One of Raleigh’s newest traditions, the Krispy Kreme Challenge (ie. Insanathon), will begin tomorrow at 9:00am. The event benefiting the N.C. Children’s Hospital involves running two miles from the N.C. State Belltower to Krispy Kreme on Peace Street. Participants will then eat one dozen donuts, and run back to the Belltower; all in under an hour. Last year’s winner, Auburn Staples, finished in 24:32.

The real winner is the hospital because the event raised $10,300 last year. The race has 2,704 entrants so far, and registration will close at 3,000. Registration will be open from 5:00 to 8:00 tonight at Krispy Kreme.

The RBC Center’s Barry Manilow concert that was postponed due to inclement weather has been rescheduled for March 27. Tickets for the January 20 show will be honored for the new date.

The first Walnut Creek announcement is out and it’s a good one! On July 12, 2008 Steve Winwood and Tom Petty will be coming. No word on ticket info yet, but the amphitheater’s terrible website should have info as soon as the formal announcement is made.

Ever since the RBC Center’s opening in 1999 the traffic scheme in and out of the parking lots has been an enigma. Each year the traffic plan is changed, but a true solution is never found. While the plan for egress and ingress are different, hard game times make the ingress plan more important to the experience of the RBC Center’s customers.

I’m not sure if the traffic plan is different for NCSU games than it is for Carolina Hurricanes games, but the parking designation for the events is definitely different. The Hurricanes largely sell the lot spaces as day-of-event general admission while the basketball games get reserved section parking.

The arena has six paved lots surrounding its North, West, and South sides and has two small VIP lots outside its main entrance. The west side of the arena is served largely by access from the variable direction, five-lane Edwards Mill Road while the east side is served from a three-lane Westchase Blvd. All perimeter roads around the arena on the property have three lanes.

There are a few caveats to planning traffic ingress. There must be a lane reserved on each road for emergency vehicle egress. Thus, the 3-lane roads can only use two lanes in any particular direction. Additionally, it seems that the City of Raleigh insists that at least one lane on Edwards Mill Road be marked for upstream traffic.

Regardless, there are two easy answers for creating smooth ingress for events. Using the existing roads, simple lane assignments should solve all problems. Because there are three parking lots on the building’s West side (Lots 4, 5, and 6), one lane should be designated for each lot from Wade Avenue inward. The illustration above show the first solution, and is a detail view of this area . read more…

UNC and NCSU fans who like electronic calendars rejoice! I’ve uploaded the 2007-2008 UNC and NCSU basketball schedules in the .CSV format.

Outlook/Palm Users:

• Create a new folder in your in Outlook calendar (Bball08, for example). Use the File | Import and Export… to import from “another program or file”, then “Comma Separated File (Windows)”. This will set up the schedule in your new sub-calendar where you can make whatever changes you want.
• When you are happy with the way the subcalendar looks, change the calendar view to “Events” (instead of 7-day or 31-Day or whatever view you’re using). “Select All” from the list, and drag them over to your main “Calendar” (The Treo and other Palm Handhelds only sync to the main calendar - time for Palm to get with the program on that one!). If you want to keep your sub calendar intact, use Ctrl-drag instead of plain drag. That will create a copy of each event to the main Calendar and keep the Bball08 calendar in place. Sync your handheld to copy the events to the handheld.

iCal Users:

• Use iCalTextImport to import the .CSV version of the schedule.

Download uncbball08.csv
Download ncsubball08.csv

(right click on the link above and “Save As…”)

Note: Use at your own risk. I do not accept responsibility for any consequences resulting from errors in the schedule.

Time Warner Cable customers are now getting a free preview of the NBA’s cable package which shows every game in the league. The free preview runs through January 27th and is a promotion for the $99 half-season package . Tune to channels 711-719 for the games, and click here for a schedule of games .

The new U2 film U2 3D debuts tonight at midnight with a special showing. Shot on the Vertigo Tour, the 90 minute Imax movie promises to immerse the crowd with its 5.1 sound.

The movie will be shown at the Marbles Museum at three or four nightly showings thru at least February 7 . Tickets are $12 for adults (See showtimes for details).

Continuing the series of four , the Carolina Hurricanes will give out Ray Whitne y figurines to the first 10,000 people through the doors to Tuesday night’s 7:00 game against the Islanders.

An arbitrator ruled today that Time Warner Cable must carry Mid Atlantic Sports Network . The cable network carries Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles Baseball as well as many regional college events.

Canes fans who like electronic calendars rejoice! I’ve uploaded the 2007-2008 Carolina Hurricanes schedule in both tab-delimited and .CSV formats.

Outlook/Palm Users:

• Create a new sub-calendar in Outlook (Canes08, for example). Use the File | Import and Export… to import a “tab-delimited file”. This will set up the Canes schedule in your new sub-calendar where you can make whatever changes you want.
• When you are happy with the way the subcalendar looks, change the calendar view to “Events” (instead of 7-day or 31-Day or whatever view your using). “Select All” from the list, and drag them over to your main “Calendar” (The Treo only syncs to the main calendar - time for Palm to get with the program on that one). If you want to keep your sub calendar intact, use Ctrl-drag instead of plain drag. That will create a copy of each event to the main Calendar and keep the Canes08 calendar in place. Sync your handheld to copy the events to the handheld.

iCal Users:

• Used iCalTextImport to import either form of the schedule.

For those of you lamenting the death of the local music scene ten years ago, there is hope. One of the area’s best bands, Annuals , will be playing at The Pour House Music Hall on February 1. One year ago the buzz surrounded the band’s upcoming appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brein, but this year’s Annual excitement concerns their upcoming second CD due in the Spring.

Download "Brother": http://www.acefu.com/MP3s/brother.mp3

Link to Rhapsody’s Annuals page

Railhawks fans who like electronic calendars rejoice! The Carolina Railhawks have unveiled their 2008 schedule and gogoraleigh has it for you in .CSV format!

Outlook/Palm Users:

• Create a new folder in your in Outlook calendar (Railhawks08, for example). Use the File | Import and Export… to import from “another program or file”, then “Comma Separated File (Windows)”. This will set up the Railhawks’ schedule in your new sub-calendar where you can make whatever changes you want.
• When you are happy with the way the subcalendar looks, change the calendar view to “Events” (instead of 7-day or 31-Day or whatever view you’re using). “Select All” from the list, and drag them over to your main “Calendar” (The Treo and other Palm Handhelds only sync to the main calendar - time for Palm to get with the program on that one!). If you want to keep your sub calendar intact, use Ctrl-drag instead of plain drag. That will create a copy of each event to the main Calendar and keep the Railhawks08 calendar in place. Sync your handheld to copy the events to the handheld.

iCal Users:

• Use iCalTextImport to import the .CSV version of the schedule.

Download railhawks08.csv
(right click on the link above and “Save As…”)

Note: Use at your own risk. I do not accept responsibility for any consequences resulting from errors in the schedule.

1/21/08 Update: Trisoccerfan.com has set up the schedule on Google Calendar , too.