Supply your own entertainment

I received an email Wednesday from the apparently unceasing Obama campaign apparatus called Organizing for America. I get these all the time & never read them, but I spied the word 'Waxhaw' in the email so had to go back & check the local connection.

Apparently there was a Watch Party for the State of the Union organized in Waxhaw. For those unaware, a watch party or other similar political gatherings were popularized by moveon.org, where like-minded people connect through online social networking and gather in towns and cities across America. (I think that's a relatively accurate one sentence overview.)

Not much of a "party" in my opinion, unless of course you consider "huddl[ing] on the phone with former campaign manager and White House advisor David Plouffe" the ideal party activity.

But you can always make a drinking game out of it. Responsibly, of course.

New closer Walmart on the way!

The missus just told me this evening that the grading going on near the Foxhole (right before you cross into North Carolina) is in preparation for a new Super Walmart. Or at least there's a small sign stating as much.

I'm actually pretty excited about this. Now we don't have to go quite so far to get to a Walmart and even better, it's on my daily commute, so I can stop saving time, money, & gas.

I know there's not a lot of support for Walmart in Waxhaw, but this is win-win for me and probably a lot of other Waxhaw commuters.

New museum director

John Anderson has a nice write-up in today's Charlotte Observer about the Museum of the Waxhaws new director. I'd say he has the chops to be a fine director. Here's his background; visit the link to see the whole story.

"My involvement with museums goes back over 25 years, when I started volunteering as a living history interpreter at several sites in New Jersey and New York," Scott said.

"I was on the historical advisory board of the John C. Storms Museum in Park Ridge, N.J., where I helped develop special events and programs, and put together exhibits from my own collection, which included historic textiles, antique toys, militaria and ephemera."

He's also someone who walks the walk or, more correctly, marches the march.

"I joined a Revolutionary War re-enactment group in 1976, which was the beginning of my involvement with living history interpretation," he said. "Over the past three-plus decades, I have participated in over 900 re-enactments, from Canada to Georgia. I have also been lecturing at New York City and New Jersey schools for over 20 years. One of the highlights of my lecturing career was when I was asked to speak at the USMA museum at West Point about the National Guard's role in World War I."

He is a professional anthropologist/archeologist who's not afraid to get his hands dirty:

"I also began digging at a young age, when I discovered that northern New Jersey and the lower Hudson River valley had quite a few good fossil sites to offer," Scott said. "When I was a high school junior, I began working on Eastern Woodland Indian archaeological digs, first as a volunteer, then as a paid field hand. My area of study has, for the most part, been the American Colonial period, beginning with the colonization by the Dutch and English during the 17th century, with a special interest in their contact with the native peoples.

On a personal note, Scott Farb and his daughter were nice enough to open up the museum last Tuesday and give a excellent tour of the exhibits to some lucky Cub Scouts and their parents. Both were dressed in historical garb. In the words of one of the scouts, he looked like "a pirate". And in my own words, she looked like an old-timey girl wearing an old-timey hat. My historical background is such that I cannot place the time period.

On another side note, don't be frightened away by his picture in today's Observer. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how you look at it) , it was not included in the web version of this story. He's much more personable than that photo lets on. Vacant & downtrodden is how I would describe it.

And on one final side note, I believe I overheard him say repairs to the museums' roof have recently begun (and a visit to the museum's Facebook page confirms it in a Jan 19th update), so it appears enough donations were received after their problems were publicized. Good news!

My visit to SouthSiders

The hustle & bustle of Christmas combined with a trip north afterward has knocked me out of my blogging rut. I've been away from this blog for a while, but it's time I get back in the swing of things.

I finally made it into SouthSiders on Saturday for a beer. Given my past cheerleading of the referendum, you might've figured I'd be camped out there, but, alas, no.

I stopped in Saturday evening to check out their first official dart tournament. A lowkey affair, but a excellent number of participants for their first foray into competitive darts. I arrived fashionably late so did not compete, but I'd been gorging myself silly at 521 BBQ & Grill in Lancaster County.

Now, as for the beer, it looked like a nice selection, but I zeroed in on the Lager, so I didn't get a good look at what else was available.

It appears taps and a bar are to be installed around the beginning of February; it'll be nice to sit down for a pint of Guinness or Harp.

Unfortunately, I neglected to ask Mark if there are any specials. Hopefully that'll be my next big scoop because what's a bar without drink specials.