outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

As was rumored by Tipster J a month or so agom the new building in Belmont is getting ready to open. It will be a BBQ place (which will also have catering service). They have a nicely decorated van that has been parked on the street for the past two weeks.

The other rumor from several sources is that The Nook will reopen at some point between February 1st and 14th. The big part of this is that they will now have an ABC license, so you’ll be able to have a martini (or maybe just a beer..not sure if it is a full ABC) with that mayo sandwich. Mmm…

Java Java has been getting some good steady business since it opened up. Late last week they still didn’t have a wifi setup (waiting for an internet guy). I’m also not sure if the fireplace has become “live.” Of course, today is the first day under 70 in a long time.

On the HD front…ugh..why bother. This is Charlottesville. The latest rumor is the end of February. Has it now been a full year since rumors began? Didn’t HD become available in civilized parts of the world four years ago? The “south will rise again” Richmond CBS didn’t even bother to turn on their HD for an NFL playoff game the other day. I guess that is why I have a satellite dish (yet another way to avoid this village).

The rest of the village stories of late involve the typical school people involved with porn, changes in garbage collection schedules, gang graffiti, not being sorry for having built the state on slavery, having yet another person get run down while trying to cross 29 (at least the driver of the car is OK according to authorities), a Belmont burglar, a few high speed chases, and the fact that local stations can’t even put shows on the air (see a bazillion other posts I’ve done in the past).

With all that excitement I think it is time to take a vacation…

While the rest of the world has advanced in technology C-Ville has continued to live in the primitive days of Windoze and low def TV. Will this ever change? Does anyone even care?

There was an article written up in the Daily Regress related to Crutchfield and the fact that they were selling an amazing number of HD sets during the holidays. Why? There is no HD cable around here, and only one station broadcasts in HD. Not all can get a dish. Perhaps the big issue is that locals have never seen real HD..just stretched LD on a HD set. They are still amazed at fire. Around here television is stretched. Distorted pixels. Ancient technology.

Comcast bought the cable company that used to own the village (I can’t even remember the name). The rumors of HD began. July. September. December. January. Still nothing. Comcast has been dumping metal wires all over the sidewalks across town for months. I walk through the pile of wires every day. I wonder how many squirrels have been killed by the wires. Oh well. It is C-Ville. Does anyone really care? Spitting and smoking are far more important to life. Does the city mind that so many wires were put all over the sidewalks? (I think they are far more interested in pretending the village matter where politics are concerned.)

The latest rumor is that the local stations will begin broadcasting in HD on February 1, 2007, and Comcast will begin to carry HD in the area at that time.

Does anyone really believe this? Will C-Ville ever be able to make fire? Or will they get voted off the island. I have a feeling the latter is a good guess. And the first person voted off the island of modern technology? [C-Ville leaves the set in tears. Fade to credits.]

As most of the world knows the person that is most representative of Virginia is Virgil Goode. Many consider him a racist. Other a bigot. I can’t even understand what he says due to his Virginny accent.

In any event…the Daily Show (once again) ripped on him for his mindset on the episode this evening. Even the radicals in the village consider him a bigot. At least that is what is painted on the space he pays for (or the taxpayers) on the historic downtown mall.

He really is such a good representative for Virginia. I hear TJ (aka Thomas Jefferson) was a big time terrorist in his day since he had a Koran. Perhaps we should get rid of everything he was involved with. How many things can you name?

I enjoyed the announcement of the Apple iPhone today. Not that I want one (since I rarely speak on the phone), but the stock price went up about 8.5%. As I keep saying…it’s good to buy Apple stuff and/or stock. Should I sell now? Or keep? Hindsight is 20/20. I’m hanging on. Just imagine the stuff they’ll come out with later in the year.

What I really want is to use that technology to make a wide-screen HD iPod and skip the phone stuff (and a few bucks). I’ll be buying that the day it comes out. At least they didn’t announce any new computers, so my 24inch iMac is still king of the iMac hill.

I now broke the 500 mark on my Flickr photo page. I guess about three of them are good

In the local news, the greatest football coach in the history of The University of Virginia decided to drink a bit too much and got pulled over. He was the coach during the famous UVA “party years” in the 80’s when they were consistently in the Top Ten Party Schools of Playboy every year. Hmm…

image from WCAV

The CVille Newsplex has updated the look of their site. I continue to be amazed at how local stations/media create web sites that are aesthetically repulsive, and functionally ADD. Perhaps no Mac people are involved in the design.

Which do you think is the worst? NBC29, CVille Newsplex, or the Daily Progress?

At least on the Daily Progress site they left the mook’s name in the code when they used a bit. I’m not sure if he would be happy about that or not…

At last….Java Java has opened. I’ll go there today and see how it is.

Picture from back in November when sign first went up.

Kikis Juice Bar (open 7 days/week from 11am to 3pm) is now serving small meals as well as delicious juices. One involved chips with a variety of cheeses. Sounded tasty.

As has been extensively discussed on this blog during the past months, Java Java has been a tad slow opening up (what is new here in the village?). The grand opening date of fall didn’t go well, nor did the large sign indicating December 31st. The updated sign said “Coming Soon in January.” It was taken down several days ago. According to The Hook it looks like Monday will be the day. Will they have the fireplace going? Will the free wifi be up and running? Will anyone still be walking in there looking for some glaze and blaze?

(note to self - I owe Dre cash for juice…forgot my wallet today)

The first blooms have started appearing on my flower bushes. This is what I call an early spring.

I’m not sure exactly when this tree was chopped down, but I noticed it today while investigating the story of a man dropping down the well.

OK…it’s not really a well. During the summertime the local establishments set up a wealth of outdoor dining areas. Several of these areas have a small fountain within them. Despite the fact that every day is sunny and 65, the city still forces restaurants to remove the seats, however, the city doesn’t seem to have any rules about the large holes in the ground that are left after the tables and chairs have been cleared.

Today an older man with limited vision stepped in to this hole (in the Sal’s summertime area) as he was trying to navigate through the mall. He was helped out of the hole, and first hand reports say his knees were bleeding.

I’ve almost stepped in to one of those in the past (the one by The Nook), and have seen little kids playing tag drop in to them. I’ve always wondered why the city doesn’t feel these are hazardous. I wonder if a lawsuit will be filed in the near future. I know a lot of women who would like to sue the city due to the uneven brick surface of the mall…since that isn’t good when wearing high heels (I haven’t tried that myself). Trips and broken heels are often the result.

Could today’s incident possibly be related to Coffee War 2007? Might this be considered the first injury?