Charlotte Airport. Three sales reps sitting talking thinking posturing laughing

• making good choices at the highest level
• Do we fight the fight right now, or wait until next week
• Because it makes sense
• You started it
• I think it needs to be like a deep deep dive. Based on the questions he asks we bring in the resources behind
• the piece of the puzzle that's not defined
• You should be having this conversation with your clients now
• leverage the platform
• you've got to tell the whole package
• body of knowledge. whole story. shiny object on the shelf. 
• easy street
• that could be a harvest blah blah

the lingo changes over time, but not much else

The eve of Thanksgiving eve.

It is two days before Thanksgiving and I am in the Charlotte airport. Flight out of Knoxville was delayed so I spent a ew hours at my brother Kevin's house waiting. Had a real nice cigar and a snack of crackers and pimento cheese. Watch the second half of last years Clemson Alabama game on his deck and talked football and Thanksgiving plans. A nice break from a routine business trip.

Charlotte airport is packed with happy people, off to see family and friends. No one has more to be thankful for than I.

A Weber Grille makes a fine smoker, in a pinch

There are times when i'm away from home and wish I had my clunky old smoker with me. That's not possible but there are great ways to improvise when the real equipment isn't available. A Weber grille makes a great smoker for when your needs are small, the weather is great, and you just want an afternoon to show off your improvisational skills.

There's no real magic to this. You just put a dozen coals in one corner of the grille and light em up. Add the meat on the far side of the grille. Feed a few coals from time to time and keep the wet woodchips piled on. Turn the top vent so that it's about halfway open and on the opposite side of the coals and woodchips. That forces the smoke to travel over the meat and out the top.  Keep an eye on the temp for that magical 225 number.

We did this over two weekends at my brother's house in Charlotte. Last weekend it was a small pork shoulder and a chicken. This weekend it was two chickens and a pack of bacon. All of it came out great and my brother now thinks I'm the McGuyver of barbecue.

The bacon was a last minute thing. We bought a pack of the cheapest bacon and tossed it on for a few hours. After about three hours we started sampling and had eaten most of it by the six hour point. The chickens were smoked for about six hours. At the five hour point I stood them up on their legs to drain all the juices that had accumulated in the cavity. The little pack of tin foil that you see has the liver, gizzard, etc. They weren't that great and I wouldn't mess with them next time.

Two brothers, a makeshift smoker, perfect fall weather, cigars handcrafted by Onyx and Hoyo DeMonterey, an always-brewing pot of fresh coffee, and Cardinals baseball in the background. Top that off with a growing list of answered prayers and its hard to imagine a better weekend.

Charlotte airport, 925pm, gate b14

Four hour layover on a trip home from Houston. Sitting next to a woman reading an article titled "ode to autumn" in Good housekeeping magazine. She may be the only normal person here. Everyone else staring at small glowing rectangles and tapping them,including me

What in the world was i thinking when i picked this flight? After one dish of ice cream, one sudoku, one tasteless barbecue sandwich, and one hour in the famous Charlotte airport rocking chairs i am ready to go home. It snowed today and i missed it.

In the twelve days of Christmas

We are now in the twelve days of Christmas. That traditional time between the birth of Christ and the arrival of the wise men. To most of us Christmas is over, but in olden days the celebration and days of worship were just starting. Imagine hearing someone exclaim, "Happy Christmas!" on January second. Even if you returned the greeting, you would think they were a bit off, or eccentric at least. Christian tradition says otherwise. It says these are the days to ponder those first proclamations about the birth, the visit of the Magi, the angelic host, his worship by the shepherds, and the first visit to the temple before the aging Rabbi Simeon. Proclamations that ring down through the centuries.

Our Christmas this year was spent in South Carolina. Not a large group, eleven of us. We spent it enjoying our company, eating wonderful food from ancient family recipes, arguing over minor points of board games,watching a bowl game or two, and in my case...sleeping through movies. Christmas eve was spent at a Baptist service and a Catholic mass, reflecting a coming change in the composition of our extending family. We witnessed firsthand the wonderful unity of all Christianity and the senseless divisions that must grieve the one whose birth we are celebrating. Below is a picture of St. Joseph's in Columbia, where we worshiped.

There were other changes that reflected the passing of time and generations. Rob and Laura drove from St. Louis, retracing a trail his parents first took when they were engaged. A simple act but a beautiful sign of his commitment to Laura by helping cement her place in our family. Caroline's news of college acceptances and plans added another big element of change. Because our children are now adults, every event carried the possbility that "this might be the last time". Such as when all the women gathered around the piano and sang as my mother played Christmas carols and old hymns. They must have sang for a solid hour. It was the high point of our days there.

The bookends to our trip were evenings spent in Charlotte with Kevin. A snowfall on the last day of our visit added an extra special Christmas feel to his home. He makes certain it is always is a very welcoming place, no matter what hour of the day or night his family arrives.    

This will be a Christmas remembered. Happy Christmas.

Labor Day Weekend 2008

When you can't decide whether to go back for another serving of chocolate cake or of cole slaw, you know you have found America's finest summer cookout.

Also - if you ever find yourself at gate A6 at the Charlotte Airport, dealing with a large african-american woman with a big smile and a streak of grey hair across her forehead.... give up. She is the worst gate attendant in the Northwest Airlines system. It's not that she doesn't know the procedures for her job, it's that rather than admit incompetence, she makes it up. Wish I could remember her name.