outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

Thinking about changing the look of the site. Since this is the main news site for many local residents I was thinking about switching to a look that has a bit of a newspaper feel. Whatever you do, don’t panic. I will not reduce your milk, bread, or toilet paper supply.

I also need to do a LOT of updating of some behind the scene stuff on this site. When you’ve been blogging since the days before blogging had a name you can fall behind on a few things.

Update: Firefox 2 on Windoze definitely has a problem with this look. There is no problem in Firefox 3. It makes the page look a bit broken after the top story, but you can still read things. Will look in to this at some point when I have time.

There must have been at least a dozen police cars. Turns out there was a standoff with a person that was threatening others. I saw a ton of things getting thrown out of a second story window and a lot of officers swarming around the house. I would have gotten more photos, but the area got closed to the public and it was suggested I don’t take any pictures…if you know what I mean. So I didn’t.

Perhaps someone had heard enough stories about how perfect life is here in C-Ville. Or not. Maybe their stimulus package wasn’t large enough.

The locals stations have gone digital. Of course the current view is old school digital 480p shown by that small dark region in the lower left. HDTV is the full image. The current format is like having a 15 year old kid that is 2 feet tall, or an elephant that fits inside your purse.

WCAV posted that they will be trying to switch to actual HD in the next 24-72 hours. I’m keeping my teeny tiny fingers crossed…

For years the county has been paying bucks to the village due to the wrath of TJ. It looks like those days may be coming to an end. If the county decides not to cough up, the village will fall in to a state of disrepair. With the lack of fund we won’t be able to spend millions tearing up bricks and putting down nearly identical bricks. Just imagine what will happen to UVA as it becomes a hand me down to Albemarle High School.

I see dark days ahead. The critical roads connecting the two places will probably get shut down in the near future. Trying to get to Wal-mart will become a trip on the underground railroad. Food will become scarce. The worst part will be the water. Those of us in the village will be drinking the backwash from the county. At least we will be able to take control of the country administrative building (since it sits in the middle of the village).

This could get ugly. If only I could be a fly on a link in that cage match tomorrow.

Back in the 50’s C-Ville enjoyed having their first AM radio station. The 70’s brought FM. In the 80’s they discovered television when NBC 29 started broadcasting (that scared the locals for the first few weeks – witchery was discussed in depth). Five years ago we got FOX, CBS, and ABC with the mind-numbing low-def analog signal. Since then the world has changed. HDTV is now the norm, but here in C-Ville nothing has change. Tomorrow is new day.

After decades of nothingness the airwaves are expected to obtain intelligence. The trifecta of stations plans to switch to digital. Civilization as we know it will cease to exist. Will the village turn to violence? Will voodoo become in vogue?

There were rumors that the stations briefly went dead earlier today. Will we truly get HDTV from all four local stations tomorrow night? I will believe it when I see it, and you can bet my iMac will be doing a bit of EyeTV scanning.

Stay tuned…literally.

Looks like C-Ville is going to have some fun on Friday evening at Siips [sic]. Women who have been training at things such as lap dancing, pole dancing, and boa dancing will be putting on a show/tell at 6pm.

Anyone feel up to doing a live report? Here is a possible view of the event, along with a few tips.

Now this is what I call historic (excluding the orgies that used to occur at Fellini’s).

As most of you know…me and breeder results rarely hang out together, but quite a few of you around here seem to love em. You should sign up for this while you have a chance. If you don’t, the kids may not become great bloggers and photographers (such as myself).

The 2009 Camp Staff application is now live. We are officially accepting applications for next summer!

We hire staff members with a wide range of experience in some pretty amazing fields. Some of the more interesting programs and classes that we offer at our camps include environmental science, culinary arts, fashion design, orienteering, leadership, video editing, digital and dark room photography, ropes course, nutrition and agriculture.

In possibly the most shocking news since Monticello admitted TJ slept with Sally (oh wait…did they ever officially admit to that?), the Virginia Senate approved several bills that will ban smoking in bars and restaurants here in the (un)commonwealth.

Now the bills will head off to the Virginia House which is “where bills go to die,” along with the babies of the politicians (primarily Republicans in the House).

If the house won’t pass this, I suggest all the members of the house get put in the Dulles “smoking chamber” for a few weeks along with their kids. And if at all possible, feed their kids a diet containing recalled milk products from China and vegetables grown with a heavy dose of DDT. Mmm….tasty.

After a 64 degree day the village has been crushed by approximately one-third of an inch of snow this evening. Reports from the field indicate that all forms of transportation have been shut down. This is the most severe storm of the season, since only 5 minutes of flurries (total of three storms) have fallen up to this point.

A few reports have made it to me through the storm. They indicate that roads are perfectly clear since it was 64 degrees earlier today, but due to the extreme snowfall I have not been able to confirm the reports.

I urge you to not risk travel in these horrendous conditions. Enjoy the milk and toilet paper that you purchased earlier today when the weather service predicted a 40% chance of flurries with a half inch accumulation possible on tree branches.

Stay tuned for additional coverage as this story develops…

Update: First picture from the field is in! Thanks to the tough reporters out there fighting through the conditions.