Feeling a little better

I'm still cold, but I'm always cold, comes with the territory of being thin I guess. I don't feel like I need to throw up anymore, the abdomen pains have died down and I'm not "spaghetti legged" anymore (well, not in the figurative sense anyway).

I went with my dad to Shuffletown, Charlotte (yea, I'm a massive map geek) yesterday and took some pictures (ok, he took them) of the dragstrip which is on the docket for redevelopment into either football & soccer fields or starter homes. It was closed awhile ago because neighbors complained about the noise, even though it existed before their houses did. It's a bit like moving across from a bar and being surprised when drunks stumble around outside. Anyway, I may upload the pictures to flickr later if I have a notion to.

Piratedninja (also in Charlotte) said we're getting a lunar eclipse tonight, I'll take a picture if I'm in/not completely lazy.

I now have a JTV channel ("Bobby, Interrupted", aren't I clever?!) which I won't use while I live her as privacy is at a premium.

I watched Jane's lifecast today, big shock I'm sure. She just never ceases to amaze me. She's so smart, so beautiful, so kind...heh, I'm doing it again. Janey, you're perfect, deal with it :P In honor of you I shall tag the hell out of this post.

Anyway, I'm going to see Vantage Point tonight since my dad got preview tickets. I'm not really a huge movie fan, but it's free, and they'll call me a recluse if I stay in. So, I'm going

Charlotte's decaying Eastside

Eastland is Charlotte's forgotten neighborhood. Though it's near neighbors Plaza-Midwood and Elizabeth enjoy skyrocketing property values and seemingly unending investment, Eastland is left to rot. Nowhere is this more painfully evident than the Amity Gardens - Coliseum Center shopping complex on Independence Boulevard (I realize it's officially in Sheffield Park). I read a story in yesterday's newspaper about how Eastside residents, of which I am one, are beginning to lose patience with the city's empty promises of redevelopment for the area. I took some pictures of the shopping center this afternoon, admittedly they aren't very good but they get the point across. I'm barely old enough to remember when the shopping center still had life, when you could have a sandwich at the lunch counter in the Eckard's and then go to K-Mart. That ended when K-Mart declared bankruptcy, dealing a crippling blow to the area.

There was talk of a transit center, similar to the one uptown, and later talk of a new shopping center anchored by a Wal-Mart supercenter, none of which have come to anything. In part because the land is toxic, and in part because Harbor Fright Tools won't sell it's lease to the city. I'd personally run a light rail line over what is now the sparingly used HOV lane. Though that may be infeasible.

Whatever the outcome, something needs to happen because it's becoming a magnet for crime.

Snow

Actual snow and not ice this time, I took two crappy pictures of it.



As you can see my drought afflicted yard needs any kind of moisture.