Worn out

Wow, am I ready for bed already! Its been a very busy weekend, to say the least.

Friday afternoon, Kelly’s parents arrived to spend the weekend with us. We all went out to Royal India for dinner Friday evening. The next morning Kelly and I fixed breakfast for everyone before we headed downtown to watch the house moves.

The first house was already across the street and the second was just crossing the road by the time we got there around 10:30. They didn’t move much for the next hour, though we were there for one spectacular tire-blowing. Bam! That thing blew up like a bomb! Of course, the blown tire meant all the work had to grind to a halt while the tire was replaced. Having the patience of a saint must be a job requirement of house movers.

From the house moving, I went over to my boss’s Oakwood home to join my coworkers for “competition” in the Triangulator scavenger hunt. We walk and rode over to Halifax Mall, where I said hello to the Independent’s Bob Geary and was surprised to meet my former coworker, Justis Peters. Justis and his friend Jason Peck (founder of the North Hills Buzz blog) joined our “Drunken Penguins” team and after some meaningless planning, we set off for Haywood Hall to “meet John Heywood.”

At Haywood Hall, “John Haywood” greeted us in period garb and told us all about his checkered history here as the state’s first treasurer. “John” was played by a guy named Tony who was apparently well-known to members of my team. He must have not appreciated me being there as there were a few historical facts I felt obligated to correct him on. That’s what I get for editing Wikipedia! (Actually, I need to actually create a Wikipedia entry on Haywood Hall as that’s one notable Raleigh landmark with no entry).

From Haywood Hall we moved on towards the center of downtown, ostensibly to meet a “downtown ambassador” as the clue read. In reality, this meant meeting downtown’s biggest ambassador, Greg Hatem, at his bar The Times. We quaffed pints of tasty beverages in the cool of the bar while declaring our indifference to our score in hunt. The team then stumbled out to find the next landmark (or pretend to, anyway) while I wandered back home to visit more with the family.

As I reached City Market on my way east I spied a young man named Julian, sitting with a sketchbook and a sign that read “I do caricatures.” The seat in front of him was empty so I sat down for a sitting. I walked away with a fine caricature, a (slightly) lighter wallet, a line of people waiting for the kid to do them, and a feeling that I helped a kid along in his art career. A well-spent five minutes, in my book.

A short while (and lunch) after returning home and Kelly and I were out again to go to a friend’s 40th birthday dinner. Great fun was had by all. Nice doing something adult every now and then.

On the way back to Raleigh, Kelly and I opted to wander around downtown. Downtown Live was holding its last concert of the year and Moore Square was a mob scene for miles around. Skipping the outrageous $7 parking in city-owned lots, we walked from state parking lots into the concert area.

It seemed a sea of drunks, as far as I could tell. Wall to wall people. We wove our way through the crowds wondering how close we would to the inevitable fight that would break out. I breathed a sigh of relief when we made it to the exit without getting knifed. It wasn’t our kind of music, either. Maybe we’re getting old but it just wasn’t our scene.

Downtown wasn’t all bad, though. I showed Kelly the new Marriott and we discovered a cool bar I’d always walked by but never visited: Fayetteville Street Tavern. The Tavern has big historical photos on the wall, an unpretentiousness crowd, a pool table, and cheap but good beer ($2.75 Sierra Nevadas) – all on the same block as my building. I’ll be visiting the Tavern again soon, methinks.

Went to bed around 11 but woke up at 2:30 feeling hungry. Didn’t get to sleep again until around 4. Woke up again at 8. Big breakfast again, then visiting with Kelly’s parents. Approaching lunchtime we tried out the High Park Bar and Grill on E. Whitaker Mill Road. While I can see it would be a great sports bar, it wasn’t ideal for a Sunday lunch. The menu was anything but heart (or vegetarian) friendly, though the staff went out of their way to accommodate us. Worth a look once football season starts, anyway.

We got back from there and went to the pool for the last day of the swimming season. We had a good time though we didn’t close it down. I don’t know if the kids got bored or cold or what, but we left with a good half-hour before closing. Some of the other patrons were causing a commotion and that added some to our early departure.

In between all of this I’ve been geeking out, trying to find the magic Linux formula for converting my DVDs to a format for watching on our newly-acquired Ipod Video Nano. I’ve gotten close, but not quite what I want. The quest goes on.

Now the kids are in bed, I’m blogging, and a good night of sleep is in my future. School starts tomorrow and once again I’ll have the privilege of walking Hallie to school. It should be a week filled with discovery.

Update: Its Haywood Hall, not “Heywood,” as my lovely editor wife pointed out.