My List - Taking It Off One at a Time

A few posts back, before I opted to get a little serious covering the news of the day, we discussed a list of things I would like to do before leaving North Carolina for a little journey into the wilderness, studying about Christ, and learning how to be a servant to others.

The list included restaurants, historic places, and other things of note here in the Old North State. Today, that list is down by one after taking a bite out of an omlet from the 501 diner.

Tucked along US. 15-501 in Chapel Hill, the diner sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the other eateries in this town. You would expect to see a greasy spoon, Mel’s Diner in Pittsboro, or Sanford, but not really Chapel Hill. Here in Chapel Hill, you expect to see more upscale, classy joints, which we have many of those.

So today, a friend of mine and I went out for breakfast at the joint. Not bad. You’re first reaction is like “this is in Chapel Hill? Really? Sweet.” It’s certainly a greasy spoon that has the classic diner appeal to it, which adds to the quality of the overall food. Good service. Good food.

Wish I would’ve found this place sooner. Of course, I’ve been saying that a lot lately about food.

Oh, Chipolte. Why haven’t I known you sooner?

Last night after a most dismal performance by the Durham Bulls, a 12-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins’ Triple A game that seemed more like a home run derby than a baseball game, my friend Drew and I decided to take a look at the Chipolte.

Now, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised at the camp out line already forming. Two college-aged girls were just arriving as we drove past to camp out at the entrance to the new Mexican eatery. I guess they valued the lack of sleep was beneficial to tasting the first burrito.

I had no idea. I never had a Chipolte burrito until today. Now, even more shocking, I hadn’t really had a burrito until today either.

*momentary pause to allow readers to stop gasping for air*

And we’re back.

At lunch, I made my way to Chipolte opting for seeing what the hype was all about instead of using my McDonald’s coupon for a free chicken sandwich. I believe I came out the winner in this deal.

The first challenge was attempting to find a place to park. Such as the case with many places in Chapel Hill, there is no parking. I was, however, able to find a nice spot in between a car and the garbage bin. After saying hi to friends who were leaving the joint, I entered the line, which was pretty much at the door.

Was this place really worth this kind of a crowd?

I waited in line wondering what to eat - burrito or taco (talk about a lack of choice)? I opted for the fajita burrito with chicken.

It was well worth the wait as each bite seemed to make Qdoba and Moe’s look more like McDonald’s, but not in a necessarily flattering way.

I will be going back for more, and more, and more. Perhaps maybe another time this weekend in between errands tomorrow.

For those who hyped up Chipolte for the past six months while it was being built, I say job well done.

A Joke Comes Into Reality - The Prearranged Marriage

Sometimes I will kid my friends that I’m a supporter of pre-arranged marriages. The joke typically is grounded in my lack of dating skills and my inability to find someone who will stick with the big guy for more than a month.

The joke often has some justifications for this belief, primarily rooted around the thought of a pre-arranged marriage just seems easier than the dating chase. It’s not something I would feel comfortable with, honestly, but something I joke about nonetheless after another poor dating choice or streak of duds.

You can imagine my surprise then when I found this article where the author writes how pre-arranged marriages are “coming back into style.” These marriages are not the typical ones where there is some money or property traded in exchange for the rights to marry ones daughter. Instead, potential mates are allowing their parents or someone else do the searching for them.

Marian Salzman, author of Next: Trends for the Near Future explains it this way:

“This is about picking a marriage partner — not about falling into bed for a world-class romance. There is a newfound interest in letting someone else solve the love dilemma,” she explained. “We’re on option overload, and we’re maxed out in terms of time, and we’d all love a partner. So it makes sense to enlist those who know us best to forge a proper and satisfying match.”

According to the article, the parents meet the potential partner in some controlled envrionments and then if there is an interest the other partner, I would presume, comes into the equation.

This sounds like a super-hyper blind date.

I’m not sure how I would feel about my mom picking my future wife. The thought scares me a little bit. If my grandparents were doing the picking, well my luck may be a little better, but I’m still scared.

What if I let Chuck Woolery do it for me? We could bring the Love Connection back for that, right?

Benoit Deaths Reported to Wikipedia before Cops Found Bodies

Fox News is reporting on an exclusive today where an anonymous user reported to Wikipedia on the deaths of Nancy Benoit long before Georgia police officers found the body of Nancy Benoit, her seven-year-old son. Former World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler Chris Benoit, 40, is believed to have killed his wife and son and then took his own life.

Wikipedia has suspended editing of Benoit’s page due to “vandalism.”

The strange aspect to this latest twist in the investigation is that the user was from Stamford, CT, the corporate headquarters for WWE.

WWE has removed from its front page any reference to Benoit. It had provided company statements on the tragedy and subsequent findings from police as the story broke. This comes on the same day WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was interviewed by “The Today Show” where he was questioned about the use of steroids among professional wrestlers. He said you can’t assume steroids was involved in the tragedy.

In 1993, McMahon was indicted on charges of possession of steroids and conspiracy to distribute steroids. He was cleared of those charges.

Also, police in Georgia, today, raided the offices Dr. Phil Astin, Benoit’s personal physician. The raid, carried out state and federal agents, was part of the on-going investigation and to determine what role steroids might have played in the tragedy. Astin has said he prescribed testosterone to Benoit in the past.

The media has taken a new interest in the death of former professional wrestler and manager Sherri Martel who died on June 15 at the age of 49. Martel was a former women’s champion and managed the likes of Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage.

Finally, former manager Debra Williams, the former wife of Stone Cold Steve Austin, spoke with a Colorado television station about the problems of drugs and alcohol abuse in professional wrestling. She also spoke about Austin who abused her during their marriage. Williams claims that having Austin arrested led to her termination with WWE.

In Honor of Chipolte and Other Good Food

I’ve never been to a Chipolte. I’m pretty sure one of my friends would say it’s the one thing missing from my food dining experience. Well, that and eating a hamburger at Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, Pa.

There is a Chipolte opening this week here in the southern city (otherwise known as Chapel Hill, N.C.), and I believe most of my Mexican-food loving friends are pumped and excited. I’m just shocked they haven’t started a camp out. That excitement has poured over into my food-loving self and now I’m waiting for a good buritto or taco to see what all the talk is about.

But it has led to a question on my mind. What food or restaurant have you been waiting or did wait to open in your area?

I keep holding out hope that Boston Beanery will open a chain in North Carolina. This was a place that I spent much of my time while at West Virginia. Just some great food that makes me think back to college (and great nachos.)

Of course, as silly as it sounds, a Sheetz opening will get my heart pumping and my mouth watering. I can taste the slurpies and chicken sandwiches now from college. It’s the best gas station food of all time and better food than most fast food joints. Sheetz enabled me to graduate college by providing cheap gas, good food, and lots of caffeine.

How Coulter Ruins the Political Debate

They say the two things you can’t discuss are politics and religion, yet I believe we do both quite well here in our little space on the Al Gore Highway. But, at least in this post, I want to discuss some of the problems of political debates as it relates to some of the more well-known political commentators.

First, I believe political discussion is at its best when two people - who may have different views on a topic - can come together and openly debate and discuss their opinions and still be able to break bread together. I want to be able to have a debate with my friends who may have different views than me and still be able to talk about their lives, their families, and why the Cardinals need to build a hospital inside Busch Stadium.

Certainly, there are more important things in life than political discussion. However, some act as though political debates are a sport - a dirty sport at that. A game in which if you’re not getting in your political jabs you’re not being effective, or so they believe.

Enter into the discussion Ann Coulter.

Trying to understand the human condition

One is accused of killing his nine-month pregnant girlfriend and ultimately the unborn child. The other is believed to have killed his wife and 7-year-old son before, later, killing himself.

The past week has given the public details into the lives of Bobby Cutts, Jr., 30, and former World Wrestling Entertainment champion Chris Benoit, 40, and the tragedies they are involved with. Cutts is alleged to have killed Jessie Davis, 26, and then attempted to cover-up his actions through the help of a friend,  Myisha Ferrell, 29.

Benoit, though police are still investigating, is believed to have killed his son, Daniel, and his wife and former wrestling manager Nancy, and then himself. It is believed that Benoit killed his wife and son over the weekend and then himself sometime Monday. Crime lab tests will fully reveal the time line in th deaths.

But what crime lab tests will not show is the human condition. Why an expecting father would kill the mother of his unborn child, an act that would kill the child as well. And why a father, who was successful in his career of choice, would kill his wife and son.

These are just the cases made famous by media attention and celebrity status. There are many more that go unannounced by the media, or unreported to the police each day.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1,247 women and 440 men were killed by an intimate partner in 2000. A more startling statistic -  one in four women will be the victim of domestic violence at some point in their lifetime.

Some state specific statistics. In North Carolina one in five women have been sexually assaulted at some point in their life. In West Virginia, there were more than 10,400 instances of domestic violence in 2003.

These numbers should make you stop and think. What are the stories behind each of those deaths, abuses, and other events? What led to these instances? We’re there people who could’ve reached out and helped to ease the situation so that a instance of domestic violence didn’t occur?

Perhaps I have naive view of life that when we are in a relationship or we care about someone (or even if we could care less about someone) that we shouldn’t abuse or do harm to them. Sometime we harm someone and it’s unintentional with the words we say or the things we do.

My hope - and, yes, my prayer - is that we will love and respect those whom we are with. That we will help those who have been abused and hurt so that they won’t feel like they have to remain in those harmful situations that there is peace and love in leaving. And, that we will find a way to reach out to those whom have abused people in their lives, to seek help, and hope that they may seek healing and forgiveness.

When unreality meets tragedy - The Chris Benoit Story

I came home from church tonight wanting to sit and drink a Diet Coke, go over some stuff on the computer, reflect on a few things, and - yes - watch wrestling. Tonight, was supposed to be a three-hour “funeral service” for a man who everyone knows is not dead.

Instead, the unreality world of professional wrestling met the sad tragic world of life, again, as professional wrestler Chris Benoit, 40, was found dead in his Atlanta home. Also found dead were his wife Nancy, and seven-year-old son Daniel.

The death is being investigated as a murder-suicide. The Atlanta Journal Constitution and WAGA report that police believe Benoit murdered his wife and son and then killed himself on Monday.
Raw commentator Jim Ross call Benoit one of the best friends he had. Jerry Lawler said it was not right.

We never know why these tragedies occur, and we may never know the situations that led to the murder-suicide. But we have faith in a God who loves and will comfort those who morn and heal in these tragedies.

I can’t even begin to imagine what these families are dealing with in this loss right now, especially given the latest turn of events.

The Pandemic Flu and the Church

Today, my company offered an interesting lunch discussion on the possibilities of a pandemic flu outbreak in the coming years. According to the speaker, it’s no longer a question of if but when the country will face a pandemic flu outbreak.

One of the topics that sparked my interest was the role faith organization - that’s code word for the church - will play during a pandemic flu. There are the obvious forms of providing emotional care to the sick and to workers who are dealing with so much sickness and death. But there are the “social distancing” aspects that the church may have to be involved in, such as closing worship services when the community-at-large is asked to stay home during an outbreak.

The question is during an outbreak what should the role of the church be, especially as it relates to not holding worship services. And also is the church really prepared for a role in helping to inform and to promote healthy living conditions in the case of an outbreak?

My List

I’m down to less than two months before I move the gear west to Kentucky for seminary. There are things that I’m doing to get ready - cleaning officially began today and some boxes of junk were sent to an early death at the dumpster.

There are still some things that I need to get done. I’d like to sale my bed (anyone need a good queen-sized bed that has an antique-type metal headboards?) before leaving. I’d like to also get rid of some more things stashed away that I haven’t used in awhile. And I’d also like to figure out why my lamp won’t work in my bedroom.

But, more importantly, I want to experience or do some things in North Carolina that I’ve not done in three years. Call it my stupid sitting on my hands for three years, but I feel as though I’ve left a lot of things undone here.

Now, I’ve been to Concord Mills (I consider it an exercise walking around that place), white water rafting, seen the Durham Bulls play, and walked along Wrightsville Beach, but I feel there are things empty and left undone. As if I don’t really know the state that I love (almost as much as my native W.Va.) and one I want to be able to return to when my studies are complete.

So here are some things that I’ve not done that I would like to do in the next two months.  They run between the historic and the good eats. If there are places that I’ve not included that you know I’ve not been to, post them and we’ll take a look.

- Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

- Grandfather Mountain.

- Eat at the 501 Diner in Chapel Hill.

-  Visit the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island.

- Play golf in the mountains of North Carolina.

-  Go to the Richard Childress Vineyard.

- Determine the better barbecue - eastern North Carolina or western North Carolina. (I like both, really.)

So what am I missing here?