Latest Blog Posts
From the “Our ‘Society’ Treats Women Disgracefully” Dept:
I wish I could say that the advent of Justice Alito’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org. in a substantially similar form to the first draft that was leaked a few weeks ago was a surprise but considering the current membership of the Supreme Court and their ideological and religious leanings…it really isn’t. Anyone who saw Dobbs get granted certiorari to be heard in this session knew that if Dobbs didn’t succeed…
From the “Once Again on Bat Bridge Near LAX!” Dept:
Once more we’re streaming “LA Flights” on YouTube but this time we’re waiting for arguably the most famous plane in the world…the VC-25A (a heavily modified Boeing 747-200) known as Air Force 1 when the President is aboard. I did have a chance to see Air Force 1 live from the Observation Deck at RDU when President Obama came to town and I was rocking two cameras whilst crammed against the railing of the platform…
Two New Categories Added
Two new categories make their debut in the BLOG: Harrowing Tales of Customer ServiceWhat’s For Dinner? The Harrowing Tales details the good, bad, and the outright ugly of “customer service” interactions which I am absolutely convinced will kill me far more quickly than cancer or someone brandishing a gun! The “Chick Fil-Audit” series of BLOG posts live in the Harrowing Tales category which give a play-by-play breakdown of life spent in the massive Chick Fil-A…
From the “Queue Karma Strikes Again!” Dept:
Another day, another sandwich thanks to the Hurricanes staying perfect in the playoffs at home. Now, if only they could win on the road… 😉 This trip through the queues from hell takes us to the Knightdale location which often features the longest queues and wait times. Interestingly enough, this would be the second straight trip through the drive-through where Karma will make an appearance. This location has what appears to be a single-file queue…
From the “Is This Your Idea of Fun, Mav?” Dept:
A quick run to Clayton and it’s time to head through the White Oak Chick Fil-A so Katie and I can redeem our free sandwiches thanks to the Hurricanes winning at home at PNC Arena! Katie needed to make a quick run into Target for a birthday gift which is why we were approaching the conga line from that direction rather than the more usual approach from the main entrance near McDonald’s. The reason for…
From the “Double Secret Contract Interpretation” Dept:
Quite a while ago, I found myself having to find a new home for the corporate bank accounts after my current credit union refused to accept for deposit a check written to my corporation. For the first time in over ten years! And whilst that made me rather unpleased at the time, I ended up finding a lovely home for the business accounts thanks to USAA not offering business account services and my father being…
From the “Making a Withdrawal” Dept:
After celebrating Nicholas’ birthday at Tupelo Honey in the Village District, we ducked through the drive-through at the Chick Fil-A just down the way to redeem our free bird courtesy of another Carolina Hurricanes win! This location is one of the more unusual designs I’ve ever seen. The building itself looks normal enough but it’s the drive through queue that has this weird look like the building was previously a bank. Here we go! 2031…
From “Just When You Thought the D850 Couldn’t Get Cooler…” Dept:
I’ve had the D850 for a year now and finally got to play with a feature I knew the camera had but had never used…the WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. Up to this point, I hadn’t needed to mess with that built-in networking functionality because the workflow to get the images off the camera’s memory card always started with loading the pictures into Lightroom using a card reader. It’s so fast loading directly off the card…
From the “It’s Not Where You Start But Where You Finish That Matters!” Dept:
It’s certainly been a heck of a birthday and even as tempest-tossed as it felt at various points, I’m thoroughly happy to be able to finally relax and let the day end far more peacefully than it had started. Mind you, the first part of the day was truly lovely…it was quite the treat to have all three of the kids stay over last night and be here in the morning to give me the…
From the “Best Birthday Gift Ever!” Dept:
On 06 Jan 2022, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what memory was going to be at the heart of the birthday message I’d be writing today. Like many things in this world we live in that dredge up memories we’d thought long forgotten, the inspiration for this story comes from something that would lead to an unspeakable tragedy for a friend who has seen and endured so much these past few years…
From the “Lord’s Bird, Part Deux” Dept:
Katie and I visit the Garner store on Timber Drive at US-70 to redeem our free sandwiches from the Hurricanes win in Game 2. I’d already visited Chick Fil-A with Julia earlier in the day but this excursion is after school and a trip to Sam’s to get some materials for tacos that Katie had requested for dinner this evening. I know, I know…tacos on Cinco de Mayo. Gringo move! But she asked for them…
From the “It’s A Chick Fil-Audit, Kind Of” Dept:
Julia was my co-pilot for this trip through the queues at White Oak for her free Lord’s Bird thanks to the Hurricanes taking a 2-nil lead in their series with the Boston Bruins. I’ll have a more standard Chick Fil-Audit for later in the day but now it’s a quick trip to redeem her free sandwich and then get her back home so she can rest. 1136 – Mobile order placed via the app for…
From the “Next Stop, The Twilight Zone!” Dept:
First game of the playoffs is in the books between the Hurricanes and Bruins and it’s a 5-1 win for the good guys and time to go grab that Lord’s Bird! Katie had some homework and Alex was training on the track so I figured I’d take a shot at redeeming the reward at the Knightdale store which is not usually my favourite in terms of time or quality. Will I make it through the…
From the “Internet Scumbags Are Getting Much Better” Dept:
I was going to start off today’s writing session with the latest Chick Fil-Audit but this story goes straight to the head of the queue. It looks like the hoary old NIH scam is making the rounds again, this time with a twist of COVID-19 and exploiting Facebook’s lovely cross-app messaging feature with a fake Instagram profile. Mind you, that profile looked pretty convincing with the image as long as you didn’t actually click on…
From the “Won’t Be Seeing Those Prices Anytime Soon!” Dept:
In this era of horrible inflation (*cough* PRICE GOUGING *cough*) when it comes to petrol prices, I have to say it was kind of neat seeing these classic beauties rolling down the road when prices weren’t quite so insane. Mind you, 1973 was no picnic with the OPEC oil embargo and the resulting queues at the petrol stations and rationing of available fuel but those seem idyllic times compared to today’s insanity at the pumps!…
From the “Was There A Salt Succubus On The Fry Station?” Dept:
The Hurricanes put a bow on the 2022 regular season by beating the NJ Devils after having topped the Metropolitan Division with the added bonus of Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta winning the franchise’s first Jennings trophy for fewest goals allowed by a goaltending tandem playing a minimum of 25 games in the season. Yes…more free bird! 🙂 Given the time of day and the traffic, it’s back to White Oak to see if they…
From the “The First Step Is By Far The Hardest” Dept:
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I felt fear myself more times than I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”Nelson Mandela from “Long Walk to Freedom” (1994) During last night’s Carolina Hurricanes game, the broadcast lineup had a very noticeable change with Shane Willis…
From the “Home of One More Plane!” Dept:
YouTube recently served up a channel that I’m truly obsessed with when I want something on the TV that is relaxing hearing the air traffic control chatter and occasional sounds of jet engines spooling up whilst I’m surfing or just chilling out in the chair. I’ve been a plane spotter about as long as I can remember and there’s nothing quite like the hint of JET-A in the air but when it’s late at night…
From the “More Like Chick Fail-A!” Dept:
Decisions, decisions! Which way will I go to redeem the free Chick Fil-A sandwich courtesy of the Hurricanes winning another game at home? The two nearest choices from the house are Knightdale which is decidedly closer but the queue and the bird are usually abominable or the store on Capital Blvd in front of Sam’s which is much farther away but the experience is usually much better. Seeing as I’d like to be back before…
From the “Hello, It’s Been a While!” Dept:
It’s always a pleasant surprise when you find someone you’ve not seen in a while on the TV! Today it is my sister’s former boss when she was Artistic Director at the Gilbert Theater in Fayetteville and generally all-round awesome human being…Robyne Parrish! 🙂 She’s not on screen for long but she was there long enough for me to do a double-take and Zapruder the credits to ensure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. You might…