Well, since I’m stuck here after work doing a server upgrade… watching a text-based progress bar advance at such an agonizingly slow pace, I figured I’d go ahead and write about our wonderful trip. Suck it up boys and girls, cuz this one’s a long one…
Around the end of last month(the 25th to be exact), I was finally able to treat my wonderful wife to her long-awaited Christmas present – 2 tickets to see Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson at the Winston-Salem stop of their 2Worlds 2Voices tour. OK – well, she got the tickets on Christmas Day, but the Concert wasn’t until January 25th.
Anyway, we – along with our friends Philip and Jen, took off that Friday morning on what turned out to be one of the best and most relaxing weekends that Amy and I have had in a very long time. We hitched a ride with Philip and Jen to Winston-Salem detouring through Cheraw so Philip’s parents could watch over Peyton, Philip and Jen’s daughter, while we were gone. While in Cheraw, we had lunch at Philip’s cousin’s restaurant – a nice country buffet with chicken and dumplin’s!!!! MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! Afterwards, we hop back in the car and spend the rest of the trip getting more acquainted with our weekend fun co-conspirators. You see, Philip and have I worked together for a little over a year now… in fact, his cube is directly opposite mine.We are in the same department, the same group, and we share more than a few of the same projects. He is also one of my break and lunch buddies. I am very confident when I say that Philip and I get along together pretty well…. despite me being 10 years his senior(inside joke… sorry, Philip, I couldn’t resist). However, getting along at work, and spending a weekend together along with spouses outside of the work environment is a completely different dynamic altogether. You take the work environment out of the picture, and two more personalities and combine it with a fairly long drive… you can see where there is potential for things to fall apart.
Luckily, that never happened. The four of us seemed to hit it off rather well. In fact, so much so, that I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw my wife so relaxed and just… enjoying the moment. But more on that later….
Once in Winston-Salem, we got our hotel rooms, unpacked and got ready for the evening. We had a great adventure looking for a place to eat our pre-concert meal, and after lots of driving around and, “What about…[insert restaurant name here]?” we finally decided that the IHOP right beside our hotel was our best bet. The restaurant was packed! And almost everyone there was heading across the street to the concert after dinner. No matter though, the under-staffed establishment(There were only 2 waitresses) was still able to serve some great food in a surprisingly timely manner. When the food was gone, we decided to clear out and make our way through the cold to the venue in hopes of beating the lines. Once inside, we made our way to our seats. We were on row CC-floor level, basically 29 rows back from the stage. Close enough to get a good view and be on the floor level, yet far enough away not to get our ears blown out.(That’s a good thing when you reach my age… my hearing is leaving me without any extra help!).
The show started off with a comedy routine from Melissa Peterman, probably most well known for her role as the zany Barbra Jean from Reba’s self-titled sitcom on the WB CW channel. Melissa was absolutely hilarious! She is a very talented comedian and deserves a longer opening act. It later occurred to me that if you were merely a Kelly Clarkson fan and had never watched the sitcom Reba, some of the material may just zoom over your head… but hey – this was a Reba concert after all…
The actual concert itself was… well let’s just say, color me impressed. Both singers took turns singing their hits – alternating verses in on some songs, singing backup and/or harmony on others. Both are absolute phenoms. Reba was the absolute(but very humble) Country Superstar, and Kelly was the powerful voice wrapped in such a tiny package. I’m not a big follower of American Idol, but I keep up with the eventual winners of each season and I seriously believe that Kelly, along with Carrie Underwood, is probably one of the most talented to have come out of that show. It was great to see(and hear) Reba rockin’ to some of Kelly’s up-tempo songs as well as listening to Kelly cover some of Reba’s country classics. In a nutshell, the whole production was well planned and well put together. If you are a fan of either, and the tour is playing in a city or town near you, go and see it, you will not be disappointed. In fact here are a few highlights of the show. You can listen in and decide for yourself.
The next day, we all decided to take a walk around Old Salem. Old Salem is basically part of the town that is a living testament to the lives and people of the original settlement in the late 1700′s. We spent the first part of day walking the streets, looking at shops, and visiting the Winkler Bakery. All I can say is – you need to go here. The breads, the sugar cake, the sweet rolls, the strudel, the thin cookies… simply amazing! I can definitely tell you that we purchased more than our share of baked goods there, and not one morsel was wasted. The scent of all of the wonderful breads and sweets, must’ve gotten us all hungry, so we headed a little further down the street to the Old Salem Tavern for lunch. What can I say? The experience at the tavern was wonderful. The food, the company,the atmosphere, the conversation…. everything just fit.
Unfortunately, it was getting late in the day – we still had a long drive back, and Philip(one of work’s resident “Mac Heads”) wanted to stop by the Apple store at the Southpoint mall in Durham. We had a great time perusing the mall, window shopping, and drooling over all of the different Apple products. Amy even got me the Zack and Wiki game for the Wii! Unfortunately, it was two days before the new MacBook Air was put on display. That was the one product I really wanted to try out. Anyway, we wrapped up our shopping and started making our way back to South Carolina.
The trip home was true to form as our whole adventure thus far. Plenty of conversation, this was the Saturday of the SC Democratic Caucus and the news of Obama’s win in SC sparked a lot of conversation, which led to conversation about local politics, which led to some rather funny anecdotes, which led to some extremely funny jokes…. you get the picture. Next thing you know, we were back in Conway to pick up our car from Philip and Jen’s house… said our rather lengthy good-byes – I had gotten a call from work about a problem(yeah… thanks, Jay) and needed to turn my attention on it… plus i realized just how tired our friends were… Philip had driven the whole trip and I never offered to help out…. I’m SOOOoooo ignorant when it comes to those things. Anyway… we said our good-byes and made it back home.
All in all, this was the best trip that Amy and I have had in a quite while. We were able to step away from the “real world” for a couple of days and relax and enjoy the moment. This trip was also special to me(us) because – well… my wife and I aren’t the most social couple in the world. Between work and kids, we haven’t had much time for true socializing. Hell, we have to finagle all we can just to have time for the two of us. And because of this we don’t have very many friends… well, to clarify, we don’t have many “shared” friends. I have my work friends and she has her work friends, but rarely do the twain ever meet. That weekend – well it just seemed like everything just fell into place…. and that, my friends, is a very good thing. I look forward to doing it again sometime soon…
Wow… if you made it all the way to the end of this post, you are absolutely nuts… but I thank you for letting me share our adventure with you. If you are still awake, make sure to check out the pix that Jen took of our trip.
[tags]philip, jen, reba, kelly, concert, apple, wii, politics, old salem, IHOP, winston-salem, melissa peterman, road trip, socializing, southpoint mall[/tags]
Tags: Amy-and-David, apple, concert, Friends, IHOP, jen, kelly, melissa-peterman, old-salem, philip, politics, reba, road-trip, socializing, southpoint-mall, wii, winston-salem
Here is a link to the photos that were taken on our trip to see Reba and Kelly in Winston-Salem with our friends Philip and Jen. We also walked around Old Salem, drooled over baked goods, and gawked at the scenery. More on our most excellent adventure when I’m not at work coming soon.
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| Reba and Kelly plus Old Salem |
Tags: Amy-and-David, Friends
The blog has been really quiet the past few weeks, but we surely haven’t. I have just added a VERY limited version of our family tree to the blog. I also included a link to it in the sidebar under the “Pages” section. Unfortunately, It only shows my side of the family… leaving the Coats out in the cold. BUT – have no fear! If you would like to see the full version of the family tree… including my current additions for the Coats/Sarvis/Fairmans/Higgins/Capistranos/Bautistas, just leave a comment below, or fill out the contact form, and I will be more than happy to send you an invite to geni.com as either a friend or part of the family. Once you have joined, you will be able to view the family tree in all of its glory and also be able to make additions or edits. In fact, I encourage you to do so.
Coming up: Reba and Kelly, Old Salem, and New Friends.
[tags]family-tree, geni.com, genealogy[/tags]
Tags: family-tree, genealogy, geni.com, Site Development, Technology
I haven’t posted in a bit, but things have been running rather smoothly for a bit, so there wasn’t much to write about. My lil’ Sis was in town this weekend with her two boys and with the long weekend(not for me, for some reason my job doesn’t take off on MLK Day), it would have been a perfect chance for all four boys to get together and have some fun. Unfortunately, Saturday, Brian came down with a 102 degree fever. He kept complaining of his throat hurting, and upon checking, our early diagnosis is strep. This put a serious damper on our plans as Brian ended up being stuck in bed all weekend.
So Sunday, I decided to go ahead and take William to see the boys and I could visit with the sis for a while. Poor Brian was completely distraught that he couldn’t go, but there was no way that I could risk him getting anyone else sick. I’m pretty sure that he understood… but I’m definitely sure he didn’t like it.
Well, Will and his cousins got along splendidly. They had a great time playing together and no arguments to boot! I think that could be a first with my kids!. Anyway, like I said, I got a chance to visit with my sister, and somehow felt a little better as I didn’t feel like I got enough time to talk with her(or any of the rest of my relatives) over the X-mas holidays.
In other news, I have officially reached PRO status in baseball, tennis, golf, and bowling on Wii Sports. All I have left is Boxing – and I have a looong way to go before I accomplish Pro. You may ask how such a lazy fatass …erm someone with such limited physical activity as myself might be able to score so well on Wii sports in such little time. Well, in a nutshell, it’s practice, practice practice. When we first got the Wii, I told myself that this thing was going to help get me in better shape – nothing amazing or anything, but at least I’ll be up and moving. I promised myself that I would play every other day for at least 45 minutes – and I have done just that… except it’s more like 1-2 hours(at least!). So you figure 1-2 hours every other day for almost a month… that’s a lot of play time!
But it has worked! I’m nowhere near as winded as I was the first time I played a 2 hour marathon of Wii Sports. And my scales told me this weekend that I had been consistently UNDER 200 lbs. for 4 days in a row! Of course, I probably ruined it by eating over at my Mom’s last night! Eating large portions of Filipino cooking just doesn’t go well with trying to lose weight.
Anyway, I figure if I can keep this routine up, and then purchase the Wii Fit game when it is released later this year, I will be well on my way to being a healthier, happier me.
[tags]wii, fitness, health, Brian, Will, cousins, sister, family, sick, wii sports, wii fit[/tags]
Tags: Brian, cousins, family, fitness, health, kids, sick, sister, Technology, wii, wii-fit, wii-sports, Will
I’m laughing like crazy at an ongoing email thread that is currently taking place among the Coats women. I won’t go into all the gory details, but the subject of the thread is about New Year’s Goals: weight loss – tips/tricks, and motivation, and a couple of exercise ideas.
It was pointed out that this blog could be a source of motivation since I had recently published our Christmas Holiday Pictures online, and that perhaps some of my photos were not as flattering as some had hoped.
Well ladies, rest easier. I can assure you that these photos were all taken in the worst possible light and at the worst angle by the worst photographer – ever. In fact, the better quality photos were not taken by me at all, but by my youngest son – Will-6.5. I guess he and Victoria are just naturally talented at photography.
I’d also like to take this time to point out a new section in the sidebar of this blog. If you let your eyes wander over to the right – just under the “Recent Comments” section, you will find a new section called “My shared items.” –ok the title sucks. I’ll come up with a better one later. Anyhoo, This section is a list of articles from different blogs I read that I found interesting enough to share with others. They usually range anywhere from technology, to budget living, to personal productivity. The list only shows the 7 most recent articles I’ve shared through my favorite RSS newsreader, google reader, but you can click the “read more…” link at the bottom of the box to check them all out… There’s even an article or two on weight-loss and motivation!
[tags]pictures, Coats, weight loss, motivation, New Year, Will, Victoria, photography[/tags]
Tags: Coats, kids, motivation, New-Year, photography, pictures, Site Development, Victoria, weight-loss, Will
I have finally had a chance to upload the Coats and Palomares Holiday pictures up to PicasaWeb. These pictures are in very raw form as I have not cropped or edited any of them. It may take some time before I get my local copies edited and put up there, but feel free to browse the pix and download the ones you like and/or edit them on your own. BTW, I absolutely love the picture I chose for the Album cover. I don’t get to brag on the two loveliest ladies in my life very much, but that picture may be my all-time favorite!
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| Xmas2007 |
[tags]holidays, christmas, pictures, picasa[/tags]
Tags: Amy-and-David, christmas, holidays, kids, picasa, pictures
Before I post anything else, let me go ahead and preface this by telling all of my family members that are reading this, that all my kids absolutely loved your Christmas gifts! They were big hits, and the kids are truly enjoying them.
However, the big hit for the whole family, has been the Wii. This is the first thing that I have seen that has gotten four out of the five family members hooked on it. My Wife is the only one that has been able to maintain any sense level-headedness over the absolute need to play it. Of course, we just think she’s crazy!
Both Brian and Will are having a blast with bowling, boxing, and tennis on Wii Sports. They are also enjoying Super Mario Galaxy and Rayman’s Raving Rabbids(Don’t ask). Victoria has gotten to be quite good at bowling, and she and a few of her friends were absolutely hilarious the other night playing tennis.
And while I am interested in all of the games we have so far, I have spent the majority of my time on the Wii playing Tennis, baseball, bowling, and golf. It has seriously become something of a workout regimen for me. Now most of you that read this know me, and know that I am not the most active person in the world, but spending a few minutes boxing or playing tennis will seriously get your heart pumping.
Another nice thing about how Wii sports was designed, is that it does not care of you are young or old, tall or short – there is at least one sport that you can excel at. For instance, Will and Brian play against each other most of the time and while Brian dominates Will in Tennis and Baseball, he can never seem to get the better hand in boxing. In fact, it’s pretty funny watching both of them shadow-boxing with the television and tiny little Will delivering that knockout punch to his big brother! And while Victoria struggles with her swing-timing in baseball, her form in bowling – and the hook on her ball – is something to see…. And me? Well, it’s not quite fair, because I can play on it all night once everyone else goes to bed. I have reached the PRO level (at least 1000 skill points) on bowling, and tennis, and I am very close to reaching it in golf. However, I am not that great in baseball, and I just right-out suck at boxing.
To say that the Wii is getting a lot of play time is an understatement. It has built in Wi-Fi, so it connects to my wireless network and lets me browse the web, or connect to the Wii Virtual Console Channel and download all of those kewl old skool Nintendo games like Donkey Kong or Mario Bros. They also have some old Sega and Neo-Geo games, like Sonic2 or Street Fighter2. I can also turn it on and it will give me the latest weather forecast and a list of news headlines as well.
Downsides? Well, there are a couple… One thing is to take heed of all the warnings that come up on the screen about making sure that the players have enough empty space around them. More than once has someone got unintentionally whacked by the overzealous player. The other? Well, let’s just say that if you are out of shape, you really need to start off playing fairly conservatively. After the first night of playing, I could barely get around the next day.
Now if I could just get my hands on Guitar Hero 3, Tiger Woods ’08, and Zack & Wiki…
[tags]wii, games, fitness, sports[/tags]
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