Things to get used to...

Well, I've been here nearly 4 months now and there are a few things that I'm still not used to.

1. A major one that I do like is that you are able to make left turns here North Carolina. As the folks in NJ know, it is hard to find many places to make left turns especially on 4 lane roads. I haven't seen a single "jughandle" here in NC!
2. The next is the fact that you can make U-turns around medians at traffic lights here. A MAJOR offense across the state of NJ - I still find myself passing an intersection and trying to go around the block - which brings me to the next thing -
3. this section of Charlotte (SouthPark) is not laid out in a grid pattern which means if you miss a turn, it may take 5 or 10 minutes to get back to where you wanted to go - unless you make a U-turn!
4. You don't need to keep change in the car down here - I haven't seen a toll both since I've been here. Which I am not complaining about.
5. I miss 24 hour convience stores -- no WaWa's down here and hard to find a 7-11.
6. I'm undecided on pumping my own gas ... although it can be annoying, you get in and out a lot quicker!
7. And speaking of gas - get a load of the picture -- 100 octane gas sold at the Texaco station I usually go to --- sorry, I forgot to check on the price...

Well, I think I'm off to bed for tonight and should have a new post in the next couple of days to talk about my trip to Winston-Salem. Thanks for reading and blog to you soon!

The Birthday

So, here I am - a day after the rantings of my 43rd birthday. I decided to not spend the day doing laundry, but do something with the day.
I headed uptown Charlotte and checked into the hotel and got a room on the 16th floor with a nice view of an office building, a condo building and landscapes behind. Shortly thereafter I went for a walk to the Levine Museum of the New South. The museum looks at the history of Charlotte and the Piedmont Region from it's founding to today. Charlotte grew because it was at the crossroads of the two main Indian trading routes of the time which are now known as Tryon and Trade Streets. North Carolina was good for two different crops - cotton and tobacco. The environment around Charlotte was much better for cotton, so that became the crop of the region. After the Civil War, the business people in the region wondered why they were sending all the raw cotton to the textile mills of New England and began building their own mills. The mills would included villages of three or five room homes for the mill workers and their families. A company store, room for a garden, livestock, churches and schools were all part of these mills. More and more farmers came off the farms to the mill towns to work the mills because it was less backbreaking work. Cannon Mills and Springmaid are two of the mills that are still in existance today that started in this area during this era. As a matter of fact, the city of Kannapolis, NC was founded by Cannon Mills. Because of importance of cotton as the cash crop, Charlotte was an imporant city in the region, so as the textile businesses began to fade, then banking took over as the main industry of the city starting in the 70's. Many mills still exist but are being used for many other purposes. Today Greater Charlotte is the home of eight Fortune 500 companies: Bank of America, Lowe's, Wachovia, Duke Energy, Nucor, Sonic Automotive, Family Dollar, Goodrich and SPX - this ranks Charlotte #6 on the list of cities called home by the most Fortune 500 companies, tied with Philadelphia and Minneapolis. Of course, being the home of two of the three largest banks in the US - also makes Charlotte second only to NYC in importance in the financial world. It's a long way from a speech made by FDR in Charlotte where he called the South the largest economic concern of the country! The visit to the museum was very interesting and I learned a lot about my new home.

After the museum it was time for dinner - in the mood for seafood, I ventured out toward the Convention Center to dine at a restaurant named Aquavina. It is located on the second floor of one of Wachovia's office buildings in Uptown Charlotte. It was just a short 6 or 7 block walk from the hotel - and even though it was over 90 out, it was a nice walk along Tryon Street. Some interesting options on the menu and the presentation was gorgeous. I started my meal with a Peach Passion Martini (Stoli Peach, Blue Curacao and pineapple juice) which was very refreshing on such a hot day. For an appetizer I chose the Asian Pear Salad - greens wrapped in procuitto served on top of sliced pears with dressing on the side. Dinner was Surf & Turf Three Ways - when I read the menu it listed three ways the Surf & Turf is prepared. I thought that you choose which way you wanted it prepared, but it is served all three ways - three plates on a platter - each a miniture version of a full meal. It was very good and even cooked well done as I like! With dinner came the second martini - a Pom Pom which is Pomegranate Liqueur, Stoli, Triple Sec and Lemon Garniture - I enjoyed the Peach Passion better, but think of all the anti-oxidents I got in the Pomegranate Liqueur! Since it was my birthday I felt that desert was in order and had a Carmelized Banana and Chocolate Turnover with banana ice cream. Again, very good! Overall, a very enjoyable meal!

Just outside the restaurant is a little park called The Green that looks like it should be on the edge of a harbor or lake, but with no water in Charlotte, I knew that wasn't the case. In this park they put on Shakespeare plays on a small stage with a grassy area to sit. The whole park has a literary theme with pages out of books and directional signs that use city names to make literary names EMILY, Minnesota & BRONTE, Ontario.

It was then back to the hotel to rest a little while and then out to the bar for a couple of Newcastle's to end the night.

Other big news - I have signed a lease for an apartment - but more information on that in the next posting.

Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon!

June 9

Well, it's June 9 - the year is nearly 1/2 over - I'm still living in the hotel (at least 5 days a week) and it's forecasted to hit 99 today. Oh yeah, it's also my birthday.

I swore off birthdays a few years ago after several very poor birthday experiences. When I turned 40 I decided to go away for my birthday - that year I traveled to Toronto. I took myself out shopping and splurged at my favorite store up there buying myself some very nice stuff that I still wear today (you only turn 40 once!). The following year I had planned to travel to San Francisco for a week, but those plans were changed when I was asked to produce an event in Philadelphia - the only days that worked to have the event were June 9 & 10 - so my 41st birthday was spent in Philadelphia. Last year I returned to Canada but this time visited Ottawa and was able to have some great quality time with a friend up there. The usual routine is to spend the day by myself, have a really nice dinner then go out and if friends are out great - if not then it just goes with the rest of the day. This year I had made plans to spend my birthday in Atlanta at the Ritz Carlton - but some problems that popped up here at work have made me change those plans and I will stay here in Charlotte, but at a different hotel so I can have a change of scenery. I still plan to go out for a nice dinner, a couple of martini's and then see where it goes from there.

I've never been a fan of others calling the shots for me - those that know me are probably laughing because I also hate to make decisions. I had about five bad birthdays leading up to my 40th and that is why I decided to start taking my birthday on the road. I just consider age a number anyway - it doesn't mean a person is mature if they have a high number attached, it's all a state of mind. For that reason, it's not a big deal to celebrate a birthday for me. Yes, it's nice to get cards and a phone call wishing me a happy birthday - that people remember, but I don't like parties - I don't like being the center of attention. I usually don't even mention to people that it is my birthday - not wanting people to feel obligated to do something special or feel bad if they didn't. My reasons for this? It goes way back - I remember one birthday back in Bogota when my sister-in-law stopped by and didn't even remember it was my birthday. I wasn't saying anything, didn't want to make a big deal about it - but she found out and felt very, very bad about it. I felt worse that she felt bad, than her not remembering my birthday.

The final several years of my last relationship (years 7-11 probably) were not fun birthdays. Gifts that had no meaning or were just embarassing - half hearted attempts at making a celebration. My favorite was the birthday when I was driving back to Bergen County from the shore (just after we bought the deli) and for about 2o or 30 miles along the GS Parkway a person was hanging out the window of the car in front of me throwing up and it was splattering all over my car. It was lovely - a hot June Sunday afternoon in traffic on the GS Parkway and no way to get from behind that car. So I spent that night washing my car at the self carwash - the spouse down the shore and me at home.

So this year's plans had to be dashed - alternate plans made. Had to work a double shift (7am - 11pm) on both Saturday and Sunday. Get done last night with work, come to my room and log on. Get a great birthday wish from my best buddy in Texas. We start to chat and then after a comment that was meant in a joking manner he abruptly says good night and logs off. Then at 11:59 I recieve a text message calling me out for the comment I made after he was trying to make my birthday special. I sent an apology - no reply.

And so my cursed birthdays continue . . .

A note for next year for anyone who is reading this blog -- no cards, no gifts, no dinners on June 9th. If you want to call and say, "Hi, was thinking about you today and happy birthday" - that's great - but otherwise, just let this day be like any other on the calendar. I'm tired of it causing people harm. It's 10:20 am and I need to get out of bed, shower, check-out of the hotel and head off to spend my birthday doing laundry - just like any other day off.

Thank you for reading -

Memorial Day Weekend

The holiday weekend has come to an end. A big weekend here in Charlotte - it's the culmination of Race Week. It started last weekend with the Sprint All-Star race at the Lowe's Motor Speedway just north of Charlotte in Concord, NC. The track features a main oval of 1.5 miles and various smaller courses, dirt courses and a kart course on the infield. Built in 1959, the "Beast of the South East" can seat 167,000 with room for 50,000 more in the infield. Known as the Charlotte Motor Speedway, in 1999 Lowe's bought the name rights making it the first track in the country to have a corporate name.

During the end of the week they turn the Uptown area into "Speed Streets" which is a big street festival geared toward the NASCAR fans who come into the city. I worked the afternoon shift the whole weekend, so there wasn't a chance to head Uptown for the festivities, but from what I've been told, it's very crowded and I'm not really a crowd person. Concerts, food and vendors giving away free stuff. People walk away with shopping bags full of snacks, beverages food samples and just about anything else that's legal to give away. We had a few of the vendors staying in the hotel, so in the evening we got some care packages at the front desk ... most notably from Vitamin Water!

Sunday brings the Coca-Cola 600 race to LMS. This race is the longest race of the season at over 4 hours and the longest race of any kind on an oval track. The race which started in 1960 as the World 600 goes 400 laps around the track. NASCAR started this race to compete with the Indy 500 which also takes place on Memorial Day weekend - and in the past drivers have driven in both races, by flying from Indianapolis after the end of the Indy and racing at Charlotte - that's 1,100 miles of racing in one day! That's a lot of driving. With the timing of the races today and daylight savings time, there isn't enough of a gap between the races for anyone to accomplish this today. The race was won by Kasey Kahne - his first win of the season - although he also won the Sprint All-Star race last week!

Great news for the hotel as our Satisfaction Scores continue to go up - for our company, we are the highest scoring full-service hotel in North Carolina, #7 in our region and #31 in all of North America! Putting us in the Top 10 in all those rankings. We are also ranking in those zones for our service scores and the scores for our rooms and hallways!

I have a four day weekend coming up and my first thought was to venture toward the mountains and stay in Asheville, NC - the main purpose to visit the Biltmore Estate, the largest home in the United States. I booked my hotel room and when I was doing a little research, found out that a ticket to visit the grounds of the Biltmore costs over $50.00 - so I've decided to change those plans until after I sell my house and have a few bucks in the bank. My plan is to now visit Atlanta on Friday and Saturday adding another state capital to my list and pay a first visit to that city.

Getting late here - so I'll be logging off now and will be updating again soon - thanks for reading!

Another long wait...

OK, OK, OK -- I have to get better at putting some posts on here. It's been almost a month and I was about a month behind last time I posted, so this may be a long one. Still living in the hotel, but some good news is that I have had two offers on my house and one is under contract, the buyers have been approved by the co-op board and the first inspection has been done. From what I've heard so far, there are just some minor fixes to the heating system in the house. So, please keep your fingers crossed that by the end of June I will be moving into my own apartment!!

So, since I'm still living in the hotel, I'm sitting in another local hotel having a Newcastle (or two) while doing my laundry. A big, big storm is rolling through Charlotte - hopefully bringing some needed rain and not just passing over quickly. I'm not too concerned, since I just put my laundry in the dryer, so I have about 90 minutes before I have to venture outside. It's currently 7:00 pm and there is a tornado warning for the northern part of Charlotte until 7:15 pm - no windows in the bar and it's interior of the hotel, so this should be safe.

Anyway -- to fill you all in on what has been happening around here - my best buddy in NJ is now my best buddy in Texas! He's made the move to the Fort Worth area and ventured about 100 miles out of his way while driving down there to pay a visit to Hickory, NC, I ventured up that way so we could have a nice dinner (Carrabba's) and hang out a bit. It's hard to tell at this point when we will see each other again, but we are text messaging or chatting on line almost every day. I'm making plans to make my first visit to Texas (without just changing planes) for the Labor Day holiday this year. Hickory is a small town about an hour north of Charlotte, you drive out to Gastonia, make a right and head on up. It was funny while I was driving, I kept thinking about what a long drive it was, until I realized that my daily commute 4 months ago was about as long!! Funny how soon we forget those things! We had a good visit and he left in the morning for Arkansas and I did laundry. It was a nice visit.

The company had a Regional Town Hall meeting for the hotels in the Carolinas. I was chosen to be part of a small select group to sit with the EVP of the region and we were able to ask questions about the company, region, economy and stuff. Then we had our main meeting to learn what new and exciting things are happening along the eastern seaboard and company wide. A very nice reception followed and during this period the hotel was audited to see if we were in compliance to a new check-in policy we rolled out ... of course we were compliant and recieved a perfect score.

The first weekend of May I paid a surprise visit back home to NJ. After work on Wednesday evening I got on the road and drove up to Woodbridge, VA and stayed overnight. Then on Thursday had breakfast at the hotel and then drove up to Princeton. I decided to avoid the $9.00 it costs to drive 95 through Maryland and Delaware (I'm also sick of that drive) so I got onto US 1 just north of Baltimore and took that through rural Maryland and Pennsylvania - the big highlight was passing over a really neat dam that I was not able to find on a map as well as passing the headquarters of Wawa! (I really do miss Wawa down here - I haven't found anything that matches up).

I then stopped into my old hotel bringing a case of Cheerwine with me for the staff to enjoy. Cheerwine is a cherry flavored soda produced here in North Carolina. It has caffiene so I can't tell you how it tastes, but from what I've been told, it is VERY sweet. The website is very interesting and the company obviously has a great sense of humor. They only make this one flavor of soda as well as diet version and they have been around for over 90 years. The company started out making a mint flavored soda ... hmmm, I guess that was a great success!! LOL

The next day I went back to my old house and ... you guessed it ... did laundry. Chatted with the neighbors a bit about the new city and moving and such. Everything looked the same as when I left, but I was able to pick up some extra supplies so that I wouldn't have to be doing laundry quite as much as I was before. Then on Friday night I suprised all my buddies in Asbury Park by showing up for a bar night. No one knew I was in town, so it was fun to hang out without any expections - not much has changed there either, except a few new faces. On Saturday it was a trip to visit my Mom, Sister and Brother-in-Law up in Passaic County, NJ. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Passaic County, it runs the gambut from inner city living like the Cities of Passaic and Paterson to the rural lake living of Ringwood, Wanaque and West Milford. The lake areas are beautiful and there is where my sister and Mom are living now. My sister lives in a cabin like house that overlooks a lake from a high perch - very relaxing to sit on the deck and hear the sounds of nature and dogs barking. Besides getting to visit with family - I also had the first home cooked meal in months!! It was very good and appreciated. Then on Sunday it was back on the road for Charlotte stopping in Richmond at a hotel that has only been open since March. I was able to stay in the capital of Virginia for the first time! That makes 10 state capitals that I have stayed in during my lifetime ... of course the goal is to continue that list - at least with Raleigh, Columbia and Atlanta by the end of the year.

Things at the hotel are going well - our guest satisfaction scores are staying high and the hotel is ranked in the top 10 of the region and the has the highest overall satisfaction score of any full service hotel in our company in North Carolina!! We have a few areas that need improvement and we are working on them and are seeing some gains.

Well, laundry is done and it's time to head back to my hotel - so as usual thanks for reading and hope to hear from you all soon!