Marsh Fire Smoking Out Outer Banks

The family was getting ready to head to the pool for the day and while letting the dogs out around 10:30 am, I noticed large billows of smoke. At first, I thought it was a storm, but then it looked like a bomb had exploded in the air. The smoke was coming from the Sound so we hopped in the Jeep and headed to Bay Drive for further inspection.

According to WAVY-TV 10, “A marsh fire burning in Colington Harbor on the Outer Banks of North Carolina was reportedly sparked by fireworks.” Continue reading

Life in Board Shorts Day Four – Wine in Duck and Geeking Out

Elizabeth's CafeWe geeked out today. There’s no question about it. After my morning run, I booted up the laptop to find a mini disaster that took up most of my morning. Merri Beth decided to log in for a half-day of work. Meanwhile, Zander kept himself occupied with a variety of games and activities. It felt like we wasted a great beach day staying inside, velcroed to the Internet, but it ended up being much better than that. Continue reading

Life in Board Shorts Day Three – Snorkeling and Sand Forts

Great beach viewWow! A great day on the Outer Banks. The ocean was fully cooperating and the weather was almost perfect. My day started off with a 5.7 mile run from the house to the Wright Brothers Memorial. I was up around 6:00 am and hitting the pavement before the sun took it’s full toll on the other runners and bikers out on Bay Drive. I had a great run considering the Summer conditions. A beautiful run with some great views. Continue reading

Life in Board Shorts Day Two – A Day at the Pool

Surf Check with ZanderIt was HOT today. No question about it. We enjoyed a full day at the beach yesterday, but not today. Being on the Outer Banks helped us forget about the heat for a while. We slept in today, and enjoyed every minute of it.

After some breakfast, Zander and I biked over to check the surf and the beach conditions at First Street. By 9:00 am, it was already steamy. There was some small surf, but nothing worth getting the board out for. We had big plans to hang out at the pool for the day. Continue reading

Life in Board Shorts Day One – Outer Banks Style

heading to Norfolk

Heading to Norfolk

Our 10-day vacation on the Outer Banks started last night when the family flew to Norfolk after a week in Boston for the Red Hat Summit and JBoss World. We landed just in time to experience some 5-o’clock traffic in Hampton Roads area of Virginia. We took our time and eventually made our way to Kill Devil Hills, NC for the evening.

Along the way, we stopped in Currituck at a local produce stand to get some fresh fruit and veggies. We walked out with blueberries, peaches, plums, squash, zucchini, and sweet corn. On the way towards KDH, we wanted to grab dinner at Weeping Radish, but they were closed when we passed. Bummer! Instead, we got some Mexican at La Fogata in Kitty Hawk. Continue reading

City Council Has Perfect Attendance at CityCamp Raleigh

Originally posted on opensource.com and licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA.

What started with a unanimous vote to adopt an open source resolution eventually became a long-term commitment to the open source way. How many of you have had an elected official attend a citizen-lead event? Probably some of you. But how many of you have had your entire city or town council attend an unconference?

At a recent open government unconference, all city council members—including the mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina—attended some or all of the event. Their attendance wasn’t a requirement—and it wasn’t a political drive-by. It was genuine, natural. And some of them got knee-deep in the “code,” competing in the civic hackathon. Continue reading

Ten Teams Compete for CityCamp Raleigh $5000 Prize

The unconference at CityCamp Raleigh on June 2 was amazing. The ideas. The passion. The people. For those of you unfamiliar with the unconference format, we gathered at 9:00 am  on Saturday. The coffee was a little late, so we didn’t start until 9:15 am. We explained the process for the day…which went something like this: Continue reading

A Preview of the CityCamp Raleigh Agenda

Here’s a peak at the agenda for Friday, June 1. Lunch will be provided from 12-1pm. There will also be a chance to network during this time. You should register so we know you’re coming.

On Saturday, June 2, we will kick off our unconference at 9am–where the agenda will be determined by those in attendance. Folks will pitch ideas to start off the morning, several workshops will be hosted, and teams will start to form around ideas on how to improve civic engagement or other civic-minded needs in the City of Raleigh.

On Sunday, June 3, starting at 9am, teams will collaborate on solving a civic issue that can improve the quality of life in Raleigh. Simultaneously, CityCamp Raleigh will host a Triangle Wiki content sprint to add pages, images, and ideas to trianglewiki.org. At 3pm, teams will present and CityCamp Raleigh will award one winning team with a cash reward at 4pm. Continue reading