I’m still kicking. I’ve just not had much time or incentive to blog lately. Life is still good, however.
Maybe I’ll have more to say tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Checking In
A catch-all, catch-up post
There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 44 of 114).
Sweltering day
It was a traditional sweltering late-spring day in Raleigh today. The temperature reached 96 degrees today, and with a 70 degree dewpoint it was miserably hot and humid. Fortunately there was a steady breeze all day, which made Hallie’s outdoor birthday party at Mordecai Mini Park bearable for all.
After the party I felt as if it was already 5 o’clock. The heat drained the energy from me! All I wanted to do this afternoon was take a long nap in the cool of the house but my dad wanted to get some commentary from me and Kelly about our late friend, Gerry. So we drove over there and visited, spending some time talking on camera about Gerry. Kelly did her part and left for her supper club and the kids and I enjoyed spending more time with my parents.
Now it’s a little after 9 PM and I think I’m not going to be awake much longer! I understand tomorrow will be cooler, which is good because I’m not a big fan of days like today!
Happy birthday, Hallie!
Today is Hallie’s eighth birthday. Hard to believe it’s already here. She enjoyed a birthday pancake this morning, popsicles at school, opening her presents, and checking out the new Raleigh amphitheatre.
Tomorrow the festivities continue with the actual party, Hallie’s violin recital, and dinner with Kelly’s parents.
Return to Carowinds, part 2
Hallie and I met up with Kelly and Travis after Hallie and I got off Thunder Road. We then headed back to our car to eat lunch. We thought we might go from there to the water side of the park (Boomerang Bay) but decided there were a few more coasters to be ridden before that. So we left our swimwear in the car and went back into the park.
Our first order of business was to cool off! It was now after 1 PM and the low overcast skies had now given way to hot sun. Thinking we could cool off at Rip Roarin’ Rapids, we reached the ride entrance only to find out it would be an hour wait. I smirked at this, as this has been the case with Rip Roarin’ Rapids since the first summer it opened. Some things never change. Rather than waste an hour for this ride, we split up again. This time Hallie would take Kelly on Thunder Road while I went with Travis to ride the “helicopters,” also known as Woodstock’s Whirly Birds.
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Return to Carowinds
Arriving at Carowinds
As much as I like roller coasters, and for all the fun I had working at Carowinds in 1985, you would think I would’ve found time to make the drive from Raleigh to Charlotte for a weekend of fun at the park. For whatever reason, though, I’d never done it. My last visit was in 1994, two years after I moved to Raleigh. Though it went largely unfulfilled, my love for coasters lived on. Now that I’ve got a wife and kids who are old enough to appreciate it I figured it was a good time to make the pilgrimage.
We hit the road a little around 6:45 this morning for the three-hour drive to the park. Traffic was light and the ride was easy. We got there right on time, rolling into the Carowinds lot minutes after the park opened at 10. After some thorough applications of sunscreen we headed for the South Gate, with the new Intimidator ride looming over us.
Carowinds now searches bags and runs its visitors through metal detectors. This was a sign of the times but quite effortless. We handed the attendant our preprinted tickets and made it through the gate with no problems.
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Triathlete!
This morning Kelly achieved a goal she’d been working on for months: she completed a triathlon! She raced in the Ramblin’ Rose triathlon at the Baileywick YMCA, in the pouring rain I might add. Her parents drove down to see her and we and the Battaglias cheered her on every time she passed us.
It was great watching her do this. Inspiring, even. I suppose there’s nothing stopping me from doing something similar.
East CAC success
I conducted yet another successful East CAC meeting last night. We had about 25 people in attendance: not bad for a day of non-stop rain.
This time around, the streaming video worked flawlessly to carry video (and sound!) to an audience of five. Unfortunately, for reasons I’m still trying to fathom LiveStream did not save a copy of my meeting as it usually does. I’ll have to figure out why.
Next month, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker is on the agenda to discuss growth in East Raleigh. It should be interesting!
Engine 1792 makes it home
NCDOT Engine 1792
I found out today that the NCDOT’s Amtrak Engine 1792 made it back to Raleigh. It and the coaches involved in Thursday morning’s collision in Mebane were sitting back in the NCDOT yard this afternoon. Travis and I snapped photographs from outside of the yard gate.
From the reader-submitted photographs taken at the scene the damage looked worse than it did in person. We were seeing the right side of the power unit (the side that didn’t burn) but from what we saw it looked salvageable. It was sitting on its own trucks, so the frame may not have been bent after all – at least to the extent that I thought.
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A special walk home
I met Kelly and the kids at Hallie’s school to hear an update from the teacher on Hallie’s progress. I left smiling when her teacher called her “phenomenal,” but little did I know I wasn’t done with hearing good things. I decided to forgo hitching a ride home with Kelly in the van in keeping with my carpooling experiment today and opted instead to walk the 1/2 mile home. Travis decided to join me, so together we walked up the hill back to our house.
As we walked, we chatted about lots of things. He wanted to hold my hand and so we walked up the hill hand-in-hand. As the conversation continued, he said something that made me remark “that wouldn’t be my favorite thing.”
“You know what’s my favorite thing?” he asked as we kept walking. “My love for you.”
All I could say was “awwww” and returned the compliment. It was so sweet to hear but as I thought about it later I only appreciated it more. Travis will often tell someone he loves them but it’s rare that he offers it the way that he did.
His hand in mine, the pleasant walk, and words that would make any father proud: it doesn’t get much better than this.
Carpooling
A few months ago a new guy named Rob started as a contractor in my department at work. I discovered later that he lives a half-mile away from me, so it got me thinking about carpooling with him instead of driving myself every day. I mean, if you can’t make carpooling work when you both work in the same department and live within walking distance of each other, you can’t make any carpooling work. So, we discussed it yesterday and decided that today we would carpool.
How did it go? Outstanding! Rob met me right on time and we breezed through morning traffic, arriving early in fact. I never missed my car at work today, and when it became time to go home we both left our desks at the same time. It couldn’t have gone any easier.
I enjoy my job but the biggest headache is the commute. If I can continue to carpool, it will make my commute a lot more interesting and I might save a few bucks, too. Pretty good deal!