DON"T TOUCH THE CORAL REEF!

I want to apologize for not updating this sooner. Life has been busy and will continue to be busy until next year with football season being in full-swing. It’s better to not be busy but having season football tickets keeps you moving. I have a ton of stories and updates but I haven’t taken time to update the system but I will; hopefully soon. I will try and do some of that this weekend.

Anyway, I thought of a story that made me laugh out loud just thinking about it so I’m going to share it with you. This chronicles my spring break trip my senior year of college.

It actually started the day after my 22nd birthday. That’s March 11th, 2000 for those of you keeping score at home. We went out in Chapel Hill for my birthday then Kipke and I started off on our journey to Key West the following morning. I was not up to par if you can imagine. Kipke took it easy the night before so he could drive the first leg of the trip starting at 8 AM. I slept in the passenger seat until about noon when I woke up to see a tractor trailer about 4 feet from the front of my green Mazda protégé. I said “What the hell are you doing!?” Kipke calmly replied “Drafting. Watch.” He then backed up and the car shook from the air then he pulled back into the draft and it was noticeably smoother and helped mileage according to him. I told him to make sure not to hit the truck and went back to sleep.

I took my turn and he slept around 2. We stopped only to gas up and eat. We got into Miami around 10 PM. Miami was pretty scary. It would be fine one block then you would be in the heart of the ghetto the next. Interesting zoning that they have there. So, we had to gas up before we headed out to the island roads. We pulled into what looked like a normal gas station. We tried to pump gas but it blocked us until we prepaid. Shortly after that a couple big black dudes with 40s in paper bags came out from behind the store and were watching us. We looked like two preppy college kids in our cargo shorts and golf shirts (mine was likely frat tucked). I wonder if they noticed the NY MAFIA license tag on the front of the car. I went into the bathroom. I stood there for 5 seconds and the light went out. I thought “Oh Shit, I’m going to die.” I then thought, I have to go so I might as well finish up. So, I left and realized that it was just a timer on the light. I went towards the car and Kipke headed to the bathroom. I thought “I should warm him about the light, then I thought no, that’s no fun.” He got as scared as me. By this time, the two black guys with 40s had grown to 4 and they began to fight each other. We quickly got in the car and went on our way. It was pretty intimidating.

We then drove through Miami and on to the Keys. We got in around 1 AM to stay with his cousin. We were staying in a tent in the back yard. No big deal if you’re young. The first night was hard to fall asleep but the rest were easy.

Key West is a cool town. However, I have no desire to go back now that I am older. It’s perfect for spring break but nothing much else is there. I don’t know what I would do.

We would wake up fairly early for us around 10 then go to the beach and hangout and nap. Michael Klett, Troy, Organ, and Johnner were all down there as well. They were staying at Jabronies camp site. It’s not really called Jabronies but it is close to that and that’s what I called it. Jabor’s is the real name I think. We hung out with them the whole week.

They called Kipke and I the ambiguously gay duo the whole weekend because we had a scooter to get around on. Yes, imagine Kipke driving and me on the back of the scooter going around town. I’m sure that it was pretty comical to see. Of course, Key West is known for its gay population so no one ever gave us a second glance but our group made fun of us; deservedly so.

All week we went out to a place called Mike’s; I think. They had a special from 6-10 for all that you could drink for $20. This was an amazing deal so we did that each night. We would go in about 7 and play bubble hockey until the rest of the normal people would show up around 11. Kipke and I dominated but that should be expected. Like most things in life UNC enacts domination over NC State. It’s just life so accept it State fans. We love you anyway. That includes you Andrew. The highlight of bubble hockey came in a game between Kipke and I vs. Chea and Klett (the best NC State team). It was all tied and the time was out so the next goal was going to win. I had the puck in front of the net manned by Klett. I scored the most amazing goal in bubble hockey history. Everyone who saw it agreed so I’m not bragging. Well, I am but it has been confirmed by others as the best bubble hockey goal of all time. I used a crossover move to score. I tipped the puck one way spun around and then tipped it back and slammed it in. I could never replicate it but it was a thing of beauty. We actually acted it out many times over the week.

One day, we were on the beach and a salesman came up to us. He was selling 8 AM snorkel cruises. We all said “No way in hell I’m getting up at 7 to go on a snorkel cruise.” Well, the guy sold Klett on it and Klett sold us on the idea that “we may never be here again, let’s go look at the coral reef, a group of girls signed up for the morning cruise, all you can drink on the way back included” So, $40 later we are all signed up for the following morning. We went out like normal. Did you actually think that we would go easy and prepare for AM snorkeling? Not a chance. The next morning came early and was quite painful. It was a great time to go out on a boat let me tell you.

There was our group and then a group of girls on the boat. It became apparent that the girls choose the morning trip because they didn’t want to be around any guys. Yeah for us! So, on the trip to the coral reef they go over all the rules for snorkeling and they beat into us the main rule. DO NOT TOUCH THE REEF! If they said it once, they said it at least 37 times. DO NOT TOUCH THE REEF! It is a living organism that dies if you touch it. So, we continue on our long ride and finally get there. Did I mention that a boat ride is totally awesome when you drank too much the night before?

So, we get to the reef. We have to swim a half mile to get to it but there are buoys around it so you can find it. The water is pretty choppy that morning. It is white capping in some spots but we make the swim out there. The reef is not very large but there are some pretty fish. Sadly, you cannot see that far because the water is so choppy. It’s also only 20 feet big and maybe 5 feet from the surface so there isn’t much to see.

We swam the half mile out to this little rock to see a couple fish. It’s not that great and no one is feeling good so many people begin to get tired and need to rest. Several of us are just floating there relaxing in our life jackets when I decide to swim around and look some more. I see Chea standing on the middle of the reef and then he starts walking around on it like he’s in a pool. I laughed so hard that I started to choke on salt water. He was not heeding the DO NOT TOUCH THE REEF! warning. It was classic. This is what inspired me to write this story. I can still see his flippers standing on the reef. “Killing it”

The water started to get a little worse so we were called back to the boat. I about gave up life for five minutes on this swim. I was not feeling first-rate. The choppy water made the swim very tough. I began to swallow large amounts of salt water. I then began to put that salt water back in the ocean along with my breakfast. This happened several times over the swim and at one point. I thought “This is it. I’m going to drown, no need to fight it anymore.” I sat there and didn’t drown. The life vest was working. So, I thought “I’m not going to die. I have to swim to the boat.” So, I did. I then slept the entire ride back and got a little sunburn on my back.

We spent a couple more days there but nothing really of note happened.

So, we drove to Jacksonville to stop off and visit our neighbor who was having break there. We stopped on Friday. No one was home so we walked over to a bar to watch the UNC NCAA tournament game. I went to bed around 10 because the people there were driving me insane. I woke up and was going to drive back even though Kipke said he was staying Saturday. I got up at 7 and told him to get up because I was going back due to rain in the area. He decided to get up and we were back in Chapel Hill that afternoon.

I think that we slept until Monday getting up only to watch basketball and then we were back to normal. Good Times.

Our New Car!

As promised, we got a new car last weekend. We wanted to get a larger vehicle that we could haul things around in. This will primarily be driven by me so it won't be traveling very far each day. It will pretty much take me to work and back which is only a 12 minute drive. Here are a couple of shots of the car.

Yes, it is a Toyota Highlander. The car is actually built on the Camry chassis so it drives much more like a car than a truck. The ride is pretty smooth. We decided to go with the limited edition as we wanted leather seats and liked all the extra features that this version comes with.

Here is a picture of the front seat. It has a push start which is a very cool feature. As cool as it is, it is also weird and a little scary. Having to turn a key all your life and switching to pressing a button is strange. However, I'm getting used to it and actually like not having to deal with keys. I do have a "key" in my pocket that you must have in order to start the car. It is really just a clicker that also opens the doors automatically when I walk up to the car. It's a completely frivolous feature but also one of the coolest. The car will also not lock if there is a key in the car so you can't lock your keys in it. It has a 6 disc changer, AM/FM, and a port for my ipod that I have to get a hookup for. There are 6 cup holders in the front seat, 4 right there and 1 each door. That is a little excessive as well but I do like having more than 2. It's nice when you have a bottle of water and then maybe a Jumbo sweet tea from Bojangles. The seats are automatic and the driver's seat has some thing that extends the seat to make it more comfortable for my long legs. I can't really explain it so you'll have to take my word for it. It gives me plenty of room. I can actually straighten out my legs in the front seat.

Here is the backseat. It has two captain's chairs that morph into a bench seat with an additional piece that is currently stored just under the back seat controls there on the right. There is a ton of room in this section as well even with the front seats all the way back.

Here is a picture from the tailgate. That thing across the back is there to hide your stuff from people looking in. It comes down and stores below that mat there and then you can pull up the third row of seats. They are not spacious but they actually aren't terrible either. Elizabeth could fit back there pretty good. So, we can haul around visitors when we have them. We can also haul around stuff like new vanities, toilets, lawnmowers and other things that were impossible in our older cars.

That was our excitement from last weekend. This weekend I took my final test for school so as long as I pass the two classes that I took this semester then I will have my masters in business degree. Now, we just need the economy to get better. I'll write next about some of my coolest classes and experiences. Have a good one!

New Bathroom!!

We recently renovated our bathroom. We did some of the work but we didn't try and handle the hard core plumbing of the job. I'm not a skilled craftsman by a long shot so we hired some help for that. However, we did some of the work and we did all of the painting. I'll take you through what we did.


The first thing that we did was take down the molding in the bathroom. Does a bathroom need molding around the middle of it? No, Elizabeth didn't think so and she took it off. She is responsible for the majority of the work in the bathroom as I was more of an assistant. So, the "we" could really be Elizabeth 90%; Ben 10%. I had a ton of school work this summer so I was doing that a lot of the time. When she took the molding down she had to put joint compound in it's place.

As you can see, we have a little bathroom but it works. We also took out both medicine cabinets that we had. There is some new drywall up there on the left of the second picture. Elizabeth and Ryan put that in place.


After that was complete, we decided to paint the bathroom before the plumber came in to install everything. Here is the primed bathroom.

We then painted the ceiling and the walls. We had some issues with the paints that we bought from Lowe's not showing up right so Elizabeth decided to do a faux finish. We have one of those downstairs in that bathroom. I think that one is very cool so I pushed for it. Elizabeth was concerned that the next people buying this house would not like it but we had no real choice since the paint did not turn out. It also helped to hide some joint compound issues. Here she is making some touch ups.





We then had the plumbers and then a handyman come in and complete the work. One of the coolest things is the seat on the toilet. It does not slam. It goes down extremely slowly. It's very cool. It's right there with tissues as the coolest things in the house that don't require batteries or power to work. Here is the finished product.

Next Week . . . A NEW CAR!

Snap Shots

As I look through the pictures on my computer I keep finding some good ones that have a good story behind them. So, this entry will include some random pictures that have a story attached to them.

So, I am starting off with this one.

This is a great picture of the Crafts and myself. This was us at the table before or after dinner I believe. They had their wedding at Olde Beau in the mountains. It was a very beautiful place. I was best man and had to come up with a speech. I had a million different stories to tell but as luck would have it. I was able to tell the story of our morning round of golf.

Olde Beau has a golf course attached to it as most nice places do. It is a challenging course in the mountains. Here is a picture of one ravine.

As you can see, there were some pretty steep hills on the course. On the hole after this one, you go a pretty steep hill. We drove up the hill then saw that our balls were down the hill so we turned and started to go down. Bear in mind, this was a 60 degree slope and I started to lose control of the cart. We start flying down the hill towards a ravine and the cart began to spin and we did a 360. I got control for a second and then it started to spin out again. At this point, Craft bailed and being a good friend yelled "BEN, JUMP!" Taking his advice, I jumped out of the cart as well. We were both in tact. As soon as I jumped out; the cart rolled to a stop under a tree just before falling over the hill into some rocks. It was pretty exciting.

Everyone then of course had a good laugh, and I had my speech. It was a fun weekend. David Carmen still owes Ondrea Van Hoever for his room if you see him.

Our next couple of pictures take place at our annual turkey bowl football game. We have gotten together for the past 6 years and celebrated Thanksgiving with a Turkey Bowl football game. It is generally my friends vs. my brother's friends who are all 5 years younger. We usually win one game and then they win one once we are tired out.

This a group shot; I'll stop with the top row going left to right. The first person is Ryan Gunyan (Liz's brother). He once played for a National Championship in flag football. He is easily one of the best players on the field even though you might not expect it. The next person is Keshaun Walters. He is Brian Snipes roommate. Then there is some weird girl touching my brother. The red hat guy is my brother. He's got good looks but I have a bigger brain. 84 is Russell. He's pretty much a wimp. Girls beat him up all the time. That's Vince Young there in the middle. Wait, my mistake that's me. I wear a Young jersey because his game is almost as good as mine. Next is the Kipke brothers; Mike and Jamie. Mike is a stud in the Turkey bowl but he tends to fall apart for the Xmas bowl. Jamie is a big dude that most people get out of the way for. There on the end is Forest.

The lower row is: Mike Wiggins; he is Andrew's buddy that travels around and dates supermodels. He lives pretty well. Next to him is Sniper. He is a world renown pet enthusiast. The next guy is a douche. I don't know his name but I know that I don't like him. The next guy is Craft, you should no him now. Next is Peter Gunyan, Liz's other brother. He's 17 and his brain is mush right now according to all the books that I have read this summer. Next to him is little Wiggins and Jimmy Mullins. Jimmy was once quoted in the local news paper after beating Greensboro Day in high school lacrosse. He said "We don't like them public school types."

Below is an American Hero:

If you look closely you can see Tyler Hansbrough on the line getting ready to shoot some free throws. We went to Chapel Hill for New Year's Eve last year and we took in a game which was a lot of fun. We got to see the team beat Valpo. I love Tyler. He is my favorite UNC player of all time. I just hope that he can win at Duke again this year so that we can call it Hansbrough Indoor Stadium forever.

Roy will have a lot of pressure on himself this year to add to the arena.

Where we're going we don't need roads . . .

We are taking another trip this week. This time we are headed to Bristol, TN. If you don't know why Bristol is not a great town then you've never been there for a race. It's easily the best NASCAR race of the season mainly because there are a lot of wrecks. Everyone likes a good wreck as long as nobody gets hurts of course. So, I'll take you on our last trip to Bristol because I have some pictures which is key for everyone. Pictures make everything better unless you did something illegal.


I have taken 3 trips to Bristol. One with the Wizard, Drew, Dad, and myself which was a lot of fun and worked out very similar to the story you're about to be told except Russell is subbed in for the Wizard. The Wizard has his own page which I may try and link to this one if I can. Anyway, we went back a year later and got to go to the luxury suite; which Mom decided to go to because girls like luxury suites. It was also fun but we all decided that outside is better because you can hear the cars better which is really the coolest thing about the race.


So, the trip starts out at 8 AM leaving from G-town on the way over the Bristol. It takes about 3 hours maybe 3.5 but I can't remember. You try to get there around 11/12 so that you can park and hang out until a couple hours before race time. We always park at the same church because you can hang out in gym which has AC and play some hoops in their gym all for $10. It's very nice. It's also a good place to eat snacks which must include sweet nuts. This trip Russ and Dad thought that it would be a great idea to sell some Goodyear posters to people as we walked up.

As nice as they are; people don't want to carry around a poster so they donated them to the church.



It was a hot August day and we walked the mile up to the track to do some of the free tent stuff that is found around the track.

We were were walking around outside and were amazed to find out that they had created a monument to the Allison family. It is true that we are a great clan but this honor was unexpected. Here we are at the monument. It's nice to know that the people at Bristol Motor Speedway love us so much.



We then went in and experienced our first little hiccup with our seats. We thought that we were near the top which is where we sat the first time that we arrived. If you don't know, NASCAR seats are better the further away you are. The first few rows are called the "chicken bone" section because people throw their chicken bones on you from above.



So, we thought that we were sitting here. Nice high status area.

It turns out that we were wrong and were sitting here.

If you can't tell that's row 6. Yes, the heart of the "chicken bone" section. It turned out to be fine but I wasn't happy when we got there. You could actually see the whole track from these seats which was surprising as you normally can't see much this close. You get a different type of fan when you are this close though. One fan that we got to see a lot of was this guy.

He didn't really know where he was all night. I'm not sure where his tickets were actually but we were only with him during the opening ceremonies. He did pop up in every section throughout the night much like a whack a mole and constantly went back to the concourse.

Also, on this night, we broke a world-record. Bristol seats 230K I think. But we were part of the biggest fan participation event ever! This is Russ and our friend participating in that event. You are supposed to hold it like Russ not the other guy. Here is what it looked it.

Our friend there didn't quite understand how to do it.

This is just a cool parachute guy.

We stayed for the whole race which was nice. It ended about 11:30 and there weren't near as many wrecks as usual which was disappointing but it was still a good time.

On they way back, we found another problem with our seats. We were all hearing impaired. Andrew and I were not too bad because I got ear plugs. Dad however, could not hear a thing. I drove back and Andrew road upfront to keep me awake and Dad and Russ were in the back. We would keep talking about the race and other things and ask Dad what he thought . . . . . . . . . nothing. We would then laugh because he couldn't hear a word that we were saying and it became a joke the rest of the way.

One of us: Hey Dad . . . Nothing; We would laugh hysterically. Dad can still hear; the loss was just for the ride home and for a couple weeks after the race.

Good Times.

I asked Dad and Andrew to rate the experience.

Until Next time . . .

A Look Backwards

Greetings Everyone,

I imagine that this will be read by about 5 people until this blog gets up and running with a little more excitement to it. We currently have many folders full of previous exciting adventures that we have taken over the years so my first few blog entries will be a look back through the past.

The name of the blog comes to us courtesy of Chad Mitchell. He loved to combine our names when were dating much like the press did with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. So, that is where the name comes from. Yes, it is pretty corny so just live a little.

Anyway, Here is a look backwards to perhaps not the beginning but the first place that I have some good pictures of. It is the wonderful place called Hoboken, NJ. Now, won't you come along memory lane and view this great first home. The spacious 600 square foot apartment is the first stop on the tour. Below is our spacious bedroom.

This picture brings to memory the wonderful time that Michael Craft, Ryan, Liz, and I painted this room. It was a wonderful shade of pink. However, we decided to paint the whole apartment the weekend we moved in. Yes, the boxes were all over the place. I don't recommend painting as you move in if you can avoid it. If you didn't already know pink actually invokes more anger than any other color so we all started yelling at each other as we painted the room. "It was because the room is Pink!" I screamed. Luckily we turned it white before killing each other.

Above was our luxurious family room. Notice that we were able to squeeze a couch and two chairs in there along with that tiny TV. How did we live with that little TV? I guess because we were 4 feet away from it. This room served as a bedroom for many people. At one point we had 5 people sleep in that room in one night. Andrew and Russell slept there at the end of our stay in Hoboken. Micheal and Ryan stayed when we moved in. Kipke, Ondrea, and Krista all stayed in that room for New Year's which was a month or so away from this photo. How 5 people you say? Well, the next summer there was the big black out in the Northeast if you missed it. It was awesome baby. No lights, TV, or AC in July. Michael was visiting that weekend and his sister Lydia and husband Dan came over with the twins. Of course, the twins weren't born yet but they stayed on that pull-out because we actually got power back 2 days before the city did.

Our next picture is of our wonderful kitchen. Some people enjoyed sleeping on the nice hardwood floors. I never tried them out but Michael could tell you about that experience. I would really like to point out the cabinet below and left of the sink. Yes, below and left of the sink. It looks like a normal cabinet but it was not. It actually held our 5 gallon hot water heater. Yes, 5 gallons. It allowed just about 3 minutes of hot water.

We did have a great event at New Year's while in New York. Michael, Kipke, Ondrea, and Krista all came up to visit. We went to a party with Lindsay and Andrea at some apartment building in the city. We had a good time. I remember walking through Time's Square at 3 in the afternoon and people were already blocking off the streets and lining up to stand there until Midnight. We were all shocked. So, if you think that standing in Times Square for New Year's Eve is something that you want to do before you die then go ahead and kill that idea. Just watch it on TV unless you want to sit on the street sober; with no food or drink except what is in your hand or backpack; with no where to go the bathroom for 9 hours.

Instead, I highly recommend the Ben Tour if you visit NYC. If you didn't already know. I was laid off from my company in early July before we moved back to NC. My brother visited, and Melissa visited. I was able to take Melissa on the first Ben Tour. The tour started with a trip to the Empire State Building because that is best seen in the morning. There was also less of a line and you could enjoy the guided tour from Tony (who is the best audio tour guy on the planet; yes I'm talking to you Sears Tower). This was usually followed up with a trip to Yankee Stadium for an afternoon game. After the game, we would go to Times Square for a meal at the ESPNzone and Toys R Us to see the T-Rex and the Ferris Wheel. It is a must see. It did make the Ben Tour after all. After that, there was a trip to Ground zero and then a ferry ride back to Hoboken where you could see the Statue of Liberty. It isn't a bad one-day trip of NYC if you ask me.

During one 4th of July visit, I had the opportunity to do something that very few people have. I was able to sing in front of an audience at the New York Port Authority. Some may call it a scuzzy bar in a bus station but I beg to differ. Melissa, Leah, and I were stars that night as we sang Living on a Prayer for the patrons. We did receive a standing ovation from the other 6 people at the bar. Good Times . . .

Towards the end of our stay in Hoboken we took time each month to visit the sites that we had not seen before. This included a trip to the Statue of Liberty for Elizabeth. She had never been there before so we took the ride out one afternoon to see it. You would think that it was big but as you can tell from this picture is looks bigger on TV.

We spent a year up in NY. It was a different place. I did enjoy the public transit to and from work. It was nice to have that time to read a book. I read more that year than I ever have before. It was great to put on life's resume but I enjoy sweet tea too much. Good Bye and Have a safe trip!