Yesterday I wrote a little about how my dad and I got to go together to the Charlotte Bobcats game on Tuesday night against the Miami Heat!

It was definitely a big game. Well, with only 20 games left in the season when you are fighting for a playoff spot… EVERY game is a big game. But this game was especially big because Miami was one game ahead of us in that playoff race.

My dad and I met at my house which is not far from uptown Charlotte and the arena. We drove downtown and found some free parking meters a few blocks from Time Warner Cable Arena. We could have parked at some free meters even closer, but we didn’t really mind the walk.

We had some extra time and we stopped at the Epicentre before we got to the game. We went in to eat at Five Guys Burgers there in the Epicentre. I think they are some of the best burgers in Charlotte, but my dad had only eaten the hot dogs there! This was his first burger and I think he really liked it!

We walked in to our seats and it was a fun game to watch. My dad spotted Michael Jordan sitting on the end of the bench. That was pretty cool. It was confirmed when they showed him in that seat on Sports Center.

The Bobcats played horrible in the first half, but we turned it around and ended up WINNING the game! Larry Brown is putting together a team made for the playoffs!

Charlotte Bobcats. Time Warner Cable Arena. The Epicentre. Uptown Charlotte. Five Guys Burgers. Larry Brown. Michael Jordan.

I am back! I was away for one week cruising the Caribbean with my wife on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. We are back in beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina now safe and sound. Maybe I will write more about our trip later?

Last night my dad and I got to go to the Charlotte Bobcats game at Time Warner Cable Arena here in uptown Charlotte!

As a Christmas gift I gave my dad three pairs of tickets to Bobcats games this season! I got a really good deal and decided that would be a better, more relational, and more meaningful gift than the usual gifts most people exchange at Christmas.

So this is the gift that keeps on giving because we get to enjoy 3 games together this season!

Last night was the first time my dad got to go to Time Warner Cable Arena. It was a lot of fun.

We are pretty excited because the Bobcats are doing really great this season (comparatively). We have been in the playoff race the whole season and are still right in the thick of it! before last night’s game we were 9th in the Eastern Conference, but only 2.5 games separated us from the 5th place Milwaukee Bucks.

The game we got to see was a BIG game against the Miami Heat who was at the time just one game ahead of us in 7th place! If we could win this game against superstar Dwayne Wade and company, we could move into a tie for 7th and close the gap on 5th and 6th place with only 20 games remaining this season!

Tomorrow I’ll tell you more about the game and about our whole experience.

Charlotte Bobcats. Time Warner Cable Arena. Uptown Charlotte.

Just a couple days ago I wrote about the United States’ epic win over Canada in these 21st Olympic Winter Games which are actually being played in Vancouver Canada! So, of course it was a home game for the Canadians who were already favored to win.

But then the Americans beat them in an upset 5-3 and we became the number one country heading into the knockout round of the tournament!

In actuality, the Canadians were one of the two favorites to win the gold medal in this men’s hockey tournament! Russia were the other popular picks to win gold!

It seemed as though ALL the experts said that the final Gold Medal Championship game would definitely be Canada versus Russia!

Well Canada and Russia faced off last night, but it was not in the Gold Medal game! the two teams played in the quarterfinals! The winner would move on to the semifinals and the loser would go home WITHOUT A MEDAL!

No one could have predicted this! That one of these two favored teams would be going home without the chance to even play for a medal!

So, there was a lot of hype surrounding the game tonight against these two powerhouse hockey countries.

Six of the top scorers in the NHL faced off against each other in this game too! Including arguably the two best players in the world right now = Sidney Crosby (for Canada) and Alex Ovechkin (for Russia)!

It was a really fun game to watch! Canada scored within a few minutes from the face off.
I think the home ice for Canada definitely prevailed this time and the Canadians pounded the Russians 7-3!

So, Canada moves on to the semifinals and so did the USA! Wouldn’t it be interesting if these two met in the Gold Medal game?

MSNBC. NBC. CNBC. Canada. Vancouver Canada. Russia. Charlotte North Carolina. United States. Olympics. Winter Olympics.

I can remember learning about and going to a Cook Out for the first time back in 2004 or 2005. I had some friends who loved Cook Out and had been to them in different cities. When a Cook Out finally moved to Charlotte North Carolina they were so excited and told the rest of us all about the concept and how great it was.

Since those days I have eaten at Cook Out many times. One Cook Out in Charlotte is located across the street from where I worked for a few years when my wife and I got married. So we ate there quite regularly.

Well, with most Cook Outs you do not really “eat there”. Most of these restaurants just have two drive thru lines and two walk up lines. You can park and walk up to the window and order OR you can drive thru and order, but there is no place to eat on site.

The Cook Out across the street from where I used to work was the first location in Charlotte North Carolina. It was located at the Sugar Creek Road exit (exit 42) off of Interstate 85. It is still there, right across the street from Northside Baptist Church.

But now there are several more locations across the Charlotte area. People in Charlotte are really excited about it because Cook Out is the best food for the least amount of money pretty much anywhere.

It is as cheap as fast food, but way better than your average fast food and you can order pretty much anything you want!

Have you ever eaten at Cook Out?

Cook Out. Matthews North Carolina. Charlotte North Carolina. Indian Trail North Carolina.

I like Panera Bread Company. It is not my favorite place to eat by any stretch, but I do think they have great sandwiches and soups.

I think women especially love Panera Bread. They seem to flock to it!

I do like that they have tons of different selections of hot and cold sandwiches and paninis plus a great variety of soups in a regular bowl or in a bread bowl!

A bread bowl is something that I saw for the first time at a Panera restaurant. I am guessing that they are not the ones who invented the soup in a bread bowl, but they did introduce it to me. It is basically a big round bowl of amazing sourdough bread with the middle hollowed out and your favorite kind of soup poured in it!

Today I ate at Panera Bread Company for two meals in a row! Now, I did not eat there for two meals in a row because I love Panera so much, but I had two meetings in a row = a lunch meeting and a dinner meeting and that is where the people I met with chose to eat.

I had both meetings at the exact same Panera = the one in Matthews in the parking lot with Target and across from Caribou Coffee and Breugger’s Bagels, etc…

This Panera location is only one block from our office and literally only minutes away! So, it is very convenient for these meetings and great food here in the Charlotte North Carolina area.

Matthews North Carolina. Panera Bread Company. Matthews.

Tonight was one of the greatest United States olympic hockey games in the olympics since “The Miracle” back in the 1980 olympics!

Short story is that we beat Canada IN CANADA tonight! Canada is supposed to be the best hockey team in the world and they were undefeated so far in these olympics.

The game started of with a bang! My wife and I were eating dinner just watching the pre game and then all of the sudden… We SCORED within the 1st minute of the game!

Wow! It shocked my wife and I, but we went crazy cheering for our American team!

It was short lived because the Canadian team tied it up a few short minutes later! The goal was actually scored by Carolina Hurricanes star and Captain Eric Stahl! It felt strange cheering against the guy we usually cheer for! He helped our team win a Stanley Cup and now he just scored a goal against our country!

We went back and forth throughout the whole game. It is probably one of the best hockey games I have watched in a long time!

Our Goalie, Ryan Wilson really earned his keep tonight with a ton of great saves! Especially right at the end of the game when Canada had a power play and then a few minutes later when they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker! Wilson stopped shot after shot with deflections flying around!

In the end we BEAT the Canadians 5-3! It was awesome! The Americans played an amazing game all around!

I am looking forward to seeing the rest of USA’s games! I hope we can bring home the GOLD!

USA. Winter Olympics. Vancouver Canada. Winter Olympics 2010. Canada.

Today I drove home to Charlotte North Carolina from Dallas Georgia. Dallas is just barely northwest of Atlanta Georgia. Dallas is surrounded by suburbs of Atlanta like Woodstock, Marietta, Kennessaw, Acworth, and Canton.

It is a little bit more difficult to get to than Gwinnett or Alpharetta which is where I usually travel to in the Atlanta area. When going to those parts of Atlanta, or even to the downtown area of Atlanta, it is basically an easy straight shot down Interstate 85 from my home in Charlotte all the way to Atlanta!

But getting to Dallas for this meeting I will be going to one Thursday and Friday every month for the next six months involves a little more than just taking I-85 South the whole way.

Fortunately since I-85 goes right through Charlotte I can jump on it right next to my house. That is really simple.

Once I passed Gwinnett Arena on I-85 it was not long before I got on I-285 which is the beltway that goes all the way around Atlanta. It is very similar to I-485 here in Charlotte.

From I-285 I went West over to I-75, one of the other main interstates through Atlanta. And I-75 took me North to I-575. 575 took me to my friend’s house who was my gracious host. He technically lived in Holly Springs.

Then this morning I made the short trip from Holly Springs south to Dallas Georgia.

This afternoon I just made the same trip back home to wonderful Charlotte North Carolina!

Dallas Georgia. Canton Georgia. Marietta Georgia. Charlotte North Carolina. Acworth Georgia. I-85.

The 2010 Winter Olympic Gamesin Vancouver, Canada are in full swing.

I would venture a guess that most people are not big fans of all the winter olympic sports, BUT pretty much everyone is still intrigued and makes sure to watch the olympics each day!

And of course everyone is excited to see their country do well and to cheer them on!
So, here in Charlotte North Carolina we are big USA fans!

Of course we want all these young American competitors to do well in their events and win medals… gold medals preferably!

We have been doing pretty well so far. In fact we were leading the medal count early in the week. But yesterday was not a good day as we came up with zero medals.

But today, specifically this evening, was a GREAT DAY up in Vancouver on the west coast of Canada!

The U.S.A. took home three gold medals tonight! And the great part is that I was able to see all the action right here in my home in Charlotte on NBC! Hopefully you were able to see the events as well and cheer on the Americans!

First it was Shani Davis stepping up in the speed skating event to take home a gold medal in the 1,000 meter race!

Next, the injured skier Lindsey Vonn finally realized victory after a LONG wait for Gold. She has an injured shin but was still able to beat the competition in the downhill.

And of course, as expected, the best snowboarder in the world (probably ever) - Shaun White, impressed everyone watching and won the Gold in the Snowboard half pipe!

Go Team USA!

2010 Olympics. Vancouver Canada. Canada. British Columbia. Shaun White. Lindsey Vonn. Shani Davis.

I have banked with Bank of America since I first had a bank account as a kid. I think I opened my first savings account around age 10 or 12 at a local Bank of America branch here in Charlotte North Carolina. I have been with Bank of America ever since.

Of course Charlotte is the home of Bank of America headquarters. Charlotte has for some time been the city that is given the title “Banking capital of the country.”

I am sure that banks like Wachovia here in Charlotte are awesome as well as all the small banks you find on the corners in the suburbs. I like Bank of America and have never really had any experience with them that wasn’t top notch.

And I want to say for the record that I LOVE Bank of America’s ATMs here in Charlotte North Carolina. I am sure they probably have these around the rest of the country too.

The newest addition I am talking about with these ATMs is the ability to deposit checks straight into your account at the ATM! No more driving to the bank and going inside and filling out a deposit slip, etc…

It is so much easier and less time consuming for me now! All I have to do is roll up to the ATM around the corner and deposit the check! It is so easy.

And another great thing is that if you deposit the check in before 8pm on any given day, it gets deposited to your account that day!

Bank of America. ATM. Charlotte North Carolina. Savings Account.

We here at My Charlotte Home Team want to wish all of you here in the Charlotte North Carolina area a HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! We hope it is your best one yet.

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Valentine’s Day? When did it start? Where did it come from? Why is it on February 14th?

Well, I am just curious and often ask questions like that. I thought there might be others of you reading this site who were curious too. So, I dug around a little bit and found out what it is all about.

*It was originally and for many years called “Saint Valentine’s Day” and has in recent eras been shortened to just “Valentine’s Day”. It was of course begun in honor of Saint Valentine who was an early Christian Martyr! Isn’t that interesting? Just like Christmas, Valentine’s Day is a Christian holiday! (Or at least it was originally.)

It was established as an official holiday by the church as early as 496 A.D. and we are still celebrating it over 1,500 years later!

There were a few Christians named Valentine who were martyred in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. In their honor the holiday began to be celebrated to show love to everyone.

Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous English literature author, popularized Valentine’s Day into romantic love during the High Middle Ages (12th and 13th centuries).

Now, of course, instead of being associated with the Christian martyr, Valentine, the most famous “person” associated with Valentine’s Day is Cupid. He is the cute little pudgy guy shooting love arrows at everyone.

I hope you enjoyed your Valentine’s Day here in Charlotte North Carolina!

Valentine’s Day. Saint Valentine’s Day. Saint Valentine. Charlotte North Carolina. Cupid.