Busy week for my Maria (a favorite song of mine) as she prepares a N&R feature article on yours truly.

My shadow wasn't able to go to Monday night's school board candidate forum but, as I mentioned before, she and I hung out during Tuesday night's school board meeting.

Wednesday morning she and photographer Scott Hoffman met me at my worksite on Park Avenue to learn about fixing old windows.  It turns out Scott is an old house kind of guy and was quite interested in what I was doing.  They learned a lot and I learned not to ever try measuring and cutting window molding with a reporter firing questions and a photographer firing his shutter... such a practice produces a wealth of unusable scrap lumber.

Wednesday evening Maria came down to watch me get some television face time while doing my bit on the Parks & Recreation Commission.  We left the meeting at City Hall after making another date for this morning at 10a.  She wanted to walk the neighborhood.

In tow this morning was Jerry Wolford, another one of the N&R's crack photographers.  I discovered that Jerry is a reckless mountain biker who gets that way by drinking some souped-up caffiene concoction that he is going to try and get me hooked on.  I suggested he try Bourbon to counter-act the effects of his brew... works for me.  Being a Kentuckian herself, Maria demonstrated impeccable taste by recommending Maker's Mark... I concurred.

I'm sure it was a strange site for my friends and neighbors today.  Me, walking along talking and pointing out places and neighbors of interest.  Jerry, circling... moving ahead... looking for that Pulitzer entry.  Maria,  scribbling, scribbling - laughing, scribbling.

Jerry left when son Jesse drove with Maria and me (or is it "I" this time?) to the Farmer's Market down the street near the stadium.  We snapped up some better-to-sell-it-than-pack-it-up veggie bargains just before the place was winding down around noon.

The feature won't be published until early August so there will be more days of talking and scribbling.  I am enjoying learning about all the things I do in a week.  I never really thought about it before but I am also learning, through Maria's examination, that I probably need to slow down a bit.

I'm also figuring out to ask, "This is off the record... right?", but I'm usually too late. 

Scheduling note to Maria: I told you I didn't have much going on this week in civic life except for working the East West All-Star Game at Grimsley Wednesday night... I was mistaken.  Tuesday is the by-God primary election.  I'll be working at whatever polling place Mary Rakestraw needs me to help with.  Then later that night... County courthouse for the returns.  Get a fresh legal pad.

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The guys who compile the N&R's Saturday Inside Scoop feature are regular HoggsBlog readers.  They picked up (scroll down) on my post regarding what I found when surfing for local candidate websites.

The online version of the Scoop provides a hyperlink to www.markuskindley.com so I clicked on it... and so should you.  John Kerry's campaign website is no longer the targeted site.  The prankster is apparently displeased that Kindley got a laugh out of the cross link.

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I don't always read all of the Rhino's "Sound of the Beep" but others do.  A neighbor pointed out that my name was mentioned by one of the callers so I looked it up and found that someone has a very high opinion of my abilities.

The blurb was complimentary of a previous letter to the editor from J.W. Forster (scroll down - long letter) because Forster was critical of the City Council.  Says the caller:

"(Forster's letter) excoriates the no-good-for-nothing city-council tax-raising idiots.  Somebody told me there was a recall provision in the city charter.  If so, would somebody call David Hoggard and tell him about it?  Maybe we could replace all eight of them and the mayor.  Thank you."

I am unsure what the caller wants me to do, but I am flattered that he feels I am the man for the job.

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Lastly, William Parson, who termed the neighborhood surrounding War Memorial Stadium (Aycock) as being "unsafe" in a N&R published letter back on June 21st, had another letter published - this time in the latest Rhino (not yet posted).  Twice in his Rhino letter Mr. Parson upgraded his opinion of Aycock as being "unsafe".  He now opines that my neighborhood has acheived "somewhat unsafe" status

I think his latest letter is a response to my response to him that I sent to the N&R after lifting it from this blog.  But it could have been directed at a subsequent but equally defensive letter from Aycock resident John Worsley.  We will never know because Mr. Parson has gone off the deep end and methinks he doth protest way too much...  Writes Parson...

"...If he (me?... Worsley?) weren't so hung up on calling me a racist, he would have seen (what I was talking about)"

Sounds like transference to me because neither Worsley or I suggested Parson was a racist.  Then this jewel...

"...What I meant by being somewhat unsafe: I was with my son heading to a Bats game when I was appraoched by someone wanting to sell some drugs..."

Puleeeze Mr. Parson.  That is the biggest pack of crap I have ever heard... it never happened and you are a big fat liar.  Pushers don't just walk up to people around Memorial Stadium asking, "Hey man, want to buy some drugs, drugs are groovy".  Any self respecting Greensboro resident knows that to be solicited by a proper pusher, they have to travel all the way to deepest darkest Irving Park - you couldn't buy drugs in Aycock on a dare.

John Hammer had a similar thought and wrote this postcript to Parson's ramblings:

Editors note: I have been to well over 100 Bats games and have never seen nor heard anyone who mentioned drugs.  However, I know that drugs are bought and sold at high schools.  Does that make every high school "unsafe"?

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