Bells

Well that was a hiatus. In 8th grade we had to memorize a 500+ word poem for Language Arts and I tackled Poe's "The Bells" and for some reason it's been in my head this morning.

"The Bells" Edgar Allan Poe

I.
Hear the sledges with the bells--
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells--
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II.
Hear the mellow wedding bells
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And all in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells--
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

III.
Hear the loud alarum bells--
Brazen bells!
What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor
Now--now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear, it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows ;
Yet, the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells--
Of the bells--
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells--
In the clamour and the clangour of the bells!

IV.
Hear the tolling of the bells--
Iron bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy meaning of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people--ah, the people--
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All alone,
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone--
They are neither man nor woman--
They are neither brute nor human--
They are Ghouls:--
And their king it is who tolls ;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A pæan from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the pæan of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells ;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the pæan of the bells--
Of the bells :
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells--
Of the bells, bells, bells--
To the sobbing of the bells ;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells--
Of the bells, bells, bells--
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells--
Bells, bells, bells--
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

A Few Seconds of Fame

Somebody on the Hive posted that MTV now has an online archive of music videos going way back, well I went back a few years and found myself! Here's the link to John Mayer's No Such Thing video that was filmed before a concert at the GA Theatre in Athens in 2002 I think. Look for me in the botton left of the screen around the 2:02 and 2:14 marks, I'm in a navy blue sweater. One day my future kids will laugh at me.

John Mayer - No Such Thing

Fall Adventures

I think I will start all of my blog posts as an apology for my posting slackness. This weekend was a great fall weekend filled with friends, Tech football at Clemson, camping with my dad, and a glorious drive through the mountains of GA and NC on the way back to Raleigh. Here are some photos from the game, camping at Black Rock Mountain State Park, and Montreat!

Clemson Game Photos

Camping and Mountain Drive Photos

Travelin'

Last weekend I headed to Boston for the Tech at BC game along with Ben, Melissa, and my dad. We had a great time seeing things we hadn't seen on previous trips. We took the tour of Fenway and got to experience the Green Monster, rode in the Swan Boats in the Public Garden, and toured the USS Constitution which was really cool and apparently is in great shape. Saturday was taken up by sweating in the stands at the game and watching Tech beat BC!!! After the game we visited with some cousins that I had never met at their amazing house in Wayland. Sunday was a good breakfast at The Paramount in Beacon Hill, a visit to see where my sister lives when not in London, and the flight back to Raleigh. It was a whirlwind trip, but a lot of fun. I love football road trips and walking around the cities and seeing other Tech fans out and about taking in the sights.

Over the next two weeks I'm going to be on the road for work. It's kind of unusual to be gone for that much time in a row, but should be good trips. Monday a coworker and I are flying to Pittsburgh and then driving to West Virginia for two site visits and then up to Ohio for a developer's golf tournament on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday we'll be be doing a mega road trip around West Virginia visiting a total of 9 sites for projects in which we may invest. Then the next week I'll be heading to Chicago for a historic preservation conference Wednesday through Friday. I'm really looking forward to learning some new things and you can't beat the location right across the street from Grant Park.

I'm sure most of you have seen them already, but here's the photo album from Boston.

Trip to Boston Album 1

Trip to Boston Album 2

Kick the Ball

First games of the season are always a little rusty and last night was no different. Last night was my first game playing on the TASL Coed D League Aces soccer team. We didn't have a practice and it definitely showed with about 10 new people on the team. I think it's going to be a fun season as the team seems laid back but also has the desire to play well too. It seems that most people probably have some playing experience, but we were all rusty last night. I could definitely tell it had been three years since I last played intramural soccer and it will take a few games to get my feet under me again. One good thing is that I have been running pretty regularly the last few months but still have a ways to go to get in some kind of shape. Unfortunately the increase in endurance doesn't help with the sprinting part of the game and I'll have to figure out some method to start training for that. Despite the out of shape and sorry first game soccer skills I had a good time and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

Oh yeah, we lost 6-0.

Braves Win! Braves Win! Braves Win!...

I still get chills when I hear Skip Caray's call when Sid Bream rounded the bases to clinch the 1992 National League Championship. Unfortunately the Braves family lost a great member when Skip Caray passed away on Sunday. Here's a link to an article about Caray and the call.

AJC: Braves announcer Skip Caray dies

Caray's call as Sid Bream rounded the bases!

Picking Fruit

Finally...a bountiful harvest! I finally had more than one tomato to pick this morning! Five of my small grape tomatoes were ready for picking this morning and should be great on my salad-in-a-bag salad tonight. It's really cool to be able to grow some things, but it's also disappointing that they aren't producing as much as I think they should. I water all of them regularly, but I think it's the lack of sunlight that's hurting them. Thanks to the evergrowing trees next to my balcony they only get a couple of hours of direct sunlight in the afternoons. I guess each growing season I'll learn new tricks and will hopefully grow a green thumb as I try more things.

Click here to see my photos in chronological order, like a scrap book for my plants: Porch Garden 2008

Juicy

One of the best things about summer is watermelon. Since I've been working and buying groceries regularly I've often thought it was odd that grocery stores no longer generally have full size watermelons, but recently I've broken down and bought two "personal size" seedless watermelons. I'd forgotten what I was missing. That's some good stuff and good for you!

Happy Independence Day!

Wanderings

So it's been over a month since I last posted. I think that may be the longest haitus I've taken since I started blogging my last semester at Tech in Spring 2003. Over the preceeding month I've been pretty busy with with life, work, and travel and I won't do the experiences justice by trying to narrate the past so I'll hit it all in bullet form with commentary. Photos are available for most of the events on Facebook and will probably be more interesting than my ramblings below.

• Softball season ended, we finished first in our league but didn't enter the tournament thanks to a unilateral decision by our coach. Not too pleased about it, but I had fun and am really starting to feel like I'm part of the team after three seasons.
  
  
• Attended a wedding for one of my friends from school and Scouts in Augusta. Drove down Friday afternoon and went out with the wedding party and my friend Mark for drinks that evening. I'm glad the ceremony was inside since it was the week of 100 degrees everyday! Had fun at the reception with friends I haven't seen in awhile. Ended up staying at B&B with my second family the Handysides on Saturday night and had fun out on the town after the wedding. Congrats to Michael and Andy (real name is Andrea)!
  
  
• My company's seventh annual conference was the following week and of the three I've attended it was by far the best. We had close to 300 developers, bankers, property managers, investors, and other professionals in attendance. The golf tournament which I co-organized went very well and received many complements, and hey, you can't beat free golf. Unfortunately my foursome didn't win first and the Ipod classics, but good times nonetheless.
  
  
• My dad came up Father's Day weekend with the intention of us taking my granddad to the WWII Memorial in DC, but unfortunately grandaddy wasn't feeling well. Saturday my dad and I went to Wilson for some tasty bbq at Parker's. Sunday we went to IHOP for a Father's Day brunch with him, my aunt and uncle that were in town too, and my grandmother.
  
  
• The most exciting event was the following weekend which was Mark and Megan's wedding in Jackson, TN. This was my first time in a wedding and I figured I might as well go almost all the way to the top and was honored to serve as Mark's best man. Thursday most of the groomsmen flew to Nashville, enjoyed the lively nightlife, and spent the night downtown. Nashville seems like a great place and I'd like to go back when I have time to take in the sights.
  
  Friday morning I went searching for a pair of dress shoes I'd found in Raleigh but unfortunately the store didn't have my size so I risked it and found the shoes at the same store in Nashville thanks to the wonders of the internet. After driving around and finding the Parthanon, we hit the road to Jackson 2.5 hrs away. Friday evening was the rehersal which went well and then the rehearsal dinner. At the rehearsal dinner I was to make my speech and I was pretty nervous. I know I stuttered some, but I think I got the gist of my message across (note to self, next time use bullet points on the note cards). Also I presented what took most of my evening hours for the past month, the newly traditional bride and groom growing up picture slideshow/movie. Building the show was a much bigger task than I realized going in, but it was worth it and I'm really glad to have those songs out of my head now after hearing them over and over for a month. After dinner the wedding party headed out to the Jackson hotspot, the bowling alley with kareoke and laser tag though I didn't know about laser tag until we left which kind of bummed me out. Mark, Daniel, and I, all Georgia boys, ventured up on stage to "sing" Chattahoochee and make fools of ourselves but had fun nonetheless. I'm sure I wouldn't have done that just a few years ago, it's good to lighten up.
  
  Saturday, the grooomsmen, Mark, and his dad and granddad all went to Longhorn for lunch and then I drove Mark around on errands while everyone else hung out until photo time later in the afternoon. The wedding started at 6:30 and went very well and thankfully nobody passed out. After more picture taking, the group headed to the reception where we had a great time in a former Carnegie Library in downtown Jackson. After the reception wound down, I hung out with Josh and Laura at the hotel talking. Overall a great day.
  
  Sunday, breakfast at Cracker Barrell with my dad and then headed back to Nashville and then Raleigh.
  
  FYI, use Priceline to bid on rental cars, you'll save big bucks.
  
  
• Less than 15 hours later I was back in the airport Monday morning for a 3 day trip to Kentucky. Monday was mostly a travel day and then dinner with developers in Corbin, KY (birth place of KFC, the museum isn't worth a special trip but make sure to stop by when you're in town). Tuesday attended the grand openning for one of my projects and did a little speach which I think went better than my best man toast. Dropped a coworker at the Lexington airport then headed to Ashland to visit an historic building that we're considering for an investment. Got back to Lexington around 10 PM. Wednesday met with the accountants for the recently opened project to go over some stuff then flew back to Raleigh.

Now hear I am. I love traveling, but sometimes it's nice to be at home and in the office.

One other noteworthy item is that I started running in the mornings about the same time I stopped blogging. Amazingly I've been able to keep it up which hasn't happened before and have noticed some fitness improvement! Unfortunately it's screwed up my long, long time morning schedule but I can deal. It's also probably why I haven't blogged much because I usually do it in the morning before work and have compressed my schedule with the exercise.

If you made it this far, congrats! Now go get a life! ;)

Weekend Update

The weekend started early with a Thursday work trip to Williamsburg to play in a charity golf tournament. Thankfully the tournament format was captain's choice/best ball and we shot even 72 for the foursome. Unfortunately the winning foursomes were around 60. I started the round with one of the best drives of my life, it was a narrow fairway par 5 and I smacked the ball dead straight and close to 300 yards. Great drive to get the teammates' hopes up, but those expectations quickly faded. We ended up using my shot quite a few times, but the bad shots were truely bad. Overall a fun and beautiful day.

I took Friday off and decided to redeem myself so I headed up to Brevofield during the afternoon to get in 18 holes. I ended up redeeming myself and being fairly happy with the round. As a bonus, I shot a 99 and broke 100 for the first time!!! As usual, I feel apart on a couple of holes, but no double digits holes was an improvement. Friday afternoon golf made for a slow round due to a crowded course, but it was an absolutely beautiful afternoon so I had fun.

Saturday I was pretty lazy and didn't do anything.

Sunday I went to church and then to lunch with my softball coach and his wife. It was good getting to know them outside of softball.

Yesterday I had to get outside and enjoy the great weather. In the morning I ventured to Durham to Eno River State Park for some hiking and fishing. I went to a different part of the park back in grad school and enjoyed the trails around the river and the Cole Mill section didn't disappoint. It was neat "stalking" the fish in the river while not being that far from downtown Durham. Whoever had the idea of preserving the land around the river had a great idea. It's a beautiful park. I also caught two little fish which was fun too, one of which was a new species to me, the Red Eye Bass. Another note of interest was that a ranger asked to see my fishing license. That has only happened twice in my life and both times in NC state parks. I'm glad they check.

Photos

After a relaxing afternoon of napping and some cleaning, I headed to Chapel Hill to visit with a classmate that was in town for the holiday and saw some other folks from school that came out as well. It was a late night for a school night, but we had great conversation and enjoyed some beer on the porch at the Dead Mule on Franklin Street.

Overall a great weekend and I'm not ready to go back to work.

Where Have I Been?

I've been a slacker about updating, so here's a quick update.

1) Softball we lost two games in a row and both started at 6:30, coincidence? The first game was very competitive and I don't think we felt too down, lost 5-4 on a walk off single that drove in a run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th. Second game they just hit the ball where we weren't, very frustrating. Last Thursday was rained out since the umps had too much of the rain before our 8:30 game. Argh.

2) My plants are slowly progressing. I now have 3 little, green grape tomatoes. I added pics to the plant gallery here.

Booyah!

After going 0-3 last Thursday tonight was a nice reprieve. My first AB I hit an inside the park homer and drove in one run! This was my first homer at any level!!! I should quit now, it's probably all going to go downhill from here. My second AB I hit a solid single. Third AB I reached first on a fielders choice. Overall a great hitting day. I'd definitely be doing a dance about the homer, but it was kind of anticlimatic since it was against the worst team in the league and they only had 8 players tonight. We ended up winning 21-0 with the mercy rule in the bottom of the third. I also got to play first for the first time this season and it was a good warm up in case I get to play some more. We're now 8-0 on the season after last Thursday's win and tonight. Hope we can keep it up.

Good day

Yesterday was a pretty good day.

1) Went to a ULI tour of a Raleigh-based private equity fund's downtown office that is LEED Plantium for commercial interiors. It's a really cool adaptive reuse of a former furniture store in downtown. They did an excellent job.

2) Closed a deal in Louisville. It's 276 units and about $3.5 million of equity. Which makes it our largest deal by number of units.

3) After winning 12-1 last night, FPC softball is now 6-0 on the season. Unfortunately I went 0-3 leaving four runners stranded, but I'm not too disapointed in my performance. My first AB I smacked a long fly to the warning track which was my best hit in a game in the 2.5 seasons I've played, but it was caught. Second AB I swung a little early and hit a pop foul to the third baseman. Third AB I hit a long fly to the warning track in left center but it was caught again. It feels great when you make solid contact, almost effortless, too bad neither of them counted.

4) It was perfect weather! Probably the last cool day for awhile.

Taking the M-Train

This video was posted on the Hive and it's very well done. Makes me miss Atlanta and the college life. Gte738p baby!

Ballin'

Softball started a couple of weeks ago and we're now 4-0 thanks to 3 wins and one forfeit! Our game last Tuesday didn't start off too well and we got down 9-2 by the second inning thanks to a ton of errors, but we finally got it together and ended up winning 20-15. I walked three times and the one time I swung I made good contact but lined it straight to the third baseman. Thursday the other team forfeited in the morning since they knew they wouldn't have enough players which was nice of them to give us notice. Last night we had a great game and won 16-5 or something like that, even batting around in one inning. I went 3-3 with a double and two singles and I think I had 2 RBIs. Unfortunately, I had one error on a bad throw in the first inning which ended up making us look like a t ball team with two more bad throws to follow during the same play and allowing two runs to score, luckily I came through with my batting. This is my third season and I'm finally starting to see the ball well at the plate and make good contact. I hope I can keep it up.

Chicagoland

We had a great time in Chicago for Mark's Bachelor Party Weekend. Here are some pics I took with my new Canon SD950 IS while we walked around downtown seeing some sights in between some bar hopping.

Pics from Chicago

Regular People

A guy on the Hive posted about his 14 year old son that's having school motivation problems and I immediately thought of this clip from the Cosby show pilot. It's classic!

Bye Buzz :(

It was just announced this morning that Buzz will be accompanying Dr. Clough to the Smithsonian when he retires this summer. Fortunately it looks like we already have a new mascot, Dusty the Dust Mite!

Press release: "Clough Volunteers Buzz for Smithsonian Exhibit"

Happy Easter

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Get what?

Last weekend was the much beloved ACC basketball tournament. The first game I watched was on Thurday night between Tech and UVA broadcast by ESPN2. ESPN and the related channels (not sure if the Ocho made any appearance) broadcast the games nationally with the traditional southern broadcast produced by Raycom. If you're an ACC sports fan you'll know that there has been a long standing relationship between the conference and the various iterations of Raycom sports, and during that relationship the broadcast quality has been merely passable. Compared to ESPN and even CBS there is no contest, Raycom loses everytime in my opinion. Camera angles are terrible in football and basketball, plays and other action are missed because of bizare cut aways and bad graphic overlays, you name it and they've probably done it. I shouldn't complain too much though because it is nice to be able to watch a less popular and audience drawing event which my Yellow Jackets all too often end up playing in as half the bill, but this year's ACC Tournament took the cake for bad programming choices.

The intro, outro, during game music was completely centered around an artist called Lil' Mama and her song/rap called "Shawty Get Loose." Come on now? The ACC/Raycom must have made big bucks with that tie in. Hearing Mike Hogewood promote the song and repeatedly exclaim "Shawty Get Loose" was comedic and quickly grew old. It was ridculous. I also want to mention ESPN's bad intro/outro breaks which featured a very strange opera singer that wasn't that great, what's up with that? One message for the ACC: Dear ACC, please don't sell out anymore than you already have.

More entertaining and insightful commentary on the song below:

Raleigh News & Observer
Barry Saunders - "ACC is too loose on song"

A grad school classmate of mine that is the biggest sports fan I know and also hosts a sports radio show on the UNC student radio station WXYC
IronDog Chronicles - Pre-NCAA Rants (towards the bottom of the post)

Modern Marvels

Thanks to a three day conference/workshop I'm attending in West Virginia this week I drove up today and did some sightseeing on the way. When I was in the state last summer I accomplished one of my life goals of seeing the New River Gorge Bridge and I drove across. Unfortunately it was raining so I didn't get out and do any exploring. Thankfully today was a beautiful day so I visited the visitor center, the overlook, and drove the old route across the river through Fayette Station. If you're ever in WV for some reason take a side trip to see the bridge, it's a pretty impressive structure.

New River Gorge National River

Here is the photo gallery.

In My Mind I'm Going to Carolina

I've struggled with my thoughts on this week's random murder of UNC Student Government President Eve Carson. Normally I hear about murders, bombings, robberies, and other crimes everyday on tv and it usually doesn't phase me...this one has been different. I don't know if it's because I'm growing up and more caring in my thoughts or if it's because I walked through that neighborhood everyday and night for 2 years not too long ago and my sister did the same thing even more recently, or just because of the tragedy of the loss of life of brilliant young woman that had unknown possiblities ahead of her. Most likely it's a combination of all three and more.

It pissed me off to learn of the crime, but today's release of ATM photos showing the "person of interest" driving her car and using her ATM card just gets me going. I know I shouldn't harbor ill feelings against the guy, but knowing the peace of Chapel Hill and of the university community has been disturbed bothers me. What kind of person does something like that? Argh.

I hope that UNC can resume the sincere since of community that exists across campus once the students return to campus and Chapel Hill doesn't receive a black eye.

Sorry for the ramblings. I didn't know Eve, but I've been frustrated that things like this happen and don't know really how to deal with the feelings.

In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine
Can't you just feel the moonshine
Ain't it just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind
Yes I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind

Karen she's a silver sun
You best walk her way and watch it shinin'
Watch her watch the mornin' come
A silver tear appearing now I'm cryin'
Ain't I goin' to Carolina in my mind

There ain't no doubt in no one's mind
That love's the finest thing around
Whisper something soft and kind
And hey babe the sky's on fire, I'm dyin'
Ain't I goin' to Carolina in my mind

In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine
Can't you just feel the moonshine
Ain't it just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind
Yes I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind

Dark and silent late last night
I think I might have heard the highway calling
Geese in flight and dogs that bite
Signs that might be omens say I'm going, going
I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind

With a holy host of others standing 'round me
Still I'm on the dark side of the moon
And it seems like it goes on like this forever
You must forgive me
If I'm up and goin' to Carolina in my mind

In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine
Can't you just feel the moonshine
Ain't it just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind
Yes I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind

Goin' to Carolina in my mind
And I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind
Goin' to Carolina in my mind

(Goin')
(I'm goin')
(Say nice things about me 'cause I'm goin' southbound)
(Carry on with out me 'cause I'm goin')
- "Carolina in My Mind" James Taylor

Quuuuuueeeeee!

Since becoming a UNC fan 5 years ago (man I'm old) I've watched a decent amount of bball. There are the typical feel good stories like Wes Miller, but I think the ultimate has been Quinton Thomas' emergence the last half of this season. The past few years he's been injury prone and had some handling issues, but he's stepped up big time after Lawson's injury. The heart has always been there and the confidence is now breaking through. Congrats to Q for a great senior season!

Here's an excellent article from today's N&O about Quinton: "Thomas pens UNC's feel-good story"

What's Up in Oxville?

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy at work and as much as I hate to say it I've been a little stressed. Luckily it looks like things are getting worked out on a couple of projects and we'll be able to move forward. Thanks to a creative coworker I have some new artwork depicting me trying to save a deal. The kicker which was pretty dang funny was that he stuck the drawings up on my window as I was on a conference call for the project.

The project goes up in flames...


or I go to jail.


Today I ventured up to Blue Jay Point County Park on Falls Lake for some communing with nature. I parked at the park and hit the section of Falls Lake Trail that traverses the park. The parking area is in the middle of the trail so I headed north until the trail hit Six Forks at Upper Barton Creek then turned around and headed south to the other end at Lower Barton Creek. The one way distance is 3.1 miles so I guess I did somewhere around 6.2 miles plus a few sidetrail jaunts. Falls Lake is about 8 feet below full pool which revealed a grounded boat and penisulas that used to be islands. It's prime exploring country and I think I'll take a trip back up there soon.

I didn't take many pics, but they can be found here.

How are youuuuu?

Thanks to the DVR I don't watch many commercials now, but this series of T Mobile commercials is hilarious.

The one where...

Thanks to TBS I've been watching Friends a decent amount recently and have often wondered how old the character are and was surprised to hear Monica say she was 26 in one of the early episodes. I was shocked but then thought I guess that makes since given their jobs or lack there of and progression of ages throughout the series. Then I thought who has lives like that? I need to find a job where I can hang out with my friends all day. As with Saved by the Bell I still don't feel as old as the characters on the show, maybe one day.

So if you're curious to the age of the characters and their real ages in 1994 when the season started here's some info from IMDB and this guy.

Real life ages calculated by 1994 - birth year:
Jennifer Aniston 25
Courtney Cox 30
Lisa Kudrow 31
Matt LaBlanc 27
Matthew Perry 25
David Schwimmer 28

Character birthdays and ages:
Rachel: May 5, 1969 age 25
Monica: Late March-Early April, 1969 age 25
Phoebe: February 16, 1965 age 29
Joey: Early 1967 age 27
Chandler: April, 1968 age 26
Ross: October 18, 1967 age 27

Adventures

Encouraged by the beautiful weather Ben and I headed to Merchants Mill Pond State Park in Gatesville, NC (aka middle of nowhere) for a first attempt a canoe camping. We successfully navigated the cyprus trees and made it to the campsite and then headed out for more paddleing around the lake/swamp.

Sunday I drove down to Little Washington and visited my grandmother's homestead in Chocowinity. Unfortunately time and distance has led to the barns and house becoming overgrown with trees and vines, but it's nice they still own the farm and are able to rent the fields to pay the taxes. On the way to the farm I stopped in Ahoskie to see the finished product of the first project I worked on after I started working. I didn't close the deal, but did a lot of the modeling and helped with report writing. It's turned into a great rehab of a school and popular affordable housing community for seniors.

After visiting the farm it was time to head west and make the obligatory stop at Parker's BBQ in Wilson. That's some good stuff and they have crushed ice!

Here are some pics from the weekend:

Album 1
Album 2

Adventures in Cooking

Last weekend the cooking bug bit me, and since I hadn't tackled anything new in awhile I gave it a shot.

Saturday night's meal was a repeat of a chicken recipe I've made before thanks to the Food Network and Bobby Flay - Grilled Chicken Breast with Spicy Peach Glaze. Without a grill I was doomed to smoke up my apartment with the grill pan so I disconnected the smoke detector and went for it. Tasty as usual and great grill marks! As a side the new recipe was grilled polenta (Italian grits). It was delicious but the grilling part didn't work out too well. I guess I'll need to practice that one some more. You'll also notice the ubiquitous baby carrots!



Sunday in honor of the Super Bowl and having seen an Emeril show about "tailgating" food I attempted to make "sweet bourbon" ribs for the first time. Ribs are a tricky thing and everyone has their own method. This time I used the recipe from the show it they were pretty good. I'm not a huge rib fan but am starting to appreciate them more. I cooked them in the oven for about 3.5 hours and then grilled them on the grill pan for about 10. It was hazy in the apartment after the grilled chicken, but once the sugar in the marinade started heating up, man, this place was down right smokey. I'm surprised it doesn't smell like a bbq restaurant in here now. Too bad I couldn't capture the smoke to infuse the ribs. One day I'll have a house with a grill and smoker and will be the backyard cooking master I dream of becoming.

Thankful

I've been a blogging slacker, not out of random stuff to say, but laziness. I've been on the road a lot for work recently which leads to ponderings during idle moments. Profound things like, why do people put up with the hassle of carrying their luggage on the plane especially when they know they'll have to gate check anyway? They chopped the top off the mountain for the aiport (Chuck Yeager in Charleston, WV). There were a bunch of other things that I thought about that were picky usually getting on my nerves or just curiousities but they passed.

The title of the post is really the subject I want to address. Today was Campus Ministry Sunday at my church and the service was conducted by students fron NC State. I was filled with memories of guitar playing at WCF Thursday night worship when they sung "Light the Fire" as the prelude. Both students giving the sermons were amazing speakers and I bet are headed to seminary after school. Thank you to all of my friends for making my college experience and faith journey stronger through joining in worship and fellowship.

Good Vibrations

Trip Report

Thanks to everyone that sent me some good vibrations last Thursday during my presentation. We started off kind of shaky, but turned it around and I think everyone learned something. Speaking is always a good adventure given the audience's varied experience levels. This time we had people that had barely heard of tax credits to folks that had completed multiple projects which created some difficulty in planning how in depth to go. In the end, though, it all worked out.

New Orleans, where to start? I left RDU on ExpressJet Wednesday morning and arrived at the New Orleans Marriott around 2:00 (plug for ExpressJet, I can't remember the last time I was served a meal on plane, big props for the lunch and XM). After checking in, I hit the street for some quick sightseeing around the French Quarter. I walked around for about an hour and a half criss-crossing the Quarter and at first was disappointed. How many t-shirt, gift, and jewelry shops does one city need? I kept looking for the culture that I'd heard about but didn't find it that afternoon. One highlight was seeing the Mississippi River for the first time, but it was also not as impressive as I'd imagined. I've come to realize that I build up places big time in my head and raise my expectations above reasonable levels before I visit a new place. Maybe I should stop reading the travel guides before I arrive.

Wednesday evening I met up with the two attorneys that spoke with me and we headed out to dinner. While walking to the concierge's suggestion we ran into some guy that apparently works for the convention and visitors bureau that was very nice that told us his life story, about the recovery, football, Brad and Angelina, and restaurants. Apparently our destination was his recommendation, Deanie's Seafood. I had the blackened redfish which was pretty good and classic. Since we had to present for 5.5 hours the next day we called it an early after dinner.

Thursday was our presentation. After relaxing for a couple of hours we headed out in the rain for a night on the town. Our first stop was Pat O'Brien's for a hurricane. If you went to the Schwartz wedding it was the original of the POB we went to in San Antonio. From Pat O'Brien's we went to Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse for an excellent dinner with supurb service. From dinner we made a beeline to the Harrah's casino since two us hadn't been to a casino before. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but being the nerd I am it was quite the sociological/anthropological experience. The amount of money rapidly changing hands at the tables and slots was amazing as were the gambling hotline ads flashing on the flat screen TVs.

After watching and trying to learn craps from the older attorney I ventured into the world of slots with the other casino virgin. Luckily the slots turned out decently well for us. I ended up winning $100 in one pull and came out $89.45 ahead and stopped, surely breaking the house! We were definitely not the ideal customers. I'm sure I'll go to other casinos someday, but I'm not too crazy about how quickly the money can be lost.

Friday morning came early when I woke up at 5:30 with the goal of eating some of the famous beignets at Cafe du Monde before my early flight. Unfortunately I felt terrible and I didn't make it down there. I was also disappointed because the sun was rising to the first clear day and it would have been perfect photography light. Oh well.

My overall impression of New Orleans from just seeing the French Quarter is that I really need to go back and experience the rest of the city. I'd like to be able to linger on the street car or in a park to get a sense of how things really flow away from the neon lights and bottomless strip clubs of Bourbon Street.

Photos from my hotel room

Weekend Update

Friday night Jacs and Missy came down from Virginia for a weekend visit to be Triangle-area tourists. Saturday was filled with a tour of the NC State Capitol, a visit to Chapel Hill and the Pita Pit, some minigolf and air hockey at Frankie's Fun Park, Guitar Hero, and dinner at The Twisted Fork which was good but unfortunately is at the mall. Sunday morning we had a lingering (i.e. slow) breakfast at Finch's after which the excitement of the day began.

Upon my return to my apartment I found a car that an elderly woman drove into one of my neighbor's sunroom. For those that have been to my apartment, the lady's bad brakes apparently gave out (that's the story I heard) and she drove down the little hill and ran into the corner of the sunroom. Luckily nobody was home and she didn't hit the opposite unit as that's where their kids toys are and they play. I think the woman was physically ok but of course shaken up. When I got home from work today the damage was still there so I wonder how long it'll take the apartment folks to fix it. I never really thought of something like that happening, but I guess that's the joy of real estate ownership and something to not look forward to when I become a developer.

Capitol Tour Camera Phone Photos

Crashed Apartment

Overall a fun five days!

Conferencing

Tomorrow I'm headed to New Orleans until Friday to speak on a panel about tax credits at a conference. Please send positive vibes, thoughts, prayers my way on Thursday as we have to fill up 6.5 hours of the day with tax credit 101. Who knows why they gave us that much time, for the depth we're going it could be done in 1.5-2, maybe 3 hours. I'm presenting info about my company and also a case study about the adaptive reuse of a former school into affordable apartments while the other panelists will be doing the deep detail. This will be the second time I've participated on a conference panel, but the first time that I'm really teaching something. I think it'll go well, but the butterflies are starting to appear.

I won't have much time for sightseeing, but if you have a favorite spot that I should visit leave a comment and I'll try to work it in.

There Goes My Hero

I gave in and bought Guitar Hero II the other day after playing with some cousins over Thanksgiving. I did pretty well with easy and medium beating all of the songs the first time through with over 90% on all of them. Well the easy and medium lull you into thinking you're good at the game, then you get to hard and it throws in the orange fifth fret button and things get complicated. I'm on the forth song and stuck on Woman by Wolfmother and and struggling with the arpeggios. Oh well, maybe I should do something productive like just playing my real guitar!

In other news, the Triangle Tech club hosted the Tech Women's bball team for dinner on Friday and had an great turn out and excellent time. Unfortunately they lost to UNC on Saturday, but are still off to an amazing 13-2 start.