"Carolina In My Mind"

First song on my ipod this morning. Seems appropriate. I always get a longing to go back to Greensboro this time of year.

Greensboro Visit: Aaron's Graduation Party

The main reason for my visit was, of course, Aaron's graduation party, hosted by David. Some pictures from that night...and yes, there was karaoke.


Will (who refuses to smile normally in pictures), Vogel, and John. John is the father of one of the coolest and cutest kids in the world, Emma. Emma was at the party too (along with Sarah, her mom and John's wife). When Sarah told us that Emma loved to sing and dance, we decided that we needed to do a number for her. Unfortunately, the karaoke machine did not have her current favorite song (Beyonce's "Single Ladies"), but we learned that she also loves Abba. So....


Vogel, me, and Will singing "Take a Chance on Me" for Emma.


Emma and her mom watching us sing. Emma, we would learn, though, is no mere observer.


Soon, she joined in, singing along with us. Folks, if you want people to actually enjoy your karaoke singing, having a baby join you is a surefire way to make that happen. Well, that and having a good singing voice. We went with the baby option.


Vogel and Deirdre. Notice the orange object on the bottom of the picture. David threw a carrot. We don't know why.


David and Craig.


David and I dueting. I think this was when we did "A Whole New World" (from Alladin). David didn't really know the words and it was way out of my range, so I don't think it was that pleasant for anyone listening. But it was fun.


Courtney and I bringing some Latin flavor to the night, doing a bit of Enrique Iglesias. "Bailamos!"


Cameron, Kenny, and Aaron. (Cameron and Kenny are Aaron's friends from way back...)


Another shot of Aaron and his friends, this time joined by Jason.

A very fun night!

Greensboro Visit: Around town...

There are certain almost mandatory stops on any return trip to Greensboro. One of these is, of course, Old Towne. We got there at 5 on Friday and I am pretty sure we left after midnight. Wow.


Vogel, David, and Sara at Old Towne. (It's still light out at this point.) Hmmm...no more pictures from that night. Weird.


Another required stop: Thai Garden on Tate Street. Here's Vogel and David after lunch.


And look who came with me! It's Mini-Jane! (Look for her to be popping up in a few more posts...) Here she poses with my yummy leftovers (Chicken Pad Thai, of course.)

(Who the heck is mini-Jane? Well, she's like our own version of Flat Stanley, handmade by Shannon, and a stand-in for the real Jane, who is off doing great work in Azerbaijan. You can read about some of mini-Jane's previous adventures here, here, here, and here. So far she's been to Northern VA, Richmond, New Jersey and Arkansas. Now I've got her and find that she might be getting kind of bored. My life isn't nearly as exciting as the lives of my friends. I also think I might be a bit crazy, because I think I purposely shielded mini-Jane from the more debauched aspects of the Greensboro visit. That is crazy on at least two counts: 1) it's a freaking doll and 2) the real Jane is all about the occasional bout of debauchery.)

Greensboro visit: Grasshoppers' Game

Memorial Day Weekend found me visiting friends in Greensboro. Lots of fun stuff: a Grasshoppers' Game, stops at some of my favorite restaurants, and a great graduation party for Aaron.

Some pictures...first from the baseball game.


Vogel and Lauren.


Sunset over the field.


Another nice evening shot.

Like any minor league game, a Grasshoppers' Game is about more than just baseball--it's also about the wacky stuff that's also going during the game. You know--dizzy bat racing and sumo wrestling between innings. That kind of stuff. But what we really love about the Hoppers are Yogi Berra and Babe Ruth, the two dogs who retrieve bats and do other stunts during inning breaks. You can read about their more...interesting stunts here and here. Vogel, who loves dogs more than she loves people (it's not even close) goes crazy for these dogs, so I took a couple of videos for her (and you all, of course.)





Something I wasn't able to get decent video of, though, was the Waffle House strikeout. I am not sure if other teams do this, but it's one of my favorite things about going to a Hopppers' game. They pick some poor guy from the other team and designate him the Waffle House Strikeout Victim. If he strikes out at any point in the game, everyone in attendance gets a coupon for a free waffle. So every time he comes up, they play the Waffle song (more about that in a bit) and people yell "Waaaa-fuulll! Waaa-fuulll!" It's totally silly, a little bit mean (but harmless), and a ton of fun. And in the 8th inning it happened--he struck out. Free waffles for everyone! Yay! I tried to get video of the jumbo-tron and the song, but it didn't come out. Here's a clip of it from youtube, though. I just love it and it totally gets stuck in my head. Even now, I think I'll probably be singing it all day.




Here's Vogel with her free waffle coupon. Doesn't she look happy? Who wouldn't be? And now I have incentive to come back to Greensboro before October 31 (the coupon's expiration date) to put that sucker to good use!

Vogel's Defense

On June 27, a wonderful event took place in Greensboro. Vogel successfully defended her dissertation. To help celebrate the occasion, I drove down to GSO to surprise her and help celebrate. First stop, a lunch at Liberty Oak, this great restaurant downtown. Later, it was drinks at Cafe Europa--and then, well...it was a long night/morning and a great weekend overall.

A couple of pictures worth sharing...


Vogel and David at lunch.


Wilkie at lunch. She's also also recently defended (thus the happy look!).


Vogel and I at Cafe Europa.


On Saturday evening, Vogel and I stopped by David's new apartment to watch him unpack. Check out the label on one of his boxes.


Finally, a funny sign from a restaurant downtown. I wonder what a Vietnames sandwich tastes like.