Exhausted!

I think today falls somewhere near the top of the list when recounting Chip's Most Productive Days on Hilton Head Island. I got all of the paperwork filled out for my storage unit with the help of a kind lady named, Theresa at Public Storage. I also went by Piggly Wiggly to get laundry detergent (deciding packing a mountain of dirty clothes wasn't such a great idea after all) and shirts for Lana and Claire. I also ran a few other errands (Walmart, Bank, etc.), not even stopping for lunch... unless you count my white chocolate mocha from Starbucks as a meal. I was also going to swing by the Coinstar at Food Lion and finally cash in my $360+ in change I have saved over the past year and two months, but realized they charge 8%. Not a big deal when you're cashing in $10 here and $15 there, but when you have well over $300 in change, you're paying almost $30! I found that to be absurd and decided against it. I got some change rollers from the bank and decided to take on the task myself. After not much time, I decided it would take me a good 87 hours to roll it all and I have a lot of shit going on. I will probably go to Coinstar tomorrow and fork over the $28.50 or whatever it was I calculated. Instead of rolling change, I opted to take a load of stuff to my new storage unit to at least have a little bit of it out of the way. Here is what I have so far:

It doesn't look like much, but my little Sentra can only hold so much. If nothing else, that is 6 boxes and my office chair out of the way.

Maggie swung by my apartment after she got off work to get my key to Salty Dog and to say, "Goodbye". It was really sad and it honestly took a lot not to shed a tear, especially seeing the tears welling up in her eyes. I hate goodbyes!

My friend, Adam, told me soon after I met him that one of the worst things about living here was that there was always too many Goodbyes. I have seen friends come and leave in just a year, and it has been sad every time one of them has left. Now that I am the one leaving, saying, "Goodbye" to so many people downright sucks! I feel like when I left Boone I was one of the last to leave from the group of friends I spent most of my time with. I also felt like it was past time for me to leave that small, mountain, college town. With Hilton Head, I feel like I could have decided to stay throughout another season. Sometimes I wish I had of chosen to do so. I guess when you are chasing a dream, the timing for your emotions isn't always perfect.

For now, I am going to take a nice, hot shower and wash off the nasty chlorine from the indoor pool and jacuzzi at Hilton Head Resort and start last night's two hour episode of Brothers and Sisters until I fall asleep.

Unemployed!

Today was my last day at Salty Dog. After battling my severe hangover all afternoon and well into the evening, I managed to enjoy my last shift. It was definitely sad to know that I would not be going back into work at Salty Dog, possibly ever again. There is a lot I will miss about that place. I will see a couple of my coworkers again before I leave, but there are many I may never see again and that makes me pretty sad. It is interesting how you cross paths with people, get to know them, and then you continue on your path through life with nothing but memories and the occasional phone call/email just to catch up which become few and far between over the years. I had a few notable customers during my last shift:

*Judy- a regular. She stopped by in the pouring rain this morning to say, "Goodbye", before I got there, and then made a point to come back by later in the afternoon to see me. It was really sweet and it is good to know that we are appreciated by our customers.
*Group of New Yorkers- They were a delight. When I mentioned that I was moving to Rego Park, they just went on and on about how great it is, and how there is so much to do and so many young people in that area. It was all really good to hear coming from people familiar with that neighborhood (except for the part where they mentioned the "Boulevard of Death").
*Douchebag- I personally think I am pretty darn good with customers and doing what I can to answer their questions and listening to their concerns. This guy was just a jerk. We have our Winter Buy One Get One (of equal or lesser value--clearly stated on all of our promotional signs) Half Off Sale going on. This guy wanted to purchase a $38 vest, $18.95 hat, and $15.95 t-shirt and get the most expensive item half off. I explained to him that was not how the sale worked but that the hat would be half off seeing as how it is the second most expensive item. He bitched and bitched and carried on, eventually deciding not to purchase the t-shirt in order to make a point that I had just lost a sale for the business (even though he was still dropping $40 on the other two items, I would get into the details, but who really cares). I could have given in to his request, but he was being completely absurd and I was not in the mood to let him have his way. Not to mention he and his wife were visiting for three months, I do not think a $16 t-shirt is going to break the bank. You deal with all walks of life in retail, that is for sure. It was kind of my, "Fuck You", to all of the asshole customers I've had during my time at Salty Dog that I have just done what I can to make happy.

Normally, finishing your last shift at a job feels exciting and liberating. After locking up and walking to my car tonight, I felt sadness and fear. I can now definitely see how people get "trapped" here.

My moving plans have changed slightly due to an approaching storm in NC expecting to dump a few inches of snow across the state. Instead of Mom coming down to HHI tomorrow and me leaving here on Tuesday, she is coming down Tuesday and I am leaving Wednesday. This only gives me one day in North Carolina, which is very stressful considering everything I have to get done while I am there. Fortunately I now have an extra day to get things done here in South Carolina.

Apparently Brothers and Sisters is REALLY good tonight. It is a two hour episode so it started at 9 and I was still at work. I will have to find time to watch it online in the next few days. Tomorrow begins my week of ridiculous stress and too many Goodbyes to think about.

"The people we work with are like family... disfunctional"

Today was my second to last day working at Salty Dog. It has been a whirlwind, but a lot of fun. I will miss it. Writing out Thank You cards to my two awesome bosses, Maggie and Tim, was a challenge. There is so much I want to thank them for that is hard to express through a greeting card. I couldn't have wished for better GM's. Working at Salty Dog is like one big family. Once you put in your time there, you get to know people from the various stores and restaurants who have also been there more than just one season and everyone kind of looks out for everyone else. If by some chance things don't work out in NYC, I am glad I have these people to come back to.

Tonight I am ready to "smash beers" and have one last good time with the friends I have made over the past year. I hope all goes well without it getting out of hand and the police being called. I feel optimistic about it though, it will be a good time. Speaking of party, I have just over an hour to eat dinner, make pigs in a blanket, shower, and get ready.

"Cheers to good times, good food, good friends, and good tennis"

Work sucked today. Not for any particular reason, it just sucked. We did get new stuff in, which is always kind of exciting for me in a retail dork kinda way. I couldn't wait for 6:00 to roll around, that is for sure. After work I spoke with someone (not sure who all reads this as of right now) who really pissed me the fuck off, thus making my bad day even worse. I am pretty sure I have lost even MORE respect I have for this person, if that is even possible. Unfortunately, this person is a family member. A family member who really needs to take a step back and appreciate what they have instead of being a total (insert choice word here) all the time. That is a whole other rant that I am not even getting into though.

After work I had met with my tennis buddies one last time to play tennis (obviously) and have dinner at Aaron and Cinda's apartment. We had a great time! Had some good laughs, enjoyed Hampton Hall's playground facilities, and took cheesy tennis team pictures, as seen below.

Afterwards, we returned to Aaron and Cinda's for our traditional weekly after tennis dinner. Tonight's menu consisted of delicious chicken tacos and fondue.. along with margaritas and champagne from the winery Aaron's dad works for in California! Everything was delicious, as always, and we shared more laughs. I will definitely miss our weekly tennis games and dinners, it has always been so much fun. Tonight definitely turned my day from shitty to really good.

Now I am completely exhausted after being on the go from the time I got out of bed this morning at 9 am until midnight. It is time for some sleep!

The First of the Lasts

Today was my last shift at the upstairs T-shirt shop. This is where I worked when I first started at Salty Dog a year ago.

Some of the things I will miss about the T-shirt shop: The view of the marina from the back sliding glass door, Ernest going nuts and being talkative (sometimes), customers not being able to operate the sliding glass door, and the numerous stupid questions/comments involving the tides (i.e.: [at low tide] It looks like you guys are having water shortages too).

Some of the things I will not miss about the t-shirt shop: People wondering where the noise of the birds is coming from, wondering if the birds [in cages] are real, Roscoe's infamous honking noise, and the boredom during the off season.

I also had the pleasure of cleaning bird shit off like five shirts. That was awesome.

After work I swung by Kenny B's for some delicious Shrimp and Grits with Fried Green Tomatoes to go. While waiting on my food, I got to see the owner's huge English Bulldog. They are HUGE Georgia Bulldogs fans. The entire restaurant is filled with University of Georgia paraphernalia. The dog's name is Bubba Dooley. He was sporting his very own BUBBA DOOLEY UGA jersey. I'm not so sure about having a dog on the floor ten feet or so from where my food is being prepared, but what the hell, it was delicious as always.

This is my last night with nothing (aside from packing) to do before I move. I am pretty exhausted.. I don't really feel like packing but I do not have much time left with a busy schedule from tomorrow until I move.

"Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used." -William Shakespear

Today was the beginning of my last week at work at Salty Dog. I took 100000 pictures of the beautiful marina I have been fortunate enough to be able to call my workplace for the past year and a few of my feathered colleagues that have provided me with hours of entertainment, frustration, and enjoyment.

The marina and Braddock's Cove

In order: Ernest, Roscoe, Captain, Cherokee and Kiwi

After work I came home to the wonderful news that our sink and garbage disposal is fixed! The plumber recommended that we not put food down the garbage disposal anymore.. but that it does work. I question his craftsmanship for this reason, but I will be in my apartment less than a week at this point so I don't really care... just as long as we get our deposit back.

After a brief period of relaxation.. and be relaxation I mean searching the stupid Internet for jobs.. I went to dinner at Wiseguys with Maggie and Lindsey S. Wiseguys is a trendy wine bar/tapas restaurant Maggie's husband, Chris, manages on the North End. Delicious food, delicious wine, can't beat it! We had tempura fried asparagus with a creamy cheese sauce and baked goat cheese to start with followed by "Lamb Lollipops" over goat cheese mashed potatoes. Of course all of this was accompanied by a couple glasses of Malbec wine.

I have never had a Malbec up until this past weekend when Jen introduced it to me. As of right now, it is rapidly approaching Cabernet Sauvignon on my list of favorite wines. WineWeekly.com describes it as, "most Malbec wines share these characteristics: ripe black fruits, such as plum and blackberry; peppery notes; earthy; firm tannins; ample acidity; conducive to oak aging. In other words, a flavor profile that may be somewhere between California Cabernet Sauvignon and California Merlot." I highly recommend picking up a bottle and giving it a whirl if you like reds.

I also talked to Heather tonight and there is a chance I will get to see her next week during the couple of days I am in NC! I need to get in touch with the rest of the Chapel Hill crowd and see what they have going on. For now, I am going to catch up on some tv and get some sleep!