Friday, April 27, 2007

Charlotte



The family drove to the Queen City to enjoy some time away and visit with Erik's dad, grandmother and other relatives. Upon our arrival on Friday, we visited the the Hendrick Race Shop and the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Race Shop. It was awesome to see where they build and work on the cars, as well as seeing Jeff Gordon's four Winston Cup Trophies and Dale's seven trophies. The Dale memorabilia was special to see.

Later that evening, we went uptown and viewed the local flavor. We finished the evening at South Park Mall - Apple Store, Crate and Barrel, Sephora, Nordstrom and many other upscale and out of our price range stores. We filled our bellies at Cheesecake Factory - salmon herb salad, pulled pork sandwich, chicken tenders, some sodas and a tasty 22 oz. Yuengling.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Hello, I'm a Mac

April 2007 - A month that saw GrayStation convert to a Mac. The past couple Dells and the Sony Vaio had served us well, but Microsoft was seriously bogging us down with security updates and the like. So here we are, a MacBook Pro with a 15.4 inch widescreen, 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo, 120GB hard drive, gigabit ethernet, built in wireless and bluetooth, magnetic power adapter and a cool illuminated keyboard.

The power of advertising does work. What you see in the Apple commercials is what we feel like between the PC and Mac comparisons.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Gene

Everyday for the past several years I have seen my friend, Gene, walking the halls and floors of the Unum building. For the past who knows how long, Gene's the man who walked through two massive buildings emptying all the recycling bins, and lighting up the face of most everyone he connected with.

Everyone knows Gene - Eugene for proper, Geno for fun. He just bought a new Cadillac. He already had a nice Caddy with a license plate on the front "Single and Loving It," but this new one had it all.

Gene's a big man, a bear of a man. He's definitely a man you wanted on your side in a fight.

Gene and I officially met several years ago talking about our love for Southern cooking - bar-b-que ribs to be exact. We always had a food story for one another. He would tell me that if he were younger he would get him a bottle of "The Bull" and have at it - or maybe some "Voka."

I saw Gene almost every morning. If I walked into the Atrium cafeteria early enough, he was sitting down eating oatmeal and raisins, biscuits and gravy, eggs or some other breakfast treat.

If I saw him later in the day, he always made it a point to take off his work glove and shake my hand. I would catch up behind him sometimes and throw my arm around his back, barely reaching the other side. He would say "what's up, youngblood."

When I saw him, I was usually on my way to a meeting, but time stopped around him and the next meeting did not seem as important. If it was football season, we were talking about "dem Gawja Bulldawgs." If it were the summer, we were talking about "dem Hotlanta Braves."

I never spent more than five minutes at a time with him, as he would not let me and made sure we went on back to work.

When Gene saw me near a vending machine he would buy me a drink or offer me one. I soon made it a point to beat him to the punch and buy him a drink before he could get to me. He got the best of me one day and brought a can of Dr Pepper to my desk. I actually saved that can for a month or so because it brought a smile to my face. I bought a drink for him a couple weeks ago, when I saw him looking through his pocket for money - "Hey, man, I owe you one."

Last Thursday, I was getting ready for our weekly staff meeting. On my way to the meeting, he came around the corner and we gave our customary "pound" handshake.

As I entered the meeting room, he popped his head in and told everyone, pointing at me, "that's my main man." He proceeded to tell my fellow managers and me about his twin, Eugene - that he was NewGene and his twin brother was in the other building.

We all laughed, and he proceeded on, pushing his large cart on down the hall.

I took Friday off so Thursday was the last time I would see Gene alive.

Eugene Johnson was 71-years-old when he passed away Saturday.
Rest in peace, my man. God has the NewGene now.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Opening Day in Cincinnati

The 28-hour Opening Day Road Trip to Cincinnati

April 1 - 9:20 p.m. leave Chattanooga for Cincinnati

April 2 - 2:30 a.m. arrive in Cincinnati, sleep at a Motel 6 ($35)

8:00 a.m. wake up, it's game day!

9:00 a.m. drive through Mt. Adams and remember some good ole days

9:30 a.m. arrive on University of Cincinnati campus to tour new varsity village athletic complex -with assistance of one of Erik's Xavier classmates

10:30 a.m. standing on UC's basketball court

10:45 a.m. eat in UC's UC

11:10 a.m. visit Mark Jorgensen, Stacy's former boss at the UC Foundation

11:40 a.m. arrive on Xavier's campus and tour Cintas Center basketball arena. Met an admissions director who lives in Chattanooga, but works for X.

12:30 p.m. stop in to Busken Bakery to pick up some Reds cookies!

1:00 p.m. park in Newport, Ky and walk Purple People Bridge across the Ohio River to Great American Ball Park

1:30 p.m. enter GABP

2:05 p.m. see worst ceremonial first pitch ever - Cincinnati Mayor

2:10 p.m. Play Ball! Reds vs. Cubs

2:20 p.m. Adam Dunn 2-run HR

2:55 p.m. Adam Dunn 421 ft HR shot!

4:40 p.m. Reds 5, Cubs 1

5:30 p.m. jaunt back over Purple People Bridge

6:15 p.m. arrive at Party Source in Newport, Ky - the most alcohol in one place

7:00 p.m. arrive at Skyline Chili - regular 3-way, cheese fries, chili-cheese coneys

7:30 p.m. leave Cincinnati

April 3 - 12:40 a.m. arrive back in Chattanooga