March 2002

March 2002 Newsletter

March Madness begins! The last weekend of ACC basketball was on March 2 and 3. My mom was in town for the weekend, mostly hanging out with my sister, going shopping and stuff like that. NC State played Wake Forest on March 2. We enjoyed the game at the house along with Rob, Ann, Jenni, Margie and Bates. Too bad it was WF's senior night and they played like they owned the place. NC State lost 71-83. MB, Jenni, Katie, and Jason got together to meet the team after the game. Unfortunately, only 2 other people joined us in the cold rainy weather. We had a grand total of 6 people to "Welcome Back the Pack."

March 2, 2002 - Denise, Katie, Jenni, Merri Beth, and Jason made it out to Crossroads 20 to see the movie 40 Days and 40 Nights. Everyone thought it was funny and I recommend it to anyone who needs a good laugh.

March 7 - March 10 - ACC Tournament in Charlotte, NC. The Wolfpack made a run all the way to the ACC Finals and then get slashed by Duke. Then Selection Sunday (3/10) continues with the NC State Wolfpack getting an at large bid in the NCAA Tournament. They receive a 7th seed in the East and will face 10th seeded Michigan State at 12:15 in Washington D.C on March 15, 2002.
What would selection Sunday be without Bob Knight? We watched ESPN's Season On The Brink on Sunday night after going to Reynold's Coliseum to greet the NC State Men's Basketball team after they returned from Charlotte, NC. The team seemed to be in great spirit despite the fact that they lost to Duke. Maybe it was the fact that they just got into the "Big Dance." I presented Senior Anthony Grundy with my patented "Grundy's" poster. About 30-40 fans showed up, not bad for this being over Spring Break. Fans were taking pictures with players and getting autographs. Several news channels were there and some fans got on live television.

March 15, 2002 - NC State is up against Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament First Round. MB had to work from 8-5 and I had to work 2-12. When the game started I was running around Raleigh getting my passport application filed at the U.S. Post Office. I finally got home to watch some of the game. I left for work and wow, the Pack started coming back from a 30-18 halftime deficit to beat the Spartans 69-58. The Pack moves on to play the University of Connecticut in the 2nd round of the NCAA.

March 16, 2002 - MB, Dot and I head down to Topsail Island for a relaxing day at the beach. We trek 2 hours outside of Raleigh to the quaint beaches of Topsail Island. Dot enjoys playing frisbee on the beach while MB and I enjoy some reading and some early Spring sun. We head back to Raleigh planning on enjoying all the St. Patrick's day activities in down town Raleigh but change our minds and stay home. We end up watching some DVD's and just chilling at the house.

March 17, 2002 - NC State faces a tough opponent in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. MB and I check out the Ale House on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh. This place has over 50 TV's and some good beer. We decided that the food was OK and the atmosphere was pretty good. NC State almost pulled off a HUGE upset against Uconn. The final score was 77-74 with a big foul against NC State's Julius Hodge coming in the final seconds of the game put Uconn on top. NC State fought back but ran out of time. Later that evening, we joined 70-80 other NC State fans as we joined the "Welcome Back The Pack" crew as the team arrived back at Reynolds Coliseum. Pictures of the evening will be posted at a later date. We got autographs and pictures with some of the team members and enjoyed the time with them.

March 18, 2002 - I got in the yard and did LOTS of work! If you haven't seen our backyard then you'd understand. It's red clay, straight up red clay. I put some Fescue (Kentucky 31) and Rye grass on the red clay, then I brought in a mixture of Hummus and Compost the spread over top of the grass seed. I'm hoping to have a fresh, green lawn this spring. I began the night at the Flying Saucer with MB and Bates as we enjoyed pint nite. We had some good brews. Then Bates and I ended the night at the pool hall down the street. Bates schooled me in a few games but I am learning and becoming a better player with every game.

March 20, 2002 - Margie comes over and prepares a fine dinner of Ribeye's, asparagus, and mashed potatoes for MB and I. I came home from work to a delightful dinner. MB and Margie stayed at the house and watched Don't Say A Word. I went back to work and continued helping Alcatel's customer's.

March 21, 2002 - A dramatic change in MB's life has occurred. She is going to the Oral Surgeon to have her wisdom teeth removed - all 4 of them! We get up early and travel to the Cary office. MB has decided to be put to sleep while the doctor removes her teeth. I wait a looong hour in the waiting room before the Doctor's assistant tells me that MB is ready to go home. I bring MB home, while she is in and out of sedation. She is in and out of sleep for the rest of the day and then her jaw begins to hurt. I had to go to work but Bates came home and watched over MB while she recovered from her surgery. She is doing well and looks to recover fully.

March 24, 2002 - Happy Birthday to my mom, Denise. She is another year older today and I will not disclose her age on this newsletter. The weather is starting to be more spring like now here in Raleigh. I go to get my sister Katie from the NC State campus. We come back and enjoy the weather outside. The girls lay out in the front yard while I wash the Scoupe (my car). After a quick watering of the lawn I go for a walk with Dot. Then, Bates and I proceed to the Flying Saucer to to enjoy Carolina Pint night. We shot a couple of rounds of pool while enjoying some good brews from NC.

March 25, 2002 - Today I started a 3-day Introduction to Perl class provided by the Computer Training Unit at N.C. State University. The class was given at the McKimmon Center on the NCSU Campus. The entire class was taught on Red Hat Linux machines and we used the O'Reilly's "Learning Perl" 3rd Edition by Randal L. Schwartz and Tom Phoenix. Later that evening we got a good crowd together at the Flying Saucer. My friend David Bell (whom I took Senior Design and many other classes at N.C. State with) showed up. Margie joined MB and myself and eventually Bates got off of work and came down to the Saucer for "Pint Nite."

March 26, 2002 - After a long day of learning Perl, MB and I decided to go shopping. We went and got frames for some N.C. State memorabilia that we had acquired and got signed by the N.C. State Men's Basketball team. We also visited World Market in Cary and purchased a few bottles of wine for our collection. While in Cary, we checked out a restaurant called Jack Astor's. It's a pretty cool place. MB got a hamburger and I got a jerked chicken sandwich. The food was excellent and the rest of the menu looked pretty appetizing as well.

March 27, 2002 - After earning my Perl certificate from my Perl class, my sister Katie came over to the house with her boyfriend Owen. We (Katie, Owen, Bates, MB, and I) then proceeded to the Flying Saucer for Brewery night. The Saucer was packed for the "keep the glass" night and the featured beer was McEwan's India Pale Ale. "Keep the glass" night is where you buy the beer and you keep the glass, cool stuff! McEwan's IPA is a Scottish beer brewed in Edinburgh Scotland by Wm. McEwan & Co. We left the Saucer and headed back to the house where MB and I prepared a feast of London Broil with mashed potatoes and carrots. After dinner, Bates and I went up to Time Out Billiards for a few games of pool.

March 29. 2002 - The 28th and 29th of March were back to work but Friday night Jesse and I headed down to Time Out Billiards for a few rounds of pool. I wasn't playing too well and Jesse pretty much smoked me over the course of 5 or 6 games.

March 30, 2002 - A beautiful day in Raleigh - mostly sunny and in the mid 70's. I had borrowed the chain saw from my dad and it was finally time to give it a work out. We sharpened the chain and got some bar and chain oil, filled her up, and trimmed up the back yard. We took down a lot of smaller trees and thinned out the "woods" in our back yard. Bates pitched in and helped MB and I with lots of yard work. We also finished up seeding the back and front yards with a mixture of Annual Rye and Kentucky 31 grass seed. I finally finished my garden box. I made a 12 by 16 landscape wood box and filled it with a mixture of Hummus, Compost, and Top Soil. I tilled up the soil mixture with my yard tiller and sifted the dirt so that it was flat. I plan on tilling the soil into rows sometime next week. We stacked all the larger logs from the downed trees and made a pile of smaller branches and twigs that we will mulch in a few weeks. The yard work took all day and Bates had to leave to go to work. We topped the evening off with a dinner on the grill and ate out on the back deck. I can't forget to mention that Maryland beat Kansas tonight and is going to play Indiana in the Championship game on April 1, 2002.

March 31, 2002 - Happy Easter! MB and I went to Holden Beach and visited her grandparents at their beach house. Other family members were there, including Jim, Beth, and Jenni Blackwell (Dad, Mom, & Sister). We had some lunch and did the family thing. We drove home from Holden Beach in some severe thunderstorms. The ride was safe with the exception of a few patches. We came home to find out that the weather hammered the back yard and had eroded away a lot of the soil I put down in the back yard on top of the grass seed and red clay. Fortunately, most of the grass seed had sprouted and provided some stability for the yard.

Updated links:

• Have you taken your Virtual Tour Of the Outer Banks yet? If not, you NEED to check it out!
• A new section for hibbets.net: Wolfpack Pride - a portal for NC State. I have a lot of stuff ready but don't want to post some of it yet. Ideas are welcome but nothing in favor of unc will be posted so you tarheels bandwagon fans don't even need to try.