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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 21 (2026)
- Thread starter JNA
- Start date
- Messages
- 18,113
- Points
- 66
We leave tonight for the first college touring for my kid... I am excited for him, but also sad and can't believe that he is that old.
Anyone have experience with Washington and Lee, Elon, Davidson, Appalachian State, or UNC-Ashville? I will see them all in the next 5.5 days!
Anyone have experience with Washington and Lee, Elon, Davidson, Appalachian State, or UNC-Ashville? I will see them all in the next 5.5 days!
Planit
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 21,069
- Points
- 68
We only had two submittals come in this week, but one of them is a Master Plan Amendment, so it'll keep us busy.
SlaveToTheGrind
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 5,207
- Points
- 54
Such is the case with master plans. MP development never builds out to what was initially approved. I have a few projects with several thousand residential units each and one is on the fourth development agreement amendment. With the other, we are just waiting for and amendment and have been told the same by the master developer. Thankfully, the later granted preliminary plat approval so final plats are staff-level. I also have a tech master development that is also on the fourth DA amendment.
Big Owl
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 4,022
- Points
- 52
UNC-Asheville was on my youngest daughter's long list. She liked the idea of being in Asheville and it's a small school, around 3k if I remember correctly. Ultimately, she decided against it because of it was too small to have options on professors in the lower level classes, low graduation rate as a lot of students do a year or two and go somewhere else, and the biggest was Hurricane Helene as the Asheville Area was hit hard.
Other than that, I can only comment on food places...
If you are in Asheville during the breakfast hours, I recommend Biscuit Head and Sunny Point Cafe both are solid breakfast spots.
Appalachian State (Boone), the Daniel Boone Inn is a good spot to experience southern comfort food served family style, It's like eating at mee-maw's.
Elon, there's a Smithfield BBQ and Chicken location right near the interstate coming from and going to the College. I ate at it this past weekend. It's a local chain that serves whole hog pork BBQ with vinegar sauce and decent fried chicken. I am certain that the BBQ isn't cooked on site so it's not a real deal authentic BBQ place. But it works when you can't get to one of the old school places. The banana pudding sucks as it doesn't have any real bananas in it. The hush puppies are incredible when they are fresh out of the fryer. The sweet tea is decent but it won't give you diabetes like real southern sweet tea should. The ice is the "good" ice.
Development Agreement Amendments are the most royal PITA's we've had, anywhere I've worked.
SlaveToTheGrind
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 5,207
- Points
- 54
Add the initial DA, too. Last and current jurisdiction love DAs. I, do not. Previous place I worked for 15 years probably had DAs I could count on one hand and have fingers yet to be used.
Planit
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 21,069
- Points
- 68
We don't like development agreements, so we use another option.
We call it Development Notes, which is basically one-way notes describing the project in detail (materials, open space improvements, etc) from the developer. There are no guarantees from the city in that document unless something there are some specific improvements.
We call it Development Notes, which is basically one-way notes describing the project in detail (materials, open space improvements, etc) from the developer. There are no guarantees from the city in that document unless something there are some specific improvements.
dandy_warhol
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 13,798
- Points
- 60
I put it on my list! ThankyouverymuchHave you read "What Moves the Dead"? I can't remember.....if you haven't yet, then grab that one. It's my favorite.
The Terminator
Cyburbian
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- 2,705
- Points
- 45
Verizon is down across NE, its pissing me offk as much as not having a cell phone is nice for deconnecting, I have business to conduct
DVD
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 20,266
- Points
- 62
Is there a full moon or is the light reflecting off Ursus's hair causing people to act funny down here? I'm getting all the weird requests today. Nothing difficult, just extra research to determine property owners and why you lot looks like it does or a property that was annexed only half way.
zman
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 9,486
- Points
- 44
Huge rant completed to my manager while we reviewed the local chambers (hopefully) draft Visitors Guide. Great format and font, if it was 1998... I couldn't find any restaurant information. We have one local clinic, the information for which is tucked at the bottom of a paragraph describing the board make up for the regional hospital district... We do have a whole page devoted to the state prison, with information about the work crews from said prison that the city sometimes uses. Also, the guide is not divided between Spanish and English in separate guides... but rather repeating identical pages - one after the other. My manager, a native Spanish speaker, cannot understand the Spanish used in the narrative...
I was actually annoyed when they put a cell tower near our cabin in the mountains an hour out of town. We go there to DEcompress once a month.
We made a rule for ourselves: 20 minutes a day to catch up on stuff. Other than that, phones for tracking steps only.
JNA
Cyburbian Plus
- Messages
- 32,958
- Points
- 79
Were any of you in the Sea Scout program ?
How cool is this opportunity ?
As posted on FB
Do you know a Sea Scout who wants the adventure of a lifetime? Encourage them to apply to sail aboard the tall ship US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle!
The Eagle is a three-masted barque that trains Coast Guard cadets and officer candidates each spring and summer. Built in Germany in 1936 and brought to the U.S. as a World War II war reparation, the ship has been homeported in New London, Connecticut, at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy ever since.
Through the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s youth program, select Sea Scouts can join the Eagle as crew during the final portion of the summer cadet cruises. This is a chance for fun, adventure, and an unforgettable summer at sea. And, sailing on the Eagle counts toward the Long Cruise award!
This emblem is designed to recognize members of a Sea Scout Ship who complete their long cruise (equalling 14 days).
How cool is this opportunity ?
As posted on FB
Do you know a Sea Scout who wants the adventure of a lifetime? Encourage them to apply to sail aboard the tall ship US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle!
The Eagle is a three-masted barque that trains Coast Guard cadets and officer candidates each spring and summer. Built in Germany in 1936 and brought to the U.S. as a World War II war reparation, the ship has been homeported in New London, Connecticut, at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy ever since.
Through the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s youth program, select Sea Scouts can join the Eagle as crew during the final portion of the summer cadet cruises. This is a chance for fun, adventure, and an unforgettable summer at sea. And, sailing on the Eagle counts toward the Long Cruise award!
This emblem is designed to recognize members of a Sea Scout Ship who complete their long cruise (equalling 14 days).
- Messages
- 38,501
- Points
- 78
Okay, this kinda blows my mind. I'm trying to picture how the negotiations went down..........
Scene: May 6, 1945 outside the burning remnants of a Wehrmacht command post on the outskirts of Berlin.
US officer: Herr Field Marshal, the Allied High Command has prepared this instrument of surrender. Your signature will initiate an immediate cease fire and an end to the bloodshed
German Field Marshal: Vat ist dis in paragraph 11....'must hand over all wind-powered naval vessels possessing two or more masts?' You vant our zailing zhips?
US officer: Yes, immediately. It's critical they be handed over immediately. And pursuant to subparagraph 2 'all black powder cannons on board must be spiked, the barrels filled or otherwise be rendered incapable of being fired'
Due to recent events in our life, my wife is wondering if I need to be worried about ICE coming after me. I am a duel citizen, which does not make me a "pure American" in some peoples' eyes. This despite the fact I was born in California, have lived in the US my whole life, and seldom visit Canada, whose citizenship I only have accidentally, via my mother. I consider myself American first and foremost. I don't vote or have any ties to Canada, really. (Except a hockey obsession.)
WSU MUP Student
Cyburbian
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- 14,397
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- 59
- Messages
- 38,501
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HOLD ON. Get ICE on the phone. Looks like we got a Canuck here posing as a 'real' American. Trying to sneak in under the wire, were you? No ties to Canada, huh? We'll see about that!
Have you ever purchased coffee from or ordered Timbits from a Tim Horton's?
Have you ever ordered poutine at a diner?
On August 24, 2024 you were observed by a coworker saying 'sorry' in a hallway to someone you didn't even actually bump into. Do you normally go around being so....polite?
I see in your coin purse, you've got not one but two Canadian pennies. Care to tell us where you got them?
You will provide answers to these and many other questions!
Well, it's a rather unfavourable situation for me then. I need to go duck out into the parkade and hang a larry out of here before they find me.
WSU MUP Student
Cyburbian
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- Points
- 59
I have experience partying at Appalachian State! I had a roommate for a while in the Marines who was from Boone and we'd go there on long weekends to hang out and drink. No idea about the school and I was usually pretty drunk so I don't really recall much about Boone. I do know I will never cheer for their football team though!
I was off-roading in the Uwharrie National Forest once and met another group with a girl who was a student at Davidson. We hit it off and I drove out there to hang out with her a few times until one date when I took her to see Napoleon Dynamite in the theatre. I laughed non-stop and she never cracked a smile once at that movie. She never called me again after that. I have a feeling those events were correlated.
My one big takeaway from ASU and Davidson and UNC-Asheville (never visited the campus but I have been to Asheville a few times) is that they are far far away from the Eastern NC coast! NC is a very wide state east to west!
I used to always see the signs for Elon College when I would drive on I-40 towards US-52 to I-77 if I were coming back to Michigan and Burlington was always where I would stop for food and gas (It was always easier to get on and off the expressway there than it was in Greensboro or Winston-Salem a bit further west, and once I got onto I-77 to head north the options were very limited). One time I got curious what the Elon College campus looked like so I took a drive through town. It seemed pretty boring. Looking it up now, I'm surprised it's got 7,000+ students, but it's also Elon University now instead of Elon College so maybe it's grown considerably in the last 20+ years. The last two times I drove down that way I still stopped in the Burlington area for lunch and now they have a Cook-Out right on the main street between I-40 and downtown so that would be a selling point in my book!
WSU MUP Student
Cyburbian
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- 59
Combos are great but I prefer the cheddar filled pretzel ones. A big bag of Combos are my go-to road trip snack.
I'll be right with you after I finish the Nickelback album and reading my MacLean's.
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- 78
We're going to stick you and The Terminator into the same detention cell. You'll have to fight it out with him who gets dibs on the real maple syrup for their breakfast
I don't suppose it helps my case to point out that Canada abolished the penny a decade ago . . .
WSU MUP Student
Cyburbian
- Messages
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- 59
For the longest time, if you Googled our county's name or the county's name + tourism information the first 4 or 5 results that popped up were all about the county jail and how to search for an inmate.
Sure that's important information but not exactly what we wanted to be leading with. We did a lot of work to do some search engine optimization to get the Sheriff's Department to change a bunch of the metadata on their pages so it doesn't show up so prominently. It took a while but it worked.
Last year we went through an RFP with to find a consultant to come up with an actual tourism strategy - something we never had before. I was on the selection committee and once we chose our consultant I was heavily involved with the early stages of the strategic planning process. We actually just finalized our strategic plan early this week and will be launching our visitor and tourist website soon. Looking through the stuff now, we do not make any references to our prison (nor do we discuss the make-ups of our various boards or commissions... but we also don't talk about landfills, speed traps, or dying shopping malls, so what do we know?
- Messages
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ONLY A CANUCK WOULD KNOW THAT!!!
May as well fess up that you know what 'oui' and 'non' mean too.
zman
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 9,486
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- 44
It's a classic case for me of "what is the city's role?". We are just one member on the board... and I am trying to find the political prowess to have a searchable document not controlled by the City out there in the community while trying to recruit hotels, shopping, and business.For the longest time, if you Googled our county's name or the county's name + tourism information the first 4 or 5 results that popped up were all about the county jail and how to search for an inmate.
Sure that's important information but not exactly what we wanted to be leading with. We did a lot of work to do some search engine optimization to get the Sheriff's Department to change a bunch of the metadata on their pages so it doesn't show up so prominently. It took a while but it worked.
Last year we went through an RFP with to find a consultant to come up with an actual tourism strategy - something we never had before. I was on the selection committee and once we chose our consultant I was heavily involved with the early stages of the strategic planning process. We actually just finalized our strategic plan early this week and will be launching our visitor and tourist website soon. Looking through the stuff now, we do not make any references to our prison (nor do we discuss the make-ups of our various boards or commissions... but we also don't talk about landfills, speed traps, or dying shopping malls, so what do we know?
...and so it goes.
I live in Lockwood, Nevada, known as the home of "the dump." Lockwood Landfill is just on the other side of the ridge. They do a good job of keeping it contained, though: we've smelled it once in 15 years. And, once a year, they cater lunch to our entire community!For the longest time, if you Googled our county's name or the county's name + tourism information the first 4 or 5 results that popped up were all about the county jail and how to search for an inmate.
Sure that's important information but not exactly what we wanted to be leading with. We did a lot of work to do some search engine optimization to get the Sheriff's Department to change a bunch of the metadata on their pages so it doesn't show up so prominently. It took a while but it worked.
Last year we went through an RFP with to find a consultant to come up with an actual tourism strategy - something we never had before. I was on the selection committee and once we chose our consultant I was heavily involved with the early stages of the strategic planning process. We actually just finalized our strategic plan early this week and will be launching our visitor and tourist website soon. Looking through the stuff now, we do not make any references to our prison (nor do we discuss the make-ups of our various boards or commissions... but we also don't talk about landfills, speed traps, or dying shopping malls, so what do we know?
SlaveToTheGrind
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 5,207
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- 54
With the penny now on life support, in the long-term, what will be done with the penny spot in the till?
Listening this morning to the smooth sounds of Steely Dan and/or Michael McDonald.
Listening this morning to the smooth sounds of Steely Dan and/or Michael McDonald.
Last edited:
M&Ms.
The Terminator
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 2,705
- Points
- 45
I WANT A PET CLOUDED LEOPARD SO BADLY OMG
nationalzoo.si.edu
Clouded leopard
Always free of charge, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is one of Washington D.C.’s, and the Smithsonian’s, most popular tourist destinations, with more than 2 million visitors from all over the world each year. The Zoo instills a lifelong commitment to conservation through engaging experiences...
- Messages
- 38,501
- Points
- 78
"Your honor, at this time the People would like to enter into evidence this photo labeled as 'exhibit c'. "Here is a somewhat recent picture of me at a Great Wolf Lodge, having gotten off a plane earlier that day. This is the same shirt I always wear when I fly. I get treated better.
I think this is all the proof you need.
- Messages
- 38,501
- Points
- 78
Oh look here....it's a photo of a Canadian Lynx!I WANT A PET CLOUDED LEOPARD SO BADLY OMG
Clouded leopard
Always free of charge, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is one of Washington D.C.’s, and the Smithsonian’s, most popular tourist destinations, with more than 2 million visitors from all over the world each year. The Zoo instills a lifelong commitment to conservation through engaging experiences...
Don't you wish you could give this big kitty a skritch behind the ears?
Doohickie
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 10,734
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- 58
Doohickie
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 10,734
- Points
- 58
WSU MUP Student
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 14,397
- Points
- 59
Speaking of change...
My wife was cleaning some stuff in our 9-year-old's room and found two jars of change that I had stashed away at the back of her closet probably years before she was born. I had two more jars of change in our room so on Saturday, I loaded the kids into the Jeep and dragged them to the credit union to use the coin machine and see how much change we actually had. Before we went, we all made guesses as to how much was in each jar:
| Guesser | Jar I | Jar II | Jar III | Jar IV |
| Mom | $10.00 | $20.00 | $40.00 | $202.00 |
| Dad | $19.00 | $14.00 | $28.00 | $205.00 |
| Daughter #1 | $17.00 | $19.00 | $35.00 | $205.99 |
| Daughter #2 | $18.00 | $15.00 | $25.00 | $105.00 |
| Average | $16.00 | $17.00 | $30.42 | $179.50 |
The jars were all different sizes - Jar I was probably a half gallon and 75% full and almost entirely pennies; Jars II and III were all nickels, dimes, and quarters and Jar II was probably a pint or a pint and a half and Jar III was a quart; Jar IV was probably a gallon and a half and 60% full of primarily nickels and dimes and quarters with a few pennies mixed in there.
I was curious how close the averages of our guesses would be to what was actually in each jar. Spoiler: for the most part, we were terrible guessers. So bad in fact that the law of averages did not come into effect.
Actual amounts:
- Jar I: $26.85
- Jar II: $56.91
- Jar III: $106.42
- Jar IV: 203.87
Also, the amount of joy and wonder that a 9-year-old finds out of being dragged to the credit union and dumping a bunch of change into a coin machine is inversely proportional to the amount of embarrassment a 15-year-old experiences! 🤣
At least the 15-year-old did appreciate walking over to a BBQ joint afterwards for lunch and dessert.
After we were all done I wished I would have taken pictures of all the jars and fed them into AI to see how close their guess was to the actual contents.
michaelskis
Sawdust Producer
- Messages
- 25,900
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- 74
How often do you get back into your vehicle after a haircut, and the first thing you do is adjust it to how you like it vs how the person who cut it thinks it should look?
zman
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 9,486
- Points
- 44
I have no hair and buzz what is left of it... perfect everytime.