Happy 2018.
This is the last Rhino Times of 2017, which seems incredible. One thing I’ve learned putting out a weekly publication for more than 25 years is that a weekly deadline makes time fly.
Last week I had to look up an article I had written earlier in the year. I thought I wrote it in October, but it turned out it was August. Later this week I’ll sit down with all 52 papers we have produced this year to do a review, and I will annoy everyone in the office by calling out a story and saying, “Guess when we covered that?”
I do know that the City Council primary was Oct. 10 and the general election on Nov. 7, but otherwise it’s always confusing.
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Some people expected Rocky Scarfone and his attorney Amiel Rossabi to have already filed a lawsuit against the city over the parking deck that the city plans to build on East Market and Davie streets, which will eliminate Scarfone’s easement to the back door of Cone Denim Entertainment Center. But that lawsuit has not been filed because the courts are closed for Christmas.
Court reopens on Jan. 2 and Rossabi has already sent a letter to the city asking that all correspondence in the city’s possession about the planned parking deck be preserved, which is a good indication that the lawsuit will be filed.
Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that she was still hopeful something could be settled outside of court, but considering the fact that the city has been negotiating with Scarfone and Rossabi since July, and they have not been able to reach an agreement, that seems unlikely.
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The NFL has not been attracting crowds to the games or the television audience it had before the national anthem protests, and this week it is cancelling its Sunday Night Football.
It falls on New Year’s Eve and the NFL has evidently decided that the attendance and viewership would be embarrassing.
Following the lead of President Trump, the NFL released this information in a tweet.
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Dec. 26, Boxing Day, isn’t an official holiday in the US as it is in the British world, but it might as well be judging from the number of people who were at work Tuesday, which was nearly none.
Even among people who claim to know such things, the origin of the term “Boxing Day” is in dispute. It evidently has something to do with servants getting the day off and getting a box of presents to take to their families, or perhaps is the day that folks like delivery people got a gift either in the form of a box of presents or cash.
In the US it is simply the day after Christmas and most people are recovering from the day before, or traveling back home, but most aren’t at work.
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The Muse and I were in St. Louis for Christmas and were lucky enough to have a white Christmas. I learned the weather people in St. Louis aren’t any better than the weather people in Greensboro at predicting snow. But it did make for a beautiful Christmas morning.
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Several years ago I realized I was about 25 pounds overweight and had no idea how it had happened.
I have since started weighing myself every day and now I know what happened.
We went on vacation in November this year and I gained a little over three pounds, which is not a lot, and then over Christmas I gained another pound. However, if I hadn’t been keeping up, I would have ended the year four or five pounds heavier than I started out. And I wouldn’t have noticed until maybe I’d gained another five pounds and my pants got too tight.
But I lost the three pounds when we got back from vacation, so I’ve only got the pound I gained over Christmas to lose. And losing one pound is so much easier than five. For me the key is weighing myself every day, so things don’t get out of hand.
According to a press release, National Bacon Day is Saturday, Dec. 30. So I may have more than a pound to lose next week.
