outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

I continue to be amazed that I remain a fan of the Dolphins. They are without a doubt one of the bottom few teams in the NFL. No one has ever gone 0-16, but when looking at the schedule you can easily see it happening. On the positive side, they managed to get more than 50 yards from the running game and have scored more in each game of the season thus far (13, 20, and 28). On the negative side, the D can’t stop anyone on third down. It really doesn’t matter if it is 3rd and 1 or 3rd and 42. The opposition will always be successful (or at least 80% of the time). There is no way to win if you do that.

Next week they play the Raiders. Slim chance of a win…but no matter what I keep picking them in my pool. I pick them every single week. It is almost like I give everyone else in the pool a 16 game lead. Oh well.

I had a lot of time to think about the Fins on Saturday morning when I started the day out by running a 5k race at a relatively slow pace, and then continued on for another 15 miles. 18 miles in one morning. Definitely my longest run so far. It was hot and humid. The south continues to broil. Sunday is almost over. Another week is about to begin. The village will continue in its state of stagnation.

Looks as if Ms. Clinton will be rolling in to town this fall. Years ago I saw her when she was on “tour” with her husband back in 1992. I was at a U in the north and to get a good view I climbed up in a big oak tree and kicked back to hear the speech that Bill was giving. A secret service agent came by and told me to get down. I said I just wanted a good view and he moved on. I bet that wouldn’t go the same way today.

Since the village voted about 88% democratic in the last election I don’t think she’ll pick up any spare votes, but the fundraising might go pretty well. Lots of rich and famous here in town. Sitting in an oak tree for free was a good deal…paying big bucks (100 to 2400)…not.

Of course, that is cheap compared to $15k to see Dave (Dump Bowel Movement band) at a small event. Will the Crapshaw go to the Hillary event? He is rich and screws most everyone. Does that make him left or right? Does he even care about voting? Probably not. Money is it baby…money is it.

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.

Every day is the same. Hot. Sunny. Same. All the plants are dropping dead from lack of water (15 inches have fallen…31 is normal). Cigarette smoke hangs in the stagnant air.

Will it rain again this year (nothing in the 10 day forecast)? We need a hurricane. Perhaps two. Of course if the wind blows the power will go. Nothing changes. What is the point? Oh…wait…things do change. For instance, our slogan. That changed last year. A great place to live for all of our citizens.

Well…it’s not.

Perhaps it is time for another slogan.

Today was a pretty good day for Apple. More information about the number of iPhones that got sold has trickled out and it is a large number. The stock went up 5% today. Good for me. If only I’d been really smart and bought TONS of it a few years ago. Hindsight…20/20…same old story.

Anyway, I finally got around to ordering a new (refurbed) iPod Nano and the Nike+Sensor thing so I can track my running mileage with it while listening to something along the lines of I Will Survive when plodding along.

I signed up for the Richmond City Marathon. I’ve never run a marathon before. I entered one once but yanked my knee two weeks before it. That was a bit more than two years ago. The marathon is the second week of November. I really hope it isn’t over 80 that day. I’ve started doing some swimming, doing longer runs, and doing some weights (especially for my legs). My goal…finish it in less than four hours. We’ll see how it goes.

Tomorrow morning I’m running a 5k. I don’t think there is another race here in town until September. Very empty summers around here.

Meanwhile…time to kick back on the couch and watch some of the Twilight Zone marathon running on SciFi Channel. That should help my training…right…

Update: Race was rather warm and muggy for 7:30am. 22 minutes. Very consistent three miles of fun.

For those that missed it, almost every tree on historic downtown mall is currently draped with a big picture of an animal. There are dozens of them.

I’d thought this might be for the upcoming photo festival, but then the thought that this might just be for promotion of Evan Almighty which was filmed around here. I actually think that would have been a better deal, since the photo festival is supposed to be about peace and happiness (only common among half those animals attending the dinner party).

Now, speaking of animals, I should go run out and chat with a snake before I head to Kentucky to visit the new Creationism Museum. I hear dinosaurs were on board Noah’s Ark a few thousand years ago. I wonder if they will make an appearance at the photo festival.

I want to go see the dinosaurs. And maybe Eve…she looked hot in that photo. Speaking of which, how did just two people produce six million billion. Was some incest involved, or did a bunch of other people get created way back when? Or did we just evolve from animals? So confusing…

The end of a long weekend has arrived. What did I do this weekend? Anything productive?

I ran on Saturday and the heat killed me.

On Sunday I watched Logan’s Run. I woke up around 11am that morning. I played around on the web and decided I should update this blog.

Today I updated the blog. Early returns on the poll look good. I went running after a big thunderstorm. The temperature was below 80 for the first time all weekend, but the humidity was 100%. Along the way I found a bill laying on the sidewalk. Mmm…free money (if you can identify the denomination and location be sure to let me know). I wonder how much cash the government makes due to people losing money and having it flow in to the sewer system? Oh well. I picked it up.

At the corner of South Street and Bang I noticed a wire that used to run from one phone pole to another had snapped in the middle. A wire with frayed copper wires at the end was laying on the sidewalk, while the other side was firmly attached to the top of a pole. I wonder what would happen if I grabbed those copper wires. I wonder if it will get fixed by tomorrow.

I watched House of Flying Daggers to close out the weekend. The final scene with the fall colors and snow…gorgeous. I’m also starting to read 1421, a book about when China discovered America.

Tomorrow a new week will begin. Hot. Humid. Another day in the south. Copper wire anyone? Copper coins?

The blog is about to go through a few changes…stay tuned…we’ll see what will break in the next hour or so.

Update: I think most everything is working…but enough fun for one morning. Time to go outside and feel the pain and punishment of the summertime heat (what month is this again?).

Enough with the “I dump crap down by the river” Dave dude…real music is finally coming to Charlottesville.

In other news, the arrest of four for having a broken plastic bb gun while trying to film a movie at UVA continues to get press. I still wish they would arrest the 6 year old girl I saw who was popping those caps that you throw on the ground. I was out running 10 miles or so and didn’t have my terrorist-threat cell phone on me. Otherwise…

Time to ignore the village for a few days.

It has been in the upper 80’s here for the past week. It was supposed to be 71 today. It was 87. Air conditioners are running everywhere. The laziness of the south is apparent. Spitting and smoking are blooming in the springtime.

A banjo plays here in the village after midnight. A group of youth are cackling down the street.

It is loud. I want to call the police..but would they be allowed to do anything about it. I bet there is a law in town that allows banjo playing 24/7, except when church is in service on Sunday morning (and that excludes when banjos are used in the church to play music).

Oh, I’m exhausted. I’ve been in this village three thousand days. It’s always looked so strange. The faces…so bored. In the distance a child is crying…smoking…a bojangled child, perhaps. My mind aches, my heart aches, but my feet…my feet are resilient! Thank God I took off my heels and put on my Hillbilly walking shoes!

This is your brain on banjo music.

I think the heat and thousands of days here have finally done me in. Not sure if I have much more energy to keep letting you all know about the thrill and excitement that takes place here in the village every single day. A change may be needed. A new source of energy.

Now with all the people running around in this village with guns, why can’t someone take out the damn banjo-ite? I fucking want to sleep. Isn’t this considered torture under the Geneva convention?