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!

Uptown!

Well, I've been in Charlotte for three weeks now and decided it was time to venture into the Uptown section of the city. In most cities it would be called downtown, but I guess since the business area of the city with skyscrapers and such are in the northern part of the city, it is called Uptown. So this afternoon I drove over to the light rail station at Woodlawn. Bought my ticket and timing was on my side because a train pulled in as I got my ticket. The light rail is called Lynx and opened in November - so it's new, clean and wasn't crowded. It was a pleasant ride. You buy your ticket at a ticket machine and get on the train. The have police and ticket checkers on some trains and not all. They ask to see your ticket, if you don't have one with the proper date and time on it, then you are issued a $50.00 summons. On the ride Uptown they checked my ticket - on the ride back they didn't. So, I guess it is sort of the honor system - or like Russian Roulette with $50.00 summons instead of bullets - LOL.

I took the Lynx up to the Bobcat's Arena (soon to be the Time Warner Cable Arena) and walked around the main square area of Charlotte. Walked around the Bank of America Center which at 60 stories is the tallest building between Washington and Atlanta. (I forgot my camera today, so I don't have pictures). Strolling around the area it was easy to notice that the streets and sidewalks were clean. There is alot of construction going on of hotels and high-rise condo buildings all around the area. The Square is the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets - all along Trade Street there were tulips around the trees. The tulips were potted but added a nice touch to the look of the street. While walking around (up and down a few hills) my right leg began to cramp up - so I headed back toward the Lynx after a couple of hours of walking around.

Had a nice ride back down to the car and from there went to check my mailbox in the Foxcroft Shopping Center. Deciding I needed some dinner I went to Brixx in the same shopping center. Ordered a pasta dish and then had a choice of 24 beers on tap! I like to try local brews when I can, so I had a pint of Highland Gaelic Ale (it is St. Patrick's Day after all). The ale turned out to be nice - had a sweet second taste to it. The Highland Brewery is in Asheville, North Carolina at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I plan to visit Asheville at some point during my stay in North Carolina - it is about a two hour drive from Charlotte. Deciding to treat myself for dessert I walked across the parking lot to Ben & Jerry's for a large cup of ice cream.

Then it was back to the hotel - leg still somewhat cramped up for a night of watching television in High Def! Good news for the day is that my best buddy from Jersey will be coming down for a visit next week. He'll be arriving on Sunday evening by train from Raleigh and flying back to Newark on Tuesday evening. Yesterday was his birthday and I wasn't able to celebrate with him, so next week we get to! Can't wait!!

Well, working at 7:00 in the morning, so it's time to sign off and get some sleep -- thanks for reading!

Dam, nice - Weather, bad

Had Friday and Saturday off this week. Slept in on Friday - then it was out to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and the bar for a pint or two. Decided on Saturday to explore a little and headed north toward Cowan's Ford to see the dam that was built between 1959 and 1964 across the Catawba River to create Lake Norman, the largest man made lake in North Carolina. The dam is about a 15 mile drive north of Charlotte and is also a hydroelectric plant for Duke Energy providing "peak" power for the Charlotte area. Next to the dam is the McGuire Nuclear Power Plant generating 20% of the power that Duke Energy produces.

Cowan's Ford is also the site of a revolutionary battle between the armies of Lord Cornwallis and General William Lee Davidson who was killed during the battle. There is a monument to the battle which I was not able to make it to today.

My trip to the dam and historic site was cut short as thunder started rolling in and about five minutes after getting into my car and continuing along the highway the storms rolled in. These were the same storms that spurred the tornadoes in Atlanta yesterday. After turning around and heading back toward Charlotte the rain became heavier and bolts of lightening could be seen in the distance. Upon returning to the hotel, the local television stations were on alert due to tornado warnings in northern South Carolina, right over the border from Charlotte. At one point the NBC affiliate down here was reporting the touchdown of tornado about midway between Columbia, South Carolina and Charlotte. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Charlotte for this area, but lifted around 6:00 pm. As I am writing this around 9:00 pm, the Weather Channel still has a tornado warning south and east of Charlotte until 1:00 am Sunday morning and several tornadoes were confirmed across South Carolina. The rain and thunder has subsided in this area - and all totalled at least 1.5 inches of rain fell today. Although every drop helps, it's still not enough to help with the drought in the area.

Tomorrow it is back to work - over 100 check-outs tomorrow as the ACC Basketball Tournament comes to a close. The team the hotel was housing lost in the first round and the the team whose fans were staying in the hotel lost in the second round - so not a good year for our hotel's guests in the tournament. The ACC will not be back in Charlotte for at least another eight or ten years because the Bobcat's Arena is too small for the tournament. Next up in a couple of weeks, Charlotte is hosting the Sweet 16 for the NCAA championships. So March has been a busy time here for college basketball.

That is all for today -- thank you for reading!

The Second Week

Well, I know it's been like a week since I last posted, but I have been busy. Work, socializing, exploring and normal everyday stuff. I worked a couple of AM shifts had a day off then a few PM shifts and a day off.

The weekend was busy at the hotel with the CIAA basketball tournament in town. Hotel was sold out and a lot of activity. We were mostly sold out all week, so it was busy as well. At least this past weekend was a little bit of a rest. So that was the business.

On the personal side, I worked the AM shift over the weekend and had Monday off. Relaxed most of the day and went to another hotel in the area to do my laundry. While the laundry was in the dryer I went back to my hotel to help roll out a new check-in process. Then back to pick up my laundry. I went out a few more times this week - getting to meet a few more people. Worked the PM shift Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Friday off. Relaxed all day on Friday ... it was my first real day off without packing, driving or working in just about 2 weeks - so I slept until almost noon and just hung out until it was time for dinner.

So, a few firsts this week since I've been down here. I needed new dress socks, so it was off to Dillards at the mall. Even though Dillard's is one of the major chains in the US, I've never actually been to one. Staff was nice enough - and I found dress socks 50% off! I think that was Friday night -- then I finally broke down and headed to Burger King for dinner. That was a long stretch - hadn't been to Burger King since I left NJ. Today I ventured out to the nearest supermarket, Harris Teeter. For those back in Jersey and upstate NY - Harris Teeter is like Wegmans. But they have beer and wine too! Was really excited to find Entenmann's at Harris Teeter!! Was even able to find my favorite product.

Had a craving for ice cream and since I was already in the market went to the freezer section and found a local ice cream from High Point, NC. Denali flavors Moose Tracks ice cream. Of course I ate an entire pint of Malted Moose Tracks. Spend Sunday night in ... which brings me to start of my 3rd week in Charlotte.

On the home front in NJ -- still no offers on the co-op and we dropped the price again this week to $149,900. The realtor said that the feedback he is getting doesn't really help ... people don't anything negative to say about it, but also don't have anything positive to say either. UGH!!

Well, it's going to be a busy week this week -- and although this post was probably a bit boring, when something exciting happens, I'll let you know ... until then, Thanks for Reading!