Workin' Man
What have I been up to lately? Basically, working a lot. In the past five days, I've worked about 50 hours, including 12 hour days on Tuesday and Wednesday getting the store set up. Welcome to the real world Mike! I'm starting to see how the retail business can be a real meat grinder. But I am picking up most of the basics, and business has been good, etc., so there's really nothing to complain about. I do have to say that I'm glad I get an employee discount. I've got my eye on about five pairs of shoes right now, which I'm planning on getting... soon.

As for the mall itself, it's nice, if not utterly generic. There's nothing that really makes it stand out in my mind, and practically all the stores are also located somewhere else in Charlotte. You could really call it "Southpark North", as it has many of the same higher end retailers. But as they say, it's all about "location, location, location". With all the growth in North Charlotte, there's a really large market of quite wealthy people that was just waiting to be exploited. It's a no-brainer, really. I mean, they pay people to figure out this stuff?

Panthers Season Opener
Panthers season opener

What can you say about today's game? The sports media sure had their opinion ready. The whole nation cheers as the underdog Saints pull out a victory over the "men in black" Panthers. All I knew was, as soon as Fox's pregame show was devoted almost entirely to the impacts of Hurricane Katrina, that there was no way the New Orleans Saints were gonna lose this game. There was far too much "inspirational" stuff going on for the Panthers to even have a shot. I should say that I want the best for the Gulf Coast, and I've donated time and money to do my part. But football is an unsentimental game. After the coin toss, it's only you and your opponent.

Still overall, I was generally feeling postive about the game today, Jake was (mostly) grooving it, Steve Smith was in top gear all day and Stephen Davis' production was certainly a pleasant surprise. Jenkins being injured is certainly a huge blow, and the defense never really dominated. As for the Saints, they got some breaks, but they did play well, and I will give them that. But like my dad said, "The Fix is in"- one way or another, whether by fate or by design, the Saints were going to win that game.

Good News... and Bad News
The good news is, after months of a somewhat futile job search, I finally found a job. It's with Clark's of England in the new Northlake Mall at Harris and I-77. You probably know Clark's best from their Wallabee and Desert Boot shoes. Anyways, it's good to finally have a full time job and some real responsibility. Getting a completely new store set up will be a challenge to say the least, but I'm looking forward to it. Y'all should stop by sometime, maybe I can sell you a pair of shoes.

What else is going on? My Aunt, Cousin, and Grandma stayed at the house this past weekend. It was a pretty good time, even if all we did basically was eat and ride jet skis. Still, that's a good situation when you can live on the lake and do stuff like that. Of course, with gas prices the way they are around here, the lake might become a really quiet place real quick.

When I went into work on Tuesday, the price at the local BP was 2.55 a gallon. At the end of the work today it was well over three dollars and on the way to who knows what price. Of course the hurricane has disrupted everything but additionally there have been pipeline failures which made the situation worse in the Carolinas. So thanks to word of mouth there has been a panicked run for gas in the region. Fortunately I filled up Tuesday at 2.69, so I'm in the clear for a little bit at least. You know, It's kind of cute to hear people complain about gas prices normally but the bottom line is that the American economy, and therefore society, is completely predicated on a steady supply of oil. Without that petrol, everything falls apart. I know this is common knowledge, but most people don't really care to think about it until there's a real problem. I don't think anybody really wants to deal with it.

As for Hurricane Katrina, yeah, it's bad. For a brief moment it looked like New Orleans could be o.k. but then the levees broke and the city has descended into hell. I've been watching the news with a mixture of horror and fascination, as it seems every day brings with it another obscenely bad development. I hate to say it, but I think New Orleans as a major American city is done. Would you ever want to go back there, knowing the risks? Sorry, I wouldn't. Of course the city will remain famous for its cultural and historical traits, but outside of that, the future is bleak.

Hurricane Katrina
Been watching the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina today. Looks like it's the real deal; everything I've seen and heard today makes it look like this storm could cause damage of historic proportions. Don't know how bad it will turn out for New Orleans and surrounding areas but it doesn't look too good. Hopefully enough people managed to evactuate or find shelter to minimize the loss of life.

Close Call
Scary moment at work today. I was at the front of the store getting carts and a customer who was sitting outside got my attention. He said he wasn't feeling well and thought he might be having a heart attack. I talked to him for a second and asked if he needed an ambulance. I went inside and informed the management, who called the ambulance. After a few minutes, the first responder from the Fire Dept. showed up, followed by the ambulance. Although I was back running the register by this point, I later heard that the customer was fine and just had high blood pressure. Still, that's a little bit more serious than paper or plastic.

Blue Ridgin'
Recently I went with my family and friends up to the mountains. We went on the Blue Ridge Parkway over to the Moses Cone house, Linville Falls, and Mt. Mitchell. It was real nice to get away from the traffic of suburban Mooresville and enjoy the clean mountain air. In fact, I don't know why we don't do it more often. Anyways, I posted a couple of pictures from the trip on flickr. Why don't you go check them out here? And find some time to go up to the mountains one day. You'll feel a lot better afterwards, I can gurantee it.

Game Over
It was the end of a 12-year personal quest for me today as I finally, finally, played through and beat Final Fantasy II for the Super Nintendo. It all started back in '93 when I rented the game from the old Box Office Video that used to be off of Highway 29. After being in a Dragon Warrior phase for many years, I played FFII and it absolutely blew me away. The graphics, music, story, and game design were all completely unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I think I played it so much my mom threatened bodily harm, because I remember sneaking in play sessions while she was outside conversing with the neighbors. Anyways, remember, back then you couldn't just buy whatever game you wanted whenever- cartridges were really expensive, and by '93 the game was pretty much out of print anyway. There were certainly no $20 greatest hits sections available back in 1993. So I played it and rented it whenever I could, but never really got too far in the game.

Then, around 97-98 I finally had a chance to purchase the game from the University Media Play (RIP) used for $30, back when they briefly got into the used games business. It was more than I usually put down for a used game, but I considered it money well spent. Then through high school and college, I had the game, but never went to the trouble of beating it. Why did it take me so long to beat the game once I had it? I guess because there is a lot of inertia with RPGs. Once you get started with one, it's tough to stop, but if you stop in the middle of a game, it can be tricky to pick up right where you left off. Another factor could be that I didn't play RPGs for several years after being burned out on the genre. Those factors, combined with my desire to play both newer titles meant FFII got pushed to the side.

Finally, sometime this summer I took stock of the situation and decided to go for it. The battery backups in these old games often don't last more than 10 years- if I wanted to beat the game in its original condition, it was now or never. And tonight, after a couple of tough fights, I did it. And after all these years, the game still impresses me with its clever design and excellent presentation. Now I'm proud to say that I conquered the beast- FFII is done. But it sure took long enough to beat a 25-hour game.

What I'm Watching
Back in the day, it used to be AMC was one of those multitudes of cable channels that rapidly got skipped through during channel surfing, just another click between ESPN and the Weather Channel. Face it, the mostly black and white flicks from the 40s and 50s they used to show aren't enough to keep kids' interest these days. But recently it's changed into something younger folks can get into, showing more action packed fare and even some more modern favorites. Any channel that features Blade Runner and Pale Rider is alright by me.

There are even some nice special editions of movies that are shown. Take for example the recent "Complete James Bond" special they have been showing recently, featuring all of the Bond Films up until "License to Kill" in restored widescreen versions. They also did a restored version of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" with some redubbed sections that was at least an interesting experiment and deserves some praise. Then one day you'll turn the channel on expecting a familiar movie and see something completely new like "Hell and High Water". Either way, it's almost always interesting. So if you enjoy movies and happen to be channel surfing one night, try AMC. You might be watching a lot more movies on TV than you thought.

What's the NHL Coming To?
What's the NHL coming to?

With the league just coming back after a year-long lockout, I expected to see some strange sights. But this is just nuts. Chris Pronger and Mike Peca to the Oilers? Sergei Conchar to the Penguins? Bobby Holik in Atlanta? Brian Leetch to Boston? It seems like a computer simulated season thats gone out of control.

Despite all these transactions, the new CBA might have hurt the Avs worst of all. Adam Foote going to Columbus of all places is an insult, but Peter Forsberg's departure to Philly is a body blow to the future of the franchise and signifies an end of an era. These two guys were rocks solid for Colorado during their run since the mid-90s. Now, they are gone thanks to free agency. Well, hey, "it's a whole new game"- which apparently means the Avs are gonna have a real reversal of fortune coming up.

Strange Days
Today was just weird. It all began when the electricity started going on and off throughout that about two AM. When the power cuts off at night, my upstairs bedroom gets quite warm, which makes good sleep difficult. Then because the power cut off, my alarm didn't work, so I didn't wake up until really late and I didn't even know what time it was. Then, the weather. After weeks of the blazing sun, today was a washout with steady rain and gray clouds all day. It was quite a shock to have dark rooms in the house during the daytime. Plus the cable was broke, so it was not only quiet it was dark too. Just a weird day today, at least my man Carlos got me free tickets to the Comedy Zone which was nice, even if Ri-Ra's has a ridiculous cover charge (I didn't even want to go to that dive anyway).