2007


Short Class

Like every other day this week, I went to the office but didn’t do any actual work. The office has been rather slow this week as well, we haven’t seen many patients.This evening’s Colonial Louisiana class generally covered the 1720’s and 30’s. The lecture was rather draining and I left at the break at around 7:10. I went to the boot for a while where I later met Dad. We went home after one drink. Later this evening I watched Annie Hall. I thought it was a decent movie but I don’t quite get why it has the status it does.

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John Foster Dulles

I went to the mid city office with dad this morning and was there until about five this afternoon. I don’t recall doing any actual work. I did spend a lot of time making copies, however.This evening’s US Foreign Policy class was about John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under Eisenhower. We were assigned to real a book on Mr. Dulles and the class started with a quiz about him. I made the mistake of ordering the book online and did not receive it in time for class. I did spend the ‘work’ day reading about him online so I was able to scrape by. In addition to think little known historical figure, the lecture was also about US/Soviet relations after World War II and an overview of WWII in the Pacific.I went to the Sheraton after class. Dad was at the mall this evening getting my little brother’s glasses fixed. He picked me up when he was done with that. We got home shortly after nine. As I was a bit late for Boston Legal I decided to watch yesterday’s episode of 24. IT was a decent episode, made a bit better by the 5.1 surround sound on my computer. Later this evening I watched Almost Famous.

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Another Week Gone By

So, another week has gone by class and work, not much else. My classes last week were fine, another marathon session in colonial Louisiana history. After the class was about half over I didn’t have the will power to keep taking notes. Tuesday’s foreign policy class was considerably less draining.The new computer speakers and sound card I ordered arrived this week. I got the Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 speakers and a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer card. This combination and a little tweaking produce a very impressive sound. One complaint about my speaker set is the bass is too boomy out of the box, which I would not disagree with. However, setting the bass redirection to the THX recommended 80hz seems to help a great deal. I’m still trying to decide if the sound is entirely satisfactory.Today, Monday, I went to work with dad for about 11 this morning. We were at the Mid City office briefly and then left for Metairie. I really didn’t have much of anything to do today and was unoccupied almost all afternoon. I had a rather nasty losing streak in freecell.This evening’s IT ethics class was much like the last, divided by discussion of three ‘case studies’ from the book and the lecture, which mostly consists of the instructor reading off long-winded powerpoint slides. One of the case studies was mine but it was a rather simple issue, although we discussed it longer than I expected we would.Class was dismissed at about eight. I caught the 8:20 shuttle and waited for Dad downtown at the Sheraton. Later this evening I watched last Sunday’s episode of Rome, which I only missed because I forgot about it.

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The Rest of Last Week and Today

Same old same old, I ignored the log for another week. It may have been worth posting as I had my second sessions for three of my classes. With the exception of the architecture class I spoke of in the last post, all my classes are fine so far. Taking two history classes in the same term may turn out to be more difficult than I’d like. Although the ‘cold war history’ class should be OK, Colonial History of Louisiana has a lot of information to it, from what I can tell based on the marathon three hour lecture this week. I worked every day last week and managed to stay busy enough.This weekend was decidedly uneventful, the high points being disassembling my iRiver player again, and ordering a new set of computer speakers.Today, Monday, I went to work at both the Mid City and Metairie offices, arriving at the former just after ten. I had a tape full of dictation to work on which I did, albeit slowly over the course of the day. Shortly after arriving in Metairie at about one, I walked over to Nacho Mama’s to get some lunch. They told me this was their last day at their current location. They’re moving up the street to Powers for more space. It’s a shame for me as the only other place in walking distance is Taco Bell.Dad took me to Tulane at about five. Tonight I had IT Ethics, a class I scheduled after dropping New Orleans Architecture. The class was OK. The teacher wasn’t pretentious which could make this sort of class rather painful.

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First and Last N. O. Architecture Class

I went to work with Dad a bit earlier than usual this morning, arriving in Metairie at 10 AM. I had a tape full of initial reports to keep me busy. I worked on it somewhat sporadically so it kept me with something to do through the afternoon. I have our newest hire, Darenisha, some lessons on how do to the reports. She did as well as can be expected, making sense of doc’s mumbling is an acquired talent.Dad and I left the office around five to take me to Tulane for class this evening. Tonight was the first session of New Orleans Architecture, taught by Robert Cangelosi. He started promptly at 5:45. About five minutes into the session, I knew I’d be dropping the class. The professor had a hostile attitude like I’d never seen before. He wasn’t entirely overt about it, but his tone of voice sounded like he was speaking to us after we’d all failed the mid-term. You quickly get the feeling he hates teaching this class, which he’s been doing for quite some years. After introducing the course, he gave a lecture accompanied by slides about the urban history of New Orleans. He took a 10 minute break at 7 o’clock and I took the opportunity to leave the class. I took the shuttle home and Dad picked me up downtown. We got home in time to watch 24. I watched TV a while longer after that before going to bed at about one.

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Law in Amer– Colonial History of Louisiana

Dad and I left the house not long after ten this morning. We went to the west bank office for a little while, just long enough for me to update the phone list. We then went over to the Mid City office for a couple hours. I can’t remember if I actually had any work to do there.Sometime after two this afternoon, Dad took me uptown to Tulane for my class this evening. I wanted to arrive early because I had a four o’clock appointment. I stopped by the bookstore to check out what books I might need. The bookstore is back in the student center, which recently opened after a two year renovation. This was my first time seeing the new building. It looks nice enough. I’d be rather unimpressed if this was new construction but as the renovation of a nearly 50 year old building, it’s pretty decent. The new bookstore looks rather nice as well, considerably bigger than the old one. I always wait a bit before buying books so I walked out empty handed.After leaving the student center I went to the library for about an hour. At four, I walked to Gibson Hall to meet my student advisor. I wanted to get a picture of how far I have to go before graduation and get an idea of what classes I still need to take. I spoke with her for about a half hour. I have a couple years left, which is fine. Apparently I’m nearly done with my major. I learned I need only four more history classes for a history minor so I’m going to shoot for that. I would also like to minor in digital design.I went back to the student center for something to eat. After that I went to the library for a little bit. Not long after I walked out of the meeting I decided I’d drop the class I signed up for this evening, Law in American Society, a pre law course. I signed up for it with no particular cause. At about five o’clock, I dropped it and added Colonial History of Louisiana. After changing my schedule I went over to Jones Hall where the class is held and waited for 5:45 while browsing eBay.There was a pretty decent crowd for the history class this evening, although the classroom it’s held in is not very big. Professor Wilbur Meneray started right on time. He’s an older, bearded gentleman the quintessential history teacher. He spend the class going over the syllabus, his teaching style, the exams, final paper and all that good stuff.Class was dismissed shortly after 7:00. I called Dad to see if I could get a ride. He was already at The Boot and I met his there. We stayed there for dinner and had hamburgers. I told him about my class this evening and Dad said he signed up for the same class a while back but said he dropped the class immediately after he found out Professor Meneray doesn’t use a textbook. I still don’t see how that’s a bad thing. After we finished eating we left and got home sometime after eight.The replacement battery I ordered for my iRiver arrived in the mail today. I spend the evening doing an operation on the player. Along with replacing the battery, I also replaced the casing with that of a broken player I recently got on ebay. I didn’t have too much trouble with the whole thing but the new battery, actually an iPod 1g battery, is slightly larger so things were a bit cramped. Before bed I watched the season one finale of Hustle.

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At the Office… Not Necessarily at Work

Today was our first busy day in Mid City. We had a handful of new patients and returns to fill the gaps. With no dictation, however, I was largely unoccupied today, dormant among my bustling coworkers. I did do some work but I wasn’t busy for long.Dad and I left the office sometime after six, probably close to seven. I had dad drop me off downtown at the Sheraton. This evening I met Theresa for dinner, she picked me up not too long after seven.Theresa is a friend of mine from high school although I had not spoken with her in over a year until recently. After she picked me up, we went to Port of Call on Esplanade. The place was too crowded to be worth dealing with so we went to the Palace Caf� instead. There was a 20 minute wait there but they have a bar to wait at so it isn’t painful. The restaurant was as loud as I’ve ever heard it, not particularly conducive to conversation, but we managed to talk about school and goings-on of the last year without too much trouble. I had the andouille crusted fish, again, as I wasn’t in a steak mood. Theresa had a chicken dish. After dinner we walked across Canal Street to the Pelican Bar and spoke for a while before she gave me a ride home.

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Back to School

Just to recap the last couple days: Who Dat! Jack is back! Ceaser is dead!I went to the office with dad for about 11 this morning. I had some dictation to work on but that didn’t take long and I had several hours to kill with the help of my laptop before leaving for the day.Today marks the start of the Spring semester. I had one class this evening, “War and National Policy Since 1945.” This class isn’t relevant to my major as most of my classes this term. The course offerings this term were kinda pathetic so I filled my schedule with fluff. The class of 40ish students was assigned to an rather small room, which is unfortunate. The professor seems to be popular and comes across as a decent guy. During the first session this evening, he went over the syllabus and introduced the subject matter. He showed a film after a ten minute break but I left early and didn’t see it.After class I met Dad at the Boot and went home after one drink. Later this evening I watched Boston Legal.

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New Year, New Office

Although a new year has arrived and a few things of circumstance have taken place, I still had not gotten around to this log lately. Since school is out, I’m not using my laptop, and when I’m not using my laptop, there aren’t new entries. I just can’t bring myself to type this thing on my desktop computer.For me, 2006 ended much like it’s been going for the past 365 days it’s generally been dull and pathetically lonely. I didn’t make any new friends, see much of the few I have or date anybody. It’s been a whole lot of nothing, but I can only blame myself.Over a week into 2007, I decided I’d better make an entry today because something happened. Dad opened a new clinic in Mid City today, the first time we’ve had an office in the city since Katrina, some 14 months ago. We moved in to the same building on South Carrollton Avenue that we were planning to move into the on the day the hurricane hit so we’re just 16 months late. It’s a nice office, a bit small but it should suit us well. This has been a long time coming, as the people Dad is renting from originally told us we’d be moving in last October. Several revised leases later, we’re finally in.For the last week or so, we’ve been spending time there moving in, getting things set up, assembling furniture and the like. I was still working on such things up until three this afternoon when our first patient arrived. I still don’t have my desk put together though, one of the parts was missing from the box so I have to wait on an ordered replacement. We saw three new patient’s in the office today and had one return. In addition to Dad, Doc and myself, a newly hired nurse, Anna worked in the office today.This evening I installed an “inskin” in my “newest” toy, an iRiver H320. I bought this little 20gb DAP for the express purpose of installing ROCKbox, open source replacement firmware. I’ve been a fan of the project for years and have been dying to try it out on a newer player. It’s simply awesome. I briefly considered buying a 5G iPod to satisfy my desire to play with ROCKbox, but they scratch too easily. A port is currently being worked on for my other MP3 player, a Sansa e200 series. Later on I watched the second episode of Hustle. My old roommate, John, suggested I might like this show and I do. I also spoke to Khadijah on the phone.

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