Yo, man...a snowman!

It snowed today here! For a few hours, and it even stuck a little bit, depending on where you were in the city. They shut down schools and closed bridges. Then in a few hours it was mostly gone. I passed by this house out in St. Bernard Parish and could not believe my eyes....there was enough snow to make a snowman, here in southern Louisiana. Well, what do you know.

Tomorrow night is the Christmas party at work. It's at a place in the Quarter with a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street - with all kinds of amazing food and beads are supplied by the company for the onlookers below. Supposed to be a blast.

One of my favorite places in the world...

. ...is the Olympic National Park in Washington State. Now, there's a little town there that is kind of in the middle of where you want to go in the Western part of the Park and I've stayed there the 3 times I've been. It's close to the beaches, the Hoh river valley, and the most spectacular place of all - the Hoh rainforest. The town is Forks, WA. And a movie just came out that was made there. You might have heard of it...."Twilight"? Maybe? In passing, perhaps? Well - I had to go see it and the theatre was packed with high school girls with potty mouths while the screen was filled with dreamy vampires. The girls were giggling then yelling "Shut the fuck up!" when someone got too loud which elicited more giggles. I never drove by the high school or ate at the particular local cafe the hearthrobs frequented (if it was indeed filmed at the Forks high school). The only information I had on the local kids, this was back in 2001-2002, was how bad the meth problem was. Funny they didn't touch on that subject at all, even after learning the main vampire never sleeps and is, like, super strong. No "Are you sure you haven't been dipping into Jarred's candy bowl or something? I can stay up for days..." or anything. They must have a handle on it now.


Thanksgiving was a nice day. I went to a local catholic church that had combined services with a congregation from the 9th ward. There was way more singing and dancing this time - I had been once before, both times with a woman from Honduras who lives on my block. I could have sworn she was from the Islands by the way she spoke. They had an unbelievable spread provide by a local synogugue, so it was a very multi-spiritual vibe.

Monday Night Saints

I realize I've posted quite a few shots of the Superdome, but it is such an imposing structure. I see it every day going to and from work and that coupled with the footage from Katrina has it woven into my subconscious. Went to my first Saints game last night for Monday night ball. A friend from work and I decided to go the day before so we bought the tickets that she would spring for (for which she would spring?). I was willing to go all out since it's something I do so rarely...plus I have no real concept of what money is but anyway the seats were in the rough, loud crowd way up in the tip top and man those stairs were STEEP! Seriously, it was so unsafe, the floor was super-slick, how many people have killed themselves in there I wonder? Due to falling, I mean, not as a result of gross negligence by the feds. But - it worked out because we decided to leave after the first quarter (it was that loud...) and on our way down we ran into some neighbors of hers who let us come hang out in their suite. Much much much better.

Gandy Dancing

http://www.folkstreams.net/film,101 Just found this poking around on the internet - it's a 30minute film on the african american workers that used to lay train tracks by hand.

I went to my first community meeting here and was surprised at how civil the population was, considering what is still lacking 3 years later, how much trust they still have that things will get fixed, get done.

Been awhile -

Well, it's been a little while but I'm back albeit briefly before retiring. Found a bunch of neat mugshots from New Orleans in early 20th century off of their library website - an online exhibit if you will. Speaking of exhibits, there's a huge city-wide art exhibit (s) called Prospect 1 that's showing around town, a bi-annual show. It's here until Jan 18th, haven't gone to see any works yet but I will. I keep meaning to go the last few weekends but I haven't been able to get out of the house much...this last weekend it was my back that kept me in bed and the weekend before it was simply the thought of everything that I had to do at work that kept me from getting anything done. I know that doesn't make sense if it's never happened to you - not being able to do anything because there's too much to do that you're so overwhelmed. Putting it off doesn't make it easier, of course, if anything that makes things harder but sometimes it happens that way.
Had to go get a shot for a migrane this past week, I had one for close to 20 hours straight before going to get the shot since I was unable to shoo the pain away with multiple pain pills. Those are coming way more frequently than I've ever had them before - I'm sure it's stress, or rather how I REACT to stress, that's causing them. I'm working on it - reading books, stretching, need to start exercising regularly again, dang it.
Oh - I applied to work in the Obama/Biden administration! Go to Change.gov and you can submit an application - you fill out a short form, then a day or so later you get another link to a longer form. I would still like to work on the reconstruction of this area -maybe in a national position, but, no expectations really. Did it as more of a lark but one never knows.....I am quite happy to continue the work I'm doing as long as I don't let it get to me so much.
The Asshole Monologues are playing - local columnist Chris Rose is in it, quite funny and it delivers what you'd expect if you know anything about the Vagina 'logues (hated that show, though). Spoke to him about his recent girl troubles, poor guy, he deserves better, as did I.
Hey, that rhymes!

YES - WE DID!

YAY FOR US AND YAY FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

it's sooooooooooo nice out

What a view, huh? This comes courtesy of the 41st floor from one of the architecture firms I'm working with. You wouldn't see no enginEERing firm have this kind of a view.

Man oh man, the last week and a half has been amazing. It's actually been CHILLY at night while sleeping and in the morning the last few days. Everyone here tells me October is the best month here for weather, with April a close 2nd. Keep that in mind, people, if you're thinking about a visit. One of my roommates did as he's had people here the last 2 weekends to go see the rodeo at Angola prison. I'm going the last Sunday in October, maybe take me a longer trip to see other parts in that area as well. It's only a few hours away, like most places in this state, which is so different than the massive area I had for exploration out west. This way, though, you get to spend more time in each place.

Even though I've worked more since I've been here than at any other job in years, I've done some interesting stuff as well. The first weekend of October a group from work volunteered to help scrape and prime a house for Rebuilding Together, the non-profit I was helping out when I first got to town. We were working alongside the Secular Humanists, so therefore I learned what a secular humanist is. I went to a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking, although I only made it for the last hour. We had crab and corn bisque (amazing), shrimp creole (not so hot), bananas foster (our volunteer didn't do such a good job with this one...) and pralines (yummy). Then since we were already in the quarter we went out for a bit, ended up in bars with decent cover bands playing crappy music so I made my way home after only a short time. I broke off of the group to catch the last 30 minutes of the last debate, and then promptly learned how at least 2 of the group I was with are Republican supporters (red state, my friends) which put me in a foul mood for some reason, so even if I was at an Adam Ant show or something I would have been scowling. (note - Adam Ant = dreamboat)

I've been up early and walking the dogs are the river or biking in the park on the weekends. I need to get into work today so it's time to sign off. I'm getting tired once it gets dark, which is around 6 pm right now since I'm such a grand-ma now. Gotta run.

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!

Saints are playing the Vikings at the Superdome right now...as I type. 7-0 Saints. I park in the Superdome lot everyday at work but when there's a game they don't let us park there unless you pay a huge fee. In the Superdome lot the tailgating that was going on around 6 pm after work was UNbelievable. However, I heard from more than one person that the lot was 1/2 full this morning...at 8:00!!!!!! Wow-ee. Tailgating here is a sport in itself. uh oh. 7-7 now.

What really struck me today since I took a route walking to work that I don't normally take, is just how much real estate downtown is sitting vacant. An entire shopping mall is abandoned minus the temporary (3 years later...) hospital they've got on the first floor - and then a HUGE Hyatt is also abandoned, it's right next door to my office building. It's as big as a casino Nevada, for chrissakes. Who owns all that real estate...and what are they going to do with it? I mean, you see abandoned properties all over town, but these are almost entire blocks in the heart of downtown. What's up with that?

I did some volunteer work with Rebuilding Together on Saturday with some people at work - scraping and priming a house in Central City. That is some tough work, man, but it was a gorgeous day out and kind of fun. uh oh again...14-7 Minnesota with a great play, I must say.

It actually does get cooler around here!

- and boy, does it feel nice. Football weather. It's actually CHILLY in the morning...well, a few times so far, and by that I mean in the high 60's I think. Maybe low 70's. I've been to a Saints party/cookout one of my old neighbors had - one of his friends is such a huge fan, he's going to London to see them play in October. I saw an interview of Reggie Bush's recently in a magazine online and he talked about volunteering here in the city to help rebuild houses - I worked with the organization he was with and I know for a fact that he and the entire team worked for 1/2 a day only. The article said he worked for a week. I was so preturbed by that I wrote the damn sports editor - like it's not enough to make millions a year, you also have to lie about all the good 'work' you do in your adopted hometown. Uggh. He's not very well liked here, I'll tell you that. He hasn't lived up to his hype and Saints fans (who are quite rabid...) are pissed.
We took a field trip at work to go see the Global Green house in the Holy Cross neighborhood - a LEED platinum structure that had all sorts of neat stuff in there. No batteries for storage of the solar energy, though, and when the power's down there is no power even from solar. You can't put power back into the lines where linemen might be working for safety's sake - so a generator is still needed for power backup.

Down Grand Isle way

Took me a trip down Grand Isle way to see the area where Gustav landed. The area did not look as bad as I expected it to look, but I'm not sure my devastation meter is normal anymore. It has been a few weeks so a lot of the downed trees, signs, etc have been put into piles, hence the debris is orderly which makes it look less menacing. I didn't get the entire way down to Grand Isle, there was a sherrif's checkpoint and they were only letting people who lived there get past a certain point. Lots of utility work still going on. The cel site shelters are put waaaaaaaaay up in the air, with generators, so they are prepared for some power outages. Chevron has their own heliport which had a lot of traffic coming in and out, even in inclement weather, which I hit off and on during the drive.

The utility workers have super-cool air boats with lift buckets and drills on them that they use to re-set the poles that are in the water. How neat is that? I've been on an air boat tour once since being here and it is such a fun thing to do...I want one! The noise they make is unbelievable though...you hear one of them start up and you swear you just heard Crockette and Tubbs go by.

Thank goodness...

One of leftovers from Mr. Gustav - haven't seen much damage from Ike. Lots and lots to do at work - trying to fast track projects as a result of this emergency declaration. I have my first project under construction...it's a roof repair so not a big project or anything but at least it's something. Went out to a great bar close to where I live, St. Joe, a bar all decked out in a church costume with some opium parlor thrown in. Neat-o.

Made it back....only to leave again??

Got in safe and sound last night, saw Lily from a couple houses down and one roommate was home, the Americorps Red Cross volunteer. She's been running shelters for the last week, and she's not about to shut any of them down it seems. She's had only a few hours of sleep each night having to attend to everyone, so she was lucky to have had an entire night here. Poor thing has been sleeping on a 2" bed roll for months so I hooked her up with my double layer queen size air mattress. Drove to the store this morning to replenish my fridge contents which had to be thrown out - but I only got a very few things in small sizes since Mr. Ike don't look all that friendly.

Lots of tree damage, piles of limbs, etc. on the sides of roads but I haven't seen any large damage, even to homes under construction, as of yet. My next door neighbor has a HUGE tree in his backyard that provides lustrious shad in my yard, if anything happened to that one it would surely take out one or both houses. There's an elec plant a block or so by my house and I could have sworn they put up all these new large steel poles but a neighbor said Nope, they've been there since Katrina. They're really odd and I can't believe I didn't notice them before - most of the lines aren't even hooked up so it seems that effort was aborted at some point. Now I sure noticed the cel site in the yard, for obvious reasons. Quite a few businesses aren't open yet, even a the neon sign says they are (see pic), maybe about 50% but today IS Sunday.

I have a feeling not many people will evacuate again if another one comes calling, I've heard a lot of people say they wish they hadn't. However, if you have a place to stay that will let you bring your pets i.e. don't have to pay for a hotel, I don't know WHY you wouldn't. No power in the SUMMER, no water, no stores open...I mean what the hell? People that don't live here may not understand that if you leave windows open for the breeze and you don't have screens (which a surprising amount do not, including this house) you WILL be eaten up by skeeters. I mean eat-ten up.

So Monday it's back to work full throttle for at least a week.

On my way home

Yay! Got power and water at home! Didn't have any yesterday after first roommate came back, but at 11:30 pm we got it so I'm about to leave Atlanta to get back. Funny thing is, did you see Mr. Ike out there coming this way? I was treated so well with so much hospitality here, but I'm sure I would be pushing my luck if I came for another week so, look out, I might be coming your way (Matt in San Antonio - how 'bout it?). I lived here for years, but since I wasn't in the best mood or felt all that great I mostly either worked or stayed at Lisa's cozy house (above) with her great dog, Zeke, that PK loved to try to coerce into playing. We did have some great Thai food last night and I met April's roommate and boyfriend whom I hadn't met before. I had some Chicken Masaman which was a dish I used to get in a Thai place in Virginia-Highland when I lived there. Lovely creamy sauce with cashews and avacado, yum. Then I went to the Dekalb farmers market this morning to load up on spices which are the cheapest there I've ever seen. What a massive, amazing place. Then - back on the road, and next week...on va voir...

Weekend return

There is a local office of my company about 30 miles from where I'm staying, so I've been in that office the last 2 days and most likely will be tomorrow as well even though the New Orleans office opened this afternoon. My ex-neighbors Blake and Mr. Shaw drove by my house and it looks like my block has power although they're not 100% sure since no one was around...but that's good enough to get me on the road home this weekend. Apparantly I have not been myself say my friends, which is totally understandable to me but seemed to be a question to them. I basically have to start over with all my projects at work, I had no idea how my newly adopted city would survive and no information on the status of my house and everything in it. I think that is reason enough to be a bit melancholy, even after the imminent danger had passed.

I've been glued to CNN since being here which I usually never watch, I get my news on the radio, but I can't turn away in the last 2 weeks with both conventions and the hurricane. I was guffawing and speechless, one after the other, during Palin's speech. The macabre chanting of the republicans ('drill baby drill!') last night was spooky as hell, nightmarish. All those overweight older pasty-skinned morons with stupid hats on. Ugggh. They'll drum up some more support for Obama after that, for sure.

So I will most likely hit the road on Saturday, back to the Big Easy, and another round of figuring out what was damaged by the storm. I could make a career out of this....

Damn Gustave!

I think I've told most everyone that I got out, I left on Friday night to MS, then had to come back Saturday early to LA although not all the way to New Orleans. Then I took some backroads in LA/MS until I got through the bad traffic and headed up to Georgia to stay with friends in a great large ranch house on 300 + acres. That was not what I expected to evacuate to, it just happened to be where the gals were on this holiday weekend. I've got all sorts of pics I'll put up once I get them downloaded, I don't think I brought the cord with me which was a mistake since I packed for a few weeks, truthfully. Including a bunch of work stuff that I should be reading, but I can't quite pull myself away from CNN which has better coverage than the weather channel, surprisingly enough. I heard about this documentary about Katrina on Friday on NPR, it sounds amazing and it's probably coming to a city near you. It contains a lot of personal footage from someone who had the camera rolling the entire time her house got flooded, even when she had to move to the attic.
http://troublethewaterfilm.com/

Wha'?

I was a few blocks away from home driving when I saw this truck, eerily familiar to the one I owned for years, dripping large pieces of burning goop underneath the front end. I turned around, stopped, and ran towards the store right in front of it because at that time there wasn't very much smoke at all and I thought they might not have seen it. By the time I got on the sidewalk the owner of the truck was heading towards the drivers side door and we had to yell at him not to try to get in the truck. Then it was quickly engulfed in flames and everyone went across the street. Totally weird. I would have been freaking out but he just stood there on his cell phone.

'Bout head height

Wow-ee. Things are so super busy at work I can hardly even breathe there. There's no way to get caught up. No way. This is the kind of busy that makes you unable to do anything except walk around with your head reeling, searching for the starting line. I'm going into work tomorrow since I went home with a migrane Thursday afternoon which made me even further behind. There were 2 meetings that morning that I had to attend and I just barely made it through, squinting and in a foul humor. This must be similiar to how it was for people when they came back into this city after the great engineering failure and saw what their life had become - how...where to even start? I'm not equating the 2 experiences, just saying I might know a little bit of what was going through some heads right around then.

I decided to drop my price considerably for the spare room and advertise for 2 roommates, particularly for Americorps volunteers who are coming into town for the year. They pull in a cool 800 a month before taxes (!) so I would need two of those suckers to get any kind of help with the rent. So - I've got TWO roommates now which kind of blows in a way since I'm a serious loner but it will also drag me into the land of the living so it ain't all bad I suppose.

How about those 2 disqualifications in the 200 m races? That was close to the only Olympics I've watched and it was unbelievable. All that training, all that sweat, all those years, and then to step over the line, more than once?? Just blows me away. I decided to get cable (or a dish, actually) after all. I've been without a TV since May and if you saw me before that you wouldn't have believed it since that's about all I did. Now I've had it since Sunday and I've watched about an hour total. Without TV I don't miss it at all but if it's here, I will most likely watch the hell out of it. I've surprised myself so far in not being pulled that way, let's hope it lasts.

That photo above is at one of my sites. See the water line? Look up...up...there, right under the fans. See it? It's about at head height. Well, the height of my head I guess. That is the settling line, that's not the highest the water was, that's where it settled and stayed for weeks and weeks. I heard that sharks were found on the lawns here, this area is directly south of Lake Ponchartrain and water stayed in this area for some of the longest time in the city. Thing is this structure was about 95% complete when the failure happened, but anything that wasn't submerged (like ceiling fans) is still likely completely shot because of the heat and humidity it endured hovering over stagnant toxic water in an enclosed area for weeks. So the entire structure is a goner, most likely. It's a CMU wall structure, but if they're reinforced the steel was most likely inundated and compromised. We have to look into the walls to really figure it out, break some of the blocks open.

It's only 9:30 but I'm ready for bed. Goodnight.

Take it back, please

My 'PODS' got delivered yesterday, and boy is it mostly extemporaneous stuff. I have lived just fine here since early May here with 3 suitcases full of stuff and my 2 dogs, which was what I could fit in my car when I drove here. I've bought some stuff since being here, mostly from thrift stores, so with that additional stuff I have more than enough. Now I have so much more, which is even less than I had in California...I got rid of a large amount of things before moving, including almost all my furniture. I swear I just want to put everything back in the container and have someone come pick it up and take it all for a donation somewhere. Except for my printer, photos, and shoes. Those I missed.

I still haven't found a roommate, I decided to get a place larger than I needed but that had all the bells and whistles because I was certain I could find a roommate easily. Well, it hasn't been easy, and that kind of sucks as it's more expensive here in some ways than I anticipated. Like car insurance. It's almost the same amount as my lease payment on a 2008 car. Crazy, right? Seriously crazy. It's time to take a good hard look at my finances, something that I haaaaaaaaate doing.

In the meantime things are moving very quickly at work, I'm having to take work home to keep up and I felt pretty overwhelmed one day last week. I had one of those days that you just have to get through so you can be happy about getting through it. Someone said to me once that they like to say in the morning, "What do I GET to do today?", not "what do I have to do today.." and that really does make a difference, if I could remember it more.

I took a long bike ride yesterday morning and found a park by the river that I wasn't aware of, I put up a couple of pics from there including one of a couple of tug boats pushing what looks like part of an oil derrick. This park was upstream from the barge accident, so no oil to speak of that I could see, or smell. Some people at work said they could smell the oil/gassy fumes after the spill for days, I couldn't but a lot of smells here are pretty new to me.

There are so many graveyards around town, there are 3 within a quarter mile of where I'm living, 2 of which are right next to each other. You can see one of them is adjacent to a school, check out the school buses and the field lights.

Next Presidential Library

The George W Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages.

The Library will include:

The Hurricane Katrina Room , which will always be under construction.

The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won't be able to remember anything.

The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you won't even have to show up.

The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they won't let you in.

The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they won't let you out.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one will be able to find.

The National Debt room which will be huge and have no ceiling.

The "Tax Cut" Room with entry only to the wealthy.

The "Economy Room" which will be in the toilet.

The Iraq War Room. After you complete your first tour, you will have to go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth tour.

The Dick Cheney Room, in an undisclosed location, complete with shotgun gallery.

The Environmental Conservation Room, which will remain empty.

The Supremes Gift Shop, where you'll be able to buy an election.

The Airport Men's Room, where you will meet some of your favorite Republican Senators.

The 'Decider Room' complete with dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija board, dice, coins, and straws.

The museum will have an electron microscope to help you locate the President's accomplishments.

Admission: Republicans: free; Democrats: $1000 or 3 Euros

(the above from my uber-democrat uncle outside of D.C)

A few more good ones:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/bush_tours_america_to_survey

Keep an eye on the news tape at the bottom of the screen too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieK1PTXmopE&feature=user

Can you see this?

I'm trying this for the first time, uploading a little video I shot at Blake's birthday party the other week. I also need to figure out how to embed a video short or similar so all you'll have to do is click on the symbol and not have to actually open up another webpage.

In the meantime another tropical storm just passed us by on the way to Texas, that's 2x they came awwwwwfully close in the last 2 months and those odds aren't the best. I still haven't gotten my hurricane kit together, basically I'm thinking I'll have to pack my car up with all sorts of stuff to be truly hurricane prepared. I'm always near my car and I won't leave anywhere without the 2 dogs so my car should really be a mobile hurricane kit until the season ends, I suppose.

This 'pattypan' squash sure is neat-lookin', but it's nothing special to eat. I cooked it up this eve. in kind of a casserole with ground beef, onions and fresh creole tomatoes (I know I know...I am not any kind of a cook) and it was all very blah, I must say. It will still be my lunch for the next few days, though, regardless.

Forgotten, but not gone

We still have the tanker here folks, or the barge, or what's left of it. I only saw about 6 people out there looking at it when I went out today. I finally went poking around on both sides of the river to find it, I wasn't sure where to go to get the best view. I'm talking about the oil spill here on the river, for future posterity, due to an unlicensed skipper's run-in with a tanker. First I went on the west bank (which is south of the city) since I really like that view of the bridges but I realized when I got there that I should have stayed on the city side of the river to see it better. There is still welding going on, they're welding plates onto the barge so they can hoist what's left of it easier. I could not see any oil in the water but I wasn't all that close. You can still see the drag nets they've got in the water to try and help stop the oil travelling to the banks of the river. I saw some photos online somewhere showing air cannons they've got set up along the river to scare off the birds so they don't land and get coated in oil. That's a smart idea, huh? I went for a drink with an architect from work last week and he said some guys there that night he heard talking were workers who had come in to do that barge work, specialists of some sort. It has been raining pretty much every day, at least some, and most days way more than some. I wonder what that's doing for the spill....making it better or worse?

Let's back this thing up a little

A couple things of interest have happened in the last few weeks. First, there was a Running of the Bulls (of sorts) here in town. It's where the Women's roller derby members dress up as bulls and skate after runners with wiffle ball bats. I didn't hear about this until after it happened, darn it, but here's a link with the info and pics on there. It started last year and looks to be a pretty big event already. http://nolabulls.com/

Then there was the Tales of the Cocktail event here in town which was the reason my friend Gus was here. http://www.talesofthecocktail.com/2008/index.php I finally made it to the Vieux Carre (French Quarter) at night, most of the events started at the Hotel Monteleone and we met at the Carousel Bar in said hotel. The Museum of the Cocktail is now open in town so check it out.

As part of that event I went on a Cocktail Tour of New Orleans which was pretty interesting, although not very efficient. Once we got to each bar there was only one bartender for about 40 people so she had to make our drinks AND our change since the drinks weren't included(!). I liked the Bayou Bash at the Court of Two Sisters; it might sound icky, but it was pretty good; Southern Comfort, a mixture of fresh juices with a pink/purplish hue, topped off with red wine. It was like a wacky-sangria but very drinkable. The tour guide took us to one bar that serves many different kinds of Absinthe, including the French kind that is illegal in most areas. The bar was too small to accommodate us, and I can't really stand the taste of black licorice, but it was interesting to find that out. That evening is when I went to Blake's birthday party that was held at Ernie K-Doe's who was a local RnB legend until he died in 2001. Here's an ad for Boots makeup in England that uses one of his songs, "Here comes the girls". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgduIknGejU His widow still runs his 'Mother-in-Law' lounge, complete with his likeness that greets you in the first room. I brought Mr. Shaw to the party and he had a blast; he's the older gentleman with 3 dogs who lived across the street from where I was staying the first two months I was here.

Dealing with Dial-up

I decided I really like this photo - so I wanted you to see it larger.

I'm in my new place...first night spent here was Saturday night. I just got my DSL/wireless equipment but I'm too lazy right now to install it so I'm still on dial-up. I had to call Earthlink help to reconfigure my computer; it had been so long since I've depended on a little copper wire. It was a nice weekend, saw Gus a few times, went to Ernie K-Doe's for a New Orleans Experience Saturday night with a brass band et al., and saw the AWEsome photo to the right on the wall there. More later...have to do about an hour's worth of work before I go to sleep if I'm going to have any chance of catching up on what I need to in short order.

Pan-tee Gravy

My first site walk was today at my new job. I forgot to mention that I was told towards the end of my first day last week that I would not actually be working on the public works side of things, but on the vertical reconstruction. That is truly where I wanted to be and that's where they have the biggest need right now, so there I is. I inherited parks and recreation sites, which are really under the gun (along with everything else I suppose...) to get up and running again or repaired if they're still limping along. We walked a public golf course which was back running in a few months after being under 4 feet of water for 10 days. They still have to water the greens with fire hoses out of the lagoon. Man - the dedication I've seen so far just makes your eyes water. It truly does. The national guard used the clubhouse as a staging area after the storm and the golf super told me lots of stories about being stuck here with MREs and a hot tub full of water they used for drinking until it was almost gone. People truly want to talk here. They want to tell you stories...they want you to listen. I'm taking it all in.

Oh - PLUS I saw my very own Nutria today! They are a LARGE water rodent that was imported from South America for their fur and they have taken over the place, mostly in swampy areas. Actually, quite a few of them were hanging out on the golf course but they moved too fast to get a photo. The bounty on them is up to 5 bucks a pop from the state.

I got home close to 7:30 so no energy to finish moving today, most likely it will be this weekend. I KNEW I shouldn't have gone on that tubing trip - damn thing kept me in the house all day Sunday so as not to expose any of my skin to the blistering sun. I had to be in the heat this afternoon though, boy, and will again tomorrow when I'm at another golf course site visit.

Phew. Damn it's hot.

I had my first experience with panty gravy today...you can probably guess what that is...when you're sweating so much your underwear starts dripping? Said phrase is courtesy of my friend William...one of the funniest things I've heard. Quote him, my friends, but give credit where it's due!

Maple Leaf afro-pop

This was a full weekend...started it off Friday night at the Maple Leaf going to see an African musician/dancer that's relocating here. Can't remember his name right now, he's from the Ivory Coast. I ended up chatting with a young guy who is a couple of years out of the Peace Corps/Mozambique.; I didn't realize they spoke Portugese in Mozambique. Then one of the djembe players asked me for a cig after sound check and I asked him if he was from the Ivory Coast and he says, No, Congo. Well I say Congo-Brazzaville or Congo-Kinshasha? and he says Congo-Brazzaville! Can you freakin' believe it? Well, maybe you can but he was properly surprised when I told him I'd lived in his country for almost a year. They played a rockin' set but my lightweight self had to go home after a few beers. That does not bode well for Gus' visit this weekend....

Then it was on to Mississippi for tubing on Saturday. Yes, you heard me. Toooobing in Mississippi; Ake would be proud. I am fried to a crisp after spending way too long in the middle of the day on a highly reflective surface. Serves me right.

They don't jest

So when I saw on my first weeks' schedule that there was a 'Happy Hour' at work today I thought, surely, they jest.

Well, no. They don't. And don't call them Shirley.

Is this cute or what?

Wow. That about sums up my first day at work here. It was great, really great, and I don't know that I've ever thought that about work. You know...work? The stuff they have to pay you to do?

First I see this greeting upon entering the office, which is so super sweet. Then I get taken around by the hand to meet just about everyone, including my 'buddy' that gets assigned to me to help me with anything I need and to take me to lunch later this week. I already have a computer AND a password, fer chrissakes! Then I get to sit in on a brown bag lunch presentation being given by two employees from New Zealand in the water and wastewater division. It was a fascinating study of what they are doing there to help guard their water supply. Jurisdictions are requiring new homes to be built with roof rainwater runoff catchment basins for use in gardening, toilets, etc. One of the smartest things I've heard of and something I personally have experience in doing, although it was a very 'shade tree' type install. The indigenous people of the islands, the Maori, have a huge say in any project undertaken and the designers have had to alter many designs of treatment plants in order to conform to their spiritual beliefs. For instance the Maori are very against any wastewater being deposited into the open water no matter how much it's treated. This was resolved by using a biological filtration system, meaning it is filtered by organic means which they accepted, and at the discharge point they placed boulders to signify the return of the water to the earth. Can you freakin' believe this? Would any of this even have been considered much less installed here in the states?

Like I said.

Wow.

oh yeah...and I'm going on on a river tubing trip on Saturday put together by my 'buddy', the resident "Lousiana FUN coordinator".

Unreal.

See you on the front porch

Put my deposit down today for a converted shotgun, double to single meaning two side-by-side houses turned into one, in the Uptown neighborhood. It's a few blocks north of St. Charles, closer to my new office than where I am now. Here's photos of the all-important front porch as well as the back deck leading out to the fenced back yard...the dogs will be so happy!

Tomorrrow's my first day of work here, I'm surprisingly nervous but confident as well. I'm more excited right now about the new place. Ill be so happy to get out of the dark basement-type place where I am now where the electrical gremlins live. I will miss a couple of neighbors, Mr. Shaw aka 'Columbo' and Blake, but I'll be back to visit for sure.

The Essence of fireworks

Believe it or not I went out downtown for the first time since I've been here last night...I took the St. Charles Streetcar to Canal and walked to a concert at the Riverwalk area to see the fireworks. The streetcar was totally full after only the 2nd stop on St. Charles so the rest of the route the driver would just go on by the people waiting or stop, open the door, then close it and start driving when they started walking towards the car. Ok ok...he only did that once to some pretty drunk frat-lookin' dudes, but it was too funny. The first stop after I got on had a black girl squeezed in some tight shorts leading her collared, leashed S&M 'slave' behind her which was a white boy whose eyes wouldn't leave the ground. Then the next stop had a family with a cute little girl who looked like Little Miss Sunshine, playing with a balloon heart and I thought...wow...what a difference a streetcar stop makes.

Once I got downtown it was packed, no traffic moving, exactly like the Vegas strip. The Essence festival was going on at the Superdome which is on the northern end of downtown so all those visitors were in the mix as well. Lots going on and the first time, really, I've seen it here.

Haiku to you too

I found the neatest 'Haiku board' during a bike ride this morning near Audubon Park. Someone put up a couple of boards and pens for people to leave their marks while strolling by. I stopped to take a picture but couldn't help to write one of my own. I was thinking while counting my syllables on my fingers how many times the owners of the house saw people do that...count on their fingers while trying to think of something funny or poignant. Mine wasn't either of those, but it was fun to do! 5 - 7 - 5 syllables.

I stopped while biking
contributed something here
and then rode away

People had already staked out their July 4th picnic spots in the park. The large Live Oak tree branch photo is from the park nearest to where I am staying, Palmer Park, where I walk the dogs every morning before most other people are out. I don't know what is up with the youngest dog, Oso, but he is insatiably curious and any time he hears someone talking or sees someone he strains hard against the leash to go check it out. Bringing him to a festival or gathering is soooo out of the question, he wouldn't walk with me for 2 feet at a time.

The local Jazz and Heritage radio station WWOZ http://www.wwoz.org/ is playing Louis Armstrong this morning, just heard a dj say it was Louis' birthday. That's what they celebrate on July 4th here... priorities you know!

Shotgun City

Looking for a place is exciting, but frustrating at the same time. My experience with landlords so far has been, well, lets say colorful. I LOVE the shotgun houses here. They're called shotgun because either 1) they're long and skinny like the barrel of a shotgun or 2) you could open the front door and shoot a gun right through the house to the back door. However the way they're set up is not conducive to living with a roommate, and most in the parts of town that I want to live in are too expensive to live in alone. This one in the pic above is one I fell in love with, but can't afford. Basically if more than 1 person lived there one would have to walk through the other ones' bedroom to get to the kitchen and the bathroom. Bummer. I have an appointment at another place in an hour or so and if that one doesn't work out it's back on Craigslist for me. There are a TON of places available, it seems, if you can get the landlord to call you back. Rent prices have stabilized I hear, after going up markedly after the storm. They are still way lower than I've seen in all my years in Northern or Southern California, for sure. Wish me luck.

The big Four-Oh

Yep, today's the day! I've actually been telling people for about a year that I'm 40 if asked so it's almost like I already was, not sure why I did that, I just did. Nothing special planned for the day...I got up early this morning and took a bike ride before the heat and humidity could put me back in my place. Went through Audubon Park, a lovely large park towards the south of the city, near Tulane and Loyola. There are a bunch of herons and egrets that congregate there, particularly in a group of trees over the water. I've put up some pics of the park but you can't see the birds in the trees very well in the shots from far away but trust me, there are lots of 'em. They're not loud, like the same amount of ducks or smaller birds would be, their chatter is quite subdued.

Now it's time to find a temporary permanent home...off to look at apartments.

Long-time-no-see

It was a nice to see Dave, Henrik, and Legume. I learned an awful lot about how to live from Erika Meng, Henrik's sister who passed away.

Things I learned from Erika Meng without having met her:

I have not traveled nearly as much as I thought I had.
It’s important to really taste, to enjoy, your food when you eat.
Food tastes better if you’ve made it yourself and you eat it with friends.
Shoes are God’s gift to women. (ok…I already knew this one)
It really IS possible to get up before the sun to exercise.
Always stay in touch with friends, no matter how long it’s been.
To get back on the bike and ride.
To find those that make you feel your best and don’t let them go.
Treat people well and they’ll tell funny stories about you.
and, finally….
To look at each day with a renewed sense of wonder, as some amazing souls don’t have that option .

Henrik did an amazing blog for her so he could update all her friends, it's so informative and well done - www.whatsuperika.com.

Here's a sample of the type of work she did...http://www.cimmyt.org/english/docs/ann_report/recent_ar/D_Support/centralasian.htm
I gathered from the service that she had an inordinate amount of influence over others' studies and writings as well.

Heading to Nashville today

I am leaving in a few hours to go to Nashville for the weekend for a memorial service. One of my friends from college, Henrik, lost his sister to cancer early this month and he's holding a service for her in the town in which they grew up. I haven't seen him in quite awhile, but once I heard of the service Legume (Rob Roy) and Soch (Dave) and I all made plans to meet there. He's lost both his parents as well so this must be very hard for him. Kind of makes you realize what is most important in the world. Tell your parents and siblings Hi for me, will ya?

The paperwork is in!

Woo hoo!! I received the offer letter yesterday afternoon. I'll be working through a sub as a construction manager but acting like an employee, kind of like in the telecom world. I'll be working on the Public Works side of things, managing road and sidewalk repair as well as water and sewer work which is not where my experience lies but learning new things is always good. The office is in a high rise downtown, first time I've worked in the middle of a city but this city is very easy to get into and out of, unlike southern California. I was driving through the interstate in the middle of town the other day at 4:44 pm and the traffic was crusing, unbelievable when looked at through So Cal eyes. Now I can find me a permanent place for these mutts of mine instead of living like a hobo.

One of my favorite authors/chefs/TV hosts Anthony Bourdain did a No Reservations show here in New Orleans last year, you can download it from itunes for 2 bucks. He talks to Chris Rose, my favorite local columnist (read his book One Dead in Attic for the most comprehensive, and heartbreaking, post-Katrina state of the city updates) quite a bit on the show so go download it already!

SC-NC trip home

I've posted a few pics from my trip to SC and NC last week or so - some, like the barn and Dot's house I take pictures of most times I go home and others, like the vehicle topiary I happen upon while driving the backroads .

Morning is mosquito time too

I am proud to say that I have a VERBAL job at this point! Still no paperwork but things can move AWfully slow around here I'm beginning to understand. Read the following...makes me feel better it's only taken me around 5 weeks and six phone calls to get the information I now have.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/21041119.html?index=1&c=y

I got an email request for a reference from one of my coworkers in the Seattle office back in 01-02 yesterday, Rebecca, and got the idea of this blog from hers. What a gorgeous family she has...and she's looking quite good herself! Good luck to her move back to Washington State...a land I surely will wish I inhabited in a few weeks.

Now is a lovely time of day on the back porch, dogs laying in the spots of sun while I type in the shade from the backyard trees and the ACs aren't quite yet humming in the corner nonstop yet.

First post...have to run and finish some work I'm doing for the Preservation Center of New Orleans. More later...

E