The National Hurricane Center isn't quite sure what she's going to do yet, but the current track pretty much takes her barreling toward North Carolina. However, the discussion seems to be indicating that she'll curve northward once the ridge out in the Atlantic weakens...
Only time will tell. If she does anything, it will be about a week from now.
I added a link to WRAL's forecast track on the the left side of the blog.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
R.E.A.D.: Read Everything And Discover!
Whenever I am at Oak Island, it always brings back a flood of memories about things that I've done down here throughout the years. Today as I was reading on the beach, I started thinking about how many summer days I spent reading on the beach and the front porch, which reminded me to pull up two lists that I made a long time ago of books that I had read. One of the lists was in a spreadsheet and the other was a Web page that I had created on my personal Web space at NCSU, back in 2001.
I combined the two lists and added some other books that I could remember from my undergrad and graduate days and updated everything in a Google doc:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pTkSOoa8zZA3FtaYSm7wmMA
I'm going to try to keep this up to date because it's really pretty funny to go back and see what stuff I've read. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself because I can remember the years for the majority of the books that I've read...the furthest back I can remember is 1989, which is when I read The Castle in the Attic. The only reason I can remember that far back is because that was the first CHAPTER BOOK that I ever read, and, better yet, I actually read it outside of school. Even more memorable--I was in second grade and it was the middle of the coldest winter ever because we were living in Gettysburg, PA for 8 months.
I'm also keeping a list at the bottom of the blog of books that I want to read, because I always forget book names when I am actually at the library! If you know of others that are really good, please let me know. I'm open to about anything and everything.
It's really, really kinda nice to have other things to think about other than what's going on with the house! I apologize to all y'all if my posts aren't nearly as exciting or interesting as they were back in the day. Truth-be-told, we're pretty boring people, but you probably already figured that out! :-)
I combined the two lists and added some other books that I could remember from my undergrad and graduate days and updated everything in a Google doc:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pTkSOoa8zZA3FtaYSm7wmMA
I'm going to try to keep this up to date because it's really pretty funny to go back and see what stuff I've read. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself because I can remember the years for the majority of the books that I've read...the furthest back I can remember is 1989, which is when I read The Castle in the Attic. The only reason I can remember that far back is because that was the first CHAPTER BOOK that I ever read, and, better yet, I actually read it outside of school. Even more memorable--I was in second grade and it was the middle of the coldest winter ever because we were living in Gettysburg, PA for 8 months.
I'm also keeping a list at the bottom of the blog of books that I want to read, because I always forget book names when I am actually at the library! If you know of others that are really good, please let me know. I'm open to about anything and everything.
It's really, really kinda nice to have other things to think about other than what's going on with the house! I apologize to all y'all if my posts aren't nearly as exciting or interesting as they were back in the day. Truth-be-told, we're pretty boring people, but you probably already figured that out! :-)
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Seagulls!
Right after dinner we had some extra bread that was getting old, so mom, Callie, and I went out on the back porch to feed the seagulls:
Don't they sound so cool?
Fireworks!
Yesterday we went to the fireworks show in Southport. I did this a couple times growing up, but there were always SO MANY people in Southport (with only one main road heading out of town) that my family always thought it was more trouble than it was worth. In their defense, it would often take about 1.5 hours to get to Southport (from OKI--a normal 25 min. drive) and then about 3 hours to get home. So when I told them all yesterday that Brian and I were going to go this year, they all kinda just laughed....
The show was scheduled to start at 9 p.m., so we left the house at 7:30 (after a super awesome homecooked supper [my nanny made some awesome homecooked ranch dressing and my dad grilled our filets PERFECTLY]). We had very little traffic until we got into Southport and then it was just "slow, but moving" until we got into downtown. There weren't many parking spaces, but fortunately we have a Honda, so we were able to wedge my car between a power pole and its support guidewire. :-)
We found some open grass space right on the waterfront. It was absolutely beautiful weather. Low 80s with the wind blowing 15-20 mph, which was perfect to keep the mosquitoes away.
The show started right on time and the fireworks were awesome! We were able to get some good pictures during the show:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/FourthOfJuly2008
Afterward, we hightailed it outta there and made it to our car in record time! Brian was able to navigate through a lot of the side streets quickly and were able to make it home in about 45 minutes--not bad at all!
Overall, a very lovely evening!
Today is pretty cloudy and cool, so it may not be a good beach day. Currently we're watching the first stage of Le Tour de France! Oui!
The show was scheduled to start at 9 p.m., so we left the house at 7:30 (after a super awesome homecooked supper [my nanny made some awesome homecooked ranch dressing and my dad grilled our filets PERFECTLY]). We had very little traffic until we got into Southport and then it was just "slow, but moving" until we got into downtown. There weren't many parking spaces, but fortunately we have a Honda, so we were able to wedge my car between a power pole and its support guidewire. :-)
We found some open grass space right on the waterfront. It was absolutely beautiful weather. Low 80s with the wind blowing 15-20 mph, which was perfect to keep the mosquitoes away.
The show started right on time and the fireworks were awesome! We were able to get some good pictures during the show:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/FourthOfJuly2008
Afterward, we hightailed it outta there and made it to our car in record time! Brian was able to navigate through a lot of the side streets quickly and were able to make it home in about 45 minutes--not bad at all!
Overall, a very lovely evening!
Today is pretty cloudy and cool, so it may not be a good beach day. Currently we're watching the first stage of Le Tour de France! Oui!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy Fourth!
We're chil-laxin in Oak Island with my family and grandmother, getting ready for the Hot Dog Eating Contest. We had the best lunch ever from the Oak Island Sub Shop (sorry, Kev!).
The weather down here is absolutely beautiful--it's warm with an awesome sea breeze! I think I'll be beachin' it this afternoon before we grill out on steaks for dinner.
Tonight, Brian and I are going to the fireworks show in Southport, which is North Carolina's OFFICIAL Fourth of July Festival Capital.
Life is good! Happy America Day to all!
The weather down here is absolutely beautiful--it's warm with an awesome sea breeze! I think I'll be beachin' it this afternoon before we grill out on steaks for dinner.
Tonight, Brian and I are going to the fireworks show in Southport, which is North Carolina's OFFICIAL Fourth of July Festival Capital.
Life is good! Happy America Day to all!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Excitement! A Double Post!
I'm on a roll now! I forgot to mention--yesterday was very monumental as it was the day that we made our first mortgage payment ever. Only 359 more to go!!
The bad news is that 15.4% of it went to the principal, 70.8% went to interest, and 13.8% went to escrow.
Equity here we come...
... or not!
The bad news is that 15.4% of it went to the principal, 70.8% went to interest, and 13.8% went to escrow.
Equity here we come...
... or not!
FINE--Y'ALL WIN!
OK, so today I went to visit my absolute favorite people on the planet--my dear, dear friends (who I miss very dearly) at former-employer-to-not-be-named-in-Cary.
Oh sure, they were delighted to see me...but within like 15 seconds of talking everyone, I started catching hell about my sucktitude at blog updating. Yes, I'm referring to you:
Kara...
Laura...
Katie...
Lana...
Sarah...
Hell, I'm pretty sure I even heard Libby complaining and she hasn't worked there for more than a year and a half...
THANKS, LADIES!
So...I've succumbed and here y'all go:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/HouseWithFurniture
We've also just recently learned that not only was Bri interviewed for the TBJ article, but, also, some photographer is coming out to the house Tuesday night to take our picture. I'm quite certain that we'll look extremely loserly standing in front of our house in some pseudo-American Dream styled photo. Feel free to laugh at us....
We've also had an epic MAN VS. BEAST battle brewing here. Last weekend we baked cookies and gave some to the neighbors who recently moved in down the street. Evidently, in the process, we must have dropped a bit of sugar because the next morning we were under attack by evil-satan-beasts, occasionally referred to as ANTS.
I'm positive that there were 600,000 of them...
Brian thinks it's more like 20.
Whatever--the number is of no consequence--we were under attack! After eliminating the sugar source, we were feeling all green (aka cheap) and tried some home remedies to cut the little bastards off (vinegar, black pepper, etc.).
Which don't work....
We then decided it was better to go full force and murder them all with Raid.
Which definitely works--on contact (I think I can still hear the distant sounds of screaming, dying ants)
So, we appear to be ant-free now, although we've probably put poisonous evil bug stuff in the air in the house and we'll likely develop weird deformities...but at least there won't be any ants!
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! We're going to Oak Island!
Oh sure, they were delighted to see me...but within like 15 seconds of talking everyone, I started catching hell about my sucktitude at blog updating. Yes, I'm referring to you:
Kara...
Laura...
Katie...
Lana...
Sarah...
Hell, I'm pretty sure I even heard Libby complaining and she hasn't worked there for more than a year and a half...
THANKS, LADIES!
So...I've succumbed and here y'all go:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/HouseWithFurniture
We've also just recently learned that not only was Bri interviewed for the TBJ article, but, also, some photographer is coming out to the house Tuesday night to take our picture. I'm quite certain that we'll look extremely loserly standing in front of our house in some pseudo-American Dream styled photo. Feel free to laugh at us....
We've also had an epic MAN VS. BEAST battle brewing here. Last weekend we baked cookies and gave some to the neighbors who recently moved in down the street. Evidently, in the process, we must have dropped a bit of sugar because the next morning we were under attack by evil-satan-beasts, occasionally referred to as ANTS.
I'm positive that there were 600,000 of them...
Brian thinks it's more like 20.
Whatever--the number is of no consequence--we were under attack! After eliminating the sugar source, we were feeling all green (aka cheap) and tried some home remedies to cut the little bastards off (vinegar, black pepper, etc.).
Which don't work....
We then decided it was better to go full force and murder them all with Raid.
Which definitely works--on contact (I think I can still hear the distant sounds of screaming, dying ants)
So, we appear to be ant-free now, although we've probably put poisonous evil bug stuff in the air in the house and we'll likely develop weird deformities...but at least there won't be any ants!
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! We're going to Oak Island!
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