I live in the Virginia Heights area and my precinct is Virginia Heights Elementary School.

So, I set the trusty alarm for about 5:15AM, awoke a bit groggy, and set out to do my duty as an American citizen.

I arrived at the voting location around 6:10AM and already the parking lot (which is rather small anyways) was full. And there was a line of a few dozen people outside the door wrapped around a side of the school on the sidewalk. I parallel parked along the street and took my place in line.

The temperature is pretty mild today so the wait outside wasn’t uncomfortable. But there was just the ever so slightest bit of mist falling. Nothing too bad.

Almost an hour later at around 7:10AM I was proudly displaying an “I Voted” sticker while walking back to my car.

I will say that, though the line was long, it did move relatively steady and things seemed to be going as smoothly as could be expected. The election day workers were especially courteous and friendly and kept things moving along as best they could.

I suppose I could’ve just as easily voted early or absentee, but there’s just something neat about getting out there and punching the button in person.

So, early reports seem to confirm that there is overall going to be a very high turnout for the election, indeed.

How was your experience in getting out there to vote today?

We’ve already reached November. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and Christmas is only single-digit weeks away. From here on out it starts getting dark at 5:30PM, pretty soon that will change to 5. And if I’m not careful I could find myself driving both to work and home from work in the dark.

Now, that’s depressing.

What else is in store over the next several weeks:

We lose daylight

This past weekend we gained an hour (or did we lose it, I’m never sure) and from now until towards the end of the year the days keep getting shorter.

With it becoming so dark so early now, last night I kept looking at the clock and thinking it was much later than it really was. The time changes, but it takes me a week or two to adapt.

We gain 2 big holidays (time off from work to spend with loved ones)

The office where I work closes for both Thanksgiving Day and the Friday aftewards (Black Friday). And it’s not entirely unusual for me to take off that Wednesday before also, or I certainly try to sneak out a few hours early.

And I believe with Christmas Day falling on a Thursday this year, the same schedule may apply for that week too.

We lose/gain not having to mow and do various yardwork (depending on how you look at it)

I’m not a huge fan of yardwork, mainly because I just don’t have the time for it. I will work 12+ hour days during the week at the office, but on the weekends I like to kick back a good bit. Working outside isn’t therepeutic for me, reclining back in my La Z Boy chair is much better.

So, yardwork is squeezed in somewhere between when I get home from work and when I sit down for dinner, and that time can vary greatly.

Last week, before the time change, I set out to mow my yard (hopefully) one last time for the year. Still, I was out there at nearly 6:30PM and could’ve benefited from some built-in headlights on the mower.

We gain pounds

This refers back to the 2 big holidays mentioned above, because along with those are some pretty hefty dinners around my family. Thus, by January or so the scale is apt to read just a few more pounds than it had a couple months earlier.

Did someone say New Year’s Resolution?

We lose 2008 and gain 2009

And though as this year slowly comes to a close, we gain the promise of being able to repeat all of the above again with a whole new year!

When I was growing up I remember being told this time of year as being one of the best times of the year to catch a cold or otherwise get sick. At least according to mom.

Especially a day like yesterday, when the temperature approaches the 70s and above and it seems warm enough to get by without a jacket. “This is Fall and those are just the times when you can open your body to sickness!” mom used to say.

Well, I broke the rules yesterday and went out in short-sleeves, and I’ll have to wait and see how my immune system fares. But, nonetheless, after the better part of Saturday was rather rain-soaked, the second half of the weekend in Roanoke was near optimal for various outdoor activities.

Yesterday, I had business to attend to that required travel up the mountain along Catawba Valley Road some 30 miles from Roanoke. I only wish I had remembered to bring my camera along for the journey, because the color changing of the leaves on the mountain in the distance was nothing short of remarkable.

The way each leaf was probably just slightly out of sync with the others in the transformation of color, but from a distance and looking on how it all seems to come together like nature’s own masaic masterpiece.

(Note to self: bring your camera next time and let the photos speak for themselves.)

Also along the way is a trailhead and parking lot for the Appalachian Trail. I don’t think I saw one open parking space out of the few dozen available.

Great day to just be outside or take a drive.

1) Commute to work and around to all areas of town quickly and comfortably in my own car, and I don’t have to set foot in a dirty and cramped subway.

2) Being able to look down at your city below, without the use of an elevator.

View From the Mill Mountain Star

3) An abundance of city parks, greenways, and biking/hiking trails for use, or being able to just take a casual drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway to temporarily get away from things, without having to actually go too far away.

4) Tacky and gimmicky? Perhaps. But a lighted star at the top of a mountain is rather cool in its own unusual way.

Beautiful Mill Mountain as Seen from the Elm Avenue Intersection with Route 220/I-581.

5) Many other Roanoke area bloggers who, whether with positive, neutral, or negative commentary, are still compelled to write about their own experiences and thoughts of Roanoke.

6) With the beautiful mountains providing a backdrop in just about any outdoor image, even an amateur-at-best photographer like me can snap decent pictures.

View Along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

A short and informal dissertation about why this blog tends to focus on the bright sides of Roanoke.

As readership of this blog has increased modestly over the past several months I have become more and more conscientious about what I post. I don’t mean that I censor myself or place restrictions on what topics to post about. But, I mean that I genuinely try to provide thoughts, pictures, and overall hopefully enjoyable insight into a few of the many aspects that make Roanoke unique.

Long-time and new readers alike can proabably pretty easily observe that as a whole Noke News tends to focus on positive aspects of Roanoke. I suppose this came about naturally. I live here, as do many of you, and it makes sense to me that I should write more about the pluses, and not so much about the minuses. If I wrote too much about the minuses this site would actually seem to me to be a series of reasons to move away.

And that’s certainly not how I feel and it’s not the message I want to convey.

Now, I know Roanoke does have its share of crime, hot-button issues, crooked politicians (or just plain irresponsible ones), poverty, and other unpleasantries.
 
Those negatives exist without question, but in large part I’ve choosen not to put them in the limelight or give them publicity on this site.

Why?

Well, it’s not because I don’t have a personal opinion on a particular matter.  The answer is simply because I sometimes find that Roanoke is victim to a bit too much negativity already. And I believe there are many other unique and favorable aspects about this great city that are more deserving of the limelight.

From a greenway down by the river, to a quaint park with paths made out of pebbles and small boulders for sitting, to a meaningful memorial at the top of the mountain, there really is a lot of neat stuff around Roanoke.  Even now in looking back at the over 120 articles posted here I’ve only scratched the surface in mentioning just a handful of them.

But, to me all of this stuff deserves a place at the front of the line (or on the front page) every now and then. And I’m here to put it there.

In other words, I think being positive about Roanoke can be contagious and I hope to pass it on.

Gas prices were up, and so were the temperature and humidty (pictures below) over this past weekend in Roanoke.

I may go so far as to call the former the Gas Price Panic of 2008 in Roanoke. By the time I left work in the early evening on Friday, all gas stations I passed were jam packed with at least 2-3 car deep lines waiting to fill-up. I had never seen anything like it before.

Normally, out of habit, I keep my tank at a minimum of 1/2 full at all times. This is partly for pyschological reasons so when I see the total on the pump I’m not shocked at the huge amount. Also, by just keeping plenty of gas in the car it’s one less thing to worry about in my busy life. I have a smaller car and only about a 12-gallon tank anyways.

But, I was scheduled to go out of town this weekend and had let the gasoline gauge fall to below 1/4 of a tank. Big mistake.

So, I just went home, fixed dinner and went about my normal business.

Later in the evening around midnight I went back out and managed to fill-up at the Sheetz at the corner of Apperson Drive and Electric Road. At that time they only had the 87 grade and for $3.79. I didn’t have to wait in line but most of the pumps were kept busy.

On Saturday, I traveled to Covington and along the way don’t recall any gas station being out of gas completely. As in with blank price signs or grocery bags on the pump handles. And most of them were $3.79-3.99 with no lines or anything.

I wonder why things seemed to go so crazy in the Roanoke area? I certainly hope no one paid anything in the $4 or higher range!

We also had a real hot and hazy day yesterday in Roanoke. I had nearly retired my A/C unit for the year and had to crank it back up. That machine probably ended up getting more work this past weekend then it had the whole previous week.

But, it looks like things will be cooling off now.

I’m ready.

 Here are a couple pictures I took yesterday while driving to Salem.

Clear view to the mountains in the background as seen when traveling on Brandon Avenue towards Salem. (9/14/08)

Apperson Drive in Salem, VA. (9/14/08)

A brief history of how I came to call Roanoke home.

Strong Roots

I was born and raised in Roanoke. My father also grew up here, and my mother moved here when she was young.

Both of my parents (now divorced) still live in or in the vicinity of Roanoke. Well, my mom actually still lives in the same house where I grew up.

And those of my grandparents still alive also live in Roanoke, with several other relatives scattered throughout Virginia from here to Richmond.

I went to college at Virginia Western and Radford University and then came back to Roanoke looking for work and my place in the world. Sometime later I purchased my first home in Roanoke City, found a rewarding career, and never had a chance or consideration to look back. I suppose I could be called a “young professional” that Roanoke is looking to attract, or keep.

The big city isn’t for me

I have on occasion visited a big city and within a matter of hours realized that that kind of life just wasn’t for me. Things move too fast there, and just seem to always be moving. When visiting Chicago, I remember looking out of the window from the hotel room and at all hours of the night seeing automobiles pass and even a handful of people scurrying about.

Here in Roanoke, I like that the sidewalks tend to for the most part roll up at a modest hour. I like that various parts of the city basically shut down on Sunday, and on a holiday. I love that except for about an hour or maybe two out of the day (and even that’s a stretch), there is really no traffic to speak of around town.

Making the choice

Each of us live where we do primarily from choices that we make along the road of life. I don’t think it’s accurate to say we just “end up” certain places as much as we may move to a new area to take a job, or we pick up roots in search of a higher quality of life. All of us have our own reasons.

I also don’t think it’s entirely accurate to say that we choose the city where we live. Sometimes the city chooses us.

How did you come about to call Roanoke home?

I don’t know if it’s a Roanoke phenomenom, but as I remember we also did have them at various times in the house where I grew up across town.

Little  bugs in the likeness of a turtle but with an orange shell and speckled with black dots, commonly referred to as ladybugs.

They tend to appear without warning around my house occasionally throughout the warmer months, hanging out near windows or on the walls.

A couple have been residents in my house for a few days now.

I’ll let one go and take it outside, and either it finds it’s way back in or another one shows up to take the place.

I suppose they are harmless, I just wish they’d knock first!

Does anyone else ever find these little guys around your home from time to time?