We Love Durham NC

Random Things on University Drive Today

A white van with “DUKE PRIMATE CENTER” printed on the side was parked in the right lane by South Square, while two people cut a few branches off of a short tree with heart-shaped leaves. I suppose their goal was animal enrichment, or that the tree leaves are a delicacy to lemurs.

Two front loaders scooped rubble from the Aaron Rents building at University Marketplace.

So many shopping carts deposited by the bus shelters! It has to be someone’s job to gather these. K-mart and Ross, particularly, take note.

Durham Regional

Durham, I’m here for you blogging the local hospitals this week. Today we’re doing a compare and contrast with Duke by visiting the other one in town, Durham Regional Hospital. Oh, long story.

It’s quieter here, though when I said that the nurse said, “Shhh! Don’t jinx it.” DRH is not a teaching hospital, so that contributes a little to the quietness–you don’t have multiple providers poking on you.

Excellent patient care is an often-touted feature of Durham Regional, and I’ll have to agree. The facilities themselves don’t scream “money” as much as Duke’s. They’re older or perhaps not renovated as recently. The wireless works here, though.

But what’s most important is I brought my camera this time, so you get some food blogging today.

This is breakfast. I wish that had been grits in the bowl, but it was oatmeal. I like how the main plate is arranged into a Picasso-esque smile.

And, lunch. They have that cherry chocolate cake here, too. As I told the nutritionist, this cake is the bomb. I want the recipe.

Sorry, won’t get to post any dinner shots. And I’m happy to wind up this hospital tour!

Cicadas

I went outside this morning to take a call in the quiet outdoors, only to discover the cicadas were louder than the indoors hubbub. My goodness, there are a lot of cicadas.

More on the 95-Gallon Recycling Cart

Hat tip to dedicated reader ACW for a link to a slideshow on the Tidewater Recycling website showing how the recyclables will be sorted from the new larger bins.

[click above for the whole slideshow]

New Durham Recycling Bins

Durham wants us to recycle more, 40% of our waste. I think we’re doing at least that in our home, but I do see room for improvement. One thing that would help is if we are selected for the pilot program of 95-gallon roll-out bins. Right now, I’m coordinating 3 separate bins for mixed paper, cardboard, and cans/bottles/plastic and lugging them each to the curb. I’m using one 18-gallon bin from the city and 2 blue laundry baskets. They are not covered, so I keep the paper products inside until recycling day. It would be nice to put them all in a large covered bin and roll out in one trip.

I called Solid Waste to see if I could request to be part of the pilot program, but they are selecting entire neighborhoods. The neighborhoods have been chosen, but will not receive their letters of notification until later this fall, before the program starts in September. Fingers crossed!

Durham Gifted Group

The Durham PAGE (Partners for the Advancement of Gifted Education) group has been revived, with an emphasis on support, enrichment, and advocacy.

Durham YMCA Y-Guides & Princesses - Dads and Kids Program

I received a wonderfully detailed letter about the YMCA program for dads and their sons or daughters from a local dad who helps organize the program in Durham. He gave me permission to reprint his letter in full.

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Durham YMCAs, as part of the YMCA of the Triangle, is pushing to expand the Y-Guides & Princesses program in Durham.

Are you familiar with this program?

Let me provide some background.

I’m the 2007-2008 Nation Chief of the YMCA Guides & Princesses program for the YMCA of the Triangle. I have two children in the program: my son Aaron (”Tough Bull”) in his 7th year and my daughter Ashlyn (”Fuzzy Kitty”) in her 2nd year. I was also in the program with my father in Charlotte in 1970-1972.

The Y-Guides & Princesses program plays an important role in the lives of thousands of families, fathers and children in Wake & Johnston counties. Our program’s belief is that no gift that a dad gives to their son or daughter will mean as much as the time they spend with them. The shared memories formed in the Y-Guides & Princesses program last a lifetime. We’re looking to provide this great opportunity to the many families, fathers and children in Durham. The publicity that your blog can provide will make a great difference in the lives of fathers and children in Durham that end up participating.

Formerly known as “Indian Guides”, the YMCA of the Triangle Y-Guides & Princesses program is the largest father/child program in the country with nearly 12,000 members! We will be celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2009. The program brings together dads, sons and daughters throughout Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Wake Forest and Johnston County. Each year we add more than 150 new Guides (father & son) and Princess (father & daughter) tribes, made of first grade boys & girls and their dads.

Tribes are formed at our Dads Orientation meeting held each year. In 2007, more than 750 dads attended our orientation meeting in Raleigh. This meeting will let dads learn more about our program. Several speakers will share their experiences in the program and we’ll also help dads form their tribes based on zip code. We have scheduled a 2008 Dads Orientation meeting for Durham residents on Tuesday, August 19 at 7:00 p.m. at the Hope Valley Country Club.

Tribes consist of 7 to 10 dads and their sons or daughters. Tribes meet twice a month in a member’s home, complete with fun activities including stories, songs, crafts, games and tricks. In addition, tribes organize monthly outings such as camping, hiking, community service, swimming and roller skating. Each child works with their dad to earn feather patches for their vest.

The first big event of the season is Fall Outing at Camp Kanata in Wake Forest. After an afternoon of hiking, canoeing and cooking out, first year tribes gather for their dramatic torch-lit induction ceremony and campfire at the lake. It’s beyond words what it’s like to take part in this walk, with each child walking hand-in-hand with their father down the hill between fire-lit torches in total silence, other than the rhythmic beat of the tom-tom. After everyone is seated, the incoming Nation Chief and his children come across the lake in a canoe with a torch for the bonfire. As the incoming Nation Chief, I was fortunate to have my parents and wife attend the Fall Outing ceremony. You can read my story that I told about my parents on my Chief’s Blog:

http://chiefredcloud.blogspot.com/2007/11/fall-outing-to-remember.html

All tribes also come together during the year for Winter Inning — a indoor entertainment show at Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh, Polar Bear Swims at local YMCAs, Kite Flying Day and Park Clean-up Day. The Y-Guides & Princesses always has a big showing in the Raleigh Christmas Parade. In 2007, more than 400 dads and kids marched together in the parade.

The highlight of the year is Spring Outing weekend at Camp Sea Gull and Camp Seafarer in Arapahoe, NC. For three days, Guides & Princesses tribes get to sleep in cabins and enjoy activities such as archery, riflery, canoeing, riding the zipline, swimming, shark tooth hunting, scavenger hunts, eating meals with 500 of your best friends in the mess hall and singing around a campfire and much more! Our program is so large that we have to split Spring Outing over six weekends in April and May.

Community Service is an important part of the program. All tribes must complete several community service projects. 2007 was amazing! The tribes of the Y-Guides & Princesses program raised more than $90,000 for the YMCA “WeBuildPeople” program, which uses these funds for families who cannot otherwise afford YMCA programs and services, such as after school care, tutoring, summer day camp and more. Ann Goodnight was the chair for the WeBuildPeople program.

After the third year, Guides move into the Trailblazers program and Princesses move into the Trailmates program, with new adventures to Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain, NC, white water rafting and more. Fathers and children are welcome to stay in the program as long as they want. We’ve had some children actually drive their dads to Camp Rockmont and Spring Outing this past year.

I love this program and there’s no doubt that it’s brought me closer to my son and daughter. The shared experiences that I have with my children in this program will be with us forever.

Brendan Bailey

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2008 Durham Y-Guides & Princesses Dads Orientation Meeting

Tuesday, August 19, 7:00 p.m.

Hope Valley Country Club

3803 Dover Road, Durham, 27707

Dads, do you have a son or daughter entering the 1st grade this fall? If so, come to this meeting and learn more about the Y-Guides & Princess program. At the end of the meeting, dads will be matched up by zip code to form new tribes. Dads can also come to the meeting with their tribes already formed.

No gift you give your son or daughter will mean as much them as the time you spend with him or her. And you’ll find that you treasure those moments as well.

The YMCA of the Triangle is proud to have the largest parent-child program in the U.S. The Y-Guides & Princesses program serves nearly 12,000 dads and children throughout Wake, Durham, Johnston, and Lee counties. Collectively, these tribes form the Arapahoe Nation, which has served over 25,000 families since it’s inception in 1968. In 2007 alone, we added more than 150 new tribes with over 1,500 first year participants.

The YMCA Y-Guides and Princess programs are for boys and girls in the first through third grades and their dads. Tribes are composed of seven to nine fathers and their sons or daughters. Tribes meet twice a month in a member’s home with fun activities.

For more information, contact Matt Strickland at (919) 582-2266.

Windsor Commons on Old Chapel Hill Road in Durham

I took some snapshots of Windsor Commons. The small upscale development is between the Knollwood homes and The Mews apartments, facing an entrance to the Hope Valley neighborhood. It looks like about 1/2 of the homes are completed. They are made of brick and stone, and sidewalks and crosswalks connect the community. Mid-size trees have been planted along the roadways. The residents will be in walking distance to Shannon Plaza and, reasonably, the Southwest Library Branch and the Harris Teeter complex off Martin Luther King Parkway.

Durham National Night Out 2008

National Night Out is August 5th, 2008. Is your neighborhood participating? It’s not too late to sign up for the night out with your neighbors.

Eye on University Marketplace: End of July 2008

Demolition was started this week on the Aaron Rents end of the existing strip. A chain link fence surrounds the demolition area front & back, though as of Tuesday the neon sign outside Sitar India was still glowing Open.

Looking back over 15-501, you see how close University Marketplace will be to the Rocket Building.

Hope Valley Commons Update

The sign outside the Hope Valley Commons reads “Harris Teeter Opening 10″ which we think must be a countdown to opening day. Workers are inside and out setting up the store. The parking lot held about 25 cars this morning, presumably of these employees.

We spied two new “coming soon” signs: Rita’s Ice-Custard-Happiness and Fast Frame. Construction continues on the other units, including Char-Grill and Japan Express.

Leasing information available from Weingarten Realty (866) 373-9437.

Elmo’s in Durham…

…today until 6 at the New Balance store at the Renaissance Center off Fayetteville Road, giving out stickers and signing up kids for the toy raffle, with his friends Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, and Newbie the New Balance mascot. Free size fitting for kids. Tax-free purchases all week (New Balance pays the sales tax until the official state tax-free on August 1-3). New Balance is one of our favorite shoe companies, maintaining one of the best track records in the industry for their factories and worker relations.

New Balance Sesame Street Health Fair

July 26th from 3-6pm at the New Balance store in the strip across from Streets at Southpoint there will be a “We Fit Kids” health fair. Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Oscar will be there, and there will also be a raffle of toys, etc. Also making an appearance will be Newbie, the New Balance character.

Durham Screensavers and Backgrounds

This is my new computer desktop background.

There are more here. Cool!

Duke Hospitals

All quiet on the WLD front here yesterday because I was in the hospital. All’s well now, nothing chronic or contagious.

I don’t hide the fact that we are Tarheel born and bred in this family, but I am just as big of a Duke Hospitals fan after experiencing patient care first-hand. I kept thinking, so this is what they mean by world-class care. I mean, people come from all over to get treatment at Duke (like recently Ted Kennedy).

I found the emergency room nursing staff extremely efficient and just plain good at what they do. The RN up on the ward, again, efficient, professional, and kind.

There were residents in the team of specialists, and I’m not a big fan of having to tell my symptoms over and over, but I do understand it’s a teaching hospital, and that it improves the level of care. I did feel like the residents were helping rather than just learning, of course, and I met with the head specialist as well, who did not require a recap as she had been supervising the overall plan. They took my concerns into consideration in the treatment options, and answered my questions with respect.

The facilities were clean (well, that ought to be a given), but also comfortable. They warm the blankets for you! There are plenty of other amenities like cable TV, telephone, snacks. Dinner was roasted chicken, greens, potatoes, salad, milk, iced tea, roll with butter, and chocolate-cherry cake–tasty fare (I regret I didn’t have my camera to contribute to Durham food blogging). Maybe all this is standard, but it felt like a multiple-star hotel.

Props also to Durham EMS. We’ve had Parkwood Fire out before for unrelated EMS calls, but I think this was a different squad. When I find out which team it was, I will come back and update this. Wherever they came from, they were here in a jiffy and had me stabilized and to the hospital quickly. Exactly what you want.

A big thank you to everyone involved!