Redmond Reunion

Friday after work I grabbed some clothes, made a couple PB&Js, burned a CD with some Adam Carolla clips and headed off to Winston-Salem where I was going to spend the weekend with some dear family friends, the Harbaughs. As a bonus, another family friend would be there as well—Phil Brown!

I got in at about 9:30 Friday night. We just chit-chatted for a while and then I headed upstairs and went to bed. The next morning, We hit the town. First, Larry gave us a tour of his building at R.J. Reynolds. The first thing I noticed when we walked in was that is smelled like a smoking hotel room. Turns out, employees are still allowed to smoke while they work. It made me joke about people at Budweiser running around drunk all day. Aside from the smell, the building was actually really cool. It was actually used as an architectural model for the Empire State Building and had some beautiful marble, woodwork and art on display.

After that we headed over to Old Salem, then went and ate lunch at a place near Wake Forest's campus called the Village Tavern. It was a good spot and it was really crowded because Wake Forest was playing Virginia in their homecoming game that afternoon. After lunch we headed back home where we chilled out, watched some football, played some cribbage and then ate a great, home-cooked meal. My chicken fajita burrito the other night might have been the best thing I've ever prepared for myself, but it pales in comparison to a real cook. Marcia, Larry and Phil all called it a night pretty early and I went up and watched some TV. I was bummed that SNL was a rerun, so instead started channel surfing. TLC's show "17 Kids and Counting" has to be the most stressful program on television. The episode I saw had family friends visiting the family, and they had 16 kids of their own. That's insane and just watching it had me nearly hyperventilating.

This morning, I woke up and Marcia and Larry took me out for breakfast at a 50's-style joint called Billy Bob's Silver Diner and then I hit the road and headed back home. It was a great weekend. I am still feeling sick, so I stopped at Target to get some medicine and yogurt. I actually found a Target that's a lot closer to my house than the one I had been going to and I saw a guy from work there, which marks the first time I've seen someone I know while out and about, so that was kind of cool.

Before I headed home though, I wanted to go take a picture of this business I noticed the other day. To preface this, you must know that the cities of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill form an area called Research Triangle...often simply referred to as The Triangle. I know that a lot of businesses like to put their location in the name of the business, but I think this one is giving off the wrong impression...