Loving this cat could lead to a vampire clown attack

As seen in the window of a bookshop on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

I forgot to write down the name of the store, so if you know where this is, please post it in the comments below. I think all businesses should be required to have a cat. How awesome would that be (unless you’re allergic or hate them, of course)?!

Running out of gas probably isn’t the best way to pinch pennies

I find myself longing for a day I once lamented. The day was March 5, 2008, when I posted a picture on my blog of the gas prices at a local gas station. I was complaining because I paid $3.25 for a gallon of gas. My how I miss those days.

Now that gas prices are right at the $4 mark, I find I never fill up my gas tank. I just pump in$12 and then make it last as long as possible. Luckily I can afford to put more in, but it’s the principle of the matter. When I bought my VW in college, it only cost $14 to fill her up. I find I drive less when I know I’m almost out of gas.

Stretching my $12 worth offuel has almost led to my car puttering out of gas a couple times already. Merging onto Raleigh’s Capital Boulevard is never fun when you think you’re about to run out of fuel.

Looks like I’m not the only one stretching my fuel as far as it will go. I found out today that the amount of North Carolina residents running out of gas on the highway soared 43 percent during the first five months of 2008 compared to the same time last year, according to a news release the Allstate Motor Club sent out today. The release goes on to say that NC residents called the motor club 179 times for fuel delivery between January and May 2008.

“We can’t directly correlate this rise in the number of people running out of gas to the rise in prices at the pump, but anecdotally we know that consumers are trying hard to stretch their dollar and sometimes that means stretching fuel into fumes,” said Allstate spokesman John Heid. “Drivers should remember running out of gas on the highway can be a lot more than an inconvenience; it can be hazardous.”

With higher fuel and food prices (CVS advertised a gallon of milk for $4.09 yesterday), I’m looking for ways to save my money. I imagine other Triangle-area residents are too. The TV Station I work for, NBC17, is seeking feedback from local folks about what they’re doing to save some extra money. People who offer particularly interesting or helpful tips may be featured in an upcoming news broadcast.

So if you’re doing something special to conserve gas, consider clicking here and posting a comment on my story about the upcoming series.

Or if you’re saving in other ways, take a look at this other article I wrote and consider sharing your money-saving tips with others. Your ideas could land you a spot on TV. And if being on TV isn’t your thing, then just think about the other people who may benefit from your ideas.

Meanwhile, do you think I’m crazy for only pumping $12 into my car? How much are you pumping in when you fuel up?

Find out what happens when 7 Tweeple take on a downtown Raleigh scavenger hunt

In hindsight, I see how naive I was. I truly thought our 7-member team had a chance to win the Raleigh Typhoon 2 scavenger hunt. To win, we had to decipher clues that lead us to more than 25 businesses in downtown Raleigh and complete a series of laughable tasks to earn puzzle pieces. Those puzzle pieces were the key to success, because they revealed additional clues that led to mega-bonus points.

Our team, “Tie-phoon Tweeple”, featured several Raleigh residents who use Twitter: @dtraleigh, @dimambro, @nematome, @kitch and two non-Tweeple.

I approached the adventure with an “in it to win it” attitude. As the only chick on the team, I was grateful that the guys let me take over the planning and execution of our strategy. You can watch a 1-minute video of us planning things out here. I had no idea that approximately 85 teams had entered, and it’s a good thing too because I don’t think I would have been as hardcore about our efforts If I knew that tidbit.

We managed to complete all but one of the tasks on the list, although it took us seven hours to do so. Here are some of the tasks we had to complete:

* Throw two bullseyes, bounce a quarter in a cup, win at Connect Four, toss two ping pong balls in a cup (beer pong style), sink a trick shot at the pool table all at Alibi Bar.

* Act out a white collar crime using props (we acted out blackmail, I played the role of a News & Observer reporter, while Kitch pretended he was running for city council) at a hip bar I’d never been to before appropriately named “White Collar Crime.” (Footage of this exists somewhere and if it makes it online, prepare for laugh).

* Count all the Frieda Kahlo images at Dos Taquitos (this was tricky b/c they were everywhere, including the bathrooms). There are 47, in case you were wondering. I think this was actually the most difficult challenge.

*Answer a bunch of questions about various things hanging on the walls at Napper Tandy’s, then sing karaoke as a team (the DJ picked Shaggy’s “Angel” for us, we were truly horrible).

*Take a picture of a hidden marker at 101 Lounge + Cafe and then put together a puzzle.

*Find a business card hidden in some pants pockets and take a picture of three palms at Vintage Nation (a vintage clothing shop that also sells plants).

And much, much more. To read all about our day, please check out @nematome’s blog about it. He truly captured the essence of the day from beginning to end.

Our team did not win, however. Although Leo (aka @dtraleigh) was able to decipher one of the clues after we put together our puzzle pieces. Thanks to him, we snagged 40 bonus points by locating the fountain on Fayetteville Street that is below ground.

In the end, I think we needed to start earlier in the day. We also needed to put together our puzzle much earlier. I had no idea there were more than 85 teams participating until we finished, or I might have lost some of my motivation. But I’m glad we put forth a solid effort. See more pictures here.

If you were there, what was your favorite memory? Mine definitely was acting out our skit at White Collar Crime.

The front page of The News & Observer will take a different approach on Mondays

Starting next week, the front page of The News & Observer will feature a different kind of news on Mondays. Instead of printing what news has already occurred, the Monday editions of the N&O will take a “look ahead” approach, the newspaper reported today.

Starting June 30, Monday’s front page will focus more on what’s going to happen than what has happened. It will look at what’s coming in politics, government, business, sports and culture. In place of the news summary on the left side of the page will be a staff-written news forecast. Stories will be shorter, some holding to the front page.

Financial pressures have put a new emphasis on coverage that uses less space. The Monday A section, for instance, will lose two pages, including the Monday op-ed page.

The change appears to be among several cost-cutting efforts the newspaper announced last week. Those changes include laying off 70 employees, consolidating coverage with the Charlotte Observer and more. All the changes come weeks after the paper announced that subscription rates are increasing.

The N&O concluded its announcement with this sentiment:

But necessity can spur improvement. Next Monday, we hope you’ll agree.

At least the N&O is trying to be innovative in a time when some newspapers seem unwilling to confront and adapt to the changing media landscape.

I’ve got the warehouse blues, and you can too

I visited my old home in Durham Friday to watch a free blues concert at the West Village, which occupies the former Liggett & Myers campus. About 50 people plopped down on blankets and chairs between two renovated tobacco warehouses to hear Tad Walters and Book Hanks perform for the Warehouse Blues Series.

I used to live in a loft overlooking that courtyard. On Friday nights, I would hoist open my warehouse-sized windows and listen to the live music drift in while I cooked dinner. Then I would head downstairs with a glass of wine and mingle with neighbors, friends and city officials (the concerts are sponsored by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation).

But that was three years ago. I thought for sure that the concert series would have either been trimmed out of the city budget or that so many people would have caught on that it would have lost its intimate vibe.

I was surprised Friday to see that wasn’t the case.

The only thing that changed was the positioning of band. Everything else was still the same. Still a good mix of West Village residents, city staff and families. Still wonderful live music. And still free.

The series runs until mid-August. Check out the line-up here.

McClatchy’s budget woes lead News and Observer to cut 70 positions

It’s another sad day for the newspaper industry, as McClatchy Co. announced it is cutting 1,400 jobs across the company. McClatchy owns 30 daily newspapers, including Raleigh’s News & Observer. The N&O announced yesterday that it is laying off 70 people, including 16 newsroom employees.

The N&O will also trim costs by combining its Business and City & State sections, reducing the amount of editions that provide tailored news to different circulation areas and by merging its sports, political and research departments with the Charlotte Observer’s departments, the paper reported. These changes come a week after the newspaper announced that it is raising subscription rates.

The move is meant to help ease McClatchy’s budget woes, according to the company’s news release about the layoffs.

McClatchy’s cash expenses were down 10.5% in the first quarter of 2008 and FTE (full-time equivalent employees) count was down 7.5% from prior year.

The moves announced today will produce annual savings of about $70 million from staff reductions as part of a plan to reduce overall expenses by $95 million to $100 million over the next four quarters. Combined with previous expense control initiatives, the company expects to reduce non-newsprint cash expense in the low double-digit percentage range over the balance of 2008 excluding severance costs of about $30 million.

I should note that I used to work at The Island Packet, a McClatchy-owned newspaper on Hilton Head Island, SC, before accepting my job here at WNCN. The Packet, which has a small staff of hardworking reporters, also suffered two layoffs — a reporter and advertising employee. In a memo to Packet staff, the publisher wrote:

We’re operating in a time of great change and challenge for our operations, for The McClatchy Company and for the newspaper industry overall. Increased competition and a pronounced economic downturn have combined to reduce revenues dramatically, and these cuts are part of the way we must respond.

Obviously the Internet and the economy is having a dramatic effect on the ability of newspapers to make the kind of profits Wall Street likes to see. But the suits seem to forget that while newspapers need to be repurposed, they still need to produce quality content. And engaging human interest stories, investigative reporting and holding the government accountable all take staff. When you eliminate newsroom staff, duties are shifted to reporters who are already busy with their own beats, or in some cases, those duties are eliminated altogether.

A sad day indeed.

Celebrating biodiesel production in Durham

The chain link fence lined with barbed wire doesn’t exactly make Durham’s Green Oil Campus look like the most welcoming location. But drive through the gate, and you’ll meet some of the most friendly, passionate environmental advocates around. I visited the campus Friday because Carolina Biodiesel, one of the many organizations operating behind the fence, was celebrating a recent upgrade that will allow the organization to produce commercial quantities of biofuel (they’ll start by producing about 1,000 gallons a week, but will eventually make up to 3,000 a week).

Several other organizations are also housed on the Green Oil Campus, including Greenway Transit’s pedicab and biobus and limo rental service. Here’s some more info about the campus:

Other enterprises based at the site include sister organization Forests of the World - a fair trade company, My Taller — a Hispanic mechanics shop, and YIKES! a new non-profit youth organization. The Green Oil Campus, as the Durham headquarters location is called, was born when Carolina Biodiesel leased the old Exxon-Mobil/Standard Oil Fuel Depot on Angiers Avenue a year ago from Orange Recycling, a local commercial recycler running its fleet on biodiesel. The site has since then been in a process of conversion from an unsustainable, polluting paradigm into a pioneering biofuels distribution point and a community center for environmental education.

The campus also features a large warehouse space that will be turned into “The EcoLounge,” where organizers hope to have semi-regular Friday night “enviro-edutainment events” and Saturday afternoon workshops.

The campus is located in Northeast Central Durham, an economically challenged neighborhood, and the folks who work there are trying to build relationships within the community.

Neighborhood children are encouraged to pop over and say hello and can often be spotted shooting hoops in the campus’ driveway.

If you ever have a chance to pop over to the campus, definitely take advantage of it.

The News & Observer raises rates while also considering possible newsroom layoffs

The News & Observer is raising its subscription rates, so says a letter attached to the newspaper that was tossed outside my front door Tuesday.

The increases aren’t much, but they come as the newspaper prepares to possibly lay off 10 percent of its newsroom staff.

A 4-week, home delivery subscription now costs $14.08, up from $12.70. If I’ve done my math right, that comes to an additional $17.94 a year.

The letter says the increases are necessary “in order to continue to provide our customers the highest level of service and to offset significant increases in newsprint, fuel and distribution expenses.”

Rising costs in gas and newsprint and declining ad revenue were cited as reasons why the N&O offered buyouts to about 200 workers this spring. Only six newsroom staffers were reported as accepting the buyouts.

With possible layoffs looming, I take issue that the letter notifying me of the rate increases saying the increases are necessary “to continue to provide our customers the highest level of service.”

Is that really true? I don’t doubt that the reporting, writing and photography continues to be top-notch … but how long will the news staff continue to keep that up with less staff?

Further, I’ve heard that the N&O, like many newspapers, is reducing the number of pages it prints. I don’t know/have specific stats on how many fewer pages there are (or will be) and what sections of the paper they’re coming from (obviously quality is less likely to suffer if the page cuts are coming from say classifieds or comics versus news or sports).

The small increase in subscription rates will not lead me to cancel my subscription to the N&O. It makes sense with the rising gas and newsprint rates. I just wish the circulation guy who wrote the letter would have chosen his words a little more carefully in explaining to me why more money will be deducted from my bank account next month.

It’s sad that the N&O even has to resort to layoffs to cope with McClatchy’s budget problems. But who knows what will happen with the layoffs, some were predicting they would happen Monday, but I haven’t heard of the ax falling yet.

I’m sure a lot of my Internet friends can’t even fathom subscribing to the print edition of the newspaper. Do you think $14.08 every four weeks is worth having the news delivered to your door every morning? How do you think newsroom layoffs might affect the quality of the N&O?

Public forum on transit scheduled for June 26

The Triangle needs some form of reliable, timely public transportation to connect us. Sure you can catch a bus in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. You can even catch a bus between the cities (though as downtown Raleigh blogger Leo recently discovered, there are some issues with it). But efforts to bring other mass transit to the Triangle have stalled mostly because it’s super expensive.

But if you’re interested in finding out what speed bumps really stand in the way of bringing enhanced transit to the Triangle, then steer yourself over to N.C. State University next week for a forum aimed at raising awareness about transit issues.

The event is called “Transit: Is Wake County Ready for It?” and is being sponsored by Wake Up Wake County, a group of residents who educate others about the effects of local growth. It runs from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday June 26 at NCSU’s McKimmon Center, 1101 Gorman St., Raleigh.

The keynote speakers are Carol Coletta, who leads CEO’s for Cities and hosts an NPR syndicated program called “Smart Cities” and Keith Parker, CEO of Charlotte’s CATS, the city’s new rail service.

The forum will provide an evening of open dialogue about the real potential for transit’s success in Wake County. WakeUP hopes that the event will propel the community to action as it evaluates the recommendations recently made by the Special Transit Advisory Committee and the state’s 21^st Century Transportation Committee. No other citizen group in Wake County is organizing a similar public education event on transit.

A panel discussion on transit in the Triangle will be moderated by Nina Szlosberg, DOT and 21^st Century Transportation CommitteeBoard member. Members of the panel will include Smedes York (STAC co-chair), Courtney Crowder (SE Raleigh Assembly), Mary Ann Baldwin (Raleigh City Council), Matt Christiansen (KB Home) and other business leaders in Wake County. There will be no admission charge.

Get your summer reads at Raleigh City Museum

A lot of my friends know I get a physical rush when I’m shopping for shoes or clothes in a store that carries stuff in my style. I have to run my fingers over the fabric, pick up the shoes, ponder the possibilities. I feel more alert, but also a little soothed. I must slow down and take everything in. This is why I prefer shopping alone. I don’t like being hurried.

I get a similar rush when I’m in a book store, particularly a used book store. There’s nothing like thumbing through titles you never knew existed until you wandered down a different aisle. I love the musty smell lingering on the pages of aged books. I read the first pages of many books that will never become my own. I buy books knowing it may be years before I pick them up again. But there’s something about letting them live on my shelves until I’m ready for them … unlike shoes and outfits, they’ll never go out of style.

On Friday, my friends and I stepped into the Raleigh City Museum on Fayetteville Street to see what was on display. I was thrilled to find a used book sale happening inside. The titles were impressive, including many classics, some old textbooks and an impressive children’s book selection that brought back memories of my “Choose Your Own Adventure” and “Fear Street” reading days. I could have spent an hour or more scouring the tables for titles. But not all of my friends were thrilled about spending Friday night browsing used books, so I paid for my 1950s edition of Huckleberry Finn, a biography about Freud and some retro mini-Hallmark greeting books with plans to return.

The sale runs through Friday, according to staff at the museum. You can browse the books (and the historic displays) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. The museum is also open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Hardbacks run $3, paperbacks are $1, and children’s books are 50 cents. The proceeds benefit the museum and its educational programs.

Let me know some of the other non-chain book stores worth checking out in the area. I’m particularly fond of the Regulator Bookshop in Durham and Lazy Lion Used Books in Fuquay-Varina.