cVillain

Charlottesville can feel really small sometimes. You head out to the bars on the mall and you probably see the same 500 people almost every night.  Sometimes we’re graced with social students from UVA, but most of the time, it seems as though there is a divide between the non-UVA singles and the UVA singles.  I don’t mean UVA employees; they seem more willing to escape Mr. Jefferson’s corner scene.  I mean the grad students who live only within UVA and look at you weird if you are a “townie.” Ok, I digress and I know that generalizations are evil, bad, mean, wrong, etc, but the point is we live in a town with a small dating pool.

What we’re talking about here is how you probably know almost everyone in Charlottesville through at least a second connection.  This becomes a particularly pertinent issue when you are on the dating scene.  » Read More

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Yes, another one bites the dust.  DP reports it will sell its main office building and property on West Rio Road.  The DP reports:

The Progress building, a former hardware store located at the corner of West Rio Road and Berkmar Drive in Albemarle County, and its land have a combined assessed value of about $4 million, according to county records.

Daily Progress Publisher Lawrence McConnell said the newspaper looks forward to finding an appropriate space for the news, advertising, circulation and business functions of the paper, which could result in staying in the current facility. The Progress has been in the Rio Road building since moving there from Market Street in downtown Charlottesville in 1983.

The sale of the building became more of an option after Media General decided to shut down the press on Rio Road and shift printing of The Daily Progress to a company plant in Hanover County and printing of the Waynesboro News Virginian to the company’s Lynchburg newspaper plant. Each had been printed in Charlottesville until July.

Can’t see we didn’t see that coming. Does this mean DP will start to give us exciting news? Its too early to tell. They really have nothing to lose at this point though.

[pic from herval on flickr]

Popularity: 2% [?]

The City of Charlottesville¹s Public Works Department is offering free Christmas tree pick-up beginning on Monday, January 12th.

City residents must have their tree, free of decorations, wires, stands, tinsel and nails, curbside by 7:00 a.m. on the 12th to ensure pick-up that week. The trees will be recycled into mulch for use on City property, including parks and trails as well as the entrance gardens into the City.

For more information citizens are encouraged to call the Public Service Division at 970-3830.
[pic from inhisgrace and no Charlottesville doesn’t burn trees like this]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Our birdies were spot on about Urban Outfitters leasing the old Hardware Store space.  We heard this rumor back in August of last year. We love the birdies WCAV confirms it after talking with a spokesperson.  There are no more details at this time. 

[pic from ncindc]

Popularity: 6% [?]

Thats right another drug related post.  Wait a minute, this has nothing to do with local cocaine use, but that of bees.  Thats right, bees love coke, and according to the Guardian this is what happens when honey bees get a super low dose:

after dabbing low doses of cocaine on the bees’ backs before they went out, the researchers observed that when they returned they were more likely to dance for their nest mates, and performed particularly vigorous routines explaining where the food was located.

The dance language gave Barron and his colleagues an indication of what was going on in the bees’ brains. Rather like a cokehead in a crowded nightclub, cocaine made the bees much more enthusiastic communicators. This was not simply because they were generally more energetic: the extra enthusiasm was in order to communicate with nest mates.

You mean like a cokehead in a crowded bar in cville!? Yes, my ill attempt at trying to get all you cokeheads to fess up. I will take anonymous emails reporting vicious cocaine use among local honey bees via the contact page.

[pic from wwarby on Flickr]

Popularity: 8% [?]

From the City… In a survey just released by Farmers Insurance, Charlottesville ranked as the 18th (out of 127) safest mid-sized cities in the Country for metropolitan areas with populations over 150,000 and less than 500,000. This Farmers Most Secure Places to Live survey analyzed crime statistics, housing depreciation, air quality, weather, risk of natural disasters, life expectancy as well as job loss numbers. Olympia, Washington took first place, with two other Virginia cities making the top 20, Lynchburg coming in at 9th and Roanoke at number 15.

Full list after the break… » Read More

Popularity: 10% [?]

With a little help from our friends at Holy Taco, I will try and guide you single folk for your upcoming fiestas

1. Do your homework:  hopefully there is a facebook page setup for the party.  if not create one.  this will help with rule #2.  once the group is set, stalk and befriend your choicest cuts of meat.  spring break pictures from college are a good benchmark to stalk on, however if college was more than 6 months ago their bodies could have changed drastically….for the worse.  you have been warned.   make friends ahead of time.  look at their pages, and wikipedia every one of their hobbies.  its not every day a guest at a party meets another person with the same interest in 14th century bible collecting.
2. Make an entrance:  your goal is to have everyone know who you are within the first 30-45 min of the party.  remember, time is of the essence and there is definitely a deadline (midnight).  try to be memorable but not stupid, cute but not cocky, funny but not cheesy
3. Watch for the alcoholics:  after the point of no return, people who have had too much to drink are flipping annoying.  know how to look for those and avoid them….you do not want to dilly dally
4. Look for desperate people:  as the night mosies on, pheremones and good looksdo their part to bring pairs together.  for the rest of us its a free for all.  look for the wall flowers and draw them out, like picasso paints…or something
5. Prepare yourself:  be ready to entertain your target be they sober or drunk.  rule #1 helps with this.  you should know the family tree, favorite book and whether or not they are married to their best friend from high school
6. Make someone feel really good about themselves:  if you are seriously considering this step you most likely have not followed steps 1-5.  either repeat this exercise all over again, or find someone with something seriously wrong with them and pretend they are 150% ok.  if you act this way when you have a drink in hand, the other person will assume you are drunk, you have no inhibitions and are speaking veritas
7. Prepare your exit:  once you are ready to seal the deal you better have  Jeeves waiting for you, or Wahooptie on stand by.  there is a fine line between someone seriously considering going home with you and realizing they are about to go home with you, then snap out of the funk and run away, far far away….

happy hunting
[pic from motleypixel on flickr]

Popularity: 10% [?]

A birdie sends in a tip.. 

I heard someone say that they were closing ZydeCo.

Anyone know more? I always thought this place was doing pretty well. I can remember at least 2 other places that didn’t last in this building.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Sent in by a birdie..

I’d like to see coverage of the rivalry between Milan and Royal Indian. The owner of the latter was a chef of the former until some kind of dispute sent them separate ways. Now there is a fierce competition — and maybe a hatred — between the two, leading to all kinds of shows of animosity, including very obvious “fake” reviews on charlottesville-dining.com for both. Some of them make veiled but clear references to the other. I tried to make a point about this in a review there, saying that you can’t trust all the comments, but of course it was edited out.

More broadly, this is reminiscent of the Mas affair. Lots of big restaurant fish fighting for their rights in this small Charlottesville pond. Funny stuff.

Few comments after the break…

» Read More

Popularity: unranked [?]

 A wise man once said, “Jesus is just alright with me. Jesus is just alright. Oh yeah.”

Join the C-ville Skeptics for “Xmas” dinner at China King on Dec. 26. You must RSVP or you’ll have to sit on the floor! Join our next regular discussion dinner here: http://www.meetup.com/The-C-ville-Skeptics-Group

What the heck is a Skeptic? You might be a Skeptic if:

• You’re a big fan of science
• You haven’t been to church in a long, long time
• When you did go to church, you felt like “EVERYONE KNOWS I’M A PHONY!”
• You start sentences with “I know I’m going to hell, but…” on a regular basis
• You enjoy a good reason-based debate
• You’ve ever said, “Evolution controversy… wait, there’s a controversy? No, seriously?”

[pic from amy b]

Popularity: unranked [?]