Chooo-Chooo!

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) released the draft of its statewide rail plan.  DRPT put together the plan to deal with the growing needs of Virginia transportation.

Specifically, the projects identified in the plan represent $4.9 billion in rail investments which could remove 7.3 million cars and trucks from Virginia highways and more than 1.2 million tons of carbon emissions.   The projects are: Shortline Railroad,  Port of Hampton Road, Passenger Rail initiatives and High- Speed Rail initiatives. See the fact sheet for a brief overview of the projects.

It looks like there wasn’t anything mentioned for Charlottesville improvements. 

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Unless you live under a rock, you have to have at least seen the only tarot card reader on the downtown mall. Perhaps he smiled, and you kept on walking, or perhaps he read you a future you never imagined. I assume most of you keep walking, hey, I was guilty of just that. I decided to break social norm and find out who he is. Here are a couple “Ed” factoids:

• His name is Ed Rowe (pronounced Rau-German ancestry) and he will talk your ear off
• He is a father
• a veteran high school teacher of the New York school system and probably one of the most well-read people you will meet in cville (outside of UVa I presume)
• He is a college graduate and has a Masters degree as well
• Has a cell phone that he pays for himself and ONLY uses to call his children
• Sleeps in a camp-site every night
• Showers and cleans his clothes every day
• Uses email regularly at Mudhouse or the UVa library
• Never begs for money and will NOT accept donations

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Popularity: 69% [?]

How many times must we tell Charlottesville?! When you want to rant Craigslist is NOT the place to run. While dealing with my daily Craigslist obsession I found a post by a local SPCA volunteer.

The volunteer wanted to express their disgust with someone that put a dead deer in the SPCA dumpster. Did you know it cost $100.00 to get the trash people to pick up something of that nature? Seems a little ridiculous if you ask me. I would get up in arms about such a fee too. You would think the city would AVOID charging non-profits silly fees.

The volunteer seems to think this act was directed at “High Tech” (as it used to be in their current location). I highly doubt that and I think the reality is that the dumpster was convenient. The volunteer attempts to reason with whomever left the deer, by suggesting a $100.00 donation to the SPCA. I agree, the person never should have left the deer, but Cville was in the wrong to charge for pick-up.

Let me just reiterate - Have a problem? Want to complain? Get with the times and FIND A BLOG.

Check out the clist post after the break

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Popularity: 39% [?]

Well, if you didn’t think we were green, you have been living under a hole.  Charlottesville recently got two awards that solidify our kingship of the best places to live.  Even if Forbes thinks we aren’t as cool as midwestern cities, we still have them beat in a few places:

Outside Names Charlottesville Top 20 Best Towns in America…AGAIN!

According to Outside Magazine, Charlottesville was among the 20 best cities in the Country to locate and enjoy outdoor living. Charlottesville was the only city in Virginia to make the list. In addition to Charlottesville, the list includes: Washington, D.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., Ogden, Utah, Portsmouth, N.H., Tacoma, WA, Ithaca, N.Y., Louisville, Ky., Eureka, Calif., Crested Butte, Colo., Columbia, Mo., Oxford, Miss.; New Orleans; Oakland; Sacramento; Levittown, N.Y.; Wilmington, N.C.; Corvallis, Ore.; Seattle; Brattleboro, Vt.

and..

Charlottesville is one of the top 10 MSA’s for Owners of Hybirds [from Buy Hybrid Car]

The list (# of Hybrids per 1,000): »Read More

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Hello Everyone - I thought it would be good to let you know that we redesigned cvilleStyle.com and added Zikki Munyao to our team. I know you probably don’t want to read a press release, so here are some FAQs:

Why did we redesign cvilleStyle.com?

Because Haidee was on strike until we made it look better.  No, seriously, the default look to our theme was extremely ugly.  We reskinned it with a bright, modern look. I hope everyone likes it.  We do.

Who is Haidee?

Haidee Cline has been managing cvilleStyle for several weeks now, but she sent us a short bio which you can read in full.  She graduated from the University of Richmond, worked for national geographic and graduated from Darden.  She is married to Matt Cline, a Charlottesville dentist.  She has a slight obsession with shopping, decorating and parties.  If you see her, make sure you ask her about this slight obsession.

Who is Zikki?

Zikki Munyao grew up in Kenya and recently graduated from the University of Virginia.  He was a member of the US Army and has experience driving 18-wheelers, so we decided to hire him to manage our advertising sales.  He is a billiard player and enjoys mountain biking.  He’s busy meeting everyone in Charlottesville, but I’m sure he’ll make time for you.  Say hi if you see him!

[full press release here]

Popularity: 36% [?]

Anoop Eats a Chocolate Covered Key Lime Pie Ice Cream Bar

Apple recently selected Anoop Ranganath’s Graffitio service as one of 500 applications to be included in the launch of the iTunes application store for the iPhone.  Over 4,000 pre-screened developers had the opportunity to get their applications in the store.  They choose Anoop as one of the 500 elite; Anoop is also a cVillain and a big foodie.  You may have visited his not-so-recently updated blog, “Stay in the Shallow End.”

On Thursday, Anoop let me play with Graffitio before you could download it officially (you can now download the free application if you have an iPhone).  It’s pretty neat because you can easily have a conversation about any nearby place without all the annoying registration requirements.  Importantly, you can’t talk about a place unless you are physically in that location.

Anoop and I had a tough time brainstorming how to describe Graffitio.  We ended up thinking that “Around Places” was a good catch phrase.  Is it? 

Social networks typically use people as the focus of a conversation, but Graffitio centers around unique places and events, created by you based on the location data on the iPhone. Instead of registering for a profile, just simply be in the right place and the relevant places automatically appear on the Graffitio walls. When you write on the wall, the app records your thoughts and adds it to that specific converstaion stream.  Graffitio intelligently organizes locations based on number of items and by dynamically evaluating the number of walls, so you always see the right number of relevant things.

Here is a screen shot of the application:

Anoop told me there have been over 1,000 3,000 walls created in less than 24 hours and that he expects that number to grow quickly.  If you have any suggestions for the application or get a chance to play with it, let Anoop know! He’ll be watching!

P.S. if you comment on the Spicy Bear HQ wall, I’ll give you brownie points.

Popularity: 51% [?]

A man that was once in charge of Orange County (town manager) was indicted for child molestation in 2000. He was sentenced to ONLY 10 years!! He has now been accused of 133 counts of child pornography. What is wrong with this picture?! Might I suggest a town hanging? Watch out for this guy in ten years (oh wait, you will have forgotten about him and I am sure he will move in next door to you and your children). The justice system can be so frustrating. Read the full story below.

Associated Press
Published: July 11, 2008

MARION, Va. — A former Orange town manager on probation for sex offenses involving children has been indicted on more than 100 child pornography counts in Smyth County.
Virginia State Police Sgt. Mike Conroy said Friday that 44-year-old Doyle W. Frye was charged Wednesday with 133 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of conspiracy to commit sodomy.
Conroy said the state Department of Corrections intercepted a letter that led to the state police investigation of Frye and a search of his work computer. He said Frye was arrested in November on a probation violation and has been held in jail since then in Orange County.
In 2000, Frye was sentenced to 10 years in prison on child molestation charges in Orange. He was town manager for five years, and was fired when the charges were brought in 1999.

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Today you can buy (if you can find it) the iPhone 3G from AT&T, the hottest thing to hit the market since sliced bread.  You may recall one of our own being one of those trendy types who is probably waiting in line as we speak. According to a poll in that same thread, 25% of you will be getting the iPhone 3G.

On the flipside, that hunk of metal, glass, plastic and electronics creates more buzz than starving babies.  No, I’m serious.  On this website Engadget, they field questions from eager morons about meaningless things, like the following:

Santz24: How wildly does it dance on the table compared to the first iPhone?
If you’re asking how the vibrate function compares to the original, we got the two buzzing side by side and they feel pretty much identical.

If you’re asking whether it wobbles on the table as you use it, yes, it does — but the amount of wobble depends on the type of surface. But even on a hard, flat surface it’s not really that bad, and we’re usually sticklers for that kind of thing.

My wobble has always depended on the surface.  Do you think they will start including it as a phone feature?  Seriously, if people care this much about a phone, then I consider my existence no longer meaningless.

Looking for an iPhone in Charlottesville? »Read More

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So Uncus covered a neat story this week about the Cville public school systems going green, and by green I mean they will do away with traditional disinfectants and use soap and water or green products. While this idea seems promising and a major blow to our good ol’ buddies at P&G/Unilever/Johnson & Johnson etc, some residents are concerned about the efficacy of non-traditional cleaning products in protecting our children.

So this brought up the age-old Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest. Surely our bodies were meant to live in a world without 409 and Tilex, so who is telling us we need it? Wouldn’t it be better for all of us to be exposed to germs at an early age and let our bodies tough it out? Plus, if any of you have used “green” cleaning products like the Meyers line, you will no doubt have already fallen in love with the delicious smell of Hibiscus kitchen cleaner…if it weren’t that strong I would drink it, its that good. I say let kids learn good cleaning habits on their own and get sick. Kids these days are coddled way too much. Isn’t it strange to you that the experts quoted in the Uncus article claim children do not have good hand-washing practices? Really? I wonder why? Because according to the parents, they can get away with having poop all over their hands and clean it with anti-bacterial hand gel, YES! Wonderful idea. If kids at any age don’t know how to wash their hands with soap and hot water by now something is seriously wrong and nature should be allowed to take its course. Imagine a future employee greeting you on interview day with flies coating his shit stained hand, “Oh its cool dude, here is some cleaning gel!”. Yummy.

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I think I watched the construction of this crane for almost an hour a few days ago.  Coolest thing to happen to Charlottesville in a long time. Isn’t this the biggest object in Charlottesville, ever?

I put a slideshow after the break.

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