Monday after Christmas 2005

MIH, ADH and EIH installing toys.

Uncle Bill enjoying a joke with WDDD.

Christmas evening.


Dulles curbside check in at 06:00. Wheels up at 07:00. RDU Terminal C at 08:00. Office Depot for color cartridges at 08:30. Grocery store at 09:00. Home by 09:45.

Productive Monday.

Un-installed and reinstalled gateway. Then un-installed and reinstalled the wireless printer.

It WORKED!!!

Printed the 3 photos for the DiD's and framed them by 11:00. The ones I was trying to print last Friday.

Printed 8x10 La Jolla CA mama DiD photo next. Great photo / frame combo! It's awesome. JN declared she's a Saint.

Put the framed photos in the truck for mailing tomorrow.

Watching School Of Rock on DVD. On deck - Mysterious Skin and After Hours.

Fire in the fireplace.

Cool to be home.

Love, peace and happy holidays.

It's all about family, y'all.

So - What's With the Tree?

CH, MH and my toes on Christmas Eve morning. Just before getting up and going to my niece and nephews for breakfast and gift exchange. Soon after this photo was taken, we were up and off. Had a great time at the DiD's. The kids, 2.5 and 4, are at the age where they're not exactly sure what's going on - but they are positive they like it. Toys, toys and more toys.

CA and BA left for their drive to W VA. It's about a six hour drive to BA's family.

I found out that the gift I (via BA) got for CM was not given to her at Thanksgiving but was unwrapped this morning. CM and CM (hey, CM squared!) called from Chicago during the gift thing. CM the pilot has duty today but will catch a ride late tonight to W VA. CM the wife will catch a standby flight to W VA whenever there's an opening today.

We're back at the house where everyone is kind of zonked out and taking naps. I'll be doing the same soon, although I can hear EIH (4 yo) and her grandmother, MH, doing something together upstairs.

So - What's With the Tree?

Shortly after I graduated from NCSU, I bought a scraggly little ficus at the NC State Farmer's Market. It was probably no more than 2 feet tall and, frankly, I didn't think it would last very long. That was more than 25 years ago.

The tree not only survived but flourished. I kept it for as long as I could but it finally got too big for my house, even with vaulted ceilings. Plus, it was just too darn big for anyplace at my house.

So, 2 years ago, I rented a van and brought it up to MH and CH. This is the perfect spot for it and it's done very well with all the windows and space. CH trims it carefully and repotted it. My guess is that it's about 12 to 14 feet tall now. You actually walk under it to go to the master bedroom, where the beginning photo was taken.

If the H's ever move, I don't think the tree can go with them. It's just too darn big and heavy now. It'll have to convey with the house. It kind of belongs here anyway.

I took this photo standing on the stairs leading up to the landing where the tree is located. They used to put tables or other items on the landing but nothing seemed just right. When the tree got here - BINGO!

I hope it lives a long long time.

RDU Wireless Non-Connectivity

Friday, 17:00 at RDU

Got here too early expecting the Christmas rush. Kind of crowded but not too bad. My flight doesn't leave till 18:30 so I've got plenty of time to kill.

Sitting in the Pinehurst Brewery. Cingular has a strong wireless signal but as I'm not a Cingular customer, I don't have access.

I would suggest that RDU airport install wireless gateways throughout the terminals. They could install a commercial grade phone or cable internet connection with gateways scattered about the terminals. Yes, there would be a cost, but I would expect that it would be relatively small in comparison to overall airport operations costs and it would be a real benefit to passengers waiting for their flights.

I used to work with an engineer who later went to work for the RDU Airport Authority. I think I’ll give him a call and see what he thinks about installing internet connectivity.

Ordered the Nachos and Salsa and a diet coke. The appetizer is only 3 dollars and they just brought me a huge plate of Nachos and a big bowl of Salsa. I just wanted something to snack on while waiting. The amount they gave me is almost a full meal. As a general rule, we Americans eat, and are served, way too much. It’s as though we’d complain if the servings weren’t piled high. And when it’s put in front of you, there’s the guilt thing if you don’t eat it all. I still remember the admonishment growing up to ‘clean your plate. There are starving children that wish they could have your food’. It feels wasteful to not eat everything even though you don’t want too. I guess that’s kind of a statement on American culture / society where we can have anxious moments and reflection about having too much food given to us. Man, there are places in much, if not most of, the world where that would be a great problem to have.

Quiet day at the house today (holiday today and Monday). JN has leave for the weekend as well and he left around 08:00 to go to his folks in Southport. I did some house cleaning and laundry, then spent the afternoon trying to print some photo quality prints to frame and bring with me to NoVa for my niece and newphew. Couldn’t get the printer to print color photos. It will print in black and white but gives me an error message when I tried to print the photo prints.
The printer is wireless and was originally installed with my old Motorola gateway. I’ve had to replace the gateway with a Linksys and I suspect that may be the problem as the HP controller recognizes the old wireless network name but not the new one. Although it will print out plain text documents. I think I’ll uninstall the printer Monday and reinstall it. If that doesn’t work, next step is a call to the genius nephew, AH.

Spoke to my sister just a while ago. The ‘kids’, AH, MIH, EIH had just arrived. They and their dad are going to a hockey game tonight so MH will pick me up at Dulles and we’ll have the house to ourselves. As my sister joked, “quiet, interrupted only by the sound of snoring!” Right on.

DB called while I was on the way to RDU. He says the stores have been extremely busy. When in Wilmington, Jacksonville or Myrtle Beach – stop by the New Balance store and buy some shoes. DB’s Mercedes-Benz is dirty so he needs to trade it in on a new one.

Wireless?

Just got back to this entry. I took a few minutes to check out the Cingular wireless access. What a rip off. $10 for 24 hours of access. That’s a 24 hour time period, not hours of use that you can carry with you. Plus, you can’t find out how much without going through the whole frickin sign up procedure. Click on the service plans button or the FAQ button on the front page – a new window opens up with the exact same initial connection screen. They can’t even get the web page right!

The web page itself is the “RDU Terminal Connection” through Cingular. I wonder if that means somebody (RDU Airport Authority) allowed a single service provider agreement which has set up this non-competitive internet connectivity. In fact, with internet service being so cheap nowadays – RDU should consider offering it as a service to their airport customers. Or, they could add a user charge to tickets which they already do to help cover airport costs. My wild arse guess – it would add about a nickel to each ticket, if that much.

If it is indeed a case of a single source agreement, whoever came up with, or agreed to, this crappy and grossly overpriced agreement made a bad deal. Ten dollars to have connectivity for what, in the real world, amounts to about an hour or so connectivity.

I hope the Cingular salesman made a ton 'o money. He should because he really stuck it to the end users.

Making money in a free market capitalist society is great. Setting up a monopoly franchise where the consumer gets royally screwed is not.

Sorry about the harsh language – but this RDU set up / arrangement is just plain wrong on a whole bunch of levels.

Basically non-connectivity in the airport in the middle of the RTP. That’s just great.

Note, I’m writing this entry in a document that I’ll import later to this Journal.

It’s 18:00 so I’d better get to the gate.

Saturday 05:30 Reston VA

MH had some veggie lasagna and fruit salad waiting for me at the house. She’s always doing very thoughtful things for people. This morning we go to Niece and Nephews at 08:00 for breakfast and to do some gift exchanges as my brother and sister-in-law will then head to West VA for the rest of the weekend. Sunday will be Christmas dinner around noon or so and the kids opening presents. Monday morning, early flight back to Raleigh.

Plus there will be trips out to do whatever. Maybe watch the skaters at Reston Towne Center. Possibly a movie. Or head into town just to see the lights and decorations.

Ahhh, I hear my sister in the kitchen making coffee.

Have a happy and safe holiday readers.

Monday Evening 12/19

Good to be back in the office today after over a week in the field.

Tons of email and a few phone messages to attend to.

Had our Christmas office luncheon today. Lots of spouses and children makes for a pleasant day.

Food was traditional Christmas fare, Eastern NC Style BBQ and fried Chicken! LOL

Lots left over, so I stuffed a carry out box and brought it home for me and the roomie, JN, to eat from. We have enough BBQ and boiled potatoes to feed us for the rest of the week! LOL

Stopped on the way home and picked up wrapping tissue paper for the gift bags which I forgot to get this weekend. Also while at Target, wanted to buy the new RoboRaptor but they were sold out. Well, that saves me $100 as I'll probably cool on the idea of getting one the longer I have to wait.

Naaaaw. I want one!

All Christmas shopping done. I have to remember to take my gifts for our office secretary and receptionist in tomorrow. I think I'm good to go. Just have to remember to pack it all for the trip to NoVa. In fact, I think I'll set out the suitcase in the spare bedroom and as I remember things, I'll set them on the bed. That way, when it comes time to pack Friday, hopefully I'll have everything there. But then, I'll probably forget clothes. LOL

Watched March of the Penguins yesterday - very good movie. Also, The Station Agent from Saturday was very good as well. An unexpected surprise at how good it was.

Warday arrived in the mail. Got something to read for the next couple of days.

Saturday Morning, 12/17

I spent the week working in the field. Monday through Thursday was the usual routine inspection of state owned buildings in the north central part of the state. Got home Thursday evening. Friday, up early to go on a Beneficial Use inspection of a refurbished with new addition building at UNCP.

This photo is a stable and barn complex located on an agricultural Research Station in Rockingham County, near the NC / VA border. It has been restored and, as of this summer, is now used for a Farmer's Market.

Most places I inspect are utilitarian buildings such as DOT garages, storage buildings, small office buildings (DMV license offices for example), and the like. But, every once in a while, there is something to inspect that is really cool, such as this barn / stable - now Farmer's Market. A lot of the restoration work was done by minimum custody inmates. It's nice to see old structures put to new uses. If you're ever in the area on a summer weekend, I think it would be well worth the side trip. The Rockingham Farmer's Market is adjacent to Chinqua-Penn Plantation.

While you're in the area, visit Hanging Rock State Park (below).


Thursday morning, when these photos were taken, there was a light to moderate ice storm. Not a problem as long as you drive carefully.

Leaving shortly to get last minute Christmas shopping done. I also have to address and mail Christmas cards which I didn't get done last weekend when I was under the weather.

Working out of the office distorts my perception of time. For example, I have to think about the fact that Christmas is next weekend rather than intuitively knowing that Christmas is next Sunday. Preparations, such as cards and gifts have to be planned and time allotted. And, being out of town, I can't take care of things during the week. It all piles up and has to be hit hard on the weekend.

Tomorrow is the first NCSU ACC basketball game of the season against Miami. Even though I'm a big NCSU sports nut, the time distortion leaves me clueless about what time the game starts.

Plus, I always feel like I'm forgetting something.

Or maybe it's just that I'm getting older?

Mind like a steel sieve.


Addendum - 14:00

Got it all done. In 3 hours no less! Traffic and crowds weren't anywhere near what I expected.

Dropped off dry cleaning. Then Toys-R-Us for the niece and nephews. Nothing in mind at TRU. Went in cold and found a great gift (same) for EI-H and ADD.

Criteria - Something the kiddies will actually like and play with (as opposed to what adults think would be a suitable gift). Toy tools with tool box to keep the tools organized and stored. Plus - the pipe wrench and socket wrench handle are long and lightweight; thus suitable for small 3 and 4 year olds to wield as 'whacking' implements! Screw drivers can work well to poke out eyes.

LOL

Actually, I think they're pretty cool toys. As soon as I saw them, I thought "yes - that's it". No microchips, no batteries, no speakers. Just simple toys for the imagination.

Will pick up a couple of one piece baby suits for WDDD next week at the NCSU bookstore.

Went to a wine store to purchase a very good bottle for our office secretary and to Home Depot for a hummingbird feeder for our receptionist.

Also, purchased gift bags for all items.

Portability is an issue since I'm flying to NoVa for Christmas. Usually I use a backpack for quick trips to NoVa (overhead compartment). In fact, the same backpack from my college days (Jansen- still sturdy after all these 20 years!). I'll have to use a suitcase to carry the presents this trip and check it into baggage.

Our family does a name exchange for gifts. I drew my niece, CAM, this year. CAM and her "still almost new" airline pilot hubby are in the 'setting up household' phase. Her mom, BNA (my sister-in-law) purchased additional place settings (two? three?) from CAM's bridal registry for me. BNA is really great about knowing what family members need or want. Plus, BNA is an astute shopper. She utilized coupons along with sales to maximize "my gift" for CAM. So, that gift has already been purchased and presented to CAM and cool hubby CM, I think, during Thanksgiving. I'll find out this coming weekend.

Grocery store on the way home. Pork chops (lean cuts and on sale), potato salad, garlic bread (also on sale) and baby spinach salad for dinner.

As I pulled into the garage, JN (roomie) was gathering up trash and recycling. While JN went on the recycling run, I cleaned up the kitchen, did some vacuuming, and started doing laundry.

Just finished doing some house cleaning and outdoor (porch and deck) cleaning. FYI - electric leaf blower is not strong enough to blow .45 shell casings off the deck. Just moves them around.

I have a 3-photo frame and a 1-photo frame that I got a couple weeks ago to mount photo's I took at WDD's Christening. The 3-photo frame is for photos for WDD's parental units and the single frame is for a photo for WDD's La Jolla CA grandparent units.

However, I've had to replace my wireless modem / router in the interim and the wireless photo quality printer (HP) requires an initial hard wire connection to set up communication with the router.

Also, due to storage limitations, DH has migrated my email from the family server to google mail. I want to set up my email / office interface to work with the gmail account.

As an analog person, I screw up computer interfaces. Oh well, into the breach anyway.


Let's see, what else?

Last night JN and I watched Second Hand Lions. Kind of a high quality "After School Special" movie. Right movie for the evening - light and funny. For those who live in the country, NetFlix is the way to go.

Called nephew and niece (ADH / MIH) multiple times this morning hoping to hook up with them while I was in Cary / Raleigh but no answer as usual. Were they still sleeping, out of town, doing errands, or TBF? Who knows?

As I'm finishing this entry, JN has descended from on high horse (and physically his room / space / apartment) - built a fire in the fireplace and plugged into the stereo (via laptop / Rhapsody / RadioParadise).

Movie on deck for tonight is The Station Agent.

Quiet Sunday

Quiet Sunday around the house. Roommate left for base this morning and will be on duty for 24 hours. I'm under the weather and didn't go to the family reunion last night. I really hated missing it as it's the only time I get to see a lot of my relatives.

Since I'm not feeling well, I don't plan to leave the house. Spending the day so far cleaning and doing laundry. Plus, I've got some office paperwork to do and I need to pack later on since I'll be out of town all week for work. Sure hope I feel better in the morning.

Since I'll be out of town, I emailed CK to see if he will use the tickets for Wednesday night's basketball game.

DB called yesterday from Fantasy Fest but the signal kept breaking up. He always has a blast at those things. Someday I'm going to go to see what it's all about. Actually, DB was returning my call to his voice mail Friday evening. There's a book I'm trying to remember that I'd like to read again. I'm pretty sure DB was the one who recommended it to me almost 20 years ago but the title totally escapes me.

Taking a break from house chores, waiting for some pasta to boil (salad and pasta for lunch - easy on the system) and thought I'd jot a few lines down for the Journal.

Just turned on the TV and Starship Troopers is on. It's one of those guilty pleasure movies. Never admit to liking it, but it's fun to watch.

I think the pasta is about ready.

I may add to this later, depending on how I feel.


Monday Evening Addendum - 22:00

I'm in my hotel room in Winston-Salem and I've just finished a lot of paperwork from today's field work and setting up my files for tomorrow.

DB called. Talked a bit about his trip and the book I was looking for. I actually did some searches on the web Sunday night and I was able to find the book. Is there anything that Wikipedia doesn't have an entry on? LOL

Friday evening, JN and I got into a discussion about how Iraq would end up (civil war, unified, semi-autonomous regions, chaos, etc.?) and examples were drawn from the former Yugoslavia and USSR (obvious) as well as other examples. But with weaving in the potential effects of our US efforts over there to foster democratic reforms, constitution, etc. Which led to discussions on basic human nature and whether there are some innate human traits such as being concerned first with self and family, then extended family, then immediate community, and so own which possibly lead to tribal behavior, regionalism, along with prejudice, etc. Which led to pondering the nature of civilization, economic stability, poverty, political motivation, religion and so on. It was a wide ranging conversation.

You know, typical guy stuff.

(LOL - Man, I really need to get out more!)

Anyway - I was reminded of the novel which depicted a post limited nuclear war USA and how the aftermath affected society. The book, which I finally figured out Sunday night is Warday by Whitley Streiber. I think I read it maybe 15 years ago? Ordered a copy. Should arrive by mail by the time I get home at the end of the week.

It's A Drive From Here

The Greater Moncure Metro Area is about 25 miles south-west of downtown Raleigh and about 35 miles north-west of Fayetteville / Fort Bragg.

My commute into Raleigh takes 45 minutes.

My friend, JN, is a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division - Ft. Bragg.

JN owns a house in Durham, but his commute from there to Ft. Bragg would be a minimum of 2 and 1/2 hours. Therefore, JN has established staging quarters in the bonus room over the garage at my house. From my house to Ft. Bragg takes JN a little over an hour. Mostly due to all the traffic lights through Sanford and Spring Lake.

Today, my work schedule took me to Spring Lake which is immediately adjacent to Ft. Bragg. Which was serendipitous for the following events.

Last night, JN called about 20:00 hours (8 PM). After release from duty, his car overheated and despite his best efforts, he was stranded. Would it be possible for me to pick him up? And, more importantly, since I have to essentially be at Ft. Bragg the next day (today), would it work out to give him a ride to work in the morning?

To keep events in perspective, JN would easily spend the evening crashing at a barracks. But if, and only if, it's not a problem, he'd appreciate a ride home and to work.

Skipping all the boring detail, I drove down to Ft. Bragg and collected the sergeant. Of course, JN had to report for duty this morning at 0600. So, my alarm was set for 04:00 and we headed out the door at 04:30.

After dropping off JN at 05:45, I went and got breakfast and killed time until 08:00. I had set up my meeting for my work at 10:00 but I called and it turned out that it worked better for all if I did indeed show up at 08:00. I finished my field work by 11:30 and called JN to see if he needed assistance getting his car to a repair shop. It didn't take too long to get his car to a garage for repairs. Afterwards, JN, I, and another soldier had lunch at McKellar's Lodge on base.

Since JN's car would not be fixed today, JN needed a ride home after duty. After lunch, I started out to a local library to work on some paperwork that I had brought with me. But, JN calls very soon after lunch. He can leave post then (13:00) instead of the usual 17:00 or 18:00 hours.

On the way home, the repair shop calls JN. Bad News. The upper intake manifold on his car needs replacing along with other items. The repairs are going to cost JN $750! No choice - fix it. Gotta have transportation.

Anyway, we got home about 15:00. JN went upstairs to his room to figure out his finances and to do other work. I worked on office paperwork in the living room.

About 18:00 (6 PM) JN came downstairs, started a fire in the fireplace, and through mutual discussion it's decided that I should have a live fire lesson with the H&K .45.

We've just come in from the back yard after spending a few rounds. The fireplace has the living room nice and warm and there's great music on the stereo courtesy of RadioParadise and Rhapsody.

This weekend we'll figure out the logistics of transportation. JN has duty Sunday and I leave early Monday morning (05:00) for out of town work through Thursday. Lot's of travel involved next week. I'll be in a different hotel room each night. Plus, I've got a family reunion to attend Saturday evening, household chores, Christmas shopping, Christmas Cards to address and sign, additional paperwork preparation for next week's work trip, and I want to get a package put together for http://anysoldier.com/.

I guess the bottom line is this -

If you want to live in the country - you have to be amenable with dealing with the day to day curves that come your way. There is no such thing as a quick trip to work, the store, gas station, or, frankly anything. And the unexpected (such as a car breakdown) adds a whole 'nother dimension.

But - just step outside.

It's a clear, cold, crisp evening.

My God!

There are a billion stars in the sky.

Just Another Week - With One Exception

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State Wins

State won the football game today against Maryland. It was a must win for NCSU to become Bowl game eligible. Even though the students are gone for the Thanksgiving holiday, Carter-Finley Stadium was full and loud.

Marcus Hudson had 2 interceptions, 1 for a touchdown and the second ended Maryland's last minute drive to score and possibly win the game. It was a really exciting game, although again, State's offense was missing in the first half.

The NCSU - Maryland game has been close and with a lot of emotion the last few years. State won last year at Maryland. The year before, Maryland won here in Raleigh with a last minute drive and a fight. Today, the players were pretty hot with some extra pushing and shoving after the plays. Lot's of flags and personal fouls.

CK, E, and JN went to the game with me like last week. Chip was late getting off work but we weren't too late for the game. In fact, you could hear the opening kick off as we drove in the parking lot.

Then again, we sat in the truck in the parking lot for a while just talking before we went into the game. Used to be, we (at least I) would be frantic we missed the National Anthem, watching the team run onto the field, kickoff, etc. Nowadays, things like parking, listening to the game on the radio and falling into casual conversation just happens.

An aside - CK was surprised to learn my nephew, AH has neither read or heard of the book Ishmael. I discovered this little tid bit over Thanksgiving. AH has strong moral values about people, animals, life, etc. He's not one who pushes his values on others, he just quietly goes about living his life and raising his family according to what he believes is right. DH is also always ahead of the curve with information about politics, culture, and such so that's why CK and I are suprised he hasn't heard of the book. I will drop off my copy of Ishmael for him to read. Then again, I hope he doesn't exactly join the cult . . . . . lol

Since I've decided to refrain from embedding links in this journal (so many get broken so frequently) - to find AH's web log - search for the blog "Cultural Confusion", or check comments on this journal for a back track. He's a very good writer and is worth reading.

Got home and fixed spaghetti with a veggie sauce. I had some yellow, red, and orange bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms left over from an earlier meal so I just saute'd that up with some olive oil and tossed in some lemon juice and tarragon for extra taste. It's really good. I'm eating while I write this.

Kind of tired, I may go to bed soon even though it's only 18:00. Even though we sit on our butts watching, going to a football game is an all day event and tiring. Leave the house at 10:00 to meet up with the gang at 11:00 (although CK is always guaranteed to be late). Get to Carter-Finley for the noon kickoff. Game is over by 15:00 or 15:30. By the time we get back to the Mall parking lot and home - it's been an 8 hour day almost.

No plans for Sunday. I will probably just laze around the house, do a little cleaning, and read.

Thanksgiving Friday 2005 - Addendum

JN is a friend of mine. His house is at the far north-west side of Durham. JN is stationed at Ft. Bragg which is a solid 3 hour commute from his house with traffic, base check points, etc. Since the drive from my house to Ft. Bragg is just over an hour, JN often stays here during the week and some weekends as well. He gets up at 04:30 daily to be at PT formation at 06:00.

My commute to work in downtown Raleigh is 45 minutes. The price must be paid if you want to live in the country.

So anyway, this is what a hard charging, kick-arse, Defender of Freedom, hell raising, 13-year Veteran of Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq One, et. al, Airborne Mutha NCO looks like on Friday afternoon at 14:00 after 2 WHOLE BEERS! Paaaaaarty!

If anyone deserves to Stand Down for a while, it's JN.

I'm gonna head outside to do a little yard work so as not to disturb him.

BTW - JN first talked me into jumping a couple years ago. Search Raeford Parachute Center for their web site. It's the most awesome insane thing! The human mind most assuredly, absolutely, completely and totally rebels against the idea of going out the door. But when you do . . . . . . LOL.

Keep aware of your altimeter and DON'T FORGET TO PULL!

Thanksgiving 2005

Thanksgiving was a quick trip.

Friday 06:15 - Went to NoVa early Thursday morning. Dinner with the family that afternoon. I'm at Dulles airport waiting for my 07:00 flight back to Raleigh.

It's always good to see the family, even for quick visits. M, as usual, cooked too much. She always wants to make sure she has something for everyone. I'd fix just a couple of things and if people didn't want to eat it, directions to McDonalds. LOL

I really wish M wouldn't work so hard to do so much. But, she ignores all suggestions in that area.

Nephew ACD is a blast! He is one happy camper and is getting to the age where he's communicating coherently and loves to play. Newest nephew WDDD is at a cool age too. He watches everything and loves to laugh. He is also getting his first 2 bottom teeth so he latches onto your fingers and tries to gum you to death.

CF and her sister YF came down from NYC, Brooklyn to be precise. CF started spending summers with M&C back when she was 12 or so. Now CF is all grown up, starting her working career, and she brought her little sister YF down for Thanksgiving. YF is a freshman at Binghamton University (SUNY?). This is YF's first trip to the DC area. CF is working this weekend for a family friend's UPS store helping out during the holiday rush. Brother-in-law, CH, is going to take YF sight seeing.

Calling my flight, I'll pick this back up when I get to NC.

09:15 - Back in NC, in the customer lounge at CrossRoads Ford in Cary. Just finished sending BA some high resolution photo's from ADDD's Christening. The files were large, 1.6 Meg each. I had to send each photo she requested individually.

Flight was practically empty and quick. So empty the flight attendent let passengers spread out and sit anywhere. Since I was shutting down the laptop, most got onboard before me. I was assigned seat 2A but a guy, with a carry on bag in the other seat, had already snagged it.

I went to the back and sat in an exit row seat.

Anyway, I'm here at the Ford place getting the radio / cd unit in the truck replaced. It's been suffering intermittent failure for over a year now and has finally quit ejecting cd's altogether.

Should be done in about an hour.

Talk about timing - as I'm typing the above sentence, the service rep came up. They have to order a replacement unit so I'm ready to go. Will have to bring the truck back in when the replacement radio arrives to have it slapped into the dash. He said they can't get the cd's to eject - but the old radio will be sent to where ever they send them and the cd's will be removed and mailed back to me.

Hmmm - up at 05:00, traveled from DC to NC, ran an errand for N, got the truck fixed (well, almost), and now ready to head home at 10:15.

Pretty productive day so far!

12:10 - Back home in the greater Moncure metro area.

Tomorrow, final NCSU football game vs Maryland. Winner goes to a bowl game. Loser stays home.

Go Wolfpack!

Nothing New

Nothing new.

Really, seriously, nothing worth reporting.

Going to sister (MH) and brother-in-law's (CH) for Thanksgiving. Flying to Northern Virginia on Thanksgiving Day and returning to Raleigh the next day.

There is a price to pay for waiting till the last minute to purchase airline tickets!

However, while on line getting tickets for Thursday and Friday, I checked airline ticket prices for Christmas. I assumed that prices would be exorbitant.

Surprised to be able to get tickets for Christmas for $93.30!

Thank you United Airlines!

Work this week was very typical.

Rather than bore you (the reader) with much adu about nothing, I'll keep this entry brief.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving with the family.

The Airplane was Gone from the Roadside

Saturday was a long day.

First thing I did was a load of laundry, then left for breakfast and the NCSU vs Middle Tennessee State University football game.

CK, JN, CK's new girlfriend E, and I all met up at Cary Towne Center Mall and drove from there to the game.

State's season has been a disappointment. We should have had a great year, with whispers of being a possible dark horse for a BCS bowl.

Didn't happen.

After a great opening game with a close loss to Virginia Tech, the Wolfpack offense has sputtered all year. But, there have been bright spots. We have a bunch of talented running backs and a true freshman, Andre Brown, has stepped up and is going to be someone to keep your eye on. Our defense is really really good.

Today's game started out worrisome. NCSU offense had the ball only 3 minutes in the first quarter. But after that we got rolling. Won the game 24 - 3.

State must beat Maryland next week in our last game to qualify for a bowl game. Maryland is in the same situation. They must win to qualify for a bowl game. Should be quite a contest.

CK's new girlfriend, E, is really sweet and a cutie as well. JN became quite infatuated and, helped along with a little beer, invited her to next weeks final game. I didn't have anybody else in mind for next week's fourth ticket so that's cool. I think this was E's first college football game. I hope she had a good time. The crowd was kind of light this week but the final game should have a packed and emotional stadium.

Had tickets for NCSU basketball this weekend as well. The Hispanic Fund Invitational with 2 games Friday, 2 games Saturday and 2 games Sunday. I had a lot of stuff to do this weekend and knew I wouldn't be able to make the games. Friday's tixs went to CK & E, Saturday's games went to the kid who cuts my lawn, and I met up with a co-worker, MH, at the football game to give him today's (Sunday) tix.

Just as we were driving back to the mall after the game, my nephew, DH, called. He needed a lift to the rental car agency to pick up a vehicle to make a one way trip to NYC. Since I was already in Cary, the timing was perfect. After dropping off C and E, N and I drove over to D's house and took him to the airport. D had a new jazz cd which we played. But, the damn cd player jammed and wouldn't eject the cd. This has happened before but the stereo has always recovered and spit out the disc. Not this time.

N, who by now was pretty drunk from beer all day, decided he could un-jam the cd using a house key along with alternating finesse and brute force. Alcohol + house key + jammed cd player: That's a recipe for success! LOL

Truck goes to the Ford place next week to get the stereo replaced.

On the way home, late, about 21:00, I saw a TV truck on US 1 freeway by the side of the road. It was next to a small private airplane that was parked on the roadside (out of the way of traffic).

That's not something you see everyday.

Saw on the news report later, the plane had made an emergency landing on the highway earlier in the day.

This morning I ran errands, grocery shopping, framed a photo, and am now doing another load of laundry. Plus, I've got guests coming over later to burn some hamburgers on the grill. I'm writing this post in between laundry loads and I need to wrap it up.

On the way into town this morning, the airplane was gone from the roadside.

[Me and JN at NCSU vs MTSU - taken by CK]

Morrow Mountain State Park

Morrow Mountain State Park is in the central Piedmont part of North Carolina.

My parents used to take me camping there starting when I was around 8 years old. It's always been one of my favorite places.

Most park buildings, campgrounds and roads were constructed in the late 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

The main lodge and headquarters building was built in 1938. I remember as a kid thinking it was one of the greatest places I had ever been in. It's nothing near the grandeur of the massive lodges of the western US National Parks, but for a state park, it was, and still is, darn nice. The walls are field stone and rough hewn wood. Wide plank floors and interior walls; large front porch and back porch; steep roof; and a very large slate patio in the back.

My job inspecting state owned buildings took me there yesterday. On prior inspections, the lodge was noted as needing a lot of restoration and repair work. Serious damage was noted due to termites and water damage to the floors and sill plates. The roof needed replacing. And the previous inspections only noted items needed to keep the building from further deterioration.

I was pleased to find that the lodge had undergone a complete restoration. All the structural, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing problems were fixed or equipment replaced. And the building structure and envelope systems have all been restored and upgraded.

The floors are beautiful. Windows and doors have been replaced with thermal efficient units made to fit the architecture of the building. The new roof looks great. All interior fixtures were either restored or replaced with period style fixtures.

The total renovation cost around $600,000.

It was money well spent.

Too add to the pleasure of seeing the restoration, the leaves turning colors are peaking right now in this part of North Carolina. The roads are winding in the low Uwharrie mountains and you drive through a mad mixture of yellow, orange, and red leaves. Plus, the weather is unseasonably warm. On days like yesterday, my job rocks!

Today's work took me to the Southern Correctional Institute; a medium custody women's prison and a minimum custody men's unit; along with inspecting the Department of Transportation maintenance compound.

Not quite as nice as inspecting park buildings. But still, some of the older structures are in very good shape and it's nice to see the workmanship that went into construction of some of the older buildings.

The two medium custody prisons I've had to inspect this week were larger regional facilities. Each was over 200,000 square feet. Plus additional buildings within the compounds. These take a lot of time and effort to do a complete job. This week also included 3 minimum custody compounds, numerous NC DoT compounds and individual offices, the park, and a National Guard Armory. Tomorrow will be a historical site education center and a university field research complex.

Getting out of the office and into the field is nice. But, it's non-stop physical work with a lot of walking and climbing (on roofs for example). Usually as the week progresses, like today, I'm getting pretty beat.

I'm too tired to go out and get something to eat.

There's a banana and apple on the dresser from this morning's hotel breakfast and some milk in the mini-fridge.

Looks like dinner to me.

First Entry In My Online Blog

Blog . . .

I really don't like trendy things, including language. Although blog is going to become a mainstream word, I prefer journal.

So - I'm in my motel room in Albemarle, NC. It's about 18:00 and I'm trying to productively use the time to get a journal started. There's not much to do after hours when traveling for my job. Most locations are in the rural areas of NC.

I always try and visit the local downtown and walk around when on the road. Surprisingly, NC's small towns seem to be undergoing a revival of sorts. Lumberton, Albemarle, Raeford for example - all have new small shops and restaurants opening up in their once empty town centers.

Had dinner tonight in a great place called Pontiac Pointe in Albemarle. Located in a former Pontiac dealership in a building from the 1930's. The staff told me over $1.5M had been spent renovating the building into a restaurant. I believe it. The place is awesome. And the food and service was as good as in any urban area. Only difference, my meal cost a whopping total of $17.00 including a glass of wine and tip!

Shrimp and snow peas with Cappelini; soup (instead of salad - different); sourdough bread with the usual olive oil and basalmic vinegar; house white.

This meal would have easily been over $30.00 in Raleigh.

Here's their web site: Pontiac Pointe

They've been open a year.

I hope they make it.