Duke women’s rugby team wrestles in chocolate pudding

I was having a beer at the James Joyce in Durham a couple weeks ago and I noticed a stream of Dukies filing into the bar, yet the bar wasn’t getting more crowded. I didn’t realize there was a patio out back, where the Dukies were lining up to see the Duke women’s rugby team wrestle inside a baby pool filled with chocolate pudding. It was a chilly night and these young, strong women were in T-shirts and shorts, coated in chocolatey mess.

I have never participated in any type of wrestling match, but if I did I would definitely prefer chocolate pudding to jello. What would you be willing to wrestle in?

Check out tonight’s local Democratic and Republican vice president debate watch parties

Tonight’s a big night in the political world. Vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin square off in their first (and only) debate.

If you plan to watch, then I want to encourage you to get a little interactive with me.

I will be at Raleighwood (a local theater that is hosting a Republican watch party for the debate) livestreaming the party on 30THREADS.

My co-worker, Wayne Sutton, will be at Galaxy Cinema in Cary, which is hosting a Democratic watch party. He will also be livestreaming on 30THREADS.

So here’s what you can do. Turn the debate on your TV. Then log onto 30THREADS.com/debate where there will be two video players. One will feature the livestream from the Democratic watch party and the other will show the Republican side.

The idea is you can see how folks on both side of the political spectrum are reacting the debate. Won’t it be amusing to see if a theater full of Democrats are booing when Palin makes an awkwardly-worded point while a theater full of Republicans cheer her on (if they cheer her on)?

Barring no unforeseen technical difficulties (we’ve never done anything like this before, so who knows what will happen), it will definitely be a unique way to watch the debate.

I hope you’ll join us. We’ll also have chat rooms set up below the videos so that you can offer your two cents. So if you’re watching the debate at home and want to vent (NO MATTER WHAT SIDE YOU’RE CHEERING FOR) this will be a cool place for you to do it.

Looking forward to chatting with you all tonight. The livestreaming starts around 8:30 p.m. but the debate is scheduled for 9 p.m. Feel free to give my employer some love and watch it on NBC17 (sorry shameless plug, but they are the ones who are allowing me to livestream all of this).

Chat with you later.

The ice cream truck came to work today

Talk about a job perk. Our bosses ordered the ice cream truck to come deliver some treats to our staff today to thank us for our hard work. I went for the classic cherry screwball (You know the plastic cone with the gumdrop in the bottom).

I learned to play Guitar Hero and I liked it

I used to think Guitar Hero was stupid. I tried it a couple of times and it was too hard. The notes were falling so fast. I felt like I was going cross-eyed. So I wrote it off as a silly fad and forgot about it.

But then I went to visit my family in southern Illinois, where an actual source of entertainment for local teens is going to Super Wal-Mart. Luckily for this city mouse, my 13-year-old sister just got Guitar Hero. She kindly showed me how to play it, and with a little practice, I was on the medium level in no time. It was addicting.

Check out one of my first attempts at the game (includes some creative camera work from my sister):

After my trip, I spotted an article in the N&O about a North Raleigh teen who dropped out of school so he could devote more time to perfecting Guitar Hero. I read that Fox & Hound in North Hills offered free Guitar Heron on Sunday nights, so I went to check it out. I was hoping to spot Blake Peebles, the local Guitar Hero whiz. Instead, a friend signed me up to play.

Before I knew it, I was standing on a small platform in front of a restaurant full of people playing Guitar Hero on a projector screen. I played “Ruby” by the Kaiser Chiefs on medium and lost (though I contend the green button wasn’t working properly).

Fox & Hound offers free Guitar Hero from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. on Sunday nights. They have two guitars, so you can square off against strangers. It’s fun. And if you’re not into Guitar Hero, it’s completely amusing to just sit there and watch (especially when the bracket pairs up a tween with an adult).

A glimpse at UNC’s new ballpark

I arrived early for a meeting at UNC Tuesday morning, so I decided to walk over to the new Boshamer Stadium, which is currently under construction.

The Bosh is supposed to be open for the 2009 season. Here’s a peak at how things are going.

I’m not big into college baseball, but I thought some of you might appreciate a look at how construction’s going.

Raleigh’s shimmer wall is stunning

The shimmering oak tree that lives on the west facade of Raleigh’s new convention center is simply stunning. The sprawling tree is made up of nearly 80,000 light and dark aluminum squares and was completed a couple weeks ago. When the wind blows, the squares flap and it looks as if waves are rolling over the tree.

Soon, the tree will be backlit by LEDs, allowing the tree to glow and reflect a ton of colors. That won’t happen until the convention center officially opens on Sept. 5.

The success of this public art piece (or design feature, depending on who you ask) is apparently a big deal in Raleigh, which has had some hangups with other public art attempts, the News & Observer reports.

Two years ago, Raleigh officials rejected a hydro-electronic abstract sculpture planned for Fayetteville Street that was designed by Jaume Plensa, an internationally known Spanish artist. The decision led businessman Jim Goodmon to withdraw his offer to pay $2.5 million to help fund the project.

And then, in the mid-90s, there was a debate over the Time + Light Tower located in the median of Capital Boulevard north of the Fairview Road ramp, the N&O reminds us. The 40-foot tower is made up of glass panels that reflect rainbow colors.

I remember riding down Capital with my friend Graham when I first moved to Raleigh and asking him what that tower was. When he told me it was a public art piece, I laughed. It’s actually pretty cool (compared to most things in the Capital Boulevard median, anyway). When the Time + Light Tower went up, it “was called an ‘old derrick with mirrors’ by Tom Fetzer, Raleigh’s mayor at the time,” the N&O reports.

If you haven’t had a chance to see the shimmer wall for yourself, check out this hasty video I made.

The easiest place to pull over and view it is on Cabarrus Street, which is sorta closed for construction right now. Just head down South Dawson Street and turn left on Cabarrus Street to park. Then get out of your car and admire it’s beauty. An oak tree, of course, is a fitting shimmer wall stamp for the City of Oaks.

Have you seen the shimmer wall yet? Do you love it or are you underwhelmed?

Time for a text messaging competition

Triangle-area teenagers will face off in an instant messaging competition from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. The winner will compete for a “VIP Jonas Brothers concert experience.” The Jonas Brothers are a big deal among tweens and some teens. I know this because my 13-year-old sister literally has more than 40 posters of them plastered to her bedroom wall (which is pretty creepy, but I guess I probably had a similar amount of New Kids on the Block posters decorating my bedroom back in the day).

Check out the friendly text messaging competition my co-worker Wayne Sutton and I staged this afternoon. We both used our Blackberries, which neither of us are used to texting on, so we were at equal disadvantage. We need to know who won.

An interview with Chickens in the City

Raleigh’s city chicken owners invite you into their backyards for a first-hand look at keeping chickens in an urban environment. Discover the variety of breeds that might be nesting in your neighborhood, learn about raising chickens, and see how families integrate chickens into their gardening practices. In addition, you’ll be impressed by the ingenious coops that can be devised to shelter these feathered pets.

For information on where the tour stops and how to get tickets, click here.

Did you know there was such a thing as urban chickens? Could you kill a chicken you raised and eat it (I’m not saying thats what these folks do, I’m just curious)?

Highlights from the Duke v. Belmont game as played by Barbie

Our sports director, Penn Holderness, wanted to find a way to get around an NCAA regulation that says you can’t show highlights from the tournament until all games are over. So on March 20, when Duke beat Belmont in the final seconds of the game, NBC17 couldn’t show highlights on our 11 o’clock show.

But Penn wasn’t going to stand for that. So he recapped the game using dolls including making a stuffed frog play the role of Duke’s Gerald Henderson. You have to see this.

Bunnies are nasty little animals

Sure, they’re super soft, but that’s the only positive thing I can say about rabbits. I can’t stand them. My parents go me and my brother a rabbit when I was about five. We named him “Hopperoo” and built a pen for him in the backyard of our house in Chicago. The only thing I remember about Hopperoo is that he used to bite all the time. He eventually dug a hole under the fence and got away. Good riddance.

Fast-forward to my freshman year of college. My friend Karen needed someone to watch her rabbit while she went to New Orleans on spring break. It was litter box trained, she said, but that didn’t seem to be the case. That nasty little rabbit pooped everywhere but the litter box. It was disgusting. Oh, and all he ever did was bite too. What’s the fun of having a pet that bites you all the time?

So I’m happy to see that the Apex, NC-based nonprofit All Creatures Rescue & Sanctuary is holding its third annual “Adopt a Plush Bunny” campaign to help prevent impulse purchases of Easter bunnies in the Triangle area.

The “Adopt a Plush Bunny” campaign features “adoption” kits that come with a plush bunny of your choice, an adoption “contract” and care guide, a coloring book, and lots of other information on rabbits and rabbit care! Impulse pet purchases are almost always misguided, but when the pet is as misunderstood as the domestic rabbit, it can be even more problematic. Contrary to popular perception, rabbits are not cuddly pets happy to be toted around.

The organization is teaming up with the SPCA of Wake County to help keep bunnies out of the hands of people who won’t take care of them. Apparently, animal shelters and rescue groups receive an influx of rabbits following Easter each year. I volunteered at the SPCA of Wake County in January and was surprised to see rabbits there. Here’s some footage I took of the local bunnies.

Maybe you’ve had a better experience with bunnies than I have. If so, try to help me see the light.