Darien Morning Briefing: 4.25.12, Wednesday

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LENGTHY VIDEO OF THE DAY

Dr. Michael Thompson's presentation: "Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys" (Warning: He goes on forever—well over two hours—and you won't notice, so it's best seen or listened to when you have the time.)

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Today is Wednesday, April 25, 2012.

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HEADLINES:

Drop off Your Unwanted Drugs April 28 [VIDEO]

EVENTS & REMINDERS

Adults

• Darien Community Association Spring Boutique: No entrance fee this year. The event "will take place on Wednesday April 25, from 5:30 to 8:30, with fine wine and tastings.  The show continues on Thursday, April 26, and Friday, April 27, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. [...] There will be daily raffles of  merchandise from the vendors."—from on Darien Patch
• YWCA Darien/Norwalk Presents “American Dream Roundtable”: Free. 7:30 to 9 p.m. First Congregational Church of Darien, 14 Brookside Rd. "The discussion will include the following questions: What is your American Dream? How has your race/background defined it? How close are you to reaching it? What's the biggest presumption / misconception people make about you and/or your race? How can we be better neighbors?"—from on Darien Patch
• TITANIC (1997) Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and Billy Zane; Rated PG-13 (3 hrs., 14 mins.)—library announcement
• SATURDAY: Darien Townwide Cleanup: "Everyone is welcome!  Meet at 8 a.m. for early risers, 9 a.m. for others, in the parking lot behind Upper Crust Bakery for coffee & bagels, & to collect bags and supplies."—see on Darien Patch for more information
• SUNDAY: The YW Race: Against Racism, For Empowering Women: Fee: $40. Registration on race day begins at 7:15 a.m. The race starts at 8:00 a.m. "The 5-mile course will begin at Cherry Lawn Park, turn on Brookside, Stephen Mather, West Norwalk Road, Maywood, Point O’Woods, Sylvan Road, back to Brookside and end at Cherry Lawn. [...] The Winner’s Recognition Ceremony will take place at 9:30am with the top male and female finishers each receiving a $100 gift certificate to Darien Social. All pre-registered participants will receive a limited edition YW Race T-shirt."—for more information, see  on Darien Patch
• Buy tickets for the Library Spring Gala: $130. Saturday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. "Join us at Light Up the Library at the Imagination Gala! We will have cocktails, Hors D'oeuvres, entertainment, silent art auction and a live auction. Funds that are raised will be used for Library materials (all books, movies, computers, magazines, books on cd, information resources, and programs are paid for by private donations)."—library announcement

Parents:

• The ABCs of Writing a Great College Application Essay: 7 p.m., Darien Library. "What do colleges want in an application essay? How should students begin the writing process? What's a good topic? A bad topic? How can students make their essays unique and memorable?"—library announcement 
• THURSDAY: "Power of Parents: It's Your Influence": 11 a.m. Darien Library Community Room. "MADD has created a powerful new parent's initiative to give parents the tools and skills to speak to their children about underage drinking at home and safe teen driving. This presentation helps to facilitate open dialog between parents and children."—from the library announcement.
• Lengthy video of the day: Dr. Michael Thompson's presentation: "Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys"
• at the Darien Nature Center

Kids:

• FRIDAY: FOR TOPS MEMBERS: TOPS 7th Grade Spring Fling Dance: $10 for pay-per-event members. 7:30 to 9 p.m. Town Hall Gym. "This year’s event, billed as a “Beach Bash!” [...] Board shorts, flip flops and fun beach attire suggested…please: NO BIKINI TOPS PERMITTED!!!"—from the on Darien Patch
  
• 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

Teens:

• Darien High School schedule: "G" Day periods: 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 6
• Send Senior photos to Neirad: "The Neirad staff invites you to send a photograph of yourself (headshot) to neiradgrad2012@gmail.com by Friday May 4th for the Neirad graduation issue"—Darien High announcement
• The ABCs of Writing a Great College Application Essay: 7 p.m., Darien Library. "What do colleges want in an application essay? How should students begin the writing process? What's a good topic? A bad topic? How can students make their essays unique and memorable?"—library announcement
• SUNDAY: "Andy Smiles Forever 2012 Fundraiser": 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. "In honor of Andy Pena, a DHS student who passed suddenly on March 25, 2011, the Pena Family invites supporters to attend [...] See the plasma screens for more details and check it out on Facebook!—Darien High announcement
• Depot April Calendar

DARIEN PLAYHOUSE SHOWTIMES

• The Three Stooges: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., PG (1 hr., 46 min.)—IMDb—trailer—even stupider trailer—something else—Rotten Tomatoes
• The Lucky One: 7 and 9:15 p.m., PG-13 (1 hr., 41 min.)—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:

• No known meetings

FORECAST as of 7:15 p.m. Tuesday (update)

• Wednesday: ""
• Wednesday Night: ""

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: 5:59 a.m.
• Sunset: 7:45 p.m.

• High tide: 2:24 a.m. (7.6')
• Low tide: 8:57 p.m. (0.1')
  
• High tide: 3:01 p.m. (6.9')
  
• Low tide: 9:06 a.m. (0.8')

HOW TO USE PATCH:

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