I’m in a unique position that puts me in contact with a vast number of single woman in Charlotte. Their ages vary from 18 to 50+. Regardless of their age, I hear the same story. Even at 40 they’re just as confused as the 18 year old. The boys are just as immature. There just aren’t many “Men” in Charlotte. That pushes the already good ratio to about 10 woman to each Man in Charlotte. Yes, my gender is reduced to whiney, petty girly boys who haven’t grown up, or who are more concerned with their frothy, whipped cream coffee, fashion and looking pretty than the most important thing… Taking care of the woman and her needs. Yeah a guy who needs more product int their hair than a woman… bye loser. More on that later.

Going back to point one. When I say Man, I’m not talking man, as in having a penis, that’s just genetics. The woman in Charlotte are fiercely independent and have access to some really amazing sex toys. They can stay single and happy forever. They don’t need a boy, they want a man, someone who has something to offer. Someone who cares about them as a person, who isn’t afraid to get dirty and mess up their manicures and pedicures. They want a Man who can get all sweaty, toss their shirt aside, grab them firmly and say it like it is. They want a Man passionate about life and more passionate about the woman they’re with.

The woman in Charlotte are pretty self sufficient. They hold really damn good jobs, have their own places, almost always roommate free and pretty much have all their financial needs squared away. This pushes the traditional male out to pasture. They don’t need financial support or a guy with ass loads of cash. They need something different now. They need “gasp” an equal.

What is it like to be a woman’s equal? It means mutual respect. Sure a woman will have wild sex with a guy who’s a douchebag. But, if she doesn’t respect him, it wont be for very long. She’ll move on as if he never even existed, leaving him wondering why his life sucks and he cant hold on to a woman for more than a month. He may have a good thing for a bit, but woman talk, oh boy do they talk. In Charlotte, there’s few places you can go without running into people you know. One bad review and you’ll find yourself a dating lepper.

Usually when I attend a Club event, I’m the token Man, there’s a good 5-10 Woman, mostly single and then me and perhaps 1-2 other single guys. What are we doing you ask? Drinking wine while praising the cheese? Getting our nails done? Hell no! We’re outdoor Rock Climbing, Kayaking, Rappelling down waterfalls, you know dangerous crap that men should be doing. Yeah these woman are all hot and have well toned bodies. When they’re not doing dangerous stuff, they’re out running a 15k… While the boys stay home drinking Miller Lite and watching sports all while thinking they’re tough and wondering why all the hot single woman aren’t pounding down their door for hot 30 seconds love fest.

Yeah, In my unique position, I hear the horror stories of dating and the dearth of good sex. Most have been single for a long while and would prefer to stay that way than to end up with another loser.

Some other horror stories I hear are just sad. Woman paying for the first date. Woman dating men older than them, with double their already good income and being financial taken advantage of. Woman going Single because the guy they’re interested in, well his balls got sucked somewhere into his body and he’s afraid to ask her out. Yes Guys, most woman wont ask you out even if they really want you, if you’re interested Man the frack up…

I have so many stories to tell about just how low quality the boys in Charlotte are. The Woman aren’t asking for a whole lot. Just Maturity, a guy who can hold a conversation, someone who can show them they mean something and most of all, a guy not afraid to be himself, get a little dirty, fix a car, change his own oil and be a little more athletic than drinking at bars all night. It’s really sad they had to lower their standards that much just to get a date.

Oh and guys, if you’re on the first date, and she goes for the tab, yeah it’s a test. She may pay it, but chances are will never answer a phone call/text from you ever again and yo’ll never know why. Yeah, toss the cash on the table and tell her it’s all good. That small investment will be well worth it.

I’ve been a Verizon customer for longer than I can remember, gone through a slew of “Smart” phones with them and eventually dropped them for the iPhone 4. Then a year later, I happy dump AT&T like the rebound bitch it is and go back to my true love, Verizon. Guess what the bonus here was? Unlimited bandwidth, text and a measly 450 minute plan (I talk maybe 90 minutes a month) for $90, without my Corporate discount… I had a 24% discount with AT&T with a 2-gig bandwidth cap 1400 talk minutes I never used at $107 a month… R-I-P O-F-F. As a bonus for paying more, bandwidth barely worked and they’d drop my calls randomly. You know, cause I talk way too much on he phone.

But, AT&T has had IOS 4.3 forever now, what since April? Where is this IOS update for Verizon? Is it held up on purposed to make the switch more painful to iPhone users? So I can’t restore my settings, pictures, texts to my reliable new phone and service? I hated AT&T as it was, do I have to hate them more for for having an IOS update far sooner than Verizon?

Regardless of how it’s seen. AT&T is the unreliable Borderline Personality Disorder girlfriend that randomly hangs up on you then calls back to tell you awesome news and Verizon is the ok looking girlfriend you want to keep forever because she treats you well and is reliable.

Regardless of this ordeal, I want my IOS 4.3 update so I can have faster Java script, restore my settings and stuff. Because you know, now that I’m on Verizon, I can actually use the internet on my phone again. Even though I can’t talk and browse, which i never bothered to do anyway.

I’m not writing to brag, or show off or any of that. I’m sharing my adventures, my goals and life with anyone who cares. The one thing is these stories are all real, with no need to inflate, because they’re already so huge.

So let’s start off with the introduction. About a year ago I completely did a life reorganization. I was climbing ever closer to 200 pounds, size 36 jeans were crushing me and it was almost time to go to size 38. I said NO WAY IN HELL. I made small, yes small lifestyle changes. I didn’t go on some fad diet, or workout 20 hours a day, I changed the way I live life.

My first change was small. I measured my flavored coffee creamer and realized for each coffee I had, was nearing 500+ calories. I had 3-4 a day. I cut the measurement back to 120 calories. Sure it doesn’t taste as good, but I get my coffee and the weight almost magically started to drop. I also cut back on portion sizes. Within a month I was eating the same foods, just smaller portions and lost 10 pounds. I was psyched.

From April to August I kept dropping pounds and hit my ideal weight of 165. Almost a year later have maintained that weight, and I love ice cream and beer.

I then joined an outdoor adventure group called Choa. I started going on 2 hikes a weekend that averaged 8-10 miles. The first 2 weeks was killer on my legs, but I improved. This group is where my life started and is now a second family and home for me.

It’s almost my Choan year anniversary and I’m psyched. I have a grand number of friends, always activities to do and I’m extreme sports sort of guy. Not everyone can keep up with me, and those that do, humble me where I stand. I’m not the best, i’m not the worst, I’m happily in the middle, ever climbing up, pushing myself to do more impossible, more dangerous, more fun.

This is where my story starts. The next few weeks were going to be a brain dump of articles to catch up and then I’ll give Adventure Guy updates as time progresses. If possible I’ll Share Video and pictures.

In the coming weeks the stories will be about: Waterfall Rappelling and falling, Cliff diving, burning boats, Rock Climbing, hiking in lightning storms and fires. Also some parties to celebrate life and fellowships.

Today was different. Right after work, I had to head off to do some outdoor rock climbing, my usual Wednesday activity. I had no water, and no time to stop at Harris Teeter. Starbucks sells water. So I take the plunge and grab two of their “Humanitarian” waters. I fork over the WAY overpriced $1.50 per bottle and headed off to the mountains.

Well curiosity hits me, and I read the label:

AWESOME! This water helps CHILDREN get clean water. I assume some despotic third world country where they drink muddy rain run off. On closer inspection…

Slightly larger. As if they’re gloating and calling us stupid to our faces. So for every $1.50 I spend on really average spring water, (Dasani tastes better and is essentially filtered tap water) Starbucks will donate $0.05 to support Humanitarian programs in COFFEE GROWING communities. So…

For Every Bottle of Ethos water you buy, Starbucks will donate 5c to support humanitarian programs in coffee growing communities, providing clean, safe water to those in need.

Essentially those poor underpaid farmers where Starbucks buys their coffee from can get clean water, so they can stay healthy and farm more beans… But what about the children on the front of the bottle? Are they the slave laborers that pick the coffee beans with bloody overworked fingers?

To delve deeper, One dollar and Fifty cents can be divided up into 30, 5 cent chunks. So Starbucks in their “Humanitarian” efforts is giving 1/30th of the purchase to communities within their best interest AND pocketing the other 29/30th profits.

Lets summarize:

• The bottle says “Helping Children get clean water”
• The marketing all screams charity, humanitarian efforts world peace.
• The not so fine print says they pocket the cash and give a measly 5 cents per bottle sold to communities that grow coffee.
• Starbucks is bold and brutally honest while being horribly deceptive in all it’s marketing to this water, and calling it’s customers stupid humanitarian hippies to their faces.

Fair would be 50 cents per bottle sold given to the communities that have crappy water. Better yet, for each bottle they sell here in the US, send a bottle to the communities in need. They’ll still make ass loads of cash and be genuinely charitable, not marketing swine turning a profit on the kind hearts of it’s customers who don’t read the labels.

First and foremost, as any bar, they serve beer. But not any ordinary beer, they only serve craft beers. Never from a bottle, always from a tap. There’s 30 taps in total, all on a rotation aside from their ever evolving house beer.

What sets them apart from the rest now comes to a health conscious menu, and some rather unique offerings. They have possibly the best wings in Charlotte. Cooked over a grill, still moist and juicy with a sauce they imported right from NY, Dinosaur sauce. It’s not hot, just a sweet sauce full of flavor.

The menu doesn’t stop there. They have a high protein pasta salad, great german Brats, a grilled soft pretzel and many more offerings I could not even partake in because I was so full. Everything my small group tried was cooked very well.

Food is served deli window style. You are at the bar chatting away, and decide you’re hungry, but your friends may not be. So you go to the window, order up some food from the lovely lady at the register, pay and bring back your meal. It’s also a fantastic way to mix and mingle for the single folks out there. Instead of being stationed at the bar all night, the design is to get people moving around.

The bar’s “new to Charlotte” feature is the frosty bar. A rail the width of a pint glass runs the length of the bar. This rail is kept frozen which condenses the humidity into a frosty ice. It’s great to make snowballs, draw your name and keep your beer cold as you chat with your friends.

They also serve wine in half bottle sizes. Grab a picture of beer and a half bottle of wine and head on to the patio. The patio is huge, 1600 ore more square feet of umbrella tables, benches and conversational area. The idea is you can grab your beer, wine and disappear for an hour or more on the patio in nice weather.

I wont point out the negatives this round. They are a brand new bar trying many new things to target the health conscious 28+ crowds of Charlotte. Give them a chance, offer some feedback, they’re willing to listen. I admire a business not afraid to go against the grain and try to be different.

What’s new? Reviewing a brand new Restaurant, The Beer Garden, that’s opening soon in the NC Music Factory complex. More on that when it happens.

Member of the founding team to an Entertainment company. We’ll be representing the community, club scenes, modeling and artistic communities.

And well other things. This will be a summer to remember.