Harley, the Heroic

It started with a bang and ended with a bang. The first bang - me knocking my iphone onto the floor when the alarm stunned me into a semi-wakeful state. The last bang - fireworks gone bad.

After more than a decade of traveling the first week of July, this is the first that I've actually been home for the 4th of July (Independence Day in the US).  For the previous 13 years, my 4th of July holidays were spent in Southern California either in Anaheim or Long Beach where I have had the pleasure of slipping out of meetings to view fireworks either at Disneyland or at the QE2, which is docked in Long Beach near the hotel where I was staying. GREAT fireworks, both places,  but my favorite was Disneyland . . . until now.

I lamented to my husband, Darin, that although I was really glad to be home, I would miss the SoCal fireworks displays. His response? "Ahhh, just go sit on the back deck and prepare to be amazed!" I was skeptical, but I positioned myself on the back deck "protected" by my dog, Harley, a West Highland Terrier.

You see, the people of North Carolina take the fourth very seriously in a "winner takes all" kind of mentality where neighbors try to out-do one another with their individual fireworks displays. Our neighborhood is set up with large back gardens (about an acre each) facing one another. With few trees in between the homes, it is the perfect setting for a fireworks bonanza unlike anything I've seen elsewhere.

It started at twilight . . . the time, NOT the movie. As the sky began to darken just after 9:00 PM, a few timid shots were heard signaling the invitations for neighbors to begin their "can-you-top-THIS" displays of visual prowess in pyrotechnics. I had a 180-degree view of fireworks - to the right, to the left, and in stereo, I could hear (but could not see) the cacophony of displays going on behind me. It was like having 3-D glasses on . . . I was in the MIDDLE of it ALL!

Now understand, these were not just bottle rockets, Roman candles, fire crackers and small fare types of fireworks . . . these were the BIG GUNS rivaling any that I have seen at the QE2 or Disneyland (sans the hearts & Mickey ears seen there). YIKES! I was actually pretty shocked!  At that point, I began to question whether I should draw closer or retreat as some of the displays seemed to be fairly close with debris raining down.

About that time my question was answered . A rogue 7-shot display from my next door neighbor, shot horizontally instead of its expected vertical trajectory which sent it skimming across my back garden about 2 feet off of the ground and only about 15 feet from my back deck. It was a LOUD one!  I jumped to my feet and ran down the steps to grab the garden hose just in case. There was no need . . . it fizzled before it could sizzle . . . or so I thought.

About ten minutes later, my dog started barking on the opposite side of the deck behind me. When I turned to calm her, I was quite surprised to see the flames that she was trying to show me! Sparks from the earlier shot had quietly ignited my neighbor's pine straw mulch and one of his tall Leland cypress trees! The rogue neighbors on the opposite side of our property noticed the flames about the same time, vaulted over the fence between our properties, and grabbed my garden hose extinguishing the blaze before it was able to do much damage to the tree. Our adventure ended with raking and soaking the area to make sure that no other sparks had the opportunity to advance into anything other than what was intended in the first place.

After turning on my sprinklers, Harley, the heroic, and I enjoyed the rest of the displays going on around us . . . these went on for another hour exceeding most anything I've ever seen! All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend an evening celebrating Independence Day from the comfort of my own home, and it will definitely NOT be forgotten!

GeekFest '08

I discovered my "inner geek" today as Charis and I visited CPCC's GeekFest '08. The first session we attended was an unexpected jewel - after the initial disappointment that Iqubal Quadir would not be presenting live but featured in a DVD presentation of a conference held in San Francisco earlier this year, I began to listen to what he had to say.

"When Iqbal Quadir applied to US colleges from his home town in Bangladesh he was surprised to discover that not all American universities were found in Washington, DC. That’s how it was in Bangladesh, where everything of importance was centralized in the capital city, Dacca. He later realized that Bangladesh was not unique; in most developing countries, the infrastructure is concentrated in one or two cities, leaving the rural areas almost blank. As he acquired degrees and experience in finance, he realized that this centralization is not only a mark of poorer countries, it is probably a cause of their poverty. Quadir presents this broad outline of development in order to give context for his belief that technology can alleviate poverty."

Quadir convincingly presented technological applications that shot down the typical "hands-out-give-our-poor-country-money" pleas, and systematically showed instance after instance where decentralizing power enabled the people in 3rd world countries to make life-altering connections that transformed the marketplace placing power back into their own hands. Thought provoking presentation.

We also attended sessions on 3D animation presented by a gentleman who has worked for all of the largest animation projects - most recently, Disney's Madagascar 2, a session on innovation and society, and two sessions on distance education - Moodle and BlackBoard.

Bonuses for the day were the door prizes - Charis and I had favor (of course!) and walked away with tons 'o swag - a 4 gig SD card, a USB Snowman Robot (yes, you read that correctly!), two tee shirts, two thermal coffee mugs, and a hat. I was secretly hopeful for the USB lava lamp . . . oh well, there's always next year's GeekFest!

Going Organic

Our family is on a quest - a quest for health. In that, we've decided to go organic and pursue weight loss through a program our chiropracters in Texas recommended. Switching over to all organic has been an interesting journey, and frankly, it has not been easy. Here in North Carolina there are not as many organic shopping outlets as we had in Texas. Oh, how I dream of the day that Whole Foods will open a Charlotte location. The nearest WF now is an hour and a half North of here in Winston Salem.

Our grocery budget seems to be "through the roof" right now. We're replacing spices and staples in our pantry with organic alternatives. Finding those requires trips to several stores - being that NO store carries everything that I need in its organic form. What used to be a quick stop at Sams or Costco + a trip to WalMart or SuperTarget now requires additional stops at several other markets to pick up what the other grocery stores didn't have.

On a lighter note, I did find an organic farm only 3 miles away from us. Time will tell on this one. We paid $150.00 for 5 weeks' of organics. This time of year, it's "iffy" for us. In my grocery bag picked up from the farm last week were a small bunch of tiny carrots, 2 bags of mustard greens, 2 other bags of unidentified greens, a little bunch of rosemary, and a small bunch of lettuce. Can I help it if I'm craving juicy tomatoes, squash, corn & cantelope? Eating in season isn't all it's cracked up to be!

This is a learning experience for us. Because I'm cooking a LOT more, it seems as if our lives REVOLVE around food prep, eating, and clean up. I'm sure this will change as I learn new routines. I'm beginning to experiment with grinding my own grain for baking bread, although I have to confess the first rolls I made were like hockey pucks - yuck! I'm told that I need to find a source for soft wheat berries so I can make pastry flour which should negate the "hockey puck" effect. We'll see!

All in all, it's a good thing for us. I can visualize our family healthy, at normal weight, and whole! God is good!