nice splash in the Triad.  They won "Runner Up" in the "Best Blog" and "Best Facebooker" categories in Yes! Weekly's Best of 2010 survey.  Oh, and probably a little more important to them, they were "Noteworthy" in the "Best Cinema" category.

I'm still trying to get down there for beer and a movie.  Maybe next week I'll finally get the chance.

Governor’s Volunteer Service Award Breakfast

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From the day job: TAA's team was honored to be presented with a Governor's Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service (Forsyth County) in the "Team" category at a breakfast at Salemtowne this morning.  There were also winners in six other categories and it was a true pleasure to be surrounded by so many people doing incredible things for their community.  A big thanks to The Children's Home for nominating us for the project. Here's a couple of pics:

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The TAA Team

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TAA VP and Labor of Love Chair Marc Crouse

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Kind of cool shot of the program    

Things Are Getting Better, but…

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The Dixon Hughes Triad Business Index for March, 2010 shows that the local economy is improving, but it's not by much and we've got a heckuva long way to go before we can say things are good.  It will be interesting to see what happens in real estate when the stimulus plan expires at the end of this week, but when you read this from the report you wonder how much worse it can get (knock on wood):

At the end of the 1st quarter of 2010, the inventory of homes on the market was 9,098, or 6.3 times the number of homes sold in the 1st quarter.  At the current sales pace, it will take 18.9 months to exhaust the existing inventory.  The number of existing homes offered for sale was up 16.5% from what it was at the end of the 4th quarter, and it was 9.5% higher than at the end of the 1st quarter one year ago. 

The price of the average home sold in the 1st quarter was down 2.8% from the previous quarter.  The average quality-adjusted price of an existing home in the Triad was $158,718.  The average this quarter was down 1.7% from the average recorded in the 1st quarter of last year.  By comparison, over the past year, consumer prices nationally have risen 2.2%.

For Those Who Still Think All Blogs and Twitter Feeds Are About Cats and BM

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As reported by the Triad Business Journal the Wake Forest MBA program's student run blog and related Twitter feed have been recognized as a "must follow" by TopMBA.com. 

Five years into this whole blog experiment thing and I still feel the need to justify my existence.  I never knew I was so insecure.

A Question Only an English Major Would Ask

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I'm no scientist (I'm actually the antithesis of a scientist), so this is probably the dumbest question ever asked, but I have to ask it: Is it wise to put a solar array on the roof of a hardware company's distribution center?  Still it's kind of cool that Winston-Salem will have two of Duke Energy's new solar sites.