First Time in Texas

In my last post I listed a bunch of stuff that I've done in the year since I've moved to North Carolina. I also mentioned that there were plenty of other things out there that I probably forgot, but would mention when they came to mind. Here is one!

In October my buddy Jim made it possible for me to to visit him and make my first trip to the big state of Texas. I must admit that I was in Texas one other time, but that was only for the plane to land, let some passenger off and let others on while I was heading to Portland, Oregon. This time I was able to get off the plane and breath Texan air. I was able to swing a weekend off and it just so happened to be the weekend of Jim's company picnic that was being held at the Alliance Airfield in Fort Worth on October 11 the same weekend as the Fort Worth Alliance Airshow, one of the premier airshows in the country. So another first for me would be to attend an airshow - not really knowing what to expect. But more about that in a little bit. I flew down to Texas after work on Friday night and arrived just after dark with Jim waiting in the airport to meet me. It was a great long weekend getting to visit with my best friend, meet his new Texas friends, see some sights, drink some beer and visit some more with my best friend.

On Saturday his friend Shayne joined us as we headed to the Fort Worth Alliance Airport. My buddy's company abuts the airport and they were a corporate sponsor of the show in 2008. So the day was also the company picnic being held at the airport with front line viewing of all the festivities. A tent is set up for the employees and their guests with catered picnic food - some of my favorites; hot dogs, chili, burgers, grilled chicken, salad and chips on one side -- on the other side; soda, bottled water, Coors and Coors Light. It was a nice set-up and all you could eat and drink, although the beer was limited.

As I have said, this was my first time at an airshow, I knew there would be planes flying around, but didn't know there were other planes around the area that you could get up close and personal with. Military jets, commercial planes, helicopters and personal aircraft all displayed out in the open with people to explain what you were looking at. A bright clear sunny sky made for a great day. The highlight of the day was a performance by the Air Force Thunderbirds - the precision stunt team of the USAF. All I can say is AMAZING. It's hard to describe everything that they did, but it is hard to believe that these planes could be flying just feet from each other, turning together and passing each other from opposite directions and again coming within feet of the other planes all while rock music is blasting from the loudspeakers all around the airfield. It was interesting to see how the roar of the jets' engines can be used as part of their defences. At one point in the show every one's attention is directed to one side of the airfield as two jets perform and go off in the distance - within seconds another jet has "sneaked up" from behind, already on top of us before we even hear it. Truly AMAZING (as I mentioned before).

The part of the show that I found the most moving is when they paired up fighter aircraft of both World Wars with current fighter aircraft. Prop fighters that were the state of the art of their era flying side by side with the supersonic jet fighters of today. It really drove home how far science and technology has advanced in the past 100 years or so. Of course if I had written this back in October I could tell you more about the planes and what they did and I'm sorry I didn't do it right away.

Sunday was a trip to the NorthPark Center Mall in Dallas. Opened in the early 60's it is an open and airy indoor mall that has the distinction of housing a lot of artwork.
From the mall it was off to a bar to meet some more friends and just hang out on a Sunday afternoon and evening. Being a Giant fan, it was fun to be in a bar in Dallas watching the Cowboys loose a game in overtime. It's amazing how those Texas fans were cheering like they won the Super Bowl just because the game went into overtime ... but it got real quiet, real quick when they lost the game shortly into the overtime period.

It was a great trip and one that was definitely needed. My buddy's new house in a Dallas suburb near the DFW Airport is beautiful. Great curb appeal with lots of little unique accents inside and out - with a gorgeous pool and whirlpool in the backyard with a fire pit and a huge built in grill. The master bedroom is on the ground floor with access out to the patio and backyard, making it easy to live on the first floor of the house only needing to venture to the second floor when entertaining visitors. A nice large eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, entrance parlor, large living room and laundry room round out the first floor with a nice flow around the house. It seemed very comfortable for the time I was there.

I returned to Charlotte relaxed and in a great mood to see that he was getting acclimated to his surroundings. I enjoyed my first visit to Dallas and Texas in general and I can't wait to pay another visit, see more of the state perhaps. Words really cannot express my thanks for the opportunity to make this visit and truly can't wait to visit with my best buddy again soon!!

Thanks for reading and see you soon!

One Year Already!

One year ago today I arrived in Charlotte for only the second time in my life. The difference this time was that my car was full of everything I felt I needed to survive until I made the official move, hopefully in a month or two. I made the drive of about 600 miles in two legs, stopping overnight in Richmond, VA - getting on the road just before noon and rolling up to the hotel around 5:00 pm. I started this blog to document my experiences at relocating but was not very good at keeping up with it during the year and left A LOT of stuff out, so today I will post a list of the things that I can remember that I've done since being down here in the order they come to mind, not the order they happened:

1. Saw Avenue Q at the Belk Theatre
2. Found out my license was suspended in NJ
3. Passed the NC drivers test with flying colors
4. Visited the following places: Spartanburg, Greenville, Columbia & Charleston in SC; Winston-Salem, Thomasville, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, Asheville & Hickory in NC.
5. Made three trips back to NJ - 2 driving, 1 flying
6. Watched my Jeep die
7. Bought a new used Hyundai
8. Adjusted to new driving habits you don't find in NJ
9. Made Harris Teeter my favorite supermarket
10. Crossed the Eastern Continental Divide
11. Took a boat ride on Lake Norman (work outing)
12. Went to a Charlotte Checkers hockey game (work outing)
13. Met many of the Carolina Panthers football team
14. Became a fan of the Panthers (even though the Giants are still my favorite team)
15. Only had one friend visit me (thanks Jim!)
16. Found an apartment
17. Lived in one hotel for 100 nights
18. Lived out of my suitcase moving from hotel to hotel waiting for my apartment and stuff from NJ
19. Visited the Levine Museum of the New South
20. Became a regular at one of the Charlotte bars (first visited 3 days after arriving)
21. Joined Facebook
22. Visited Dallas for a long weekend with a friend's help (thanks Jim!)
23. Wondered many times if I made the right decision about moving and other things
24. Watched 4 contracts get drawn on the sale of my place in NJ and see 4 of them get broken
25. Ended the year with 45 vacation days left over from past years
26. Attended Charlotte's gay pride celebration
27. Went to the One Voice Chorus' holiday concert
28. Found out that in NC you get your license at one place, your registration and plates at another and get your car inspected at yet another place
29. Discovered that you pay "property tax" on your car each year
30. Ate at Bojangles and Jack in the Box for the first time
31. Opened a bank account at a local bank that is actually a Canadian bank and feel they have too many fees
32. Made it home for Christmas
33. Worked a double shift on Thanksgiving (7:00 am to 11:00 pm)
34. Realized that it takes a while to learn the streets in Charlotte because they keep changing names
35. Found that hotel guests are the same no matter where you work
36. Spent an afternoon in Augusta, GA

That's what has come to mind right now. I'm sure I've missed some stuff and in coming posts will add if needed.

Thanks for reading!

Oh No!!

A couple of days ago, I got into my car to leave work and looking down at the dashboard saw a sight that was familiar on my old car ... the check engine light was on! My first thought was to utter an obsenity, so I did. Each day there after, on my way to work I vowed that I'd call and make an appointment to take it in to have it looked at. I only have one day off this week and that is Monday -- and of course each day would go by and I'd look at a clock and it was after 5:00 pm. Too late to call to make an appointment ... grrrrrr. So Saturday rolls around and I went on-line to look up the number for the dealer and found out that you can book service appointments on-line. How cool! So, I set up my profile and went in to make my appointment. Unfortunately there were no spaces available on Monday, but I was able to book on Tuesday morning since I work the PM shift on both Tuesday and Wednesday. The dealership has a nice waiting area with wifi available, so I hope to have a pleasant time waiting for the car to be ready! I think I need to be nicer to this car than the last one ... I admit that I abused the Jeep, but it did last 7 years and 210,000 miles - imagine how long my cars will survive if I take care of them! I'll let you know.

Good night for now!

Firebirds

Tonight I was able to take advantage of a perk of my job and that was an invitation by one of the local restaurants to enjoy a meal on the house. Firebirds, in South Park opened in August of 2008 and is the 15th restaurant for this chain that began in Charlotte eight years ago. Although founded in Charlotte the restaurant has a lodge feel with lots of stone and wood as well as fireplaces and a show kitchen. They use three types of wood to fire their grill and obviously feature mostly grilled meats.

Staff members from the hotels in the area were invited and treated to an assortment of appetizers that included their signature app, Lobster Spinach Queso Dip as well as sliders, buffalo shrimp and onion rings. The Lobster Queso Dip with tri-color nacho chips were the stand out closely followed by the buffalo shrimp. Next came our salad course where they served us a sample of their BLT Salad with ranch dressing and a mixed green salad with chile pecans. Both were fantastic!

For our entree, we had the choice of a Chile rubbed Delmonico, cilantro grilled chicken and wood fired salmon. I was the only person to choose the salmon, the rest chose the steak from what I heard was very good. I really enjoyed the salmon, which was cooked perfectly for me, each of the entrees was served with Parmesan mashed potatoes. But just like the Ginsu knives, there was more - an assortment of desserts featuring Big Daddy Chocolate Cake, key lime pie and Creme Brulee Cheesecake. For anyone who knows me, dessert was the best part of the meal and my favorite was the Creme Brulee Cheesecake which was simply a light cheesecake covered with sugar and the sugar caramelized on top. It was so good, that I brought 1/2 of it home with me. YUMMMMMM.

Usually when you attend these events they put out small samples of the items on the menu, but we were all served a full meal. Shared appetizers, family style salad, full entree and shared desserts (the dessert forks have handles that must be about 18 inches in length making it easy to share the dessert - nice touch!) They certainly gave us a great show and left an impression with all of us in attendance. In all there were 4 hotels represented by 7 people. We were also treated to tasting of their private label wines from the California vineyards of one of the restaurant's investors.

This is most definitely a restaurant that will be on my list to take visitors to Charlotte. The food they served was great, the atmosphere casual and comfortable and the prices were mid-range.

Thanks Firebirds!!

Letting things go...

It's been a hectic time at work recently and I'm trying to not get too stressed out, but it's hard. But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am very sentimental. I hold onto things forever! I have a box of stuff from high school that moves from place to place with me full of letters, cards and other keepsakes. Today I took a step at becoming less sentimental about a part of my life. I knew that I had some metal collar stays someplace and I was looking for them because the plastic ones in my dress shirts have been cracking recently. While looking for them, I came across my high school class ring. I graduated high school 26 years ago, and I don't think I've worn the ring in about 20 years so I tried to figure out why I still have it? I've been seeing a lot of commercials lately about selling old jewelry and decided that I might as well see if I can get some cash for it.

Since I made the decision to sell my class ring, I decided to look at a couple of other things I've been sentimental about and cut those ties as well. I've been single since August of 2004 and my wedding band has been sitting on my dresser since then -- time to see if it can help me pay a bill or two, so I put it in my pocket along with my class ring. Then I found an initial ring that I received from my ex on our first Christmas together, with an engraving inside to commemorate that event - that went into the pocket as well.

Off to a jewelry store in the Arboretum area of Charlotte hoping to get at least $50.00 which will help with my utility bills. The class ring and wedding band were 10k and the initial ring 14k and I was very happy to receive a check for $210.00 for the three rings!!

I can't lie, I was feeling very sentimental about selling these rings - but at the same time, I was closing the book a little bit more on some difficult memories of my life that were attached to the wedding band. A little knot in my stomach as I did it -- but you have to admit -- it was time!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!! It's 69 degrees right now and a beautiful day in Charlotte - so I'm off to enjoy the great day!

One Month Fast Food Free!

Well, last week I mentioned that there was something I hadn't done in about 30 days that it's been years that I hadn't gone that long. Well my buddy in Texas (BHS) was able to figure it out with a few hints because the last time I did it was with him on the way to DC from NJ. If you haven't figured out yet, I haven't been to or ordered from a fast food place in over a month, which means this whole year! So far 2009 has been junk food free!! I didn't plan to make it happen, but since I had gone a few weeks already, I decided to try and see how long I can make it happen. Burger King was my favorite since there was a 24 hour drive thru on the way home from work. Well, BK was my favorite back home too (I practically lived at the BK on the edge of campus in college!). But it's weird - they just taste different down here. My usual meal was a Original Chicken Sandwich meal, king sized with two cheeseburgers, one as an appetizer and one as dessert. (sometimes I'll substitute a Whopper for the chicken sandwich) LOL I think they put more mustard on the cheeseburgers down here and that might be why they just don't taste the same. So we will see how long I can go without a trip to Burger King, Wendy's, Bojangles, McDonald's, Jack in the Box or Chick-fil-a. I'm sure I've had a few more ... but those are the closest to my home here in Charlotte ... wish me luck!!