The state’s trash becomes your treasure at the N.C. State Surplus Property store

When you walk into the North Carolina Surplus Property store, you’ll immediately see several rows of used office chairs. Many are stained, tattered or sagging. But at $3 bucks, it might be worth looking past the coffee stains of state employee past.

I went to the store Monday to see what it was all about. I left feeling like I walked through an institutional time warp. The state’s surplus store is filled with worn wonders. A $5 turn-dial TV. A large $25 light table. A $400 restaurant ice maker.

Each item is marked with a sticker noting which state department it used to reside in, a small notation offering a peek into its past. Most of the state’s surplus stuff must have seen its heyday in the 70s, 80s, and 90s or so it seems. Still, there are some cheap finds on office furniture and other miscellaneous odds and ends (raised toilet seats, staplers, floppy disks and more).

And if you go at the right time, you can even wander around the Drug Seizure Property Showroom. The room features everything from flat screen TVs and couches to a surf board and table saw. Items in the showroom are only available for sale via a bid process.

The store is located on Chapel Hill Road in Raleigh, not far from its intersection with I-40. Just look for a large fenced-in lot filled with state vehicles. You can buy those too. Hours are here. Directions are here.

Have you ever bought anything from the state surplus store? I didn’t this time, but I’ll be back.

Kay Hagan’s campaign signs are waiting for a ride

It’s been nearly seven weeks since Election Day, and it looks like Newly-elected North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan still can’t hitch a ride on a bus. These signs have been hanging out for quite some time behind this bench at the bus stop on Glenwood Avenue near Anderson Drive.

At least the signs have been removed from the roadside. Still, hasn’t enough time passed for all of the Triangle’s campaign signs to be removed?

Cary celebrates Christmas in the strangest ways

When I want to get into the Christmas spirit, there are certain no-fail traditions I can fall back on. Watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” or “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.” Decorating the Christmas tree. Sipping yummy Egg Nog. Tuning to the All-Christmas music radio station. Watching the kids line up at the mall for their chance to whisper their wishes to Santa.

But there’s something happening at Crossroads Plaza in Cary that seems more dangerous than festive: Riding in a horse-pulled buggy with Santa Claus. Traffic at Crossroads is crazy this time of year. I don’t see how having a horse clopping up and down the parking lot hauling small children is a good idea.

When you’re a kid, it’s probably pretty cool to ride around with Santa for a few minutes. But is this really the best venue?

I made a guest appearance on WXDU’s Shooting the Bull

Two of my favorite Durham bloggers invited me on their weekly radio show last week. Kevin Davis of Bull City Rising and Barry Ragin from Dependable Erection host “Shooting the Bull” on WXDU. The duo talks Durham politics, community and more at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays on 88.7 WXDU.

I was in Durham interviewing Kevin for an upcoming Threadcast on 30THREADS. So I hung around the WXDU studio to chat about 30THREADS, the changes I noticed in Durham from when I left the Triangle in 2005 and returned to the Triangle in 2007, and more.

If you’d like to listen, my interview starts about 10 minutes in:

Your family’s holiday photos and videos could appear on NBC17

Did you believe in Santa when you were a kid? One of my co-workers blogged today about how HER PARENTS NEVER LET HER BELIEVE IN SANTA. Of course, I had to tell her the story about how I found out there was no such thing as Santa. You see, around age 6 I became skeptical about the existence of this jolly, gift-giving fellow. So on Christmas Eve, I plopped my pillow and blanket down in front of my parent’s bedroom door and slept on the floor.

I was convinced I wouldn’t get any presents from “Santa” because there is no way they would be able to open the door and walk out to the living room without waking me up. Well, I must have slept like a rock that night because the next morning I woke up and my stocking was full. After that, my belief in Santa was reaffirmed. Of course my belief would eventually be shattered when I found all of the ornaments I left for Santa (along with some of my childhood teeth) in my mom’s sock drawer.

Anyway, I bring up these holiday memories because I’m really jazzed about this project that the talented Page Crawford is working on. She’s putting together a 23-minute holiday television show on NBC17 featuring photos and videos of Triangle residents. But in order for her to create the show, she needs stuff to fill it with. That’s where I’m hoping some of my Triangle readers can help out.

Do you have any photos or video clips from your family’s holiday celebrations that you’d love to appear on air? Page is piecing together all sorts of content. So if you’ve got an old video clip of your child screaming because she got a Tickle Me Elmo doll that one year it was really hot, send it Page’s way. She’ll even take photos of your kids crying when they met Santa for the first time or videos of your over-the-top yard decorations.

I’ll keep you posted on what day the special will air. But in the meantime, if you’d like to have some of your memories possibly appear on TV, you can submit them here. Please only submit stuff if you live in the Triangle though. Page is trying to fill the show with lots of local stuff.

I’m going to see if my mom has any funny and/or embarrassing childhood Christmas photos that she can dig up so I can share them on my blog. I’ll keep you posted.

Capitol Broadcasting CEO jokes that Raleigh is “stupid” for not accepting downtown light art

A thin, blue light will regularly be jutting into the downtown Durham skyline. The light sculpture by renowned Spanish artist Jaume Plensa is the newest piece of public art in the Triangle, making its home outside the Durham Performing Arts Center. It was unveiled Monday during the ribbon cutting for the new theatre.

The beam of light is not without its critics, including astronomers and other pro-environment types who see it as light pollution. Capitol Broadcasting Co. (which seems to own everything in Durham’s tobacco district) agreed to pay for the sculpture if the city of Durham agreed to maintain it for 25 years. The News & Observer reported that the annual utility bill for the light will cost an estimated $3,350, along with an additional $4,415 being spent on annual maintenance.

Those of you who pay attention to the local art/development scene may remember that this isn’t Capitol Broadcasting’s first attempt to bring a lighted Plensa piece to the Triangle. The Independent’s David Fellerath explained the failure of that effort in this article:

In 2006, Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen, after civic debate and feasibility studies, recommended the city reject an ambitious Plensa project that would have brought a dizzying matrix of overhead water and lights to the re-opened Fayetteville Street. The rejection came in spite of $2.5 million proffered by Goodmon that would have covered a quarter of the initial cost.

So now that you have context for the Raleigh v. Durham Plensa debate, watch this video from the Plensa unveiling.

If you’ve had a chance to see the new blue light beam in downtown Durham, tell me what you think about it.

The view of the downtown Durham skyline is changing

I was cruising down the Durham Freeway this morning when I spotted some sort of green mural on the side of the new parking deck that adjoins the Durham Performing Arts Center. At first I thought the Chapel Hill mural bug must have bit the Bull City, but I as I got closer, I saw that they were mesh panels hanging from the top of the deck.

I was so glad to see these panels camoflaging the concrete deck.

In July, I wrote a spokeswoman for the city of Durham and asked whether there were plans to conceal some of the concrete. Here’s what the parking deck looked like then:

She responded saying the banners were forthcoming. Eventually, there will be a building adjacent to this parking deck, which will block the deck’s view from the road. In the meantime, I applaud the city for taking steps to spruce up a generic parking deck. I hope the folks building the parking deck for the new Hue development in downtown Raleigh take a similar approach.

Don’t forget, tonight is the official ribbon-cutting for the Durham Performing Arts Center. The public event starts at 5:30 and includes the lighting of the light sculpture “Sleep No More,” by artist Jaume Plensa.