The ongoing story of the Chuckster
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "The ongoing story of the Chuckster" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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07:53 am
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The night in review
Got home early with a seriously painful foot (don't ask).
From 9:00 - 3:30 fireworks.
3:30 - 4:00 restful sleep.
4:00 - 5:30 dumpster emptying.
5:30 - 6:30 dogs, dogs, dogs.
6:30 - 7:30 food shipment arrives.
7:30 the normal day begins.
Happy 5th of July!
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
Tags: tired
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08:30 am
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Stars Nearby
Danny Glover and Julia Stiles shot some of Gospel Hill about a block away this weekend. Apparently they needed a lot of ice, because one of the caterers had a few shopping carts full at the local Bi-Lo Saturday afternoon.
Much of my time since then has been spent imagining what one could do with a hundred pounds of ice and Julia Stiles.
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08:59 am
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taking the leap
I just got a phone call from my technical leader for the day job. I'd been planning to work though the end of next week, but they want me to wrap up what I'm working on now, and finish this week.
Not getting the money for the final week hurts, but I think the thing that's really scary is that I'm going to be the full time (times three) owner of a cafe in four days. No backup.
And suddenly as clear as day I'm at the waterfall in Connecticut, my bike stashed behind bushes at the bottom wondering how things might go wrong. Will I jump too far in front of the waterfall where the rocks are only a foot or so beneath the water? Will I jump too far back and be held under?
But I leapt. And flew through the air with a million tiny mirrors, lenses, prisms. And as I fell I no longer feared, as I plunged into the clean cool turbulent water.
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12:20 pm
[Link] | I've been a little under the weather, but still doing a lot of stuff.
This weekend a lot of work was done at the cafe. There are now four (out of six if I can pull it off) coats of poly on the tables. They're looking pretty glossy, and I expect the extra coats won't make them look any better, but will protect the surfaces nicely.
We also got six 4x4x8 posts set in concrete that will become the skeleton of the dumpster area sometime this week. As far as I can tell this is the last seriously physical labor we need to do before the cafe opens (other than toting around heavy equipment).
My buddy Graeme flew in last week and he's been an enormous help with the heavy work, despite the fact that this is supposed to be a vacation for him. I suppose it's more interesting than jacking up a sagging porch which I made him help me with on a previous trip.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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08:00 am
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Let's stop pretending
I haven't posted here for a while because I've been updating (well such as it is) the blog where I admit I'm leaving my cushy, but not fulfilling software job and open a cafe. At first it was to keep "competition" from trolling information about what's happening, but it sort of just became habit. I'll be opening in the next few months, and I'm in a small town so everyone who wants to know what's happening probably does already. So away with the subterfuge, I'm outing myself. I'm a techie who wants to change careers and so I'm risking it all to open a business where I'll work three times the hours (okay well twice the hours I'm working now) for a third of the salary.
I suppose that makes me a bit of a "type" but hey no big deal.
I kind of feel like in the movie of my life I finished out reel one with the big switcharoo from being a barely makes his way hoodlum to a "respectable" computer guy. I did that for another twenty minutes (years, whatever) but something was always wrong. Yes I got to hang with people who are as geeky as me, I got to have the big house, I got to buy toys all the time, but something was just slightly off kilter.
So here I am beginning reel three where I struggle through the learning process of managing a large number of part time folks, and running a small business in a small town in sub-urban/but still kind of rural South Carolina.
And I haven't posted much in a while because between trying to get 60 hours in for the old software job, and working on the cafe, and learning everything I want to learn before I get open there hasn't been anything else. So if you have been wondering what I've been up to (and I doubt you have) that's it.
This weekend I built tables (pictures soon? probably.) and with a crew of friends we did a ton of small tasks to finish up the outside of the cafe which was mostly painted over mother's day weekend.
The back of the cafe which I see from my window as I type this is looking fantastic. The pride of ownership is really overwhelming. I can't wait to share the place with everyone when I get the doors open.
Current Location: Cupps, Rock Hill, SC
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09:28 am
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So it goes
Many of you will recall my friend Terry who semi-raised Julie as the friend we went to the UK with back in early summer two years ago, and who died a couple of weeks after we got back.
I only became good friends with her brother Kevin in her last year or so. He's one of those friends that I never get to spend enough time with (like ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) terracinque and a few others on the list). We get together for concerts and occasionally to dust off our respective guitars and make music. He has access to those in-between notes I can't seem to find.
I just found out that his mother died, and that the visitation is tonight, the funeral tomorrow.
I sure wish he could catch a break.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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08:08 am
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Reverend Chucky is Back
Over the weekend I performed my second wedding.
Though the insanity level rose steadily all weekend up until a few minutes before the ceremony, the ceremony itself was very smooth. Actually I thought it was fantastic.
I got in Saturday around noon. Chris (the groom) and friends were playing board games and coffee was ready within moments of when I came in the door. We had a pleasant few hours catching up and then it was off to Target to pick up some stuff for the visitors including appropriate dinner wear for me as the rehearsal dinner was a bit fancier than I'd planned for.
We got all gussied up and headed over to the rehearsal which was very informal and relaxed. I met Maggie's (the bride's) parents, and some other relatives.
We went to the rehearsal dinner (duck egg roll appetizers with sesame sauce, awesome as was the carrot ginger shrimp soup) and I sat with Maggie's parents and some friends of Chris's from back in Florida. We had rousing chatter, and great food, and after a while we closed the place down and the boys headed over to Chris's place.
We attempted to prepare for the wedding but the license was nowhere to be found. But thinking it could all be straightened out after the honeymoon, we figured it would be no big deal. At around 2:30 I headed back to the hotel so I could catch some sleep.
The next day I got to Chris's just in time to drive over to Summit's to sample the extreme limited edition Rogue 10,000 which was simply lovely.
After that it was back to Chris's to hang out until it was time to get ready to leave. I was not the only tired one:
We eventually got dressed and to the wedding. Things were just a tad hectic, I got lost on the way. After arriving things got cranked up a notch. Chris and Maggie were going to read their own vows, and it turned out that Maggie's vows didn't get delivered as expected. About three minutes before the ceremony started we found them, and all was well.
And the ceremony was great. I had a blast delivering it, it was very suitable for the couple, it went smoothly, and I even improvised well when I couldn't read my own handwriting.
At least 50 out of the 60 people there complimented me on the service, many at great length. It was quite a bit of fun.
Unfortunately I had to drive all the way back to SC, so I left around 10:30 and got home at 2:00 the next morning. I'm just now recuperating.
But I'd do it again in a minute.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
Tags: wedding
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06:07 pm
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Wedding
The wedding was a blast. I'll try to give an update tomorrow when I've had some sleep.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
Current Mood: Yawn
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08:58 am
[Link] | I swore I would never run cable in a business again. And last night I broke my promise. 4 runs of cat-5 in absolutely the most cramped attic I've ever encountered. I literally had to pull myself over rafters and around corners simultaneously on my belly. There simply wasn't enough room to crawl.
The good news is that it's done now, and other than my knees, elbows, ankle and back; nothing hurts.
All my scrapes will be covered by my suit when I perform my second wedding on Sunday. Somehow I avoided injuring my head! And the scrape from last week is gone.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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04:14 pm
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Challenged
I went with friends to see Elie Wiesel in Charlotte give a talk entitled "Against Indifference." He was very professorial, and quiet spoken, and also very moving. The perfect example of someone who can explain why anger is a good and powerful tool for change, and why hate is not that. As one would expect before he was finished I felt he threw down the challenge for me to do more with my life.
Or considering recent re-consideration to be more in my life.
Having been brought up by pre-hippy, not quite beatnik parents I was raised to be very accepting of others. Even at an early age I realized this meant people who weren't accepting of others, or even me. What he mentioned that applied particularly to me is that without realizing it I've felt pretty self-righteous about exactly that. He talked about the need to be humble before people and that only after that could you be proud of being accepting.
Overall I'm a big fan of pride. It's yet another tool for positive change, the desire to be able to be proud of a skill or an attribute. It generally makes us better people. There's also the fact that I have a big but fragile ego, which is supported by pride quite nicely.
So there's this division I need to pay more attention to between pride and righteousness. I suspect it will require a lot of work, but I suppose it's good work, if you can get it.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
Tags: introspection
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08:15 am
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I've been out of my office for a bit...
so I haven't updated, though there are several things I'd like to talk about.
The evening we saw Elie Wiesel is foremost in my mind. Though I don't feel I need to do it right away, as I'll never forget the important bits.
So right now I'd like to wax rhapsodic about my morning drink.
I have a professional grade espresso machine in the laundry room now. It's been there and working for two days.
Sure I need to turn it off for the dryer to work - even though they don't share the same breaker; will one of my electrician friends please 'splain me why that is? But when it is operational it's awesome!
I've been making single origin shots because I don't actually have any espresso on hand (soon to be remedied). My grinder doesn't get quite fine enough, so the shots are all a tad on the quick side. Ristretto for everyone! I'm also playing with a naked portafilter, but with the large grind it won't come together quite right. On the other hand, I can definitely tell the difference between a good and bad tamp, so I'm going to keep using it anyway.
The steam wand is many times better than the one I was using on my old *$ machine, so although I'm not pouring art yet, the texture of my drinks is great, and I will pour art soon enough.
I'm getting better drinks at home than I can find in any coffee shop (that I'm aware of) within 15 miles. Of course I need to make three or four to get the amount of caffeine I usually take in each morning, but as you might imagine I don't see that as a hardship.
Wheee!
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
Tags: espresso
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03:49 pm
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Epicurean Overload
Last night Julie and I ate out with friends.
What did we have?
Sweet potato beignets, foie gras creme brulee, fried green tomatoes with duck confit and corn cream reduction.
Those items were just the appetizers.
Main courses included:
Filet Mingion in a rosemary bacon sauce; stuffed rabbit saddle; Bone in frenched pork chop with a pinot noir, shallot glaze; flounder meuniere.
Desert was too decadent to list.
Pictures start here, Andy is a much better photographer than I am.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
Tags: food
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10:14 am
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In important news
Raw milk makes a huge difference in coffee.
I still have almost a whole gallon left.
And a quart of goat's milk too!
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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10:04 am
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GTD
So I just finished my forth weekly review using the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology. It really is helping me get more things done and let less slip through the cracks.
The painful part is pulling all my crap together and getting it organized. The recommendation from David Allen, the guru of GTD, is to set aside two days and just do it. But of course having several jobs means never blocking out two days to do anything so I've been doing it piecemeal over the last month or so.
My file cabinets are organized (A-Z with labeled manila folders resting in my hanging folders), my computer archive (mostly e-mail) is organized, my task lists are organized (had to go back to Outlook to handle this well, Mozilla still doesn't integrate quite as tightly as I'd hoped). I'm syncing everything to my ancient Handspring to make sure I can organize everything the way I'd like before investing in a palm phone to replace the phone I had to buy to replace my last palm phone in an emergency in September.
The cool thing is that other people are noticing too. Every time Julie asks me about if I've handled something the answer is "yes" or "I'm waiting for x to get back to me" or "I felt that this other thing was more important, so that's on the back burner."
That last one is part of the cool part. When you have a truly comprehensive list of stuff there's no question that you can't do it all. So you give yourself permission to not do the stuff that doesn't need to be done now. But you know you won't loose it because it's in your "trusted system."
I could go on for pages, but it'd be even less interesting than what I've written so far. I suppose a "it's good to feel organized" probably would have sufficed.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
Tags: gtd
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08:23 am
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Sleeping Dogs
I know you're supposed to let sleeping dogs lie.
But I wasn't strong enough to let the photo opportunity pass.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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08:16 am
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Grocery Shopping
A friend recently posted about how he sometimes claims to be a senior citizen at the self-check-out-terminals (SCOT, did anyone already know that acronym?) terminals at his local grocery store. It reminded me of something I did/said/channeled recently, so I thought I'd relate it here and see if anyone has any thoughts.
While popping into the grocery store last week I parked in one of the "mothers with children" spaces. You know they have the shopping cart with mom pushing it and a child sitting in the cart.
When I came back with my groceries this woman was towing two of her children by my car, as I loaded it up and she said "Hey, do you know that you're parked in a space for mothers with children?"
I looked up saw the sign and without thinking I said "Do you have any idea what percentage of mothers in the U.S. are morbidly obese?" a pause in which it's hard to tell which of us was more horrified, though I'm pretty sure I didn't look any different from my usual goofy smiling self. Somehow I thought what might fix it was to follow up with an explanatory "Me neither, I just didn't notice the sign."
She was staring at me flabbergasted, and her children were just kind of standing there, so I got in the Wrangler and headed out.
Was I terrible? Was I funny? Is this the price I pay for those improv lessons at Dad's Garage so many years ago?
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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09:35 am
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Beer Dinner
My buddy Angela and I went to our second (my third) beer dinner at Summit's Monday night.
We got to meet the brewery owners/brewers/reps for a few hours before the show started this year. Breweries in attendance were: Dogfish Head, Clipper City, Sam Adams, Highland Brewing Company, Ommegang Brewery, Terrapin Brewing and Sweetwater Brewing. All East Coast brewers, and all pretty darned impressive. Angela and I have had the good fortune to be able to get stuff from Dogfish Head for a while, but they're new to Georgia, so there was a lot of excitement around that. I'd never had any of the Clipper City beers before, and I was pretty impressed with all of their offerings. All in all there were about forty beers there, and by the time I left I'd tried them all (though to be fair I'd tried some of them before and didn't bother having more at the dinner).
The menu was equally impressive. For starters there were Ostrich "Sliders" which were essentially White Castle sized burgers steamed in Chimay Trappist Ale, Mussels Delaware simmered in Dogfish Head beer, Roast Duck and Laura Chenel goat cheese quesadillas and the highlight of the evening for me: Kobe Beef "Pigs in a blanket." The Beef dogs were simply unbelievable. Rich beyond rich.
Entrees included Shrimp and Crawfish cakes served with wasabe remoulade sauce, Venison chops served with a Bordeaux truffle sauce, topped with peach infused caramelized onions (yowza), wild game fried rice and braized bok choy. Again with the meat, the Venison was just outstanding, it was meatier than any vension I've ever encountered.
Desert was a vatted beer ice cream with chocolate mousse and a beer infused Valhrona chocolate sauce.
And then we crashed.
Much inspiration for this year's birthday dinner in June. Hmmmmm.
I miss the punks.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
Tags: beer, food
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08:20 am
[Link] | The plan was to not do anything particularly special for Valentines day. After all we're not Catholic so why celebrate a holiday dedicated to a Saint?
But I couldn't let the day pass completely uncelebrated. It felt too much like taking our whole relationship for granted, and that's just not right.
So I made bacon and leek risotto with Grateful Growers organic bacon, and chicken stock also made from bones supplied by Grateful Growers. I've made this dish before, and it was the absolute best risotto I've ever made, but adding the farm fresh organics pushed it over the edge. It was one of the most luscious meals I ever made.
Add a bottle and a half of wine, some good music and a dozen yellow (our wedding color) flowers and the evening went really well.
Happy Valentines day everyone! As my friend Lell says "Nothing says 'I love you' like pork products."
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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09:35 am
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Weekend Funny
The backstory:
While prepping for Julie's sister's wedding the weekend before last, my niece Anna decided it would be cool to paint my toenails to match the bride's accessories.
So my feet were all pretty:
We all had a big laugh about it. I hope you do too.
Last Saturday Julie and I were organizing the yard which involved moving 100+ concrete blocks around. As you can imagine after that I was pretty tired, and grimy; so I went to grab a shower, while Julie introduced the dogs to the updated yard.
When I came out of the shower, I heard a knocking at the door, so presuming it was Julie having locked herself out, I grabbed some pajama pants and run to the door.
Just before I got there I heard Julie come in the back door, but I was already there, so I figured anyone coming to the door in my neighborhood should be ready for anything.
It was one of the guys from across the parking lot giving us a list of phone numbers to call if the birthday party they threw got too loud at too inconvenient an hour (grownups in the neighborhood should take notice of this). Jack tried to run outside while he was talking to me, and the kid caught Jack just as he was running past... my painted toe-nailed feet.
I didn't even think about it until five minutes after he left, when I started laughing so hard I literally sat on the ground.
Well there goes my reputation!
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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03:00 pm
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Lucky Light
Sometimes the light is perfect, and you have a camera nearby.
Current Location: 34 56' 32.92" -81 02' 04.41"
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