Where have I been?

Work has been crazy the past few weeks. Assuming Johan's old projects and working to close one in three weeks while juggling a bunch of new stuff coming in has been a great opportunity but is starting to stress me out. On the positive side I'm starting learn my new developers' personalities and can manage our interactions a little better.

Speaking of work, only Katie and Sarah responded with their Myers-Briggs type. I know there are more of you out there that have taken the assessment. Let's hear it!

Softball on Thursday was fun. I played third base for only the second time in my life (the first was when I was 12 or 13 and our normal third baseman wasn't there. I had three errors that game and quickly resumed my normal first base position) and it went pretty well. I had couple of forces and only bobbled one hot shot. I also went 3 for 3 or 4 for 4 (lost count) and was pretty happy :).

Friday I went to Elon to stay with the G-units so I wouldn't have to get up so early to help Katie with her yardsale. The yardsale was pretty fun and the weather was perfect. Yardsale attendees are crazy. The thing was advertised to start at 8 but they were there by 7:15. Come on people, let us finish setting up and then you can see the entire merchandise.

Today I skipped church and went fishing at Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area in Hillsborough but didn't catch anything and was frustrated by the foot long bass taunting me in the shallows. I also installed my new fishing rod roof rack which I've had for a few weeks in preparation for the OBX excursion coming up this coming weekend. Below are few pics and the rest are here.

Tomorrow (Monday) I'm driving to Corbin, KY to conduct a site visit for the afforementioned project that has to close in a couple of weeks. It's a 7 hour drive but was way cheaper than the $656 RT plane ticket which required flying to CLT then Knoxville and a 2 hour drive after the flight. I'm hoping to be back in time for softball Tuesday night but we'll see. FYI, Corbin is where KFC started. I may hit up the museum if I have time.

Still Me

Yesterday eight of us from work went a day long exercise/class to learn about our personality types using the Myers Briggs instrument. This was the third time taking the assessment and I'm still the same, still an ISTJ. Along with our group were two groups from Oxford University Press from the marketing and production editors staff. It was very insightful to hear how they interact and deal with everyone's quirks.

As I mentioned, this was the third time around with the assesment. The first time was my junior year of high school when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and the second time was at Tech, I think in Psych 1000. I quite enjoy being an ISTJ and I think the description fits me perfectly. Listening to the other introverts speak yesterday, however, I feel that I've moved to the extrovert side of things somewhat. Partly out of being more comfortable with myself but also because I've had to. As part of my job I have to be extroverted and talk to developers and other people at conferences without any introduction and even worse sometimes I have to do cold calling (not often thankfully). I do all I can to prepare, Googling the people to learn about what they've done and any other info I can find to help with the conversation (part of the T and J). I've also realized that you have to put yourself out there as nobody is going to stick up for you as much as yourself.

As far as my coworkers go, I think I learned a little about them yesterday which will help in our interactions. What's your personality type?

Weekend Update

Thursday: Softball, we won 19-6 over Hudson Memorial and are now 1-2 for the season! I hit pathetically but got on base twice and hit in a couple of runs. We almost turned a triple play but my throw from first to home was a little late. I was happy about the double play :)

Friday: In honor of Joel and Katie moving to the Seattle area we played a final round of golf at Knight's Play in Apex. The cool thing about Knight's Play is that it has 27 lighted holes in a par 3 format. We got there around 9:00 and got in 9 holes. Pretty fun stuff. Unfortunately I'm losing my golf buddies.

Saturday: The Grims, friends from UNC, were in town for a wedding and we hit up The Loop in Chapel Hill for lunch, then A Southern Season, and also threw around a frisbee for awhile before they had to get ready for the wedding. Fun times on a beautiful day.

Sunday: Church, relaxing, REI, and Harris Teeter

Congrats to the Tech women's tennis team for winning the ACC Championsip in Cary on Sunday, the men's golf team tying VT for the ACC Championship, and the beesball team for sweeping NC State over the weekend!

I'm a Ramblin' Wreck

I had a good post written up but thanks to my TV card my computer froze and I lost it. ARGGHHH! Here's the synopsis of my frozen post.

Tueday night the Triangle Tech Club hosted head football coach Chan Gailey for an evening about Georgia Tech football. We had a great time and turn out with around 60 local alums, spouses, and fans. It was my first opportunity to hear Coach Gailey speak and he's very impressive and sincere. He doesn't always show fire on the field like some coaches but it was evident early on that he has a deep help passion for football and Georgia Tech. The Chalmers came over for a last dose of Tech before their move west, and Katie even won a door prize for being the most recent alum! Another bonus (yes I'm a nerd) of the evening was meeting a couple of Hivers. What's a Hiver? It's a person that frequents the main Georgia Tech sports message board The Hive. They were great guys to talk to about sports and their Tech experience. I took a few pictures for the website, but unfortunately it was too dark in the restaurant and they didn't turn out well at all. I forgot to bump up my ISO so that could have helped but if you have any suggestions on how to improve them please let me know. If you want an overview of Coach Gailey's comments here's a recap thread from the Hive.

Coach Gailey (left) speaking with local alums
Shutter: 1/60 Aperture: 4.0 Focal Length: 28 mm


Shutter: 1/60 Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 112 mm (Edited so you can actually see Coach)


Shutter: 0.4 Aperture: 4.5 Focal Length: 60 mm (shot in aperture priority)


Shutter: 0.3 Aperture: 3.5 Focal Length: 28 mm (shot in aperture priority)

Where I come from...

Where I come from it's called bait! On Friday I went with a couple of guys from work for sushi which I'd never had before. They've been trying to get me to go and I finally decided, hey stop being a wimp and try it. It wasn't that bad. Kind of hard to eat in one bite but that was my biggest complaint. I got a sampler plate that had a few too many pieces for my first time as it was surprisingly filling. Overall the taste was kind of bland, so while I thought it was good it's not something I'll probably go out of my way to eat.

This weekend wasn't too exciting but it was nice to relax. I went to the driving range on Saturday and frustrated myself with every club except my 7 iron. I then drove around a little and scoped out the course where we're probably going to have our annual conference golf tournament in June.

Around this time every year I'm getting ready to move which naturally lends itself to cleaning, but this year I renewed my lease for the first time and I need to battle the clutter. Saturday and Sunday afternoons were spent spring cleaning and purging my closet. I ended up with three bags of clothes ranging from high school to college that are going to Goodwill and my closet is a lot less cluttered. I still have a little way to go but I'm making good progress.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last night was opening night for Raleigh's church softball D league and my church, First Presbyterian, took on White Memorial Pres. Presbyterian vs. Presbyterian and like Father vs. Son as FPC founded White Memorial in the early part of the 20th century. Unfortunatly the son won this time 17-9. We didn't play badly, our hits just went right to their players. I had a pretty decent game for the first night of the season. I went 2-3 with two singles, a couple of RBIs, and two runs scored. I played first and caught two popups and almost threw out a runner at home but was just a split second to late with the throw. Unfortunately I had one error on the first throw to first of the game which was bang bang and the ball popped out of the webbing of my glove...argh. On the second run I scored I made it around from first and slid/rolled into home. I don't know how close it would have been because I wasn't watching the ball but I saw the catcher get ready to catch the throw so I went for it and I was safe! It wasn't pretty but I got some props from my teammates for the hustle.

The game was the highlight of the night as just as I was about leave for the game I got in the Explorer, cranked it up, put my foot on the brake pedal and my foot went right to the floor. Not good for business. Something busted in the first front wheel well and brake fluid is all over the tire and ground so it's getting towed thanks to AAA this morning and hopefully will be fixed. I'm very thankful it happened in the parking lot instead of on the road. Who knows what would have happened if I was driving and it happened. I'm really debating now if it's worth spending the money and having a car payment.

Home is where the heart is

The last few days have been a whirlwind of driving to Richmond for work then to Charlotte and Carrollton on Friday and then back to Raleigh yesterday. On Friday I picked up Emily in Chapel Hill and we made our way to Charlotte to look for an apartment for her to move into after graduation. We visited four (I think) places in and near Uptown and called a few more. She ended up selecting an apartment in Uptown only about four blocks from work and she's pumped to be able to walk to work at BofA. Everytime I visit Charlotte there is new construction everywhere and it never ceases to amaze me how much more is improving there than in Raleigh.

After leaving Emily with a couple of friends in Charlotte I drove down to Atlanta for dinner at Fat Matt's (mmmm bbq and sweet tea with crushed ice) with Josh and Shaun. We sat outside for about 2.5 hrs catching up in the chilly weather. Fat Matt's is still excellent!

Saturday dad and I were supposed to golf over in Oxford, AL but we wimpped out because of the coldness ane wind. Looking out the window one would think it was a perfect spring day but it was downright cold. It even flurried Friday night/Saturday morning. In lieu of golf, we went to lunch at The Border which was tasty as always. Saturday afternoon was spent watching the Masters and hanging around the house. Saturday night I went out with Mark, his girlfriend, his friend Scot, and Josh and his girlfriend. Generally the holidays are pretty popular for people returning to Carrollton and visiting with friends at one of the many restaurants and bars on the Square. Apparently Easter isn't as big for that and we only saw a few people we knew. Thanksgiving is the big party week.

Sunday mom and I went to church and there were all kinds of new people and apparently they weren't there just for Easter. Mom said it's been pretty crowded recently which is a great sign! As I walked into the church and immediately felt at home seeing familiar faces as I passed the peace. For the first hymn we all attempted the Hallelujah Chorus which was entertaining. The music had all four parts and the choir had it down but the congregation was all over the place making a joyful noise. My voice has recently started getting deeper and my range is now all over the place so I just alternated between alto, tenor, and bass :) After church we had a great Easter lunch followed by Masters watching and chipping golf balls all over the backyard.

I left Carrollton early yesterday to attend a housing coalition meeting at the Atlanta History Center and thanks to a longtime family friend was introduced to quite a few of the most prolific affordable housing developers in the state. Traffic on the way back to Raleigh wasn't bad and I made it back around 9:00. Now it's back to work.

Happy Easter!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

I found it!

Today I finally found sweet tea in Richmond! After five or six trips to the city and striking out everytime, I finally found it and thanked the waitress who thought I was strange but was glad I was happy. My boss, a co-worker, and I headed up to Richmond to meet with a developer and his team to talk about a couple of low income housing tax credit projects that also will utilize historic tax credits. Both are really neat projects and I hope we get to work with them as they seemed like great guys. Getting to see how other people are improving their communities through redevelopment just solidifies my desire to be a developer one day. Here are a few pics from a former school (cool Second Empire architecture) that is slated to become affordable housing for seniors.







Richmond has a huge stock of old buildings and there is a lot of positive momentum near downtown for redevelopment. These row houses are across the street and are selling unrenovated for ~$150,000 and after rehab for over $300,000. Some great investment opportunities in areas that only a couple of years ago were in very bad condition.

A Positive Note

In a more positive assessment of the Triangle. Yesterday one of my co-workers and I headed to UNC to review case studies at the planning school and it was a lot of fun and the students did better than last year. Oh, to be a on a college campus in the spring, especially UNC.

Peach State of Mind

Whenever there's a big event I'd like to attend in Atlanta I get homesick and it usually works out that I'm in North Carolina during said events. In 2000, I was working in Raleigh for the summer and missed the MLB All Star Game and now I'm missing all the excitement around the Final Four. Although I'm missing the Final Four I'm going home for Easter on Friday!

Sports Saturday

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day apart from the bioterrorism clouds of pollen drifting through the air. To start the morning was First Presbyterian's second softball practice of the season and the turnout was actually pretty decent. Our captain/coach invited a friend of his that played semi-pro ball in Texas to give us some pointers on hitting which for some of us was desparately needed (myself included). Last season in practice I was able to crush the ball, but in game situations I tended to top it and hit a bouncy grounder to the shortstop but I was usually able to beat the throw to first. This strange occurance led to my favorite quote about me from an opponent in his dugout as I came to bat, "Watch out! He's big but fast!" Oh yeaher, fear the speed! Back to yesterday, last week I realized I wasn't rotating my hips during the swing and I started to pick up on it, maybe because I've been exercising more and am getting stronger and can sort of feel the muscles in there somewhere. The batting coach confirmed that I was an arm swinger but had great bat speed and form. He suggested bending my knees more and rotating back a little more and to step into the ball. What a miracle, almost hit one out yesterday and my line drives were much better. I don't think I even popped one up in the infield and last week I had quite a few of those and foul tips! I hope I can put the advice to use in our games this season.

In the afternoon, Katie, Joel, and I walked 18 holes at Quaker Creek in Mebane and had a good time. The weather was a little warm and humid but the breeze helped it stay comfortable. I started off really well and probably would have been on pace to finally attain my goal of breaking 100; unfortunately, it didn't happen. I don't know if I was getting tired or I just wasn't concentrating (that's probably it) but I fell apart on three holes in a row with 10, 10, and 12. Golf is a very mental game and even if the physical aspects are there if you're not in the right mindset it's not going to come together. I made myself slow down and get back in the groove and my game picked up on the last three or four holes. I shot a 121 thanks to the double digit land but knowing I could fix what I was doing wrong was a nice parting gift. Katie carried the day with a 116 and Joel followed up with a 119. After golf we drove back to Burlington and had some good BBQ at Hursey's and I went to visit the G-units for a bit.

On a side note, big props to the Chalmers yesterday. In the morning they ran their longest training run for the half marathon of 12 miles and then walked 18 holes which is at least 4 miles and the way we play which allows a tour of the entire course is probably over 5 miles.