to a sushi restaurant. I did not tell my friends that “this was a test, only a test, had it been an actual emergency...” Ok bad pun, but I was testing the “waters” so to speak (no pun intended).

The sushi was the best I'd ever had and helpings twice as big as your usual sushi bar. Amazing.

A friend of my girlfriend's sister is in the real estate business. I viewed beautiful homes in the best

What happened to Charlotte, North Carolina and how did it happen so fast? I don't mean that in a negative way. It was an epiphany for me.

I had visited the city several decades ago and it was a sleepy hamlet. Not that there is anything wrong with a sleepy hamlet, a lot of people prefer to live in that environment. Having grown up in a sleepy hamlet, I wanted anything but to be in one.

And it was not to be. After the plane landed a friend picked us up and drove us to my girlfriend's sister's home where we were to stay for two nights. Looking at the landscape I can remember thinking I was either dreaming or hallucinating. This could not be the Charlotte, N.C. I had seen not more than a few decades ago. It was.

The Charlotte of today is bustling, wired as the Silicone Valley if not more-so, and full of life and things to do.

There were museums, galleries, major banking centers, IBM, and other major corporations have located in the area? Why? I can only take a stab at guessing why all the business but I asked around at it turns out that Charlotte seems to be a part of “The Research Triangle” which is sort of a grown- up incubator for high-tech ideas, products and services. Everywhere one turns there was some sort of software or hardware development firm.

And of course to me, the dead giveaway of a “city on the move” is a Starbuck's on every corner. And yes, Virginia, there is one.

On my last night there, I was to give the “final test”. I lived in many major port cities with ocean near enough for the freshest and best-tasting sushi anywhere. I was invited to a sushi restaurant. I did not tell my friends that “this was a test, only a test, had it been an actual emergency...” Ok bad pun, but I was testing the “waters” so to speak (no pun intended).

The sushi was the best I'd ever had and helpings twice as big as your usual sushi bar. Amazing.

A friend of my girlfriend's sister is in the real estate business. I viewed beautiful homes in the best s

it was not to be. After the plane landed a friend picked us up and drove us to my girlfriend's sister's home where we were to stay for two nights. Looking at the landscape I can remember thinking I was either dreaming or hallucinating. This could not be the Charlotte, N.C. I had seen not more than a few decades ago. It was.

The Charlotte of today is bustling, wired as the Silicone Valley if not more-so, and full of life and things to do.

There were museums, galleries, major banking centers, IBM, and other major corporations have located in the area? Why? I can only take a stab at guessing why all the business but I asked around at it turns out that Charlotte seems to be a part of “The Research Triangle” which is sort of a grown- up incubator for high-tech ideas, products and services. Everywhere one turns there was some sort of software or hardware development firm.

And of course to me, the dead giveaway of a “city on the move” is a Starbuck's on every corner. And yes, Virginia, there is one.

On my last night there, I was to give the “final test”. I lived in many major port cities with ocean near enough for the freshest and best-tasting sushi anywhere. I was invited to a sushi restaurant. I did not tell my friends that “this was a test, only a test, had it been an actual emergency...” Ok bad pun, but I was testing the “waters” so to speak (no pun intended).

The sushi was the best I'd ever had and helpings twice as big as your usual sushi bar. Amazing.

A friend of my girlfriend's sister is in the real estate business. I viewed beautiful homes in the best

more-so, and full of life and things to do.

There were museums, galleries, major banking centers, IBM, and other major corporations have located in the area? Why? I can only take a stab at guessing why all the business but I asked around at it turns out that Charlotte seems to be a part of “The Research Triangle” which is sort of a grown- up incubator for high-tech ideas, products and services. Everywhere one turns there was some sort of software or hardware development firm.

And of course to me, the dead giveaway of a “city on the move” is a Starbuck's on every corner. And yes, Virginia, there is one.

On my last night there, I was to give the “final test”. I lived in many major port cities with ocean near enough for the freshest and best-tasting sushi anywhere. I was invited to a sushi restaurant. I did not tell my friends that “this was a test, only a test, had it been an actual emergency...” Ok bad pun, but I was testing the “waters” so to speak (no pun intended).

The sushi was the best I'd ever had and helpings twice as big as your usual sushi bar. Amazing.

A friend of my girlfriend's sister is in the real estate business. I viewed beautiful homes in the best

Everywhere one turns there was some sort of software or hardware development firm.

And of course to me, the dead giveaway of a “city on the move” is a Starbuck's on every corner. And yes, Virginia, there is one.

On my last night there, I was to give the “final test”. I lived in many major port cities with ocean near enough for the freshest and best-tasting sushi anywhere. I was invited to a sushi restaurant. I did not tell my friends that “this was a test, only a test, had it been an actual emergency...” Ok bad pun, but I was testing the “waters” so to speak (no pun intended).

The sushi was the best I'd ever had and helpings twice as big as your usual sushi bar. Amazing.

A friend of my girlfriend's sister is in the real estate business. I viewed beautiful homes in the best

to a sushi restaurant. I did not tell my friends that “this was a test, only a test, had it been an actual emergency...” Ok bad pun, but I was testing the “waters” so to speak (no pun intended).

The sushi was the best I'd ever had and helpings twice as big as your usual sushi bar. Amazing.

A friend of my girlfriend's sister is in the real estate business. I viewed beautiful homes in the best school districts in the $100,000-200k range. In cities in which I had lived, these beauties would have gone for at least $600k-1 million.

I do not mean to gush about Charlotte, but it is impressive. And I mean impressive. I happen to be an inventor of technological products. I hold a patent on a proprietary medical alert device and located in Durham, the center of the Research Triangle, not far away, is the center of this triangle. They even have an association for members. It is the Council For Economic Development. You can visit their site at http://cednc.org/.

I do not know if Charlotte is my “final destination” or not. But I do know there is just too much happening in my field not to at least try to be a part of it.

Whether you plan to move there or only visit, please take a second look at Charlotte, N.C. You will most definitely be pleasantly surprised.