April 9, 2010
Oh well, still no fishing...............
But it was a big week. Jay, Holly and Cooper (and everyone else in NC based on the traffic we saw) came to see us for Easter weekend and we all had a big time. Although still a little cool, Cooper managed to get checked out as a skipper in training on the yellow boat Saturday afternoon.
Here is a picture of the young trainee

Guess who this is...................twenty guesses and the winner gets to pay for a year in college. She'll be ready in just a few weeks, so be on alert!

This is for you Nephew Kevin, we stopped him and told him he was needed for an emergency call to Fairbanks, AK but he wasn't buying into our ruse. We did try; wonder where he was going to eat lunch?

Sunday afternoon we went to Richmond, then on to Hampden-Sydney early Monday morning for a full day on campus. After meeting with deans, financial officers (BTW, who is going to pay for all of this?), the ROTC liaison (no, not his freshman year) and a football coach, Jackson signed on the dotted line to become a member of the class of 2014. We're really proud of him and helping us by winning a Patrick Henry Scholarship.

The bypass is now open around Chockowinity and Little Washington. It takes 10 minutes off the ride to Rocky Mount; which will come in handy when and if we get the chance to watch Jackson play ball in the fall. There is a good chance he might start at punter as a freshman.
Did my first bike ride of the year, and walked 9 holes of golf Thursday.

Got a little bit of vacation left, maybe we'll have a chance to get out on the boat some this weekend along with all the dingbatters.

In the office all next week

Oh yeah, I saw somewhere on the back pages of the newspaper that Duke won the national championship; great year of getting the most of his players' talents. Picked as co-leaders of the ACC (not going to mention with whom) and ended up winning it all. The unexpectedness was pretty neat.

April 2, 2010
The tomb is empty

Pretty decent week in Morehead, Jackson is no longer seeded but won all of his doubles matches. P&D are hanging in there, no catastrophes (yet) this week, and that is good news.

Twit with me at https://twitter.com/johnriley27

I went to Jacksonville Wednesday to make some distributor and dealer calls, saw this animal on the side of the road. It was in remarkable condition, the owner told me he had the gel coat redone several years ago, and the fiberglass specialist let the finish dull as was the original. Looks good, and with a 25HP Mercury, $2,000.00

Anyone know the make? Anyone other than my brother? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?

March 28, 2010
Palm Sunday, Hoseanna !!!

One of my favorite Holy days, our annual Easter egg hunt and luncheon, and a little golf to end the day made it even better. Jackson spoke at the 11:00 service and did a great job explaining his story of church and faith. He was prepared, and did himself proud!

Pop had a good day, ate a good breakfast and lunch, and ice cream when I was there early in the afternoon. Later I mentioned he'd eaten well and he told me he hadn't eaten anything all day. And so it goes, but he was fairly clear headed and seemed happy, a good change from earlier in the week.

In OH and ONT this week, and it was a long one, out early Monday, home Saturday afternoon. But the good news is that it was a productive trip.

Might be home all week, and then vacation the week after Easter. We leave Sunday night for Richmond, and then 2 full days at HSC; think we will see Jackson sign on the dotted line.

Couple of pretty pictures below from one of my favorite places on this continent.

March 20, 2010
Another week closer to Easter..............

In CT, RI, MA, NY last week; hard to believe this snowy winter evolved into a beautiful pre-spring week so quickly. You could still see the snow piled up in parking lots, but on St Patrick's Day the MA faithful were not wearing coats. Had a wonderful corned beef meal that day, but alas, no beer. The general outlook in our industry in that area is PPP (pretty piss poor), but we keep trying hard. Good trip home late Thursday night
Pop continues to grow weaker and had a bad day on Thursday, but seemed more upbeat yesterday. I told him that if I can get a few things done early today, this being one of them, that Terri and I would take the boat out this afternoon for a little shakedown. He was happy for us.
Jackson won his match in Havelock yesterday and then took off with his pals for a weekend camping trip at Hatteras. No.............we're not nervous about this at all (ask a prayer). He will be home Sunday night.
Off to OH and Canada Monday morning; I'll be back in NC late Saturday.
And the oddest bit of news for the week: OMG I'm a tweeter, a twit, a tweeterer, tweetest? https://twitter.com/johnriley27 I'm thinking about using this on a daily basis; your thoughts?

March 12, 2010
It's raining

Looks like another rainy weekend, no race, got my first winter cold, but the ACC tournament is on all weekend. Judging from the crowds I guess this year would have been a good one to go watch in person. I heard a couple of weeks ago that tickets were selling online for face value; seems as though some fans thought this might be a "skip" year. Wonder who they are?

I get the pleasure of teaching High School Sunday School Sunday, that should be fun.

And wait, there is a Formula One race on Sunday morning also....the Gulf Air Bahrain GP from Sakhir! Guess I'll need to get the atlas out, no idea where that is; hope they put on a good show, that series needs it.

Off to CT, MA, VT, NH, and NY next week, behave yourself

March 7, 2010

Home for a few days

Sorry, no pictures this week; I was in Chicago for a buying group meeting. I wished I brought my camera, there was a hot rod show at the Rosemount Civic Center across the street. I went in there Wednesday afternoon during a break and saw them setting up. Looked like a lot of street rods and drag cars, but they did have a few oddball interesting cars as well.

The door is on the front and opens forward along with the steering wheel. The one in Chicago was pretty light color blue; not unlike sky blue, which reminds me; who saw the game Saturday night? Lots of fun, but too bad the News and Observer has yet to mention the game in any way shape or form. Not in Sunday's edition; OK, late game, I understand.....but then nothing in Monday's paper either? No story, no editorial column, no box score, not even the final conference standings. It is almost as if......Oh never mind, I think I got it.

Jackson had a good week in tennis, won both of his singles matches. Monday will be a tough match with South Central, and could go a long way in determining the conference champion. Good luck!

Off to Charlotte late in the week, the reels are nearly all strung up, the boats are just about ready; springtime is coming!

February 26. 2010

A week at home

For the first time this year I was able to be at home for the entire week. Niece Kristie and Dave came last weekend for Dink duty and we were able to get a lot of things done around the house. Of course there was some fun, I took off the line on all of the fishing reels and oiled each one. I cranked up the yellow boat engine and let it run some, and caulked the heck out of the stern area in hopes that our feet won't get as wet as last year....serious leak back there! On Wednesday I took the big(ger) boat into Gregory Poole CAT Marine for her annual service.....in case you're having trouble following this; I'm trying to get ready for a little fishing. I ordered replacement line and should get it in next week. I hope to take Easter week off, maybe get some bass fishing in around New Bern late that week.

But back to last week; Sunday afternoon we attended Jackson's induction into the National Honor Society. Words cannot describe how proud we are of this young man and his accomplishments.

Here he signs the register

and then comes forward to be inducted

Then Tuesday night we returned to West Carteret for his induction into the National Technical Honor Society. He earned this with his work in the Future Business Leaders of America; an organization he enjoyed over the past two years.

He even had a speaking part in this ceremony

And then he was inducted

I hope to get the SeaPro back early next week, then it is off to Chicago for the WIT meeting. I travel every week during March, so by month end I'll be ready for a few days off. Part of our vacation will be to Hampden-Sydney for meetings with several key personnel. Looks like that is the way Jackson is leaning. Speaking of HSC, their president was interviewed on CNN Wednesday; want to be impressed? Go to http://news.turner.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4990

An amazing man, I can't wait to meet him.