Oh well...

Well I'm not going to the game tomorrow because Emily has to do her first photo assignments tomorrow for the DTH. Unfortunately I already bought my ticket and it's sitting at will call. I'm still going over to CH in the morning to eat brunch with her and get the painting she did for me for my bday. Who knows I may go to the game by myself.

Thanks Al Gore

I don't know what it would have been like to have to actually send checks in the mail for bills. Ever since I've been paying utility bills and such most have been able to be paid online. I just paid all of my bills this evening and only wrote two checks, one for my health insurance because I haven't started on my company's plan yet and a check for my rent. Everything else, gas, electricity, water, cable/internet, and my credit card bill are all online. Pretty cool stuff. Thanks Al Gore.

Sir

I have a new issue, it's people calling me sir. Generally it's an employee at a store checking me out. I know I look older than I am but I'm still not sir age. Yes it is polite to call me sir but I don't like it. Maybe one day when I'm old but not now. Tonight I went to J. Crew and the girl helping me was probably 21 or so and she called me sir. Argh! Oh well, I guess I should be glad that people have manners (or at least follow their training as Shaun suggested).

In other news...

I have two new favorite shows: How I Met Your Mother which comes on CBS on Monday nights and Foody Call which is on the Style Network. Check them out. Do it Do it.

On Saturday I'm hanging out with Emily in Chapel Hill and going to the ZTA family cookout and the UNC vs. Utah football game. Hopefully Carolina won't get stomped like last year.

Finally, if you need to get in touch with me at work they've now blocked gmail because it doesn't go through the virus scanner (booo). You can call me on my cell, on my work phone, send me a text/picture message, and I think it's cool to use my work e-mail for personal stuff though I don't have access to it when I leave work. I'll know that you gmailed me through google's cool personalized rss pages but I won't be able to read it except on my cell phone which works but is slow and doesn't display pages well. Moral of the story, give me a call.

What's up with Brian?

This week was pretty busy at work, which actually was a good thing other than working late a couple of nights. Being busy is better than sitting at my desk being bored with nothing really to do. Anyway, we were busy because we were working on completing our New Markets Tax Credit application which was due on Wednesday at 5. We won't know if we were rewarded our allocation until late spring so after all the build up over the last month with the application it's just a waiting game now.

In other work related news, my business cards came while we were in Charleston. It's kind of cool to have business cards so I can now pass them out. I even put one in the bowl at Moe's to try to win free food. Hopefully I won't get a bunch of spam from them since my e-mail address is on the card. Here's a camera phone pic of my card.



At work on Wednesday we had our monthly staff meeting during which they mentioned it was my birthday four times. They even had a cake, while a standard practice, was still nice. Here's the half of the cake that was left when I finally had time to eat some on late Wednesday afternoon.



Thursday and Friday were relatively uneventful.

Saturday I went to my first GT alumni club event which was a game watching party hosted by one of the Triangle Tech Club members. Unfortunately only 2 of us showed up other than the hostess out of 10 that RSVPed. Although it was a small crowd it was still much better than watching the drubbin by myself. I definitly think I'll try to be involved with the young alum group.

Today was day two of The Great Church Hunt. Last Sunday I visited Hudson Memorial Presbyterian which is about five mins from my apartment. I enjoyed the minister but I didn't really see any young people. Today I decided to visit First Presbyterian Church which is downtown. The church was founded in 1816 and seems to be somewhat similar to NAPC since it's an intown church (it's directly across the street from the state capital). I got a good vibe at First Pres., there were a lot of families with kids in all age ranges but still not really anyone my age that I saw, but I think I may check it out again. The couple that was sitting next to me noticed that I was a visitor (the attendance pad had check boxes for vistor and new resident), and the wife spoke to me quickly as she headed off after the sermon to help with a luncheon and after worship the husband welcomed me and we talked for a few mins. He is on the board of a local nonprofit that does housing development so that was an interesting connection. I plan on continuing my search to hopefully find a congregation with a 20 somethings group, but I really did like First Pres so it'll definitely be up there on the list.

On another note, I've finally posted the camera phone pics and videos from my trip to Charleston. Here are a couple of my favorites. I highly recommend watching the videos, some are boring but others you'll get to see dolphins splashing, a peacock walking around, and me narrating. Enjoy.

Favorite Pics
Photo Gallery
Video Gallery

Finally, my other two celebrity crushes are Ashley Judd and Elisha Cuthbert who is known for such rolls as Popular Mechanics for Kids (good show back in the day) and The Girl Next Door. Hopefully Jac will approve of those. ;)

Here goes...

For my second post of the day here are my responses to Katie's survey request. Disclaimer #1: yes I did copy some previous answers but I really have thought about them before so I'm not just co-opting other people's answers. Disclaimer #2: the following answers may be in an order but most likely they are in order of when they came to mind.

7 things I plan to do before I die:
* Visit all 50 states and all 7 continents
* Get married and stay married
* Have kids
* Own my own restaurant (preferably an ice cream store in an old garage)
* While money isn't the epitome of happiness, I'd like to not have to worry about it however that would happen.
* Climb Mt. Kilamanjaro
* Become proficient at an instrument or two

7 things I can do:
* Tie my shoes
* Take photographs that I like
* Generally have a good sense of direction
* Cook pulled pork BBQ
* Move to a completely new city and not be completely freaked out (somewhat freaked out but not completely)
* Read books without falling asleep (that's a new one added this summer)
* Enjoy driving through the country just for the sake of driving.

7 things I currently cannot do:
* Whistle
* Play a trumpet
* Do a split
* Do the robot well
* Calculus
* Sew (I've tried but it always falls apart)
* Make fried okra (one day but everytime I've tried it's nasty)

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex:
* Ears through neck to shoulder
* Intelligence
* Smile
* How she carries herself and her hand shake
* Height
* If I get a good feeling about her (whatever that means)
* Common and uncommon interests

7 things I say most often:
* Hey
* Dang it. (Thanks Napoleon)
* How are you?
* Good morning
* Later
* lol (yes I'm a dork that says lol)
* Uggghhhh

7 celebrity crushes:
* Katie Holmes
* Charlize Theron
* Julia Stiles
* Heidi Klum
* Jennifer Aniston
* I'll think
* about it

7 people I want to do this:
* Andrew
* Jake because he needs to update
* Ben because he needs to update
* Melissa because she needs to update
* Meagan because she needs to update
* Paul because he needs to update
* Whoever else wants to do it. If you have a blog comment with the link. If not, send me an e-mail.

Disclaimer #3: The answers provided in this survey are subject to change at the discretion of me.

Update

So like I mentioned in the previous post I was in Charleston last week Wednesday through Friday for the annual NASLEF conference. I would have updated while on the trip, but my laptop harddrive crashed (UGH, oh well). I had never been to Charleston and I didn't know what I was missing. It's a beautiful, historic city. The weather was perfect, a little warm but not too humid. The conference hotel, the Francis Marion, where we stayed is in a great location across from Marion Square where the Citadel used to be and next to the College of Charleston (remind me again why I never thought about going to school there). I felt like I was with Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel visiting one of the hotels she reviews. On Wednesday afternoon we went on a tour of some of the LIHTC properties in the city. After the tour we had a reception at McCrady's which is in an awesome old building and apparently where George Washington ate when he was in town in, get this, 1791. Following the reception about ten of us from work went out to dinner at Slightly North of Broad(aka S.N.O.B.) and it was delicious. I had black jack bbq wahoo on top of lima beans, field peas, and yellow grits. I also had some peach cobbler for dessert. The dinner was similar to that I had at Aria for my mom's bday but Aria was better, though SNOB was pretty good.

Thursday brought on the conference and classes. It was good to meet some people in the "industry" from around the country and I even learned some stuff in the classes. I think most of the people have been to enough conferences to find them frustrating but since it was my first it was all new. They all said it was the best they've attended so I either it's all down hill from here or only up, hopefully it's all up from here. Thursday night we went to Middleton Place Plantation which has the oldest landscaped gardens in the country. If you've seen The Patriot with Mel Gibson parts of it were filmed there. At Middleton we had a horse wagon ride around the grounds, a reception, and a great dinner with entertainment provided by this character who was wearing a seersucker suit and told great stories. He even told a Gullah version of Brer Rabbit which was an education for most of the attendees who weren't from the south.

Friday morning we had two more class sessions and the conference officially ended at 12:15. I went to lunch with some people from work at King Fish and had a great chicken salad sandwich with grilled sweet potato medallions (that's my word, not their's). After lunch I changed clothes and then drove around the historic district for awhile. I found a good parking place down by the Battery which is at the end of the Charleston peninsula and walked along the waterfront for awhile and watched some dolphins about 20 feet away jumping and splashing around while eating a school of fish. After my driving tour I headed to Fort Moultrie and watched a cheesy informational movie about the Fort's history then I went and climbed around the fort. After my fort adventure I headed up US 17 instead of the interstate so I could drive through the country. Since I left Charleston around 4:30 or so I decided just to head back to Raleigh instead of camping which was ok because the trip was a blast in itself.

Camera phone pics and videos will be coming soon. If anyone out there wants to buy me a Canon 20D I'd greatly appreciate it.

Adjectivalness

Here are some more adjectives to add to my poem or whatever it is I wrote this morning.

Transition
Unusual
Mundane
Different
Motivating
Unmotivating
Roller Coaster

In other news, I discovered I like Yoohoo. At work we have a drink cooler with free canned drinks and today I chose a Yoohoo because I'd never had one before. It was pretty good for a chocolate milk-type drink in a can.

I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for the NASLEF Conference in Charleston, SC. Wait Brian, "What's NASLEF?" you ask. Good question and I didn't know until I started working. It's the National Association of State and Local Equity Funds and apparently my company is a member. The conference is from Thursday through Friday at lunch and should definitely be an experience as I've never 1) Been to a conference and 2) Never have traveled for business. Most of our office is going so it should be interesting to see their personalities outside of the office. I really hope that there are some younger people there because I'm seriously lacking social interaction with people under 30 years old.

After the conference I'm planing on going camping (assuming Ophelia doesn't do too much damage) Friday night and maybe Saturday but I need to start my church hunt. I need to get out in the wilderness or at least a state park because I need to clear my head. I've been doing a lot of thinking, too much, since I've been in Raleigh and I need to step away for awhile. Venturing into the woods usually will do it for me so hopefully it will this time because I really need it.

Am I an Adult?

Growing up

New
Exciting
Responsibility
Feelings
Longing
Friends
Remembering
Imagining
Planning
Thinking
Frustration
Relief
Honesty
Am I an adult?

Weekend

Saturday was a great day. Got up early and went to Carrboro to get a hair cut at the Friendly Barbershop. Unfortunately every dad and his son in Orange Co. was there and I had to wait an hour to get a cut, but they do a good job so it was worth the job. Plus there's not much better than driving around on a beautiful Saturday morning. I ran a few errands on the way home and then finished preparing for the cookout and game watching. Susanna arrived early to help with the prep and then the Chalmers showed up a little later. My apartment complex has several propane grills for our use and so we went out and enjoyed the weather. We had grilled chicken with spicy peach glaze (well everyone except Joel who doesn't like fruit), grilled peaches, and pasta salads, and brownies a la mode. It was the first time I made the chicken and grilled peaches and I highly recommend them. After we ate it was on to game time. The game was a long one but Tech won and looked relatively good doing it. We were all happy that DBo had a great game. After the game Katie, Joel, and I went to Mellow Mushroom downtown and it was packed but luckily we didn't have to wait long and we got some good Georgia Tech-invented pizza.

It was nice to finally have some visitors and get to hang to hang out with friends. We may have a real tailgate for the Duke game on Oct. 15 if you're interested in coming.

Tailgate

If you're in the Raleigh area this weekend you're welcome to come by my apartment for some grilling and watching of the Tech vs. UNC football game. Festivities should begin around 1:30 or so and kick off is at 3:30 on ABC. Just shoot me an e-mail if you're coming.

Vote for Buzz!

Participate

Last week Emily suggested that I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. She was right, it is a great book. I wish it would have come out before 1999, it would have been a good thing for me to read early on in high school. Emily didn't say why she suggested it for me but I have a feeling it's because the main character in the book and I had and have some of the same characteristics (though he was a lot more messed up). Throughout high school I tended to be an observer, trying to understand how people work and do what they do. I was always the quiet guy and remember telling people I didn't have anything to say when they said I wasn't saying anything. I don't really know when or why I started being like that but I think it may have started in junior high after getting picked on and ridiculed well not really ridiculed but you know what I mean about being the "smart kid" and "teachers pet." I didn't really shut down but I also didn't put myself out there as much. I still participated in class, Scouts, and even clubs at school, places I felt confident and comfortable, but socially instead of being the awkward kid that didn't self censor I censored myself too much. I had friends and still have them. I developed a close set that still is there for me everyday and that was great and still is, but I also wasn't the social butterfly. In high school I didn't get picked on and generally got along with everyone but I wasn't the center of attention, preferring instead to watch and observe. This continued into college for a couple of years until I found people that had common interests and then I had college friends, but I still know that I've always been guarded about letting people in. I know in the last couple of years that I have gotten better about things, my conversational skills have improved and I am not as afraid to open up, though it still takes a long time. Going to school in Chapel Hill was a step in the right direction but I still realized that I feel into that same ol' pattern and made excuses about why I didn't have a lot of friends. I hope moving to Raleigh will help continue my evolution, I don't know anyone except Susanna and we don't see each other very often, I will be forced to put myself out there or else I'll just come home to my empty apartment everyday after work and never have friends and that really doesn't sound like a good plan.

I know what you're thinking, man Brian sounds like he's depressed. I'm not depressed, I just felt like writing about why I think Emily told me to read the book.

In other, more positive news, Tech beat Auburn handily on Saturday. I have work to do at work. Finally, Emily is now a ZTA at UNC which is in addition to her society membership in TZE at Wellesley.

P.S. Vote for Buzz!!!

Vote. Do it. Do it

Buzz is in the Capital One Mascot Challenge this football season and he needs to win #1 mascot again. Do your collegiate duty and vote for Buzz. You can only vote once per day so remember to do it everyday.

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As David Starsky says, "Do it, do it."