What's it like to apply to UNCG?

You may get in, but you'll never get out.

So I thought I'd chime in on my experiences applying for UNCG. In one word, it's been: overwhelming.

Yet, here I am, and I believe I have succeeded. (fingers crossed) If all goes well, on January 9th, I should begin my junior year at UNCG. Except I won't exactly. Even though I do have an associates degree from GTCC, the "system", has left me ready for junior level classes in all my classes except my degree classes. So I have all my core requirements, but to enter the junior level classes, they require a co-requisite of junior level French courses. The problem is, community colleges in North Carolina don't offer that. Personally, I believe if you want to take a course, you should be allowed to take it. I don't need to speak French fluently to take European Art. I of course, could be wrong. So I'll persist, and take as many classes as I can, that the system allows me to. Unfortunately I couldn't find enough. So it's either take "filler" classes or go 3/4 time.

The actual process of applying to UNCG wasn't for the light-hearted either. Transcript after transcript, (and they don't come cheap) and then they even told me my vaccinations, which had gotten me into four other colleges in the past wasn't valid for them. I spent two days running around to health departments, and begging my doctor to shoot me up with a MMR vaccine to be ready in time. Let me digress, I did this on my child's vaccine appointment. Kindly, the staff lined me up with my two children and the three of us got our shots, and colorful cartoon band-aids. Let me also mention this is all done without insurance, and if you're lucky enough to be like myself, poor, then you'll find yourself reamed with another bill at UNCG, mandatory insurance. Just like Obamacare, you must have insurance. I actually agree with this, but it does become a very ironic political statement in a red-state of  "freedom" loving conservatives.

The big technical nightmare of the process was the fact they had somehow managed to decide I was an out-of-state student. What? I had sent them transcripts that showed, clearly, I had been attending college here as well as a drivers license, and well, ask anyone? This is the point, when your mind starts its conspiracy theories and wonders if someone, there, doesn't want you there. Eventually it was resolved, but the process seemed silly and I felt a lack of love being a North Carolinian. ("Go back to where you came from!!!!!!")

Silly like some of the questions, like "Explain the gaps in your educational history?" What? Seriously? Like those years living under the over-pass, as a passed out drug addict, who drank away a million dollar winning lotto ticket? I mean serious. I'm an adult, I've made some mistakes, and I'm here to correct them, what else do you want to hear? Then there was the question: "Why did you move to NC?" I wrote "I missed Bojangles." They didn't think it was funny. I did.

The UNCG application process mostly takes place on their Internet interface. (Let me disclaim, of the people I met in person, they were awesomely nice, much nicer then their computer dopplegangers.) The Internet interface for applying is functional, but confusing as heck. I write PHP, and blog, and it was confusing for me. In fact the whole process, I equate with a giant Rube Goldberg Machine: way more complicated then it should be or have to be. Heck I applied for college in Belgium last year in two weeks and was accepted, but UNCG has take shadenfreude to a whole new level. Freshman are one thing, but transferring adult students from other NC intuitions? The process should be simpler. That said, I'm glad it looks like I've been successful at applying for UNCG, but likely had I known the complexity, I may have chosen another institution.

Brasstown Possum Drop | A Hillbilly New Years

Somebody ate one too many possums it looks like.

At the same moment New York City’s spectacular illuminated Waterford crystal ball begins its descent in Times Square, residents of Brasstown, N.C.—population 240—will ring in the New Year at the town’s annual possum drop.


Forget NY, in NC we drop our own anti-PETA possum in celebration of the new year. Claiming I'm from the upper-side of the NC tracks does little to deter the obvious image problems such an event presents to the state of NC and our poor wildlife.

Welcome to Beautiful Downtown Brasstown, North Carolina- "Opossum Capital of the World!"...Population 240, Been the same for 100 years or more. Some lady gets pregnant - some guy leaves town. Used to be the "Moonshine Capital of the South", but not anymore, it has gone to pot.

The most exciting thing that we do in Brasstown, besides going to the John C. Campbell Folk School and dance with the pretty Danish girl, is "Lowering the Opossum on New Year's Eve." If New York can drop a "Ball", Georgia can drop a "Peach", then we can lower the Opossum."

"We are now high tech redneck. We have an electronic technician to handle the sound system and the big-screen so that the entire crowd can see and hear the festivity. Electronics included a computer system and a TV screen known as the Possumtron. 

  It's official, the next time I'm abroad and some asks where I'm from... I'll show them this video:

North Carolina prohibits unjustifiable physical abuse to animals, but the law does not say anything about psychological pain. "I don't think any D.A. would touch it with a 10-foot pole," Professor Reppy said.


That frustrates Brenda Overman, president of the Greensboro, N.C., chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "I'm sure the animal is traumatized," Ms. Overman said. "You walk up on a possum in the woods, they freeze; they're terrified.


They're putting it through horror for hours. Instant death would be better." 

 Apparently NC is full of unusual events: I'm fond of Mount Olive's idea quite honestly:

Mount Olive celebrates midnight by Greenwich Mean Time, which is 7 p.m. in North Carolina. Activities include a giant illuminated pickle.


Raleigh will drop its famous acorn, while the Cumberland County town of Eastover will drop a 3-foot-tall, 30-pound flea made of fabric and wood.


A celebration in Kure Beach will include the dropping of a giant lighted beach ball.

Golden Corral | Is a coupon really worth it?

Golden Corral's Fountain of Chocolate Doom.

So we went to Golden Corral last night. You may remember that I say I regret every time I go, but yet I continue to go. Some of it, is that the kid's love it. Especially with their new "Wunder-Fountain." However I discovered a flaw in their dessert gimmick as I caught Chance, my son, make an ice-cream cone last night. Now I must admit, he got the idea from me, to make a chocolate dipped ice-cream cone, but what I failed to realize is that he, having now seen the idea would imitate it. Score two, for bad parenting. Actually I was quite proud of him, till I witnessed his uncontrollable urge to lick the ice-cream cone PRIOR to dipping it in the fountain. The more I thought about it, I realized, he's probably not the first. Have you ever seen kid's and cheese dip? They're oblivious to the double dip rule. After having watched the movie Contagion the night before, I quickly grabbed my son away from the dessert counter, doing that little sweeping head check thing like we just robbed a bank, and to see if anyone noticed our contaminating the entire fountain of liquid chocolate. I know a lot of people love Golden Corral because they're always running discounts and coupons, especially for students and military, and of course it's the one place you can eat till you throw up, but is the coupon really worth, dysentery?

If the answer is still yes, and undoubtedly it probably will, then consider the following information for procuring your own Golden Corral coupon:

My mushroom, is it dead yet?

Golden Corral Couponing Techniques

Method #1 - The Early Bird Coupon 20% Off

Show up ten minutes before 4 PM, as this is when they change their pricing from lunch to dinner and instantly save $2 per person of the $9.99 dinner buffer. By the time you finish your salad, you'll have access to the dinner entrees and meats.

Method #2 - Manger's Button 10% Off Discount

There is indeed a 10% off button on the register, that a manager can press if he deems you worthy. This is most often used as a discount for one of the four categories, and may require some persuasion.

• Student Discount

• Military Discount

• Senior Discount

• "I flirted with the manager" Discount

I've personally had success, simply by showing my student I.D.

Eat at your own risk.

Christmas Activities for Children

From Shannon:

As Christmas draws near it's easy to become overwhelmed and distracted. By spending time together all the other stresses quickly fade away. Here are some easy and fun ways of coping.

PIN THE NOSE ON RUDOLPH: While you are drawing dear old Rudy on a piece of butcher paper have the kids decorate noses out of construction paper. Hang the picture up. Blindfold the kids and see who can tape the missing nose closest to the center of Rudy's face.

THE GINGERBREAD MAN: Read the kids the story of the gingerbread man. Using paper bags cut out the shape of the Gingerbread man. Have the kids draw a face and buttons on him, or get super creative and make him clothes. Next, trace around the outside of the cutout with glue or paste and let the children sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger on the glue. When he dries the paper doll really smells like a gingerbread cookie. This is great for the little ones senses!For older children decorating real cookies or a gingerbread house is a blast.

HOMEMADE TREE DECORATIONS: make a dough: 2 cups flour, 1/2 cups salt,1tsp.baking soda and mix in water until it becomes the consistency of play dough. Knead in some cinnamon and food coloring. Roll out the dough to about 1/16 of an inch. you want the dough to be thin because it rises when it bakes. Use cookie cutters and place on a baking sheet. Adding a few cloves to the decorations creates a terrific aroma. Make sure you now put a significant sized hole for your hook before you bake or you'll have no way of hanging your decorations. Now bake at about 250 degrees until they are well dried. Let them cool completely then decorate them with glue and sprinkle on some glitter. Wow your tree will look and smell fantastic.

HOMEMADE ADVENT CALENDAR: It's a little late now but an idea for next year is to trace your child's hand print 25 times on a large sheet of butcher paper. Let your child color or decorate one hand everyday. To help reinforce numbers write the date on each hand and count with your child how many hands they've colored and how many days they have left.

MEMORY AND BINGO:Make your own version of these games using holiday stickers and throw in some letters and numbers for the beginner. My kids use shredded wheat cereal as markers for bingo and when the game is over everyone gets to eat their game pieces rather than me having to keep track of small game pieces.

ART:- Draw three circles on a piece of construction paper. Let the kids glue cotton balls in the three circles and finish Frosty by using creative decorations you can find around your house or by cutting out paper and markers.-Let the children make a winter scene by drawing on black construction paper with white chalk.-Using construction paper cut out simple shapes to make Rudolph's face. Let the kids glue or tape them onto a white piece of paper. Using finger paints completely cover your child's hand and help them to stamp above Rudy's head for antlers. If you don't have paint trace their hands then let them decorate.

PINE CONES: Take your children on a walk searching for pine cones. This could be an adventure in itself! Bring them home. The kids too! Then you have two activities lined up.-put glue all over the pine cone then sprinkle glitter all over and hang to let dry. If you don't have glitter I actually cut a billion pieces of foil to sprinkle on and they were beautiful. The kids can use their little scissors to help speed up the process.

-HOMEMADE BIRD FEEDER :Tie a wire or a heavy string to the pine cone. Slather peanut butter all over the pine cone. Make sure you get it down into the grooves and not just on the outer surface. Now dip the pine cone in a bag of bird seed. When you hang it outside the kids will love watching all the hungry birds. You can use this opportunity to talk about Winter, migration and hibernation.

CREATIVE FINGER PAINTS: When all else fails let the kids get messy. On a clean table spray some plain, cheap shaving cream. Be sure it's not the kind that will burn if it gets in their eyes!!! They can finger paint till their hearts delight. My kids like to use old paint brushes and q-tips to make different designs. For my baby I let her paint with pudding because she's sure to put it in her mouth. I'll warn you- this gets messy bot that's what the tub is for. As a matter of fact of you want to strip them down and do this activity in the tub go for it. You can get creative and add some food coloring, but this I would not suggest anywhere near carpet.

MOST OF ALL JUST ENJOY YOUR FAMILY AND CHERISH THE MEMORIES YOU'RE MAKING. THE LESS MONEY YOU SPEND THE MORE CREATIVE YOU'LL ALLOW YOURSELF TO GET WITH THESE PROJECTS. YOUR CHILDREN WILL APPRECIATE ALL YOUR EFFORTS AND HOPEFULLY IN TURN LEARN TO EXPLORE THEIR OWN CREATIVITY. 

T.J.'s Deli | The only Reason I drive to Winston Salem

And then there was just one location left. 

Best restaurant in Winston Salem?

Some time ago, I wrote about how much I wished T.J.'s Deli would come back to the Greensboro area. (What did we do to upset them?) Someone eventually commented that it would, but I'm still waiting. Not only that, but it doesn't appear they're doing so well in Winston, as the location I used to go to, on Silas Creek Parkway is now defunct. There now is only one, (cue the Highlander theme song) and yes it's still in Winston. (Can we not get a incentive package to bring them back?) Fortunately I was car shopping in the area, so I decided to stop by and pick up a #60 Sicilian. My most favourite of all deli sandwiches.

Here's the thing I can't figure out, TJ's Deli does everything right, It's probably one of best restaurants in the state, so what is it about good food in North Carolina finding itself un-preferable? Do we love self-injury so much we'd rather have a mushy Stamey's BBQ than a quality artisan, New York style deli sandwich dripping in divinity?

The Hot Sicilian:
 Ham, pepperoni, grilled onion, banana peppers,
thousand island dressing, tomato sauce,
provolone cheese, lettuce and tomato.

Almost everything they make at TJ's is amazing. Their Reubens, and pastramis are piled a mile high and are made in the European fashion. When TJ's did exist in Greensboro, I tried almost everything on their menu, from the French Dip, to the Sicilian which I finally decided upon as the perfect sandwich. When I went away to college in California, I was forced by geography to make my own Sicilian Sandwich. (You can too if you're too lazy to go buy one.)

Perhaps the best Reuben in North Carolina

So here's the thing, I really did believe I was going to buy a car, but now that I'm self analyzing myself, I must admit the possibility that I was just resolving  my addiction for a dripping, delicious sandwich from TJ's deli. Sure it cost me $1500, but it was worth every dime. In fact, perhaps the only reason to go to Winston Salem is to go to TJ's Deli. The good news is I might find a reason again, since Tanglewood Festival of Lights is going on in Clemmons.

Take my advise, get in the car right now, go to TJ's and order a #60 with some fries, and prepare yourself for the possibility you may begin contemplating moving to Winston Salem. Everything is fresh, hand-made, insanely flavorful and dripping with gooey hot goodness. The only complaint you will have, that I still do, is that there isn't one in Greensboro. It's a tragedy.

I think this location is a depositary for all the memorabilia from the other locations.

Sweet and Savory Restaurant | Wrightsville Beach

Good Eats in Wilmington

So I've been looking for a car. To be more precise, either a Geo Metro, a Ford Aspire or something small, gas efficient, and most of all affordable. I thought I had found one down in Wilmington: an Aspire with 50,000 miles on it posted on Craigslist. (That's my first mistake, almost anyone who uses Craigslist is criminally insane, I've discovered.) So we drove down to buy it, and when we got there we found a shaking, backwoods man trying to pass off a high mileage car with a altered speedometer. Quickly we walked away, a bit dismayed, but somewhat relieved we weren't taken advantage of. So we drove down to Wrightsville beach, and since Shan had to go pee, but the city decided to lock all the public toilets, she found a wonderful outdoor changing room to alleviate the issues of the crashing waves within her body. Once free of the eroding tides within, we made our way to the beach and walked along the strand. Shan poked a few dead jelly fish, and collected something she referred to as a "brain", before we finally headed off to Sweet and Savory Cafe and Bakery.

Here's the thing, we didn't know where the best place to eat was, so we Googled it, and sure enough Sweet and Savory was the one listing on Trip Adviser that everyone was recommending. The name didn't sound all that interesting, but when we got there, the parking lot was packed. Even more interesting is that the facade of the "steak-house" styling of the building doesn't match the light and carefree bohemian attitude of the restaurant within its walls. Then there's the name: Sweet N Savory? Why not "Pasty and Gooey?" The truth is, I even joked, "they didn't put much effort into the name did they?" Yet I was wrong. It fits it perfect once you taste the purposed sweet, and savory foods. It's a genre they serve up so well, your pre-emptive name calling serves as the sweet irony of hypocrisy as you realize exactly how good the Sweet and Savory restaurant is at what they do: blending flavors. It's like laughing at the fat kid in elementary school only to realize he can run a mile in six minutes, slam dunk a basketball, and already has a book deal at age 12. Sweet and savory, is more than food, it's revenge on the mediocrity of your typical beach dining.

The Ultimate Grilled Cheese is to die for.

More to the point, the food was amazing. In fact this restaurant, this hybrid Euro-American cafe, is definitely within my top five North Carolina restaurants. That in itself should tell you how good this place is. It's up there with La Farm, in Cary or even Johnson's in Siler City. The food is absolutely Amazing.

My favorite dish, the one you have to get when you go to Sweet and Savory is their Ultimate Grilled Cheese. I've had, and made many grilled cheeses, but this one took the cake. The UGC is made on their own fresh baked grilled white bread, they put cheddar, Havarti, bacon and tomato with a side of home-made potato chips, and  a side of ranch to dip. This is heaven.

But don't stop there, split one of those with your date and then divide up a Scrumdelicious Brisket. It's a gorgeous petite baguette filled with slow braised beef brisket, cheddar cheese, bacon, fried onions, and special sauce. I've never had anything quite like it, and it was amazing.

There are restaurants that are good, some that are great, and then there are a few that just get every nuance right, and Sweet and Savory restaurant in Wrightsville Beach is one them that is dead on. It's a tad French, a bit southern, yet it's cheap, affordable, and you'll want to go back next time your at the beach. To be bluntly honest, I've got a completely new reason to car shop on the coast.