January 2005

Jan162005

Paul Varisco at the Rock-n-Bowl

After church I did a handful of chores in the afternoon. Dad and I also got a little work done on the car. He took it in for an oil change and checkup. We also replaced the alternator belt, air filter and battery this weekend. This evening, Dad and I went to see Paul Varisco and the Milestones play at the Rock-n-Bowl. This was my second time seeing them here, the last time was in August I believe. Melanie was going to come with us but she had a cold and couldn’t attend. That may have been for the best as it wa rather loud, although the music was good. It was also rather cramped, although that wasn’t much of a problem. We left around nine and went to Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro for some dessert before heading home. I had the banana’s foster cheesecake. This being my third time, I guess I can call it my usual now. After getting home I think I watched a movie but I’m not sure.

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Jan142005

Three Day Weekend

Martin Luther King’s birthday allowed for a three day weekend. I worked for a short while on Friday but I don’t remember accomplishing much. Some friends of mine got into town that night but I didn’t see them. This evening I watched the series premiere of Battlestar Galactica and a new Episode of Enterprise, which returned after a winter hiatus. I had an appointment with an eye doctor on Saturday morning. It was my first time seeing one in a few years. I was told I have a ‘slight excavation of the right eye,’ but the doctor may simply be trying to pay for all that expensive equipment. I was at home all afternoon while my eye dilation returned to normal. Later in the evening I was to see Andrey and Khadijah for the evening but that didn’t work out so well. Kali was in a bad mood and I wasn’t up to dealing with it. We had words while in the Blockbuster trying to rest a video game. I asked Andrey to take me home and he did. That evening I watched O Brother, Where Art Thou, which was funny and enjoyable. Later that night I had a rather unproductive phone conversation with Khadijah.

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Jan132005

Intro to Marketing

Shortly after waking up this morning I dropped the PR class and enrolled in Intro to Marketing with Ann Snell, a professor my Dad has had and recommended. I doubt this class will be more valuable but I hope it will be more tolerable. I got dropped off at the mall with plenty of time to spare. I wandered around the mall for a little while before going to the computer lab for a short while before class. I also checked up on the textbook I’d be needing, which I learned is $140 new. Class started promptly at noon. The day’s noted were already on the board. I had my laptop with me today to try my hand at typing my notes. Keeping off with conversation may be troublesome though. I guess time will tell. The class itself seemed nice, given my disinterest in the subject matter. This professor seems to have a bit of a fan club, as many of the students had taken her classes more than once. Ms. Snell gave a short lecture introducing marketing. Class was dismissed early at about 12:45. I spoke with her briefly afterward during which I introduced myself. She gave me the e-mail address of someone selling their textbook. Having been let out early I had some time before I was to meet Ann for lunch. I stopped at the Gap and then sat down in the food court and finished a log entry before Ann arrived at 1:15. I got a shrimp po-boy. Having eaten I walked back with her to the bookstore so she could show me something. I left shortly after so I could go to work. I caught the Tulane bus, which arrived just after I got to the stop. The ride to work couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes. When I arrived I did the three reports that were waiting. A short while later I resumed work adding discharge dates to a patient database. I didn’t get far with that though. Dad picked me up around 5:30 and we went home. Later in the evening I started watching Throne of Blood, but I was tired and I was talking to a couple folks online so I didn’t get far. I was going to watch O Brother, Where Art Thou but the disc from Netflix was broken.

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Jan122005

Movies In and Out of Class

I went to work with Dad this morning but never really did much as I wasn’t there long. I got lunch from the deli shortly before leaving. Dad took me uptown around noon. I had over five hours to kill and I did my best. I first stopped at the bookstore to have another look at my textbooks. I also browsed the rest of the store and some other books. After leaving there I walked to Richardson to use the computer lab for a while. I was there for a couple hours, doing nothing of circumstance. I left there around four. I got a sandwich from The Drawing Board and sat outside with a magazine for a while. After taking a short walk I went back to the lab for a few minutes and then walked to the Norman Mayer building for my evening class, Art and Craft of Film. Melanie stopped by briefly before having to go to her class. While we were speaking I realized I lost the little case for my headphones. She walked with me to Richardson where I found it at the desk I was using earlier. We then went to our respective classes. When I got back to Mayer there was a problem with the room assignments. There was also an Intro to Media Arts class scheduled in the same room. As it turns out we were in another room. As I recall, there was the exact same mix up when I took Media Arts last semester involving the same rooms in the same building. The film class was interesting at least. The professor has a rather high pitched voice that I think I will find distracting throughout the semester. After a brief over of the class and a short pre-test, we watched Bonnie and Clyde, an unimpressive film in my opinion that the professor said she likes to show at each first class. The session was dismissed after the movies abrupt ending. Melanie had walked in to my class after hers finished. We had planned to see a movie after class and we did. Melanie’ dad was waiting for us when we got out, he gave us a ride to the Elmwood Palace. This was my first time meeting her father, who seems like an easy-going person. I would have expected some sort of conversation as I am dating her daughter, but he didn’t have a single question for me. After getting dropped off we found the movie we were going to see wouldn’t start for a while so we went to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events instead. The movie was just about to start as we walked in. The theater was sparsely occupied so I think we lucked out. I like to arrive early to get a good seat but that was no problem tonight. It was an interesting and amusing movie with a nice story and a unique environment. After the movie Melanie called a cab home. We both rode to her house. I had intended to take the bus the rest of the way. The buses were not running; hardly surprising as it was after midnight. I walked to St. Charles Avenue to see if the streetcars were running but they did not seem to be in service late either. I called a cab and waited at the steps of Gibson Hall. I was talking to Khadijah on the phone when the cab arrived but I didn’t try to talk over the music that was playing in the car. I wanted to pay by credit card when I arrived. There was some hassle with it but I was able to. During the cab ride I learned that I left my keys home. I was lucky to find a hidden key, as I had never looked for it before. I was just given general directions. I was also lucky to get inside as the key to the back door isn’t very useful as it’s hard to unlock the door, the knob is generally jammed but I was fortunate to have little trouble. When I got in I found the wireless internet card that I won on eBay. I had no trouble getting it to work in my laptop. I called Khadijah again when I got home and we talked for a while before I went to sleep around three.

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Jan112005

History and Public Relations

Dad dropped me off at the New Orleans Center before heading to work this morning. I had two new classes today, the first of which is Principles of Public Relations. I only signed up for the class as it pertains to my major of Media Arts. I was rather disappointed with the first session. While the professor seems like a nice person, she seems to take herself and the subject matter far to seriously. The class was kinda crowded with about 18 other students. Hopefully I’ll be able to replace this class. After class ended early around 12:40, I wandered around the mall for a bit before taking a seat in the food court to meet Ann for lunch. She showed up around quarter after. I last saw her when last semester ended in early December. From what she told me, thing were rather unchanged since we last spoke. With over a month gone by, I did have some things to say myself. After lunch I walked back with her to the bookstore and then went to wait for the shuttle bus to go uptown for this evening’s class. As always, I had lots of time to kill. I went to the ATM and then the bookstore to check up on the books I’d be needing. The history class had five books including a textbook. The PR class has one textbook for $120. There is no textbook for review writing and Melanie already provided me with the text for Art & Craft of Film. I didn’t buy any books today, there was no way I was going to stand in the enormous line to pay for overpriced books. Having left the bookstore I walked to the Richardson building to pass the time in the computer lab for a while. I was in there for a few hours. While there I won a slip case for my new laptop on eBay. I left the lab about a half hour before my evening class started, US History 1865 to present. This class was the most crowded I had seen yet, although not so bad compared to a lot of colleges. There were 32 other students. While history is a casual interest of mine, I was very disappointed with this particular class. In short, it was rather boring. The professor, who I assume is a nice person, did a poor job in conducting the class in my opinion. The format of the proceedings seemed unusually dull. Thirty minutes of class time was spent by the professor conjuring typed of primary sources of historical information from the students. For a half hour, things like court documents, speeches, film and other such things were mentioned. Later in the class he had us read the Declaration of Independence, after which we ‘discussed’ things like Thomas Jefferson’s biases and agenda. Class was not exactly dismissed early, we were released shortly after eight o’clock. I met dad at The Boot. After I finished the drink that was waiting for me, we went home. I got home around nine, after which I used the computer for a while. I talked to Khadijah on the phone in the evening. Ami also called tonight to tell me she purchased plane tickets to New Orleans so she will actually be coming to town to visit for Mardi Gras after having been in Arizona for well over a year. I was pretty surprised because I was never entirely convinced she’d ever come to visit. Late in the evening I tried to start to read a novel ‘assigned’ to me in review writing class, but I quickly grew tired and went to be shortly after one.

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Jan102005

First of Second

I went to work with Dad this morning… barely. We left after 11. I spend the workday doing some filing related work. Dad wanted patient discharge dates in a patient spreadsheet to he can selectively inquire attorneys about patient case status. This involved going through every unsettled case on file. I worked on it until we left a little after five, I got about halfway through. After Don left the office for his usual visit, Dad took me to Tulane for my first class of the second semester, Review Writing with Julia Houston, who happens to be my student advisor. It was an interesting introductory class. She of course discussed what was the class was about. We read parts of various movie reviews, good and bad, discussing each. There was a 'speed dating' exercise after the break in which we discussed various innocuous topics with a classmate for a few minutes; the other person would then grade certain personality traits. At the end we had about 10 people’s opinion about how we perceived in various respects. Before class ended, rather late I might add, she literally tossed a random book at each of us so we could read it and write a review on it, due in two weeks. Class ended around 8:45. Dad had waited for me to finish as he wasn't expecting this fist class to last very long. That obviously was not the case and I kinda felt bad for him, waiting in the car so long. On the way Dad and I stopped at Wal-Mart so he could pick up some groceries for the house and the office. After I got home I was on the computer on and off for a while before going to bed around 2 AM.

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Jan092005

Sunday

Today passed rather quietly. After church I spent the rest of the day at home. I played Half Life 2 for a while and spoke to Ami and Khadijah on phone in the evening. I also caught up on some log entries.

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Jan082005

Quiet Saturday

The rest of the family left the house early this morning to take Andrew to his first basketball game of this season, he played in a jamboree in two games versus Karr and another school. Between it simply being Saturday and having the house so quiet. I didn’t get up too early. They came home around one o’clock in the afternoon. I didn’t really do much today. Dad grilled some hamburgers for dinner. In the evening I watched The Assignment and Yojimbo before going to bed around two.

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Jan072005

Ellis Marsalis ‘Quartet?’

I went to work today with arguably barely sufficient cause. I did a couple reports but I played more FreeCell than anything else. We left the office around four, late for a Friday. A little before six, Dad gave me a ride to the quarter, as I had a date with Melanie this evening. He originally intended to drop me at the ferry landing but there was a chance I’d be late and he could drive across the river and back about as quickly as he could lumbering through old Algiers. I was dropped off on Conti, a stone’s throw from the Old N’awlins Cookery, we were having dinner at. I got dropped off around six, about a half hour early. I didn’t really feel like walking around at the moment so I decided to just take a seat in the restaurant. I had a glass of orange juice, the menu and a cell phone to occupy myself, sufficient as I don’t bore easily. Melanie showed up a few minutes late and quite quickly decided on what she wanted, jambalaya, which I also picked out for myself a while earlier. We didn’t wait long for our food, which was quite good. The dish was a little drier and not quite tasty as Dad’s jambalaya, which I’ve become accustomed to. Following that, we had a serving of bread pudding. This particular place arguably makes the best in New Orleans. Melanie had said she didn’t like bread pudding, but had also not tried it in quite a while. I think her opinion has been altered in this matter. I believe we left about an hour after she arrived. Having left the restaurant we walked down to the far end of the French Quarter to Frenchman St. and to Snug Harbor. We went to see the Ellis Marsalis Quartet perform. While we were here last week, Melanie expressed a desire to see Ellis Marsalis so we went. We arrived shortly before seating began at eight for the nine o’clock show. I was somewhat surprised at the line which formed over an hour before the show starting. We were at the head of the line, as I originally went up to the counter for a reason I can no longer remember. Being at the front of the line afforded us the choice of any seat we wished. We picked a back corner at the stage lever of the rather small venue. We had an hour before the show stare, affording us time to talk and such while we watched the club quickly fill up. Ellis Marsalis, Jason Marsalis and a base player whose name escapes me took the stage at nine. After some applause and the first number, Ellis made a joking remark about how the bandstand seemed crowded for only three people. Delfeayo Marsalis and a talented sax player whose name I can’t remember then took the stage for the remainder of the performance. Delfeayo seemed merrily confused throughout the performance as though he had no idea as to what songs would be performed. He seemed to pick on things rather quickly though. Later on, a Xylophone player and a new bass player took the stage, replacing the gentleman who was manning the Bass. The performance ended shortly after 10:30. It was a fantastic show with more talent on the stage that I thought I would see. Melanie was especially pleased with the show. After making a tedious exit of the crowded club, we walked down Decatur to Cafe Du Monde for beignets. We came here last week but it was far too crowded. We had no trouble finding a table this evening. We shared an order of beignets and then made our way back to Frenchman St. to meet my dad at the Spotted Cat. He had agreed earlier to provide us a ride home. When we arrived the Jazz Vipers were about to conclude a set. We waited outside briefly as a couple folks were dancing and taking up a lot of precious floor space in this tiny bar. Dad walked up while we were waiting outside. I thought he would have already been there for a while but he had just arrived. The musicians took a break and the crown inside thinned out considerably. After taking some seats we got some drinks and waited for the music to resume. I believe the Vipers took a 30 minute recess. We remained for a short while afterward for a couple more drinks and to hear the band. I think we left around midnight but I’m not sure. As we were about to leave, we saw that rain was pouring rather hard. The large umbrella I was carrying all evening was finally given purpose. We waited at the door briefly but that didn’t make the rain stop. Dad took my umbrella and went to retrieve his car while we waited at the door. He pulled up a few minutes later and we quickly got in the car to go home. We took Melanie home first. Luckily the rain had largely stopped by the time we got to her house. After saying goodbye, Dad and I drove back home.

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Jan062005

Work at Mid-City and East… Or At Least Mid-City

I went to work with dad this morning. We were at the Mid-City office for a few hours. During that time I did the two reports that were waiting. We went to the east office after I finished those. I didn’t have much to do at the east office. I vacuumed and updated a patient database file. That was the extent of my work. I typed up some back log entries and listened to music. A while later we learned of some problems with the electricity at the Mid-City office. We left around six o’clock to check things over. After that we went home and had dinner. Shortly thereafter we learned the power problem was resolved. Later in the evening, I watched Ran: Masterworks Edition before talking to Khadijah on the phone for a while and going to bed.

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Jan062005

Haircut – Decision on Laptop Wireless connection

I didn’t go to work again today, but I did get out the house for a short while to get a haircut. I left with dad this morning. He was willing to wait so I wouldn’t have to take the bus home. The haircut didn’t take long. Immediately after that I went next door to the grocery store to pick up some things for tonight’s dinner. Groceries in hand, Dad took me back home and then went to work. The MiniPCI socket I ordered came today so I could pursue having an internal WiFi card installed in my laptop. I had long decided not to try and solder it in myself and hire someone to do it. I called McCann Electronics again to inquire about the repair, but they said they would not take the risk in trying to install it. Another establishment was willing to try but they do not have the proper equipment. I decided to put this little project on hold until I can find someone earnestly capable of doing the work. In the mean time, I purchased a little 3Com PCMCIA card that has a retractable antenna on eBay that I think I can live with. Later in the evening I played Half Life 2 and finished watching Madadayo, Akira Kurosawa’a final film.

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Jan052005

Madadayo

I was at home today having not been needed at work. I don’t really recall anything going on today. I started watching Madadayo in the evening but I got too tired to finish.

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Jan042005

Half Life 2

I went to work with dad today, barely still in the morning hours. There were a few reports to do which didn’t take very long. Later in the evening, a friend lent me a copy of Half Life 2 and I played that for a while after I got the sound for the game working. I told myself I wouldn’t start playing the game before I got a new video card but oh well.

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Jan032005

Home With Andrew

My parent’s and Jeff drive back to Natchitoches this morning to return Jeff to school after the Christmas break, so I was home with just Andrew for company most of the day. I was in no hurry getting out of bed, as I was up rather late last night. Generally speaking this was a remarkably unproductive day, little of which I really remember. I’m sure it involved a lot of internet surfing and TV watching. My parents returned some time after eight o’clock. Later in the evening I finished watching Ikiru, one of the best movies I have ever seen.

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January 2005

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