Telmnstr

Leaning tower of Norfolk building also says under contract.

Dude, our stupid gov't gave people MILLIONS of dollars to do something, gave them a HUGE BONUS for doing it something sort of on time, then it turns out it's all garbage. Now it has to be torn up, and redone, and they are going to PAY FOR IT AGAIN with OUR MONEY. A private company wouldn't PAY AGAIN. They'd demand it be corrected. People have a huge right to be negative. Gov't wastes money at an epic rate, at a time they really shouldn't be doing that.

Gonna have to make it! The background tracks of the Clipse are sorta catchy but I generally avoid rap these days that is all about the ghetto or violence. It's run it's course, it's old, no one cares about the ghetto, etc. It's cool that there are more tech jobs, as long as they are good. I worked on a contract for the NAVY via EDS (NMCI) and it was pretty much the worst thing ever. They blew tons of money, had lots of really bad people, and overall I can see it doing a lot of damage to the area. Jobs aren't good jobs, and the gov't contractors have a habit of not attracting the best, or providing environments that just aren't really great.

If businesses want to build overpriced housing on their own, I say let them go for it. As long as the gov't gets out of the way, once the businesses fail then the housing stock will be returned to the market at a fair price. If it wasn't for the gov't holding up housing prices now, it'd be way cheaper. The gov't giving out $8000 to people who buy homes (this was pushed by the Realtors lobbyist group who originally wanted it to be $15,000) has really kept the market moving. I think it costs us taxpayers something like $40,000 per home sold to give out that $8,000, but I don't remember the source of that. Also, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which now require something like a $1,000,000,000,000 ($1 trillion dollar) bailout are the source for most new loans, many of which will go bad. This stuff just doesn't get press because so many people have an interest in keeping the values artificially inflated, they don't want to admit it. I know a few friends that have sold recently, and all have been short sales of $50,000+ less than what was owed. As a country, people need to get this ish out of their system that they are gonna get n rich by reselling crap over and over, and not really doing anything of value. Need to make cool stuff and push mankind forward. Where is our 400mph trains. I only get to live so many years, I want jetsons up in this piece by the time I clock out.

Charlotte had lots of money flowing in from the banking world. Granted, most of it is pretty much fraudulent. Norfolk just doesn't have any sort of growing industry. Our regions income is pretty much all welfare from the gubbmint. All the businesses moving to Wells Fargo (was Wachovia) tower are moving from other buildings. Dominion tower and what not.

Had 3ware.. ugh. 3 way cafe last week or the week before, it was pretty good. Bean There coffee is now open. Coworkers like the tea they got. Dude from Jack Quinns is always on the street. Pushing hard for delivery and lunch and stuff. I kind of feel bad for them. Is everything okay? For once I've been basically not spending any money on eating out. Cutting waaaay back. So I generally walk home or to the hackerspace for lunch. Guess I should bring it, but I feel the need to go outside.

It's going to be amusing! Lot's of new businesses opening up downtown, but I'm not sure how they are doing. Bean There just opened, perhaps in anticipation for the light rail stop.

The only reason downtown traffic is really bad is because of the tunnel going to Portsmouth. That's the backup, it has been, and the train won't fix it. It takes what, 15 minutes to go from downtown to Town Center via car. ODU to downtown is what, 7 minutes? Depending on lights on Hampton Blvd? The train isn't addressing the issues that impact everyone.

Interesting. Bean There coffee shop is opening up where David Nygard used to be in City Center (right near new light rail station.) And the rumor is, they are building condos on top of the taphouse. LOL.

Tom Arney who bought Havanas bought out the space that used to be Club 7s and was said to be turning it into a gentleman's club. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/05/no-go-gogo-bar-norfolk More recent: http://hamptonroads.com/2009/08/former-gogo-bar-owner-plans-granby-venue-dancers (That news dropped right as the city revoked ability for the Waterside bars to serve alcohol. Now it's been revealed that that was most likely to shut down various clubs that cater to the urban crowd and drive that business to Palace on Plume.)

I haven't had it yet but heard it was good. I think the place used to be Club Soda. It is owned by the same person that owns Byrd and Baldwin Bros steakhouse (across the street) as well as some other restaurants.

Doumars is kinda overrated, might as well go to Dog N Burger in ghent, burger should be a bit better. Cogans Pizza (also has lots of beers) Snappers (cheap lunch deals) The Vineyard (cheap lunch deals, good food) Hells Kitchen The New Belmont Machismo The mongolian BBQ in waterside Famous Uncle Als (cheap lunch, I frequent, no stalkers)(Bkfst/Lnch only) Empire (only been twice but the food was gooood!) Places I used to go more but have fallen back on: Havanas (prices crept up)

The walls at the Walls gallery are lookin' blank. It might be gone.

Cajun I believe. I've heard it's good, it's one of those I haven't been to yet. Went to Byrd and Baldwin one night. It was okay I guess, but it didn't really stand out that much to me.

Sat/Sun on Granby, lots of stuff can be closed at lunchtime. Don't forget many restaurants are closed on Mondays (some sort of tradition thing.) Recently friends and myself have been trying to go to places we've never been. Had never been to the Velvet Lounge until the other night. Keep trying to go to Fahrenheit but we keep going on Monday nights and it's closed. The Vinyard place is great for lunch, but dinner looks pretty expensive so will stick to it for lunch.

It's like 4 people have all the restaurants in downtown Norfolk.

I remember driving in Philly and there was this crazy noise and I look in my rear view mirror. I'm like, WTF IS THAT!? then I look in the side view and figure out it's some sorta trolly thing behind me, presumably po'ed that I'm in the way. Teehee. Bute Street near Bosch is coming along FAST. It's almost all surfaced now, I'd say it's not far from done. Finishing sidewalk and what not. Bute Street near AT&T is close as well. City Hall near MacArthur Station is same. Finishing sidewalk replacement, and I think it's due for asphalt. Shouldn't be too long.

Ah so people buy their insurance from Amerigroup with their own money? Or employer provided or something?

There was actually a really smart dude we knew from the hack scene a while ago that had some how hooked up with this local girl, and was thinking about moving here. I was surprised, but in the end she ended up moving out to where he was I believe. His big issue was he traveled a bunch for work, and all of the lights in Norfolk were mostly connecting flights. Yea he was in Atlanta. His job would let him live anywhere.

Most of the parking in Freemason is 2 hour limited unless you have a zone 1 permit. They actually extended the time, it used to end at 6pm but was changed to end at 8pm. IIRC it was said that employees of businesses on Granby were parking in the neighborhood and walking to work, so people in the neighborhood were complaining about lack of parking.

We rent space on Bute street near Duke and are there many nights. Out of nowhere all the concrete was poured for the remaining curve area on Sunday. It's pretty much there. They haven't paved the street, and were finishing off some concrete this morning. Fast. City hall ave is done as far as rails are concerned, near the MacArthur station. Not sure about Plume street, I know the rails are through much of the road. Bute next to AT&T/Verizon/Xtuple was a bit farther behind, but I wouldn't be surprised if they put concrete in it today. The rails were there I think. This leaves Monticello near the courthouse I think? And cross Waterside Drive.

Yea went by the Vineyard place last night (not lunch) and it was quite a bit more expensive. Wish there was places to get human sized portions of food cheap without spending $20. We ended up at Hells kitchen. Yea, the Pilot article mentioned Kelly's changing.

The Vineyard place on Granby (Near a favorite, Famous uncle Al's). RIGHT ON! Cheap eats my friends! Do it!

Two Asian dudes showed up at the hackerspace. Couldn't speak English much at all. Said ABC Market. After a few attempts the word Beer worked. I couldn't explain to them that ABC store only has hard alcohol, but Farm Fresh has beer too well. Gave em directions to Farm Fresh, but now that I think about it maybe they were headed to the ABC store near HOH. Very cool nonetheless. Last year Scottish dudes were chilling in my apartment building.