Author: bgibson135

I am a retired Web Developer, Blackboard & Canvas Administrator at Fayetteville State University, which is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina.

20 Years!

bgibson135

My first day of work at Fayetteville State University was on August 7, 1995.  Today is Friday, August 7, 2015.  Twenty years working at FSU.  I was hired by Mr. Leo Taylor, then Director of MIS (later became ITTS) Management Information Systems.

Leo and I became good friends.  His direction, in my writing a job description,  was instrumental in my receiving a significant pay increase several years into my employment.  He retired from FSU and then worked several years for Sprint.  Leo was originally from Washington, NC (“Little Washington”), and his mother, “Silver,” still lived in Washington until her death at the end of 2013.  Leo had a “love-hate” relationship with Silver.  He loved to hate her;-)  Leo died in April of 2014.  I miss him.

I had breakfast at the Rainbow Restaurant before work this morning.

The morning was the usual blend of various technical feats.  I walked across campus and installed a couple of updates of software in an office.  I did the last push to get some FIU technicians their account info so that they could login to our Canvas LMS.  They will be assisting some of our Accounting Department faculty with getting the curriculum fully online.

I was thinking about what might be a special treat for lunch and then decided to go to the “Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet” on Ramsey Street.  This restaurant is in the remodeled, former Golden Corral.  I used to go to the Golden Corral at least a couple of times a week.  Although the restaurant looks little like it did for many years, I still feel comfortable there and enjoy the Oriental Cuisine.  However, I do like the shrimp and normally get a “mess” of them, peeling, dipping them in Cocktail Sauce, and eating them as my first plate.  I’ll get a slice of watermelon, and/or a slice of cantaloupe and add sweetner to the melon and salt the cantaloupe.  I may get a cup of egg drop soup, to which I may add some steamed won tons, and some chopped onion tops.  I’ve finally reached the age of a “Senior.”  They only charge $7.12 (tax included) for the Buffet and water.  I think the normal cost is $8.43, or there abouts.

If they want to charge more for the Senior meal, that’s okay with me.  If they don’t want to give a Senior Discount, that would be okay also… but, if they are offering a discount, then I am going to take advantage of it.  I have spent many years, not being a “Senior,” and paying full price.  I don’t want them to go out of business either.

After a late lunch, the afternoon became progressively more stormy.  And then, there was a crack and the office went black.  There was an unusual grinding sound as if something was attacking a large mechanical unit and then the sound of several battery backups beeping.   My monitors were black screened and no hum came from my PC.  I did note that the power light was still on for my laptop, which is running Ubuntu OS, but that is because some time ago I replaced its dead battery with one from one of the old laptops that was being retired.  I had also doubled the RAM in similar fashion.

The offices and halls were dark except for the degraded light filtering through the large exterior windows.  A year or so ago, a film was applied to the glass panes to reduce the heat & light to the interior.  This was a mixed blessing because the office environment was made more pleasant, but the exterior always seems to be either early morning or twilight.  I have a yard light that is solar powered sitting on my window ledge.  It used to gain enough power during the day that the light bulb would shine when you covered the top of the unit.  It doesn’t charge enough now with the film on the window.

The offices were quickly abandoned as staff found their way outside for various reasons.  I decided to go home.

At home, I notified several people of the power outage and which apps were affected.  The battery backups kept some apps running for a while, but then I think most or all of the apps were shut down until power was restored.  Blackboard, Canvas and WordPress became unavailable.  Although Blackboard and Canvas are both hosted off-site at different locations, authentication (ADFS, LDAP) is handled from our server(s) on-campus and these were unavailable to authenticate users for several hours.

So, that was my day… twenty years at FSU and counting.

Bill’s Weight Journal – Last 3.5 Years via FitDay

bgibson135

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In early 2011 I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.  Note that I had a rapid weight loss.  It is amazing how disciplined I can be when necessary.  However, there does seem to be a plateau at about the 230 lbs. range that I mentally cannot get beyond.  I hit this area, and then flounder and pretty quickly regain most of the weight.  Look like I’ve managed to reduce by about 20 lbs. during this time.

Upgraded to Windows 10

bgibson135

I had bought a cheap Dell Inspirion touch-screen PC for home, somewhere in the last year.  I got it from Best Buy, and it was a “return” unit.  It had Windows 8.1 on it, which I was not enamored by.  I did note that the unit would often go to the “Blue Screen of Death” and I had thought that the unit probably had some bad memory which was causing this.  So, I had left the unit off for months, just sitting there collecting dust.

Then over the weekend, I decided to start it up again, and then it came to me to see if I could get the free Windows 10 upgrade.  I found the upgrade request site and put my email address in.  At some point the little Window icon appeared on my Task Bar, and when I opened up the window from it, it said that Windows 10 was downloading in the background and it would notify me when I could start the Upgrade process.

Last night, I finally saw that the files had finished downloading and I started the Upgrade to Windows 10 process.  I think it took less than an hour, and when it was through I started using Windows 10.

Windows 10 seems to start up quicker, and I have been pleasantly surprised by the interface.  Enough like Windows 7, which I still use at work, and yet combining the Windows 8 interface.

ADDENDUM [8/15/15]:  I have continued to be happy with Windows 10.  I haven’t had a “blue screen of death” since I installed W10.  I installed Snagit successfully yesterday.  I’ve modified the background screens.

Michael Diamond Doesn’t Have a Clue!

bgibson135

Michael Diamond’s TWC marketing letter came to me while I was waiting for my “rescheduled” appointment with the TWC Installer.  The letter encourages to come back to TWC and there are no hassle, 1 hour scheduled wait times for services installation.

Well, the TWC installer showed up sometime before 5:32 pm on the originally scheduled afternoon, and left a notice about “Sorry we missed you,” when the schduled time was to be between 6 pm – 7 pm, and they never came back that afternoon/night.  So, I rescheduled for a “first hour of the day” installation time, even though I had to come into work a little later, and the installer showed up and everything went fine.  The installation was 11 days from the originally scheduled time.

I’ve been in this apartment for about 3 years.  About 3 years ago, the TWC installer was supposed to show up between 6 pm – 7 pm… They didn’t show up then either.  No one came to the door.  No one tried to call, because I had my cell phone with me all during that time.  The next day when I called to reschedule, I was told that I hadn’t been at home.  I corrected that bit of misinformation immediately.  That rescheduled appointment was for first thing Saturday morning.  The TWC installer came and everything went fine.

Okay, so if I ever need a TWC installer to come, I’m damned sure not going to schedule a time after 5 pm.  You can’t rely on those tasked during that time to show up, or call.  I’m not saying all evening installers are untrustworthy, but I’m batting 100% so far, to the negative.

So, that is why I say that Michael Diamond with TWC doesn’t have a clue about 1 hour scheduled times for installation.  If he did, what could he do?  Probably not a thing… except quit promising something that HE couldn’t deliver in his marketing letters & TV commercials.

—

Yale School of Drama Board of Advisors, MFA

Paines Plough Theatre Company

PDQ has an extremely good “Grilled Chicken Salad”!

bgibson135

I think the former restaurant was called “Miami Subs”.  They tore this down and built PDQ.  I thought there was no reason for me to go to a “chicken tenders” place, but I’m glad I did.

They have a very good Grilled Chicken Salad, which includes warm grilled chicken chunks, sliced roasted almonds, dried cranberries, small red tomatoes, thin carrot sticks and assorted lettuces.  They have a default blueberry dressing, but I prefer either the Ranch or Honey Mustard ones.

There is a large helping of salad here for under $7 including tax and water to drink.

The drink dispenser reminds me of something out of the Jetsons.  It has a computerized interface.  Press the little aqua colored digital “Water” button and then press the actual dispenser button for water.  Get lost, there is a small Back arrow in the upper left of the interface.  Trust me.  I did not find that on my own.

The staff are friendly, upbeat, and attentive to customers.

Azalea Festival Queens & Celebrities

bgibson135

I was just visiting the Azalea Festival 2015 web site and started looking at past queens and dignitaries.  I find it hard to believe that the list included Martha Hyer, Esther Williams, Shelley Fabres, Debra Paget & Ronald Regan.df38a6f0967887d693b1f7ee89c8bcfa Martha-Hyer

I don’t think I ever see a movie with Martha Hyer in it that I don’t say, “Now that’s a pretty woman!”

Chipotle Mango Salsa

bgibson135

Basically, chunk up everything, mix, and give it enough time for the avocado to break down some to form a creamy sauce.  Use one or two Chipotle peppers, chopped up.  If you like more heat, add more peppers.  The peppers are the unexpected element to this salsa.  You get sweet, and hot.  Vidalia onions are probably best.

$T & Walmart
$T

NOTE [05/11/22]: I fixed this again recently and put some left overs in the refrigerator. It took me a couple of days to finish it, and I had put the remainder in a small Tupperware container which had cooled in the refrigerator for a couple of days. By the time I ate the last of it, the avocado had plenty of time to break down and form a delicious, mild sauce. The food was really cold, and by the time I had finished it, I said to myself, “That was almost like ice cream.” Not the texture of the salsa, but how good ice cream is… a really good desert, and that is what this salsa can become!

I used some other brand of Mangos in a jar, the last time, and I had a couple of raw Champaign Mangos, which I sliced up and added to the salsa.

I wrote about making this Chipotle/Mango Salsa while travelling in my posting called, “Road Gourmet.” I would have to re-read the posting to see if I mentioned about not being able to find some of the ingredients, or not find them all at one grocery. I haven’t made this is a while because I think it affected my blood sugar negatively.

I was recently looking in an old cookbook [Southern Living Homestyle Cookbook published in 2008 by Oxmoor House p.153] that I had bought a short time ago and found a version of this:

Mango and Avocado Salsa

  • 2 ripe large mangoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large avocado, peeled and chopped
  • 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • ½ medium-size red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • ½ teaspoon hot sauce
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon pepper

This recipe includes fresh chopped cilantro, but uses hot sauce instead of chopped Chipotle peppers.

[06/23/25]:

Spicy Mango Habanero Guacamole at Trader Joe’s

I rarely look to Trader Joe’s for any grocery items, so it was unusual for me to be on the Trader Joe’s web site today. But, during my brief visit, I happened to see an add for “Spicy Mango Habanero Guacamole.” As I looked at the image and read the following list of ingredients, I began to realize that with an addition of pineapple chunks & cilantro, and a substitution of chipotle peppers for habanero/jalapenos, I would have a satisfying guacamole that mimicked all the salsa flavors.

Chunks of golden Mango provide the sweet. The spicy comes from a combination of jalapeño peppers and Habanero pepper purée. These sweet & spicy components are complemented by just a handful of other fresh (never frozen) ingredients, including onion, red bell pepper, and cilantro. Of course, we can’t forget the avocados! Our Mexican supplier acquires Hass variety avocados from nearby farms and scoops them by hand to create the creamy and delicious Guacamole base.  (Description from Trader Joe’s web site.)

I normally do not fixt this salsa because the mango and pineapple affect my blood sugar negatively, but I do love the flavors, and as I recall, if you leave the dish a couple of days in the fridge and allow the avocado to break down to a smooth, cool sauce, this becomes “a dessert.”

The last several times I’ve been in Food Lion, I’ve walked past where they sell the DelMonte Brand of canned fruit, but I haven’t seen any sliced mangos, which a few years ago they always had one or two glass jars of mangos. The mangos in a jar are not as good looking as the fresh mangos. *Oh, and I have seen and bought several cans of mangos at Dollar Tree ($T). I’m not sure if I still have them, or if $T still sells them, but I know that $T does sell the canned pineapple for $1.25, because the price is prominently displayed on the can, as part of it’s advertising by the company.

[end]

Naval Medical Field Research Lab, Building 66, Camp Lejeune, NC

bgibson135

My mother, Vivian M. “Mick/Mickey” Gibson worked about 45 years as a Civil Service secretary.  Most of her time was stationed aboard Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base.  I recall that one of her secretarial jobs was at Building 66, the Naval Medical Field Research Lab on Base.  The time would have been the early 1960s.  I found an official document regarding the NMFRL-CLNC-1963-AD0422922 online.

I rode with my mother, or drove to pick her up, on Base many times through the years. If you were near the traffic circle when the flag was schedule to come down (maybe 6 pm??), all traffic stopped, even in the circle, until the ceremony was over. Mom worked at the Industrial Relations Labor Board (at the main entrance to Camp Lejeune) when she first started working on Base. But, many years, when we were living in the old house on the corner of Hwy. 24 and Queens Creek Road (now the Burger King), she would leave about 7:30 am, and return about 5:30 pm going along Queens Creek Road and on Base via the “Back Gate” (Hwy 172). *Interesting that they built a million dollar hi-rise bridge down at Sneads Ferry some years ago, and a short time later closed public traffic down Hwy 172.

My first dog was “Lassie”. I’m not sure if it was legal, but Rip Jackson had rescued the dog from the Lab. It would have been one of their many test subjects. *One of those mental images that has stuck with me through the years, although I never actually saw this, was that as part of the testing procedures, they would put a cadaver’s foot in a boot and blow it up to see the results. **Note that this was the Vietnam War Era.

Some of the names I recall of persons that she worked with, some secretarial and some not, were Barbara Brainerd, Robin Short & “Rip” Jackson.  One Christmas, mom had Rip Jackson put together some fishing equipment and she gave me that as a present that Christmas.  I still have the Penn “9” reel, which sits above my bathroom medicine cabinet.

Penn 9 Reel
Penn 9 Reel that was part of the fishing tackle Rip Jackson purchased for my mother.

It does not work properly now, but probably could be put in working condition fairly easily.

There was a metal fishing tackle box in a copper colored finish.  I recall one lure which looked like a bright pearline white shrimp with several hooks hanging down beneath it.

On Christmas morning, mom and I rode down to the Bogue Sound Fishing Pier.  It was a cold, bright sunny, morning, but there were several fishermen on the pier.  Neither one of us knew what we were doing.  There was an old fisherman located on the pier near where the waves were breaking down below.  He was pulling in sea trout on a regular basis.  Mom nor I ever caught anything.  *We joked about moving near to the old fisherman, and then he would move away from us.  I guess we were messing up his fishing;-)

Aunt Pete & Ervin & Boat 521 Riverside Drive Portsmouth VA 1970
Aunt Pete & Ervin & Boat 521 Riverside Drive Portsmouth VA 1970

I probably did not go fishing again until Irwin Wilkins took me out on his boat during one of the summers when I was up living with my mother in Aunt Pete’s home on Riverside Drive, Portsmouth, VA.  Irwin was my Aunt’s long time “beau”.

Irwin had about a 16ft. boat with an outboard motor on it.  We would put out from my Aunt’s wooden dock.  There was a great difference depending upon the tides.  Once we almost got stuck going out, and would have either had to sit in the boat until the tide came back in, or tried to make it to shore in knee deep mud.  Irwin worked at getting his boat out from the small receding water channel, and finally with much work succeeded.  We would have been out in the James River.

The “body language” tells it all.  I’m taking the picture.  Glad I was oblivious.

Mom & Mustang 521 Riverside Drive Portsmouth VA 1970
Mom Mustang 521 Riverside Drive Portsmouth VA 1970

Bill in front of 521 Riverside Drive 1970
Bill in front of 521 Riverside Drive 1970

Segregationist governor’s name to be removed from ECU dorm

bgibson135

WRAL.com

Charles B. Aycock was the Governor of North Carolina at the turn of the last Century.  He was a Democrat, and followed Republican Governor Daniel Lindsay Russell.  Russell was a distant relative of mine.  He and his wife are buried in a little, neglected cemetery between Swansboro and Belgrade, NC.  I say neglected, not because someone mows the lawn periodically, but because since my first visit years ago, the ornate iron fencing surrounding the small cemetery has mostly disappeared.  I guess “grave robbers” are stealing the wrought iron to sell.

cbaycock

During the election campaign for Daniel Russell, he was often caricatured in the News & Observer as a hideous creature, sometimes even portrayed with claws, instead of hands.  Russell wasn’t what might be considered a handsome man.  He was tall, and “large boned,” and he did have almost “bugged” eyes, so creating an unpleasant image wasn’t that difficult.  The News & Observer of that time was obviously racist, and pretty unashamedly so… so Charles B. Aycock would not have been an enemy of the publication.

In 1972, when I first attended college at UNC-Chapel Hill, I was housed in Aycock Men’s Dorm.  I was on the 3rd floor and my first roommate was Keith Smith, a UNC Senior.  I only attended UNC-Chapel Hill for two years, before I had to go elsewhere.  Not their fault, but mine… being a Fall partier, that in my last weeks, became a Spring partier, and an “almost every night of the week” drinker.

During the warmer times of the year, when we had our windows open, my third roommate, who’s name I do not recall (but he was a young, accomplished tennis player with Arthur Ashe composite rackets), and who loved to put strings of profanity together, would call out of the window, “Lewis… Lewis… Lewis,”  (getting louder with each call) and finally from across the quad, a male voice from Lewis Dorm would respond, “What”.   And, to which my roommate, and later myself would reply, “Eat Shit!”  Funny what entertains one in college.

Writing this also reminds me that we rarely had our 3rd floor window closed*, and that was because during warmer days, we needed the breeze, and during colder times, our uncontrollable radiator put out more than enough heat (too much) to have the window closed.  *I do recall a few days, with snow on the ground that we finally closed the window.

Aycock Dorm was eventually combined with the next door, women’s dorm (I don’t recall that name.) physically, with the small space between the two buildings being built in & bricked.  *I also recall that years after attending classes, but before the buildings being connected, I parked my car and walked into the dorm.  i started upstairs, and made it all the way to the 3rd floor doors before realizing that the dorm had been converted to a women’s facility.  The cute little door message board was the dead giveaway of the change.

On those times when I travel between Fayetteville and Greenville, I am reminded of Governor Aycock as I near his birthplace, which is a State preserved/run Park.  Wonder if eventually someone will think to try and stop State funding for the Aycock Birthplace.

In reading about Daniel L. Russell and Charles B. Aycock, even though one was a Republican and the other a Democrat, they both were friendly and respected one another.  I seem to recall that they amicably rode a train together, and when Russell left the Governor’s Mansion, he left the place in good condition, and well stocked for food… not as Russell’s predecessor had, leaving the Mansion with a bare pantry and strewn on the lower floor with empty liquor bottles.

*Note:  I also recall that quite often the thick aroma of marijuana would waft up from below (I guess 2nd floor.) and be sucked into our dorm window.  I did not try MJ until I was attending UNC-W (late in my college educational process), but for about 11 months during that time, I tried it quite frequently, and learned to experience “the munchies” and the paranoia that goes with its use.

[NOTE 01/31/25]:  I just re-read part of what I wrote above and realized that I’ve recently retold the same story, and that quite often I’ve recounted the same points.  I thought them interesting ten years ago, and again just a few days ago.  The cussing roommate, calling out to Lewis Dorm.  The window open most of the year, and combining the two dorms into one long one.  [end NOTE]