South Beach Day 5

Not being one to break tradition, it was eggs again this morning with a nice side of turkey bacon. Megan brought a lunch consisting of turkey, cheese, light mayo, and lettuce wraps. She found this great hydroponic lettuce at Trader Joes that stays good for a long time due to the root system being left in tact in a specially made plastic container. For dinner she made a great Indian style dinner, sans bread.

I attended two community events today. I had high expectations for one and low expectations for the second. As it turned out, my expectations were opposite of the results. The TMACOG walking tour of Lagrange Street, starting with the Ohio Theater was a disappointment to me (no, not because of the rain). The only thing nice I saw about the street was exactly that, the street, curb cuts, sidewalks, and trees. The walk was led by two city councilmen (Kaps. and Ashford). I think they did a good job, but I really didn't see how they could consider this the most pedestrian friendly commercial district in the city. Especially considering the constant heavy truck traffic, probably in part due to the metal scrap yard a few blocks further up Lagrange. The businesses looked very run down and shabby, and I didn't see anything appealing about that neighborhood or business district. I really feel that the Walk Westgate project would have more chance of success at commercial investment and a high degree of civic participation.

The second event was the Open Source Software Panel Discussion, held at UT's Engineering auditorium. The caliber of discussion leaders, combined with the terrific turnout (~250?), really surprised and encouraged me. It made me proud to be UT Engineering Alumni, and also proud to work for Pilkington. Our CTO Bill McCreary was the originator of the project, though many others contributed to its success. Beforehand, I really thought the issue was passe, and that the prospects of getting good discussion would be difficult. But really I have to say I was impressed and got some great perspectives from the talk. Bill Hilf from Microsoft joked that he would be the pinata at the party, but his explanations were some of the most pragmatic and useful. Jerry Mayfield from Novell was also on the ball with new perspectives.