Our two favorite restaurants in Charleston are mentioned by Dixon. The Lost Dog Cafe on Folly Beach is the best breakfast place in town, and our early morning walks on the beach were followed by coffee and shrimp and grits on countless occasions. Just a few hundred meters from our old house is the Mustard Seed, and we feel it’s without question the very best restaurant in all of Charleston. Dixon writes:

Just next to the Terrace on Maybank, the Mustard Seed is part of a small chain of South Carolina restaurants and is remarkably affordable considering the quality and consistency of its largely local menu. If you’re on a super tight budget, you could eat well from a couple of baskets of its delicious rosemary bread and a caprese salad ($7). There’s a delicious sweet potato ravioli for $10, and most specials, often featuring local fish, seldom exceed $20.

I hope we can get back to the Holy City very soon.

It’s safe to say during these few months of the year, I’m happy to not be living by the sea.

On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again,
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

My wife and I have decided to leave our beloved home in Charleston for the foothills of the Rocky Mountains — Boulder Colorado. It’s with much excitement we embark on this journey, indeed it’s a brand-new chapter in our lives. Reading this, you might be wondering why I’d leave my post as “UI guy” at SPAWAR Systems Center Charleston. I’ve wondered myself. After all, it is a good job and the office is full of good people. But I’m ready for a change. And my wife, Jude, is ready, too.

I was fortunate during my super-short job search — which lasted only 5 days — I didn’t actually have to do all that much. I loaded up Word, updated myself on paper, saved as a PDF, and hit AuthenticJobs.com to see what was out there. When I was writing a short note to a company in Boulder with my resume attached, I hadn’t any idea just a few days later I’d be sitting in a room with a mountain view listening to a man offer me a new job. What’s funnier is it took my wife and I only a day or so to accept the position and to start readying to uproot our lives.

I start as the newest member of the design and development team at Wall Street On Demand in early July.

So we leave for Boulder early next week. We’ll go this way (see map), camping in off-the-beaten-path locations in the mountains and in the plains. We can’t wait.

See you on the other side. For now, we say au revoir — but not goodbye — to Charleston. We will be back.

Visit plantation homes and war monuments, or walk along botanical gardens and beaches. Explore history, tradition, hospitality and so much more in Charleston, S.C.

Our local newspaper was the first to break the news this morning. The South Carolina governor’s office officially confirmed Google is building a $600 million 24-7-365 data processing center on 514 acres of land just minutes outside Charleston in Goose Creek. Construction has started on 152 acres already. No jobs posted yet on Google’s website. The search engine giant is scheduled to make the official announcement on Thursday, the newspaper said.

Full story at The Post & Courier.

Complete coverage: News, photos, videos, results.

© The Post and Courier 3/31/07

Visit Jude Healey Photography today.

Born from her passion for stopping moments in time and capturing them on film, Jude’s new business specializes in wedding photography in and around Charleston, as well as traveling to destination weddings around the world. Her services also include engagement shoots, and family and individual portraits.

C’mon, put your party hat on, and join in the fun. Check out www.judehealeyphotography.com today.

If you’ve got weekend plans in the northeast, don’t forget your slicker. Meanwhile, here at home, Charleston had some water to deal with yesterday. CNN/WCSC reports in this video.

Andrea sent me her photos, I’m passing them along. We’ll have some to contribute when they are ready, too, at judeandmark.com.

In the NHC’s daily 5pm advisory, the office announced Tropical Depression Four has officially formed off the west coast of Africa.

AT 500 PM AST... 2100Z... THE CENTER OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION FOUR WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 12.5 NORTH... LONGITUDE 21.5 WEST OR ABOUT 250 MILES... 405 KM... SOUTHEAST OF THE SOUTHERNMOST CAPE VERDE ISLANDS.National Hurricane Center

Track it: Sat, chart, XML.

For those of you a little more interested than others, check out National Geographic’s Forces of Nature—what Flash is supposed to be used for, and a helluva lot of fun.

New York. 1883. The Brooklyn Bridge opened and immediately hailed as The Eighth Wonder of the World.

So, what makes something wonderful? Is it in the eye of the beholder, or the creator, or is it just so? The ice cream cone was invented on this day in 1904. To me, that’s pretty wonderful. My wife’s laughing at me. “C’mon though, that’s just an ice cream cone”, she says. I’m fairly sure that had Charles E. Menches never thought of it, someone would have. But what for the things in this world that everyone sees as wonderful?

Wikipedia has a great write-up on The Seven Wonders of the World. The ancient, modern, technological, underwater, and natural wonders are all covered. Of the items that made the lists, which have you seen? And do you think they’re worthy? Cast your vote to weigh in.

My wife and I have been very lucky to have been able to visit some of the places on the handful of Seven Wonders lists, and I gotta tell you, they’re really something. We’ve stood alongside the edge of the Zambezi River as its waters roared over Victoria Falls (and even chanced our lives rafting the most dangerous rapids in the world). Not a rain cloud in sight, but a slicker very much required. We’ve raced through the English Channel Chunnel on the Eurostar a few times—London, Paris; Paris, London. I’ve climbed to the top of the Empire State Building for a great view of the second greatest city in the world (sorry NYers, I was born in Boston). We’ll cross the Golden Gate Bridge this year November, and aim to knock a few more off the list before we call it quits.

But I can’t help think of the places we’ve traveled to which aren’t on any wonders lists, and maybe should be. I’ve stood inside the Sistine Chapel and stared at the ceiling so long my neck hurt. I’ve hopped out on a few rocks at the southern-most tip of the African continent soaking my feet in the water where the Indian meets the Atlantic. I’ve seen a bull fight in Madrid, drank warm whisky in freezing Scotland, covered my eyes in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, spent a day at Ikea in Quebec, walked The Louvre end-to-end, drove across the highest paved road in Colorado’s Rockies, and seen the world’s largest clock face in Zurich. I’m very fortunate to say the list goes on. But of these few, I certainly consider them wonders in their own right. And my list is growing longer everyday. Should some of these be “wonders”? Maybe just for the two of us. Maybe for others as well. I was thrilled to see the New 7 Wonders organization holding an open vote on the topic. Now our wonders have the chance to become wonders for others.

I wonder if Washington Roebling thought his Brooklyn Bridge—”the 8th wonder of the world”—would be outdone by this long list of other bridges? Because they’re pretty wonderful—especially the Millau Viaduct in France.

This is the 204th day of 2006, and there are 161 days left in the year. What else happened today?

So, take a few minutes and poke around. You’ll find articles written often daily, photography, details about my freelance work, and a list of some pretty amazing things. I hope you enjoy your stay, come back often, and feel free to comment on any articles.