outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

The locals are all freaking…just because the local paper actually pointed out that the price for gas here in the village is probably the highest in the state. Perhaps people should start using our light rail system for getting around. Oh, wait, we don’t have that. Instead we have a totally disorganized mass transit system with almost no riders other than one route. Such is life. I’m sure W will fix it (local W, not the big W).

Charlottesville is ranked #1 in expensive gas! So very Virginia. If I have the energy tomorrow maybe I’ll blog about the fact that 49.7% of single women with children under 5 here in town live below the poverty line. FAR above state average. But I probably won’t have much energy…

My iMac arrived today (36 hours from Shanghai to C-Ville). It was 9 days early. I was so excited. I opened it up and put it on a table. It stood there in all its glory.

I then sat down in front of it and the first thing I noticed was a scratch on the pristine 24 inch monitor. It is about 8 to 10 inches long in a semi-circle. I then noticed another small scratch that is more linear (about five inches), and one really small one that is about a half inch in length.

I emailed Apple after sitting on hold for 30 minutes. If I don’t hear back by tomorrow I’ll sit on hold a bit longer.

So disappointing, but when I get a nice pretty one I’ll be so happy. It is a gorgeous machine. This is the third Intel-based Mac in a row that I have been involved with ordering that has had a problem with the screen. The plant in Shanghai really needs to do a better job with these.

Arrrrgggghhhhh…I want my new toy.

From a tipster that knows all about the real estates around here, I got a link to an article that shows even a small truck stop village (population < 20k) is getting fiber optic cable. This is the same technology found in large metropolitan markets.

Here in the village though the tribal elders still deny that television exists.

The latest rumor (from Tipster “A”) is that HD will arrive around x-mas here in the village via Adelphia/Comcast, but it is not yet clear how many HD station feeds will be on the new cable. The local markets (CBS, FOX, and ABC) that do not have HD broadcasts (and won’t until the feds say they have) may protest the HD feeds from elsewhere since it could hurt their advertising revenue (would ANYONE be influenced by a local commercial???).

My new iMac baby left Shanghai, China this morning and has landed in Anchorage, Alaska. It will probably be stuck there for a full day as it makes it through customs. Current estimate is for arrival this Friday!

Can you guess what I’ll be playing with all weekend?

PS. The new iTunes looks really cool (at least the 3D-ish look of spinning through your CD covers). The lack of HD/widescreen iPod was rather disappointing, but the new iTV thingy has some hope. The stock price trickled up after the announcement so that was good (for me).

Maybe the first reported shooting at UVA this year was due to someone playing banjo music. You never know.

One of the things about this puny little village is that for every cigarette there is a banjo player who will start playing “anywhere in the neighborhood” at the drop of a dime (I guess they think they can buy a cig with a dime).

The next time I hear a banjo cranking up late at night I will probably go buy a gun. Luckily they love guns around here and I can probably buy one rather easily.

This prior Thursday FOX debuted two new sitcoms, ‘Til Death and Happy Hour. The first stars Brad Garrett (from Everybody Loves Ray fame) and is hyped as the next big sitcom hit for FOX. The writing was so formulaic that most physics problems could be solved using the script. If nothing else is on and my new iMac hasn’t yet arrived I may give it another look next week. Does PBS still have shows? This mysterious set of videos on YouTube would be more interesting.

As for the other show, it was clear that it was on a rather limited budget compared to ‘Til Death, but I actually found it a tad more entertaining. I particular enjoyed the 4pm martini hour skit with Frank Sinatra (?) playing in the background. This humor in this show is a bit darker/quirkier and is more in line with How I Met Your Mother (which is probably my favorite sitcom right now due to the Doogie Howser guy).

The next new show to premiere is Men in Trees (has anyone heard of that show yet) on ABC this Tuesday, but while waiting for that you can enjoy the 328th season of the Simpson’s tonite, and Prison Break tomorrow evening.

Although no local media seems to have mentioned this fact, good old CBS19 (our local non-HD station which is not worth watching due to the lack of HD) will not be airing a documentary this evening until midnite since they are scared of a possible violation of FCC indecency regulations.

This show has nothing to do with all that bruhaha of that docudrama (that Clinton is ripping) that ABC was planning to air, but a documentary described as “Filmmakers Gédéon and Jules Naudet update their 2002 documentary tracking emergency personnel’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, including new interviews with a number of firefighters; host Robert De Niro.”

What is the local station worried about? I guess it is fine to air mostly naked people snorting drugs, youth running around shooting others, and reality TV where people threaten to kill others if they don’t vote a certain way…because they want the half million dollar prize.

Come on CBS19…show some gumption and air the documentary at a time when people will see it…or are you scared of a fireman saying “oh fuck” while trying to deal with devastation?

Looks like a bit of a fight and a fire broke out at the local school during a football game last night. Sounds like a fun night here little village where everything is perfect. No drugs, no gangs, no desperate housewives.

I wonder if the Jets or the Sharks won the fight. Did Maria run away with the gun? Perhaps Marissa will get caught with it during the season opener (after all…can she really be dead?).

The confusion of pedestrians trying to cross the road, the new shiny signs to remind motorists of the law regarding people, and the totally ludicrous one-way underpass seemed to lead to this fender bender.

Thanks to tipster “D” for pointing this one out. D also pointed out an arrest being made in CVS yesterday, but my shutter legs were a bit slow getting to that one.