Thanksgiving on the NOFO

Most everyone has heard of Long Island, New York. Most people have some feeling for where it but I dare say that unless you are from the Island your impression of Long Island may what you have heard of the Hamptons. I am here to tell you a little bit about the North Fork or the NOFO as natives refer to it sometimes.
For those who don't know Long Island is huge and very populated. Wikipedia tells me that is had a population of 7,448,618 as of the 2000 census which would have made it the 12th largest state in the country back then and I dare say the population has grown since then. If you take 495 (The Long Island Expressway) east out of New York City all the way to the end you come to a fork in the road. You can choose to go to the South Fork with leads to the Hamptons and ends at Montauk. With it's reputation as a haven for the wealthy and privileged and all that comes with that the Hamptons are what they are. I suggest that you take the North Fork as I will be about this time tomorrow and check out one of the hidden gems of this country.
My wife and her family are proud North Fork natives from Southold NY. Most of the way out the island due north of the Hamptons and situated on the scenic Peconic Bay. Southold and the
surrounding towns are a bit more rural and seem more down to earth than other parts of the island. Natives are proud of that fact and the fast paced life many people think of when they think of New York slows down just a littel bit on the NOFO.
As you can see by the map this area is called the North Fork because it's a peninsula which is surrounded on both sides by water. There is a distinct maritime atmosphere on the NOFO and it's also a big industry there.
The North Fork is also home to some of the best wineries in the United States. They have rolling landscapes and beautiful architecture and host huge parties and bring tourism dollars to the area that is heavily supported by agriculture.
More than any of these things is how I have been welcomed there. The people of the North Fork are very down to earth and friendly. Much like where I am from and are not at all like the stereotypical "New Yorker." I have grown to love this area and although I am a North Carolina native and really never think that I will leave. If I were I think that I have found a place that is as close to my own home as I can find. I am glad that I have family there and will give thanks on Thursday that I will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day there.
If you ever find yourself on Long Island I suggest that you check out the North Fork.

-Doc

Weekly Poll 11/23/2009 - Thanksgiving pies

With this week being Thanksgiving (what a great holiday) I figured we would ask about your favorite Thanksgiving pie for dessert. What is it? Please take a second to vote in the poll and of course any comments that you have are welcome.

I will be travelling to New York for a mini vacation out on the North Fork tomorrow night so I may or may not be able to post as much since our schedule will be crazy. If I can't post then everyone have a great week and wonderful Thanksgiving with your families. Hopefully I can come up with a Thanksgiving Random thoughts edition to post on Friday. That is the plan anyway.

Enjoy!

-Doc

What Patrick Has Been up To - Part 2

As promised here are some more pictures of what my kid has been up to:

Meeting Thomas the Tank engine

Munching on some Popcorn at Sesame Street Live

Pulling pumpkins around on carts

Stealing the football from a Florida Gators fan (I am so proud I could cry!)

Stone Cold munching on some chicken wings

Munching wings part 2

Part 3

Getting his picture taken with me before the train ride

"Dat, I wear helmet!"

Don't ask me - but I think he was pretending the wiffle ball bat was a horsey

Proudly waving the FSU flag!

More flag waving

"Wave that flag, Son!"

The kid inherited my football cheering skills and my ears

"I wear Panther shirt!"

At Citi field to see the METS!

Touching Aligators

Ahhhh, A family picture on the train ride

Thanks for taking the time to look. I am so proud of our son that I love sharing pictures of him.

-Doc

What Patrick has been up to Part 1

As promised here is part one of some recent pictures of my son Patrick:

This past Sunday at Sesame Street live

I am a psycho killer and I will eat your children!

Trick or treating, "Im not too sure about this werewolf thing"

With the Joe Bear Mascot at Lenoir-Rhyne's homecoming

On vacation on Long Island this summer

Posing with his pumkin named Bella at Halloween

With me at the FSU game this past Saturday

Taking a motorcycle ride!

Trick or Treating

Throwing the football

That is all I have time for today. Will post some more tomorrow

-Doc

Happy 20th Anniversay to Doc & The Mountain Cat. 1989-2009.

Two great friends that refuse to just give up...

The Night We Never Met

When I was a senior in high school I played football but also had a part time job as a bagger at a local supermarket. As it turns out the combination of these two things was the way that I ended up meeting ole Mt. Cat who ends up turning out to be one of my best lifelong friends. This is the story of how we met and how we sort of met before we ever met. It will make more sense as I tell it.

Friday night football is a huge tradition at our high school (West Charlotte Senior High) and back when we were there we were really good. My senior year we were undefeated conference champs. One thing you need to know about West Charlotte high is that although the school was very racially diverse historically it was known as an African American high school. It's located in a very prominent "black" part of town and has always been a source of pride in the black community. Especially the athletic teams and the marching band. No offense to the rest of ya'll bands but our band could JAM!

I tell you all this to set the stage for the picture of me on the football team. There were multiple white players on the team but we were in the minority. Certainly no problem there...may the best athlete play. However lets just say that I was one of very few white players on defense. There were actually like 2 of us. I was also not a starter, as a safety I played when the defense needed additional coverage for receivers and on special teams. My group of friends and classmates always used to sit together at games and sometimes they would call out things from the stands to show their support and encouragement for the team and my playing status. It was not at all unusual to hear things yelled from behind me during games such as "Hey Coach, Put the white boy in!" or "White boy....48 white boy 48" (my number) I prefer to think of them as just having a lot of school spirit and support for the team and not that they were making fun of me.

Enter Vince. (Mt. Cat) Now what you have to know about Vin at this point is that he is not from Charlotte, NC. Vin is from Brooklyn New York City and moved to Charlotte NC during the summer before his senior year of high school. I can't even imagine the culture shock he went through not just in terms of the difference in city but it was a big transition in school and just before his senior year. I guess that he didn't know very many people. He and I hadn't met. Heck there were probably 3000 students at our school. The only people that he knew were kids that he had met at his new job as a cashier at a grocery store. Yep you guessed it, the same grocery store that I worked at on the weekends.

OK, back to the football game. One Friday night early in that fall of 1989 Vince decides to check out the school football team and go to the game. I am sure that we were demolishing some poor opponent and so the mood in the stands was pretty good. As fate would have it Vince happens to find a large group of students to sit with that just happen to be acting as my own personal cheering section that night. So as he is sitting there hanging out watching the game apparently people are cheering things like "GO SHANE!!" " Way to go 48" and other very encouraging things just trying to keep up the school spirit. So curiosity gets the better of him and he asks the guy sitting next to him. "Who are they yelling for? Who is this Shane?" and the response that he gets is something along the lines of a drunken slurr "He'sssss numberrrr forty-eight. He'ssss the best playerrrrr" Vince then searches the field looking for this hero. This team leader who is helping the Lions crush their opponent. Is he scoring Touchdowns? Is he sacking the quarterback? Suddenly he spots the elusive 48. The one who makes the other students chant special things. And Vin then asks the million dollar question.... "Hey, If he's the best player then what is he doing on the bench?"

Fast forward to the weekend. I am going to my job at the grocery store where I usually clean up the back room and mop the floor... 25 times just to make sure it's clean. (and to get out of the real work) and I notice there is a new guy up front as a cashier. I ask Carol in the office who this new guy is and am told. "His name is Vinny. He is from New Yaak" OK fair enough. I go about my duties. Later when Vin goes to take his break I come in to introduce myself. The conversation went a little something like this:

"Hey, I'm Shane, I hear you are from New York. Cool. Hey where do you go to school?"
"I just started at West Charlotte."
"Cool I go there too... I play......football"
"Oh, so you're Shane!!??"
At this point I think that my reputation has exceeded me so I smile and get ready to enjoy my adoration as a football hero when Vin follows it up with, "So hey, why do you ride the bench?"

I guess my reputation did proceed me... Too well in fact.

I am still not sure how we got to be such good friends after the night we never met.

-Doc & The Mountain Cat

Thursday Random Thoughts 11/19/2009

Stuff I have been thinking about:

-To continue my trend from last week about women on children's programming who I think are hot when my son is watching. I really like the singer Laurie Berkner from Noggin/Nick Jr. Anyone else watch their child's TV programs because you think one of their performers is hot?

-I have recently rediscovered by love of Orange Soda that I have had since I was a child at summer camp. Man is it good yummy stuff. Trying to lose some weight so I have to limit my intake to a couple of cans a week.


-My son thinks that lima beans are little pieces of soap. When he eats them he will play with them and pretend like he is washing his hands. He even calls them "slippery" after the bar of soap on Blues Clues.

-Apparently the hot new must have toy for this year is something called Zhu Zhu Pets. I guess the concept it that they are pet hamsters for kids who can't take care of a real hamster. Except these hamsters drive cars and ride roller coasters and other crazy stuff in their little cages. Apparently they are hot and hard to get including selling for way to much on E-Bay and other places. Watch out because your kids may soon be asking for them. Didn't the recession put companies that make silly stuff like this out of business?

-I am looking forward to the movie "Little Fockers" coming out in 2010. I loved all the other movies in the series and even though I am not a huge Ben Stiller fan I bet this one will be just as funny as the others.

-After my rotten football weekend last week I was redeemed this past weekend by all my teams winning! Speaking of which the Carolina Panthers are playing at home against Miami tonight and my wife is going to the game for girls night out. I am staying home with Patrick and it will be boys night at home! I have a funny feeling there is Totinos frozen pizza in our future cause I don't get to make it very often!

-AED (defibrillator) update from last week. So my floor the 4th has two of these devises just in case someone has a heart attack while at work. (If there happens to be someone around qualified to shock your heart back into action) I went down and took a look at the second floor and there were none. No AEDs. Apparently it's safer to work on the second floor and my life is more at risk on the 4th. I am sure some actuary has it all figured out. However I have an ace up my sleeve... They are moving me to the second floor after the 1st of the year... BOO YAH !!

-Jay Leno had a line the other night that made me laugh out loud in bed and made me worry that I would wake my wife up. He was talking about this Twilight movie coming out and the character Bella. Apparently she was dating a vampire and broke up with him only to start dating a werewolf. Leno says something like, "Bella really needs to get her money back from Match.com because she is having some bad luck! People are giving Jay a hard time about that show but I like it.

-Why does my "personalized" Google News page pick an article about Dancing with the stars as their top recommended story for me? Never watch and can't stand that show. Obviously Google doesn't know me as well as they think they do. And that is probably a good thing.

-Google's second recommended story for me was something about Robert Pattinson and New Moon. STRIKE TWO !!

- Taco Bell Sauce can make just about any leftover lunch meal just a little bit better. Yum!

-Walk to 100 miles update. 11.2 miles down 88.8 to go. Weather and meetings have hampered my efforts recently. But I will plug on!

-My son had a great line the other day. We were in the car and he didn't want to be in his car seat and was saying he wanted out. My wife says, "No. It's the law" His response, "I'm Patrick Little and I don't need law!" This kid is too smart for a 2 and a half year old!

-Stat Counter stat of the week. Long time readers will remember a spat that we had with a 17 year old kid named Anniken McFly over a blog post from 2008 Mt. Cat made about Keanu Reeves. Well this Anniken McFly put our blog post on his website and we still get hits from it including this week. I just don't understand how someone can be that convinced that Keanu Reeves is a great actor.

-Doc

Hitting the High Notes 11/18/2009

OK, so here are a few odd things I read the news recently:

-First, just saw this article today about those Somali Pirates again. It seems that these idiots still haven't found Captain Jack Sparrow with their compass that points to nowhere because the big dummies tried to hijack the Maersk Alabama again. Don't they remember the last time they hijacked this ship? These guys are dumber than Captain Hook.

-If you are going to accused of a crime I guess now there is a new way to prove your innocence. Facebook! Check out this article about a guy arrested on robbery charges was set free due to his facebook status. And you thought Facebook only got you in trouble... Of course if Facebook becomes an acceptable method of giving an alibi then the hope is still alive that someday in court an attorney may channel Johnnie Cochran and cry, "If it was on Facebook, then he's off the hook!"

-Here is a run of the mill story about University of Tennessee football players getting arrested for armed robbery. Nothing odd about that you say? It's pretty run of the mill for those thugs right? I thought the same thing until I read deeper into the article.

According to the police report, the
victims of the robbery were in their car outside a Pilot convenience store,
parked next to a Toyota Prius, when a black male approached
wearing a hooded sweatshirt, brandishing what appeared to be a handgun, opened
the driver's side door and said "Give me everything you have." A second black
male also wearing a hooded sweatshirt then came around to the passenger side of
the victims' car, opened it and said, "Give us everything you've got."
But
when the victims opened their wallets and showed they had no money, a third
black male approached the other two and said "we've got to go," and all three
got into the Prius and drove away, according to the police
report.
Police said when they pulled over the Prius, they
found a black air-powered pellet gun and a pair of hooded sweatshirts.

This made me laugh out loud. These are new age gangsters. They have gone green! Now how many hardened criminals do you know who try and pull off armed robberies with a Prius? This is hilarious to me. Hey if you are gonna commit crimes at least take care of the environment why don't you? I guess the thought is if they get into a car chase they can outrun the copy on gas mileage. Is it just a coincidence that this crime happened to be in Al Gore's home state of Tennessee?

-Kind of a scary article here about some Russian cannibals who cooked and ate a guy they killed and then SOLD parts of the dead body to a kiosk that makes kabobs... YIKES and you thought the food court at your local mall was a health hazard!

-Don't know if you heard about this or not but it finally happened. A contestant has died on one of those crazy reality shows called Wipe Out. This show is fashioned after Japanese game shows that have very elaborate physical challenges involving knocking the participants off obstacles into water and mud and look very dangerous.

-Finally here is a story I find a tad bit humorous. The FBI is now looking for a serial bank robber who they have dubbed the "Geezer Bandit." He has apparently knocked over five banks in the San Diego California area. Hey Congress, If you don't fix social security this is what the elderly are going to have to resort to! What a classic name. The Geezer Bandit!

Until Next time.. enjoy what you read in the news!

-Doc <

Celebrity Body parts you want or don't want

I saw this article online about people requesting to have their bodies changed to resemble those of celebrities . It lists the top 8 celebrity body parts that people admire about celebrities and this got me to thinking. I know all about why men may want Matthew McConaughey's chest and abs or women may want Angelina Jolie's lips or Kim Kardashian's butt. Even Jessica Simpson's breasts make the list. It just makes sense that people may want to emulate famous attractive people. Plastic surgery may be a bit extreme way of going about it but hey different strokes for different folks.

We here at YJKOBT have a slightly different take on this phenomena as you might imagine. Instead of the top most wanted celebrity body parts how about the Top NOT Requested celebrity body parts. For instance I would imagine that even though David Beckham has the most requested male legs that there aren't too many people going into their surgeon's office and requesting Michael Moore's legs. I am pretty sure that people haven't been flocking to their oral surgeon and requesting the "Amy Winehouse look" for this new year coming up.

If Angelina Jolie's lips are at the top of the list then Mick Jagger's have to be way down at the bottom next to Andy Roomey's eyebrows and Barak Obama's ears. Ther are a ton of them out there, so I want to hear from you guys. What do you think? What would be some of the celebrity body parts that people would be least likely ask their plastic surgeons to replicate? Give me your ideas in the comments and don't hold back. The funnier and more outrageous the better.

-Doc

Oh Sweet Mullet please don't make a comeback

Check this out. When we were at the FSU Wake Forrest game on Saturday I saw this guy sitting in the row in front of us who is rocking the sweet mullet in 2009. There was a blog post about someone else seeing a mullet last week that got me concerned this fashion disaster hairstyle may be trying to make a comeback. After seeing this gentleman on Saturday I am in full fledged panic mode that the mullet may be back:

My wife pointed out that the worst part of this deal was that he was in our section and was cheering for FSU. I can't even try and pass him off as a Wake fan. YIKES!

-Doc

Weekly Poll 11/16/2009

This weeks poll is about your holiday shopping. Christmas is just around the corner and if you are like me and haven't bought a single gift yet then you probably better get to it. what kind of holiday shopper are you? Are you the kind who had it all done back in July like my mom used to do or do you wait until the absolute last second to get it done under the gun? Maybe you are one of those who fights the crowds the day after Thanksgiving when the season officially begins.... Well guess what Thanksgiving is next weekfolks.
Vote in the poll and of course make any comments you like.

-Doc

The Weekend is upon us...

The weekend is here and I was wondering what everyone is doing. Our family has a jam packed weekend of (hopefully fun) stuff planned. Tonight is Movie night where we try and convince Patrick that there is some other movie that we can watch other than CARS. Saturday we are headed up to Winston-Salem to see the Mighty Florida State Seminoles take on Wake Forest (Patrick's very first FSU game) and hopefully show up better than last week. The weekend gets topped off on Sunday with the Carolina Panthers Game and Sesame Street live at the Bojangles Coliseum (nicknamed the biscuit). This should really be fun. We will get to see all of our favorite Sesame Street characters including Elmo and "Oscar in the Garbage" as my son calls him. (probably not Leela though)

What are you doing this weekend?

-Doc

Thursday Random Thoughts 11/12/2009

Stuff I have been thinking about:

- I have never before in my life been to a full military funeral. It's always been one of those things that I have seen on TV or in the movies but never attended. On Saturday I was honored to attend the services for Retired Col. Clifford Crews in Jacksonville Florida. The burial included the playing of reveille, taps, and a 21 gun salute much as pictured to the right here. It was a very moving service and something that I think everyone should experience at some point in their life.

-Several odd things happened to me on my trip this weekend involving the music on the radio. Oddity #1 - When I got out of the car Friday night at the hotel the last song I heard was Shania Twain "That don't impress me much" The next morning I get back on the road after fueling back up and the very next song that comes on was Shania Twain "That don't impress me much." Weird. Oddity # 2 Between 5:30 and 6:15 am Saturday morning on two separate radio stations I heard the song "If I Can't Have You (I Don't Want Nobody Baby)" by Yvonne Elliman. I am familiar with this song but the odds of hearing it twice in an hour on my drive have to be pretty long. Is that song making some sort of comeback? Oddity # 3 The exact same thing happened later with the song "She's Come Undone" by the Guess Who. There are some odd radio stations in coastal SC and Ga.

-I drove across this really cool bridge on my trip to Jacksonville Florida Saturday morning. I like like bridges and this one is really awesome. The Napoleon Bonaparte Broward bridge on Rte 9A (pictured here) is an engineering masterpiece and it's new and in great shape unlike the bridges in New York that I drive over from time to time. If you are ever in the Jacksonville area you have to drive over it.

-Who knew that the term Rock and Roll was a euphemism for sex? I didn't I guess I really do learn something new everyday. It may not be valuable information but at least I learn something.

-So I have decided to try and get in a little bit better shape and along with going back the gym and eating a little bit better and smaller portions I have decided to get back into my walking. During my lunch hour after I eat I am going walking. I am trying to do between a mile and a mile and a half per day. My goal is to walk 100 miles during the Charlotte Bobcats season which averages out to less than a mile per workday (but I built in days off like yesterday for weather) So far I am 7.8 miles down and 92.2 to go.

-Is anyone else really getting tired of Jimmy Football? He is starting to make me want to throw things at the TV.

-I am already tired of hearing all the hype over the new Twilight movie and it hasn't even come out yet.... Hey Robert Pattinson just remember who it was who gave you your start and made you famous. Harry Potter !!

-I have noticed that our office has installed not just one but two automated external defibrillator or AEDs on the walls here. Now I understand the principle that having these may save a life someday and I'm all for it but installing two of them? And that's just on my floor. I am quite sure that if I go down and look there are probably 2 on each floor. Does anyone else have defibrillators on the walls at their work (non-medical workers of course)? Isn't there something subtly there saying that "be careful working here can give you a heart attack"?

-Am I a bad Dad because when I watch Sesame Street with my son I always check to see if Leela is on that episode because I think she is hot?

-Now I am no fan of country music (although I do like Taylor Swift) and certainly didn't watch the CMA Awards last night but there was a lot of twitter chat about this singer (or group) named Lady Antebellum. I was wondering if this was country music's answer to Lady Gaga.

-What a miserable football weekend I had last weekend. Not only did all the teams that I pull for end up losing, but they did it in the worst possible ways. Each of the three teams I pull for managed to lose a lead and end up being beaten handily by the opposition. Hoping for better luck this weekend for the AL Brown Wonders, The FSU Seminoles (taking Patrick to his first Seminoles game on Saturday) and Carolina Panthers.

-Doc