Darien Morning Briefing: 4.10.12, Tuesday

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Today is Tuesday, April 10, 2012.

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HEADLINES:

EVENTS & REMINDERS

Adults

• BNI 9 Alive—Tuesday Morning Networking: 7:45 a.m., Stamford Government Center. "Stamford BNI 9 Alive meets every Tuesday morning at 7:45am to share qualified business referrals and business advice."—from on Darien Patch
• Spring Gardening Workshop at the Darien Community Association: 9:30 a.m. 274 Middlesex Rd. "Learn from the pros as we wake up the DCA’s historic formal garden with this instructional workshop, free to the public. [...] Wear your boots, bring your gloves and clippers if you have them, and join us in at the DCA.  Children are welcome under your supervision.  Light lunch will be provided; please ensure we have nosh for you by reserving your space through the DCA at (203) 655-9050."—from on Darien Patch
• Documentary: "Vanishing of the Bees": 7 p.m. Darien Library. (2009) Narrated by Ellen Page; Not rated; 99 minutes. "The event will include a presentation from a local Eagle Scout about building bee hives. [...] Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives. Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables."—from the Darien Library announcement.

Parents:

• "Why Are Youth Sports So Intense and Specialized?: Keeping Sports Balanced and Fun" 7:30-9 p.m., Tokeneke Elementary School—Darien YWCA announcement
  

Kids:

• Toddler Tales: 10:30 to 11 a.m. Storytime Room, Darien Library. "Walkers up to 36 months and caregiver."—library announcement.

• IMAX movies at the Maritime Aquarium: 10 North Water St., Norwalk. Sea Rex (11 a.m., 2 p.m.), Born to be Wild (noon), Search for the Great Sharks  (1 and 3 p.m.)—from an aquarium Web page

• Meerkats exhibit at the Maritime Aquarium: "These are active animals with very charismatic faces and highly interesting social structures, so they are a lot of fun for visitors to watch.”—Jack Schneider, the Aquarium’s curator of animals, quoted on this aquarium Web page.

Teens:

• Schedule: "A" Day. Periods: 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

• Voter Registration Drive:  "Tuesday and Wednesday in the cafeteria.   See plasmas for details."—announcement, Darien High School website
• Recycle your sneakers: "The Ecocitizens Club and The Darien Environmental Group are collecting old sneakers to make “Nike-grind”  – a recycled, sustainable surface for athletic surfaces and playgrounds.  Please bring in your old sneakers (no cleats!) and deposit them in the box in the front lobby during April and May."—announcement, Darien High School website
•  Depot April Calendar

DARIEN PLAYHOUSE SHOWTIMES

Why are there matinees on a Monday? Probably because Darien public schools are closed for a "staff development" day.

• Mirror, Mirror: 7 p.m., PG (1 hr., 46 min.)—IMDb—trailer—Rotten Tomatoes
• The Hunger Games: 7 p.m., PG-13 (2 hrs., 22 mins.)—IMDb—trailer—Rotten Tomatoes

GOVERNMENT MEETINGS

All meetings take place in , 2 Renshaw Rd., unless otherwise noted. Since Darien town government provides no reliable, centralized list of town government meetings, and there is not enough time in the day to go searching for them, this list may well be incomplete:

• Monuments & Ceremonies Commission, 3:30 p.m., Room 206

• Board of Finance, 7:30 p.m., Room 119, Budget discussion and preliminary vote on the budget (agenda—PDF)

• Planning & Zoning Commission, 8 p.m., Room 206 (agenda—pdf)

FORECAST as of 4:40 p.m. Monday (update)

• Tuesday: "A slight chance of showers between 11am and noon, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 57. West wind between 8 and 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%."
• Tuesday Night: "Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. West wind between 9 and 13 mph."

INTERSTATE 95 TRAFFIC CAMS

See also Darien Patch's "Traffic & Gas Prices" page.

• Stamford: southbound, Exit 8 - Elm St.

• Stamford: northbound, south of Exit 9 - Lockwood Ave.

• Darien southbound, north of Exit 9 - Darien Service Plaza

• Darien northbound Exit 12 - Tokeneke Rd.

• Darien northbound, south of Exit 13 - Darien Service Plaza

• Darien southbound, Exit 13 - Rt. 1 (Boston Post Rd.)

• Norwalk southbound, Exit 15 - Stuart Ave.

• Norwalk Rt 7 south of Exit 1 - Connecticut Ave.

• Norwalk northbound, Exit 15 - Rt. 7

TIDES & TIMES

• Sunrise: 6:21 a.m.
• Sunset: 7:29 p.m.

• High tide: 2:31 a.m. (8.6') 
• Low tide: 9:09 a.m. (-1.8')
• High tide: 3:08 p.m. (7.6')
  
• Low tide: 9:24 p.m. (-0.1)
  

HOW TO USE PATCH:

Forecast obtained from the National Weather Service; tide information obtained from saltwatertides.com (calibrated to Long Neck Point).