Historical Moments

Tonight at 10:05 EST was the end of an era, Saddam was hanged. Regardless of your political stance, views on the war, or Saddam himself this is a big deal. There are few moments in life that are this important. I still remember the first Gulf War and the images of the tracers flying through the night on CNN. I even collected the Gulf War trading cards and have George Bush and Saddam and I think Colin Powell as well. The best card though is "Peace" which features a white dove on a sky blue background. Now it's sixteen years later and I'm watching the CNN coverage of the execution and aftermath. It will be interesting to see how things start unfolding in the Middle East and here at home over the next few days and weeks as a result of the execution.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and your's!

Travels

On Thursday as part of my drive home I did a couple of site visits, one to check on the mill rehab in Morganton I closed on in October and another greenfield site for some apartments for which I'm working on a predevelopement loan in Spindale. Here are are some pics of the mill which is almost done (for some interior shots click here: September Visit).









Also I was playing around with my camera and mini tripod last night and got these shots.







In other news, Mark and I saw "The Good Sheperd" last night and it was excellent. Kind of long, but as a former foreign service wannabe (thanks to Carmen Sandeigo) it was well worth seeing. I really like historic fiction. My only complaint is that it makes me wonder/question what actually happened and if it was even anything like the movie. Regardless it was great entertainment and one of the best movies I've seen in awhile.

Coolness

Melissa sent me this link and it's great for planning/real estate nerds like me. It's a website that compiles aerial images from several different websites using flash and lets you search and compare for the best image. I've seen most of the aerial shots of my my house in Carrollton, my apartments, and work but it never ceases to amaze me when looking at them.

If you want to stalk me here's your opportunity (zoom with your mouse scroll wheel and click and drag to move around the map):

My house in Carrollton (comes complete with the Tan Van)

My current apartment

My office

Music

Yesterday was the the annual music service at First Presbyterian and it didn't disappoint. I wasn't into the selections as much this year but it was still great. The choir was accompanied by a brass ensemble, some percussionists, but no strings this time. I was sitting there tapping my feet and playing the timpani parts the entire service. The last piece lasted probably at least ten minutes and it had my heart beating quickly. It's amazing how music can make you react and put you in mood, in this case a great mood. When listening to music like that I like to close my eyes so I can concentrate more but I figured that might not be so good in church as people may think I had fallen asleep. I need to go back to the symphony.

In other news, Saturday I went to a great Christmas party given by Emily (not sister) and her roommates. I didn't know anyone there and that was quite the change but it was good to get out and socialize.

A B C D E F G....

Today six coworkers and I utilized one of our three annual community service days by volunteering at the new Wake County North Regional Library branch that is in the process of being stocked with books. The library is moving from its current location on Sawmill to Harps Mill Road and will have over 200,000 books and audiobooks and is the second busiest library in the state. Our task was to help unpack and correctly shelve some of those books. We were partnered and Phillip and I were assigned the biographies. I had no clue there were that many biographies in existence. There were the usual cast of characters such as heads of state, authors, and celebraties and a lot of people I'd never heard of until today. The most popular subjects of the boxes I unpacked were the Kennedy's, Jackie Onasis (had her own section), and Ronald Reagan which made them the most frustrating due to having to alphabetize ten to fifteen books with very similar titles. I'm just glad biographies aren't labled with the Dewey Decimal System otherwise I'd have gone crazy doing alphabetical and numerical order. I gained a new since of respect for librarians today and also realized I'm glad I'm not one. It would be a frustrating and never ending battle to keep everything organized. Also today I don't think I whispered once :) there was even a boom box playing some oldies which kept us entertained.

I know I've pledged to read more on here before and I have done much better than at any point in my life but the last few months I've slacked. Today was some motivation to start tackling some of those books on my bookshelves, especially the ones I was supposed to read for school but really didn't.

Here are some pics from today:

"You are right to envy me..."

...that's how one of Monet's love letters to his significant other started in reference to being on the coast of France during one of his painting excursions. On Saturday the Chalmers, Emily (not my sister, Katie's former roommate), and I went to the see the much talked about Monet in Normandy exhibit at the NC Museum of Art and it lived up to all expectations. We were glad to have ordered tickets earlier in the week as the exhibit was sold out Saturday and it was definitely crowded which was my only complaint. Another interesting thing was that for the impresionistic paintings of Monet, it was better to stand back about thirty feet and look at the painting, it really helps all the smatterings of paint blend together. If you have the opportunity to see Monet's work I highly recommend checking it out.

Going Bananas

Last night I watched a DVRed episode of my favorite cooking show Good Eats that comes on the Food Network. The episode was entitled "Going Bananas" and as you could probably guess was all about bananas. One Alton Brown's recipes was for Bananas Foster and very tasty dessert I first had in Woodruff Dining Hall at Tech. I tried to make it once before and it turned out very poorly and I've wanted to give it another shot and being able to watch it on TV helped. Tonight I gave it a second attempt and it was much improved, still not as good as I remember from Woody's but still good. I even turned off the kitchen light when I ignited the rum and I'm glad I didn't burn the apartment down because it produced a flame probably a foot and a half tall. Bananas Foster can be eaten alone but you can't beat it over ice cream, especially the carmalized bits of sugar that form when the sauce hits the cold ice cream.

If you want to give it a shot here's the recipe: Alton Brown's Bananas Foster

I Stayed in a Holiday Inn Express Last Night

I had a great time down in Jacksonville this weekend despite the outcome of the game. I'll post a recap later as something called work calling my name. In the meantime here are some pics from the weekend.

Gameday photos (camera phone)
Fort Pulaski near Savannah during my Sunday drive back to Raleigh

Jacksonville Bound!

The Explorer is all fixed thanks to a new transfer case and rebuilt transmission. Friday morning I'm getting new tires, and then I'm rolling out of Raleigh and headed east on 40 and south on 95 to Jacksonville. It should be a fun trip and hopefully it won't rain. If you want to watch the game, and why wouldn't you? It's on ABC at 1:00 PM on Saturday. Now I'll leave you with a song.

I'm a ramblin' wreck from Georgia Tech
And a hell of an engineer--
A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer,
Like all the jolly good fellows,
I drink my whiskey clear.
I'm a ramblin' wreck from Georgia Tech
And a hell of an engineer.

Oh! If I had a daughter, sir,
I'd dress her in White and Gold.
And put her on the campus
To cheer the Brave and Bold.
But if I had a son, sir,
I'll tell you what he'd do
He would yell, "To hell with Georgia,"
like his daddy used to do.

Oh! I wish I had a barrel of rum
And sugar three thousand pounds,
A college bell to put it in
And a clapper to stir it round,
I'd drink to all good fellows
Who come from far and near.
I'm a ramblin', gamblin',
Hell of an engineer! Hey!

Broke down busted

On my way back from Carrollton on Sunday I had major transmission issues around Commerce (about 2.5 hrs from home). I knew I was having issues and was planning on getting the transmission fixed when I returned from vacation, unfortunately it broke before I could get it fixed. I was able to limp into a truck stop and hang out for four hours while waiting on my dad to pick me up. He had the good idea of borrowing a trailer from a guy and ended up towing me to Burlington to the transmission shop that rents one of my grandparents' buildings. You're probably thinking, why fix the Explorer since it has 157,000 miles on it? I went through the same thought process and ended up deciding it was best to fix it and drive it until it dies. This was my master plan with the idea of getting something new in about two years before it broke down so might as well follow through.

Here's a camera phone pic of the Explorer on the trailer.

ACC Championship Game

If you're going to the ACCCG this weekend I'll be heading down with Jake and Matt Habib. Friday night we're staying at the airport La Quinta. I'm not sure where we're parking but we plan on hitting up the fanfest on Saturday before the game. Postgame, Jake and Matt are driving back to ATL but I'm not sure of my plans yet. I'll most likely head north on the way back to NC but I may hang around if people are doing stuff. Let me know.

Thanksgiving

My vacation has been great and entirely too short, but I guess that's the story of one's life after starting to work.

Wednesday was the annual "class reunion" as Mark and I call at one of the new restaurants on the Square. This year the crowds of people returning from college and new jobs elsewhere was at the Rome Street Tavern and Grill. I'd guess there were probably at least 150 people there and probably more. We all had a good time seeing old friends and making the obligatory small talk trying to find out what everyone is doing, etc...

Thursday we headed to Atlanta to my Aunt and Uncle's for our annual Turkey Day get together. The food was copious and great as was the weather.

Friday dad and I test drove a used H3 at Mark's dealership in anticipation of maybe buying one a year or two from now. It drove very well and gets pretty good mileage for an SUV with the offroad capabilities it has (20 mpg). Unfortunately it lacks storage space; I couldn't fit my golf bag in the back sideways. I could fold the back seats down but that's a problem if you have four golfers. While a pretty cool vehicle I've been spoiled by vehicles with ample cargo capacity. After the vehicle driving we went golf ball driving at the Par 3 course in Bowdon. Neither of us played well but we both had three pars which was pretty good. I shot 88 and dad 81. After golf I went to dinner with Mark and Shaun at Mellow Mushroom and then we met some folks at Loco's and then headed to Rome St. afterwards.

Today I went helped put up Christmas decorations and made a trip to Home Depot. This afternoon was the low part of the trip while watching Tech give the game away to U(sic)GA for the third year in a row to extend the losing streak to six games. ARGHHHHHHHHHHH. There is no reason we should have lost the game. In case you didn't hear the final score it was 15-12. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving:

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

Update

The conferences on Wednesday and Thursday were productive events where I met quite a few people and saw a couple of old friends. Hopefully some of the new contacts will prove productive.

Thursday night after the conference I attended trivia at Willy's on Howell Mill with Shaun and a couple of his friends. We were in first place going into the second half but finished in third to win $10 in house cash.

Saturday I headed to Atlanta for the Tech vs. Duke game and had a great time cheering on the seniors on Senior Day and watching Tech stomp Duke 49-21. It was definitely an improvement from the past two weeks. After the game I attended the Handel's annual WCF Thanksgiving dinner at their house in Morningside and had a great meal and social time with everyone.

Sunday was pretty lazy and today I will probably do some stuff around the house. I can already tell that the vacation isn't going to be long enough. Oh for the days of being a student.

Here are some camera phone shots from Saturday:

Woo...Woo Woo!!!

Late this afternoon my company president offered me one of our company tickets for the Carolina Hurricanes game and even though I had to pack and get ready for my trip I took him up on it. I went to the game with another co-worker and one of his friends and had a great time. The seats are amazing and are the same seats we had last year when I went to one of the playoff games, center ice about seven rows up. Unfortunately the Canes lost tonight in a high scoring contest.

Tomorrow around lunchtime I depart for two days of conferences in Atlanta on Wednesday and Thursday and then I begin my Thanksgiving vacation. I'll be in Carrollton/Atlanta through the 26th when I drive back to Raleigh. I'll be in Atlanta on Saturday 11/18 for the Tech vs. Duke game but other than Thanksgiving Day I don't have anything planned. If you read this and are in town let me know and we can hang out.

Here are a camera phone photo and video from tonight.

A Win is a Win

It was an absolutely beautiful day in Chapel Hill yesterday. Dad, who flew up Friday, and I arrived in the Hill around 8:45 and immediately joined the line waiting for the Carolina Coffee Shop to open. The CCS is my favorite breakfast location in Chapel Hill and I could pass up the chance for some corn flake French toast. Dad was impressed and commented several times that he really liked the place while eating his breakfast and listening to the classical music.

After breakfast we walked around campus and took in the sights at Tar Heel Town on Polk Place. We needed to kill some time before the game so we checked out the Carolina Collection at Wilson Library and dad was again impressed by the Sir Raleigh Room (a recreation of a British room from the 1500s with real oak wall paneling and period furnishings) the maps and other memorabilia were also interesting. As we headed out the front doors of Wilson we were greeted by the UNC band playing a selection of UNC tunes and we followed them to the stadium.

As far as the football game goes, it was pretty sorry for both teams. The highlights were: 1)The weather, a little warm but gorgeous, 2) the Tech crowd was great, 3)the Tech defense has only given up 1 TD in the last 3 games 4) we won and clinched the Coastal Division and are on our way to the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 2 in Jacksonville. The ugly 1)the offense other than Tashard Choice's 100+ yard day. Sometimes you have to win the ugly ones but as the saying goes, a win is a win.

Here are some camera phone pics:

Warmups


The Captains (R-L): Ball, Anoai, and Johnson


Victory!


Post-victory "Ramblin' Wreck" Singing"


I finally got YouTube to recognize my cell phone videos correctly so here are two:


Cell phone video of the Tech player entrance




Post-victory "I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" Singing

Fun times

Thank you to everyone that came up and down last weekend for the game. I had a blast and our first real attempt at tailgating went really well. You've probably seen the pics on Facebook but here they are anyway.







Where's the T? (Actually it just fell during the game but still cool)

Here's the Update

Yes I've been slack in my promised recap of the weekend, so here it is.

Friday:
Left work around noon, got my ears lowered, and hit the road for a rainy driving all the way to Georgia. I've come to the conclusion that South Carolinians can't drive, thanks to three wrecks on 85.

Saturday:
Woke up at 5:30 as I was at home in Carrollton to get to campus for the Wreck Parade at 8:15. I met Jac's friend Missy for the first time and the three of us hung out most of the morning at the parade and then Starbucks where I had a hot chocolate and my first scone which was blueberry and very good.

WCF had a great turnout for the homecoming tailgate and Chris' bbq skills are to be envied. I guess it helps having a real smoker too, but big props. The game was great other than the fumble in the first 30 seconds which was recovered by Miami for a TD adn the sorry refs. More props to the football team for having tons of character this season and not getting down after big momentum swings. Some camera phone photos are below. After the game Shaun and I went to the Everybody's Pizza by Emory and then headed back to his condo. We fast forwarded through the game and hit the highlights and I fell asleep in my chair.

Sunday:
Normally I would have hit the road in the morning but Sunday was the Atlanta Team Trivia Championships at the 755 Club at Turner Field for the top 150 teams in the metro-wide league, we were ranked 84. Shaun's team consists of three intellectual property attorneys, another lawyer, an investment banker, and then me who was subbing for another attorney. Trivia, as always, was a great time and we were in 10th place at halftime and 14th going into the final question which we bombed. Unfortunately we didn't win the $5,000 grand prize but had a great time anyway. A funny story from trivia, the first question of the day was "Which company has their trademark named the Dynamic Ribbon Script." It was all down hill after that when you have three IP attorneys and one of which has the company in question as a client and works on protecting the brand. What's so bad about that question? The actual name of the logo is the "Dynamic Ribbon Device" and the script of the writting is Spencerian Script (sp?). The attorneys in the group immediately started debating how the question was flawed and the differences between trademarks and copyrights. Pretty funny. If you don't know the answer, you haven't lived in Atlanta long enough. It's Coca-Cola, not Coke.

I hit the road after trivia a little after 6 and made it back to Raleigh in six hours, much better time than on Friday.

Monday and Tuesday:
Closed my second deal, a $3.6 MM equity infusion from us for an adaptive reuse of a historic textile mill.

Saturday:
You probably received the e-mail, but we're tailgating at the NCSU Vet School lot beginning around 2:00 on Saturday for the Tech vs. State game. If you're a random reader of this you're welcome to stop by.

What a Weekend!

I'll post a real recap tonight but it was a great weekend and the Jackets are most likely Jacksonville bound!

If you are interested in attending the ACC Championship game on Saturday December 2 in Jacksonville, FL please let me know. I'm willing to organize the trip and tickets. I'd like to order tickets sooner than later (i.e. this week if possible) so we can get travel plans in order. For you NC and VA folks, when I checked last week, roundtrip flights were $180 from RDU to JAX as well as ORF to JAX. It's a 7 hr drive from Raleigh and would cost just as much to drive plus wear and tear so I'm thinking about flying.

Here's the game info: 2006 ACC Championship Game

Here are some pre-recap photos from the Hive of the flyover. The first two are photos of the flyover practice a few days before the game and the third is obviously from the game. Thanks to BonevilleJacket and GTnutcase on the Hive.

Vote for Buzz!!!

Buzz is still in first place overall but we need to get the vote out and keep him there. Also, when you vote, make sure to vote against the other leaders as that will help Buzz stay at the top.

Vote Here: Captial One Bowl Mascot Challenge

Weekend Update

Saturday was another beautiful weekend day spent with friends. The Chalmers and I played golf at Brevofield in Wake Forest and had a pretty good time and finished up our round just after sunset in the dark. Joel shot his best ever at 103 and I got back on track with a 115 and Katie picked up about 10 strokes to shoot a 126. Overall a pretty good round of golf on a perfect Saturday afternoon. Since the Tech vs. Clemson game kicked off at 7:45 and it was 7 when we got back to my apartment we set the DVR to record and then went to dinner. We eventually caught up to the game when we returned thanks to fast forwarding. Unfortunately we couldn't fast forward through the entire game since Tech played pathetically. Hopefully we'll get back on track this weekend against Miami as this is the BIG game to pretty much determine who will be in the ACC Championship Game from the Coastal Division.

Another bonus this weekend was finally using my fireplace! I built fires on both Saturday and Sunday thanks to the bags o' wood from the grocery store. I'm definitely going to have to find a cheaper source of wood since the grocery store wood is about $1 per log.

Down on the farm

Today was the annual work trip to the NC State Fair organized by the fun committee (the State Fair is a big deal up here). Only 8 people went this year but it was a good group to hang out with. I'm not much for the rides or money pit games, instead I enjoy checking out the monster vegetables and animals. This year I split off with three ladies and hit up the cultural attractions including some arts and crafts displays, a lumberjack exhibition, the garden show, and the antique farm equipment display as well as the blue ribbon pumpkins. In addition to viewing fairthings I participated in the fried food tradition as well and tried the new deep fried Coke. Yes, deep fried Coke. It's basically a funnel cake made with Coke in the batter instead of water and served in a Coke cup with whipped cream, a cherry, and a couple of squirts of Coke syrup. It was actually pretty good but for $4 I'd rather buy a funnel cake and get more fried dough.

Here are some pics and the accompanying gallery is here: 2006 Work Trip to the Fair



The biggest pumpkin in the land all 664 lbs of it. The same guy also grew the biggest watermelon that weighs 150 lbs

Stumpin'

What a great weekend! I left Raleigh around 1:00 on Friday afternoon and headed west to Hanging Rock State Park for a wonderful weekend in the woods. I arrived between 3 and 4 and staked out a campsite and set up my new tent (which I really like) and then relaxed and drove around the park to get my bearings. For dinner I grilled a great t-bone steak over the fire that no doubt was much better than the hotdogs and hamburgers being cooked in the adjacent campsites. The Chalmers were scheduled to arrive around 8 and were going to call me to pick them up at the gate since it was locked at 7. Unfortunately, their phones didn't have reception and they were stuck outside until 9:30 or so when Katie finally bummed a ride with somebody else picking up their friends and was nice enough to drive her campsite to campsite to look for me. After picking Joel and their gear up we set up their tent and hit the hay in anticipation of the next day's service project.

Saturday morning we woke up to a cloudless sky and low 40s temperatures; a great day for working outdoors. We headed to Camp Sertoma a few minutes west of the park to join in the Bankers' Association Camp Challenge workday with about 200 bankers from around the state. Our crew consisted of the three of us and three other guys from work plus some other bankers and we were charged with stump removal. The Chalmers and I set off on our own to tackle the biggest stump and immediately realized we were in for a lot of digging. After about an hour or so the other teams, finished with their stumps, joined us and started hacking away. Quickly they realized it was going to be no easy task and through attrition it the group was reduced to the original three and the guys from my company plus the tractor driver and his son. Finally about 11:30 we freed the stump after about three hours of work. We filled in the hole, spread grass seed, and covered it was straw and headed to the catered lunch. It was good to get out and do some manual labor which I miss sometimes since I don't have a yard of my own. It was also a good teambuilding experience for our company, I just wish more people would have participated.

I was also surprised to see some younger people at the workday. As I've been out and about at conferences and meetings the vast majority of the crowd is probably in their forties or older which is kind of weird given that I'm 26. I guess I'm lucky that I have the opportunity to learn early on and interact wth more experienced people. I didn't meet many new folks since were so busy working but I should have had the nerve to talk to some of the cute girls that were there, oh well, regrets get you no where.

After lunch we headed back to the park and changed into hiking clothes for our summit bid of Hanging Rock. The trail to the top of the rock is only 1.2 miles but consists of a lot of stairs, during my stairmaster hike I realized I'd just rather walk up a very steep hill instead of giant stairs. The trail was packed as to be expected with the beautiful weather which was still cloudfree. Upon reaching the summit we paused for while for picture taking and litter pick up from the dirty hikers leaving gum wrappers and water bottles behind (ARGH). I had another realization while atop the rock, I'm going to be an overprotective parent. There were little kids running around the top on some treacherous rocks without guard rails and it was making me nervous to hearing their feet scurrying around. Maybe I'll get over that eventually so I'm not psycho-parent.

For dinner I went a little crazy at the grocery store and purchased a couple of options. I first thought about silver turtles but then I jumped to shishkabobs so I ended up getting ingredients for both. We ended going with the shishkabs which had red and green bell peppers, onions, and marinated steak. I also bought some chicken but that didn't work as well. As a side dish, we had roasted red potatoes with butter and parsley cooked in an aluminum pouch on the fire and canned biscuits cooked in a pie tin in a dutch oven. We also had smores for dessert. Overall it was a good filling dinner and good first attempt at shiskabobs.

This morning we woke up and I made the executive decision not to make the planned oatmeal and we hit up Bojangles instead. I had a great time and I think Joel and Katie did as well thanks to good friendship, hard work, and perfect weather.

To see photos of the trip go here: Hanging Rock Trip Gallery

Here are a few selections:

The view from the bottom of Hanging Rock


The view from the top of Hanging Rock


Me at on Hanging Rock

Headed west

It's going to be a fun weekend. The Chalmers and I are headed to Hanging Rock State Park for some camping and also a work day at Camp Challenge next door with some people from work. The weather looks spectacular and the leaves are hopefully beginning their annual transition to a motley blend of oranges and reds.

Also, here's an interesting article Emily IMed me last night from the NY Times: "Pulled Pork, Pulled Corks in North Carolina"

Happy Birthday!

Happy 89th Birthday Granddaddy!

I built a cake.