Lack of Wisdom (teeth) August 4, 2009

Yesterday I had my wisdom teeth removed.  Happily, and despite the many stories I’d heard to the contrary, it was uneventful.  I had two teeth that were in (the uppers) and two teeth that were impacted (lowers) so I received IV sedation.  Having never been “put under” before, I was definately more than a little bit nervous but it all happened so fast!  As soon as that needle was in I felt very, very sleepy and next thing you know, it was all over.

Jennifer had been roped into babysitting me yesterday, and she did a great job!  In the morning, while I was nervous, her deliberate stream of chatter made me distracted.  After surgery she did a great job of keeping me hydrated, and bought me puddings to eat (yes, I am on an all dairy diet right now {ice cream, ice cream], thought hopefully today I can eat a really soft avocado/peach I have waiting).  Also she helped time my ice packs and thanks to that the swelling today is not so much.  I owe you a big one, Jennifer!!

The only drugs I am on are Lodine (sort of like taking 8 advil at once) and a anti biotic.  Though I woke up early this morning in extreme pain, its not un livable and the workaholic in me will go to work.  My mom and Chris both told me the surgery was not a big deal so I made all these plans for work this week.   Maybe dumb, but we’ll see.

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts and words. It did the trick and here is hoping for a speedy recover AND the ability to eat lobster this weekend in Maine!!

Joys of summer July 9, 2009

A few things that are good about this July, and the month of July in general:

-This weekend the free live show in downtown Raleigh is Joan Jett

-I am going to a Durham Bulls game. I want a Q Dog!  For those of you uninitiated, a Q dog is a foot long hot dog topped with nc barbeque.

-Last weekend we went to the mountains and it was so nice, we rented bikes and biked through the Smokies and on the way back I was all hot and sweaty so I jumped in a creek.

-I ended up buying a lovely new mountain bike which is so fancy but best of all fits me.

-Ribs and beer.

-Eating outside.

-Next week I am going to Bald Head Island for work!

-Riding the bike trails at Lake Crabtree.

-Freezing in my office and then walking outside and thawing out.

-My niece is going to be born any day now.

NC State Government February 26, 2009

I frequently wish I were an NC native (I think it gives me more clout when I deal with folks from “out in the county” and their bird issues) but I am not.   This means that I did not learn about the ins and outs of how NC State government works, well, until very recently.  There are some weird things in this government, I have to tell you.  It works in mysterious ways, indeed.  I write this post not as a criticism (I have to be nice, since they are my employer, and for the most part treat me pretty well) and frankly, I do not envy the legislature their jobs in these tough economic times.

First of all, this was in the news yesterday:

The state faces a cash-flow crunch every spring until corporate income tax payments are made on April 15, officials said. The emergency fund would help cover expenses until then, they said.

Really?  In the 200 + years of State Government they haven’t figured out how to work around this?

Secondly, we two houses in our assembly, just like the Federal government.  We also operate on a two year cycle.  Did you know that our two houses take turns making our budget (every two years)?  One year the senators, one year the representatives.  Maybe most states do that.  I guess its more efficient?

The House of Representatives is presided over by a Speaker, who is elected from the ranks.  Its been the same guy for a long time.  The speaker has these meetings with all the committee chairs where they hash everything out, and so by the time it goes to vote in the House, there is no dissent in the ranks.  Now that is control!

Thirdly, in the ranks of state employees, we have temporary employees. Lots and lots.  They are paid hourly and receive no benefits. A few years ago, some temps in a different decision sued the state, saying, you can’t keep us as temps forever and the courts agreed.  Well, the state found a loophole.   Our temps, even part time, have to take a month off, without pay,  every year.  I have a guy who works for me 12 hours a week.  Even he has to take a month without pay! Pretty tricky, I tell you.

Finally, a message to the governor and powers that be:  as you eye personel cuts, may I reccomend instead either doing what California did (going to a 4 day workweek) or having all state employees take an unpaid furlough?   It works with the temps….

Never ending home improvement project February 18, 2009

Owning a home is a blessing and a curse.  Its a blessing, because its pretty fun to not have loud neighbors and play around with the yard and paint any color you feel like, but its also a curse in that when the HVAC goes out you can’t just call the landlord.

That being said,  we are in the final throes (I hope) of a project.  Chris and I have done a lot to our house, a late 1950’s ranch, and with the exception of the pool removal project this one wins at 7 weeks so far.  Though, I do think its going to look great now that it is done!  And, the things we changed we had always wanted to change (does anyone love popcorn ceilings?  I didn’t think so).

Last fall we had a leak (note: when your ceiling randomly buckles, that means you have a problem).  Now, we new that a new roof was going to have to happen in 2009 or 10, but we didn’t know it was going to be 2008.  So yeah, first of all, replace the roof.  We had professionals do this.   But, we still had a cracked ceiling and a bucked parquet floor.  Finally by January we had enough cash on hand to start this.  We finished this past weekend.

Step one, empty room of furniture.

Step 2: remove ceiling

ceiling removal

Ceiling removal

Step 2:  Remove floor

floor removal

Step 3 put up new ceiling, which is quite a long process, over two weeks with a lot of help from in laws and co workers (thanks everyone)!

we bought ribs and beer after this!

Next, swap old light fixture for new light fixture

old ugly light

here ’tis!

Next, install cool new cork flooring

cork flooring from Lumber Liquidators

Now for the hard part: crown molding (baseboards = easier)

Crown molding installation

Finally, touch up paint and then you are done.

Chris painting trim!

Thanks so much to those who helped us:  Shawn, Paul, Ben, and especially Chris’s dad!

Finished product

YAY!

Other view

Lookin' Good

Final BBQ tour post January 31, 2009

….so then we arrived in Austin.

Austin is just as cool as everyone has ever told you, if not more so.   Julia and I made multiple jokes about how every indie looking person we saw was thinking about or working on their screenplay.   The city has  gotten to be quite large, but the fact remains that you can do lots of neat stuff there and eat a bunch off good food and it has not lost its small city feel.

We went out drinking twice, once to a bar called the Ginger Man, which is mostly outdoors.  I had a great local brew there (well, Houston) called St. Arnold.  Most bars and restaurants  in Austin are outdoors, or have large patios, and did I mention it was 75 degrees nearly every day? The second time we went out was Saturday, when we saw some good local bands:  Built by Snow and Hollywood Gossip at Club De ville, which is a neat outside venue built into a cliff face (so, the backdrop to the band is…a cliff face, its very nifty).

We went birding with a nice retired teacher name Marilyn who I found through a great website called birdingpal.  You type in where you are going and it gives you a list of locals willing to take you birdwatching.  She took us to some neat local parks (one great thing about Austin is you go about 15 minutes out of the city and you are in the middle of nowhere).  One of the parks, Hamilton Pool, features a large grotto that you can swim in!  I bet its nice in summer. I saw some birds I had not seen in 10 years, Lesser Goldfinch and Golden-fronted Woodpecker, and also a lifer, the Ladder-backed Woodpecker.

The food in Austin is fantastic,, and we branched out from the Barbecue.  Some of the culinary highlights include:  El Chile (the Chile Relleno is a work of art!), Kerbey Lane Cafe, and the amazing Uchi, which has to be the most interesting Japanese restaurant I have ever been too.  We had rice with amber jack sashimi, Benito flakes, and an egg yolk served in a 400 degree bowl.  You stir it and it all gets cooked and is amazing.  I think if I lived in Austin I would eat there every day.

Austin has about a zillion miles of green way, and we spent my last full day hiking around.  I think we went about 6 miles in the city.  And we did some shopping and eating, too!

One thing I have to tell you is that if you find yourself in the Austin Airport, get a brisket sandwich from the Salt Lick!  Best Brisket Sandwich ever!

Barbecue Tour Part II January 29, 2009

Reid once told me not to speed driving through Louisiana, because the cops are out in full force, and then went on to comment that I probably just shouldn’t even stop in LA if I could help it.  Well, we stopped, spent the  night, and even did some birdwatching.   I think we are OK, but then, both mine and Julia’s typhoid and hep A/B shots are up to date.   Our trip continued with a drive through Alabama, Mississippi (where we did not stop) and into Louisiana.  We spent the night in Lafayette, where I realized one flaw in our “BBQ only plan”.  I love Cajun food more than BBQ, and when given the choice I say bring on the crawdads.   So, we ate Cajun that night.

The place we ate is called the Blue Dog Cafe and it was tasty and the bartender well versed in his bourbon.  In fact, maybe too well versed.  Anyway, it was one of those “draw on the paper tablecloth places, so here are some photos of the bisque we had with our artwork

Julia's artwork

OK, I can’t put my artwork (wordpress is smarter than me) in but maybe I will put it in later.  Anyway, the next morning we did a mini bird trip to Cypress Island Preserve and saw a Rusty Blackbird, but we didn’t stay too after that and headed down the road and into Texas.

We arrived without incident in Austin at about 5pm.

more next!

Barbecue and Brown Liquor Tour 2009 Part 1 January 28, 2009

Well, its been a while since my last post, for which I apologize, but my pal Julia and I drove to Texas.  She has a new, kick butt job out there, teaching UT Austin students, and I went with her to help conquer the miles between Raleigh and Austin as well as eat a bunch of barbecue, Cajun food, and Tex Mex.  Oh yeah, and look at some birds.

We left on Monday January 19, escaping Raleigh before the 6 inches of snow.  After much pre-trip debating, we decided to avoid the cold weather and drive via Atlanta and the deep south instead of through Tennessee.

We hit the road with a very full car on Monday, and had an uneventful day.  A few highlights we saw included the SC Gaffney Peach, in front of which a “Fats” restaurant has been built.   The “Fats” sign is now alarmingly close to the peach, which already looks like a giant behind anyway.  Further down the road we saw a big fake pirate ship on the ground in front of a tent near a church.  The ship had torn up black sails.  We didn’t know what those baptists were up too.  In Greenville SC we saw the California Dreaming restaurant, which is shaped like a castle and used to have a moat though now its a parking lot. Later on we passed “Quaker Steak and Lube” and then made our first barbecue stop.  Hickory Wind Barbecue.   We were disappointed with the dry pulled pork sandwiches we had, but chalked it up to the fact that maybe you just shouldn’t order pulled pork when you are in a state that is not NC.

Hickory Wind BBQ

Our first tourist stop was about 5:30 in Tuskegee, home of the Tuskegee airmen, the first group of African American Pilots who fought in WWII and the Tuskegee Institute.  We did a drive by of the school, founded by Booker T Washington, and admired the lovely architecture.  But then it got dark so we snapped a photo and continued on.

we were here!

We decided to change course again and go via Montgomery, where we finally arrived at about 7:30.  We emptied out the back seat of the car (which filled up an entire luggage cart from the hotel, which we then kidnapped into our room for the night).   We hit the streets of Montgomery to see what is going on down there, and I will tell you they were deserted!  We wandered around a bit and ate salad for dinner at a super fancy place, which was the only place open.

The beauty of Montgomery was apparent itself the next morning.  En route to the  Rosa Parks Memorial we admired many, many murals painted around the downtown area.  We had noticed them the night before but the full vibrancy of the art (not too mention how many murals there were) was amazing in the bright morning sun.  The artist was RP Adams, and google as I might, I cannot find any information about him.  The mural subjects were things like: a man with a Northern Flicker (a type of woodpecker and the state bird of Alabama) pecking the word “fool” into his forehead.   An amazingly muscular Bald Eagle holding the 10 commandments.

We were very luck at the Civil Rights Memorial and Museum, which is where we stumbled upon a free screening of the Obama Inauguration.  That was really special, to watch such an event in a location with so much history regarding the fight for Civil Rights.  There was not a dry eye in the house, including mine.

We checked out at noon and headed towards the coast, with a stop outside Greenville Alabama for barbecue at the Smokehouse.  I was convinced by the waitress to try the fried chicken, which I have to say, was fabulous. Julia had a barbecue sandwich (pulled pork, despite our misgivings)  and said it was really good, though the sauce was rather ketchupy.  The highlight of this meal was the fried green tomatoes, which were light and crispy and tart.  Good stuff!

More to follow….

And check out the photos, over here!!

Movie Review January 12, 2009

Recently Chris and I watched some good movies, that I think are worth everyone seeing.  And a few that should be avoided!

The Good:

American Teen (2008).  This documentary follows 4 high school students during their senior year in a small town in Indiana, that could really be anywhere in the US.  There is the jock, the princess, the arty chick, and the geek.  It reminds you of how high school was, but also how different it is now (the only thing worse than being dumped via text message would be being dumped face to face while the dumper is texting someone else).   The kids are all so honest: the director never makes their lives seem trivial or cartoonish. Very very good.

Man on Wire (2007).  This documentary is about the tightrope walker who walked between  the World Trade Center Towers in 1974.  Lots of amazing footage of this truly spectacular and illegal feat  (and no, he didn’t die).

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008).  Fun chick flick about the glamorous American actress and the drab, conservative “social secretary” she hires.  Francis McDormand is so amazing, and so is Amy Adams.  Great music and scenery, too.  It is set post in WWI London.

Son of Ranbow (2007).  Charming British comedy about two young boys inspired by “First Blood” to make a homemade version of their own.  The 80’s soundtrack and hair styles were really hilariously, horridly spot on.

The Bad:

Leatherheads (2008).  Even George Clooney couldn’t save this flimsy script.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).  OK, I did totally cry at the end of the movie but the extremely long length and creepy makeup and animation made it come off as a wanna be “Forrest Gump”.

The Ugly:

Tongan Ninja (2002).  We rented this because it stars Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords.  Sadly, it was not good, and only slightly funny.  If you want a kung fu spoof, watch “Kung fu Hustle”.

My favorite week November 24, 2008

Hey all, this is my favorite week of the year.  And this year it is especially awesome.  A few things that make me happy:  I love holiday weeks at work.  Everyone is a little more relaxed, and folks are happy and excited.  Secondly, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love having a feast day, where it is all about preparing food and hanging with friends and family.  I prefer it to Christmas, because I like eating better than the pressure of giving gifts.  Third, this week is my birthday.  Yay!  Fourth, my pals Christy and Jud are visiting from Atlanta and that is a lot of fun.  Finally, Friday is the Black Friday Beer festival.

I don’t know what you are doing for Thanksgiving, but you should come to my house.  My favorite local barbecue joint, Holy Smokes (they catered our wedding party for those of you that were there) are going to smoke my turkey for me.  Its going to be great!  No gravy, only barbecue sauce this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Beantown II November 15, 2008

So, anyway, our trip to Boston.

The wedding of my friends Catherine Finneran and Michael Healy took place North of Boston in the pretty historic town of Newburyport.  Chris, my pal Mary, and I drove up together on Saturday and explored a little before heading off to the wedding.  Newburyport has some good bakeries, a lovely waterfront and an old tannery that has been converted into a completely green solar powered gallery of shops and restaurants. Pretty cool!  The wedding was happy, beautiful and a great opportunity to catch up with old high school pals.

Sunday we took commuter rail back to Boston and headed over to Somerville where we stayed the next two days with my cousin Trumbull and his partner Lia.  Trum ownes Barrett Tree Service East, so if you live in the Boston area, you should hire them!  He has been doing this for years and really knows his stuff.

We continued to play tourist around the city; visited Chinatown, the waterfront, the Museum of Science, and my favorite new discovery, the MIT Museum.  A small museum near Central Square devoted to the work of professors and students of MIT, as well as some history of the university.  The exhibits were fascinating!  A large exhibit of robots, holography, and my favorite, sculptures by Aurthor Ganson, MIT artist in residence.  These charming mechanical sculptures are fascinating to look at, but also whimsical.  For example, an artichoke leaf appears to be “pulling” a large almost bicycle.  Really, really neat.  Plus, not nearly as crowded as the Boston Museum of Science.

Boston is a great place to visit; easy to access all areas of the city via the T system and very walkable.  We really lucked out that the weather was mild so we could spend so much time outside!