Comeback!!

Big Time News!!! We had a baby!!! Here is a picture above! Just kidding, but Meredith is pregnant and due in mid February. Hopefully the baby will look like this kid above!

This was the "boat" I built this past weekend. It looks kind of like the one I had when I was a kid. I built a similar "boat" like this with my grandad when I was a little kid. I used to come down to Swansboro and the first thing I did was go get my boat and throw it in the water. I would tie it up to the pier and let it just sit there all weekend. I loved it for some reason. It was cool to re-live those memories.

Here is a sweet shot that my friend Jay took with his IPhone. We were on the 11th Tee Box of NC State's Lonnie Poole Golf Course overlooking Downtown Raleigh.

This was shot at Boone Hall Plantation in Charleston, SC. Whoever took this picture really knows how to photo fight with a SLR camera!

This is my "Gil Hill". If you have read Andre Agassi's book, you know about Gil Hill. It is a hill that Andre trained on in Las Vegas with his trainer Gil Reyes. Basically I use this as my main cardio training method. It is about 26 yards long. I usually do about 3 sets of 5 rep sprints up and down. I then have a routine between sets that I do on the big tire at the bottom of the hill. The Gil Hill is a crucial workout with many advantages. This was a very crucial find!

Here we are about to go on our 3 Year anniversary date!

Christmas 2010 Family Portrait!

SAS Building C!! This is the project that I have been on for the past 2.5 years. It is pretty crucial!

Quick Facts:

-LEED Platinum Certified building (5th Platinum rated building in NC)

- 287,190 square feet

- 6 story office tower with 2 story executive briefing center (2 auditoriums, kitchen, and dining hall)

- 1 acre Green Roof on Executive Briefing Center

- Two 20,000 gallon rainwater cisterns underground

- 655,000 gallon storm water retention pond

Aerial Shot.

Agassi's are Here!

These are the Nike Air Tech Challenge II Hot Lava Shoes, aka the Andre Agassi's! These are the shoes that Andre Agassi wore in the 1990 French Open Final against Andres Gomez.. Below is a shot of Agassi serving with these shoes at Roland Garros. If you have read Agassi's book this is the match where Agassi was worried that his hairpiece was going to fall off.





Here is the original advertisement for these shoes.





These shoes are tight! I have been trying to get a pair for a while now. Nike retro'd the original Air Tech Challenge shoe a few years ago. They were the tennis ball yellow version. I wanted to buy those back then, but never did. I may try to play in these, but I don't want to tear them up. Go to this website for a look at the Nike Challenge Court Line. This is the gear that Agassi wore back in the 90's. Those denim shorts with the spandex are crucial! There are pairs on eBay going for over $150. You need to read Agassi's book if you have not already. It is crucial even if you are not much of a tennis fan. It has brought me back to the game.

Toro Z Mower Contest!

http://www.toro.com/home/zcontest/index.html

Please go to the website above and vote my video the best. It is for Toro Mowers. I filmed this back in the summer down at Swansboro with the Toro Z mower we use down there to cut the grass. My video was chosen as one of the Top 5 videos. Now the 5 videos are up for vote as to which one is the best. Please take a minute to view the video and vote it the best. Thanks

SNOW!

Here we are before we go take a walk in the snow. We ended up walking down to the Neuse River, which is a few blocks away from our house.


Since I am trapped in my house, I have decided to update the blog. I have not made a post in months now. A lot has happened since then. We moved into our new house right around Halloween. We love it so far! This is a picture from yesterday as the snow was still falling. Obviously we love moving from an apartment to a house. There is so much more room. Basically I have given Meredith control over the whole house except two rooms. I have complete control of the garage and the "man room". The man room is the centerpiece of our house! All people flock to this one room. I am still not sure why. Please come by and see us sometime.

This is a crucial coke photo opp!

Other interesting news: My parent's dog Mac passed away last week. He was my boy. My other dog, Simba, passed away a few years ago. It is crazy how losing pets are almost as tough as losing humans. You realize how attached you were to them. I definitely will miss by dawg Mac. He definitely had a unique personality.

I won the annual Falk Brothers Christmas Eve 1 vs. 1 Tournament. This year we had to postpone the tournament until Meredith and I got back from Aruba. We also switched the site from our backyard goal to the FBC Ministry Center. I ended up beating Jay 2 games to 1. Let's just say my 3 ball was droppin! The picture above is the belt that we play for. The winner keeps the belt for a year. I have now had the belt for two years now. It hangs with pride in the man room.

To end this post I would like to take some time and preview a crucial event that is going to kick off at the end of this month. It is the 3rd Annual Kaplan Drive Invitational Tennis Tournament. Last year was my first year playing in the KDI. I was a pathetic 2-8. I guess that is not terrible for someone who was never playing much tennis. I vowed that I would raise my game to new levels this year. Ever since I read Andre Agassi's autobiography at Christmas, I have had the tennis bug. I have a refreshed and renewed mindset on the game of tennis. I am committed to performing much better in this year's KDI. I have been working on my game as much as time permits during the week. I like to call this "Chopping Wood Everyday". This is a great credo created by the former NC State Basketball coach Herb Sendek. Coach Sendek used this motto to instill in his players the necessity of doing the little things consistently everyday to make yourself a better player and person. You must get out of bed each day, bring your lunch pale, and prepare to chop that wood. You either get better or worse each day. There is no staying the same. If you are not chopping wood one day, someone else will be. You can count on that. I will not let that happen. I commit to getting better in tennis each day. Massive props to my tennis mentor Art Felton. As a Tri-Lord of the KDI, Art has taken me under his wing to provide encouragement and instruction. I really appreciate it. I may not win more matches, but my game will get stronger after each match. No one is going to out-compete me! I will commit to Chop That Wood Everyday!!

I will end with my new identity:

I am committed to excellence.

I always do my best, and I always do what is right.

I conquer adversity, learn from each circumstance, and constantly improve.

I am the toughest, most relentless, and best conditioned athlete in the KDI.

I thoroughly prepare, communicate, and perform with great poise and composure.

I am selfless, loyal, and united.

I am truly One Heartbeat!

Dream It, Do It!!

Mission Accomplished!

Back again. It has definitely been too long since my last post. My mission is finally nearing accomplishment. I have been trying to find an "old school" golf visor with the NC State Block S logo on it. No one makes this type of visor. All anyone sells is the low profile visor. I finally figured I would get someone to make me one. I found someone to do it, but I just had to find some blank visors that I liked. You cannot find these type of visors anywhere. I got hooked back on these visors when my brother Jay started wearing them again a few years ago. I already had two visors that I never really wore. Once Jay started wearing them again to play golf, we both just started wearing them for fun. Jay has quite a collection, but the old school Benvenue visor is the prize visor of them all.

Below are pictures of visors that I already have. The first one is a Benvenue Country Club logo from the 1980s. Benvenue Country Club is where I grew up playing golf as a child. My uncle gave me this visor for my birthday back in the day. My brother and I think this is the best Benvenue logo of all time. The second one is the current Benvenue logo. The third one is the 1999 US Open logo at Pinehurst where Payne Stewart had his remarkable victory before he passed away a few months later. That logo is the "Putter Boy" logo. There is a statue of him at Pinehurst #2 Golf Course. The fourth one is a Titleist visor which is tight. And the last one is my newly purchased North Shore Country Club visor that I got last weekend. North Shore is a pristine golf course down in Sneads Ferry, NC near Swansboro. It was like finding buried treasure when I laid eyes on this visor in the pro shop. That is the feeling I get when I find these type of old school visors. They are so hard to find these days.

Well, I found a company that made the old school Benvenue visor. They agreed to sell me as many blank visors as I wanted. I placed my order and will have them next week. I will then take it and get the Block S embroidered on it. Hopefully this visor will be exquisite!

Our next mission is to get a visor with the old school 80's Benvenue logo on it like the one I already have. This has a clubhouse surrounded by big oak trees and a creek running underneath with Benvenue Country Club across the top. We may have an opportunity to get this visor again. The company that made that visor still has a digital copy of that logo on file. I will keep you updated with the progress. If anyone wants a custom old school visor let me know.

Here is a bag tag that I had when I was kid back in the 80s and early 90s. It has the sweet old school Benvenue logo on the back. Not just anyone could get these tags. All juniors were required to pass a test on the rules of golf and golf etiquette in order to get a bag tag like this. They were big time back in the day.

Tripping Billies and Dancing Nancies

I decided to post these two pics from our rehearsal dinner.  This first one is me at the Sundrop "Drip Dry" Machine.  This was the crucial highlight of the night.  We had Sundrop and Cherry Lemon Sundrop On Tap + little sundrop cups!!!  What more could you ask for.  

This is the cake we had.  It is "Steroid Wolf"  This was the logo for a shirt that the NC State ball boy kids wore back in the day.  Here is the shirt to the right.

The Air Hudson Billi's!  These are the sweet kicks I got for my friend's kid that was just born the other day.  They are similar to the shoes we wore as managers for the NC State basketball team so it was cool that they actually made these for little kids.

In other news since my last post here is the run down:

- We ran over a carabiner clip with our motor and tore up a blade of our prop so we ended up having to get a stainless steel prop which we did not really mind since we wanted one from the start

- We got a new Liquid Force Trip Wakeboard that is fun as crap

- We made my dog Mac swim down at Swansboro.  here is the video below.

- I had a close call while trying to wire up our new boat lift down at Swansboro.  I almost electrocuted myself while down in the water and reaching up to grab the lift.  I ended up not having the lift grounded out.  God was looking out for me that day for sure.

Swansboro Weekend and New Boat!

Hello Everyone. Sorry for the long absence. Here are two pictures from a weekend at Swansboro about three weeks ago. The first one is my brother Jay and I on our new boat. It is a 21 foot Carolina Skiff DLV with a 115 HP Suzuki motor. I will give a shout out to my boy Kipp at Chatlee Marine in Sanford for hooking us up with this sweet boat. If you are looking for a new boat Chatlee is the place to go. This boat is tight! I will have to give all the props to my parents for finally coming through and buying a boat. The unofficial name will be "Carol Anne's Delight" after my mom. The second photo is a family shot in front of the water with our dog Mac. Mac has congestive heart failure. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

**SODA UPDATE**

I tasted Moutain Dew Throwback and it was terrible. The Pepsi version is much better. I did get my hands on Mexican Pepsi and it was exquisite. It brings back memories of soda pop that I had in Brazil. It is much sweeter than soda made with high fructose corn syrup.