A trip to the Skylight Exchange

I took a step back in time recently when a friend introduced me to Chapel Hill’s Skylight Exchange. This hole-in-the-wall is enthralling. It’s part cafeteria, part record store, part used book store and part music venue.

I could spend hours in this old-school place browsing titles and thumbing through records, looking for the perfect ironic cover to hang on the wall.

And the sandwiches. Oh the unique sandwiches. I ordered the BBQ chicken salad, and it was the best sandwich I’ve had in recent memory. I’ve heard that the shakes are stellar, but I didn’t get one. I need to make another trip there so I can try one.

I don’t know much about the history of this place, but it’s pretty well hidden. When I asked two of my chick friends, both UNC grads, if they’ve ever been there, neither had heard of it. It’s tucked in an alley off Rosemary Street.

Certainly, some of you have been there before and can share some details I’m leaving out about this eclectic venue.

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.

Don’t hate me just because I microwaved my Peeps

Perhaps the most amusing thing happening in the Triangle this weekend is PeepFest 2008 at Market Street Books in Chapel Hill. The daylong event celebrates the marshmellow chicks and bunnies with activities such as Peeps jousting and a Peeps fashion show. This year’s theme is “Imagine World Peeps.” For the full list of activities click here. Market Street Books is located in Arts & Letters Community Center, 610 Market St.

In honor of this Peepabration, I made a quick video featuring the sugary, gooey animals. If you want to follow along, log onto How to Microwave a Peep while you watch this.

Without being grossly inappropriate, please tell me if you’ve ever put something else in the microwave that wasn’t supposed to go in there and what happened.

Some businesses just won’t tolerate poor cell phone manners

I stopped by Busse’s Lock Service at lunch so a friend could get a key made, and I was immediately impressed with this sign:

As the owner so aptly put it: “Tell you what, if you come in here talking on your cell phone, I won’t talk to you until you get off because I think that’s about as rude as you can get.”If you missed the short video I made with my co-worker, Wayne Sutton, last week on cell phone etiquette, check it out to see some other things you shouldn’t do while on your cell phone. You can read about some other rude things you shouldn’t do on your cell phone here.Do you always put down your cell phone at the check out line?