The Deep Freeze

Wednesday night it dropped below freezing down here - so everyone was complaining about the 22 degrees it bottomed out over night. When I got to the lobby in the morning and looked outside, I noticed that the fountain in front of the hotel froze overnight! I got a picture as you can see.

Today I had to make a presentation to all the other managers and supervisors about a new lobby program. As my buddy put it - I had to jump in with both feet this week! A little bit of reluctance from a couple of people, but overall I think it went well. Now the test will be implimentation which begins on Monday. It's my day off, but I'll be out there to help roll the program out. Thursday night was uneventful and Friday morning I attended my first financial critique meeting at this hotel. One of the supervisors handled it this period, next period it will be up to me!

Working the evening shift Friday and then the morning shift on Saturday - so it's time to get ready for work. Thanks for reading and I'll tell you soon about my first weekend in Charlotte!

Venturing out on my own

Sorry for this post being late, but I did go out for some nightlife last night and got back late. . .

Another 60 degree day here - a little rain in the morning, but that's a good thing since the Southeast is in a drought situation. After work today I ventured out on my own to get a mailbox to start forwarding my mail down here. Having your mail forwarded to the hotel would seem like the easier thing to do, but it is very had to forward your mail from a commercial address to a residential address, so I felt this would be the easier thing to do. I mapped out the route from the hotel to the Foxcroft Shopping center and found it very easily. I bought a mailbox for six months at a UPS Store. I found my way from the UPS Store to the South Park Mall and found the Bath & Body Works so I could buy some hand soap for my room (not a fan of washing my hands with bar soap). Then I found my way back to the hotel! I am already starting to learn street names.

Since I didn't have to report for work until 1:00 pm on Wednesday, I decided that it would be a good night to go out and get the lay of the land for one of the bars. North Carolina liquor laws require bars to be "private clubs" and in order to go to the bar you need to be a member or be the guest of a member. I had applied for my membership on line before I came down because there is a three day waiting period between filling out your application and getting your membership card. It was a quiet night at the bar - being mid-week - but about 20 people maybe. Met the owner of the bar and chatted with him a little bit. He came to Charlotte about 12 years ago from Chicago and I learned a lot about the scene in Charlotte and where certain groups hang out and that the bars & clubs in this city are facing the same challenges as bars around the country. On tap was Blue Moon, Ice House and Yuengling - I've been suprised to see Yuengling a lot down here and I always thought it was a Pennsylvania & New Jersey thing! It was weird to smell cigarette smoke again in a bar!! I'm sure it will take a long time for smoking to be outlawed in NC - with it still being a big tobacco state - there weren't a lot of people smoking anyway. The bars close at 2:00 am and I think I left shortly before that time.

Well, time to get ready for work -- and thanks for reading!

First Day on the New Job

It was a foggy morning here in Charlotte - luckily that was outside, so my commute to work today was not impeded. The walk from my room to the front desk was easy to make. I spent the day getting information from the temporary manager about the hotel. I have a cubicle right now, but hopefully that will change after the next set of construction. Not much else to report today, except that it hit close to 60 degrees today.

For dinner i went to PF Chang's with the temp manager. It was my first time going to a PF Chang's and had the "ginger chicken over broccoli" with a pint of Strongarm on the side. For dessert they have these little mini deserts in shot glasses for $2.00 - I tried the S'mores - layers of chocolate, graham cracker crumbs and marshmellow fluff. It was good!

Caught "Little Shop of Horrors" on HDnet Movie channel -- I'm going to get spoiled with this HD television! LOL.

Time for bed now ... thanks for reading!

Made it to North Carolina

Well, I made it to Charlotte today. The drive from Richmond took about 4:45 minutes and went about 309 miles. Most of the drive was in nice sunny weather, but hit rain as I came into Charlotte, so didn't really get to see the skyline through the clouds.

The trip down for those interested started yesterday in Shrewsbury Twp, NJ -- I took a bunch of local streets to Route 34 south to Route 195 west. From there I took Route 295 to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. From there it was Route 95 south to Baltimore where I switched onto 295 into Washington, DC where I got onto Route 50 then Route 395 and back onto Route 95 to Richmond. Stayed overnight in Richmond - got up this morning and pumped my own gas for what will be a regular occurance and got back onto Route 95 to Petersburg, VA where I got onto Route 85 into Charlotte. Then took Route 77 south for a few exits and then local roads to my new job. Only took 10 hours and two tanks of gas to go about 625 miles! The drive along 85 in VA was nice -- two lanes tree lined on each side with a wide median between the north and south bound lanes. At one point in NC came across an area with grass and trees charred on both sides of the highway -- glad that wasn't today, I'd have to assume the road was closed for a long time!

The rain stopped before I reached the hotel. At least it washed some of the salt off of my car. It took two trips with a full bell cart to load my luggage and "stuff" into my room. Luckily they have me in a room on the first floor close to the lobby, so I didn't have to go far. I unpacked, found places to put everything. I brought a couple of things to make it feel more at home - the plant that my staff sent to me when I was in the hospital back in December and a ceramic dog that holds rings and stuff that used to be on my Dad's dresser when I was growing up. It was just last month that the dog and the dresser were reunited when my Mom moved the dresser was sent to me! They will hopefully be reunited again soon -- anyone looking to buy a 2 bedroom co-op in Shrewsbury Twp, NJ?? Let me know, I have one for sale!

After I unpacked I took a walk over to the South Park Mall (no, not that South Park) for dinner. As soon as I found out there was a CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) at the mall my mouth was watering and I planned on that being my first dinner when I got down here. Food was as good as it usually is -- but the difference of going to a CPK in Charlotte is that NASCAR was on the television and country music was playing on the sound system. I was actually watching the race!! I've realized that I will need to pay more attention and find out who the local favorites are -- I don't think they pick a favorite by who looks the hottest or has the car with the nicest color! LOL

Spent the evening chatting with old friends and maybe some new ones on line while the Oscars played in the background. It's currently 43 degrees outside and expecting a high tomorrow of 62! I'm not in Jersey anymore! LOL

Well, have to report for my first day on the job at 8:00 in the morning, so I am off to bed at about 11:30 here. Will keep you posted on my first day.

Thanks for reading!

My New Volume Opens

Well, today was the day that I started my move to Charlotte. Having lived in NJ for all but the first two years of my life, this is a very big move for me to take. Luckily my newest and best buddy was there to help me keep my head straight (so to speak) as i prepared to leave today. I usually overpack even when i go away for a weekend, but i was surprised that i was still able to see out the rear window of the Jeep for the drive to Richmond today and then onto Charlotte tomorrow.

The drive was uneventful - just hit a little traffic south of DC - but it took 5 hours 14 minutes to go the 313 miles to Glen Allen, VA. Staying overnight tonight at a SpringHill Suites - hotel #201 for me!

Well, hopefully i'll get in the habit of writing down what i've been discovering as a transplant to North Carolina - i also hope that it gets more interesting as we go along.

thanks for reading!