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.