About Montgomery County, VA

Don't forget that November 7 and 8 is the Green Living & Energy Expo in Roanoke ... loads of exhibitors, presentations and more on topics like new ways to heat and cool your home, limiting your use of fossil fuels, and more.

It's a big deal to have an event like this in Roanoke - shows us that the two valleys (Roanoke and New River Valley) are continuing to get more serious about making sure we're good stewards of the tremendous resources we have here. And it's gaining attention elsewhere - check out some of these other great alternative energy links, courtesy of Carnival of the Green and Jim Duncan.

Need a ride to the polls this election day, or want to continue the theme of Sustainability Week and encourage the use of public transportation while exercising your right to vote?

Blacksburg Transit is providing "Election Day transportation service to voting locations within the Town of Blacksburg. Service will operate from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday November 4, 2008 to the following voting locations:

• Blacksburg Library, Blacksburg Middle School
• Blacksburg Community Center on Patrick Henry
• Gilbert Linkous Elementary
• Luther Memorial Lutheran Church
• Margaret Beeks Elementary
• Slusser Chapel
• St. Michaels Lutheran Church

For detailed information regarding your district and voting location please visit the Montgomery County Registrar's Office at www.montva.com or call (540) 382-5741.

For up to date detailed information regarding Election Day Service visit the Blacksburg Transit Website at www.btransit.org or call (540) 961-1185 for service questions."

They also have an Election Day route schedule:

It's Sustainability Week in Blacksburg, which means we should be focusing a little bit more on minimizing our impact in the communities we live in.

One of the ways to do that is to bike around Town. Have you ever tried it? Blacksburg is a pretty bike-friendly town, at least more than most, and it's pretty easy to get around from place to place via pedal power. It's great exercise, the main corridors of Blacksburg (Main Street and Prices Fork Road) have bike lanes, there are bike racks around Town (although not enough, in my opinion) to lock your bike to, and if you decide you've had enough pedaling and need a ride, most Blacksburg Transit buses have bike racks. The current Huckleberry Trail takes you out to the Christiansburg mall, and will eventually go even further than that expanding the number of retail, grocery and entertainment options you can reach by bike (if you decide you don't want to visit the new First & Main).

What about riding your bike to work? Sure, it's getting colder and most of us aren't going to head out into the cold for a commute to work - it's hard to signal, ride and drink coffee all at the same time (and until they get seat heaters for my bike seat like they have for my car, I'm tempted to stick with my routine thank you very much)! One of the unintended benefits of higher gas prices this summer though, was an increase in the number of people using their bikes to commute to work. I know I did, and my wife did as well. And when the winter weather breaks a bit and we have that balmy winter day, I'll get the bike out and do it again. It's a great way to get around, and just in my industry there are more and more real estate agents - like Dru Bloomfield, Jim Duncan and Tony Arko - who are using their bikes more and more.

So ... what's your commute look like? Here's mine:

<p><p><p><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/route/united-states/va/blacksburg/876025923575">Ride to Work</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-route/united-states/va/blacksburg">Find more Commutes in Blacksburg, Virginia</a></p></p></p>

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Less wear and tear on roads, less vehicle emissions, less fuel usage, more caloric burn ... We talk about the high quality of life we have here in the New River Valley, isn't the opportunity to do something that's good not only for our bodies but the community we live in just another way we can support the mission of Sustainability Week, and make it, as Jim calls it, a lifestyle shift.

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October 31st from 4-8 pm, the Blacksburg Virginia Downtown Merchants Association is hosting a Halloween Event for children under the age of 12. Local merchants will provide Halloween Treats for area children. Please encourage friends with children to take advantage of this fun Halloween event. Our Prudential Radford and Associates, Realtors office is located at 318 North Main Street in Blacksburg, VA 24060. We really enjoy handing out candy during to children all dressed up for the SPOOKY HALLOWEEN HOLIDAY. Many area children do not live in neighborhoods that make it easy to Trick or Treat. This downtown event allows participating merchants to provide a safe place for these children and anyone else who want to come out for treats. It's great to see all of the children in costumes walking downtown. Please join us.

Rackspace, and it's webmail division of Mailtrust - which, coincidentally is Blacksburg-grown - IPO'd in August 2008, yet very little was written about it in the local paper. Stuart's contention is that success stories like Mailtrust, and so many others located throughout our region, need the support and publicity that all of us can provide.

Thanks to Handshake 2.0 for sharing the video.