Back in Charlotte

Dear readers, this ends my first week returning to Charlotte, NC for another project--my third tour of duty here. It is great to be back in a familiar city that I have grown to enjoy so much. I am here working on automating a workstation migration to Windows Server 2008 for a major Fortune 300 automotive retailer. I am scheduled to be here through the end of July.

The evening of my first day back, I took a walk down memory lane--eating dinner at Morehead Street Tavern before heading over to Connolly's on Fifth for some pints of Guinness and glasses of Jameson. My favorite bartender, Tracy, was not working at Morehead Street Tavern that night but I hope to see her sometime next week. I was hoping to also stop by Phil's Deli but I got stuck at Connolly's drinking Guinness and Jameson. Nevertheless I was able to stop by Phil's Deli the next day for a quick drink. In the coming weeks, I hope to visit my other favorite haunts around downtown Charlotte as well as the Midwood/Plaza and Dilworth areas for some PBR and Miller High Life.

I wish I could accurately convey how much I enjoy the Queen City but I will leave it up to you, the reader. This is a phenomenal location and I love being back here.

Getting It Right

Here is a YouTube video of one of my favorite artists, Cary Pierce. If that name sounds familiar, he is one half of the duo called Jackopierce. The other member is Jack O'Neill. Jackopierce was big while I was attending college at the University of Texas at Austin. They disbanded in 1997, but still periodically get together to play for their fans around the United States. Fortunately they are playing again in Dallas on Friday, September 28 at House of Blues.



Anyway, here is a song entitled "Getting It Right" he played at Bend Studio in Dallas, TX as part of their Intimate Evenings series. This was one of my favorite concerts--small, intimate, barefoot. While this song is not on any of Cary's current discography, you can listen to a few of my favorites including "Home" and "Tower" on his "You Are Here" album.

Video Archive - Peyton Manning Helps the United Way and the NFL (SNL)

Video Archive - Reporter Attacked by Lizard

Sexy Athlete of the Month - Allison Stokke

Allison Stokke is one of the best young pole vaulters in the country. Prior to joining the track team in high school, she was a gymnast for ten years. An exceptional athlete, in her first year of pole vaulting she set the U.S. record for pole vault for high school freshman girls at 12-08.

As a sophomore she set her personal best at 13-05.75 (according to Pole Vault Power, the national high school record for girls is 14-00) before she broke her tibia just above the ankle in a practice session and was out for several months. Since that time she has been able to recover and compete as evidenced by her recent strong showing by winning the 16th annual Trabuco Hills Invitational and Distance Carnival where she vaulted 12-06 setting a meet record.

Currently she is finishing up her senior year at Newport Harbor High School in California in her quest to win another state championship. According to DyeStat, she will be attending the University of California, Berkeley on scholarship in the fall of 2007 and becoming a California Golden Bear.

I could be wrong, but when I was in high school and college, the women's track team never looked like this. And...to answer your question, no I guess I'm not above it all.

12th Annual Crawfish Party

On Saturday, April 14, one of my friends, Carolyn, was one of the hosts of the 12th Annual Crawfish Party in Dallas, TX at The Green Elephant. Among the bands playing were Ray Wylie Hubbard, No Justice, and Poison Cherry. For $25, you got all you could eat crawfish and beer to drink, including one of my perennial favorites, Lone Star. The weather was a bit chilly and overcast but every once in a while, the sun would come out for a quick peek.

Upon arrival, I found Lora, Sharon, and a few of their friends hangin' out. Saying hi and mingling for a bit, I went and grabbed a beer, and sought out Erin. Erin, whom I met through a mutual friend, was there standing near the bar with two of her friends, Stephanie and Bethany. I actually met Stephanie once before at the 28th Annual Greenville Avenue St. Patrick's Day Block Party. There we chatted and ate some crawfish tails before Erin had to get back home to wait for the cable guy who, subsequently, never showed up. I bounced back-and-forth between beers and friends, inside and outside.



Around 7 pm, Stephanie, Bethany, and I headed over to Texadelphia to grab some dinner. Afterwards, the girls dropped me back off at The Green Elephant and then headed off into the sunset. When I got back inside No Justice had taken the stage--they were great. I'd never heard them before, but I look forward to seeing them perform again in the future. I bumped into Lora, Carolyn, Kristin, Sharon, and friends after they returned from their dinner. There we drank and danced. Feeling overly parched from drinking too much beer (not sure how that happened), I called it an evening just before Poison Cherry came on and went outside for a cab.

There actually was a part 2 to this evening that involved Grey Goose & Red Bull, Round-Up Saloon, and a really tall transvestite, but that story is for another time.

April Pint Nights at the Ginger Man

Pint Nights are every Tuesday starting at 6 pm. If you buy the beer of the day you get to keep the logo glass.

April 3rd - Sapporo glasses
April 10th - St. Arnold Brown glasses
April 17th - Warsteiner glasses
April 24th - Czechvar glasses

28th Annual Greenville Avenue St. Patrick's Day Block Party

On Saturday, March 17, I introduced two of the people I'm working with from Scotland, Steven and Neil, to the greatness that is the annual St. Paddy's Day Greenville block party in Dallas. After a few hiccups trying to get started, including Neil forgetting his ID back at their corporate apartment which required a 75-minute roundtrip, Neil not being able to withdraw money from an ATM, Steven losing his cell phone in the cab on the initial ride down, and an extra-long wait for cab to the party, we arrived a few blocks away around noon with Steven carrying his magic talisman from the previous night--a golf ball (reminiscent of Tom Hanks' Wilson volleyball in Cast Away)--which was probably the only thing that kept him upright at this point.

We got there early enough that there was no line. Later I heard that the wait to get in was two hours. Yikes! Right then and there I bumped into Erin, who I had met at Laura's birthday party, and some of her friends. A few of us went into Stan's to grab some beer and cocktails. Outside on the Stan's patio, I bumped into my friend Daniel and his family and friends. We finished our drinks, headed outside, and made our way towards Hurricane Grill.



Soon after I lost Steven and Neil for about an hour. I bumped into a few others I knew and got distracted. I did a minor loop outside and walked around Stan's before taking a stab at checking out the Dubliner. We stayed there awhile on the outside patio chatting with some giant, talking beer cans and admiring the scenery.



Coming upon 6 pm, the block party was coming to a close and mounted police organized on the south side of Greenville to begin to clear the streets of pedestrians and reopen the street to traffic. Steven, Neil, and I walked over to my friend Carrie's house to meet up with the rest of the remaining for some drinks and a brief respite from the Greenville chaos.

Around 9 pm we headed from there to the last party in Uptown near State and Clark. There we enjoyed conversation, music, beer, wine, cocktails, queso, snacks, and a great view of downtown Dallas from the rooftop.



Around 2 am we grabbed a cab and headed for my place to watch the 2007 Australian Grand Prix. Being a bit tired, I fell asleep with 7 laps to go and didn't wake up until Kimi Räikkönen was giving his victory interview.

The next morning, we got up and headed to Bread Winners around 10 am. None of us ordered mimosas or bloody marys and opted instead for juice. Steven's hands were shaking badly so we got him a straw. There we all got a bite to eat before heading back up towards Oklahoma to drop the Scots off at their corporate apartment in the middle of nowhere.

All-in-all, it was a fantastically great time. The weather was great--sunshine interspersed with clouds to cool things off. I was fortunate to bump into tons of people I knew, many who I had not seen in a year or so. One of the best block parties I've been to in a long time! Looking forward to next year!

Hopelessly In Love with a News [Anchor]

In the past week or so while trying to find the end of the Internet again I came across Melissa Theuriau, a French journalist. Needless to say, I've pretty much fallen head-over-heels in love. If all journalists looked like that, I'd watch news all the time.


Create Your Own

One Night in Apeldoorn and the World's Your Oyster...

On December 22, I capped off my work week in Apeldoorn around 9 pm. Apparently the typical work day ends earlier and I realized that the bus stop just outside the client site had no more service for that day. Luckily I spotted another bus traveling nearby and was able to figure out where that bus stop was located. I waited about 40 mins. for that one and was then on my way to the central Apeldoorn bus terminal. From there I took my connecting bus back to the hotel.



Unfortunately for me all of the restaurants in that area closed at 10 pm so I proceeded to go for a walk to try and hunt down my last dinner in Apeldoorn. I headed past a few of the restaurants I had eaten at earlier in the week and, after walking for about 40 mins., I stumbled across the city center of Apeldoorn. It was teeming with bicycles, people, and nightlife and so I explored that area.



There were two "Mexican" restaurants but I just couldn't make myself go in. I ended up eating a döner kebab at a walk-in place. It was great and reminded me off all the party nights in Spain. Why don't we have that kind of place here? I ended up going to a few bars, including Cafe on de Hook, Finnegan's Irish Pub, and Bizzy's before heading back. Finnegan's was interesting. Inside, I had a pint or more of Guinness while listening to an Irishman play "Hotel California" amidst a bunch of really drunk people, i.e. my kind of place. Most of the places started winding down around 1:30 am and I had to get up the next day to head for Amsterdam/Schiphol airport so I started my long trek back...

December Pint Nights at the Ginger Man

Pint Nights are every Tuesday starting at 6 pm. If you buy the beer of the day you get to keep the logo glass.

December 5th - Winter Koninck glasses
December 12th - St. Arnold Christmas glasses
December 19th - Pyramid Snow Cap glasses
December 26th - Chimay & Schneider glasses

October Pint Nights at the Ginger Man

Pint Nights are every Tuesday starting at 6 pm. If you buy the beer of the day you get to keep the logo glass.

October 3rd - Unibroue glasses
October 10th - Spaten Steins
October 17th - Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat glasses
October 24th - Maredsous glasses
October 31st - Mix & Match glasses

September Pint Nights at the Ginger Man

Pint Nights are every Tuesday starting at 6 pm. If you buy the beer of the day you get to keep the logo glass.

September 5th - Duvel glasses
September 12th - St. Arnold Oktoberfest glasses
September 19th - Lowenbrau Oktoberfest glasses
September 26th - Warsteiner Oktoberfest glasses

Additional Pint Nights for the month of September

September 11th - Sam Adams Ocotberfest glasses
September 13th - Paulaner Oktoberfest glasses
September 14th - Hofbrau Oktoberfest glasses
September 15th - Spaten Oktoberfest glasses

2006 Texas Chainring Massacre

On August 12, I participated in the 2006 Texas Chainring Massacre at Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville, TX. This event was a 6-hour mountain bike race around a 9-mile loop in the Lost Pines area just south of Austin, TX.

So, on Thursday, August 10, after work, I packed up my gear, including my new lighting system which I'd never used before (which arrived the day prior) and my Specialized Epic with two flat tires (recurring theme here) and headed to my hometown. During my 3-hour'ish drive, I pondered the following risks...

• I hadn't gone mountain biking on trails in over a year
  
• This was my first endurance race and my second mountain bike race
  
• This was my first time riding at Rocky Hill Ranch
  
• The race wouldn't started until 5 pm, which made the temperature at the start about 100 degrees
  
• The race wouldn't officially end until 11 pm, which meant it would be the first time I would ride at night
  

A number of people have asked the following question: What prompted you to enter this race? My responses...

• Cool t-shirt design
  
• I've always wanted to ride Rocky Hill Ranch and if I didn't make it happen, it wouldn't
  
• Why not?
  

I arrived at the race location around 3:30 pm in the blazing heat. After checking in and purchasing a 1-day NORBA race license, I retired back to my car, set up my bike stand and chair, filled my CamelBak, changed into my sexy (yeah, right) race attire, ate, and chilled to some tunes on my nano.


The race started promptly at 5 pm with a LeMans start. What is that? Well, that's what I thought. Basically, when the gun went off at 5 pm, we had to run about 1/8 mile to get to our bikes. This being a 6-hour race, the purpose is to ride as many laps as you can for 6 hours. The race was scheduled to be run from 5 - 11 pm. As long as you started your last lap by 10:59:59 pm you could finish after 11 pm.

The race started incredibly hot. Hitting the first two climbs, my heart rate hit 182. In the first mile, I felt like puking twice. In the first 1 1/2 miles, I dismounted for hike-a-bike about four times. The trail conditions were dry, loose, and sandy. The trail was not too technical and had lots of relatively smooth piney sections where I could try and recover. Fortunately my downhilling wasn't too rusty and I was able to relax, feather the brakes, and hang on for dear life. I started my third lap after 8 pm with my lighting system on. Night riding was totally different...FYI. Depth perception was gone, I could not tell whether or not the trail was hard or soft, and I was forced to look ahead at various distances depending on speed. Exhilarating and scary at the same time. Luckily, having done two laps in the daylight, by this time, I was familiar with the course. I completed my third and final lap at 10:28:20 pm. I pulled in lap times (including rest/food/hydration breaks) of 1:26:21, 1:48:10, and 2:13:49. By contrast the fastest lap time was 0:39:46 (team men) and the top solo men's finisher pulled 6 laps at 10:59:59. I finished 26 out of 32 people in the solo men's division which means...I didn't finish last this time!!!

Despite the fact that in the middle of the second and after the last lap I managed to text message a few people and tell them how hellish the ride was, I had a great time. As soon as I completed lap 3, I told the finishing table I was DONE. From there I headed straight to the beer tap to have some Remember Alamo Golden Ale, aka Real Ale Fireman's #4 Blonde Ale. "God that's good. It's so good! Once it hits your lips, it's so good." After downing a few and relaxing, I changed, loaded up, and headed back to my folks house around midnight.

On the way back, I was text messaging a friend of mine who wanted to go out dancing, but I was just too beat. Something about racing for 5 1/2 hours made me tired. Not to mention I consumed approximately 188 ounces of fluids during the race without peeing once.

Anyway, I had a fantastic time and expect to be back to Smithville, TX for the 3rd annual...

August Pint Nights at the Ginger Man

Pint Nights are every Tuesday starting at 6 pm. If you buy the beer of the day you get to keep the logo glass.

August 1st - Spaten glasses
August 8th - Blue Moon glasses
August 15th - Young's glasses
August 22nd - Mix & Match glasses
August 29th - DeKoninck glasses

Out Of Order

to all concerned,

sorry. i have been engaged on a project from january until now (june 16). i am starting to roll off the engagement so my hours have become much more manageable. at the peak i was working up to 112 hours/week and supporting one project monday through friday and flying to charlotte, nc to support another project friday through sunday. needless to say, i lost touch with most, if not all of my friends...

hopefully...in the coming days and weeks, i can reconnect...

toshi

My Second Visit to Charlotte

On a recovery Sunday at 2 pm on March 26, I was pinged on IM by one of my practice directors. Due to an emergency at one of our current engagements they needed me in Charlotte for a few days (Monday - Wednesday). That being said, I booked a plane ticket and hotel and jumped on the 5:30 pm flight bound for Charlotte.

After landing, I got cleaned up and headed back to my old stomping ground, Morehead Street Tavern where I met up with Charlie and Chris to catch up over some dinner and drinks before heading into the client site the next morning.



Below is a photo of the client site (see blue arrow) from my hotel room.



On the day I was scheduled to leave, I ended up open-ending my return ticket and checking back into the Westin Charlotte. I should've known better but I only packed for four days. All I can say about that is hotel laundering service can be a wonderful thing. I ended up staying for the next nine days. Fortunately I did get to bip home for the weekend before heading back up on Sunday to stay until Wednesday. This time I actually did make my flight! I was really hoping to be able to go out the weekend I was in Charlotte, but we were up working until 4:30 am and 2:00 am on Friday and Saturday night, respectively. Also, in the fifteen days I was here we pulled two all-nighters (well...one ended around 5:30 am, but the sun was up before I went to bed so that counts, dammit) along with other miscellaneous long days.

On Tuesday, my last night (this time) in Charlotte, Charlie, Chris, Cesar, and I started the evening around 7:45 pm. We had dinner at Tavern on the Tracks. From there we went to Attic Bar and Brick & Barrel before ending up at Phil's Deli.



The bartenders at Phil's are definitely attractive! Phil's was packed (considering a Tuesday night) and we closed it down leaving sometime just before 2:30 am. Scott and Drew joined us around midnight for more beers, cocktails, and shots.



I was hoping to stop by and say goodbye to Tracy at Morehead Street Tavern but we just didn't get to. Until next time, then...

April Pint Nights at the Ginger Man

Pint Nights are every Tuesday starting at 4 pm. If you buy the beer of the day you get to keep the logo glass.

April 4th - Belhaven glasses
April 11th - Anchor glasses
April 18th - Breckenridge 471 IPA glasses
April 25th - Maredsous glasses

20th Borden Uptown Run & Trolley Walk

On a beautiful, sunny 41-degree day in March, I competed in the 5-Mile Uptown Run. The day only reiterated that this is indeed the best run I have ever taken part in--better than the Dallas Turkey Trot, Keep Austin Weird 5K, Capitol 10K, and many, many others.

Live entertainment was provided by Lacy Jade, who sang one of the most amazing renditions of the National Anthem--no frills, no added crap, just pure, unadulterated and heartwarming.

After locating the beer tent, I wandered about until I bumped into some of my running girls.



The race started at 8:15 am. According to my Polar HRM, I finished in a PR 43:50 finishing with the following mile times: 8:32, 8:40, 9:22 (estimated), 9:22 (estimated), and finishing with a 7:52. How did I feel? I felt great for the first 500 yards or so, then I started to feel a bit nauseous. I had to take two water stops over the course of the event. In between miles 1 and 2, I did stop for about 15-20 seconds to chat with my friends Kristian and Quince, who were doing the 5K Trolley Walk.

After the race, I regrouped with the girls, stretched a bit, and then headed to the beer tent to enjoy some nice, cold cups of Michelob Ultra. I quickly snagged two full cups and camped out. Kristian and Quince showed up a few minutes later followed by Eric and Ivan. There was also a special guest appearance by Emylie and Zorah.



We headed down to the race course to watch the elite runners compete in the Minyard Invitational 8K road race for $10K.



I was dropped off at my car around 11:30 am. Realizing I was in absolutely no condition to drive, I walked back to the grounds to enjoy more beer and see who else I could bump into. I ran into Jim and his girlfriend, a competitor in the elite race. I met some of their friends and chatted the time away. At one point, Lacy Jade came over after finishing her set and enjoyed a beer with us.

Clearly some of the spectators had a bit more fun than I did...FYI...



Anyway, my friend Brandon came over and gave me a lift and we went to go get something to eat at Dream Café. Afterwards, he dropped me of at home so I could pass out in peace.

Again the day was absolutely fantastic. The weather, the music, the crowd, the beer, everything!!!

Looking forward to next year!!!

March Pint Nights at the Ginger Man

Pint Nights are every Tuesday starting at 4 pm. If you buy the beer of the day you get to keep the logo glass.

March 7th - Spaten Brau Bock glasses
March 14th - Murphy's glasses
March 21st - Unibroue glasses
March 28th - Mix & Match glasses