In our current stay-at-home situation, finding creative ways to socialize virtually with friends and family is essential. Not only does it maintain and strengthen bonds, but it helps keep you sane if you’re solo in isolation. Several apps based on your favorite games allow you to play with your friends and family, no matter how far away they may be. A bonus? There’s no missing pieces, made-up rules or yelling—probably.
Scrabble GO Cost: Free See who out of your friend group is the best wordsmith with Scrabble’s free app. Scrabble GO looks just like the original game but with a helpful in-app dictionary and chat feature.
Monopoly Plus Cost: $3.99 Everyone’s favorite classic board game goes virtual with an animated, 3D city-filled board that offers a cool new interactive experience for separated family members. You can even create your own custom game with your family’s house rules.
Draw Something Classic Cost: Free Similar to Pictionary, Draw Something allows you to challenge friends in a creative, drawing-based game in which you’re given a word to draw and your opponent has to guess what it is.
Mario Kart Tour Cost: Free When Mario Kart Wii first came out in 2008, families everywhere took to the gaming device’s plastic steering wheels to race each other on their living room TVs. Now, the Mario Kart Tour app lets you race your friends and families virtually with additional power-ups, courses and character variations.
The Game of Life Cost: $2.99 While real life might not be ideal right now, you can still live the dream in The Game of Life. The interactive app brings your board piece character to life as you make your way through faux college, jobs, kids, home buying and more stages of life.
Yahtzee with Buddies Dice Cost: Free Roll the virtual dice on your smartphone or tablet to get a higher score than your friends and family. You can also chat and send stickers while you’re playing.
Clue: The Classic Mystery Game Cost: $3.99 The classic “whodunnit?” game goes virtual with all the same characters, plus an innovative, logic-assisted clue sheet that allows you to take notes on who did the murder, using which weapon and in what room. Create a private multiplayer game to play with your friends and family.
UNO! Cost: Free The UNO! app takes the beloved family-friendly card game to new heights with new tournaments, challenges and adventures that put a spin on the classic game we all know and love.
Though the state of North Carolina is under stay at home orders, you can still interact with the community through these virtual events during the month of May.
5/1 NC Symbols Kickoff Party Visit the North Carolina State Capitol’s social media channels (@NCStateCapitol) every day in May for its annual celebration of the state’s official symbols, including the state plants, animals, minerals, arts and more, while highlighting what makes them so important to North Carolina. May 1 marks the kickoff to the virtual event. facebook.com/events/2616017568509020
5/1-31 CoronaBusters Virtual 19K Run Challenge If your favorite local race has been cancelled, or you just haven’t gotten up off the couch in a while, consider participating in one of the largest social distancing virtual runs to date. Take the month to complete the 19K challenge—in one day or over multiple days—on your own time, at your own pace, wherever you’d like. Submit your results and earn a glow-in-the-dark CoronaBusters Finisher Medal. thevirtualrunchallenge.com/virtual-race-event/2020-corona-busters-virtual-run-19k-run-walk/
5/4 May the 4th Virtual Run/Walk Challenge May the force be with you as you complete this 4-mile and/or 10-mile virtual running challenge. Runners are encouraged to dress up as their favorite Star Wars character while they compete—those who share their pictures with the race organizer will be entered to win a prize. All competitors will also receive a medal and race bib. thevirtualrunchallenge.com/virtual-race-event/2020-may-the-4th-virtual-run-walk
5/12 Home Canning Basics During this live webinar, Linda Minges, a registered dietician from the NC Cooperative Extension, will teach viewers how to safely preserve foods with a water bath and pressure canning. Gather some spring produce and jars before tuning in! eventbrite.com/e/webinar-home-canning-basics-registration-102261994378
5/15-6/30 Ope-RUN-ation Virtual Half Marathon Run/Walk This virtual half marathon is a great excuse to get off your couch and dedicate yourself to something other than a Netflix series. Complete the half marathon all at once or in increments—those that complete the 13.1 mile distance in one try get an Ope-RUN-ation Finisher’s Medal. All proceeds for the race will go to Direct Relief, a nonprofit that communicates with public health officials and other nonprofit organizations across the globe to provide personal protective equipment and other essential medical equipment to frontline health workers responding to coronavirus. thevirtualrunchallenge.com/virtual-race-event/2020-ope-run-ation-virtual-half-marathon-run-walk/
Marshall Sandman
5/17 Spilling the Quarantea Raleigh native Marshal Sandman is partnering with Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and other local celebrities such as NBA and former Duke basketball player Shavlik Randolph and Garland owner Cheetie Kumar to raise money for the NC Restaurant Workers Relief Fund during “Raleigh Week” on the Spilling the Quarantea Instagram Live series. The chefs, actors, influencers, comedians and more will divulge how they’re optimizing their quarantine with cooking, working out and other activities.
The interview schedule is as follows: Sunday, May 17: Shavlik Randolph Monday, May 18: Mayor Baldwin Tuesday, May 19: Cheetie Kumar Wednesday, May 20: Emily Procter (actress, of “West Wing” and “CSI Miami”) Friday, May 22: Cindy Eckert
5/19 You’re a Miracle In-Home Tour Bestselling author Mike McHargue is bringing his international tour to your living room this spring. Purchasing a ticket gets you gets you a link to access the first three chapters of his book, “You’re a Miracle (and A Pain in the Ass),” as well as access to a Facebook group for people in your area. You’ll also get a hard copy of the book and a postcard from McHargue. mikemchargue.com/events
5/20 NC Tech Virtual Job Fair Looking to get into the tech world? North Carolina Technology Associations’ Virtual Tech Job Fair is a great way to start your search. Job seekers must register and upload their resumes to participate. Virtual hiring room “booths” will take place during the live event for employers and job seekers to communicate. Employers include First Citizens, Attain, Inmar Intelligence, Spreedly and more. nctech.org/events/event/2020/jobfair-virtual-spring.html
5/20-22 Raleigh-Durham Job Fair Meet with top employers at any time, from anywhere, on any device at this virtual Raleigh-Durham career fair. Industries hiring include sales, customer service, advertising, insurance, health, food and beverage, accounting, real estate and many more. eventbrite.com/e/virtual-raleigh-durham-job-fair-may-20-22-tickets-82113119551
5/25 Converging Stories: What If? Raleigh Convergence’s live storytelling series continues virtually with the theme “What If?” Those interested in being a part of the evening had to pitch their personal, first-person story to Raleigh Convergence founder Sarah Day Owen Wiskirchen, who will then coach the selected storytellers to share their story live in front of a virtual audience. raleighconvergence.com
5/25 Memorial Day Virtual Run Spend the holiday weekend taking part in a 5K, 10K or 13.1-mile half marathon on a professionally designed course through Raleigh, or on a course you designed yourself. Complete the run on your own time and at your own pace and receive a swag bag with a T-shirt, medal and other goodies. active.com/raleigh-nc/running/distance-running-virtual-events/memorial-day-virtual-run-raleigh-2020
When was the last time you changed your air filter?
If you don’t remember, odds are it’s probably time you did. According to entrepreneur and former NC State student Kevin Barry, around half of all homeowners forget to change their air filters on time. But it wasn’t until Barry went to the store to buy an air filter for his own apartment back in 2012 that he realized how annoying the whole process could be.
Barry’s bad experience sparked an idea for an air filter delivery service and soon after, he and his friend, Thad Tarkington, started Second Nature (initially known as Filter Easy).
Signing up for the Raleigh-based service is simple, Barry says. Subscribers go to Second Nature’s website and input how many filters they have in their house, what size the filters are and how often they’d like to change them out. Then, the appropriately sized filters the subscribers need are delivered exactly when they need to change them.
“The box arriving is essentially a reminder to do the swap-out and then you don’t have to worry about your filters again until the next delivery shows up,” Barry adds.
There’s definitely a convenience factor that goes along with the service.
“Everyone’s day-to-day life is so busy and there are a lot better things that people can be doing—spending time with family, going to sporting events, going out on a date and whatnot—but changing air filters is out of sight and out of mind,” Barry says.
Filter Easy co-founders Kevin Barry and Thad Tarkington.
Still, not changing your air filters can take a toll on your home and on your personal health. Changing filters regularly lowers your energy bill because your home HVAC system isn’t working as hard to heat or cool your house to the right temperature, putting less strain on your HVAC system and prolonging its lifespan. Additionally, fresh air filters improve the air quality in your home and ensure that you’re living in a safe environment.
“These filters are picking up everything from lint particles all the way down to virus-carrying particles, bacterias and molds,” Barry explains.
Second Nature’s air filters are all American-made and high quality, but you have the option to choose whether you’d like to catch “some” stuff, such as basic household dust and pollen, catch “more” with an additional level of filtration or catch “all,” including small particles of smoke.
This past summer, Barry and Tarkington rebranded their service from Filter Easy to Second Nature and will soon deliver even more out-of-sight, out-of-mind home maintenance-related products, including refrigerator water filters, later this year.
Barry and Tarkington have grown Second Nature to include hundreds of thousands of customers from all over the country and now serve industrial partners in addition to homeowners.
More recently, Second Nature worked with the FDA to produce 800,000 masks that meet federal regulations to sell to local and non-local medical facilities during the coronavirus pandemic.
WEB EXCLUSIVE If your daily afternoon strolls are starting to get a bit repetitive, throw a little excitement into the mix with Raleigh Arts’ Tiny Art Scavenger Hunt at Fred Fletcher Park. Along the park’s walking paths and stashed in its gardens and trees, you’ll find tiny sculptures tucked away, each offering a clue to another piece of art.
Graymon Ward, a teacher’s assistant at Broughton High School, is the artist behind the scavenger hunt. He’s also responsible for the pepperoni pizza sidewalk art at the intersection of Peace and North Salisbury streets in downtown Raleigh.
Ward responded to Raleigh Arts’ call for artists on Instagram last week and was selected to create the scavenger hunt in order to give kids—and adults—something fun to do outdoors during quarantine. The project is part of SEEK Raleigh, a series of public art installations that engages artists with Raleigh parks.
Ward worked with the Raleigh arts and parks departments to select a park that would be appropriate for the challenge, with interesting spots to place his sculptures.
A sculpture from Graymon Ward’s Tiny Art Scavenger Hunt at Fred Fletcher Park
The tiny sculptures follow a banana theme, which Ward chose because his 9-month-old loves bananas.
“As soon as he sees one, his face dances with a giddy smile,” says Ward. “I want people to experience that banana feeling.”
On the scavenger hunt, you’ll find a unicorn with a banana in place of its horn, a gopher guarding a peeled banana and a deconstructed banana echoing the park’s Redbird structure by artist Harry McDaniel, among other banana-themed pieces.
Ward says he hopes the scavenger hunt will give kids of all ages a chance to indulge their senses of wonder.
“Now’s a good time to be more imaginative and creative,” says Ward. “It gives kids a fun distraction from worrying about washing their hands and not seeing their friends anymore, concepts that are difficult for some kids to understand. Being able to have an escape that’s imaginative and fun is good for them.”
Ward says he hopes that the project will help people to appreciate Raleigh’s parks and art even more, and that the world that we phase back into following the coronavirus pandemic will be more creative in general.
The first clue for the scavenger hunt, posted on Raleigh Arts’ Instagram, is “Park where a feather becomes the arrow’s end, in a Red Bird’s shadow your first clue is penned.”
All sculptures are visible from Fred Fletcher Park’s walking paths.
Tag @raleigh_arts on Instagram when you find the pieces and follow along with the hashtag #TinyArtScavengerChallenge3000.
WEB EXCLUSIVE Joe Jonas tours the world drinking coffee (pre-social distancing, of course). Chrissy Teigen acts as a judge in a comical courtroom. Chance the Rapper masterminds pranks on innocent individuals. It’s all on Quibi, the new streaming app delivering the latest in entertainment to all of us in quarantine, courtesy of a bevy of beloved celebrities.
Film producer and former Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg launched Quibi at the beginning of this month and the new platform features several short-form, scripted and unscripted programs covering a variety of genres including comedies, dramas, reality shows, documentaries and news.
Each Quibi series episode runs from seven to ten minutes, hence the name “Quibi”—a mash-up of the words “quick” and “bites”—because, while we may all have a bit more time on our hands at the moment, many of us still have a short attention span. Quibi shows are ideal for watching during work breaks, while you’re waiting for dinner to finish cooking or just whenever you’re tired of watching the same thing on Netflix over and over.
Screenshot from Chance the Rapper’s “Punk’d” on Quibi
The shows are broken down into three categories: “Movies in Chapters,” or scripted titles that total about two hours each season, divided into 12 to 14 daily episodes; “Unscripted and Docs,” or unscripted titles including reality shows, competition shows and documentaries featuring a celebrity host; and “Daily Essentials,” short news, entertainment and lifestyle segments from TMZ, E!, NBC News and other outlets.
Quibi says it has plans to release 7,000 pieces of content within its first year. The service is currently offering a 90-day free trial through April; afterwards, the app will cost $5 per month with ads or $8 per month without.
Gina Stephens, Publisher “Dummy:” Anna Kendrick’s character, Cody, befriends her boyfriend’s sex doll, Barbara, and together the pair embark on some hilarious adventures.
Jane Porter, Editor “Survive:” Sophie Turner plays a suicidal young woman haunted by memories of family tragedies past. After she escapes a mental health rehabilitation facility, she survives a plane crash with fellow passenger, Paul, and the pair must work together to make it out of the wilderness alive.
Screenshot from “Flipped” on Quibi
“Flipped:” After finding hundreds of thousands of dollars stashed in the walls of a crumbling desert ranch house, hijinks ensue when Jann and Cricket—played by Will Forte and Kaitlin Olson—learn the money belongs to a local drug cartel.
Lauren Kruchten, Staff Writer “Chrissy’s Court:” Chrissy Teigen stars as the judge in this ridiculously funny Judge Judy-esque courtroom show. Cases range from a couple arguing over contracted car payments to a woman suing her sister over stolen tupperware.
