D_C

Wow! That's a blast from the past! I can remember having many a dinner and mind-eraser at the Mirror. Chris was a magician. A good friend of mine and I would have the blackened NY strip and frog legs. Chris always seemed to nail it every time. I would like to know what he is up to as well.

I was just reading that story and almost blew coffee out of my nose when I hit paragraph 4. That is an extremely high vacancy rate! It couldn't come at a worse time, just as I am about to put my house in the city up for rent this summer. I have been watching the rental rates in Richmond and they seem extremely high. I had initially planned on renting my 5 bdrm on Brook Road for a little over a thousand, but when I saw what other houses, similar to mine and in the same area, were renting for, I decided to ask for a little more. I wonder if the rental vacancy percentage is jacked-up here because the number of foreclosures might be lower than the national average. If the job losses here are not as bad as the rest of the country, then you would expect that there would be less foreclosures and a smaller number of people looking for rental property. Also, I wonder if the new condos are adding to this huge number.

I think the time has come to have smoking and non-smoking states. Virginia is a smoking state by default. Case closed. Now, I am off to the garage to fire up a juicy Camel Light!

I did see that a vast majority passed a bill that would make it illegal to smoke in a vehicle when a minor is also in the vehicle. Even legislators that opposed the restaurant bill. Although I oppose any legislation that would keep a business owner from running his/her own business, I do think that the no-smoking in vehicles with kids bill, warrants support.

I watched Nevada host New Mexico State the other night and I think VCU can take them!

At least a decade away. A lot of new things to retrofit old buildings can be developed in 10 years. This opens the door for brainstorming and brigh ideas to develop. I wouldn't call it a "goner" just yet. That's a pretty good stay of execution there.

If this is the same car I think it is, they might cost a little more than 12k. Mercedes is putting these little buggers out. From what I was told a couple of years ago, they can take a side impact and roll like a ball, while protecting driver and passenger. Think hampster in a plastic ball. They are all over Canada.

City of Richmond's new Chief of Police: http://ci.bridgeport.ct.us/newdepartments/...iefsoffice.aspx

From the sounds of that article, the possibility of the Nat's AAA team coming to Richmond is more real than I thought. I knew that Columbus had one more year on their contract but never figured that we would actually have a shot with the bad press and all. I believe we should hold out on AA ball in town, unless it is somewhere in the burbs, and sharpen our ability to land the Nat's AAA team here.

The Style article mentions the current tennants but does not mention the Virginia Credit Union. Isn't VACU located in the ground floor of that building?

Ahhh. the week just wouldn't be complete without the racist rants from Michael Paul Williams.

Or an amusement park. As for the final games at the Diamond, I would like to go and hurl my R-Braves butt-cushion onto the field like a giant frisbee. Although I live a few blocks from the Diamond, I haven't been since they announced they were leaving, and I don't see myself breaking the boycott now. Funny. I have actually seen television advertising these last few days, in an attempt to bring folks into these last games. What a great idea!!! Advertising on television to get fans to come!! Why didn't someone think of this like 15 years ago?

Pigeons have been poorly represented throughout the course of sports and mascots. Pigeons are a very popular bird yet are not in the sporting world today. We need to step outside of the box and recognize the Pigeon. The Richomond Pigeons ~ or, just ~ The Pigeons! Why shouldn't the flying rats be a good mascot? We have Spiders. When I lived in Oregon back in 1989, and U of R made it into the final 4, my friends always found it amusing that the University of Richmond had picked a creepy insect as their mascot. Think about it, a Spider. Sure, the Purple Martins are popular, today. But what about tomorrow? Pigeons are timeless! When the clique-ish crowd stops gawking at the Purple Martins, the Pigeons will still be there, poorly represented and unrecognized. Such is the life of a Pigeon.

Daniel Neman, like a lot of us older Deadheads, has been complaining about the sound at the Coliseum since 1985. There is nothing like seeing an excellent band perform a stellar concert, only to be minimized by piss-poor sound quality. I have seen all kinds of different types of music at the coliseum and one thing always remains the same; the sound sucks in that place! It would be a shame to see it go though, in a way. My parents dragged me to see Elvis there in the 1970's. In my opinion, the coliseum carries too much bass and the vocals are always muddied by the distorted mid-range and highs that are cranked to counter the oppressive bass.

Elliott Yamin may have had a little something to do with it but I believe that the surge in attendance was to see World Series pitcher Dontrelle Willis. Willis used to pitch for the Marlins in their heyday and was traded to the Detroit Tigers. He has been working his way back up through the minors and started Friday with Toledo against the Braves. (see story) http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...RTS02/808130422