1. Spend a day at the National Whitewater Center in Charlotte

That was the #1 thing on my list. And I did it. And it was awesome. I’ve wanted to go to the USNWC ever since it opened several years ago. There’s SO MUCH to do there: zip lines, whitewater rafting (obviously), kayaking (one of my favorite things ever), canoeing, paddle boarding, ropes courses, obstacle courses, rock climbing, and hiking. And some other stuff, I’m sure.

SO FUN. If you’re ever in CLT, I highly recommend going for a day of adventure.

The zip lines and the rafting were my absolute favorites – Bek, of course, preferred the kayaks. There are few things in life he’d rather do than kayak.

Highlights:

I’d go back again in a heartbeat. Wanna come with?

I didn’t know James existed. James was a Union soldier in the civil war. He talks of the battle at Richmond, VA, April 1865, when the Union re-took the capital of the Confederacy. Pretty important battle.

Here’s the text of his letter, misspellings and all:

Point of Rocks

April 7, 1865

Dear wife it is with mutch pleasure that i take my pencil in hand to let yo no that i am well at this time and hope that these few lines may find yo in good health i will tell yo that we have had a ruff time this week we have run the Rebbles all out of Ritchmond and it is ours

we took about 30.000 prisiners and old lee is in full retreat i will tell yo how i got along in the fite i wet into it on sunday about nine oclock and came out about ten but i was in it long enough to git a slite wound on the left arm just below the shoulder but it is only a slight flesh wound

i think that i am the luckeyest man out when i look about me and see the rest of the men some have a leg off some have an arm off some wounded one way and some another i just got enough to keep me out of the field until they drive old lee to hell or git him

now i must close i dont want yo to git uneasy about me for. i am all rite so i remain yours truly

James M Coil

to Catherine Coil

And here are the images of the original letter (clicking on it opens a gallery) :

Amazing. I know James Coil’s story – at least a piece of it – thanks to the internet.

But I have so many questions. Where did James and Catherine live? What was Catherine’s maiden name? What was their trade? Education? What were their accents like? He wrote the letter from Point of Rocks – which Wikipedia says was home to exiled Unionists from Loudoun County, VA – was that his home? And, of course, what did James and Catherine look like?

When my dad sent me this letter, it was truly a gift. And so I’m inspired to learn as much as I can about my family, living and dead, to expand on that gift and to someday teach my children about their ancestors.

All the Coils and Bonardis and Thomases and Jensens that came before me might not define who I am – but if their stories hadn’t happened in the exact manner that they did: I might not exist. I want to know those stories.

So I’m adding another point to my 101/1001 list:

29. Document my family history.

Family members, prepare to get yourselves INTERVIEWED.

I bought: a French rosé wine, smoked gouda, chocolate covered pretzels, and green apples.

Bek bought: Doritos Locos Tacos Doritos (the chips) and Coke.

Typical.

This isn’t like that – I’m actually crossing things off. So maybe that wasn’t the best opener. But it’s a good book.

Anyway, I heard the phrase ‘reputation management’ the other day and thought to actually do some reputation management (aka see what’s on my website). To my happy surprise, I’ve actually done a few things on my 101/1001 list. Or at least started.

21. Buy a Car

I set out to buy a Civic. I ended up with a VW Beetle convertible. I regret nothing.

18. Become conversational in Spanish

Working on it. Duolingo is helping. I still can’t believe Duolingo is free. A study was just released about language learning that found Duolingo to be quicker and easier than Rosetta Stone when it comes to learning Spanish- AND IT’S FREE. I promise they don’t pay me to rave about them online.

12. Go to the Caribbean

I actually did this in 2006. I taught English (and did other humanitarian stuff) in Haiti. It was a wonderful trip, but not exactly a ‘Caribbean vacation.’ The reason I’m adding it here now? Finally have a trip booked for Puerto Rico in July – one of the only tropical places Bek can go before he becomes a US citizen. Calling it our (very) belated honeymoon.

10. Start and cultivate a vegetable and herb garden and 24. Grow a fruit tree

I live in a rental townhome with no yard. I can’t exactly grow veggies – but I have been growing herbs. Bek bought me a sick starter set of plants to grow for Christmas – and now our kitchen is home to peppermint, basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley, and chives.

And an orange tree. I’m crossing that one off too. Who needs a yard?

And finally…

7. Give the furniture I own (and hate) a makeover

OK.. I’m not 100% done with this one. I’d like to revamp the dresser in our bedroom as well. I’m either going to be boring classy and paint it white, or crazy and try a bright yellow or mint. Can’t decide.

I did revamp an awful footstool for our bedroom for a total of $12 (including the cost of the footstool). The fabric is a fan coral print from the flea market (in Raleigh). It’s the best – and it was $6 / yard. I used a little can of white paint that I found in the attic for the base. Can’t beat that.

NEXT ON THE LIST — National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, hug an exotic animal, parasail with the fella, wakeboard, write a novel / short story. Hopefully by the end of summer those will get crossed off.

Hey… help me add to my list. Give me ideas for cool life things to do. Please?

I’ve pitched a gazillionish bloggers in my life for several different companies, but it’s never been the other way around. Until now. Yehhh.

Printcopia, who make canvas prints (among other things) asked me to review their 8×10 canvas. So I agreed.

The Good

The customer experience from design to checkout is seamless. The web design is beautiful. The shipping was FAST- way faster than any canvas print I’ve ordered in the past. Extremely impressive for a custom product. You can pull an image from Facebook or Instagram if you choose. I didn’t do that, but it’s a cool option. Here’s a screenshot from the design process:

The Bad

There’s really no way around saying this… the print quality is just not good. It almost looks like there’s a white film all over it. It’s grayish and washed out. You can’t discern Bek’s teeth from each other – it’s just a blob of color. The picture looks nothing short of blurry. I used a decently high resolution image, but you’d think I snapped a shot with my old 3.2 megapixel point-and-shoot and stretched it to an 8×10. Not so.

Here’s the photo I used next to a picture of the canvas print:

It’s a bit difficult to show you with a crappy iPhone picture of the print. Basically, the colors are muted. The greens are less green. The dark colors look like they have a layer of not-yet-dry modge podge on them. You can’t see our individual teeth, which is kind of creepy. Could be a fluke, though.

I keep seeing this William Morris quote on Pinterest: “Have nothing in your house which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” This isn’t beautiful. I wouldn’t buy a canvas from them again, but the customer experience and web design is good enough that I might try their photo prints. Clearly they have good designers, so perhaps this product is just the weak link.

Disclosure: I received a free canvas from Printcopia for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

And it was a bad one.

• I was supposed to receive an e-gift card from Target on 8/31. At least, that’s when the order was placed. Their website says egift cards arrive within 4 hours.
• 24 hours came and went, no gift card. I called customer service on 9/1, was on hold for at least 45 minutes, and was finally issued a replacement card.
• 48 hours came and went, and now on 9/3, STILL no card. I called customer service again. They told me to wait another day and call again on 9/4 if it still isn’t here.

Four days for a gift card to arrive VIA EMAIL. That’s awful. Not even close to ‘not great.’ It’s terrible.

And the kicker? I have to convert that egift card into a normal gift card once it does arrive – then wait 4 hours before I can use it in a Target store. I asked customer service why that extra step was in place, and the rep said ‘because Target.com and Target stores are separate.’ Yes, maybe from Target’s perspective, but not from the consumer’s. I can return things from Target.com in a Target store. I can use a giftcard bought in the store on Target.com. Why is this the only exception? Why the extra step for the customer?

Target egift cards need to be re-thought. Their systems and process don’t work for this product. It’s a standard thing that should be offered, but it needs to be improved. And quickly.

I’ve wanted to learn Spanish for years. I even bought Spanish textbooks from my high school when I was 15 so that I could start studying on the side. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s really hard to learn a language from a textbook. Especially if there’s no language teacher to scare you senseless motivate you.

BUT HOLD ON there is the internet! This time, it all started with my friend M.

And so M opened the floodgates. Duolingo is completely amazing. It’s like Rosetta Stone fo’ free. Or what I imagine Rosetta Stone to be like. Except you also get to translate the web. Yeah. In exchange for developing super awesome language skills, you translate stuff.

What a cool idea. Here’s a little video of me using Duolingo.

Also, I have three invites, so if you want to learn Spanish / German / French, hit me up. I got you. If you’re already on there, my username is ‘taylorsheva.’ Let’s learn together.

My trusty running shoes: I’ve worn this style since I was 16!

I can run a mile, no problem. I’ve run more than 10 5ks in my life. I could probably (maybe) run one without training. But I’m not sure. I thought I’d train for it just to be sure.

So I found this training schedule. But ugh, the first four weeks sounded wayy too easy. So I skipped to week 5:

I guess I knew that interval training was harder than just running outright. I knew it the way I knew the First Amendment in high school. I could talk about it, but I didn’t feel it in my bones. I now feel it in my bones that interval training is harder.

Y’all, that was the hardest 20-minute workout I’ve had in forever. Like, since my swim-a-mile-per-day era. Of course, I was way more in shape (and younger) back then.

This might be harder than I thought.

Check out my 101/1001 list. Do you have one? Gimmie the link in the comments. Have ideas for my list? Gimmie those, too.

Me (on the left), being adventurous in 2007. That’s the spirit, self.

]]> http://taylordcoil.com/2012/05/15/adventure/feed/ 0 taylordcoil tdce http://taylordcoil.com/2012/05/08/nc-amendment-one/ http://taylordcoil.com/2012/05/08/nc-amendment-one/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 01:50:27 +0000 Taylor Coil http://taylordcoil.wordpress.com/?p=998 ]]> May I direct your attention to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment?

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.“

Apparently the people of North Carolina forgot about the United States Constitution when voting on a State Constitutional Amendment.

Enter NC Amendment One.

It states that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.” Not just marriage. ALL legal domestic unions. Because gay marriage was already illegal in NC, so they had to twist the knife. ‘They’ being people I do not want to know.

Amendment One takes away health insurance from kids with unmarried parents. It takes away domestic union benefits. It guts domestic violence protection laws so that they only apply to married people. Not to mention providing a hostile and hateful environment.

In short, it’s awful.

BUT THERE IS STILL HOPE.

Remember Prop 8 in California? Overturned by Federal Judge Walker, who said proponents “failed to build a credible factual record to support their claim that Proposition 8 served a legitimate government interest” (source).

Maybe Amendment One doesn’t get overturned by a federal judge. Maybe it’ll make it to the Supreme Court. That’s cool too – precedents exist.

Loving v. Virginia, 1967

“Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State.” – Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court, Loving v. Virginia, 1967 (source).

Replace ‘race’ with ‘sex’ – is that a stretch? No. No it’s not.

Obviously, the Loving v. Virginia case declared all state laws banning interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. It was a unanimous decision. North Carolina had one such law, actually, an amendment. Last time NC’s constitution tried to interfere in marriage, it didn’t work out so well.

Palmore v. Sidoti, 1983

This one deals with custody, which is an issue in Amendment One. Protect NC Families explains it better than I can.

Palmote v. Sidoti was a case between two divorced pople: Anthony and Linda Sidoti. Anthony sought custody of their daughter (which was initially awarded to Linda) because Linda moved in with Mr. Palmore, an African American man. Florida courts awarded Anthony custody, arguing that “the child would be more vulnerable to social stigmatization in a racially mixed household” (source). The Supreme Court overturned the decision, again, unanimously.

There are probably more. The point?

THIS IS NOT OVER. The battle is lost, but not the war.

Closing thoughts, courtesy of Thomas Jefferson:

This post is dedicated to Lewie Wells, my wonderful (gay) hairstylist who worked so hard to keep this amendment from passing.