Ginny from the Blog

This is what your drain strainer looks like:

My bike broke several months ago, while I was still living on Hilton Head Island, SC. I was riding through the Sea Pines Forest Preserve when the rear wheel came loose and started to wobble. So I walked my bike home (about a 1.5 miles), and I’m sad to say it has sat unused ever since.

That’s changing this week. I dropped my purple Trek off at All-Star Bike Shop in Raleigh to be repaired. If all goes well, it should be back in working order by Wednesday.

I’m not sure how well my beach cruiser will handle Raleigh’s hills (Hilton Head Island is completely flat and located in a part of the state referred to as the Lowcountry). I hope to ditch my car more often (especially as gas prices continue to rise … I spotted $3.29 on my drive to work today) and get to know my city by bike.

So hopefully my cute bike will be in working order soon. Then I can take advantage of Raleigh’s bike routes.

PUBLIC INVITED TO BICYCLE PLAN OPEN HOUSE ON APRIL 2

The City of Raleigh and the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation are developing a citywide comprehensive bicycle plan for the Capital City.

The City’s original bicycle plan was adopted in 1991 and subsequently incorporated in the City’s Comprehensive Plan. The comprehensive bicycle plan will include a thorough update of the original plan and provide an integrated, seamless transportation framework to facilitate cycling as a viable transportation alternative throughout Raleigh.

An open house will be held on Wednesday, April 2 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Glen Eden Pilot Neighborhood Center to ask for the public’s input and ideas on bicycle routes, infrastructure and facilities in Raleigh. The Glen Eden Pilot Neighborhood Center is located at 1500 Glen Eden Drive.

We found out yesterday (thanks to a front page article in the News & Observer) that the city of Raleigh is incapable of picking out a decent logo for water conservation. Today, the N&O announced a contest asking readers to submit ideas for a mascot that could represent local civic issues. Here are some examples the N&O offered to get us thinking:

Invent a mascot for a civic issue in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill or elsewhere and send it to us. Here are a few examples to get you going:

* Terry the Central Raleigh Teardown
* Gus the Wake Reassignment Bus
* Norv the Blueprint, emblem of the Carolina North planning process.
* Crumbles, the DOT Rubble

This is a pretty clever way to engage readers. I’m glad to see the N&O redeeming itself after running the raindrop mascot on the front page yesterday. In fact, that’s probably the reason they ran that ugly thing on the front page, just so they could promote their contest today.

Hmmm. Wonder what a good mascot would be for Ginny from the Blog?

I’m not sure which of the following is more annoying:

1. The city of Raleigh has announced the creation of the ugliest mascot to help urge residents to cut back on water usage.

OR

2. That the News & Observer chose to feature the poorly-designed mascot today on its front page .

The mascot’s name is “Rainy” and he’s an ugly, blue raindrop with a creepy, toothy grin. The N&O reports that the mascot was made by a graphic designer in the city’s public affairs office. It doesn’t look like the graphic designer logged a lot of time working on it because it’s so poorly designed. I guess that’s a good thing since the designer’s salary is most likely paid through taxes. A better idea would have been to have a contest and see what local high school and college students could have come up with.

OK. Turning to the N&O. Why is this on the front page? Sure, the story is cleverly written and actually features a little background on mascots in other cities. And it’s always nice to balance out the front page with a lighter story. But come on. A poorly designed mascot does not deserve front page play. Put it in the City/State section.

But props to writer David Bracken for this description of the mascot: “Dressed only in boots, gloves and a floppy hat, Rainy bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Potato Head caught in a downpour.”

What do you think? Does the creation of this mascot deserve to be on the front page? And do you think this raindrop makes a good mascot for the city’s water conservation efforts?

Our sports director, Penn Holderness, wanted to find a way to get around an NCAA regulation that says you can’t show highlights from the tournament until all games are over. So on March 20, when Duke beat Belmont in the final seconds of the game, NBC17 couldn’t show highlights on our 11 o’clock show.

But Penn wasn’t going to stand for that. So he recapped the game using dolls including making a stuffed frog play the role of Duke’s Gerald Henderson. You have to see this.

I took a Sunday drive and came across this sign on a pole on Kittrell Drive in Raleigh. I was encouraged to see this homemade sign on a telephone pole.

I haven’t played tag since I was a kid. But I’ve been challenged to an Internet version of the game by the lovely Lenore who writes the Eclectic Glob of Tangential Verbosity.
The rules are simple:

• Post 10 random things about yourself
• Choose five people to tag and a reason you chose them and make sure to tell them
• Don’t tag the person who tagged you

OK, so this may sound like one of those MySpace bulletins we all groan at. But I think it’s a cool way for you to get to know me better, and in turn for me to get to know you better. I’ll follow the rules and tag five people, but I want any and all of you to post some random things about yourself in my comment section. Let’s all play along.

Me first.

• I actually enjoy ironing. I even iron my jeans.
• If it has raspberries in it, I’m eating it.
• I collect magnets (feel free to send me one).
• I get chills when I say the Pledge of Allegiance.
• I take my coffee with cream and two Splendas
• When I was about 6 or 7, I was bit by my friend’s doberman. I still have the scar. I hated dogs until a couple of years ago because of it.
• I like taking pictures of my feet in the random places that I go. It serves as a cool place marker when I look back through my photos.
• I love to plant flowers, but half way through the summer I usually flake out on watering them and they all die.
• The first concert I ever saw was Hootie and the Blowfish. I won tickets on the radio when I was in high school. I saw Hootie again last summer, because I had to cover the concert for the newspaper I worked for on Hilton Head Island.
• The only office I ever ran for was student council in high school and I lost.

OK. Now all I have to do is pick five people to tag, but I think I’m going to break the rules and only choose three. I pick:

• Mike from absent.canadian because he always shares fun, random details on his blog.
• Brandy from My Life on Camera Phone. She’ll probably answer in pictures instead of words.
• Ashley Sue from Green Grounded. Who knows what she’ll come up with.

And I’m not making this a one-sided game. You can all play along. So tell me something random about yourself.

Spotted on the back of a pickup truck in Raleigh:

I guess we know who he’s not voting for. Wonder what the Democratic response to this bumper sticker would be? No Paul, No Nader, No POWs.

The first time I ever heard of Cheerwine was in September 2005. I had just moved to Durham, NC, and a co-worker took me to The Q Shack for lunch. And there it was, Cheerwine mingling with the other fountain sodas. It was so foreign to me, but when I finally tried it I fell in love.

Cheerwine is a sugary, cherry-flavored soda that comes from Salisbury, NC, and in my experience is stocked only in the South.

About a week ago, I went to Cook Out (a North Carolin a-based burger joint) and saw they had Cheerwine floats on the menu. So, while waiting in line, I posted a tweet on Twitter about it (see below).

Have you ever tried Cheerwine? What’s your review?