As the unbearably hot summer rolled on, the number of my posts dwindled down to nothing. How can anyone survive in the south? Summer is brutal. It is hot. It sucks all creativity out of humans. Our drought has been going on so long that we can no longer use water. No car washing. No water at restaurants (unless you beg). No watering dying plants in your yard. No fountains. No swimming pools. I really wonder why nothing has been done since our last drought four? years ago. The locals say plans are being made for a decade from now. Is that helpful? What about the next five years? One can only hope a hurricane drifts up here…of course if the wind blows the power goes.
Fall has trickled in. Over the weekend we had our first day under 90 in many moons. The other exciting thing is that the UVA students have returned. Many parents were with their kids this morning at the local malls buying them a wealth of “necessary” things. What mom and dad didn’t know is that their kids were out partying last night. Parties were going on all over town. Pills were flying. Alcohol was pouring. Things were getting torched. In Belmont there was a rather large party. Eventually four police cars appeared. Thirty minutes later things had quieted down and local residents got to sleep before 3am.
I feel sorry for the local police at this time of the year. UVA consists of about 18,000 students and 19,000 employees. During the summer that number is miniscule. In one day a wealth of criminalistic behavior appears. Due to lack of funding there is absolutely no way they can deal with it all. Since C-Ville consists of about 22,000 people (the city loves to include students in the population totals so they can get additional funds) the influx is crushing. All I know is I want some sleep tonite. I hope the parties have ended. Either C-Ville should give up and just tell UVA to provide all security, or UVA should realize that C-Ville is just the outlying dorm, and send some security out here. As for cameras to prevent crime in the historic downtown area…the tribal elders have decided to “think about it” for awhile before anything happens. Perhaps they will just live off interest on the 2.3 million sitting around to improve the mall rather than actually trying to improve it. What about updating the sign that says Subway? How much would that cost?
I signed up for the Richmond Marathon which is in November. The DC marathon sold out before I could enter. Will I get to run by some “The South Will Rise Again” statues while running the marathon there? I’m still wondering if I can survive a full marathon. Not hopeful at this point.
Before my b-day this year I bought an iPod nano with the Nike+Sensor (but not Nike shoes, just a little holder to put it on my New Balance). This toy is so much fun. I love being able to track the distance/time of every run I do. I’m using the online Nike site so I can see every run, weekly totals, monthly totals, etc. I also took a peek at the XML files that get stored on my iPod. Far more info available in those files, but haven’t really had the energy to look any closer. I did 11 miles this weekend. Next weekend I’m going for a 12.5 mile run. Slowly building up my distance.
Preseason football has cranked up. The Fins are 2-0 and both games had a duplicate finish. The Fins future QB drove for the winning touchdown at the end and was successful on a two point conversion to give them a one point victory. As always…I’m a bit delusional and think the Fins can make it to the Super Bowl.
I have a feeling the UVA fans are also delusional and think they will have a good team. They aren’t in the top 25, but did get a few votes (how many were by people named Groh?). I have a feeling Groh is enjoying his $1mil/year more than coaching at this point of his career. The best thing UVA has going for them is that their schedule is trivial. If they can’t win seven games AND a bowl game…
Blogging is rolling along again. It may take me awhile to get going once again…but I’m still around. I put up a new poll…asking about your favorite local news source (online of course…is there another way?). I know what my answer is already. Should anything else be included? Let me know and I’ll put it up there as a choice.
Everyone has to keep eating…even when blogging…right? So I have at least one restaurant rumor. Who goes to Kiki’s? I heard through the grapevine that they might be getting just a bit short on the cash side of things.
I still haven’t gotten around to digging through my Aritni 2007 photos. The worst part about this village is that if you don’t work seven days a week, fourteen hours a day you can’t afford to eat…so free time is severely limited. One of these days. Perhaps I should listen to more music…very relaxing….right? At least for these unlucky seven.
Seriously? They count the students in our census? I thought they didn’t, because when a census is done, the students would be counted as living at their permanent addresses.
If this town has only 22,000 people, that explains a lot.
Here is one reference to the students being counted. There was much more recent discussion since we may have made it under 40k in the most recent census (thus lack of funding for the 40k threshold).
I keep running into your blog on Waldo’s Charlottesville Blogs aggregator and I have to say something: You need to stop whining. Seriously. You sound like a three year-old. And a spoiled one at that. It’s too hot! People are smoking! Local government sucks! Police don’t care! There’s no HDTV being broadcast! And so on. If I were the type of person who enjoys the suffering of others, I would probably read your blog with joy. As it is, all I see from you is an endless rephrasing of problems (of which I am already aware) and how they affect you more than anyone else. What have you done to solve any of them? What do you do to make your town better?
I will likely be skipping anything you have to say from now on…
I’ve run one marathon and that was Richmond last year. I got hurt at mile 16 and it was all I could do to limp and hop to the finish line in 4 hours and 37 minutes. I might go back and see if I can do better. 26 miles is a long way to run. Maybe I’ll see you there. It’s a nice course, mostly flat and lots of smiling, cheerful people along the way!
The Clark School 5k is coming up in September. Are you going to run that?
Grouchily,
Kevin Cox
I read your blog from time to time, and at first thought it quite amusing. But, from a rhetorical and stylistic perspective, how can you expect any of your criticisms to be taken seriously if they are all negative? The ideological war you rage against C’ville is openly admitted, which gives you an edge on most political television or radio networks, but all of your arguments are compromised by the fact that you seem to seek out actively any negative news available about this little town.
Most of these criticisms apply to much of the American landscape; I’d suggest, in comparison to most of the country (and especially Virginia), C’ville is an awesome place to live.
Basically put, I’m not disagreeing with (all of) your criticisms, but the blatantly cynical and solipsistic vehicles through which you launch them.
——
On an entirely unrelated note, I’m a long distance runner, too, and find that we’ve run many of the same races in close the same time. I’ll be in Richmond this fall, too, shooting for 3:30. Where do you do your 20 milers? The real problem with this city is that the Rivana trail is horrible for long runs and the highways that encircle it make any long distance run a geometrical impossibility.
Hey Sad. Are there ever new issues in the village? If things change I’ll stop complaining. Now, go kiss the Waldo…glad to know you won’t waste time here again.
Odds say I’ll be there for the Clark 5k.
C-Ville is awesome if you bow down to Waldo, like breeding, or smoke. If you want to be able to do something new more than once/year it isn’t the best place in the world. It is a small village. I really wish I was an idiot.
I tend to run a loop that runs from downtown mall, along Main to UVA, across 29, hang a right to go past UVA track and biz school, down behind Barrack’s Rd. mall, back up that road near Taco Bell that runs back up to JPA, across that pedestrian bridge that gets me back to Rugby, and then back to the mall via Rose Hill and behind Bodo’s. The worst intersection to get across is always the one at Main/Water/McIntire/whatever that is called and the 29/Main (or whatever they call that over there). As everyone knows, roads change names at least once per mile.
I now have to decide where to expand my typical path to get up beyond the 12 mile mark.
Are you suggesting that because I am a breeder I also bow down to Waldo? If you are, you are wrong! I am a very successful breeder, having contributed three breedlings as part of my contribution to the death of the earth by overwhelming population growth. However, I am embarrassed to admit that not one of them has yet purchased an SUV. In fact two of them don’t even drive. Anyway, I don’t worship at the Altar of Waldo, also known as the Free Speech Monument to Juvenile Graffitti.
I sometimes run the trail up to Monticello. It’s only two miles so I’ll go up and down repeatedly. The trail is very nice. It’s not paved so it’s easy on the knees and there are no stinky vehicles with crazy, homicidal drivers on cell phones to deal with. The Rivanna trail is also nice to run.
The “this blog is all negative” crowd seemed to have completely missed the optimism inherent in this bit from the post:
“I’m a bit delusional and think the Fins can make it to the Super Bowl.”
And missed the the happiness and enthusiasm here:
“This [ iPod Sport Kit] toy is so much fun. I love being able to track the distance/time of every run I do.”
As for “solipsism” ah, hello, it’s a personal blog. Kinda sorta comes with the territory (c.f. Jaquith, Waldo).