TTT: Swine flu

As someone who’s supposed to be heading to Mexico within the next couple of weeks, this swine flu thing is at the forefront of my mind right now.  I’ve been reading a lot about it, so I’ll share with you what I’ve found so far in the hopes that this might be useful to someone.

Triangle’s first Anthropologie now open!

Spouses of Triangle shoppers, BEWARE!  The Triangle’s first Anthropologie opened yesterday at the Streets at Southpoint in Durham.  I love their dresses and tops and jackets and knick-knacks and curtains and… okay, everything.

Image from A Design Affair.

News: Save broadband competition in NC

A friend recently let me know about this news about NC broadband on Slashdot:

The good people of Wilson, NC pay $99/month for 10/10 Mbps internet service, 81 TV channels and telephone service. How’d they manage that, you ask? Well, the city-owned and operated cable service called Greenlight came into being when the City of Wilson approached TWC and local DSL provider Embarq and requested faster service for the area. “TWC refused the request. And so Greenlight was born,” says blogger Peter Smith. “Now Time Warner Cable and Embarq are upset that they’ve got competition, and rather than try to go head to head with Greenlight on price and service, they’ve instead been lobbying the state government of NC to pass laws to put Greenlight out of business. Apparently they’re having some success, as the NC State Senate has proposed bills that would do TWC’s bidding.”

This is terrible news for consumers of high speed internet services like myself.  Read more about the bills at Brian Bowman’s WordPress blog about the bills.  If you’re as fired up as I am, write to your North Carolina legislators.  Look them up here.  If you don’t remember their names, find them here.

Triangle Beach Music Festival

Get ready – it’s time again for the annual Triangle Beach Music Festival.  Here are the basics:

11th Annual Triangle Beach Music Festival
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Bryan Farms, 1832 New Bethel Church Road, Garner, NC
Gates open at 9 am, show is 9:30 am – 4:30 pm.
Tickets: $30 at the gate, $25 at select ticket outlets

Go and get your shag on!

Image from Cal’Donias.

16th annual Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival

Saturday, April 25, 2009
9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Bond Park

From the Town of Cary website:

Welcome to the 16th annual Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival in the 310-acre Fred G. Bond Metro Park. With winding trails, a lush forested canopy, and a beautiful lake, Bond Park provides an outstanding setting for this annual festival.

The festival is filled with wonderful arts and crafts, your favorite festival foods, community based civic groups handing out information on things you can get involved with, and entertainment. Children will be delighted by activities just for them in the Children’s Village and will be invited to exercise their imagination as they play in the always popular Lazy Daze Playground – the center of the village. In the Earth Day area of the festival, you can find out how to play a role in preserving our natural resources and protecting the environment. This is the perfect family event to learn more about what you can do to make every day Earth Day.

TTT: Door stop alarm

DesertMama over at Traveling Mamas just posted a neat product – a door stop alarm.  She recounted a story about a time a very angry man had accidentally been given a key to her room and, at 2 am while screaming profanities, repeatedly banged the door open with such force that he eventually broke the lock keeping him out.  Eek!

She did a little research and was advised that the Door Stop Alarm from PlanetMace ($17.95) would be her best bet for a door stop alarm.  Ideally, the door stop will both prevent the door from being opened and sound an alarm to warn the sleeping guest and scare away the intruder.  This sounds like a great travel product, especially for those who find themselves traveling alone.

Images from RachelJ via Flckr and Planet Mace

TTT: Travel Tip Tuesday

NC Eatin’: Wilkes County

November 9, 2008
Elkin Creek Vineyard
318 Elkin Creek Mill Road
Elkin, NC

During our second day of the wine tour, we checked out Elkin Creek Vineyard.  It was our 9th winery of the weekend and 2nd on Sunday.  We were all tired but looking forward to a nice lunch. 

 

NC Wine Festivals

As the weather gets warmer, it’s time to enjoy some wine festivals here in North Carolina. 

Saturday, April 18, 2009, 11a.m.-7p.m.
6th Annual Great Grapes! Wine Festival
Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary
Tickets: $18 in advance, $20 at the gate, and $10 for designated drivers
16 wineries are currently planning to participate

Saturday, May 16, 2009, 11a.m. – 6p.m
8th Annual Yadkin Valley Wine Festival
Elkin Municipal Park in Elkin, North Carolina
Tickets: $16 in advance, $20 at the gate
Currently 10 wineries are signed up, but there will likely be more since there were 21 last year

Saturday, May 30, 2009, Noon – 6:30p.m.
9th Annual NC Wine Festival
Tanglewood Park, Clemmons, NC (near Winston-Salem)
Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at gate, $15 for dd
Currently 29 wineries are signed up and more are likely

TTT: Use your iPhone to eat safely while traveling

Mary Jo at Fly Away Cafe recently posted about a new iPhone app that’ll help travelers:

I love my iPhone, and with the number of iPhone applications that continue to be released, I can’t imagine traveling without it!

With the recent release of EatSafe! travelers with food allergies (or those who need to avoid certain foods for any number of reasons), have an application to help the communicate when English is not the common language.

The premise is simple – to help you eat safe food.  And it operates like a series of flashcards, showing 18 common products that you may want to avoid.  There’s fish, dairy, wheat, dairy, peanuts, and others.  There are also a series of food pictures of things you may just prefer to avoid, like salt, peppers, onion, meat, and more.  All you have to do is scroll through to the food you need to avoid and point to it.  The universal circle with a slash through it conveys the message NO, I CAN’T EAT THAT.

This would be great in a restaurant or cafe, and even at the neighborhood market when you can’t read the content label.

You can download the app via your iPhone or iTouch, or download through iTunes.  $2.99.

NC Eatin’: Surry County

November 8, 2008
Old North State Winery and Brewery
308 N. Main Street
Mount Airy, NC

Our final stop for the day on our first day of our NC wine tour was Old North State Winery.  This was absolutely the perfect end to a great day.