Recently in Michael Culpepper Category

I moved to Galveston on January 4th 2000.  I had never been to Galveston before and, literally, had picked it off the map.

I was remodeling houses in western North Carolina in the fall of 1999.  We had an early winter roll through and, added to that, I was working on top of a house on the very top of a mountain on top of a mountain range in Highlands, NC.  I recall getting to work one day and through thermal underwear, jeans, and a ski suit, I was freezing. I remember thinking "there has to be a better way"  and right then and there I decided that I was moving within 2 months.  I had 60 days to figure out where I was going.

Within a week, my list was down these 5 cities:  St. Augustine, Savannah, Charleston, Galveston, and Tuscon.  Notice an odd man out?  Tuscon made the list b/c it is out west and at that time, it had a good housing market.  The others are seaside communities that have a very good historic housing stock upon which to work.

I had friends in Charleston at the time and a room briefly became available.  For two weeks, I was moving to Charleston only to find out that the roomate who was going to move, was now going to stay.  Back to the drawing board.

In a weird way, I think I chose Galveston BECAUSE it was the one city on my list which I had never visited.  I think it is fair to say that, after telling my family of my plans, they thought i had totally lost it.  People were placing bets on how long this move would last.  My cousin and good friend, to my face, gave me 4 months.  Friends and family were telling me to move to Austin and Atlanta, and Ft. Lauderdale.  My sister-in-law's dad lived in Pasedena, TX and told me that if i'm moving to the area, I would like Clear Lake much better than Galveston.  But I had decided and I'd be damned if anyone was going to change my mind.

I can say that, 10 years later, moving to Galveston is among the best decisions of my life.  I met my wife here, started a business here, and began a life here.  There may come a time when we will call another place home.  Until then, I'm an Islander By Choice.

I lost a big piece of me this week.  Well, i lost a small piece of me.  Last thursday night, after much complaining to the Lady Culpepper and a call to one of our personal doctors (Katrina), we went to the hospital.  We get to the emergency room and they make me lay on a gurney that goes in and out of a doughnut that they refer to as the ct-scan machine while they pump me full of some drug that gives me hot flashes and make me feel like i'm peeing myself.  Fun.  Lets go back to the ER.

After a few hours of sleeping in the ER while pantamiming a pretzel, we were informed that I had an appendacitus append... my appendix was broken.  After they informed us that the only remedy was to rip the appendix from the binding of the book that is labeled M_F_CULPEPPER.  Here's about how the next conversation goes:

Doctors walking in on two pretzels sleeping: You have appendecitus.

Pretzel with problem:  Ok when do we need to come back?

Doctors: You don't need to we're going to operate right now.

Hot Pretzel:  You're going to take him right now?

Doctors: No, we're going to let you sleep like pretzels for another 8 hours and we'll operate on him in the morning.

Pretzel with problem:  Thanks so much.

 

In the recovery room, Adrienne came in to see me and said that the doctors said that everything went to plan.  After two days, a seizure, and a self inflicted enema, I was going home.  Now here i sit with time to blog and no excuse not to.

Oh yea and the missing piece we were told was cut up and sucked out of my body.  One less thing to donate to science I guess. 

Thank you honey for being my wife.

 

One nice thing i noticed this year on new years eve, is that people can't wear those stupid glasses that have the eye holes as zeros (see 2000 - 2009).  I guess if the chinese factory produced them for 2010, they would have to be heavily marketed to people who only have vision out of her right eye.  For this blessing on the last day of 2009, I am thankful.

09 was a curious year in a lot of ways.  I lost my grandfather, a friend in Mr. Antonelli, and a little bird named Chipper.  The weird thing is that they were all strangely connected to each other.

The return of the Galveston Beach Revue featuring the Galveston Bathing Beauties Contest was a huge success.  It was great weather and the quality of the contestants and their vintage suits surprised everyone.  This event is going to be even bigger and better on May 15th 2010.

We have dealt with really getting to the nuts and bolts of recovery both personally and as a city.  Personally, Adrienne and I bought a new (1876 new!) building to house Nautical Antiques in February.  We placed our first orders for inventory since the storm in August and are hoping for a Grand Opening sometime early in 2010.

As a city, we have an idea (albeit only an idea) of the amount of funds that the federal government is allocating for Galveston and the surrounding area.  It is apparent that the bulk of the actual recovery and the allocation of these federal funds is coming up.  How these monies are spent will shape the future of this city for at least the lifespans of its current residents.  (Please don't forget to register and plan to vote in the May election as it will be the most important election our fine city has seen in some time)

As a whole I will give 2009 a C+ but to be fair, for Galvestonians especially, it was dealt a losing hand by 2008.

As for 2010 and how it is going to go...  Well so far so good.  Ginger and Popeye (our chocolate labs) celebrate their birthdays today and we plan on taking them for a walk.

How was your 2009?

So yesterday started just like any other day.  I woke up and fed the dogs and I went back to bed.  Before I know it, the dogs are whining again as if they haven't eaten yet. 

Groggy Adrienne: Have you fed them yet?

Hero: Of course!

This question doesn't normally get asked because usually after their breakfast, the dogs are as willing as I am to go back to their visit with the sandman.  If asked though, I admit that I normally wouldn't know the answer anyway because when i get up to feed them, I really don't even wake up for it.  I'm in something of an induced sleepwalk and go through the routine while seeing through my eyelashes and using the force.  But the reason for my definitive "of course" response is that i had remembered it raining outside and bringing the dog dishes inside before going through the feeding ritual.

Disheveled Adrienne:  Well maybe something is wrong.

Hero:  We only have two pets and they are both right here whining so what could be wrong?

It was then that Adrienne checked the clock....

Curious Adrienne:  Are you sure you fed them?  It's only 4:45!

4:45... that can't be right.  I start thinking that maybe I really didn't fed them....and then with two words.....not even two words - one word and two letters.....everything started making sense (well not sense like physics but more like sense the electoral college makes).

Confused Adrienne:  Wait .... PM.?!?

Let me say that there were many times (my six years of college come to mind) that waking up at 5 in the afternoon would be nothing out of the ordinary.  But this was just a regular day.  we didn't stay up late the night before, we hadn't gone out drinking, I actually went to sleep at 9 pm!

Hero: This can't be correct.

After verification from the Willthing that our clocks had not gotten the Y2K virus and it actually was 5pm, we realized that the dogs weren't hungry, they just thought we were dead.
 

Ok here's the situation....  I'm an Islander by Choice.  I love Galveston.  I support Galveston.  And here i am, on one of the best tourist weekends and festivals that is Lone Star Bike Rally, encouraging people to go off the island?!?

Actually, I'm not.  If i had my druthers, every Galvestonian would be downtown drinking beer, eating sausage on a stick, and reading lips.  I love the Lone Star Rally! 

However, it has come to my attention that, in some cases, people can get their fill of it.  If and only if this case arises with you and yours, take the drive over the causeway and up to..... GULP.... Houston..... to see the Wings over Houston Air Show at Ellington Field.

 

They're going to have an AV-8 (Harrier) demonstration, (for all of you True Lies debunkers), A10's, a C-17, and many others.  The Heritage demo will feature war planes from the Doolittle Raiders, the European Theater, and the Korean / Vietnam era.  The encore is none other than the Blue Angels. 

 

If you've never seen this group of F/A-18's, you might want to go ahead and scribble it down on your bucket list because they are some sight to see in action.

Once again...... Don't go to this Event on October 31st and November 1st from 8:00 - 5:00!

On my way home a couple of weeks ago, I saw someone pruning and watering a live oak.  I thought: well good for them and good luck.  Yesterday I saw the same tree and its sprouting growth!  Here it is:

To compare, here's a picture of another tree in the east end:

Now you may say: "Its hard to compare two random trees; one may have been more saturated with salt"..... Possibly but not in this case. 

 In case you're still wondering, these are the same trees as above.

And this time i'm not talking about our new T-shirts. (Although the fronts are very cool especially if Adrienne is wearing one!)  When i went outside this morning I couldn't believe it.  It was actually sub 90 degrees.  I know this isn't going to last long so I beg you to go out and enjoy this one.  Bike around the neighborhood.  Go throw a baseball or a frisbee.  Build a snowman.  Go walking around downtown (while you're downtown stop by the shop to say hello).

The heat will be back so take advantage.

Don't forget artwalk tonight!

 

1:45 pm update:  nevermind, its hot.

Every once in a while, you have one of those days that reminds you of the when the beloved blue haired "Simpson's" character proudly exclaims "EVERYTHING IS COMING UP MILHOUSE!!!".  Well my friends and readers, I enjoyed such a day yesterday.  It started out by happening to be our day off from work (Tues. & Wed.) and enjoyed a great day with my wife. 

We went over to Will's house and I started playing some foosball (yes Will has a professional table at his house) when Adrienne decided to play against me.  Well, I was triumphant for the first time ever against her although we've only played each other a few times (maybe 140 matches or so).

  Riding my victorious high, I challenged Zac to play me by warning him that I was 'feeling it' and reminded him of my previous unprecedented win.  He scoffed and sarcastically admitted he was scared.  For those of you who don't know, Zac is among the best of foosball players on the island and, in my opinion the best.  Well the best got taken down yesterday by a score of 5 - 4.  With mouth agape, he was gentleman and congratulated me.

I would have never guessed that later on in the same evening, I would look back on these victories as merely games.  After having a great dinner with the Ethridges' (thanks again Brian, Kristen, and Carrie) and while we were in the area, we decided to check out Crazy Oaks because our friend Cat was bartending.  After playing a couple games of pool, someone suggested a "dance off".  Well the rules were the ladies chose partners and they couldn't choose their mate.  Well Kristi Bigley and Yours Truly took down the victory along with a bucket full of Crazy Oaks gifts (thanks Cat!).  Our key to victory: lots of spinning and one wardrobe malfunction.

A great day indeed!

 

No that's not us.... (but we would have beaten them too! )

 

It is time to celebrate our independence from King George once again! 

This time we're going to have the 4th of July parade right here in Galveston though!  (You would be amazed at the lack of Galveston 4th parade pictures.  So all you shutterbugs now have a mission, show Canton, OH what we're made of.)

Islander by Choice (IBC) would like to invite everyone out to enjoy the parade this Saturday (YES IT'S ON A SATURDAY!!!) July 4th, at 10 am.  The parade will start at the Santa Fe Building (aka Shearn Moody Plaza) and will proceed south on 25th st. to Postoffice street.  It will follow Postoffice street east to 21st st.  After going north on 21st st. the celebration will turn west on Strand Ave. and finish where it started.

IBC is going to have a multiple car procession that has eyes on best in show.  We're going to have a lot of help from some guests but I'm not going to say who.  You will just have to come out and see us and all the other entrants Saturday morning.

I would also like to thank Galveston's 4th of July Committee and especially Kathy Modzelewski for their dedicated work putting this family friendly event on.

Adrienne and I went to the Hotel Galvez 98th birthday party the other day. 

They were also unveiling the new spa that was totally refinished after the hurricane.  (Side note:  If you have never been to a Sunday brunch at the Galvez, it is well worth checking out!)  As I was drinking an interesting grapefruit concoction and looking through old photos of the Galvez, I started thinking about the dedication and of course money that goes into a project like the Galvez.  When George and Cynthia Mitchell bought the Hotel Galvez from a major chain who was not as historically sympathetic, they bought a hotel that was going to take more money to restore than it was going to make in 10 years of service.  Luckily for us, Galveston's favorite son and his wife were more about the investment in the community than they were about the monetary return.

 

When we bought 2202 Mechanic, we bought it to move our business closer to Strand Ave.  The amount of foot traffic there, especially on the weekends, was incentive enough to invest in a building that needs A LOT of work.  We have lots of plans to make the building look its best and to add rather than detract from the fabric of the commercial neighborhood.  However, this venture was primarily made to help our business succeed finacially.

What I admire most about the Mitchells' is that they work for the community and town that they love, not for financial gain but for the love itself.  When Mr. Mitchell started investing in the Strand district in the early 80's, lots of people asked him why he would want to mess with a bunch of derilict vacant buildings.  It is easy for all of us to see now what he saw many years ago.  Without the resurrection of the Strand which was led by Mr. Mitchell, I seriously doubt that we would have any cruise ships, a railroad museum, Mardi Gras, Dicken's on the Strand, Bike Rally, or many of the downtown businesses that we love.  We know for a fact that we wouldn't have the downtown tourism that we enjoy today.

Adrienne and I have the Mitchells' to thank for the tourism and foot traffic that drew us to our new location every single day.