I’m optimistic at the start of a new presidential term, but I also realize that these are tough times. And they may get tougher before they get better.

Even Roanoke has felt some of the effects of the weakened ecomony:

Circuit City Going Out of Business

I was genuinely saddened by this news. I’ve always liked Circuit City and shopped there many times going back to when it used to be over at Crossroads. I’m in the market to finally upgrade from my old tube TV to a new HDTV set so I may have to make a stop there and see what they have left. I drove by on Sunday and it looked very busy. Nothing like a store closing down to drum up business I guess.

Mill Mountain Theatre to Shutdown

I was frustrated by this news, mostly at myself. For years I kept telling myself I was going to take in a performance at the theatre, and it just never happened. Now, the time has run out.

Ukrop’s Picking up Some Business?

Since I read a Roanoke Times article about Ukrop’s not having enough business, it seems that they have had at least a little increase in business the times I have been there. I hope so. I’m doing about 99% of my shopping there now.

Many Deals at Some Stores Still Around

I was in need of some new shoes and clothes so I went to Tanglewood Mall this past Sunday. Belk had sale signs splattered all over the place. After several minutes I had picked out a pair of jeans, pants, and a few shirts. Based on what I could gather from markdowns and sales I estimated the total price to be about $115 for everything. Good deal I thought. When I got to the register it turned out being only $85, so I just smiled.

Then, it was off to JC Penney for a couple pair of shoes and they were quite busy in particular. I even ended up driving out to the Valley View store to get the shoes because they didn’t have my size at Tanglewood.

I plan on going back and buying more when I get my tax refund.

Final Thoughts

The state of the economy of course concerns me, but it doesn’t control me. I still work as hard as I ever have. I’m spending less than I used to, but I believe before now I was in fact over-spending. If I go out to eat or get a haircut I still tip well over 10%. I’m more conscious about paying down debt and saving for the future in my 401k. Most importantly, I live within my means.

I hadn’t checked some of the visitor stats for this blog in a while, but I had a chance to over the weekend. What I found a little interesting were some of the phrases people typed in a search engine which led them to Noke News.

Common search terms may be for various points of interest that I’ve written about such as the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Bridge.

But, some of the following I consider a bit more uncommon:

(From December 2008)

“cold football game”
“people at cold football game pictures”
“va tech football va game scoreboard picture”

I hope my trip to a bitter cold Virginia Tech football game back in November was a little helpful to these visitors.

“greenway from best buy to hotel roanoke”

They must be referring to Lick Run Greenway.

“i went to vwcc”

So did I! I wrote a post about the school here.

“is it going to snow in roanoke va this winter”

Well, it did snow a dusting here in Roanoke back in December. Not much has fallen since then aside from some flurries. There is actually a chance of some today.

“is k&w open on christmas in roanoke,va”

I’m not sure, I went there on Thanksgiving, but that probably wasn’t much help.

“noke city va”

I just thought it was cool that somebody searched using the “Noke” slang.

“pictures of fried wingettes”

I have no clue about this one….but I hope they found this site interesting.

These photos were taken on 12/27/08 as I traveled from Roanoke out along US 460 (and eventually on secondary roads) to the Bedford area over the holiday.

Most of these photos will need no introduction, other than being just a fraction of some of the beautiful and unique countryside scenes that we are fortunate to view here in Southwest VA.

I hope you enjoy them.

These photos were taken on 12/27/08 as I traveled from Roanoke out along US 460 (and eventually on secondary roads) to the Bedford area over the holiday.

Most of these photos will need no introduction, other than being just a fraction of some of the beautiful and unique countryside scenes that we are fortunate to view here in Southwest VA.

I hope you enjoy them. If you missed Part 1, it is here. I’ll post Part 3 on Wednesday. (Link to Part 3 is also at the bottom of the post.)

Part 3

These photos were taken on 12/27/08 as I traveled from Roanoke out along US 460 (and eventually on secondary roads) to the Bedford area over the holiday.

Most of these photos will need no introduction, other than being just a fraction of some of the beautiful and unique countryside scenes that we are fortunate to view here in Southwest VA.

I hope you enjoy them. I’ll post Parts 2 and 3 next week. (Links to Parts 2 and 3 are also at the bottom of the post.)

The junction with the Blue Ridge Parkway as seen when traveling along US 460.

A peculiar water fountain along US 460, which always seem to be flowing.

Part 2

Part 3

Some 3 or so years ago I reserved the domain name for this site. I thought the name was catchy, but I had no idea what to do with it. So, for the longest time over many months the website sat idle with “Under Construction” pasted on the homepage.

Then, sometime in late 2007 I was introduced to this whole blogging phenomenom. Blogging has been around for years, and I found myself starting to regularly follow various blogs on topics such as personal finance. Being able to read about stuff written by real, everyday other people was cool.

In some small fashion I wanted to do the same here in writing about my experiences in Roanoke.

For those of you already out there blogging you may have experienced some of the following already. For those considering starting a blog (on any topic of your choosing), I implore you to give it a shot. Here are some of my own personal experiences from the first year as a blogger:

That not only local area residents read your blog

I’ve received some friendly emails and comments from people who may have once called Roanoke home, but are now living in different parts of the nation. And they are still interested in some of the goings on in this quaint city of Southwest Virginia.

That I’m now more inclined to visit places around town I otherwise wouldn’t have

This site has given me the extra push to visit places and areas I may not have otherwise gone. For example, I never would’ve gone to Brown-Robertson Park, or ridden a bicycle along Lick Run Greenway if not for this site. I mean, they’re supposed to be “bad” areas, right?

That make no mistake, blogging is work

Blogging is really a fair amount of work and is basically a part-time job. At minimum I spend 5 hours during a typical week with all things Noke News, and sometimes as much as 10-20 hours a week going around and taking pictures, then writing up posts. But, I view it more as a hobby than work. Sometimes, since I usually keep my camera in the car, I just drive around for a bit and look for a great photo opportunity.

Other blogging opportunities

And finally, that after getting through a year with this site I’m persuaded to launch another blog sometime in the next few weeks. To get ahead of the game, I have written a few dozen articles for that blog so everything will be easier to manage. (The new blog will be on an entirely different topic and I probably won’t mention anymore about it here.)

Well, that’s it. Again, I encourage you to find a topic or topics you like or want to know more about and consider starting a blog of your own. And if you do, send me the link!