A Partial Solution to the Wake County Bus Problem

6 Replies

Dear Superintendent Tata,

The school bus my child rides, route 7, has been late three out of four days this week. The first day of school was a nightmare. I freaked out and drove my child to Dillard Drive so they wouldn’t be late on the first day. The greeters at the school were very nonchalant about the whole thing. “Oh, it’s just the first day of school, the buses are always late.” What?!?

Today, we waited over 30 minutes for the bus. It didn’t arrive until after 9:00am and school starts at 9:15am. Which is kind of late if you ask me. I could have driven my child to school and been back home in less time. It caused me to be late for my first meeting of the day. We need a solution. The tardiness doesn’t just impact the kids, it impacts the parents as well. And while I don’t understand the entire problem, I have a partial solution that can help parents save time and be more efficient. Continue reading →

Tropical Storm Isaac Delivers Swell to Surf City

Leave a reply

It’s the time of year when I keep one eye on the tropics for potential surf-generating storms. I’ll glance at the Atlantic Ocean swell models a few times a week and see if it’s time wax up the surfboard for a coastal get-away. This week was no different, except there are two reasons to further investigate: Tropical Storm Isaac and Tropical Depression Joyce.

Wave height forecast from TS Isaac via MagicSeaWeed.com

Towards the end of last week, I was seeing some favorable conditions in the forecast. At first, it looked like Joyce was going to deliver this coming Tuesday, but more recent swell models have changed. However, on Friday, the forecast was looking good for the weekend. It looked like long-period swell would be arriving in North Carolina starting on Saturday. I was zeroing in on Topsail Island. Continue reading →

Can you believe it’s been three weeks with Coco?

1 Reply

We can’t believe it. Last Friday was three weeks since Caitlyn’s arrival. It’s been a lot of back and forth to Rex Hospital and a lot of education about preemie babies for us. The terminology is different. Every baby has a unique situation. But the ultimate question that everyone wants to know the answer to is…when will she come home?

Caitlyn “Coco” Kalani is making great progress. Everyday it seems like another cord is coming off or another weight goal is achieved. We have the same question you have, when can she come home? And the doctor’s put it too us very simply, when she meets the following criteria: Continue reading →

Caitlyn “Coco” Kalani, 10 Days and Growing

Leave a reply

coco sleepingIt’s been an interesting week for us. Coming home without your newborn is tough, but we’ve had tremendous support. Caitlyn Kalani is doing great. We’ve been visiting her daily at Rex Hospital in the Special Care Nursery and monitoring her progress. It’s been ten days since Coco arrived a few weeks early. We’ve had our share of up and downs, but mostly ups!

(As we say at Red Hat a lot, up, and to the right.)

Merri Beth evicted from Rex hotel

It was the morning of Tuesday, July 31. I headed over to Rex, prepared to take Merri Beth home from the hospital. I arrived just in time to review the application for the birth certificate, making sure that Caitlyn Kalani Hibbets was spelled correctly and reviewed a few other details. We paid a visit to Coco, who was improving from this weekends’ extraction. Continue reading →

Baby Coco’s Arrival

6 Replies

This is the story of baby Coco’s arrival. Quite an adventure for the Hibbets family.

As many of our friends, family, and co-workers already know, we got a wonderful surprise during the early morning of July 27. After a long day of work, Merri Beth started having contractions while we were preparing dinner—but she didn’t think they were contractions. We ate dinner as a family and I got some late-night work done while MB was catching up on some True Blood, trying to fight the pain. I went to bed shortly after midnight and was awakened by MB just after two in the morning. Our lives were about to change. Continue reading →

Life in Board Shorts Day Eight – Pea Island

1 Reply

Pea IslandThis was our last full day on the Outer Banks for the week of Fourth of July. I can’t believe our week on the beach flew by this fast. We had a blast. For our last day, we decided to take a trip South to Pea Island. After a long night seeing Southern Culture on the Skids, we were up fairly early and heading for a full day on Hatteras Island. Continue reading →

Life in Board Shorts Day Seven – SCOTS

Leave a reply

After a great recovery day, today was going to be a scorcher! We had an outline for our day, but no firm plans other than a few hours of work this afternoon and a concert tonight. We wanted to get to the beach early, then get off the sand before it got into the high 90’s. We were heading to Port ‘O Call this evening to see Southern Culture on the Skids (SCOTS).

We grabbed a quick breakfast and headed over to Raleigh Avenue for a few hours in the sun. We kept it pretty minimal today. Zander was skim boarding, Merri Beth and I were in our beach chairs. The sun was shining and the wind was light out of the West. The water was beautiful. We were on the beach for a few hours, then headed back to the beach house. Continue reading →

Life in Board Shorts Day Six – FOJ Recovery

1 Reply

We had an awesome Fourth of July on the Outer Banks. It’s got to be my favorite holiday. When else can you hang out on the beach all day, enjoy a few beers, then see some awesome fireworks after a long day in the sun and surf? Memorial Day and Labor Day come close, but FOJ is where it’s at.

On day six of our vacation on the beach, we were planning on relaxing at the pool for a few hours. But just as we were getting ready to leave the house, I noticed some smoke coming from the Sound. At first, I thought it was a storm, but upon further inspection, it was smoke from a marsh fire near Collington. Continue reading →

Life in Board Shorts Day Five – Fourth of July

1 Reply

View from the beach chairOops, we slept in today. Not typical for us. We were out a little later than expected last night at Elizabeth’s Cafe. We’re usually pretty eager to get on the beach early on the Fourth of July. Merri Beth, Zander, and I managed to get to the beach by 11:00 am—not too bad considering our lack of alarm clock.

We packed up the Jeep, lunch included, and headed out. At first, I was thinking Nags Head would be the spot. But as we drove down the beach road, the beach accesses were packed. We turned around and headed back to Kill Devil Hills for the day. We found a great spot that just had a few cars at it. Within the next two hours, it was full. We got lucky. Continue reading →