Triangle Area Sports Outings
Sports here. Sports there. Sports everywhere. That couldn’t be said any more perfectly when referring to the Triangle area of North Carolina. We are home to a wide variety of sports teams during every season of the year. With multiple college teams just minutes from each other, fall weekends are packed to the max with football Saturdays. There’s N.C. State University, Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill. Of course there is no forgetting to mention college basketball at these same schools. Then there’s the Carolina Hurricanes hockey games at the PNC Arena.
It sure has felt like it’s already been summer here in the Triangle for weeks now with the sizzling heat day after day, but the start of summer became official last week on Thursday, June 21. The Triangle is home to a variety of sports teams making it a top destination for a summer outing for all ages. Make it a fun-filled day with the entire family or a day spent with friends.
Head over to the city of Durham and take in a Durham Bulls baseball game. Be sure to visit online and plan your outing ahead of time. Check out the team schedule, ticket information and if there are any cool happenings going on during specific games. Convenient to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park are plenty of dining options, along with food and drinks available right there at the game. Make it to a Durham Bulls baseball game this summer and check it off your summer of fun list!
Another baseball team just outside of Raleigh heading east is the Carolina Mudcats. Visit their website and check out all the latest news. With July 4 just around the corner, there will be Fireworks Extravaganzas taking place Tuesday, July 3, and Wednesday, July 4. Get in the know of all the loads of fun going on at Five County Stadium in Zebulon. Let’s play ball!
Let’s switch gears now from baseball to another sport. Let’s talk soccer. Soccer sure is all over the media now with the World Cup underway. Get a taste of soccer in your own “backyard” right here in the Triangle and head over to a North Carolina FC game at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. Click here for more information on tickets, schedule and more.
Luxury is All Yours in the Maserati Ghibli
There is nothing quite like the Maserati Ghibli. This extraordinary luxury sports sedan delivers excitement with every turn and every mile on the road. It is quite simply in a class of its own offering an array of design and safety features for up to five passengers. When compared to other vehicles, it is superior on so many levels. Wherever you’re going, you’re going in style in the Ghibli. Every ride in this luxury vehicle is quite enjoyable and unique. For endless class and performance, look no further than the Maserati Ghibli.
Pure luxury is just oozing from every angle of the Ghibli. The exterior prominently features the unmistakable Maserati radiator grille. Also up front are the highly effective Bi-Xenon headlights with integrated LED daytime running lights. You’ll notice the chromeline exterior trim throughout making the Ghibli easier on the eyes – if that’s even possible. Make your way to the back and check out the full LED taillamps and the twin exhaust tailpipes that give it just the right amount of sportiness. Every feature makes the Maserati Ghibli a pure delight to the eyes.
Its long wheelbase provides a roomy interior accommodating up to five people. Open the doors and with one look, you’ll be blown away. Place both hands on the leather-covered, multifunctional three-spoke steering wheel and you’re ready for the road ahead. Soft leather, 8-way power front seats, dual zone automatic climate control and more give you first-class comfort at its finest. The Ghibli’s modern interior also features the large 8.4-inch Maserati Touch Control Plus (MTC Plus) multi-touchscreen infotainment system.
See it today at Maserati of Raleigh featuring the Leith Collection and discover for yourself why the Ghibli is in a class above all the rest. Visit our website at www.maseratiraleigh.com for dealership information, available inventory, vehicle specials, financing information and more.
Holiday Shopping Made Easy
It’s hard to believe the holiday season is upon us and the start of a new year is just weeks away. It is an extremely busy time of year for most everyone. Drive by a mall and you’re bound to see it packed to the max with no empty parking spot in sight. Shoppers are flocking to stores with one mission in mind – holiday shopping. A mission to find the perfect gift for a certain person. Therefore shortening holiday shopping lists, feeling a sense of accomplishment every time someone’s name is crossed off. Oh what a great feeling that is!
Just as you’re shopping for others, don’t forget about yourself. You deserve something too. Something that will really end the year off with an exclamation point … make that a bold exclamation point. Treat yourself to a new car. With 25 brands and more than 5,000 vehicles for you to pick from, finding and buying a new car just got a whole lot easier at the Leith 5000.
Now is the best time of year to buy a car during the Leith 5000 Year-End Event. You’ve waited until the best time to buy. Everything must go, and we need to sell these cars and sell them fast. Get the car you want at the price you want. We have it all! Sedans! SUVs! Trucks! Convertibles! Vans! New and used! Take advantage of the best selection and best deals of the year at Maserati of Raleigh where luxury has a home. Visit our state-of-the-art dealership and bring luxury back home with you. Now is the time to make it happen. Don’t miss the Leith 5000 Year-End Event.
What’s It Like Biking in Raleigh?
When you’re a kid, bikes are great. They offer freedom, mobility, fun, and street cred. Then you become a teenager and cars become the thing. Finally, you become an adult and cars become more about errands and commuting.
But what if bikes could be for adults, too?
How bikes offer a different kind of freedom
Raleigh’s city council is debating whether to accept $1.6 million in federal money to purchase and install a bike sharing system in Raleigh. The system would put 30 stations throughout downtown, NC State, the NC Museum of Art, and eventually the new Dorothea Dix park.
This will create a fleet of 300 bikes that can be picked up any time for use around town. The link above contains a thorough study made for the city of Raleigh in the spring of 2014 about implementing this system in our city.
And best of all, it’s free! The $1.6 million federal grant would pay for the whole thing. Corporate donors are being secured to handle the annual operating and maintenance costs, and so far Citrix and Rex Health have volunteered.
Where can I learn more about biking in Raleigh today?
BikeRaleigh.org is a great resource. They have a blog, maps of biking routes, news about events, ways to get involved with the bike share plan, and a list of businesses that offer rewards when you sign up for the bicycle benefits program.
You can get 10% off your coffee at Benelux, free chips and salsa at Centro, 20% off your entrée at PieBird, and a whole lot of other stuff.
If you’re already a biker, you also probably know about the folks over at Oak City Cycling near Yellow Dog Bakery and Standard Foods. OCC is a fantastic bike shop that can help you with repairs, new bike parts, and a laid-back connection to bicycling culture in Raleigh.
Conclusion
Get involved! As soon as February is over (and we promise that it will end) the days will get warmer, the sun will shine brighter, and your legs will be looking for a chance to strengthen.
Are you a local cyclist? Let us know on Facebook.
How to Destroy Your Car’s Value
- Don’t Get Gas Until You’re On Empty
Dirt and impurities settle in the bottom of your gas tank. If you drive until empty, your fuel pump has to work harder to dredge the tank, and your fuel filter has to work harder to strain these particles out. This can cause your pump and filter to fail which will earn you a costly trip to the shop. Do yourself a favor and fill up when you have a quarter tank left.
- Mixing oil grades
Suppose you notice that you’re running low on engine oil. You buy a quart from the store, or maybe you find a quart in your garage. The problem is you can’t remember if it’s the same type that’s in your car. Worse yet, it’s not the type listed in the manual. Mixing oil types and using the wrong grade of oil can have serious repercussions to your engine’s health. Always follow the manual.
- Adding water to your coolant system
Water cools things, right? Sorry, but your car really needs the specially designed coolant that won’t boil as easily. The hot days when your car needs coolant most are when the water you added will be least helpful. Some cars ask for a mix of coolant and water, but odds are they want distilled water, not that from the tap. Again, follow your manual.
- Buying the aftermarket part
Sometimes a part wears out and the technician gives you two options: an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) part, or a less expensive aftermarket part. While you’re generally safer going with OEM, sometimes it’s possible to get a quality alternative. What you don’t want to do is go with a no-name brand that could easily cause more problems than it solves. Get thee to Google and read some reviews.
- Shifting to drive if moving backward
You back up, then shift into drive before your car has stopped = horrible idea. You do not want a busted transmission, believe us. For an extra two seconds, you could literally be saving thousands of dollars in an early transmission replacement. Completely stop all movement before shifting from reverse to drive.
- Ignoring the Check Engine Light
If you wait until you take it in next month to change the oil, you could be making a $10 problem a $100 problem, or more. Do the math: Is the $5 you’re saving by waiting a month on an oil change worth risking a $100+ repair? From a financial standpoint, you’re best off being aggressive with preventive maintenance.
Do you know someone who’s driving their car toward financial Armageddon? Let us know on Facebook!
Besides automotive, technology and investment are two of our chief interests. As Silicon Valley companies like Google, Apple, and Tesla take a closer look at cars, our favorite subjects converge in a mix that we figure is worth talking about.
The point of this article is to talk about one notable technology company from an investment perspective. Of course, as a car dealership we are not dispensing investment advice or counsel. Think of this as conversation about a mutually interesting topic.
Company of the week: Apple
Who doesn’t enjoy speculating about the merits of Apple? It recently found itself in the headlines when Alphabet (Google’s parent company) surpassed it in overall market value. The two are neck and neck around $525 billion in market capitalization, though Alphabet has the lead at the moment.
Many people are worried about Apple because of middling iPhone sales, vague Apple Watch adoption rates, the rumored Apple Car project, slowing demand from China, and the massive headquarters project in California.
Still, all that uncertainty is great news for bullish investors. With new iPhones and a probable new version of the Apple Watch in the works for September, this could be a good time to buy if you’re an optimist.
But does that make it a good investment decision?
There is a difference between how a company is doing in the real world and how it does on the market. While it’s tempting to see new products on the horizon and think it’s a great time to buy, we would recommend looking into options instead.
Options are for people who aren’t terribly confident about anything. They allow you to make a small bet on what you think might happen. If you’re right, they pay off handsomely. If you’re wrong, they’re worthless. But because they (probably) didn’t cost that much in the first place, you’re not in the hole too much.
As Apple nears its big event in March, where it might launch a new version of the iPad, a smaller version of the iPhone, and some type of update about the Watch, it might be nice to have a few options in hand.
Conclusion: Who knows
There’s your daily speculation. As we said before, we’re not financial advisors, so talk to someone more learned before you do anything. If it works out well for you, however, let us know on Facebook! It’ll give us something to talk about when you come in for a test drive.
When Did Car Companies Stop Making Cool Colors?
We don’t know. A quick Google search reveals that no one else knows either. The most common guesses are:
- People wonder if they’ll grow tired of a specialty color
- People think specialty colors will be harder to sell
- Apple doesn’t use specialty colors
That last guess about Apple is so silly we were shocked to see it repeated. Nonetheless, the common denominator behind the above reasons could be summed up in a single word: caution.
Many people think the Great Recession spooked folks
If you’re worried about your livelihood, you want to be able to liquidate assets at a moment’s notice. People seem to forget that the more rare something is, the more it’s worth (usually).
Take rocks, for instance. Like white, black, and silver cars, rocks are everywhere. Diamonds on the other hand, are not everywhere. They are rare. That makes them valuable.
One site correctly pointed out that yellow cars have higher resale value than white cars for exactly this reason.
A more logical approach: cold-hearted rationality
No articles made the more obvious argument that manufacturers did the math and realized that the market for specialty colors did not justify their production. All it takes is one study saying specialty-colored cars take longer to sell and boom: no more special colors.
However, we would argue that (as Apple has proved many times) people don’t know what they want until you show it to them. It’s a gamble to make a new color and hope people like it, but that’s the only way to know if it will be a success. While it would entail more risk, it’s possible that customers would have higher levels of satisfaction.
What will it take for manufacturers to offer better colors?
Risk-averse people typically don’t change behavior until they can confirm with their own eyes that everything will be just as good, if not better, once they change.
In the auto industry this means that someone will have to go first and enjoy such profit-making success that everyone else will be clamoring to jump on the bandwagon.
Either that or enough people have to get custom paint jobs to show their preference for newness.
What do you think about all this? Tell us in black font against a white background over on the neutrally-blue shades of Facebook.
Rolling Through a Stop Sign: How Bad Is That Really?
Especially if you have a stick-shift, coming to a complete stop is a bummer. Here’s the deal with where North Carolina is on rolling through stop signs:
Still Illegal, So Don’t Do It
A fine of $100 and three points on your traffic record will have you babbling to a police officer about how you didn’t see it, looked both ways, normally ALWAYS stop (hehe), and will never do it again (hah!).
You and the officer both know that’s not true so we’re telling you right now: the fine is $100 and three traffic points will go on your record. Twelve points within three years will get your license suspended in North Carolina.
Take the hit, bro
Accept that you’re going to stop so fully, you could be zero degrees Kelvin (that’s a science joke for you nerds out there). Your MPG is going straight to the floor.
Guess what? It saves lives. It’s what you’re supposed to do. You don’t get a gold star for recognizing a traffic sign that every schoolchild knows.
If you have a hybrid car, take solace in the wonder of regenerative braking. If you have an electric car, take advantage of your superiority in acceleration compared to a gas vehicle.
Here’s what to do if you’re going to court
So the cop nailed you, and you’re trying to fight it. First off, don’t take video; courts aren’t equipped to play it, and asking the judge to squint into your smartphone will not win you points.
Second, take pictures. They will make your case better than your arguing. Focus on the stop line if it’s faded, any plant growth or obstructions that made it hard to see the sign, and how the sign would have looked to the officer—maybe he or she didn’t have the vantage point they claimed.
Conclusion
There’s no excuse for flaunting the law. Rolling stop signs feels like it’s saving you time, but how much and at what cost? Is three seconds worth risking $100?
Tell us on Facebook what you think about kowtowing to the stop sign.
The 3 Best Raleigh Twitter Accounts in 2016
Twitter is probably the second biggest social network, and yet you don’t hear much about it. These days, photo network Instagram is popular, real-time network Periscope is avant-garde, adolescent network Snapchat is trying to entice corporate advertising, and Facebook is still laughing all the way to the bank.
But perhaps you’ve decided to get into Twitter this year and start tweeting. You’ve read up about how and what to tweet, you’ve learned that it’s not cool to cross-post on social media anymore, and you’ve figured out that Twitter is mainly about being funny.
You’ve spammed everyone in your contact list to follow you, and you’re following them, too, even if they haven’t posted since September 2009. One question is left:
If you’re in Raleigh, whom should you follow?
Let’s start with the basics. Journalism might be heading into an infinite chasm of corporate corruption and mob entertainment, but for now they’re still doing the news.
If anything major happens in the world, country, state, or county, you can be sure that the N&O will be one of the first to report. And Twitter is all about being #first.
For a more Raleigh-focused news diet, this is where you go. If the old ladies in Oakwood are protesting about modern architecture, you’ll know it. If a dump of a restaurant posts on Twitter that it’s going under, you’ll know it. And if the N&O doesn’t report the whole story, or has a beef that it’s not talking about, you’ll know it.
It’s your best bet at having two sources of information about your city.
Many people don’t realize the resource they have in the NCMA. They have outdoor movies in the summer, interesting art installations throughout the year, miles of hiking and biking trails, a killer restaurant inside, and contests for free tickets and prizes.
If you’re looking for more to do, the NCMA is a good resource.
Conclusion
These are three best we could find. We’re sure that there are other gems out there with smaller followings, but we don’t know of them. Tell us on Facebook what we’re missing and we’ll expand our list!
You can have a picnic, take a dog, play catch with a kid, relearn the joys of Bocce, get some walking in, meditate, or just take a break from the routine elements of your life.
Parks reintroduce us to nature in a way that Facebook never can. Possibly for this reason, the recent headline “Mark Zuckerberg wants you to get off Facebook and go run” highlighted the Facebook founder’s New Year resolution to run a mile a day in 2016, and to read more books.
We culled the best of Yelp, TripAdvisor, USA Today, WRAL, and Carolina Parent to bring you the highest-rated parks in the Oak city.
Pullen Park – Sure, on a summer Saturday this park is about as packed as the mall at Christmas, but at other points in the year it can be quite nice. No bands of kids to deal with, no parking to negotiate. Just a few parents trying to show their kids that they’ll support athleticism if they have to. You can rent boats, play tennis, eat on a table, and that historic, wooden carousel is in there, too. Overall we’d give it a B+.
Blue Jay Point County Park – This is a county park so it’s a bit grander in scale, if less personal. There are gardens, nature exhibits, fishing spots, hiking trails, and play areas for kids. If you’d like to stretch your legs, this is a good one to visit. We’d give it a B for naming itself after a bird.
Lake Wheeler Park – If you find water calming, then you’ll probably like this lake. Consider it the Amazon.com version of recommended nature. Like a good cabernet sauvignon it’s 800-acre size could be interpreted as bombastic and grandiose. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hold charms that go beyond the manicured delights of your neighborhood toddler center. Be thankful; B-.
Shelley Lake Sertoma Park – This one focuses more on the arts with classes and workshops for painting, drawing, photography, pottery, and more. This could be an excellent choice for a corporate outing, or some other team-building venture. There are also basketball courts so be sure to impersonate an NBA player of your choosing. B.
Umstead State Park – The big kahuna is our only state park, the Umstead. It has enough hiking trails that you should probably let someone know beforehand lest you go all “127 Hours” on the place. The last time we were there we saw a convention of furries, and they were quite nice. The quietness on the trails is exquisite and it’s a great place to forget all your troubles, even if no there no knows your name. A-.
Those are our picks. What are yours? Tell us about it sometime, preferably on a test drive. There’s nothing more charming than a captive audience.
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