Game Days and Fair Nights

There are two things that signal the arrival of fall to me...football (and football weather), and the State Fair. Football weather is those days where the air is so crisp it snaps,the sky is a deep azure blue with nary a cloud in sight, the trees are smoldering with the blaze of red, orange and gold leaves, and you don't feel like you can breathe deeply enough to take it all in. It takes me back to Saturday afternoons in Kenan Stadium, cheering on the Heels, which they need a bit of this year. But hey, they're young, they're learning, and there's always the Carolina fan's standard fallback of "waiting till basketball season."

Too bad I can't say the same for the rest of my boys--I didn't even watch the Panthers game this afternoon, which was probably a good thing, and I'm currently watching the Eagles continue their season's demise at the hands of the Cowboys. The Cowboys! At least there's the SuperCooper Bowl to look forward to...

On the other hand, the State Fair is always highly anticipated, and somehow doesn't disappoint. We had the chance to go twice this year, stocking up on fried food, vertigo-inducing rides, the sights and smells of various farm animals, and our fireworks fix for the year (right Melissa?), as well as taking in a concert by Mercy Me and Aaron Shust. We had a rather adventurous year...we sampled some of the deep-fried novelties--I recommend the deep-fried oreos over the chocolate chip cookies, but we didn't try the deep-fried PB&J, twinkie or moonpie (I think it helps if you like the food in it's original form first)--we saw a sheep fight in one of the barns, the boys saw a people fight in line for the Gravitron, and we almost got taken out by a dozen cops descending on a pickpocketer. Good thing we were at the fair, since I don't know who was policing the rest of Raleigh that night...

Good Times

We're still getting settled in the new house, so we'll post pictures soon. I think it must be some law of nature that as soon as you move in to a new house, you have something every weekend. We are enjoying it, though, and we have plenty of weekends ahead of us for those "around the house" projects. Our biggest problem right now is just deciding where to start!


In the meantime, we celebrated our niece's first birthday a few weeks ago with a good old Southern-style pig pickin'. It was fun to have family over, and let the niece and nephew break in the playset we inherited with the house (much to our mothers' delight, you can imagine). We also got to enjoy the patio for the first time, thanks to a brief tease of deliciously cool weather. Here are a few pics from the festivities...

The next weekend we celebrated the wedding of one of my best friends, whom I have known since second grade and have had the privilege of growing a great deal with over the past two decades. We had a two-day pseudo slumber party, catching up with old friends and making new ones, at a wonderful B&B in Fuquay. If you ever find yourself in Fuquay, NC, check out the Chateau Belle Vie on Hwy 401--beautiful accomodations, fantastic food (and coffee :o), and the owner is wonderful. Here are the ladies at the bridal brunch:

It was also a great chance to catch up with some of the friends I've grown up with since elementary school and haven't seen in years--and now there are kids in tow. Guess that officially makes us the "adults"...maybe...some of us, anyway.

Anyhow, the wedding was fantastic, the weather cooperated, and the setup looked like a photo shoot for Martha Stewart Weddings. Thank you Stancil family for everything, and congratulations Missy and Rod!

Cartoon Brad

So yeah, this is a blatant rip-off of Chris' blog, but I really got a kick out of making my very own Simpson's character. Here's what I would look like on the show:



If you want to make one of your own, click here.

Adventures in Househunting: Conclusion and Epilogue

So you can get a little burned out house-shopping. And overwhelmed. Of course, once you find a house you like, the real fun begins. All the back and forth, lots of legal documents that say very little and mean even less in normal English, not to mention trying to get your own house ready to go on the market and hope someone else falls in love with your little abode. Needless to say, blogging has fallen by the wayside as we have been living in a "model" home for the past couple of weeks, ready to vacate the premises at any potential buyers' whim, but all was not for naught...as of August 30, we will be Raleigh-ites no more. Here is a picture of our new home in Wake Forest--woo hoo!

The process was slightly impeded by my need to have four impacted wisdom teeth removed surgically (why, oh why did I not have this done in school like any normal person? that's a rant for another day, but the moral of the story is don't let your kids leave home with their wisdom teeth!). Therefore, the first and only time we saw the house before we actually made an offer I was under the influence of a fairly strong dose of hydrocodone...probably not a suggestion in the house-hunting handbook, but apparently just what I needed to turn off the "overanalyze" switch. The whole time we were waiting to hear back about the offer, I kept asking Brad, "did we check this? what did this look like? why didn't we take pictures?", but after returning for the (4-hour long) inspection, we had plenty of time to confirm we do indeed like the house. In fact, here is one of the primary selling features for me: the huge screened-in porch. It will be nice and inviting when the upper 80s and low 90s of September offer a cool respite from the lovely weather we have been experiencing for the past month or so. Ahh, summer in the south...


So as a final treat to those who have been keeping up with our house hunt, we have one final gem to offer. While not actually a house we were considering, it is quite a sight to behold--we came across it while helping my brother and sister-in-law find their new house, quite close to us in fact. It isn't often you see such a convincing argument for a homeowner's association...
The picture doesn't quite do it justice; what you see is only the tip of the iceberg. The statue gardens in the back and side yard aren't visible, and neither is the abundance of red and yellow-painted accessories. We thought someone just really caught the decorating bug, but we found out it is actually used as a church. Nonetheless, it is still one of the most interesting incarnations of the bland 1950's ranch brick I have ever seen...maybe we can should send it in to HGTV...I'm sure they have a show for that kind of thing, right?

The Joys of Searching for a New House, Part 2

This really isn't a new post, per se. It's more of an addendum to the last post. For those avid Coop du Jour readers, you know that Rebecca and I have spend quite a few weeknights and Saturdays looking at houses in the North Raleigh/Wake Forest area. Our last post centered around some interesting vehicles that were outside of a home we visited. We thought we had seen all there was in the wild world of house hunting, but today we saw something on an all new level.

We ventured out to see five houses this afternoon, one of which was a foreclosure. For those of you who don't know, a foreclosure is a home where the bank has taken over direct ownership of the home for one of a few reasons (most often because the homeowners can't pay the mortgage). So we arrive at this foreclosed home and the first thing I notice is this:


Obviously, when you a see a notice like this from the county sheriff, your internal alarm starts going off. My first thought was "Is this a former crack house?" Upon further inspection of the house, we're not exactly sure what went on in the house, but the popular theory is that they were part of an illegal dog-fighting ring. The backyard had marks in the grass where multiple dog cages had probably been located. In the end, there were a lot of other issues that caused us to cross this house off our list. The search continues....and who knows what we'll find at the next house!

The Joys of Searching for a New House

As most of you probably know by now, Rebecca and I are looking for a new home. In past weeks we have viewed houses of every shape and size in a effort to find "the perfect home." Let me tell you, we have seen some really strange things during this process, but something we saw tonight literally compelled me to blog about it.

When you're searching for a new house, one of the terms you'll learn is "convey." When something "conveys," that means that it is included with the purchase of the house. In other words, if the home listing says that the refrigerator conveys, then you'll get to keep it when you buy the house. Tonight, we saw a few things that we really hope convey with this house. Number one is this:

My jaw hit the floor when we pulled up and saw this masterpiece of the American automotive industry. We instantly thought we had found the perfect house...until we saw on the sheet that (sadly) the car did NOT convey.

We got excited again when we went into the backyard and saw this:


Wow...who wouldn't want a funnel cake trailer with a brand new house??? Come on people, you know you're all salivating for a warm, fluffy funnel cake with some chocolate syrup and powdered sugar! MMMMM....

Alas...this also did not convey. So, the search for the perfect house continues. Who knows what we'll find at the next house? A space shuttle? Bigfoot? Your guess is a good as mine...

Can you survive a zombie apocalypse???

63%Mingle² - Free Online Dating

Happy (Belated) Easter

Our niece Eden and our nephew Connor
checking out each other's new Easter do...
we hope your Easter celebration was wonderful as well!

Zeroes

Check out this hilarious spoof of "Heroes".

7 Movies for '07

The summer movie season is fast approaching, so it's time to start pondering the age-old question, "Which movies am I willing to throw down $8.25 to see and not end up disappointed afterwards?" Well, friends, I'm here to help! Here's my breakdown of some of the most exciting movies coming out in the months ahead:

1. "TMNT" (March 23rd) - Yes, I know this isn't technically a "summer movie" but it is definitely one you can't miss. I know all you 20/30-something guys out there remember the 80's cartoon with Mike, Raph, Leo, and Don. For those of you who need a head's up on the turtles, click here. Whether you're an old fan or new to the turtles, this film will not disappoint! From the few trailers I've seen, the computer animation is amazing and the action is intense!

2. "Hot Fuzz" (April 20th) - I owe this one to my brother-in-law, Matt. He introduced me to the low budget British horror/comedy "Shaun of the Dead." If you haven't seen "Shaun" then you need to rent it ASAP. "Hot Fuzz" is another comedy starring the same duo from "SOTD" and looks absolutely hilarious!

3. "Spiderman 3" (May 4th) - DUH!!! I don't think I need to say anything about this one. Anyone who knows me should already know about 4,387,544 reasons why they should see this movie!

4. "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" (May 25th) - I have to admit...I wasn't too thrilled about this one since the second installment wasn't so hot. However, I saw the first trailer of "POTC3" the other day and it looks AMAZING. Plus, my super intelligent wife reminded me of the fact that the second movie in a trilogy almost always lets you down (Spiderman 2 being a notable exception)

5. "Fantastic Four 2" (June 15th) - I know a lot of people complained about the first installment of the Fantastic Four series, but I honestly liked it a lot and I can't wait to see the next one. Anyone who has seen the trailer with the Silver Surfer HAS to admit he looks awesome.

6. "Transformers" (July 4) - Earth invaded by aliens...Giant transforming robots...Explosions courtesy of Michael Bay...can anyone say "popcorn movie?" I'm sure this one won't be too deep in the plot department, but every now and then your inner geek just needs to sit back, relax, and watch alien robots kick the ba-geezus out of each other.

7. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (July 13th) - Rebecca, what better way to spend the 5th anniversery of our wedded bliss than to see Harry Potter once again on the big screen? For all you fans of the books, you know you're going to love this one. For all of you who aren't fans of the books...well...are their any of you out there?

That's it folks...hope you enjoy the movies...comments are appreciated as always!

Cave of Despair

Okay, I know that those cheesy little online games are responsible for SO much lost productivity at work, but you HAVE to try this one! It's really addictive!

Cave of Despair Help Dr Carter beat the Lava and swing his way to safety.

Play this free game now!!

2007 ACC Champions!!!

They did it!!! Roy's boys won the first ACC tournament since 1998. This heartfelt victory can't be celebrated too long, because now we've got a long road to Atlanta and the NCAA Final Four. However, for tonight, enjoy the victory boys. NC State didn't let us have it without a strong fight, so savor the victory and move on to March Madness with your heads held high.

Vote for F4K!

Futures for Kids, the nonprofit organization I work for, needs your help! Rezoom.com is awarding more than $200,000 to nonprofit organizations all over the county based on number of votes received. From now through March 31, you can vote once per day per email address, with the regional winners receiving $5,000 and the chance for $100,000 in the second national voting round. That's where you come in...since you're already online, just click here to vote.

If you don't know what F4K is, you are welcome to read the essay posted on Rezoom for a more detailed explanation, but in a nutshell we are an online career exploration tool for middle and high school kids that is trying to help kids stay in school and be successful by showing them the relevance of education. Numbers just released show North Carolina's high school graduation rate to be only around 68%, and while the number of students attending college has increased the number of graduates has not. Without a plan or goal, students will continue to drop out and be faced with little or no options, while at the same time creating a severe shortage of skilled labor. I don't know about your experience, but the only reason I saw my guidance counselor was because she was my cheerleading coach. This is a chance to motivate students and show them their options before they give up on school or spend 8 years in school then realize they don't want to be a doctor.

If you want to find out more about F4K or sign up as a Career Coach for the students, check out our website at www.f4k.org.

Okay, so I'm a sucker for my nephew Connor!

While most of you know that Super Cooper Bowl V was clearly the big deal of last weekend, one of the lesser known highlights was having our nephew Connor stay with us Sunday night. I don't know what it is, but for some reason I just LOVE entertaining this kid...and he loves being entertained by me! I think it might have something to do with the fact that we're on roughly the same maturity level, except for one slight difference: I think girls have cooties, while he doesn't even know what girls are!

The Evolution of Ty Pennington

Like many of you North Carolinians out there, Bec and I enjoyed the latest episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The focus of this weeks episode was the demolition and rebuilding of a family's home in downtown Raleigh. As usual, Ty and the design gang did a fantastic job making a new home for a deserving family.

There's an interesting undercurrent to this family show, however. We're talking about the gradual evolution of Ty Pennington himself. When we first met Ty on the set of Trading Spaces, he quickly became recognizable by his propensity to never wear a shirt while doing carpentry, as seen here:



As time went by, Ty joined the cast of EM:HE as team leader and began sporting the hippy/granola hemp necklace, as seen here:



Then, we see Ty as we know him today, having graduated to a greater hippy/granola status with several more necklaces:



Due to the miracle of modern technology, forensic artists have rendered a speculative image of what Ty Pennington will look like in 20 years, assuming the same trend continues unabated.



We here in the Cooper household hope that Mr. Pennington gets the help he needs before the damage to his neck becomes irreversible.