Category: Virginia

Greg: The Green[e]house Reloaded

Congrats to Greg on taking the Green[e]house to a new level and a new home. He has some interesting discussion on what prompted his move:

Blogspot turned slow last week — if you think that posed a problem with reading it, imagine posting under those conditions. My RSS provider got testy around the same moment, interrupting hundreds of feeds with a tacit warning to pull the plug.

Between those issues, periodic trouble with Haloscan, and a burgeoning interest in Movable Type, I decided over the weekend to take the adage that “you get what you pay for” to heart…

Having discussed the joy of living on a free Manila server with a couple of other EditThisPage veterans, I’ll second that last thought. A hearty welcome to greenehouse.net.

Legends of the Mothman: Appalachian Trailblog

I’ve written before about my friend Jim’s hike of the Appalachian Trail this summer. What I didn’t realize when I got the first email was that he planned to keep a regular email “road journey.” We’ve been getting two to three email messages a month from Jim, or “Mothman” as he’s known on the trail for reasons yet unrevealed.

With Jim’s permission, I’ve reprinted his emails, unedited save a few personal details, in a new section of my site: The Mothman Chronicles. (As with all my new sections, you can subscribe to the updates via RSS). So far Jim’s hit three states and is “621 miles into the 2,172 mile journey.” He’s on track to hike into central Virginia in time for his ten-year reunion at the University of Virginia (oh, to be there…). I’ll keep the Mothman Chronicles updated as I get news from Jim.

Own a piece of the Club

campaign chest

The Colonnade Club, that is. I got a circular in the mail today about an auction at Harlowe-Powell in Charlottesville of many antiques and art objects that have been “deaccessioned” from the Colonnade Club at UVA, the faculty club that sits in Pavilion VII.

This was the first pavilion, or professorial residence and lecture hall, that Jefferson built in his original suite of buildings for the university, but it has long since become the permanent home of the faculty club and is now reopening after a long renovation. Apparently the club has to auction some of the items that it’s accrued in the intervening 180 years to pay for some of the restoration work.

The details of the auction are here. Although I’m a member, I haven’t spent much time inside the club, but I do remember a few of the pieces, in particular this spectacular sideboard.

Say it ain’t so

Craig spills the beans by pointing to a Washington Post article: Pep Band’s Last Stand. Apparently a rich alum has decided to finally settle the argument over whether the University should have a Pep Band or a bunch of blown-up loonies in uniforms—oops, I mean a marching band.

Chalk up another blow against self determination and for those who lack senses of humor. The irony that the gift comes with money for the performing arts center is not lost on me.

New Hooblogger: Kim Everitt

New addition to Hooblogs: Kim Everitt, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences graduating this year, whose blog goes by a certain shade of [green]. This is of course interesting for two reasons: not only is it, like Mr. Greene’s blog, another Blogspot blog with “green” in the URL, but it also features brackets ([]) in the title.

Of course, her more compelling claim to fame is being linked by Dave Barry. You’ll have to take her word for it, as Dave’s archives (being hosted by Blogspot) are not working, and you’ll have to go to her home page and scroll to April 1 to take her word for it, as her permalinks (also hosted by Blogspot) aren’t working quite right either.

Somewhere in here there’s a lesson about getting what you pay for, but I’m not quite sure what it is.

Anyway, welcome aboard, Kim.

Happy birthday, TJ

Thomas Jefferson was born 260 years ago today in my home state of Virginia. Ten years ago, I spent the day at Monticello with the Virginia Glee Club, singing on the Today Show (and standing at a urinal next to Willard Scott, but that’s another story (and, speaking of other stories—Aven, if you have the photo of Stancil, Tyler and Scott holding Katie Couric aloft as she wears her VMHLB cap, I’d pay money for a scanned copy!)), before riding on a bus to Washington to sing at a ceremony at the Jefferson Memorial and shake Bill Clinton’s hand.

For those of you who don’t know who Thomas Jefferson is (e.g. apparently most members of the current Presidential administration and leaders of the Justice Department), he wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, was ambassador to France, and founded the University of Virginia. Oh yeah and he was president too.

In the spirit of Jefferson, then, a few of his words:

  • “I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.”
  • “If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.”
  • “I have much confidence that we shall [Col 2] proceed successfully for ages to come, and that, contrary to the principle of Montesquieu it will be seen that the larger the extent of country, the more firm its republican structure, if founded, not on conquest, but in principles of compact and equality.”
  • “The government of a nation may be usurped by the forcible intrusion of an individual into the throne. But to conquer its will, so as to rest the right on that, the only legitimate basis, requires long acquiescence and cessation of all opposition.”
  • “Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.”
  • “The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.”
  • “It should ever be held in mind that insult and war are the consequences of a want of respectability in the national character.”

Oh, and check out this year’s winners of the Jefferson Muzzles awards, given to those who seek to abridge freedom of speech and press. This year’s awards included many of the usual suspects at this blog, including everyone’s favorite singing ex-senator, John Ashcroft—and the 107th US Congress, who passed the PATRIOT Act.

Lincoln returns to Richmond

New York Times: In Richmond, Lincoln Statue is Greeted by Protests. I love and hate this about Virginia, my home state: the places where history happened have a tendency to become trapped in pivotal moments and hold onto them for identity long after all the original participants have crumbled to dust. A prime example: Bragdon Bowling, Virginia “division commander” of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans:

“They have no concept of history and how it might be the wrong place to put the statue,” said Mr. Bowling, whose great-grandfather John Stephen Cannon fought for the Confederacy. “As a Southerner, I’m offended. You wouldn’t put a statue of Winston Churchill in downtown Berlin, would you? What’s next, a statue of Sherman in Atlanta?”

I think Mr. Bowling is perhaps not the right person to criticize someone else’s grasp of history.

Jim prepares to hit the trail

My good friend Jim, who I sang with at UVA and in the Cheeselords, is getting ready to hike the Appalachian Trail. As a management and technology project manager for the last few years, he has found the right way to go about the planning: tongue in cheek.

I have ultimate confidence in my ability to walk this thing because I have engineered a most excellent AT Planning Spreadsheet. I have an Executive Dashboard up front, based on my company’s “7 Keys to
Success” management methodology; a risk log; a menu planning tool measuring such dimensions as “calories per dollar”; and a pace-o-meter, which will allow my support team at home to track where I am at any given time, whether I’m at risk of missing milestones, when I should pick up my next mail drop, and so on. I only need to do the actual walking now.

Jim leaves Sunday. Godspeed, Jim, and maybe I’ll be able to get East to see you at some point along the trail.