January 2010 Snow
Friday afternoon, we encountered a winter storm that loaded us up with a nice amount of snow. It's been interesting reading all my friends posts on Facebook about the snow during the last 24 hours. Forecasts get blown out of proportion rather quickly and there are runs on the grocery stores for milk and bread at the first whispers of snow by the television meteorologists. People in the south are terrified of the prospects of getting snowed in. We rarely get more than 10" of snow, and snowfalls that deep are rare as well. This snow didn't amount to that much. Facebook friend reports in my immediate area reached a whopping 12". I got about 6 or 7 inches in my yard, if even that much. I definitely enjoyed the day though. I went to a friend's house this morning and participated in his homebrewing session and watched some fun sledding in his yard, which is on a very steep slope!
A Snow Day
It's been snowing all day here and supposed to keep snowing into tomorrow sometime. I'm not sure how much we will get, but we had about 6 inches or so by 7:30pm. I decided not to venture out in MY car because none of the roads in my neighborhood or surrounding areas had been cleaned at all. This little car just isn't cut out for that, but hopefully by tomorrow I'll be able to get out without much worry. My friend Rob picked me up and we went to the Olde Hickory Tap Room for a couple hours to hang out and have a few cold beers...
The beer and company is always good here... and it's always nice and warm...
Outer Banks – Day One
We left Hickory this morning at about 7am. We didn't plan to move too quickly since our hotel had a 4pm check-in time. We stopped for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel and then set out for the 380 mile trip to Nags Head. It rained most of the trip, and was cold, windy, and rainy in Nags Head. It was not a total loss though... Our hotel has a heated indoor pool and a rather large hot tub, so we partook in the goodness of those amenities for a few hours.
Dinner time rolled around so we went out looking for a place to eat. We stumbled across a place called Bob's Grill. We couldn't pass up a place with a slogan like "Eat and Get the Hell Out!" After a Philly Cheese Steak and some fries, we rode down to check out the Bodie Island Lighthouse. It was operating but there are no lights on the lighthouse itself. We're planning to hit that tomorrow, as well as the Currituck Lighthouse and the aquarium. I'm not sure what else we are going to do tomorrow, but we might visit the Wright Brothers Memorial and Jockey Ridge State Park as well.
What A Ride
Jeez... it's been a long hard road. Going back to college at my age has been a real ride if you know what I mean. A two-year degree in Radiographic Technology really takes three years to complete since they have prerequisites that must be met before entering the program. In my prerequisite year, I had to take two semesters of Anatomy & Physiology, which lays the fundamental framework for everything else I have done in this program. That, along with a couple other miscellaneous classes managed to land me a spot in the program at Catawba Valley Community College. The other minor hurdle was that this program only accepts 10 students each year. Since several hundred students apply each year, I had no idea if I would get accepted or not. Getting accepted into the program is largely based on academic merit, so having a 4.0 GPA put me in a position where failure to be accepted would have been for some reason other than my grades. Luckily, I did get accepted into the program on my first application.
After being accepted, I spent two more years working my way through the program. Being a part of this program was totally enjoyable. The workload was quite heavy and I haven't had a good night's sleep during the school week during this two years, but Friday is the big day. I'll be finished. I'm graduating with high honors and I'm scheduled to take my registry exam on May 19th.
In reality, I'm not finished. I have to, somehow, find a job in x-ray in this tough economy. Wish me luck :)
The Freakster Bunny
I'm not sure what it is about this specific Easter Bunny, but it's just freaky. I was out at L.P. Frans Stadium early for today's game between the Hickory Crawdads and the Bowling Green Hot Rods. Kids had been invited to the park early for an Easter egg hunt, and this is the bunny that hosted this event... I was sitting down in the front row just to the third base side of home plate when I noticed the bunny walking the mid-level concourse, so I spun around and made a quick photo.
The Hickory Crawdads finished up their first four-game home series with at 3-1 record, which puts them in a 4-way tie for first place in the division. They hit the road tomorrow for a 4-game series with Greenville and then another 4-game road series with Asheville before returning home again...
Gail’s Hops and Grapes
I have recently discovered a little shop in Hickory that nicely scratches a constant itch of mine... My recent re-entry into the hobby of home brewing my own beer has also re-kindled my interest in good beer. Hickory, North Carolina is definitely not a beer cultural center of any kind, and in the past it has been quite difficult to find a source of good beer in the area. Gail's Hops & Grapes is a place that caters to my interest in fine beer. Their specialty is probably a little more on the wine side of alcoholic beverages, but their micro and craft beer inventory is outstanding as well. I'm going to have a great time working my way through their beer inventory one bottle at a time. It's going to take a while though. They have beers in single bottles ranging in price from about $2.50 or so all the way up to about $20. I can afford an occasional top-shelf beer though :) Gail's also has free wine tastings every Thursday evening, so stop by and check them out if you get a chance.
Gail's doesn't have a website. There is some sort of presence available on MySpace, but it's not really a good web front for a shop of this nature.
R.I.P. John Updike
I was saddened to hear that John Updike passed away today at the age of 76. I had the pleasure of photographing Mr. Updike at a Visiting Writers Series lecture on the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne College (now Lenoir-Rhyne University) on November 16, 2006. Mr. Updike read selected passages from some of his works and entertained questions from the audience...
A Free Day
It doesn't happen very often. In fact, I can't remember the last time it did. Today was one of those days where I had absolutely nothing to do and some money in my pocket (not the jingling kind). I decided to make a trip down to Charlotte to go see an IMAX film at Discovery Place. I had never seen an IMAX film and it didn't cost too much to go, so I jumped in the car and went for a ride.
Speaking of free...
Charlotte, the smallest big city in the country, has recently added light rail transportation to their ongoing list of entitlements and money-losing endeavors. I like the train though. It's a single north/south line from I-485 up into the middle of town. All of the stations below a certain point have free parking, which can save you a good bit of money in Charlotte. If your final destination isn't too far from the rail line, it's very convenient to ride the train instead of driving into town and parking in a deck.
I paid $3.00 for a single round trip pass today. That's pretty comparable to the fares in DC, NYC, Chicago, and Atlanta. The problem is that I didn't actually need to pay the fare. I should have ridden for free. All of these rail stations are open-air stations that you just walk up to. None of them are underground. As you walk up to the boarding platform, if you look close enough, you will see a small ATM-like box that will sell you ride fares for the train trip. If you don't notice this kiosk, it's no big deal. Just walk onto the platform and get on the train when it stops. There are no turnstiles or fare collectors to be seen. Once you are on the train, there is no one asking to see your tickets. Once I was on the train today, I happened to notice the list of rules for passengers posted above the exit door. Rollerskating and expectorating on the train is not allowed. You aren't supposed to smoke either. I think the last rule on the list said something about riders are required to purchase fare. In fact, I'm sure it was the last rule on the list. When I was ready to make my return trip to the station where I parked, I made it a point to watch people coming onto the platform to see if anyone was purchasing fare or not. Out of 25 or 30 people that came on after I did, I saw one of them purchase fare. Some of them may have purchased day or week passes. In fact, I'm pretty sure that everyone probably did this ;)
Signs are good for us. They tell us what to do and what not to do. Otherwise, we would all be screwed. This particular sign made me think a good bit though. What, you may ask, did it make me think about? It made me wonder about the guy or gal who decided it was a necessary addition to this train station.
Where does it end?
I haven't seen any Hannah Montana car tires, power tools, condoms, cigarettes, whiskey, tampons, or water bongs yet, but I'm sure they will be here soon enough. My girlfriend and I joke a lot about Miss Montana every time we go to Walmart. It seems like you can't go down a single aisle of that store without finding something with the Hannah Montana brand on it. She occasionally buys me a gag gift of something to do with Hannah Montana. I recently got a collection of ball point pens, a dog tag neck chain, and today I was provided a bottle of hand sanitizer. I'll actually use the hand sanitizer as long as no one sees me do it, but would I have bought it for myself? I don't think so :)