No duh, we're in NoDa!

So, Christy and I have been living in a part of Charlotte called NoDa (short for North Davidson St.) since June. It's the cool and funky part of Charlotte. When we first visited NoDa I told Christy that this is where I'd want to live if we were to live in the city. There are great music venues, art galleries, cafe, french bakery, fun stores, and more, see here.

Christy is still at Carolina Raptor Center as their Controller and I'm at Alpha - High Theft Solutions as an electrical engineer.

We spend most of our free time hanging out at home, riding our bikes, playing music and visiting with family and friends. Usually we'll spend some time camping on our property once a month. Madchen is enjoying the south, too.

Next month we'll be quite busy. On our 3 year anniversary we'll be spending the weekend in Wilmington, NC (on the coast); Christy's 15 year high school reunion; and ending the month with a Habitat for Humanity trip to El Salvador. We're looking forward to October!

Our First Structure!

Alas, we've completed our first building project. Christy and I were ready for more comfortable accommodations when camping so we decided to build a tent platform. This serves several purposes - level sleeping off the ground and a better vantage for viewing our surroundings. It's a 10' x 10' structure situated on the side of a hill. We used locust wood from our property for the posts. Our neighbors tell us this is a very hard, strong and durable wood good for fence and support posts. It's also a great alternative to pressure treated wood. The platform itself was made from nearby milled spruce.

I'm glad we started with a small project. It's a great way to learn techniques that we'll use later on when building the house. I have to say that building the platform wasn't easy. A lot of sweat went into erecting it. Mostly from digging the holes. Christy honed her skills with the digging bar and post-hole digger. Using the chain saw was quite fun, too. I felt like such a woodsman.

My dad use to call me "nature boy" and it's a nickname that I've always enjoyed. This past weekend finishing up the platform on my own was very cathartic. It's just you and nature... well, and perhaps a tent and a sleeping bag, and a camp stove, matches, food, etc. but you get the point. It's just such an awesome feeling to be out there by yourself with the trees with minimal comforts (go ahead and laugh Lindsey, Jamie and Lauren). My daughters like to make fun of their dad and his penchant for the woods.

(Click on image to view video)

SheRox Triathlon

Sunday my sister Nancy and I (Christy speaking) participated in the SheRox triathlon at Latta Nature Preserve just north of Charlotte. It consisted of an 800 meter swim, 27k bike ride and a 5k run. These events are so much fun, and a great reason to get in shape and improve your overall fitness. We both did well, coming in under our goal of 2 hours. The race started in the lake just as the sun was coming up. As I was about 5 minutes away from the finishing the swim, and wishing that part were over, I noticed that every time I turned my head to the right to breathe I could see the sun peeking up over the trees at the edge of the lake. It was beautiful, and it gave me some scenery to enjoy to take my mind off the struggle to get to shore.

The bike portion went fast, 17 miles in one hour, and I worked harder than normal because the spirit of competition got into me. Not being a particularly competitive person, I secretly relish the feeling of flying past someone on a long downhill! Take that!

It's hard to start running after the bike ride, because your legs are full of blood from using your quads so much on the bike. So the first few minutes of the run were a struggle! But running on the trails in the woods is refreshing, and I finished in 30 minutes. In this case knowing you are almost there makes you able to tolerate the exertion.

I recommend doing a race to anyone who needs extra motivation and a deadline to get in shape. Just sign up, put it on your calendar, and then get busy exercizing!

rick:
The triathlon coincided with a visit from my mom. She took the train from Durham to Charlotte. We had a great time. On Saturday we had lunch at Carrabba's (Italian) and then took a ride on the Charlotte light rail. She was a good sport by getting up before 6 AM on Sunday to attend the triathlon. Afterwards we all went to Boudreaux's Loisiana Kitchen for brunch. We're really glad she came.