Life Through My Eyes

Beautiful Day on the OBX

2010-03-20T17:28:00.002-04:00

Today really turned out to be a nice day here.
The temperature got up to 73 degrees.
I decided to really put my foot to the test today. I have been pushing it a bit to see what limitations, if any, that I might have with it.
I went for 3 walks today with each one being 2 "laps" around our neighborhood.
The full outcome of my walking and how it will or won't effect my foot has yet to seen in full.
Right now it is a little sore but so is the rest of my body.
I have not really had the chance to do any serious walking for months now.
Hopefully by tomorrow, my foot will be back to normal and pain free.
I am working hard to get into shape so that when Veronica and I go to Alaska, at the end of next month, I will be able to walk around will little to no pain.
Tomorrow Veronica and I will be going for a drive to do a little touristy stuff. Hopefully I can get some nice photos to share with everyone.
Always looking for that next "money shot".
The weather is supposed to be nice again tomorrow, so it should be a good photographic day.

Test Walk With My Foot

2010-03-17T12:32:00.009-04:00

This morning I went for my first walk since having my foot surgery. Actually I did one "lap" around the neighborhood and then took a brief break to take some photos and then I did another "lap". I have no idea how long these "laps" are in distance but eventually I will build myself and my foot up again, so that I can do many "laps". So far my foot feels pretty good but we will wait and see how it feels later on tonight.

We live on the sound side of the Outer Banks. On one side you have the Atlantic Ocean and on the other side is the sound. The photo below is of Blount Bay, which is right behind and to the side of our place. They are 2 other bays on either side of Blount Bay...there is Kitty Hawk Bay and then Buzzard Bay. If you boat out of Blount Bay, you end up in Albemarle Sound. We are approximately 3 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.

Here is the view that we have from our 3rd floor deck

While going on my walk I found a few things to take photos of.

Here is a photo of Blount Bay.

This is a cloe up photo of what we can see from our 3rd floor deck.

This pier has seen better days. Part of it is has collapsed into the water

There is a road that goes through the neighborhood and ends in a circle drive. Beyond the land is some marsh land and then Blount Bay

There is a canal that runs behind the neighborhood clubhouse and swimming pool. There is a wooden walkway that runs parallel to this canal. While walking on the walkway, I found this neat looking boat that must have sunk some time ago based on the plant growth around it and in it.

Here is the canal and the wooden walkway that I was speaking of. This canal opens up into Blount Bay

Below is a photo looking up into the canal towards the main road

I am not sure what these are for...possibly for clams or crabs. They have troughs, lights and a lot of pvc piping

They are a lot of these traps in the area...the dark cages that are piled up on the right side of the picture..near the building. I am thinking that these are crab traps

Another view of this channel

Followup to a Followup Blog Entry

2010-03-16T08:58:00.004-04:00

It has been a couple of days since I wrote my last followup blog entry about my dealings with Charter Communications.
I appreciate the fact that all of my initial service setup and installation issues were resolved in a professional and high quality manner.
Unfortunately, the customer care, service and treatment that I received, was after the multiple problems had already occurred. The customer care, service and treatment after the multiple problems occurred, should have been the customer care, service and treament that I and all customers should receive from our very initial contact with this company.
Until Charter Communications takes a good hard look at how some of their customers are treated, from their initial contact through installation of services and beyond , and make some serious changes, they will never being to compete with companies such as Cox Cable and Verizon.

First Day Without A Box To Unpack

2010-03-15T12:06:00.004-04:00

Today is our first day here without one box to unpack.
I took my last 2 loads of broken down boxes and huge piles of the movers wrapping paper to the recycle center.
I was going to start going for my walks again today but it is rather cool and drizzly out. I will start my walks again tomorrow.
My foot has been doing better. Actually I have been so busy that I really have not had much time to pay attention to it even if it was hurting. I guess I will have a better idea what shape it is in when I start my walking routine up. For the normal around the house living, it seems to be doing fine.
Veronica is just starting the hiring process for future employees at her new store.
Everyone seems very excited to have a new store here on the OBX.
They are conducting interviews at the local Ramada Inn, in Nags Head.
I heard that one politician in the area told Veronica that she could expect approximately 5000 people to show up for the open employment interviews that will be conducted over the next 3 days.
From what I have heard, unemployment for this area is extremely high...over 25%.
It is hard to believe that in about 45 days, Veronica and I will be heading out to Alaska on our cruise.
By the time that our vacation does arrive, we will surely be ready for a nice break.
We were invited to a grand opening of a local restaurant near where we live but unfortunately we could not go. I am sure that we will try the restaurant out in the future. It is less than a mile from where we live.
They also had a big parade, a car show and a Taste of The Beach Festival going on yesterday but Veronica and I could not go to that either because we had to get the rest of the unpacking done and finished. I am glad we did stay home and got everything done. I am sure that there will be other events that we can go to as time goes by.
Later on this week, we will go to take our drivers license test...they have you take a written test around here. Thank God there is no actual driving test given or else I could be in big trouble.
Of course even with the written test, I could be in trouble. Never was good with written tests. Might actually have to break down and study. Feels like I am going back to my High School days.

Oh My Aching Back

2010-03-14T14:19:00.008-04:00

Finally....all and I mean every single box has been gone through, emptied, broken down and taken out of this place....except for a few boxes that we decided not to empty...contents weren't needed.
My vehicle has about 40 or more boxes broken down in the back of it. I will be going to the Recycle Center first thing in the morning.
After dropping off of the boxes, I will return and load the RAV4 up with all of the movers wrapping paper. We ended up buying ourselves a new couch and a new dining room set.
Originally we were going to share an office and Veronica's craft room. Unfortunately after opening all of the craft room moving boxes, it became very apparent that there was just no way that our computers and computer related furniture was going to fit in with all of that craft room items. I could not believe how tight it was in there. It really was unbearable.
So after a real brief discussion and I mean brief, we both decided that it would be in our best interest to put our computer room downstairs in the 1st floor spare bedroom. This is the bedroom that we were using for some indoor storage of extra boxes and rubber storage tubs.
So this morning, Veronica and I got up early and moved all of our computer stuff downstairs.
It will be a while until Veronica has a chance to put her craft room aka "The Studio" together but when she does, she will have a room all her own for her artistic endeavors.
I think that I will try to just relax the rest of today because tomorrow I will be on the run again.

Below are some photos of our new place:

Here are some photos of or bedroom

Master bathroom

2nd floor hallway

Here is a photo of "the door". Behind this door evil lies. Actually, behind this door a real mess resides...at least for now...Veronica's art studio

3rd floor landing

Living room, dining room, library room and kitchen photos

This is our new computer room...rather spacious compared to the cramped room we were in and as a bonus....it will be much cooler in the Summer months

The Boxes Never End

2010-03-13T08:33:00.002-05:00

Today Veronica and I got up early to tackle our last major obstacle...the craft room.
The boxes seem endless and it will probably take most of the day to get close to being done.
Hopefully we will get finished within the next 2 days, so that maybe we can take a deep breath and possibly relax for a minute....just a thought.....

The Power Of The Internet

2010-03-12T11:20:00.003-05:00

Shortly after I wrote and posted my last blog entry, I received a comment from an Eric Ketzer. You can view the posted comment by clicking the comments link on my previous blog entry.
As it turns out, Mr. Ketzer is the Social Media Communications Manager for Charter Communications.
To be honest with you...I was really floored to have had someone locate my blog entry and then take the time to leave a comment and write me, requesting information to help solve a problematic issue.
Mr. Ketzer also sent me an email requesting information about my address, the order number and information that applied to my installation.
A short while later, I received a telephone call from another Charter representative named Antoine. We ended up on a 4 way conference call with myself, Antoine, Brad(the local installation supervisor) and I believe it was someone from billing.
After discussing the situation, it was agreed that Brad and/or another Quality Assurance Technician would be at my home this morning at 9AM.
Brad assured me that they would make everything right for me, on the installation aspect of things.
The individual, from what I think was billing, told me that Charter Communications would compensate me for our troubles by giving us a free month of total service and there would be no charge for the installation.
After the telephone call ended, I felt much better that we were heading in the right direction of getting this matter settled.
Brad along with the Quality Assurance Technician arrived here at 9 AM sharp and they went through the complete installation process for all of our services...cable, telephone and internet. They checked whatever work that had been previously done by the last technician, discussed options with me and made all of the appropriate changes so that I would get the maximum level of quality for each service that I ordered.
These 2 gentlemen were highly qualified, very knowledgeable and made me feel very comfortable with everything that they did and all of the services that they provided me.
I want to publicly thank Charter Communications, Mr. Eric Ketzer, Antoine, the person from billing whom I spoke to on the telephone, Brad the local Installation Supervisor, the QA technician whose name escapes me....sorry...chalk it up to old age...and another young lady by the name of April, for helping turn this negative situation into a very acceptable and positive outcome.
I thank you all.
Now I can finally make full use of our new Samsung television...life is good and so are the Kansas Jayhawk basketball team... especially in HD...Rock Chalk Jayhawk...Beak'm Hawks!!!!

Come On...Would Somebody Please Give Me A Break

2010-03-11T10:01:00.006-05:00

Our move is complete. Everything was delivered to our new home last Friday. The delivery was smooth and uneventful...just the way I like it.
Spent 2-3 days running around getting everything unpacked and put away.
Luckily there is a recycle center only about 1 1/2 miles up the road. So after rolling up batches of packing paper and taping it into bundles and breaking down all of the boxes, I was busy taking many loads to the recycle center.
Unfortunately we have been dealing with a few other problems which have made this move unpleasant up to this point in tie.
In a previous blog entry, I had made mention about the trouble I was having getting our car insurance transfered over to North Carolina.
The agent that I had been dealing with had made a couple of mistakes when he entered information as far as my address and other important info needed for my insurance. This agent had switched numbers on our PO Box number.
Because of this error, it has caused us not to receive any documents from State Farm showing that we indeed have insurance coverage in North Carolina.
Every time I called him, he said that he mailed the paperwork to me.
After I found out that he had mailed it to the wrong address, I requested that he change all documents to the correct address. Unfortunately this has been difficult to get accomplished at the cooperate level for some reason.
We were planning on going to get our drivers license today and I told the agent this, a couple of days ago. He told me that if I call him before I go to DMV, that he would fax the forms over there, to show proof that we had auto insurance.
I was not comfortable doing that because we had not had much luck with him getting things done correctly along with the fact that I was afraid that I would not be able to contact him before we headed to get our drivers licenses and even if we did contact him, that we would get to DMV only to find out that he had not faxed over the paperwork that we needed.
The bottom line is that I had lost all faith with this agent and was not comfortable dealing with him any longer. Heaven forbid we should have an accident and needed someone that we could depend upon to provide us with the proper service or help us with any insurance needs that we might have.
I placed a telephone call to the head of that agency and left a message for him to call me. I did not hear from him until later on the next day and by that time, I had already put into motion a transfers of our auto insurance policies to another agency. Had he called me the same day that I had called him, we would have most likely stayed with his agency but utilized a different agent within his agency.
Because of the error of putting the wrong mailing address down initially, it will take a couple of weeks for this all to be settled and straightened out and for all of our auto insurance policies to be transferred over to this new agency.
And now for the icing on the cake...Charter Communications.
My experiences and frustration with Charter Cable has been previously documented in some earlier blog entries but with yesterdays fiasco, Charter Communications really outdid themselves.
Below is a brief synopsis of the customer service that we received from Charter Communications:
The tech was running behind and showed up 45 minutes late...3:45...no big deal because it happens all of the time.
As soon as he got there, we knew we were in for trouble.
The place where we live is brand new. It has all of the wiring within the walls for telephone, cable and internet services.
Nothing on the outside has ever been hooked up,so basically the tech is starting from scratch.
Right from the start, he is complaining about how behind he is and how many more service calls he has scheduled for the afternoon.
He comes inside and looks at the number of telephones that we have...3 to be exact and all are different. The tech tells us that we should have "one main bank" for 3 identical phones to charge in. This would have made his job easier...he made it sound like everyone has a set up like he wants and made us feel that we should go out and buy a system like the one he was speaking about.
The tech spent the next 4 hours complaining about the number of stairs he was having to climb, the number of times he had to go up and down those stairs, he was on the phone talking to another tech and asking her if she had heard the crazy lady that he had as a customer earlier in the day and then proceeded to tell me that this lady(another customer) was a lunatic, bitching to me about the number of jumpers that he was putting together and the number of splitters that he had to use.
It was just complaint after complaint.
After he once again was complaining about him missing other appointments, I told him that his complaint should be with whoever does the scheduling...not with me.
The longer he was there, the more tense and stressful the situation became.
I found this tech climbing on our bedroom dresser so that he could plug in a cable wire.
On several telephone calls that he had with what sounded like other techs, he was heard complaining about the job that he was here for.
He complained and blamed us because this job was taking so long, that he was losing money by not being able to get to other installation appointments.
Before everything was done, this tech had packed his stuff up and taken it all downstairs to his truck.
By this time, there were cable wires laying over our bed, the nightstand was pulled out and had some unknown type of equipment on it...must have something to do with the phone and basically cables laying here there and everywhere.
I mentioned to the tech that the upstairs television had not been hooked up to the cable wire and that he did not leave any cable wire for me to hook to tv up to it.
It was at this time that things got real nasty.
The tech told me "can't you just go out to a store and buy some cable wire" and "are you too cheap to buy some cable wire" and "all of my wire and tools are down in the truck" and "I have already done a bunch of jumpers, splitters and 50 cables for you".
I could not believe what I was hearing.
I then looked in our office/craft room where our computers are and my desktop had not been hooked up to the internet.
I told the tech that this job was not complete. He then stated that he would hook the wire up to my computer...he was saying it in a really sarcastic fashion.
We explained to him about all of the things that were not done and about his behavior throughout the 4 hour ordeal.
He really did not have much to say about it, other than to reiterate the amount of work that he had to do and the number of appointments that he missed because of us.
It became a rather personal thing at thing point.
We told him that we were customers too and that the service that he provided was not acceptable.
We told him that we wanted a receipt for money that we owed Charter Communications...they take $90 COD and then apply that amount towards your first bill.
We got our receipt but refused to sign off on one of the sheets of paperwork that he had.
Veronica did sign off on one of the pieces of paperwork but also wrote on it that the job was not complete and that we would be contacting a supervisor.
As soon as the tech left, I did file a formal complaint with Charter Communications.
After not hearing from anyone this morning, I called Charter Communications back again and spoke to a supervisor.
This supervisor was able to pull up my my official complaint from last night, which listed in detail, all of the things that were done, were said and not done by this technician.
The supervisor got in touch with the local dispatcher and the local installation supervisor.
I am now awaiting a call back from the local installation supervisor so that we can discuss and rectify this situation.
Never in my life, have I ever received such poor quality service from any company nor have I ever had a technician that behaved in such a rude and unprofessional manner.
Hopefully I will have happier news in the near future but for now...the beat goes on.

OBX and Back

2010-03-01T19:32:00.003-05:00

I got up early this morning and drove to OBX.
I went to the management company and got our keys.
I then went to our new condo and unloaded my car.
I put up the curtain rods, curtains, shower curtains along with a bunch of bathroom towels.
It ended up being one of those days...if anything could go wrong...it did.
I finally got everything and all of the extras that were packed in the car, got put away.
One thing I forgot to bring was some window cleaner and paper towels. I was planning on cleaning up things in the kitchen and bathrooms. Probably a good thing that I forgot the spritz because it took me all day just to get everything else done.
Although everything is brand new, this condo has been closed up for a couple of years now, so everything will need a good cleaning.
Tomorrow night the computers get torn down so I won't be back online until the 10th of March...at least that is when Charter is supposed to install cable, telephone and internet.
So the next blog entry will be coming from our new place.

Charter Communications Followup

2010-02-27T10:57:00.002-05:00

After not hearing from the Charter Communications rep about my initial assigned telephone number being lost out in limbo land, I decided not to wait around for them to find it.
I went ahead and took the new number. I also went ahead and made my way through my long list of businesses to contact and let them know my "new" new telephone number.
Monday I will be heading down to OBX early in the morning.
I need to stop by and pick up our keys and then head over to the place.
I have a vehicle full of stuff to unload and then I need to start putting up curtain rods and curtails. After that I will do some work in the bathrooms...putting up shower curtains and towels.
Hopefully I can get it all done during this one trip.
On Wednesday the moving crew comes to box everything up and then on Thursday they will be here early to pack the truck.
Starting on Wed we won't have any internet nor computers. We won't have any internet until 3/10, at which time Charter will come out to our new place and set us up with telephone, internet and cable service.
This upcoming week with be hectic to say the least be at least we are making progress.

Not Again

2010-02-25T09:33:00.005-05:00

In past blog entries, I have berated and bemoaned about the service that I have received at times from Verizon.
Now there appears to be a new leader of the pack when it comes to really poor service.
As part of my prep work for our upcoming move, I made contact with Charter Cable.
They are the main people that cover the Kill Devil Hills area for cable, telephone and internet.
Prior to calling them, I had seen a recent ratings report in Consumers Report on many telephone, cable and internet companies.
Unfortunately Charter ranked close to last place in all of the rankings. Going into this, I hoped that somehow the rankings and ratings were wrong.
I placed a call to Charter and set everything up. We got a bundle package for cable, telephone and internet.
The customer service rep was friendly and was even able to give me my new telephone number.
Once I had everything in place with Charter, including an appointment for our free installation, I then proceeded down my lengthy list of places to call, so that I could provide everyone with our new address and telephone number.
After a couple of days, I had made my way through that lengthy list and was able to take a breath before the next wave of things to do was upon me.
This initial contact with Charter occurred about 2 weeks.
About 2 days ago I got an automated call from Charter so that I could set up an installation appointment. That made no sense to me since I already had one set up. The automated caller requested that I use my touch tone dial on the phone and put in 2 numbers for the date and 2 numbers for the month that I would like to have my installation appointment on.
I plugged in the same numbers for the same date of installation that had already been made previously. Unfortunately the computer would not accept the numbers that I plugged in.
I then hung up and called Charters customer service number.
I spoke to a rep there and provided him with my customer number and service order numbers for the installation.
The rep looked everything up and said that we were all set for the date and time that was originally made 2 weeks ago.
I thought everything was all set again and I was able to take another breath of air.
Unfortunately that breath did not last long.
Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Charter stating that I had cancelled my installation and service and that we needed to start from scratch all over again.
Needless to say...I was neither happy nor pleasant.
As it turned out, Charter tried to up the cost on certain items that I had already locked in at a decent price..I say decent price because Charter prices are a lot more expensive than what we have been paying for our equal services through Verizon and Cox cable here.
I got passed onto another rep who started adding up the prices, which kept going up as the discussion continued.
Finally I had had enough and told this rep that this was obviously turning into a "bait and switch" scenario and that I was not happy at all with the way this whole thing was playing out...especially since I did not cancel anything out and that act was done on Charters side of things.
This rep must have heard enough and she hung up on me.
I then proceeded to call Charters customer service number.
I spoke with a very friendly person there that apologized profusely after hearing my long drawn out story that had occurred up to this point in time.
As it turns out, half of what I ordered was not in my original purchase and history file with Charter, so we had to go through everything that I wanted all over again. I also found out that I needed to provide the installation person $90 in cash...$30 for each service I was getting and that this amount would be directly applied to my first bill. Good thing he told me this because it was the first time I had heard of this charge. The installation person would have shown up and I would not have had a dime to give him....thus no installation at that time and another reschedule would have been in order.
After walking me through all of their offerings and deciding on what I had originally wanted, I ended up getting everything for about $5 less than the original total.
There was one minor problem....remember that telephone number that they had assigned to me...that number that I had gone down my lengthy list of places that I needed to contact and provide updated contact info...well that number was no longer found to be assigned to me.
The number was not registered to anyone else nor was it still assigned to me. It was somewhere out in there limbo land.
With the thought of additional work that I would need to do to re-contact everyone on that lengthy list, I begged the rep to attempt to locate that number so I would not have to repeat all that work again....my "to do" list is rather full as it is.
He promised me that he would try to locate that original number. He did actually call me late last night to let me know that the techs were still searching in limbo land to find my original telephone number.
He is supposed to call me back early this afternoon as soon as he gets to work and checks his email box to see if the techs were able to locate that number.
If not, I will need to get started on that list again....Aaaarrrggggg!!!!
I can now see why Charter rated so poorly in Consumer Reports rankings.
A rep from the moving company is supposed to be here shortly to determine what they will need to bring for our full packing, which will be next Wed.
Don't you just love moving?

Latest Update On Our Move

2010-02-21T08:01:00.004-05:00

We are edging closer to our move date.
Someone from the moving company should be coming in this week to estimate what they will need to box and pack everything up.
This upcoming Friday, I need to take in our digital HD cable box and get our cable service turned off.
On Monday the 1st, I have a very hectic day in store for me. I currently have the Toyota packed with all kinds of stuff...curtain rods, curtains, bath towels, shower curtains and many other things.
I will be heading down to the OBX early that Monday morning.
First stop with be to pick up our keys from the property management people.
Then I will go directly to our new place and start putting all the curtain rods up along with the curtains and shower curtains. I will also do some other work in the bathrooms.
On Tuesday the 2nd, I need to get some things ready for the movers, who will be coming the next day to pack up our stuff for the actual move. I need to turn off our fridge and clean it our really well.
On Wed the 3rd, the movers will come to pack everything up.
Then on Thursday, the 4th, the movers will return to pack up the truck with all of our belongings. After they leave, Veronica and I finally will be heading down to the OBX for good. We will stay at a local hotel down there and get up early the following morning.
The next day will be another busy one. We will meet the movers at our new place and begin the process of unloading the moving truck and start to unpack everything.
Hopefully all will go smoothly and within a week or two, we should be starting to actually have a chance to enjoy our new place.

Who Says Doing The Laundry Can't Be Exciting

2010-02-20T15:48:00.002-05:00

This morning Veronica and I decided to do some laundry. We wanted to wash some of the numerous comforters, blankets, mattress pad and bedspreads that we either had on the bed or had been stored away in the attic.
About 2 years ago, where a Shell gas station had closed down, a new laundry center had been built.
This "laundry center" is called Soap-N-Suds.
When we were on our way there, I was ready for the usual laundromat experience.
You know the experience...noisy, high humidity, sensory overload...a mixture of smells some of which include wash soap, dryer sheets of every possible flavor and overly dirty cloths...some of which should have been washed years ago.
Of course every once in a while, you catch the whiff of someone bringing in an old pup tent, that their cat had found all scrunched up in a corner of their garage and decided to make it it's own personal litter box...you know...that unforgettable old stale cat urine smell.
Well let me tell you folks something. Upon entering this "laundry center" as they call it, I found myself blissfully walking into laundromat utopia.
I know...I can hear all of you saying....Rick...have you been noshing on those 'shrooms" again.
Not this time folks. I can honestly say that this place was actually fun to be in and made washing your clothes kind of enjoyable.
This place is called Soaps-N-Suds.
This was one totally automated computerized laundry cleaning center.
To start this exciting washing process, one must go to a automated touch pad screen and purchase a SNS Laundry Center washing card. Your initial card cost $1.00 and then you can add money onto the card either by inserting cash or by swiping a credit/debit card.
Then you have to decide what size washing machine that you want to use. A majority of the washing machines were front loaders. They did have a few top loaders..the ones you usually see in a normal laundromat, but they were few in numbers and kind of shoved to the back of the large laundry center.
Each machine had some type of automated card reader in the front of each machine and each machine, depending on size and how much laundry it holds would dictate the price of washing a load of wash. They had double loaders, triple loaders and then the giant mogumba loader which held 8 loads of clothes.
Because of the size, weight and amount of items that we had to wash, we ended up using a double, a triple and one of those mogumba giant front loaders.
Now at first the cost of a load of wash was enough to make your heart skip several beats but when I thought about it further, a little over $8 was not bad for the huge front loader, especially since it held 8 loads in it and we packed it pretty well with stuff....which came out to $1 a load.
This huge front loader had a drum which must have been about 4 foot in diameter.
Although the price seemed rather steep for the washing aspect, the drying was very reasonable.
Once again they had several sizes of dryers to pick from. Each dryer cost a specific amount per until. A unit equaled 10 minutes.
The largest dryer cost .63 cents per unit where the smaller dryers cost .44 cents per unit.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that 1 unit dried quite a number of items without the need to use further units.
Like I said earlier, each washer and dryer had an automated box in it and all you had to do was to slide your washing card in and out of the box and it read how much money you had on the card and subtracted the washer or dryer amount from the card.
If you needed more money on the card, you went back to the main automated touch pad screen and put additional money on your laundry card.
Not only was this place big, it was extremely clean, had a laundry attendant on premises to help out those who are automated touch pad screen impaired (me) and even had 4 large screen televisions hanging down from the ceiling. They even had an approximately 60 inch Vizeo LCD TV and had Direct TV on all of them.
Veronica and I were so impressed with this laundry center, that when we got done doing our initial loads, we went home and grabbed all of our Winter coats and another comforter, came back and did some more washing.
We got everything done, all of the washing, drying and driving time in 2 1/2 hours...very impressive indeed.
I usually never get excited or have fun doing laundry especially at a laundromat but let me tell you, this was a rather enjoyable experience.
It doesn't take much to keep some people entertained and today, I was one those people.

The Official Packing And Moving Date Has Been Set

2010-02-18T16:04:00.004-05:00

It looks like all of the dates have been set.
The movers will come box us up on Wed, 3/3, then they will return Thursday, 3/4 to load the truck up and then deliver our belongings to our new place on Friday, 3/5.
I have already made appointments to have some new furniture delivered on 3/12 along with the important stuff...the cable, telephone and internet service will be installed and turned on during the afternoon of 3/10.
I plan on going down to our new place on Monday, 3/1, pick up our keys and head over to our new place where I will empty my overflowing car interior of its contents.
I have enough stuff shoved in the car to open my own Bed Bath and Beyond store.
I will spend the day in our new place putting up curtain rods and curtains along with getting the bathrooms decked out with shower curtains and towels.
After I get those jobs done, I need to "beat feet" back and load the car up the next day with everything that we don't want the movers to take on their truck.
My long list of things to do and phone calls to make has just about all been completed..only a few minor things left to do and then we are good to go.

Is That The Finish Line That I See

2010-02-17T09:41:00.002-05:00

Been busy wrapping up final preparations for our move.
I have got most of the way through my list. What's left on it are the biggies...stop cable service, telephone service and internet service. Then I need to return whatever equipment I was using from each service.
We will be going to our new place on 3/1 after getting our keys. I want to put up the curtain rods and drapes along with the shower curtains.
Then there is the delivery of a new couch and dining room set. Hopefully we can get all that done one day 1.
On day 2 or maybe the night of day 1, we can do a grocery shopping to stock the place up a bit.
I am hoping that the movers will come pack us up on day 3 and deliver our belongings to our new place shortly thereafter.
Then it is just a matter of unpacking everything and getting the phone, cable and internet service started. Luckily all three of those things come from the same company.
Of course all of my plans are contingent on when the movers come to pack us up. Hopefully I will know that date in the very near future.

Getting Close Now

2010-02-10T10:38:00.003-05:00

Our moving date is rapidly approaching. Although it is not fixed in stone, it should be during the first week of March.
I have about 95% of everything done in preparation for the movers to come in and box everything up.
The last big chore was taking care of our bedroom. I had not cleaned in there for months now...cleaning is not high on my enjoyment list.
I had to break down all of the electronics in there and then came the big job.
I ended up moving all of the furniture out away from the wall and then I had to clean all of the built up dust that had accumulated over the last 8 years.
8 years of built up dust seems to have equaled one good Virginia Beach snow storm. It was so bad that I had to wear a mask.
So I wiped everything down and vacuumed all of the carpet under the furniture, cleaned all of the baseboards and then waxed all of the furniture.
I divided this dirty job over a 2 day time period.
Now with everything off of the walls, I am kind of digging the minimalist look that is our bedroom at this time.
Other than a few small things, I am done prepping for the movers.
The next big thing is that often mentioned list that I need to take care of.
The list is of everyone that I need to contact to either start new service at our new location, stop service at our current location or those I need to notify of our new address and telephone number.
I will start doing that list next week.
Other than that, not much going on.
We are in the midst of another snow storm. It was raining yesterday and last night but changed over to snow this morning.
It was coming done pretty good and with the winds howling, snow was flying everywhere. They are talking about wind gusts up to 50mph.
Veronica had to go to Boston for some training.
She left Monday and I am not sure when she will make it back. As of last nights telephone conversation with her, she was notified that she would not be returning home today as planned.
I guess that Logan had closed down/her flight was cancelled with advanced notice because of the snow storm that has been traveling Northbound.
Hopefully she will be able to come home soon...I miss her.
It really is hard to believe how much snow we have had this winter season.
most years we might see a dusting if that much.
Mother nature is really giving Veronica and I the royal treatment and send off as we prepare to start our next adventure on the Outer Banks.

Moving Update

2010-02-06T09:20:00.003-05:00

We just had another big storm pass through here. We got all rain out of it and some high winds but they got clobbered just North of us.
The DC area got quite a bit of snow. Last I heard was around 20" with more coming.
Doing a little here and there as far as the move preparations. Got about 85% ready for the movers. My biggest task is the very long list of people, places and businesses to contact for our change of address.
I will start getting that list done in earnest around mid month.
We should be moved and in our new place around the first week of March.
Then the task of unpacking will begin.

From Sun And Sand To Snow And Shovels

2010-01-30T09:11:00.004-05:00

Well, last week Veronica and I were in the Outer Banks enjoying a little sunshine and watching the ocean waves rolling onto the beach.
Today is a totally different story. Back in Virginia Beach we are having a snow storm.
So far we have about 3-4 inches and there is talk of another 4-8 additional inches possible.
Obviously mother nature was not going to allow us to leave without a grand send off.
This will be the most snow that we have seen since moving here.
Actually, this is more snow than we have had over the last 8 years if totaled up.

Our Latest Visit To The Outer Banks

2010-01-28T10:35:00.009-05:00

Veronica and I just got back from the Outer Banks yesterday and here are some photos and videos of our most recent trip. Beow are some photos of the saltwater aquariums that were in the hotel lobby

We had just had a front move through and it was quite windy the day after it did. The waves were still a little choppy, which made for great photos and videos

Most of these ocean front houses are empty just waiting for all of the tourist to hit town

As you can see, there a very few cars on this ocean front road. I am sure that this is completely opposite of what it will be like in the Summer

Sand art at its best

Below are various videos that I took. The sound of the ocean sure can be soothing.

Kissed By A Moose

2010-01-27T09:42:00.002-05:00

My friend John Jakobs, from Ontario Canada, sent me this great photo. Thank you for sharing this with us John.

The caption that accompanied this photo is:

Pete Young is standing on his back deck which is about 2 feet off of the ground and he is about

6' 1" and weighs about 250lbs, so she is a fair sized critter.

This photo was taken in Fort St. John BC, Canada

Busy With Moving Preparations

2010-01-23T11:40:00.003-05:00

I have been really busy the last several days preparing for our upcoming move. Even though the movers are doing a complete pack, there is still plenty to keep me busy.
I took all of our belongings out of the attic and put them in the garage.
Bought a bunch of extra large plastic bins with covers so that I can get a little more organized and have things all together, where I can actually find them when the time comes that I need them.
Been making lists of everyone that I need to call to notify them of our change of address.
Got our new phone number already and set up for the installation of our internet and cable services...the same company that has our telephone service. Been looking into changing our car insurance over to our new state.
This Monday I will be going with Veronica back down to OBX...she has some work related things to take care of and I will go back by our new residence to double check our window measurements just to make sure that we got the right size of drapes.
I need to measure our kitchen floor so that we can get a throw rug in there.
I will also be trying to get my NC drivers license while I am down there. Just a lot of things going on right now.
This moving stuff can sure be a little overwhelming at times...that's for sure.
At least my foot is starting to feel better. I keep working it and stretching everything...everyday it seems to get just a little better.
Hard to believe that in 4-5 weeks, we will be living on OBX. How cool is that!!!!

And Here They Are- The 2009 Redneck Award Winners

2010-01-20T19:07:00.008-05:00

I received the following 2009 Redneck Award Winners from my friend, John Jakobs, from up in Canada. Thank you for sharing these with us John.

Redneck Harley

Redneck Bass Boat
Redneck Grill

Redneck Horseshoes

Redneck Lawnmower

Redneck Weather Station

Redneck Pet Carrier

Redneck Gingerbread House

Redneck Wedding Reception

Redneck Guest Bedrooms

Redneck Palm Pilot

Redneck Powerball Winner

The above Powerball Winner on Vacation

The Redneck Yacht

You Might be aredneck if... A little rain doesn't spoil the fishing...

You need fashion tips from your husband...

wear a shirt like this for your engagement picture...

your wedding cake looked like this...

Your doghouse looks like this...

Your pickup looks like this...

You have a deer's butt for a door bell...

You don't need a lake to do a little skiing...

Or if your wife is quoted in the local paper saying

It Is Now Official - We Are Moving And Why??

2010-01-18T09:27:00.008-05:00

Last week Veronica and I went to the Outer Banks. It originally was for a couple of days just to get away, enjoy ourselves and to take in a few of the sights that the area had to offer.
Things ended up changing rather quickly right before we left on this little getaway. Veronica is currently a store manager for a large discount retail business and they offered her a new store that is being built on the Outer Banks. So as it turned out, we ended up looking for our future place to live. I did some quick research on the internet and Veronica made several telephone calls so that when we arrived, we would have several places to look at.
This trip ended up being very hectic and rather stressful at times. We had 2 full days in which to locate our new residence.
Besides the sticker shock, we were blown away by how few quality places that were actually available for long term leases and at a reasonable price point. Most places catered to the weekly summer rental crowds. So many of the places were really run down and that was sad to see. I guess that is what happenes when you have a lot of turn around with tourist coming in and out for a week or two at a time.
Because we were there during the off season, other than the locals, the place was rather quiet.
We noticed that many of the restaurants close up for the off season. We found a few that were open and they seemed to cater to the locals that live there year round.
After much looking and being very disheartened at our possibilities, we did find a place that we could make do with. It was not an ideal choice but we could and would have to make it work...we just could not find anything else in the time frame that we had..even though we had gone through about 5 -6 realtors and property management businesses.
Late Friday afternoon, we decided to stop at one last property management business just to see what we might stumble onto.
As it turned out, we got very lucky and stumbled upon a gem.
For just a little more money than we were going to have to spend on the original place, that we felt stuck with, we ended up getting a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath beauty. This was a condo that was made in 2007 or 2008 but had not been leased out until we showed up.
We walked into the place and it was brand spanking new....never lived in.
This condo has so much space and tons of storage too. It is away from the beach front area and the main hectic travel corridor. It is a very small development area with only a few condo buildings...2 Five unit buildings and a few newer homes.
There is a club house and pool.
The development sits close to the sound, so from the back condo windows, you have a sound/water view.
The garage/carport area can hold up to 3 cars...it is very deep and in the back of it, there is a enclosed 11 1/2' x 6' storage area.
This unit comes with a brand new washer and dryer too.
We will be moving into it around March 1st.
There is so much work to be done before that date that at times I feel very overwhelmed by it all.
This definitely will be a year of change and lots of travel.

First We Had Snow Moose And Now We Have Snow Deer

2010-01-17T17:19:00.002-05:00

In a previous blog entry, I had photos of Snow (albino) Moose and now we have photos of these beautiful Snow (albino) Deer.
These photos were provided to my by our friend, John Jakobs, from Ontario Canada. Unfortunately I do not know who took the photos, so I can't give them their proper credit.
These twin Snow Deers were seen and photographed behind the Gray Rock Cafe in Grayling, Michigan.
These really are beautiful animals. I would love to see these deer and the Snow Moose too, so that I could personally see and photograph them. Thank you John, for sharing these with us.

Our Visit To the Outer Banks aka OBX

2010-01-16T18:36:00.015-05:00

Veronica and I took a couple of days to go and visit the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was a mixture of business and pleasure. There will be future blog entries about the business portion of the trip but this blog entry will focus on the pleasurable aspects of the trip. Here are some photos that I took while we are on our way to Manteo. There were some expensive condos and it looked like everyone that lived there owned a rather large boat. Funny thing...all of the boats looked basically the same except for the owner of Piglet..the little boat that wanted to be a big boat.. It actually made for kind of a cool looking photo.

Here are some views from the Ramada Inn we stayed at. During the off season the rates are great...$49. As you can see, the seas were rather calm. I really wished that there was an off shore storm or something like that. The photography is more interesting when the seas are active.

Man and his best friend going for a stroll on the beach

This fine feathered friend is Sabrina, the hotels mascot.

Our trip to Cape Hatteras

There were sand dunes of all sizes along the road

Fishing boats that could be seen from a bridge that we were on

A lone bicycle rider along a desolate sand dune lined roadway

There were so many houses on and near the beach. Each one had its own identity and character. I say identity because most of the houses are given names to represent something or someone that is important to its owner.

If you are a movie buff, you might recognize the photos of the house below. It is the house from the film...Nights In Rodanthe. This film starred Diane Lane, Richard Gere and Christopher Meloni. The name of the house is Serendipty. Supported by pilings at the edge of the surf, the three-story house stands farther out in the ocean than any other on the beach. It has the authentic weathered look achieved by only the sturdiest Outer Banks cottages. It is situated on the southern border of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, providing a vista of wild, undeveloped beach. When he built Serendipity in 1988, developer Roger Meekins sunk the pilings more than 14 feet deep and poured concrete around them. It was the first house constructed in Mirlo Beach, a subdivision on the northern end of Rodanthe. For more on the story of the house and of the filming of the movie, please click on this link..... Serendipity There is a really great video on the link of the storm that rolled up the coast and had an impact on the house and the filming of the movie. The house is in the process of being moved up the coast. By looking closely at the photos below, you can see the house on a special moving truck. As I am writing this blog entry, the moving of the house has stopped. The truck and house is stuck in the sand and an upcoming Nor'easter, over the next couple of days, will probably slow the move down further. I wish that our trip had been a couple of days later. I would have loved taking photos during the storm. For more info on the Serendipity, please check out these links... More Serendipity Info and Slideshow of the Actual Interior of Serendipity Last but not least...here is more information on the house and of the actual move.... The Moving of the Serendipity

Below is an actual video of the moving of the house or at least their attempt to move the house.

Here are the photos that I took of the Serendipity. This house had so much character to it.

I found this van parked close by to where the Serendipity was located.

Other beach houses in the area

A lot of these houses were huge and almost all were on really high stilts/pilings

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. This lighthouse was moved from its original location, which was located closer to the beach. It was amazing that they could move this structure in one piece to its current location.

There was another couple viewing the lighthouse. They were from Austin, TX but had previously lived on the Outer Banks. We took turns taking each others photo.