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.

222-0

Imagine, ninety years ago today you're a Cumberland College fan wearing a suit and sitting in the stands at Grant Field on the campus of the Georgia School of Technology. What are you thinking as the North Avenue Trade School is running up and down the field and scoring at will?

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the most lopsided victory in college football history. On October 7, 1916 the John Heisman-led Georgia School of Technology Golden Tornados (I think that was the mascot then) pounded Cumberland College 222 to 0. The most intersting piece of trivia is that neither team had any first downs the entire game. Now you know that you'll be prepared for the Aflac Trivia Question next time it pops up.

If you want to learn more check out an article from today's NY Times: "In 1916, a Blowout for the Ages"

Golf + Beautiful Weather + Fun Business Associates = Great Day

Yesterday we finally had our work golf outing that was rescheduled from late June due to a terribly rainy day. The weather was perfect yesterday as were the facilities at North Ridge Country Club. We had 18 people come out which included developers, contractors, a regional property manager, accountants, and few of our board members, and of course some staff. My foursome didn't win any prizes but I did break a 100 for the first time with a 98. It doesn't really feel that great since we were playing best drive, so add probably another 10 to 15 strokes to that to get my real score.

It was also nice to demonstrate that I can organize an event and have it work out. I had some help from our board chair that is a member of the club but our president did tell me good job so I'm happy. I think everything turned out well and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

If you're not enjoying this weather I don't know what would make you happy. The weekend was absolutely beautiful, a tad warm, but two beautiful and low humidity days. Joel, Katie, and I played golf Sunday afternoon and there wasn't a cloud in the sky the entire round, the great weather more than made up for some pathetic golfing. Hopefully the forecast will remain as slated for my company's golf outing on Thursday afternoon.

In the weird world of the internet and thanks to Sarah check out the dancing pipe cleaner man: Click Here. Follow the instructions and amuse yourself for hours.

Edited on 10/5 because I just read my post and noticed that I spelled "some" "sum." Just because we were golfing in the country doesn't mean I should write about it like it ;)