Down South

This weekend, Erin and I took a trip to North Carolina and Tennessee to visit the Burdicks. We stayed in the "out house" at Jane and Charlie's. This used to be known as the "pool house", but they no longer have a pool. It's a very comfortable place, with no less than a dozen Abraham Lincoln portraits. The (hide-a) bed itself was a little tough, but nothing that a couple blankets couldn't fix.

Jane and Charlie are enjoying retirement. They're actively involved in the Mint Hill Historical Society, so we took a look at some of the historical buildings they have updated. They had some very interesting artifacts in the doctor's office, all from the last 19th century - it reminded me of Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist.

We explored downtown Charlotte in the afternoon. We ran into a MLK Day parade and felt very white. It was the first time I had ever seen a hip-hop Spongebob. We went to the Wells Fargo Museum and the Museum of the New South (post-Civil War). Both very interesting places. We had to get back for Stephen's belated birthday party. His birthday is actually January 2, but with all of the holiday stuff going on they weren't all able to get together as a family until now. Here are Stephen and John Michael:


About Suzanne and Ricky's kids: Stephen is 16 and quite mature for his age. I don't know how old John Michael is, maybe 11, but he's really smart and mature as well. Andrew is 6 and very talkative. All of them seem to be really good kids. That's a theme with all of the Burdick grandchildren: they were all very grounded and well-behaved. And if they acted up, they got a talkin' to on the spot. To illustrate, we were at breakfast at Cracker Barrel Monday morning. Cierra was in the middle of a conversation when Lisa wanted to tell her something. Cierra said somewhat tersely, "Hold on, Mom." Lisa gave her a "Don't you talk to me that way" talk right there for something that I considered rather normal. They were all very well-mannered. I started to feel kind of rude for not using "Sir" and "Ma'am".

We also got to meet Lisa's husband Bruce. Oh by the way they got married last weekend (that's how it was presented to us). The two of them went to the beach for a night and tied the knot. They have been together 10 years and have an 8-year-old, C.J. C.J. is a large kid and is only somewhat obnoxious. Bruce is a really nice, laid-back guy, but he and Charlie have their differences, especially when it comes to Lisa. It all works out, though.

We went to Knoxville on Sunday to watch the Lady Vols play. The game itself was really fun - the Lady Vols won by 20. It was kind of disappointing to not see Cierra until the end, but she played the last 4 minutes and played well (6 points, good defense). She has been upset this season with her lack of playing time, especially since the top 4 players have been playing 35-40 minutes a game all year and are starting to get injured. But she's staying positive and working hard. She's also doing very well in her classes - 3.82 last semester. She wants to go into communications and broadcasting.

All in all, it was really great to see that side of the family again. Here's the family picture, taken in the media/meeting room at Thompson-Boling Arena:

This is a good idea. I'm getting downright bored with facebook. I only check it every couple of days anymore (mainly because it's blocked at work), and when I do I forget most of what I see due to sensory overload. Here's my introductory post.

Erin and I got back from Indiana a few days ago. She had planned to spend a week there over Christmas. Then her aunt passed away around December 10 so instead of driving there for the funeral and driving back only to drive back down there a week later, she decided to spend three full weeks there. I flew down for New Year's and we drove back together in the days after. While I was there, I got to catch up with her family and go to a Purdue basketball game. She bought season tickets last year. We go to one game a year and sell the rest on stubhub. The game was really fun - they creamed Illinois. This Sunday Purdue plays at Minnesota. With Minnesota's abysmal season I was able to get really good seats for cheap. I like watching basketball in Minnesota's Williams Arena. It has a raised court, so when you're sitting in the 5th row you're still looking up at the rim.

Today I had an electrician come in and fix my previously-ungrounded power outlets in my basement. My man cave is now closer to completion. The previous owner finished the basement in order to sell the house, so it looks nice but isn't very functional in certain areas. We're working on it...

Great idea, Uncle Yak. I'd like to hear a little bit more of what everybody is up to.

New Family Blog

Hey everyone! How about a new blog that everyone can write on? I invited plenty of people as authors, but disabled the blog from search engines and the blogger directory. You'll need the URL to find it.

Mostly, I wanted a blog where I could write about my non-snowboarding exploits, but I figured, 'why not let everyone write on it?' That way I can hear about your trip to Switzerland or Tennessee, keep up with the progress of your garage or your pregnancy or just see some pretty pictures you took the other day (let's try to keep the number of pictures below 10 per post, I'm looking at you Jacki =).

I must admit, motive number 2 is that I don't like wading through Facebook. Maybe I'm using it wrong. Probably, even. But it's just clunky going to the 20 people I care about most every time I'm on it. That and there are plenty of things I want to write about that seem more important than a status update.

If I'm the only one who writes on this blog, I'm fine with that. I like to write. That said, I'd love to see everyone write here free from self-consciousness about spelling, grammar and the like. Just have fun and let everyone know what you're up to. If I did it right, lots of family members should have author access to the blog. Hopefully, you can add other authors as you see fit. I know I missed some. Some because I don't know addresses, some because I have the memory of that guy in Memento. Add away.

Here's one for starters, Jackie and I went to Bellingham, Washington for New Years. Snowboarding? Yup, did that. Even got a chance to hike out of bounds for an hour for just one run. One glorious, half-hour run. My bestest Bellinghamster snowboard buddy is Martin, who I met on a trip to Baldface Lodge near Nelson, BC. Lucky I did so because Martin's an ER doc. He was sitting right next to me when I had my second seizure and had an IV in me before I even regained consciousness. He's a great friend who always welcomes me into his home.

Martin with Gracie, one of his Nigerian Pygmy goats

Speaking of welcoming, Dana and Diana Cartwright (no relation to the Bonanza Cartwrights) are the reason Jackie and I started going to Bellingham for New Years. Jackie lived with their daughter Megan throughout college at UW-Seattle. Megan moved on to additional scholastic pursuits culminating in a Ph.D. in something brainy like Astrophysics from UCLA. She now lives in Oakland with her husband, Ben, and does research at UC-Berkeley. Turns out theres a direct flight from Oakland to Bellingham. Happy coincidence. We've been Bellinghamming it up for four years now. It's a great New Years tradition. Right up there with dropping the ball, only far less crowded.