outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

On the national level there are now more than 1% of people in prison here in the good old USA. The highest level in history. I’d be willing to bet that number is higher here in Central Virginia. Between drugs, bootleg DVD’s, and serial rapists we seem to have a lot around here. Yet another one was caught today. A man raped a child. Off to prison. No…wait…already out on bond. Maybe he’ll make it to court and then prison. Maybe not.

If Van Halen hadn’t flown out of town I’m sure he would have been arrested also.

The Van Halen concert was cancelled the other day and it seems as if he might have gotten involved in a brouhaha with some locals.

Does anyone around here even remember the 8 ball? Was it stolen back in 1999? I can barely remember anymore. Anyway, I think the owner found out he had stolen it back then, and Rapture wanted it back.

Now he is probably feeling a bit Black and Blue even though he is still Hot for Teacher. Next time he visits the Mean Streets of C-Ville he should try to Finish What he-ya Started, otherwise we might just send that Human Being to Panama so he can get some Poundcake. If you know what I mean.

I’m so glad the movie won for best song. I really enjoyed it. Made for 100k in 17 days. Highly recommended (speaking of which…I should get my favorite movies of 2k7 up here one of these days).

And if you want to see the official preview for Once:

I noticed a few of these showed up in the village in the past few days. Is this some sort of political campaign? Maybe this was a prelude to the Ralph Nader announcement. How long will it take the village to cover it with gray? I’d go with less than a week.

This face smiles at you as you walk from the mall to Belmont.

How many more of these are around? There is one over at Barracks Road Mall I’ve never noticed before. Did that just show up this weekend as well? Any other reports?

I wonder if the sketch artist or eyewitness watches American Idol…since there sure is a bit of a similarity between the possible Idol and the suspected robber.

Almost a mirror image!

I hadn’t stepped on a scale since before I ran the marathon back in November. I have been feeling a bit “heavy” lately, so I dusted it off and took a step on to it. Not a pretty sight. I’m almost 10% overweight.

I have to drop an even dozen (pounds that is…not eggs). I’ll give myself a ten week deadline. Although optimistically I’ll go with seven weeks. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll be posting weekly updates.

If it works I guess I should write a “Diet with Outskirts Guy” book. Chapter 1: Eat less. Chapter 2: Workout more. Guess that is about it.

Is it sweeps week? Must be. Stories involving husbands, prostitutes, and the web always show up at that time.

Virginia is #2 in frying people (aka death penalty). This guy will keep our numbers high. This guy won’t fry, but won’t be doing any BBQ’s in the near future.

Daily life in C-Ville. Not exactly a paradise.

We have a slight chance at getting some precipitation this evening. There is a “slight chance” of some snow. Will the village get a flake? Some ice? Some rain?

Salt was extremely widespread in the downtown area by 4pm. I guess we have a full winter supply kicking around. Might as well use it, since this is the last chance of anything in 2k8.

Did you buy your milk, break, and alcohol?

I’ve put thousands in to my 401k this year, but lost tens of thousands. My stocks are down 40% in the past 3 months. It has become almost impossible to sell a house around here. Every day has more and more traffic going down my street. The economy of the US is collapsing. Gas costs $3.25 for a gallon (of course milk is more…so why complain?). Unemployment is up. Jobs aren’t paying anything. Criminal activity continues to climb in this area. Plowed regions that were under development are just laying dead as piles of dirt since everything has stopped.

Does all this indicate that the assessed value of my house should shoot up 14% this year? Does the city just want to pummel the locals into submission? Where is my money going? I haven’t seen anything improve…but I do see a ton of degradation taking place in the area.

Should I waste my time and request a hearing before an assessor? I’m sure the assessor would say something along the lines of, “well sir, after additional investigation we feel the assessed value of your house was incorrect, it is actually 41% higher than it was last year…sorry about the typo.”

I guess I’ll just lay here and take it. I really hope that C-Ville doesn’t use my tax money to provide “affordable housing” to anyone. If you want to do that, stop raising property values by an average of 18%/year for this decade.

I wonder if it will have a smoke free restaurant or bar.