Category Archives: Winston-Salem

Carmageddon

Leave a reply

I think the fine folks who are planning for the two year shutdown of Business 40 in Winston-Salem for repairs might want to watch how the folks in California are preparing for their own Carmageddon this weekend.

Los Angeles, home of notorious traffic jams, is preparing for a potential doozy. People are calling this weekend’s closure of 10 miles of the 405 “Carmageddon.” What’s happening is 10 miles of the very busy highway will be shut down to traffic as part of a reconstruction project. The big question is whether the work will result in massive traffic jams or if the impact won’t be that great because it’s a weekend project.

We’re seeing some examples of social media in action in preparation for Carmageddon. KABC is teaming up with the traffic app company Waze to offer an app that is powered by the audience. It detects your speed as you drive and keep the app open. Utilizing that information, Waze generates a map showing traffic. After your ride you can report what you saw along the way (typing is disabled while you’re driving).

 

Great Reason to Attend the Dash Game Friday Evening (July 8)

Leave a reply

If you happen to be awake from 5:30 – 7:00 tomorrow (Friday, July 8) morning you might want to tune in to watch WXII's morning show.  Yours truly will likely be at the Dash stadium with Bolt, some folks from the Dash and Second Harvest, and one of the WXII-ers to promote the 2nd Annual "Fill the Stands with Cans" which is part of Piedmont Triad Apartment Association's annual food drive to benefit Second Harvest.  Here are the details for those of you who may not be awake at that crazy hour:

  • We'll be set up outside Dash stadium before the game tomorrow night collecting food and cash donations for Second Harvest.
  • Anyone who brings a donation will get a free Dash hat.
  • If you can't make it to the game but want to make a donation you can visit any one of the drop off locations listed on the PTAA Food Drive website. 
  • We're doing the same thing Friday of next week (July 15) at the Greensboro Grasshoppers game.
  • I can't thank the Dash, the Grasshoppers, WXII and Lowes Foods enough for once again partnering with us to put on this great event for Second Harvest. And I'd be totally remiss if I didn't thank Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines and Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight for shooting the promos for us for the second straight year.  Thanks everyone!
  • Last, but definitely not least, thanks to all the PTAA-member communities that are participating in the Food Drive and all the PTAA Vendor Partners who have made it all possible.  You guys rock!

Hope to see you tomorrow night.  If you plan on attending the game please do stop by and say hello.

YardDawg’s Grilling

Leave a reply

YardDawg, aka Doug Grimes, is featured in a Winston-Salem Journal story about grilling:

Grimes, 61, grew up around Kinston. He remembers his grandfather and other male relatives barbecuing whole hogs. "I'd hang out with those guys and watch them — I was probably 4 or 5 years old the first time I saw that."

Later, he watched his father grill on the weekends. "Every Friday or Saturday night he was cooking something outside," Grimes said.

His father is now 88 and no longer grilling himself, but Grimes will cook for him on visits to Kinston on the grill that Grimes gave him as a present in 1971.

Grimes even grilled on the many days spent away from home as a tobacco buyer. "Even little towns inKentucky would have a motel, and we'd set up a little grill on the balcony," Grimes said. "It might be just hot dogs or hamburgers, but it was still better than McDonald's."

A beef lover, Grimes took two grills with him when he moved to Zimbabwe for three years to work as a tobacco export manager.

He's eaten grilled food in Mexico, Thailand, Argentina and other countries. "I've always been a fan of street food," he said. "When I was in Bangkok or wherever, I'd find the stall that had a line with like 20 people."

He has found that a love of grilled meat is universal.

"I've done it (grilling) just about everywhere I've ever been," he said. "We even had a pig pickin' in China, inYunnan province."

 

Aha!

Leave a reply

I'm still kind of bummed that I had to beg out of taping my "Aha Moment" when they were in town (work and life in general got in the way), but I'm glad to see that Winston-Salem's uber-Tweeter, Kristen Daukus, had a great time recording hers:

and showing the Aha Moment folks what Ribfest was all about:

There are some great stories from other Winston-Salem folks if you browse through all the clips recorded by the Aha Moment team. Just search on "Winston-Salem + aha" on YouTube and you should find most of them.

Here are the people I've met in real life (my apologies if I missed anyone):

Paul

SueMo

Cheryl

Kim

Danielle

Here's someone many people in Winston-Salem have probably seen in real life even if they haven't met him – Robert Moody of the Winston-Salem Symphony.  BTW, I consider it one of my great failings that I haven't gotten over to see the Symphony in the seven years I've lived here.  I'm gonna have to do something about that.

After viewing most of the videos I had a BIG Aha Moment – there are a ton of really interesting people in Winston-Salem I haven't met yet and hopefully I can rectify the situation in the near future.

Hopefully She Meant Intermission

Leave a reply

Over at Life in Forsyth Esbee has a post titled The End in which she writes:

As some of you know and some of you have probably guessed, I have some ooky medical stuff going on, a tad more serious than I had hoped. I need to go deal with this and hoard the diminished energy I have for my sweet family. (Plus, hi? How many boring phonophotos of boring waiting rooms are you really interested in seeing?)

I'm very hopeful that I'll be all a-mend soon and able to return to Shangri-Winston tout de suite.

In the meantime, enjoy the pool*, enjoy the sand**, and remember to tip your cabana attendants well***.

I'll miss you.

Best,
Lucy

* insert your favorite local manmade venue here
** insert your favorite local natural attraction here
*** SHOP LOCAL!

Reading this made me sad and concerned for obvious reasons, but it also reminded me that it's been far too long since I've enjoyed a cup of coffee with my fellow DC transplant.  She's getting plenty of comments wishing her well, and for every one that's written I guarantee that there are at least three times that many people who have been entertained and informed by her blog that are sending well wishes her way.  Personally I'm just praying that The End really meant Intermission.

Get well Lucy.

Earl Weaver Played in Winston-Salem?!

Leave a reply

Somehow I stumbled onto Bob Lemke's blog post about the 1950 Winston-Salem Cardinals and when I did I was shocked to learn that Earl Weaver, the great Oriole manager I idolized when I was a kid, played for the team.

Recently, as the result of a posting on a vintage card collectors forum, I dug up the Winston-Salem sacrapbook for a closer look.

The book included team photos of the 1948-1951 squads, along with three partial sets of player portrait photographs, from 1950-1952.

The player photos were all the work of a Winston-Salem studio, Coppedge Piedmont Photo Finishers, Inc., whose advertising was rubber-stamped on the back of each picture. The photos are 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" with wide white borders…

The 18 players I have, plus future Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver, who was a 19-year old second baseman on the team, seem to comprise the full set of these player photos. 

Hey You, 4 Hubby…

1 Reply

You know you've pulled a jerk move when two different people post pictures of your parking job online and ask for comments.  Here's a tip: if you're that worried about your paint job then take up two spaces on the far end of the lot (a minimally jerky move) rather than two spaces that are right outside the entrance (a maximally aholey move).

Mission for Mason

Leave a reply

MissionforMason I received an email about an event, Mission for Mason, being held on May 14 at the Ten O One Sports Club in Winston-Salem to help a local boy fighting an aggressive brain cancer.  From the event website:

Our mission is to keep the magic of childhood alive and create an unforgettable day for a young boy named Mason with big dreams, unfaltering determination and rare, aggressive brain cancer. His bravery and strong spirit during his 2 1/2 year battle has inspired us.
While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

The goal of the event is to donate 100% of profits from admission, food sales, raffle ticket sales and also a portion of the bar sales to Mason’s family of eight to offset medical costs and to provide support through the duration of his treatments. More importantly, we want to celebrate and lift up Mason, showing him that hundreds of individuals who have been touched by his firm resolve and bravery will be compelled to to rally behind him at a gigantic children's event and music festival for all ages on a sweet spring day in May ! 

No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
~Aesop


Pro Basketball Coming to Camel City

Leave a reply

The American Basketball Association has three expansion teams slotted for North Carolina and one of them, the Triad Tre4 Cheetahs, will call Winston-Salem home.

One item of potential interest to a few guys down at the Y: tryouts for the three teams will be held May 21 in Durham. Registration is $125, but hey, dreams don't come cheap these days.

I don't know if they play with the red, white and blue ball of Dr. J's ABA, but they do have some wacky rules like the old ABA did.  My faves:

  • Four points for any shot taken from the backcourt.
  • Players can stay on after picking up a sixth foul, but each subsequent foul they commit leads to a free throw and ball possession for the other team. Basically it's unlimited technicals for "sixth foul" players.
  • 3-D Rule – I've read it once and I can honestly say it makes the NFL's QB rules seem straightforward.

Could be fun to watch.