Ruination Day

Singer Gillian Welch has called April 14 Ruination Day: it's the day Lincoln was assassinated, the Titanic sank, and the Oklahoma dust storms began. (See the fun facts you pick up when you visit Ohio??) All the things considered, we were pleased to have gotten through it with just a bit of rain and the absence of Uncle Dave's favorite dessert (triple-chocolate mousse cake! but no longer on the menu!)

Apparently Ruination Day came late this year.

Shootings anywhere are horrible, but when it happens on a college campus, it strikes a little closer to home. What happened at Virginia Tech today is almost unimaginable. It hurts to even think about it.

And back in our old neighborhood in Philly, trees came crashing down. As if that wasn't enough, a carjacker smashed into a line of cars and was then shot by police, right by campus, along the route I used to walk home.

Around here, the winds knocked out power to much of Chapel Hill, including our house. (I'm writing this from campus -- at this point it looks like it will be tomorrow at least before the lights come on again in our neighborhood.) Traffic lights are out all over, and there are branches everywhere. My usual ten-minute commute turned into a half-hour, and it was even worse than that for some of my colleagues. Not ruination, to be sure, but not much fun, either.

Crazy.

But on a lighter note, from the Raleigh News & Observer:

The high winds also claimed the head of the popular snorting bull at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Team officials said the bull would be repaired.

Photos of the Bull are here (last two in the slideshow). And the first picture in the slideshow? Well, we have to double-check the address, but we're pretty sure the house they're showing there -- the one with the tree through the roof -- is one we visited twice and seriously considered buying. Holy cow.

Be safe, y'all.