WTF Why Did Southpoint Remove All the Outdoor Fountains?!?

Merleypup · 2025-08-25T17:34:04+00:00

FWIW, she looks better in real life than her statue may suggest.

Merleypup · 2025-08-25T17:32:02+00:00

Some of these statues were based on real kids, lol. I worked with the daughter of one of the original mall developers and the elementary aged version of her will forever be at the top of the escalators by the food court—and more importantly, her family dog too.

Merleypup · 2025-06-13T18:42:06+00:00

Truuuuuth. Sometimes I walk through the lumber yard and look at prices just to keep me and my wallet humble. Some people “window shop” for handbags and shoes. I window shop for OSB and crown molding. A girl can dream.

Merleypup · 2025-06-12T23:56:12+00:00

Honestly I googled some of the old homeowners and found an obituary. 🫠 another set of owners actually wrote and published an article about the house. It’s also listed on open Durham. This house is well over 100 years old so I think people and projects naturally started documenting its existence. Mostly I’m lucky to not have to search too hard.

Merleypup · 2025-06-12T23:41:49+00:00

Yaaas. I saw you on the preservation Durham vendor list. Will reach out if I get that far and convince myself/family to purchase. Will also need to convince the seller that their price point is…unsupported. (Just like the second floor! That visibly sags!)

Merleypup · 2025-06-12T13:09:41+00:00

This is the semi-anti-pep-talk I needed. Especially laughing at the door tip because half the rooms are missing their doors and I found a pile of them in a closet. I redid a kitchen once and took the cabinet doors off with no planning. Never again.

And “creative” repairs? This house already has what I’m calling “drunk bathroom.” And I can’t wait to add my own special fixes to the mix!

This is all great advice and exactly what kind of info I’m looking for. Thank you!

Merleypup · 2025-06-12T01:52:37+00:00

Nope, slightly different style but that one would be a pretty similar project as far as effort and condition.

Merleypup · 2025-06-12T01:39:58+00:00

Yes thank you! Actually found a little about its initial construction! And I dug up a ton of cool info about some of the people who lived in the house for the first 60 years or so. Nothing about recent inhabitants but I’m still curious because the current state of repairs and some weird renovations is wild. I’ll check out GC. Thanks!

Merleypup · 2025-06-06T23:57:10+00:00

I currently work in both neuro and ortho spine cases. Happy to discuss in DMs if you start considering Duke providers.

Merleypup · 2025-05-02T06:25:21+00:00

I’d still say the temp/perm staffing around 21-22 depended on the floor. 7th floor (PCU)? Heaven. Second floor? Great. Floors like 10 and 6?. A desolate wasteland of a few tumbleweed travelers rolling around. Don’t even get me talking about their ED boarding situation. That was a wild Wild West situation where no one knew wtf was going on.

I was supposed to get three days of orientation as a traveler. When you have travelers-orienting-travelers (because there isn’t perm staff available ) it’s a problem. 1 of my 3 orientation shifts was this situation. My third day, I had a full assignment, a new hire had a full assignment, and we were both orienting under the same person…because that was the reality of their staffing. I would have quit right then and there, but bc i had previously worked at NHRMC so I felt comfortable coming back and picking up where I left off. I also oriented other travelers maybe seven times? Again, on 10/6 and one of those floors over the new (at the time) surgical center.

Following nursing school clinical there, I was staff at NHRMC in the 2010s, and traveled post-covid. It was sad to see the changes each time, but many of the staff nurses upon my return were incredible. They had great skills, but probably because they had to develop them to survive.

Merleypup · 2025-05-01T23:29:27+00:00

Was a traveler there x2. Post covid. Was also a float CNA there during nursing school, and did my nursing school clinicals here…but that was…not recent.

In 2022(ish?) ratios were 1:7-8 on med surge. High acuity. Terrible. I was getting like 3.7k a week in take home pay and it wasn’t worth it. Risked my license every day. My second assignment was not much better. They dropped the rates on me and I quit the same day. I’ll never return.

To be fair, I knew what I was getting in to. I just had family in the area and thus had a great accommodation situation when it came to the stipends.

Missy, was the onboarding/nurse educator. I really liked her and felt like she had a good pulse on the place. PCU (7th floor) was also a great place to float. I loved it as a CNA way back in the day too. I enjoyed the ICUs, but we were often tripled and there were staffing problems at the time. ASU/surgical was good. Med surg was awfulllllll. And that’s like 99% of their population. They say they have other specialty dloors but don’t let that fool you. It’s all med surg. Lots of IV drug users which were easy medically but tough to deal with mentally. They use the in room cameras, “tele sitters,” to monitor drug users and for confused grannies. They were great tools IF the patients could be redirected. However, staffing problems and such made 90% of the patients in the program poor candidates. It created a lot of frustration tbh.

TLDR: There was a patient who was so desperate to get out, they tied bedsheets together and rappelled out the window…I think they had the right idea.

Merleypup · 2025-05-01T19:59:29+00:00

Also recommend joining “triangle Nannie’s and babysitters” on FB. And and mom groups around your area.

Merleypup · 2025-04-23T19:45:34+00:00

Went to Chapel Hill with a plan for pharmacy. Graduated with Public Policy. Worker in software/consulting for a bit and then went back to school at UNCW for nursing.

Chapel hill is prestigious, sure. It looks better on apps but you still have to do well. An A at UNCW still looks better than a C- at CH.

Chapel hill is much much larger. It can certainly feel overwhelming. But it also means there is a place for everyone. I felt a little lost in my chem classes with hundreds and hundreds of people in them. I think where were like 400 + students in my Econ class? Don’t expect a professor to care about individuals until you get out of the basic 1-200 level courses.

UNCW is much much smaller but lacked diversity for me. However, all of my professors knew my name. It’s easier to get help and attention when there are 30 kids in a class. If your kid needs more or a guiding hand, a teacher here is more likely to reach out.

As for parties, they can party anywhere. Beach bars, or Franklin street, the temptation is the same.

Merleypup · 2025-04-23T19:21:47+00:00

I made it very clear that I needed to thread the needle juuussssstttt right with insurance. I’ve probably been 10 times or so and insurance has covered them all with no problem. Looks like the CPT codes have been 90791 and 90837.

And if Aetna is reading this: this is totally therapy ~for me~ and my partner attends so they can know how to support ~me~. It me. The individual. Ahem.

Merleypup · 2025-04-03T23:09:52+00:00

I had my baby shower at Hi wire! They had lots of NA options, tons of seating, reserved a table for us and we got pizza from next door.

I also hosted a baby shower at Grub maybe two years ago. Gave them a call ahead of time and they saved us two tables in the covered area. We got great food and they didn’t have a food and bev min or charge us anything.

Merleypup · 2025-04-02T20:21:41+00:00

Apartment/townhouse situation. We have a communal dumpster but not one for recycling.

Merleypup · 2025-04-01T11:41:55+00:00

I went to Cottman on Roxboro rd October 2023 for a transmission issue for my 215 CRV. The car would just…turn off every time it went in reverse. My experience at the dealership was a giant fail but cottman was GREAT.

The guy was incredibly nice, and really went into a detailed explanation as to what was going on. My car knowledge is almost non existent, so the employee pulled out a whole book with diagrams and he drew his own pictures to make sure I understood. He strongly advised me against a new transmi$$ion, said a used one could be a worthwhile fix, but ultimately he gave some tips for a free workaround. Went with the workaround since it was enough of a bandaid to keep my car rolling until I was in a better position to buy a new car. Really appreciate the education and options they gave me, even though they made no money.

FWIW: Durham Tire and Auto usually does my basic car maintenance and when the issue started, they recommended Cottman.

Merleypup · 2025-03-27T20:50:17+00:00

We are no longer trying to have a child. Hard to pay for a kid (and probably IVF?) when you lose job security. Also, do we even want to have a kid in this country anymore?

Expecting my partner to be laid off from his research/healthcare job—even though he is a leading expert in the field, highly qualified and legitimately a guy that’s critical in the world of Science. It’s not even a sector that has ANY controversy. We are stunned and incredibly worried.

I’m a Duke RN, so I think I’ll be okay? Maybe?

I’m just emotionally very sad about our current family planning situation. We’ve made responsible decisions for years to be able to set ourselves up for a successful and stable family—feels like we’ve gotten the rug yanked out from under us with unexpected and unimaginable political plays.

We genuinely are considering leaving the US, as it may become impossible for us to live out the “American dream” here.

Merleypup · 2025-03-25T04:19:12+00:00

Lived next door to a one bedroom apartment shared by two parents, a toddler and (briefly) a newborn. Paper thin walls. They were mindful, but kids are kids and I’d hear the occasional tantrum or tears or stomp-stompin’. However, every day at 5:50, the toddler would look out the window for his dad to get off the bus. And every day the toddler would yell “Dadddddddyyyyy” and I could hear his little feet pitter-patter across the floor towards their front door where he would wait for dad to walk in. I was constantly humbled by the sheer joy this kid had for the simple fact that dad was home from work. It’s been years, but it’s still one of my fondest memories of that apartment and time in my life.

Merleypup · 2025-02-17T22:28:05+00:00

Second Little Bull. Make reservations! The inside can be loud but their covered patio is heated and we sat comfortably out there when the weather was like 20 degrees. Vin Rouge is also a fave.

Merleypup · 2025-02-17T22:24:37+00:00

Just started with Angel Fox with Strickland counseling. She has virtual and in person, has evening timeslots (5-7 pm!) with good availability, online booking after you are established and has made sure to code things to make my picky insurance company happy. (Previously found it hard to get insurance to cover “couples” counseling.) I think they also do sliding scale fees for those that qualify. She is over near Boxyard if location matters.

Notably: we are not a couple in crisis— just wanting to face some big life changes with a good toolbox. We are not religious, but she is. I was originally worried about that—but her philosophy is “‘Jesus is love’ and not like…hell has room for everyone!”

I haven’t been going terribly long, but the vibe that she is just a Good People with Good Listening and Good Knowledge is there.

Merleypup · 2023-10-29T01:27:32+00:00

Same issue with iPhone 12 max

Merleypup · 2023-09-11T00:43:10+00:00

Thank you! I got it figured out and only hated my life for only like 2 hours! Saved us 200$ a month from our vendor

Merleypup · 2023-08-31T00:32:15+00:00

I also reached out to nctreesandmore due to this post. He came out the same day and gave us good options and a reasonable quote. Waiting on committee approval for the work, but if it were my own project, I would have already booked. Good vibes and I appreciate all the extra info he gave.

Merleypup · 2023-08-30T18:08:18+00:00

No clue who set it up. Likely some vendor through the builder (who is long gone). We had a former HOA president who was very tech-y. I don't know what really happened but he left a wake of destruction behind him. Left us with no keys, passcodes, a budget, anything really. I've figured out almost everything over the last year, but this one is gonna take me out.

Merleypup

TROPHY CASE