While we’ve seen 40 deaths in 20 “going postal” incidents  in the last 20 years, we’ve witnessed a disgruntled postal employee close to home.

We are happy to announce that it was just about stealing for a Charlottesville native.  Our very own Kim Malone has plead guilty to federal charges of stealing money and gift cards from the mail.  Oops!  Should have realized most people keep track of their money, Kim!

[Read More: “Going Postal” at Wikipedia and NBC 29.  Pic. ]

Popularity: 27% [?]

**Please read the update to this thread**  

I recently stumbled upon a site by the name of Legistorm. If you go to the site, you will discover that does strive to be “transparency’s sidekick” as an informative resources about congressional staff salaries and many other things.

As a sister site to our recently reviewed Richmond Sunlight, you can find all sorts of crazy things on Legistorm. You can learn about salaries of congressmen and their assistants, you can learn about trips they took and you learn that most expenses are not itemized and, I quote, “good faith estimates.”

While the good faith estimates opens a whole can of worms, I was searching around and apparently, you can see all tax payer money that has sent politicians on trips to Charlottesville.

You can also see who invited the politicians and the reason for the event. Take for instance a trip on May 22nd, 2005 in which Senator Evan Bayh spoke at the UVa Law Graduation Ceremony. He charged taxpayers $821.41 for this trip.

Shouldn’t UVa have paid for his trip, not the federal government? It seems like a waste of money to me and somehow doesn’t seem right.

Check out the list for yourself. You can see taxpayers have given politicians almost $100,000 to come to Charlottesville since 2000. What do you think? Did you find anything else interesting on the site?

Important Update: LegiStorm chimes in and lets us know that this trip and many others were paid for by the sponsor… although it isn’t very clear on the site.  Sorry for the mixup!
[pic]

Popularity: 29% [?]

I know, a brewery? I would think the same thing…but I go where the wind takes me this week, and everyone seemed to finish the work day at South Street’s famous Tuesday evenings, full of cheap excellent beer and worthy grub. This review will be short and snappy.

I feared South Street would break my vegetarian streak of the week (and it was only Tuesday), but the words “portobello ravioli” called my name from the menu. I didn’t even bother reading the description assuming there was nothing in this meat related. Yes, I was right. The ravioli were giant round circles cooked perfectly and filled with sautéed portobello…they were dam good. The sauce was a crème based cheese sauce topped with parmesan cheese. This dish alone made the evening a success.

I couldn’t find anything else on the menu that appealed to my inner veggie except for the veggie optioned nachos. Did I miss something else on the menu worth noshing on?

Ravioli pic on Flikr

Popularity: 30% [?]

I wanted to make sure everyone saw cvilleMUSE’s coverage of the Satellite Ballroom closing.

It’s worth the read and very much a stellar article. Shaun, the author, concludes:

I am certain that there are a number of people working very hard behind-the-scenes to find an answer to Charlottesville’s current lack of a medium-sized concert hall.  Until that solution presents itself, what we can do as music fans in Charlottesville is get out there and support our local musicians and our existing music venues.  Their continued success is now more vital to our music scene than ever before.

Now, go check it out!

Popularity: 29% [?]

I had the pleasure of attending yesterday’s UVa student presentation on the Charlottesville Glocal Food System. I know, Vanillavy is handling all of the “green” stuff this week, but a flyer for the event caught my eye and I thought it would be a great break from the office. This is (what appears to be) a yearly event for a class at UVA focused on the local food economy/eco system. The class, consisting of both graduate and undergraduate sutdents, is titled “Healthy Communities, Healthy Food Systems (Part III): Global-Local Connections”. Now that is a mouthful. The following presentations were made:

»Read More

Popularity: 35% [?]

Day 2, the fight to eat vegetables continues. I feel a bit lighter and have a little more energy, but also feel a little gassy (I know, gross). Yet, the challenge goes on, and yesterday I found myself at the hippie strip mall on Preston Avenue. I mean hippie with the best of intentions. There is a yoga studio, The New Body Mind Spirit, where I had the pleasure of speaking with a hippie instructor. Apparently if you are part of the elderly or pregnant population in cville, this is the yoga studio for you. They focus more on the “intention” than the movement like a traditional vinyasa. Next door to the yoga studio is Blue Ridge Eco Shop. This is basically a store that has more green than your stomach/wallet/house can handle. They have everything from clothes to lights to cleaning products, very cool.

And then in the corner a couple feet away is Café 88. What is it with Asian restaurants and double digit numbers anyways? The previous founder/owner of cville’s vegetarian haunt Ming Dynasty, Li Chen, started a new Taiwanese café. The place is teeny tiny like a little baby, and the menu is even smaller. While some might balk at that, there is something refreshing about having limited options…there are so many restaurants out there that give the consumer so much choice, it’s a task in itself to order.

»Read More

Popularity: 31% [?]

I ordered a replacement keyboard for work, because I put coffee in my old one and it stopped doing its job. Made it hard for me to do mine. So I ordered from Apple (“Apple recognizes its responsibility as a global citizen”) a brand new keyboard. So today when I got back from lunch, I received this box:

»Read More

Popularity: 39% [?]

Behold the Zo Ca Lo Brunch Menu…

It’s very pricey. I think too pricey, maybe.

I will publish my review in the upcoming days, but have any of you been yet? What do you think?

Menu is after the break…
»Read More

Popularity: 35% [?]

So you might notice there is an ad for a Senseo survey on the ads on the right side of the page today. It said take a survey and you might qualify for a free coffee machine. So I took it, and answered all the questions to make me look like an “influential” in my community, and bam, I received this screen shot:

While this can’t possibly EVER compete with a Nespresso system, for just the price of shipping and handling it aint too bad eh? I did check out reviews on Amazon for this system and they aren’t the most positive…I guess you must remember this isn’t an espresso machine (although they do sell espresso style coffee pods) as it uses way too little pressure, but more of a fancy one-cup drip machine without the hassle of using those funny paper filters. I guess you can shop for higher quality coffee too. Any takers? I guess ads on cVillain aren’t so bad after all.

Popularity: 31% [?]

The brits are at it again! In response to Prince William’s landing a RAF helicopter in his girlfriend’s backyard, the BBC investigated how to impress your gf the Prince William way without dropping so much cash. While the article began with how to learn how to fly a helicopter and the cheapest one you can fly by the hour, the best way to impress seems to be to cook for your gf, and this quote explains it all:

A man in a cooking apron is the ultimate aphrodisiac for a female. Do something sensitive with snow peas and you will have her eating out of your hand - and perhaps other parts of your anatomy.

What crazy shenanigans have you done to impress your gf/bf/significant other?

Popularity: 26% [?]