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!

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!