Weekend

Saturday

Saturday morning got my hair cut and breakfast.

Later I went to the House in the Horseshoe historical site near Sanford. They were having a revolutionary life exhibit which included blacksmithing, plantation and camp life and the periodic demonstration of a muzzle loading cannon fire.


This evening, JN and I went into town to listen to some bands that were playing in the downtown park and to eat. The weather was perfect to be outside and to listen for a while.

First we ducked into Local Joe’s Tavern for a drink. JN had a gin and tonic; Kahlua sour for me. Here’s to you dad.



Dinner was at the Bella restaurant in Sanford. A truly excellent restaurant. Bella has been around for about 5 years and done very well as an Italian place. The chef bought the restaurant last winter and has moved the menu towards more American fusion. As explained to me, they now serve what used to be the various specials. The menu selection is just right. A variety, but limited enough so the chef can concentrate on really well prepared offerings.

Well thought out wine list. The best part, almost every selection is available by the glass.

This restaurant would be a find anywhere – and especially surprising to have such a great place in Sanford. Bella would easily be one of the finer places in Raleigh.

Our waitress told us that business has been non-stop and that for the past couple of years, they have not had the usual seasonal slowdowns but have been full almost every night. A successful and welcome place to dine.

Case in point – the earliest we could get reservations was for 8 PM (remember – this is Sanford).

Here’s the menu.

After a leisurely dinner, it’s now 10:15 and we’ve just gotten home.

Sunday

Sunday, so far, has been a lazy day around the house.

Purchased some fluorescent light bulbs, stopped by the grocery store this morning. Did a little yard work this afternoon and now I’m doing laundry and tidying up the house a bit.

But – not really working at all. I’m taking the very slow and easy approach to chores today.

This Week I’ve Been on the Road by Myself.

Usually I travel with a team to assess state owned buildings. This week was a bit different.

First, I went to North Carolina Motor Speedway to look at grandstands. NCMS no longer has NASCAR races. The NCMS assets are being liquidated and there is a possibility of donation of some grandstands to the state.

Why you ask?

Well, there are several smaller State Universities that have athletic programs which could possibly use some seating. Starting with the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

I met with the UNCP University Engineer, Athletic Director, newly hired Head Football Coach and assorted others at NCMS to look at their grandstands. We wanted to look at the feasibility of dismantling, transporting and erecting some of the NCMS grandstands at UNCP.

Fayetteville State University and Elizabeth City State University are 2 other football programs that came to mind as possibly being able to use seating.

Grandstands are in excellent, make that awesome, condition.

It all comes down to determining what could fit where and how much will it cost vs. design and construction of new grandstands. I’ve got to do some research, homework and calculations to determine what could possibly work.

Just because it’s free doesn’t automatically make it a great deal.

The next morning, I had a seminar to go to that I signed up for a couple months ago.

The Green Building seminar was held at Morehead City.

Very small and low key meeting consisting of presentations by vendors of green / LEED building products. It was a good opportunity to get solid information and details about cost effective products and materials for building construction that could be used in State buildings and construction. And, Morehead City is a nice town for a meeting.



The first photo is from the Intercoastal Waterway docks in Beaufort and the second photo is from my Hampton Inn room in Morehead City.

Too bad I didn’t have time to enjoy the setting.

My schedule for the Green Building seminar was –

Leave the house at 0430.

Arrive at the Moorehead City Community College / Civic Center by 0800.

Seminar till 1600 (4 PM).

Drive to the Hampton Inn and check in.

Go get dinner. Back to the room by 1900 (7 PM). Do some paper work and computer work, take a photo from the window and in bed at 2100 (9 PM).

Alarm and wake up call at 0630. Throw my stuff into my bag – quick breakfast – check out - drive to the seminar’s second day.

End of seminar at 1530.

Drive back to Sanford and arrive home at 1900 (7 PM).

I’ll be at my desk in downtown Raleigh at 0700 in the morning.

Yeah, work travel is glamorous and exciting.

LOL

This was not an unusual week. And not an unusual schedule.

All the folks in my group work like this all the time. Plus our regular job of traveling for weeks at a time to do the on-going condition assessment, engineering and estimating / budget work for existing state buildings.

FYI – skip the Icehouse Restaurant in Beaufort. It’s an overpriced dive (almost dump) with ok, but not great, food. You can find / do better.

April 23 Weekend

No Photos. Forgot the camera.

Friends (CP and SP) invited me and JN to go fishing Sunday.

Yes!

Be there ASAP.

Left at 0700 – drove to the P’s.

On the road to Wilmington by 0900.

Put in at Carolina Beach State Park.

Spent the day catching sand crabs (no fish) and floating along the waterway.

On the water, called DFB – ya want to join us?

(Actually, I left a message on DFB’s cell phone.)

DFB returned the call a couple hours later, from the Charlotte Airport, on his way back to Wilmington from Miami.

Sure thing - when he lands in Wilmington - he’ll call and meet up with us.

Later (still no fish) – DFB calls.

Met up at the dock by the Wrightsville beach bridge.

Spent the rest of the day floating along, fishing, and hanging out (nothing!, nothing - biting!).

Left Wilmington around 1800 – arrived back at the P’s house at 2100.

Tired.

Didn’t help the P’s wash / clean the boat.

(sorry P’s)

Home by 2200

Showered and in bed by 2230.

Monday

Got a LOT of work done today at the office.

Felt Great!

At home, transplanted a couple of plants, cleaned the deck, did a load of laundry and am now relaxing and enjoying the evening.

BTW

Brother called Friday.

Per his daughter / son-in-law - I’m going to get a new great nephew / niece.

Awesome!

Great Weekend

Thursday was an extra day taken off. Spent cleaning the brick walkways of weeds.

Friday, finished the left over Thursday work and trimmed the rest of the house. Did laundry and other small household chores.

Wanted to go watch EIH go Easter Egg hunting but her Dad forgot to call. He travels during the week for work, so his weekends are pretty filled up. It's easy to let a phone call slide when your schedule is so full. Oh well, next year.


Saturday was spent lazing around the house. Changed the water in the hot tub. Cleaned up around the house a bit. JN and I went to Pittsboro and had lunch at S&J Soda Shoppe. What a cool place.

That evening, finished up the last of the Omaha Steaks birthday gift. Beef tips – grilled with yellow pepper, mushrooms, tomato and onion. Along with cold pasta salad and garlic bread. The steaks were great.

Thanks again sister, brother, sister-in-law and brother-in-law.


Sunday (today), friends invited JN and me to go boating and fishing on Harris Lake. Got there around 1300 and spent about 3 hours on the lake.

Thanks CP and SP.

It’s about 1930 and I’m just kicking back and listening to music.

What a great weekend.

Phone

The cordless phone / answering machine decided, completely on its own, to start working again.

It’s a mystery to me.

This Sums Up Exactly How I Feel

This link will probably get broken soon - but until then, it sums up exactly how I feel about NCSU basketball.

Relaxing Weekend On Deck

I'm very punny - thank you.

Easter weekend includes Good Friday as a holiday. I had put in to take today (Thursday) off as well thinking I might go somewhere for the long weekend. But, I decided to just stick around the house and have a nice extra long weekend here at home.

I've just dragged out the hose and am getting ready to water the plants on the deck. Once the plants really get going, they should be some really nice looking hanging baskets. I'm hoping the jasmine vines will really grow this year and begin to climb the trellis.

Fed the squirrels earlier. Which is probably not a good idea (see earlier posts), but when they come up and beg for peanuts - it's hard to resist. The other squirrels have been watching me feed the main one - and the rest are beginning to figure it out.

The Easter Lilly is blooming like crazy - timing is perfect.

No hard and fast plans for the long weekend other than hooking up with ADH, MIH and EIH. I haven't seen E in quite a while and I need a fix. I think she has Japanese school Saturday so perhaps we'll get together Friday or Sunday. Maybe Sunday brunch somewhere. I'll email E's parental units after I finish this entry.

I'm sure I'll find something to do during the weekend. I'll work in the yard some, of course. But then maybe I'll just sit around and do nothing.

Basketball

I wonder who NC State will try and hire as our next coach now that Calipari and Barnes have both declined the job.

Never really expected Barnes to take the job. But I think Calipari played us like a cheap fiddle.

Typical Weekend

Not much new on the home front this past week and weekend.

The more I drive my new car, the more I enjoy it. The SES trim level included larger tires and a stiffer suspension. The car is surprisingly sporty to drive. I’m very very happy with my purchase.

I had replacement speakers put in the doors this weekend. Why manufacturers won’t put in decent speakers in their cars is beyond me. I guess that would add a couple hundred dollars to the price and not everybody cares about decent sound. Had very efficient 2-way Infinity speakers installed since the factory radio unit doesn’t push very much power. The new speakers are a tremendous improvement over the factory speakers.

Around the house I did chores. Cleaned the garage, but have yet to start on the garage storage room. Did laundry and house cleaning. Planted a few hanging plants for the porch and deck. I also rinsed off both the front and back porches. Of course, the porches will be covered in new pollen in a day or two.

I didn't get around to cutting the grass. It'll still be there next weekend.

Hummingbirds are Back

I put out my hummingbird feeder each year around April 1st. Saw a pair of birds feeding last Friday. Hummingbirds are a lot of fun to watch. I get at least 2 pair every year. Their first set of offspring will show up around June or so.

My raccoon is also back feeding at the regular bird feeder. The bird feeder has spring loaded perch rods which keeps the squirrels from eating all the seed. The raccoon, being just large enough, stands on the deck railing and reaches out to grab the feeder, pull it towards her, and happily munches away. She only does this during the spring when she’s pregnant. She’ll keep raiding the feeder till her young have quit nursing and are on their way. The rest of the year – I never see her. She also hooks her left rear claws into the porch screen to help balance / brace. So – each year she wears a hole in the screen at the railing which I’ll end up replacing in the fall. It’s all part of the yearly cycle of living in the country.

And lastly, I used to feed the squirrels peanuts. As of 2 years ago I had as many as 5 that would come up to feed by hand. But when they decided to “help themselves” by gnawing holes in the window screens to get into the house (and to the bag of peanuts in the kitchen) – I decided it was time to cut them off and let them fend for themselves.

After 2 years though – there is one squirrel remaining out of the group that still remembers that I was a source of food. She keeps showing up when I’m outside and on the deck. I’ve made the mistake of starting to feed her again. She just trots right on up and hangs around when I’m outside until I get some peanuts and feed here a few by hand – then I throw the rest onto the deck for her to help herself. I was surprised that a wild squirrel would last 2+ years – and would remember that it was safe to take peanuts from my hand. I figure if she’s made it this long – I can help her out.

I’ll see if I can take a photo of the squirrel or raccoon or hummingbirds to post here.

Commuter Car

Not a very good photo - but - here is the new commuter mobile.

Went to Sanford Ford on Friday and purchased the vehicle. Price and deal was as agreed to over the phone Thursday evening with Sheila C. The actual car was in South Carolina so the dealership had to send a 2 man team to pick up the car and bring it back to Sanford. 6 hour round trip, therefore, the car was ready for me on Saturday morning.

I purchased the SES version for the standard features (power windows, mirrors, larger 16-inch wheels / tires, stronger suspension, etc.). The downside with the SES version is it comes with a wing / spoiler on the trunk. Kind of silly looking and somewhat annoying to look in the rear view mirror and see this steel band [insert calyspo music here :-) ]. But, I've already gotten used to it and even after only 30 miles of driving, my brain now ignores it.

The sunroof, excuse me - moonroof, takes a couple inches off the interior headroom. And this IS a very small car. But that's not a problem for a short person like me. And, 99% of the car's use will be as my commuter car to and from work. For carrying people, such as to football games, I use the SUV anyway.

I like driving with the roof open. I've already found myself forgetting to close it when I get out.

The steering wheel radio controls are useless. It's a very small car and one only has to reach a whopping 3-inches from the steering wheel to the dash to operate the radio. As I said before, the extra $300 for the 6 CD changer, which has the steering wheel controls, is a total waste of money. But, it was on the car and that was the only unwanted option.

Still pissed at Hertz for causing me to spend more $, but, I'm very happy with the car I've purchased.

I hope Chip likes his car repair 'loaner' vehicle.

:-)

Sendek Goes to Arizona State

Good move for Herb. He'll be very successful there. Rick Barnes is the immediate talk as the number 1 choice for NCSU. I'd like to see us try and get Mark Few.

Semi-final games last night were both blow outs. Still, a Big Way to Go to George Mason! What a great accomplishment to reach the final four.