suburban george3

Thanks for the advice Jones133! I am looking forward to the trip, even though it is short.. plus trying it without the car! (I mean $29 bucks round trip and I can breath easy that my car is at home in the garage while all the drunks are playing bumper cars tonight!) I play stuff by ear a lot, so these are some great suggestions!

The train arrives at 8:50 (if not delayed), so I might have to grab a quick light dinner.. maybe a sandwich or something like that. Definitely lunch tomorrow.. I am meeting friends down.. I know we are going to Flex for awhile.. I'll see if we can break away for the Acorn drop. Also, it looks like the Amtrak station is fairly close to downtown/Clarion.. Google maps says .5 mile. Is that pretty accurate?

Thought I would pose this question here... I have decided to come to Raleigh and enjoy New Year's festivities at the clubs downtown. However, I'm taking Amtrak's Carolinian down and back (I could drive, but hey I'm plan on drinking mass quantities and I usually try to make sure my car is at home in the garage on New Year's.) I'll be arriving close to 9pm and will leave tomorrow just before 5. I'll be staying at the Clarion. I am going to have a few hours on New Year's day for a nice lunch and some downtown browsing. I know it will be a holiday, but does anyone have any suggestions?

mouth

bender

forward

Many cities across the country could have replaced Greensboro in this piece. This was nothing but bad news to sell print. Not much substance. Granted, it is happening, but all over (Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Wilmington, and other cities in the south.)

BB&T has picked up a bank that has failed in Georgia. Haven Trust of Deluth, with 4 branches and assets of $572 million and total deposits of $515 million as of 12/8. Hopefully BB&T can find ways to grow their business in the financial carnage. WXII Website about BB&T aquisition

chocolate

amazing

Detroit (sorry, no offense to any Detroiters on here, first thing to enter my head..)

I haven't seen this posted here, but looking at Sweet Potatoes website today, they announced on the Cotton Mill Restaurant Link that due to the economic downturn it has closed.

Just wanted other folks to read this, the town of Santa Coloma de Gramenet outside Barcelona was desperately trying to find ways to help power their community thru solar power. However, the town is so dense (124,000 in 1.5 sq miles) that there was little suitable land. A unique idea was found, they placed 462 panels on top of mausoleums in a local cemetery. The panels now feed power into the local grid and provide the energy needed for 60 homes removing 62 tons of carbon which would be produced to power said homes. Read about it here.

I had heard this location was available again, and was even informed original ownership was trying to get back into this location. I'm sorry, but IMO, this location was doomed from the start to be a grocery store. There is competition relatively close, the store doesn't front a major road, and residential development has still not come to fruition there. This space needs to be retasked, I don't think grocery retail is the best use for this space.

transition

The Senior Games being cancelled was a nasty rumor perpetuated by the Journal. I doubt Union Station will be the 'salvation' of East Winston. I canvassed these neighborhoods with the Obama campaign and having never really spent much time on this side of town was saddened and shocked at the state of things 'East of 52.' The city really needs to focus more on this area. Union Station will benefit WSSU first and Downtown a bit, not the areas of East Winston that need help.

I attended tonight's Winston-Salem City Council Economic Workshop meeting. While it was generally positive, I thought I would give you guys some highlights: Several seniors were there to voice opposition to cancelling the Senior Games. The city said this was an unfounded rumor and the games were to continue. Several people spoke up in favor of more supports for the arts, the jobs and tax dollars created by the art community, and support for proposed downtown arts projects. There was also much support for the Downtown Research Park. There was discussion on the 'inequity' in development between East Winston and the rest of the city. There were calls for additional job training and affordable housing downtown. There were comments that the city wasn't doing enough reseach or follow up in handing out incentive monies. The comments, IMO, were directed at the large amount of money handed out to DELL. While there was much talk, there wasn't a lot substantive that came out of this meeting. Just hours before hand Hanes Brands announced the layoffs of 155 high paying corporate jobs in Winston-Salem. They also did tell us that the city was just barely replacing jobs and we are falling behind our peers nationally. While the folks who were passionate about certain causes came out, there were no 'ingenious' thoughts to help stimulate our economy. I'm afraid we're going to study it to death while the city slips further back.

virus

steeple

Well, I actually got in line at 9:40! So, more than 5 hrs!! And what gets my goose is that the Journal said the wait there was 2.5!!!

While the quality isn't the best, this is a pic of the voting line today at the Southside Branch of the Forsyth County Public library. I took the pic at 10:15am and didn't get to vote until 2:45pm.

Wow, you really got up close JerseyBoy! Good shots!

I'm going to venture a guess that John Daly, a PGA Tour player, will probably not do any commercials for the Winston-Salem Visitor's Board after the events of this past weekend. John Daly was 'detained' after passing out drunk outside of Hooter's Restaurant on Hanes Square Circle in Winston-Salem around 1am Sunday. He was beligerent, uncooperative, and had no means of transporting himself away. The police decided he needed 24 hrs in jail to 'sober up.' I hope John gets a wake up call *again* and tries to get help for is problem. If not, alcohol is evidently going to kill this man. Read about it here.

(for) punishment