Conference Time

The past two days have been filled with conferencing at the North Raleigh Hilton. We had 201 people sign up and probably 180 or so in attendance which was a great crowd and the largest ever for our conference. It was much better than I anticipated going in and it seemed like most people enjoyed it, especially the property managers that usually don't get to do stuff like that.

My session went well and it was almost on autopilot so I didn't have to do much, though I had several complaints about the architects being kind of boring. It was intersting to learn how much costs have increased the last two to three years in the construction industry and actually hearing about two almost indentical projects three years apart made a big impression on folks. For example, in 2002 an apartment complex was built for $48,000/unit and in 2005 the same exact project on a very similar site increased to $65,000/unit or so; a pretty big jump in a few years and it's only gotten worse since last year.

Last night my boss, a co-worker, and I took three developers from a very large non-profit we've started working with out to dinner at Michael Dean's and we all had some great seafood. They seemed very appreciative and it was good to get to know them. I like the wining and dining, you get to enjoy great food and meet some new people. It's also good practice for my conversational skills.

Today was the annual property manager's game show which was modeled after Family Feud. It was very entertaining and a great way to wrap up the conference. I was going to post a few pics below but Blogger is being stubborn so here they are in gallery form: Selected Conference Photos.

Good Vibes

Please send some good vibes my way around from 10:15-11:45 as I will be moderating a six person expert panel and around 100 attendees at my company's annual conference. The panel is entitled, "Design for Long-Term Cost Effectiveness and Construction Cost Management."

Election

Tonight was the annual Triangle GT Club meeting and I am now the offical club webmaster! Should be an interesting experience; I'm definitely going to have to get back in the webdesign game and catch up with the state of the art which quickly has passed me by (not that I was ever caught up to begin with).

Tomorrow is my first business golf outing ever, assuming it doesn't rain. Here's to hoping I can hit a few straight.

Weekend

Friday Night: I went to see An Inconvenient Truth with our intern Aubra and a guy I know from planning school in Chapel Hill. I highly recommend seeing this movie.

Saturday: Emily and I went to the G-units for some visiting and dinner.

Sunday: Cleaning and cooking in preparation for The Chalmers who came over to watch the UNC vs. Oregon State baseball game. Unfortunately UNC lost and the series is tied 1-1 with the final game today. We also went to the driving range in the rain. For dinner I made a new bbq recipe, K&J brought homemade baked beans, and for dessert we had peach cornbread trifle. Pretty much we copied the Southern Comfort episode of Good Deal with Dave Lieberman on the Food Network. I liked the cooking method for the bbq as it went faster, but I may go back to my standard rub next time. The peach trifle was good as well even if I don't have a trifle dish. Funny story, last night I made homemade whipped cream for the first time and I tasted it and it was really plain so I looked back at the recipe and realized that I was supposed to add vanilla and sugar to the cream. DUH! So I added them and it was pretty good. Oh yeah and I found $5.

This week may be a slow posting week, sorry, since our company's annual conference is Wednesday and Thursday and tomorrow we're having our first annual golf outing (hopefully we won't get rained out).

Update

I told Melissa I'd update today after her pointing out that I've been slacking. I'll provide a real update tomorrow.

Tuesday

This isn't going to be too interesting of a post. What did I do yesterday?

1) ULI Young Leader's Group event about the Soleil Center in Raleigh
2) Work
3) Ear lowering at the Professional Barbershop in Cameron Village
4) Killed 1.5 hours at the Cameron Village Library reading magazines while waiting on Emily and her boyfriend who were attending the Cane's celebration at the RBC Center.
5) Drove around downtown and Hayes Barton neighborhoods that I've never been through to check them out.
5) Went to Mellow Mushroom with Emily and her boyfriend and enjoyed some great pizza and a beautiful evening downtown.

Yep that's about it.

Also we saw the Chickenman drive by in his big red panel truck advertising his services on a loudspeaker. You never know what you're going to see when you're out and about.

Pretty accurate

I stole this from Ben and Meagan and it's pretty accurate. If you put your mouse over the colors it'll tell you what they mean. Also if you click the box it'll show the description.

Considerate Inventor

My Personal Dna Report


I forgot to post this in my last post. On the way to ATL on Friday I rolled over 150,000 miles in the Explorer as I drove around Greensboro on I-85. I got the Explorer in Nov. 2004 with 122,000 miles on it so I've done a lot of driving in a year and a half.

Good times

This weekend was a lot of fun, went quickly, and was tiring. Friday I took a half day at work and left around 11:45. I stopped in Chapel Hill to eat lunch with Emily and we decided to go somewhere neither of us had been so we hit up Tyler's Taproom in Carrboro. It was pretty good but desserted for lunch time.

After lunch I hit the road and made it to Atlanta relatively traffic free around 7 and met Josh, his girlfriend Laura, and Mark at the Patagonia store in Buckhead where Josh works. It was an absolutely beautiful evening and we went to Taqueria del Sol along with the rest of the city but secured a table outside on the patio and had an enjoyable dinner. I had two fried chicken tacos and some rice (the rice wasn't good but the tacos were great).

Mark and I then headed back to Carrollton and met his sister, her husband, and a couple of their friends on the Square at Miller's. Again we grabbed a table outside and we had a good time.

Saturday, for Father's Day, I treated my dad to some golf at the Lion Golf Club and I had forgotten what a difficult course it is (doesn't help if you can't drive the ball). Since I've been playing a lot this spring, I've grown accustomed to the wide open "cow pasture" courses of North Carolina. The Lion is definitely not a cow pasture course. It's a hilly monster of a course and one, if you walked, would feel like a backpacking trip. All that said, I really like the course! I shot a 137 and dad had a 132. ARGH. I feel you're pain Phil. For some reason my drives where going to the right, something I thought I'd corrected, so I had quite a few redrives and their subsequent penalty strokes that killed my score. I did get one par, a couple of bogeys, and doubles but enough bad holes to rack up the strokes. Saturday night brought another adventure.

Mom and I went to dinner on the Square at Pearl's and had a great dinner as usual. While we were sitting there eating we kept seeing police cars and fire trucks driving through and we wondered what was going on. When we left we saw a giant smoke cloud rapidly rising in west Carrollton. It turns out that a historic, three story mill building was on fire and was completly destroyed. It was a beautiful building but fortunately operations ended in 2003 so nothing was really lost except for the building. Unfortunately it was probably started by a person as there was no lightening that night and the utilities had been turned off to the property. Stupid people. The fire was an unusual occurance in Carrollton and caused much cruising around town watching the smoke and flames. Weird how something like that will bring people out and about, we're guilty too. I took a few pics from several parts of town of the smoke, the gallery link is below.

Mandeville Mill Fire

Sunday I hit up North Avenue Presbyterian for church and WCF Dave's farewell luncheon. Dave just accepted a call at Austell Presbyterian after 14 years at WCF. It was great to see friends and NAPC was just as good as I remembered.

This trip really made me miss Georgia. Overall it was a great trip but too short.

"Peach State of Mind" - Memory Dean

This weekend will be a quick roadtrip down to Carrollton and Atlanta. The reason that I'm coming down, other than Father's Day, is that Dave, the campus minister from WCF, has accepted a call to be a minister at a church in Austell after 14 years. This Sunday at North Avenue Presbyterian is the first of four celebrations of all he did at WCF and Tech. I'm taking a half day on Friday and may stop in ATL for dinner. I'll be at home in Carrollton all day Saturday and will be playing golf with my dad. Sunday I'll be heading to ATL for church and then will be driving back to Raleigh in the afternoon. I hope to be able to see some friends amidst all the traveling. So, in honor of coming home this weekend here's a song by Memory Dean.

Peach State of Mind

I believe I've rolled off a thousand miles today
I still have sand in my shoes from California
Drivin' all alone down that lonely road
I'd call you but I'm almost home

Through the desert and the foot hills
I tried to force my thrills
(I sold everything I own)
Too much time on that yellow line
I see the moon shining through the pines

Arrivin' right on time
(I've got to see what I can find)
When I get to the other side
(Of the Georgia state line)
My pride is swellin'
And how I try not to cry
But you caught me
In a peach state of mind

Under the stars in that west Texas heat
I tried to sing myself to sleep
Dreams of home grew thick in time
And I found myself in a homesick
Peach state of mind

I believe I've rolled off a million miles today
I still have rocks in my shoes from Arizona
Drivin' all alone down that lonely road
I'd call you but I'm almost home

Arrivin' right on time
(I've got to see what I can find)
When I get to the other side
(Of the Georgia state line)
My pride is swellin'
And how I try not to cry
But you caught me in a
Peach state of mind

First Harvest

There is something satisfying about growing at least part of one's own meal. Tonight I had my first harvest of basil leaves that I used to make pesto. Before tonight I'd never made pesto before so I've got another recipe under my belt now. It turned out decently well though I'd maybe cut down on the cheese, throw in some lemon juice, cut the pepper, eyeball the olive oil instead of assuming the measurement is correct, and maybe increase the pine nuts next time. I guess it's kind of an experiment. I had the pesto on whole wheat fettucini with the traditional baby carrots (i.e. best invention ever). Pictures are posted below.

Yesterday I golfed with Katie and Joel at Quaker Creek Golf Course in Mebane. It was the second Joel and I played the coure but Katie's first. We walked the 18 in about 5 hours and it was hot but at least there was a breeze. As far as our performance, both Joel and I improved over the last round. I actually shot the best I've ever done, a 108, which averages out to 6 shots/hole or double bogey golf. Joel shot a 114 and Katie, from the white tees, shot a 146. I was pleased with myself, of course the pin placements were a little easier this time and the greens a tad bit slower but it's still nice to see improvement. Post-golf I called my dad and gloated some and warned him that he needs to go to the driving range this week to practice for our round this weekend at the Lion Golf Club in Bremen while I'm home.

Pesto Recipe I used tonight

Pesto Recipe I may try next time

Pesto in my little 3 cup food processor

Mmm, mmm good

Good thing scratch paper was invented

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Man I feel dumb. I need to really start doing some mental math instead of relying on Excel and a calculator all the time. I try to do some at work and have gotten better, just need to work on fractions some. :)

Softball

Last night we had our last softball game of the season, a make up game vs. first place Hudson Memorial Presbyterian. We ended up losing 14-4, but didn't play badly. While I don't like excuses, I've never seen so many balls drop in no mans land. They had three bloopers to land between the pitchers mound and second base and a couple of shallow blooper pops that barely made it out of the huge infield. Overall we played pretty well, especially holding Hudson to only 14 runs, they have some big bats. I played first and had a great scoop if I do say so myself and a couple of long stretches. I like playing first. As far as hitting goes I grounded to the pitcher and almost beat it out, second AB made poor contact but made it to first on a fielders choice/error and advanced the runner to second. Unfortunately the next batter lined to the pitcher and I took off on the crack of the bat and got two steps and had to dive back to first but they doubled me off. My third AB I decided not to swing unless it was a really good pitch and was walked.

We finished in solo second place, apparently Presbyterians can play some ball.

It was great to have something to do two nights a week this Spring. It took me awhile to feel like part of the team but I feel like I've earned everyone's respect and I am now a part of FPC Softball. I had a lot of fun, even in the losses. I also got to meet a lot of great guys that I probably wouldn't have met otherwise at church. We're not playing in the tournament since it costs extra and it's a combined tournament with A, B, and C league teams all in one pool (we're C league), but I'm already looking forward to next season.

Fast as Fast Can Be, You Can't Catch Me!

Last night we had a make up double header against Hayes Barton Baptist at 8:30 and 9:30. The umpires suggested we play two games of five innings each since we would have been there all night. FPC returned to the winning track with victories in both games by a good margin! I really don't remember the score but we were in teh teens and they were in the single digits both games. I played first for both games and had a good time. My hitting was pathetic last night, not getting out of the infield at any AB; however, I was able to beat out several of them due to infielder bobbles. This lead to me reaching second twice and scoring once. I also tagged on a dropped fly ball and slid/plopped head first into third to barely beat the throw! Now I have two skinned knees to prove it. I didn't realize they were skinned until I came back to the dugout after our next turn in the field and saw a bunch of blood running down my legs (man that alcohol pad hurt).

Another cool thing was that I actually got some respect from the other team when I came up for my last at bat. As I stepped to the plate one of the guys on the other team yelled to watch out because even though "he's big but he's fast" Oh yeaher! Never heard that one before, but to toot my own horn, I have been able to beat out balls to first quite a few times this season (mostly thanks to bobbles by the fielders) but I think it's the long legs. I laughed when he said that and I immediately proceeded to ground to second and reach first due to a bad play and them not getting the runner going to second.

One more game, 8:30 on Thursday vs. first place Hudson Memorial Presbyterian.

Writing to catch you up on places I've been

Melissa pointed out today in a not so subtle way that it had been five days since my last update. I'm sorry my slackness loyal blog readers, I was busy being social :) and not sitting in front of my computer over the weekend.

Thursday I went to the bustling metropolis of Ahoskie, NC for a groundbreaking ceremony for the conversion of an old school into 41 elderly apartments. Ahoskie High School Apartments was one of the first deals I worked on and it required extensive modeling and remodeling of the projections due to a weak market, rentwise, i.e. there is a desparate need for housing but they can't charge very high rents which were needed to make it work. We got it to work using a couple of reserve accounts and provided a good sense of accomplishment. Anyway, the groundbreaking was well attended by local officials and even a U.S. Congressman. I snuck a tour of the building with my boss and a couple of the GC guys and the building is in rough shape but it'll be nice when it's finished in a year. Below are some pictures.

Thursday night we had to forfeit our softball game because we were one player short, ARGH...enough said.

Friday, after work, I headed to Chapel Hill with the intention of going to the Carolina Inn for Friday's on the Porch, free bluegrass, with Emily and the guy she's dating. Unfortunately thunderstorms rolled through about that time so we just went to Bandido's for dinner. After dinner I introduced them to Maple View Farm ice cream which they both enjoyed. Maple View is generous in their sampling and they had a new flavor that Emily spotted to try, Chocolate Lavender. Yes, you read correctly, Chocolate Lavendar ice cream. The high school aged employees thought it was funny that there was such a flavor and said they enjoyed watching everyone's reaction to the taste. We all followed the trend of not really liking it, big surprise there. It tasted just like chocolate mixed with the smell of lavendar. It had a couple of different flavor waves though since was complex but overall I wouldn't get it again. I guess you have to try a lot of different flavors to find one that should actually be stocked and sold.

Saturday afternoon I ventured to Chapel Hill again to see the Grims who were in town on their way to Duck on the Outer Banks for vacation. I went to dinner with them and a couple of other people at the Carolina Brewery. That dinner was the first time I've been out to eat or even hung out with friends that have a kid and it was an interesting experience. Emma is now 14 months and was very well behaved all evening but having a baby at the table was just different. Jeff and Jenn are the only parents of all of my friends and I can't see myself in their place now and we're the same age. If were married now I can see it probably being a lot different but all that just seems like a long way away at this point that it's not really conceivable now. One day though it'll be a good thing.

As we drove through Carrboro after dinner we saw somebody dressed up like the red ghost from Pac Man and then across the street was a giant Pac Man, it was hilarious and something one would only see in Carrboro. Our post entertainment was playing Cranium. Unfortunately Emma (the baby) was in bed so I didn't have a teammate so I was the fifth wheel and played for both teams and had a great time. I miss friends and small town life.

Today was church, reading, exercising, and cooking. Back to work tomorrow.

Sorry the pics aren't bigger when you click on them, the Blogger picture upload wasn't working tonight.

My Boss