The end of 2008

Well, I haven't posted anything here since July and when I went back to NJ for Christmas I was reminded of that fact. A lot has happened here since my last post. I moved into my apartment, still haven't sold my place in NJ, car died, bought new car, visited 2 state capitals (Raleigh & Columbia), met some new people and pissed off some friends.

All in all, 2008 was another bad year for me. Each time I felt that I was making a step forward in financial and personal issues - something would happen to cause me to take two steps back - or maybe to be somewhat optimistic, I should say for every 3 steps forward I made 2 steps back.

I've sat down a few times and started blog posts, but never got around to posting them. My New Year's resolution is to be more focused on these posts. If anything, they will help me say stuff out loud that I need to -- and it really is good for my family and friends to know that I am still alive and just haven't fallen off the face of the earth (although at times I have felt like that would be a good thing).

I'm sitting here at 11:35am on December 31, 2008 - getting ready to go to bed because I have to work today from 5:00 pm to 5:00 am due to turnover in my overnight staff. It is a perfect way to end 2008 -- working ... but I hope that going forward, 2009 will be a much better year.

Just as when any New Years holiday rolls around, we all will reflect of what we have done this past year -- are we better off than last 12/31? are we happier than the last 12/31? have we made any sort of impact on the world or others since the last 12/31? We would all love to say a resounding YES!! to all of those questions, but can we? I'm not sure I can say yes to any of them. So the next response would be ... there's always next year. . .

My plan for this year is to focus on my financial situation ... starting tomorrow all extra curricular spending will be restricted. Except for necessities, all income will go toward working on paying off my outstanding debt. When I can only have my rent and car payments left, then I can look at traveling again, going out on weekends and updating my furniture. This time next year I want to be able to say YES I am better off than I was last year, YES I am happier than I was last year and YES I have made an impact on others this year.

To anyone who reads this blog - I hope that you enjoyed the posts from the beginning of the year. I hope that you will continue to read as we go forward - I will try to bring everything current in the next month -- so it may be weird as you read about stuff that happened 6 months ago and then read about something happening this past week - but please bear with me on that.

Thank you for reading this blog and for putting up with my ramblings today. I close with the following statement:

As 2009 rolls in tonight - I will be looking forward and smiling at what is to come instead of looking back and crying over what has been. Happy New Year to all and to all a good night (afternoon).

Officially a Charlottean

Yesterday was a very big day in my move to Charlotte - I finally slept in my own apartment in my own bed! Since arriving in Charlotte on February 24th, I have been living in hotels - the reason for this is that I was unable to rent anything here until I was able to sell me co-op back in NJ. Well, the closing should be happening within the week, so I went apartment hunting in late May and chose an apartment in early June. After signing the lease, it was a waiting period until I was able to get my keys on July 3rd.

During that time I had to set up the utilities and planning the move from Jersey. More about the apartment later - but here's all you need to know about the move. On Saturday, June 29th I worked the morning shift then made the run to the airport to catch my flight at 5:55 pm to go back to NJ to meet the packers and movers. The relocation package included packing, moving and unpacking as well as the trip home to meet the movers and make the final move. I checked into my flight on-line the day before and noticed that the flight was only 1/2 full, so I was a little concerned that the flight would be cancelled in the current status of the airlines - but figured I'd deal with that as it happens. I got to the airport about 90 minutes before my flight time, I wasn't checking any bags, so I headed to the gate with my boarding pass and drivers license. Passed through security - only issue there was that someone else took my laptop off the belt, but we cleared that up quickly. As I was walking down to my gate, I checked the departure monitor to verify the same gate, and noticed that the flight was indeed cancelled! I made my way to the gate and there was another flight to Newark that was posted as "boarding". The woman at the gate first told me that the current flight had already left and they would put me on another airline. She then turned around and noticed that the plane was still there, she called to see if the door was closed because there was one empty seat on the plane - after some back and forth with the plane, she led me down the jetway and they reopened the door to the plane. The flight attendant informed us that he had 50 passengers on the plane and no empty seats - but the manifest only showed 49. I am assuming that the empty seat was filled with an airline employee, because a gentleman came forward and moved into the cockpit to sit on the jumper seat. So I got on an earlier flight, or so I thought! The door was closed again, we pulled away from the gate and started taxiing toward the runway, only to pull over because the air traffic in the New York area was full and we would have to wait. We ended up leaving at the same time my original flight would have left! I arrived in Newark, took the monorail to the car rental and got my Hyandai for the weekend. Then off to Tinton Falls to check into a hotel.

Saturday night I went out to Asbury Park hoping to see some of my friends on my last visit to NJ until at least October. Luckily I ran into a couple of friends, so it was a nice evening out, although I was a little off my game, since I didn't close the bar. (LOL)

On Sunday, I went over to my old co-op and made sure that I had it ready to be packed up on Monday. Did some work and made sure everything was ready. On Monday morning two gentlemen arrived to pack all my stuff up. It took several hours, but when they left, they had packed about 43 cartons - cleaning out all cabinets, closets and shelves as well all the pictures off the walls. As the pictures show, everything was packed up and ready for the movers to arrive on July 1st to pack everything into the truck. Four guys got there between 10 and 11 and after a quick tour of the co-op and letting them know what was going and what was staying, they started loading the truck. It took about 5 or 6 hours for them to get it all loaded - with another load in front of mine that was heading to Wilmington, NC after they make my delivery. Two of the guys that loaded the truck would be making the drive down to Charlotte and at that time they were unable to let me know when they would be arriving except to say that it would be the following week, due to the holiday on Friday (July 4th). With the truck loaded and having checked out of the hotel that morning, I headed up to Passaic County to visit my Mom and Sister before the "final move" to Charlotte. We had dinner and a nice visit and before it got too late, I headed down into Bergen County for the night. On Wednesday morning I was able to visit with a friend who used to work for me at a previous hotel and now she is the AGM of a new hotel. We hadn't seen each other in at least 4 years and it was really nice to catch up with each other. Then it was off to the airport to catch my flight back home! I joked all week that during this trip I was going "home" twice, once back to NJ and then back to Charlotte since that is now my new home.

More on the delivery and unpacking on the next post -- but the BIG NEWS is that for the first time in over four months, I was able to say, "I'm going home.", when I left work last night and woke up in my own bed this morning!!

Thanks for reading and hope all is well on your end!

Birthday Dinner

I'm a little bit behind in posting to the blog, and I appologize for that. But after heading up to Winston-Salem, the next big thing I was looking forward to was a visit from my best buddy (now) from Texas. He had to make a visit to Charlotte for business and we were able to get together for a couple of nights. Although there was some problems during my birthday, we were able to work those out and it was the highlight of a very busy week.

Saturday saw the Chairman and CEO of the company pay a visit to the hotel. The visit went really well and he actually didn't have any negative comments or recommendations to make about the hotel. On Sunday, I facilitated a training class, that should have had about 15 attendees, and only 2 showed up - but we still held the class and it was good because it was very hands on for the attendees. On Monday the Health Inspector showed up to inspect the hotel's food and beverage outlets - they passed with a score of 98 (in NC they post the actual score in the establishment) which is very good. Then later on Monday, the corporate auditor checked into the hotel - she was expected but it still is a very stressful time in the hotel. The audit takes place on the night of check-in and then during the following day. You get the score before the auditor leaves the building - and we improved over last year's score by 4 points! Small steps lead to greater things!

Right from getting the score I ran to the airort to pick up my buddy! His flight was running early so I headed out and sent a text message to call me when they touched down. The Charlotte Douglas Airport has a "Cell Lot" which is a lot you can park in while waiting for a plane to land to pick someone up. In the past at Newark, I've had to circle the airport over and over waiting for friends to get off the plane and pick up luggage. After a short wait he was ready and we headed back toward the SouthPark area. He was in town for two nights, and we planned to do a nice dinner for my birthday on the second night. So we checked him into the hotel and headed over to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner (even though i didn't have pizza). During dinner we looked over my reservations for next year's birthday trip - places ranging from Anchorage, Palm Desert and Orlando to Prague, Munich and Edinburgh - oh yeah, was also able to find some associate rates in Australia! My buddy seemed most interested in seeing what Anchorage would be like in June. So maybe I'll be returning to Alaska! It was great to spend some time with my buddy - after dinner it was back to the hotel to hang out for a while.

The following evening a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers were delivered to the room, which made for a nice warm up for dinner. Sitting on the balcony enjoying a little wine and a lot of cheese and crackers! Then after a little nap it was off to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. This was my first time going to a "real" steakhouse - and I enjoyed it! I'm not a big steak person because I'm very picky when it comes to meat. I have a problem with fat and grizzle and my Mom used to hate serving steak to me as a kid because I used to surgically disect the piece of meat cutting all the fat and grizzle off the steak before I'd eat it. But the difference here is that the steak is prime and I ordered filet mignon. But I get ahead here. The meal began with a bottle of Newcastle with Cesaer Salad - both were very good. Then another bottle of Newcastle and the Petite Filet with Shrimp, with sides of mashed potatoes and their famous creamed spinach - YUMMMMMMM! The only thing better than the meal was the company across the table! The steak was cooked just the way I liked it and just outright delicious. For desert it was a glass of port and Creme Brulee - which really is my favorite desert. Overall - this was a great birthday meal and it made up for some of the trials of the week of my actual birthday week.

Unfortunately the next day we had to say goodbye and not sure when we will see each other next. I'm hoping to make a trip down to Dallas/Fort Worth for the Labor Day weekend - I've booked a hotel and have the weekend off. Hopefully the trip will happen because with all the changes happening in both of our lives, we are sort of holding each other up - even with such a distance between us. It is always a very special time when we get together and I don't want either of us to miss out on it as often as we can.

Well, big news coming in the next post (hopefully tomorrow) and as always - thanks for reading and have a good night!

Winston-Salem

Work has been busy lately - with one supervisor out on a medical leave of absence and my other supervisor going on vacation. A supervisor from a hotel in South Carolina came to fill in the gap for nine days. Thursday the 19th was my only day off that week, so after work on Wednesday I decided to escape the hotel for at least a day to enjoy the day off. I was able to find the associate rate available in Winston-Salem and made the 90 minute drive north to historic W-S.

I didn't get into town until around 11:00 pm, so there wasn't much exploring to be done that night, but the next morning I decided to visit Bethabara Park just a couple of miles from the downtown area. The park is the site of the first Moravian settlement in North Carolina in 1753. The Moravians were a German speaking Protestant sect that predates the Lutherans. Bethabara ("House of Passage") was a center for religion, governance, trade, industry, culture, education, and the arts. The Moravians constructed over 75 buildings during the first 20 years of the settlement's existence. During the French and Indian War (1753-1762), Bethabara and its two forts served as defensive centers for regional settlers and a supply depot for the Catawba allies of the British.

Today the park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places with several original buildings still in existance. The most important one is the 1788 Gemeinhaus (church), uniquely the last remaining eighteenth-century German church with attached living quarters remaining in the United States, furnished with period furniture, some original to the building. Across the street from the Gemeinhaus is the house of the village's distiller and brewer. Behind the Gemeinhaus are several archeological digs that show the foundations and cellars for several other important buildings. The most notable are the apothecary and doctor's office. People would travel miles to visit the doctor - so much so, that outbuildings were also built to house the "strangers" who came to visit the community. Since all members of the community spoke German, one person who spoke English was chosen to be the greeter of visitors to Bethabara. Life of the community was very well documented, sketches of the buildings as well as a journal of daily life. Because of this they were able to reconstruct parts of the village as well. This journal also made it easier to determine where to dig for atrifacts and what they were finding when they did dig. I didn't take the tour this time around, but opted to roam around the site myself at my own pace. It was interesting to see the "walls" of the fort - the walls are comprised of tall wooden poles stuck into the ground very close together, nothing tying them together and able to be seen through - not exactly the image of forts that I had as a kid!

There are about 20 miles worth of trails that run through the park, originating at the historic area. They have maps the guide you throughout the park - there are two main trails that run at 10K if you take the full walk. I took the "lower trial" which runs along the creek to the site of the old mill then through the marsh to a beaver pond. They have piers that go out over the pond which was very relaxing to stand on. Near the beaver pond was a strip mall and the map recommended it was a good place to get water for the remainder of the walk. Since it was around 90 that day I decided it was a good thing to do as well. Well being hungry as well, I noticed a pizzeria/restaurant next to the Harris Teeter. I went in for some lunch and was pleasantly suprised to find a real italian menu offered. I went out on a limb and ordered a slice of pizza to start and eggplant parmesian for my meal. I was even more suprised to find that the pizza was good and the eggplant was VERY good (not as good as Mom's but still good). The eggplant was cut very thin and lot layered too thick nor over cooked or mushy. I left the restaurant very full and really not wanting to complete the walk back to the car, but I perservered and finished the walk.

Then it was time to travel back to Charlotte after a strenous but relaxing day in Winston-Salem.

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!