June 2002

It's been a long day at the office and Jesse's girlfriend, Brandy, was coming to Raleigh with her friend Brooke. We swung by downtown and met them at the Flying Saucer because Brooke had never been there before. We saw them standing in the line that was going down the street and persuaded them to go to a different bar. We headed west down Hillsborough Street to the old college stomping grounds, East Village. East Village had just built a new deck so we enjoyed the scene outside, under the city lights and twinkling stars, and sipped on $1.25 Rolling Rock. The young night turned late quicker than we expected and we decided to call it a night.

The evening started at the Flying Saucer. Merri Beth, Jesse Chapman, Ryan Heaton, and myself ventured to downtown Raleigh for 'Keep the Glass Nite' at the Saucer. Tonight's featured beer was Pete's Wicked Ale Summer Brew but the featured glass was 'Pot Luck.' I guess they had some leftover glasses from other nights and were trying to clean house. We saw a mix of Foster's Lager, Maredsous 6 Breendonk, and Samuel Smith glasses floating around. We were fortunate enough to luck out with some Lindeman's glasses. The Lindeman's glass was unique because instead of a normal pint style, it had a small base with a short stem, thin cylinder, and a gold lip. In addition to that, it had a very cool series of logo's that depicted each style that Lindeman's makes, four were included on this glass.

After the Saucer, Jesse and I had visions of East Village from earlier in the week and decided it would be a good place to catch another round. So MB, Ryan, and I hopped in The Eddie with Jesse. (Note: The Eddie is Jesse's Ford Expedition with Eddie Bower interior leather.) We got to East Village and found a table out on the deck. What a beautiful night to be out in Raleigh, not too humid and a nice cool breeze was keeping us comfortable. Ryan left our company to visit with some friends that she hadn't seen in a while. When it was time to go, we told Ryan that we had decided to go down the street to Crowley's Old Favorites on the corner of Dixie Trail and Medlin Drive. She said that her and her friends would follow suit shortly. Well after we were situated at the bar my phone rang, it was Ryan. Her friend had been pulled over by RPD and was getting a DUI. She needed someone to come get her, but said to wait a little while. We relaxed at the bar and still hadn't gotten a call from Ryan. We had decided to call it a night and we enjoyed the famous Crowley's 'Chee-bits,' an appetizer that includes battered mozzarella cheese sticks and chicken tenders served with a spicy honey mustard dipping sauce. Of course, as luck would have it, my phone rings after we cut through the NC State campus and are well on our way home. Ryan needs us to come pick her up because the RPD officer won't leave until someone gets her and her friend. We back track to get them and call it a night.

Bright and early, I awake and prepared the yard for a little change, the next phase for Project Garden Electrification. I had exposed the phone cable that ran through the back yard th enight before and spray painted where the buried cable would go. I then proceeded to remove any turf/grass that I would try to save. Jesse came over around 10:30 and we headed over to Capital Blvd. to the Hertz Rental Center. We hooked up the "Dingo' to Jesse's Expedition and headed back to the house. We then cranked up the Dingo and started digging the trench. By the way, the trench is to bury my power cable to standard depth so that it does not interfere with other utilities and for other safety reasons. The Dingo worked great and we had 60 feet of trench dug in a matter of 2 hours. We returned the Dingo to Hertz and proceeded to Crabtree Mall.

Jesse and I had planned to check out the Greenways in the Crabtree Creek area because our co-worker, Dave Bunch, had been raving about them. We parked at the Crabtree Valley Mall and found the Greenway. For those interested, a list of the Greenways in the Triangle area can be found at http://trianglegreenways.com/. Jesse and I rode the Crabtree Valley Trail, Alleghany Trail, Fallon Creek Trail, North Hills Trails, Ironwood Trail, and Shelly Lake Trail. All the trails are interconnected, we crossed a total of one road the entire time on the Greenways, logged a total of 18 miles, and enjoyed the lake, creek, and greenery inside our city limits. If you live in Raleigh I highly encourage you to enjoy any Greenway that is near where you live. The Greenways provide an excellent arena for walking or biking even if you need to hop in your car to get to one. If you are interested in the Greenway program, please visit their website listed above, they are trying to get additional funding and may need support in the future. Coming up in July, they are asking for people to write letters in support of the Greenway projects to make a case for the City of Raleigh to provide additional funding so that more Greenways can be built and connected to each other. I hope anyone interested is willing to help!

On a sour note, MB and I watched the Hurricanes battle the Red Wings in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight. The momentum from Game 1 was not apparent tonight, as the Canes lost 3-1 and Detroit tied the series at 1-1 with the next game heading to Raleigh. At least the Hurricanes came away from Detroit with one win.

Another night for action packed football at the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena for the Carolina Cobras. MB and I join in the fun and check out the Carolina Cobras as the play the Arizona Rattlers. I was really looking forward to this game because the Rattlers won the AFL Championship 2 years ago. The game stayed tight the entire way through, the Cobras would match almost every time the Rattlers scored. The game was winding down and the Cobras needed 7 points to tie the game. On the last play from scrimmage, the Cobras put the ball in the end zone and kicked the extra point to tie the ball game and take the game to over time. For the AFL, overtime consists of the coin flip and then each team getting a possession with a chance to score. The Cobras won the coin toss and were looking to strike first moving the ball down the field quickly. To our dismay, an interception on the goal line turned things around. The Rattlers were able to convert and score a touchdown winning the game.

Finally a day off! The afternoon started off with a little action on the grill. I had some BBQ chicken slowly cooking over the open flames of my grill. The potato salad was ready and the corn on the cob was soaking in the sink - by the way the cheese sticks were in the oven. Pao (a co-worker) stopped over with his daughter but had prior business to attend to and couldn't stay for long. I moved the chicken around on the grill and made room for the corn on the cob, slowly cooking that too. By this time the Corona light was on ice and getting chilled. Maurice and Jesse had just arrived from Alcatel and we issued the quick tour of hotel Ramsgate. Maurice seemed pretty impressed as he has just become the proud owner of a new home not too long ago. Congrats! The chicken and corn were still on the grill as we moved the procession outside to the back deck and showed everyone the garden. Craig and Amy just made it in time to eat. We enjoy a delicious meal of 'Sonny's BBQ' chicken, potato salad, and corn on the cob - everyone was cheese sticked out already!

After dinner we moved the party to downtown Raleigh. Maurice, Jesse, Craig, Amy, MB, and I hit up the Flying Saucer where we ran into some other cool cats from Alcatel. Low and behold, good old John Lindsey a.k.a. Coach showed up with his wife Elise and then Meghan Trus joined the party. [Note: Maurice, Jesse, Craig, John, and Meghan are all co-workers from Alcatel. Amy is Craig's girlfriend and Elise is John's wife.] We had a blast! John and Elise had to leave and then Meghan decided to depart as well. The rest of us changed local to Southend Brewery where we wanted to see a band called Platform Dixxon perform during open mike night. We are fortunate enough to know the bass player Ken Fowler - who of course is another one of our co-workers in the ADSL TAC department at Alcatel. Platform Dixxon was awesome to see live, check them out at their website http://platformdixxon.com to see where they play next!

Exciting news for hibbets.net occurred today as the Ramsgate section got a fresh new look. I finally decided to give it a look of its' own since it was being viewed by neighbors and government officials. hibbets.net/ramsgate is designed to help us gain support to pave the road at the intersection near our house. Currently it is in a gravel state and is basically a huge headache for my neighbors and I. If you have any ideas or would like to help please do so by visiting the Paving the Future on Lineberry Drive section of the website.

After a hard day working on web stuff, MB and I paraded over to the E.S.A for another exciting night of Carolina Cobras Arena Football. Tonight the Georgia Force came into town and the Cobras look ready to show their fangs! Unfortunately, the Cobras run out of juice at the end of the second half as the Force score 3 touchdowns in a matter of 30 seconds and put the game mostly out of reach. The Cobras strike back but there wasn't enough venom in the bite to come away with the game. I have yet to see the Cobras win a game in the E.S.A this year, I feel like a jinx.

To celebrate the Cobras moral victory, MB and I decide to make a night out of it instead. We swing by the Saucer and meet one of the new girls, Ellen, who is way cool! We then hit up Wings to Go on Hillsborough Street for a little late night snack attack. Hot wings go best with a cold beer so we decide to swing by the Harris Teeter at Cameron Village and select an arrangement of Carib Lager and the Flying Dog Breweries 'Tire Bite.' We take everything home and then fire up the Tiki Torches on the back deck, drink beer, eat wings, and enjoy the late Spring night in Raleigh.

Stuck at Alcatel I manage to call my dad and hear about the great day he is having on the beach! I wish I were there with him, soaking up the sun and enjoying the surf. While I'm at work, MB makes the trek to Laurinburg to have a Father's Day lunch with her family. I'm glad she was able to see her dad, Jim (a.k.a. Pee Wee), Beth (mom), Jenni (sister), Lucille (grandmother) and J.T. (grandfather). What a pleasant surprise it must have been for the Blackwell's and Atkinson's to be together on such a beautiful Father's Day, I wish I could have been there!

Today started off with another tour of the Raleigh Greenways. Jesse and I ventured over near Carter Finley Stadium and The E.S.A to look for the Loblolly bike trail. We spent about 15 minutes looking around the stadium and could not find where the trail started. Well, with a little disappointment we went to plan B, Lake Shelley Trails. We headed over to Crabtree Valley Mall and got on the Greenways there. We headed north towards Lake Shelley and ended up all the on Six Forks road. We tallied 15 miles today on the bikes.

With some great exercise out of the way it was time for my first Live After Five. This event is where the city of Raleigh blocks off the Fayetteville Street Mall area and sets up a stage for a band to play. Typically, Live After Five is every other Thursday during the summer months and has been going on for years. I have never been to one before so it was about time. Each person is allowed to bring in a cooler of 6 canned beers (no bottles allowed) in their Mix 101.5 lunch cooler (or a cooler of similar size). I was amazed at how many people show up for Live After Five; and it seems like you would always bump into someone that you know. MB and I saw some guys from Alcatel and chatted with them for a few minutes. Ryan Heaton was somewhere around but we never found her. We eventually meandered into Steve and Nancy and anchored with them for the rest of the time. The band was playing great music. For more information and on Live After Five visit the website at http://www.raleighconvention.com/aaf.html.

After a hard day of working on web content for hibbet.net, I was excited that Jenni Blackwell (MB's sister) had finally made it into town. The girls had plans on going shopping and seeing Scooby-Doo and of course I wanted to go! We headed over to Crossroads 20 and got our movie tickets for the 4:45 showing of Scooby-Doo. I thought this was a great movie, it had all the classic elements of its' cartoon counterpart. After the movie we remained at Crossroads Plaza in Cary. The girls dropped me off at Best Buy while they continued on to Old Navy. The girls went nuts in Old Navy but didn't seem to spend much, however, the shoe store next store couldn't keep their purses closed! When we were done shopping (the girls eventually came over to Best Buy to get me) we headed back to the house. Jenni had never seen the movie Harry Potter so we put in the DVD and let the magic begin.

Jenni had to leave early, but that was OK. MB and I loaded up the Scoupe with all of the beach gear, my surfboard, and Dot. Since yesterday was the first day of Summer, we decided to indulge ourselves at the beach. Topsail Island was kind to me today, as the solid chest high walls were rolling in. The surf wasn't perfect, nor was it clean, but it was summer surf none-the-less. I had a blast, surfing the outer sand bar with some workable waves all by myself. MB and Dot enjoyed themselves on the beach and there was a cool ocean breeze keeping the heat off. We finally decided to call it a day and head back to Raleigh.

We had planned on going over to Nancy's house for a little fish cookout, but Steve forgot to give us directions. We ended up chillin' at the house and watched the movie Rules of Engagement with Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones. I had never seen it before and thought it was awesome! I was so stoked on movies that I ended up watching Tomb Raider when MB went to bed.

Shortly after I got up today, I was on the Internet checking the surf reports for Southern NC. I soon got a phone call from my surfing buddy Sonny. He wanted to know if I wanted to go surfing, I told him that I was already looking into it. Bottom line, Sonny came over, we packed up the Saturn, and Sonny, MB, and I headed to Topsail Island. The surf wasn't as big as it was yesterday but it was surf and I was with Sonny. We had a blast and surfed waist to chest high swell for the entire day. The wind was on it some and the tide changed the surf a little bit, but we surfed until we couldn't surf anymore. We headed back to Raleigh in the late afternoon and unpacked everything.

Later that night, MB and I decided to visit the Saucer for Carolina Pint Nite - all beers made in NC are $2.50. I sampled the Battlefield Black (a stout from Greensboro) and the Red Oak (an amber from Red Oak). MB was trying the Carolina Brewery Summer Ale. We played a couple games of pool then called it a night.

Congratulations to my sister, Katie, who has just gotten her drivers license. Look out for an N.C. State red Honda Civic roaming the streets of Kill Devil Hills and Raleigh.

Today started off with another session on the Crabtree Valley Greenways. Jesse and I rode about 16 miles on the fresh nature smelling Greenways. The thunder storms from the night before brought some much needed rain to the area. In fact, it hadn't rained for about three weeks and the city had just decided to lift it's voluntary water restrictions and make them mandatory. After the bike ride, Jesse dropped me off at the house and I started working on some web pages. For those interested, I completely redesigned the weather section of hibbets.net. The new weather section has a new look with a brand new header graphic as well as color scheme and navigation. I worked on my web pages until MB came home. We cooked up some burgers on the Foreman Grill and then headed to the Cobras Arena Football game. Jesse was supposed to attend the game with us but had to change his plans at the last minute.

Another exciting night at the E.S.A and the Cobras hosted the Orlando Predators. The game was tight the entire time until the Cobras plague came back to get them - turnovers. Our Quarterback threw an interception and the Predators converted it into a touchdown. The game started getting out of reach shortly after that. Unfortunately, the Cobras were playing for the division lead and managed to let it fall into the wrong hand. They posted a 63-54 effort, but the facts remain the same, effort only gets you a big phat "L" in the losers column. By the way, my jinx seems to be prevalent tonight.

Another crazy Saturday at the house! MB had a lot of errands to run. So had gotten new tires on the Saturn the day before and was going to get her car inspected today. I helped her check all her blinkers, brakes lights, head lights, etc. and she was off to Jiffy Lube. After that, she went to Home Depot, Food Lion, Wal-Mart and lord knows where else. MB went shopping! I elected to stay at home and complete the weather section that I had been updating for the last day or so. Today I updated all my maps and made sure all the links worked. I eventually added a sub-section entitled Storm Alert. If you have the slightest interest in Hurricanes or Tropical Storms I urge you to sign up for Storm Alert. Storm Alert will send you and email when a Storm has formed, when a storm is named, and when a storm may threaten the U.S. coastline. Sign up today.

When MB got back from all her errands we had some lunch then decided to get some work done in the yard. With the mandatory water restrictions taking effect starting June 30, 2002, we really wanted to get the pond completed. We were in luck, the rain storms from the two previous nights had really softened up the red clay where we had a 1-foot hole already started. We were able to dig another foot down into the Earth and get the required depth for the pond. Next we layered the pond with about ½"-1" of sand. We then layered the sand with many, many pieces of newspaper. Finally, we set the pond liner down and started filling it up with water. Once the pond was halfway full, MB and I hooked up the pump kit that came with it. We connected the "Water Frog" to the pump, placed the pump at the deepest part of the pool and plugged it in to the power receptacle that I completed just a few weeks ago. As were finishing up in the yard, Steve came over and was ready to grill. By the way, we managed to install another set of Malibu lights and completed the lighting around the pond. Now we just have 2 more sets to go in order to complete the lighting around the entire path.

Steve had come over to discuss details about the web project that we have been working on, more details about that once the site goes live. Besides that, MB had made some really good potato salad, I threw some BBQ chicken on the grill along with some corn on the cob. We fired up the tiki torches, poured the Mt. Gay Rum, feasted shortly after, and enjoyed the cool summer evening with the sounds of our pond supplementing the cool Raleigh breeze in the back yard, all under clear starry skies.

With a predetermined notion that we wanted to go to the beach, we struggled to get out of bed even though we knew the weather was beautiful. We eventually got the ball rolling, the cooler packed, the car loaded up, and were on our way to the beach. The surf that I experienced last weekend was apparently a gift from above and the beginning effects of July's "Lake Atlantic" were starting to appear. No surf, but plenty of fun in the sun. And of course with Dot on the beach, you know your going to have fun. We started out with a little swim in the ocean, and since Dot is reluctant to not go out where she can't touch bottom, she needed a little help from Mommy and Daddy. I brought her out until I was about waist deep and laid Dot gently in the water. The aggressive Doggy Paddle started no sooner than when her paws hit the water. Dot even managed to ride a wave to shore. After we got out of the water we played frisbee. Dot was doing really well jumping high in the air and catching the frisbee, bringing it back, and starting all over again. I had her rest up a bit then decided it would be a good idea to cool her down in the ocean, so we got out the tennis ball and started tossing it into the surf. Here, Dot progressively runs out into the surf, waits for you to throw the ball and either catches it in her mouth, or chases it further into the water. But wait a minute, she's a smart dog and all and refuses to go much deeper or further out then she feels comfortable. She sometimes lets the waves bring the ball back in where she is comfortably waiting on the beach. See some pictures of Dot from a previous day at the beach in the photo album. As Dot was worn out pretty soon, MB and I were sweating it out on the hot beach, enjoying the short time outside of Raleigh.

Upon our return from the beach, MB and I went for a short walk. Then we came home, got all the beach gear put away and went over to Steve's for some good spirits and some grub. Steve had invited several people over but his buddy James showed up and of course Nancy was there. Rob and Ann even made it over. We brought Dot with us and she had a good time playing with James' dog Sashi. Steve grilled up a storm and had corn on the cob, burgers, and sausages. Nancy had prepared an awesome mixed green salad and MB brought over some potato salad. We enjoyed yet another beautiful evening in Raleigh, enjoying each other's company and enjoying life!

I hope this edition of hibbets.net news brings you joy and we hope that your Hurricane filled summer is off to a great start!