Too long a wait for more posts...

Sorry everyone - I know it's been a while since I've posted, so I'm going to try and throw a few out there to get everyone up to date on what I've been up to.

In the last post, I was in South Carolina visiting with a buddy from NJ. On the way back to Charlotte we stopped at the Revolutionary battleground at Cowpens. It was the site of a defining battle in which the American forces were able to double-back on the British and take 800 prisoners! This battle helped force the British troops north out of the Carolinas. Like most battleground sites, there is a lot of open land with some trees and pastures. They are working on making the site look just as it did 200 years ago when the battle took place. That would entail moving trees and such. From what I could make out the road in the picture was actually a main route through the area. But as you see it was beautiful day to stroll around the grounds reading the informational signs describing this battle as well as the methods of battle at the time. From here it was a drive back to Charlotte to get my buddy to the airport for a flight back to New Jersey. It was great to spend time together and at that point weren't able to make plans for the next opportunity to see each other.

We had a managers' outing at work the following week and went up to the Bobcat Arena to watch the Charlotte Checkers take on the Columbia Inferno. The Checkers is the New York Rangers farm team based in Charlotte. April 3rd was the 2nd to last home game of the season. Unfortunately they lost this game, but it was fun to watch the game from the Uptown Suite - free beer and snack foods! Of course I had to get over the fact that the team is part of the Rangers franchise, being a NJ Devils fan when it comes to hockey, but when 14 of the 21 players are Canadian and one of the US players hails from Rumson, I was able to chow done on some nachos, hot dogs and few Buds and enjoy the game. This was my first time at any farm league sporting event and it was interesting seeing the activities they use to keep the crowd entertained - I also didn't know they have hockey cheerleaders! They had a blimp floating around dropping Chick-fil-a coupons - a frozen t-shirt contest which pits 3 guys trying to get a cruppled up frozen t-shirt over their heads with arms through the quickest. They drive a Jeep around the ice and have fans throw soft yellow pucks at the car trying to get one to go through a small opening in the sunroom to win $500. The game had two good fights, one in the first few minutes and the other in the last couple of minutes. This might be something fun to do next year when the new season begins!

I've been continuing to spend one of my days off each week visiting another hotel in the area to do my laundry - and going out once or twice a week to the bar at which I have pretty much become a regular. We've also be getting some long awaited rain around here with some tornado warnings north and south of the city - so far no threatening storms coming directly over the city.

Well, time for bed here ... I will check my calendar tomorrow and see what else I have been up -- some upcoming highlights include a Regional Town Hall meeting, a trip to Hickory, NC, audits at work, staffing changes and the car hitting a new milestone! Until next time, thanks for reading!

A Trip to South Carolina

Well, it's been a while since my last post - and I apologize. A lot going on down here in Charlotte - I've been very busy at work, had a really nice visit from a Jersey buddy, spent a night across the border in Spartanburg (my first time sleeping in South Carolina), worked more, fought off a bit of a bug, went to a farm league hockey game and facilitated my first training class in the new hotel. So, this won't be a long post, I'll just make a few new posts here to update you all.

The recent highlight has been a visit from my best buddy in Jersey who visited for two days in March. I missed his birthday because I have moved down here, so after he took the train in from Raleigh, I treated him to a Sunday night birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummm! Was waiting for a special occasion to make my first visit there and had a great time. On Monday morning it was breakfast at the Original Pancake House for a couple of 5 egg omelets with a side of pancakes, then off to South Carolina.

The first stop was the BMW Manufacturing plant located between Spartanburg and Greenville. There is a small museum on site that cronicles the history of BMW with cars and motorcycles from the 1920's on. We were unable to take a tour of the plant due to the fact that they are expanding the factory. Maybe that's a trip for another day when they are complete. Featured in the BMW Zentrum is the very first Z3 off the line which was hand built in Spartanburg as James Bond's first BMW. The 1,000,000th car to come off the assembly line is also on display.

After the museum it off to the hotel. We were treated to an upgrade at the hotel and given the Governor's Suite in the hotel. I later found out that this suite is the nicest in the hotel with 180 degree view of Spartanburg. The hotel is absolutely gorgeous and it was a nice suprise for my buddy to have such a nice room as part of his birthday celebration. We decided to stay in and have a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant. Dessert was a Southern take on a regular menu item, "Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding". Very sweet, as you'd expect, but very good as well. The picture to the right is of the lobby of the hotel, not the suite - although the suite seemed that big - LOL. We had a nice relaxing evening getting to catch up on what's been happening in Jersey while I've been gone. We were also able to discuss the job offer he recieved a couple of days before coming for the visit and I'm happy to say he accepted the job although that means a move to Texas. But that's a blog for another day.

I'll leave it here for tonight - I need to get some rest here and I thank you for taking the time to read my post. If there is anything else you'd like to know about my move - just let me know!