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	<title>Mr. Bs Domain - The Daily Log</title>
	<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/index.php</link>
	<description>The Daily Log is a journalistic account of my daily activities. It is not intended for entertainment and should not be read prior to operation of motor vehicles.</description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:48:08 -0400</pubDate>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:48:08 -0400</lastBuildDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Wednesday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1330</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Today passed largely without incident.  At work today I spent a lot of time updating the books, entering checks we’ve received recently.  That went a long way toward getting my desk nice and clean again.This evening I watched some TV and a movie, The Invention of Lying.  I might have watched a second but I got a call from Ami tonight and we talked for a couple hours before I went to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:59:15 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Nonna Mia]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1329</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked on a couple more patient charts at the doctor’s office this afternoon.  As a change of pace, Chander and I tried the pasta from a place called Nonna Mia on Esplanade.  We each ordered a different pasta, neither of which were impressive quite frankly.  I did take the leftovers for dinner at the station this evening.  A second cop implicated in the Danizger bridge shooting incident led both the five and nine newscasts.  We also covered the end of the Douglas Schantz story with his body recovered from the bottom of the Mississippi river this afternoon.  Jennifer Hale was at the riverfront and did a live hit for Fox News Channel.I wrote a non “rest of” story for the nine about Janet Napolitano saying air travelers would continue to have to take off their shoes during security screening.  It was not exactly news since there would be no policy changes but I did throw something in about shoe scanners used in other countries to make it marginally interesting.  That story was killed and didn’t air although it was approved largely as I originally wrote it which was some consolation.The rest of my shift passed quietly, although apparently there was a homicide not long after I left for the evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:03:40 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Icy Dock]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1328</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I made it to the office around noon today.  I worked on a couple charts before heading to Fox this afternoon.  Printing the five show was a comparatively subdued affair.  I did not write any rest of stories today and generally was not busy between broadcasts.  We are still doing a 10 PM newscast.  The morning sports taping didn’t begin immediately after the news so I wasn’t done prompting until 10:50.The remainder of my shift passed quietly.  Apparently some police detectives were poking around the steamboat Natchez pier on the riverfront this evening.  Command desk and harbor police had nothing to tell me and they didn’t find anything tonight.  The following morning, the body of the missing Houston oil executive was found there.After I got home this evening, I watched 24 from earlier today and set up an external hard drive enclosure I won on eBay recently.  It arrived a little late and the seller included some Hawaiian Host chocolate covered macadamia nuts as consolation, a nice gesture.  I also spoke to Krystle late this evening which backed my bed time up to 3 AM.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:02:01 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Amarcord]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1327</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I didn’t do very much before heading to work this evening.  While there was a decent amount of news going into the evening, things were calm for a while until about 8 o’clock, one hour to air when a rash of shooting incidents occurred.  Among other violent crimes was a call that an officer was down.  It turned out to be an officer struck in the leg by a car, apparently he sustained only minor injuries.  The newscast was pretty smooth.  The Final Play show was more adventurous.  The first segment ran rather long and the three remaining ones were painfully short although the show did end on time.After I got home this evening I finished watching Amarcord before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:51:27 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Windows Phone]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1326</link>
		<description><![CDATA[From what I remember, work on Monday and Tuesday was not especially eventful.  I wrote a ‘rest of’ story on Tuesday although I did have some trouble with it.  It aired largely as I wrote it although I wish I had done better.I worked on Wednesday.  At present there is more than enough work to keep me busy at the doctor’s office.  We will be auto discharging a stack of charts in the coming weeks.  I spent a lot of time fooling with my new phone this week, a T-Mobile branded HTC Touch Pro 2.  It’s a Windows Mobile 6 phone and unlike the Blackberry it will work over Wi-Fi without any trouble like I had last week.  This is my first extended experience with Windows Mobile, however, so I have a lot yet to learn.  I’ve spent a lot of time learning and I reflashed the phone a few times and have started installing apps on it.After work on Thursday I went to campus for class this evening.  Today’s lectures wrapped up World War II and covered the Korean War.  Class was dismissed at about 7:45 which left plenty of time before ballroom tonight.  I had something to eat at the Rat before heading to the Reily Center.  Turnout was a bit light this evening.  I think there were about 16 to 20 people total.  This was the second week of Jive and I don’t feel I’m getting any better at it.I took the day off on Friday and got a few things done but not as much as I would have liked.  Before going to work on Saturday, I pulled up a tree in our little patio/courtyard in front of the house.  I thought my work was done with it out of the ground but Mom wanted help chopping it up too.  I was much too lazy to go after it with a hand saw so I brought out the only power saw in the house, a circular saw and cut it up that way.  I wouldn’t call it the right tool for the job but the job got done.The evening at WVUE wasn’t too bad.  There was plenty of news.  We had a city council runoff election to cover.  Ed Chervenak was in studio to provide commentary.  We led with the story of a missing executive from Houston who went missing Friday.  We don’t usually lead with missing persons but the man in question is a millionaire CEO of an energy company which makes it national news.  We also had a couple murders to deal with.I left for the evening at 9:45 and met Andrey and Romy at the Attiki Bar & Grill on Decatur.  It’s a nice Mediterranean themed place.  This was my first time there and I was pretty impressed.  My friends had been there since nine.  I had a couple drinks there with them and we moved on to the Davenport Lounge at the Ritz, formerly known and referred to here as Melange.  It took a while to score good seats but Andrey finally landed a sofa in front of the stage.  We stayed there to listen to the music until about 12:30 when Andrey wanted to head home.  I took a cab that was parked in front of the hotel.  Later in the evening I talked to Krystle on the phone before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:50:15 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Canada Wins Gold]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1325</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I slept in late again today, but I was awake in plenty of time to catch the gold medal hockey match between the USA and Canada.  I don’t have much interest in the Olympics but I do follow hockey and Olympic-level hockey is quite a spectacle, even on TV.For the most part, it did look like Canada outplayed the US, but the states certainly played hard.  Ultimately, the United States managed to tie the game at two with 24 seconds remaining in the 3rd period.  Canada scored a few minutes into the overtime period after a furious offensive.After the game, Dad gave me a ride to the station.  I had to call in to announce my late arrival since I stayed home to watch the overtime.  Things were reasonably quiet although there was a murder this evening.  Both the news broadcast and the Final Play went pretty well.  I called a cab home after running prompter for morning sports.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:36:23 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Saturday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1324</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Like a lot of Saturdays past, I slept in a good deal later than necessary.   I spent most of my pre-work hours watching Olympic Curling on TV and browsing around online.At about 4:30, the family including myself piled in the car.  I got dropped off at Fox and Mom, Dad and Andrew went to Aunt Dionne’s birthday party.  Work was a bit busier than usual.  We were following a couple shootings in the area.  The script was all done well before airtime.  The newscast went smoothly with the exception of the weather program.  The weather computers were giving Nicondra a lot of trouble.  She never got an extended forecast graphic on screen and the segment went about a minute over time.  Andrea was able to kill enough stuff to save sports for Rob.  Only one sports story got dropped at the end.I left thinking I might meet up with my folks after work at the birthday party but I couldn’t reach anyone by phone so I just took a cab home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:08:01 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[One More Entry for the Month]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1323</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Yet again I am opening a log post apologizing for the dry spell.  I think I will be renaming this feature to “The Log” soon.Nearly two weeks have passed since my last entry and there are a few events worth typing out but life has been reasonably quiet.  Work has been reasonably uneventful.  I wrote a couple rest-of stories last week but only one made air and it was heavily edited after the fact.A couple weekends ago I went out after work with Andrey and a couple others to go see From Paris with Love.  It wasn’t a cinematic masterpiece but it was entertaining.  Another night I went out with the same crowd again to a number of places around town.  Yesterday I finally got my exam back in my military history class.  I got a 74 which is rather pathetic.  Later at nine was ballroom.  Tonight was the first of four weeks of Jive.  I haven’t felt as lost an inept since I first started ballroom.  This week I decided to get a new phone with Wi-Fi.  I don’t have or desire to pay for a data plan and with Wi-Fi almost everywhere I go I figured a phone with Wi-Fi would keep me happy.  I bought a Blackberry Curve 8900 on eBay and quickly found that most of the apps require BIS to do anything online which renders Wi-Fi half useless.  I sold the phone through craigslist today and bought a HTC Touch Pro 2, a windows mobile device.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:46:22 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[At Work]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1322</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I thought I might go out this afternoon and meet up with Krystle who was planning on catching a parade but they didn’t make it downtown until I had to be at work.  Jeff gave me a ride to WVUE.  I gave him a little tour of the station when we arrived.I didn’t have much to do tonight either.  I prompted the news and the Final Play show immediately following.  Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson was on to talk about the Saints next season.  At 10, I tried calling a cab with no luck.  Nicondra agreed to give me a lift to town where I might be able to catch a cab.  It’s was a long wait waiting for her friend to show up.  Around 10:40 I was able to get United Cab on the phone and not long after one pulled up.  Krystle was downtown until just a few minutes before that so I went straight home.  Before bed I watched An Affair to Remember.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:36:02 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Endymion Extravaganza]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1321</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I had to work at Fox this afternoon.  The station was running complete coverage of the Endymion parade and ball at the Superdome.  When I arrived a good portion of the staff was there, all dressed up to go to the Endymion party.  There wasn’t much to do at the station this afternoon aside from answer the occasional phone call.  I was the only PA working like most Saturdays.  Our parade coverage went late until 11:30 at which time our news broadcast started.I printed and prompted that show but it was the only actual work I did all night.  Like yesterday, it was next to impossible to call a cab.  Fortunately, I was able to get a ride with Kim.  Her father picked her up and I got dropped off on Poydras in front of the Superdome where I immediately caught a cab home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:29:39 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Covering Friday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1320</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I went to work at the doctor’s office around noon today.  After a couple hours there, dad took me to WVUE for the evening.  I don’t normally work there on Fridays but I agreed to cover a shift for Dannah this evening.  The evening proceeded largely without incident.  Getting home was a considerable problem.  Five parades rolled uptown today and when I was done at midnight it was impossible to get a cab company on the phone.  Around 12:30 I reached a new cab company in town, but after a half hour nobody came.  I got lucky at one in the morning and flagged one down that was driving down Jefferson Davis parkway.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:28:48 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Military History Exam]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1319</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I went to work at the doctor’s office this afternoon and took care of a couple discharge reports.  I also got around to making some suggested changes to our initial examination form.  At about four, Dad took me down Canal Street so I could catch the Tulane shuttle to campus.  I did all the studying I could on the bus and in the classroom well before the exam started at about six.The exam consisted of five essay questions.  We were able to select one question from five groups of three.  For the most part, I was able to choose questions I had a reasonably firm grasp on the material.  I’m not sure how well my answers will be received though.  The professor said last week that an “A” answer would be laced with proper names and dates, which I’m not adept and remembering, even when I do study adequately.  I did correctly answer the bonus question though.After class I caught the shuttle back to the Tidewater building.  Dad worked late tonight and picked me up from there.  Later this evening I watched The World’s Fastest Indian.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:27:30 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Hornets vs. Celtics]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1318</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took the day off today intent on studying for an upcoming exam tomorrow.  I didn’t accomplish as much as I would have hoped though.  I didn’t start reading anything until Rush Limbaugh’s show as over.  Early in the afternoon, Mom called to say a professor she works with was trying to unload two tickets for tonight’s Hornets game versus the Boston Celtics.I accepted the tickets and eventually got someone to use the other ticket.  I called a cab just before six to get to the arena but it was almost seven when one finally showed up so I was late in arriving.  Andrey was waiting at the main gate when I arrived.  There was a very healthy crowd there but we didn’t have any trouble walking around and finding our seats.  The game was about eight minutes old when we took our seats.  At the end of the first quarter, the Hornets led 29-27.The Hornets fell behind in the second.  Chris Paul’s replacement Collison limped off the court at halftime but returned in the third apparently fine.  Collison alone turned over the ball 10 times in the first two quarters.  By halftime, the Celtics led 55-43.  The Hornets battled back in the second half and the Celtics weren’t doing well in the free throw department.  New Orleans won 95-83.Andrey wanted to catch a movie after the game so we walked back to his car which was parked at the post office and he called David and a couple others.  We picked up David and headed out to Elmwood where Patrick and another friend of Andrey’s met us.  We saw From Paris with Love, a Luc Besson produced movie featuring John Travolta and Jonathan Meyers. I couldn’t call it cinematic genius but it was a perfect entertaining action flick.We headed back uptown after the movie.  Andrey dropped me off and I caught a waiting cab at the Boot.  I probably stayed up for a while to watch TV before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:25:53 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Saints Super Krewe]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1317</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I went with Dad to the doctor’s office for a few hours this afternoon before heading to the station.  Mom and a coworker arrived before we left.  They were all going to the parade.  When I arrived, we just started our coverage of the Saints victory parade downtown.  We had a boatload of people along the route.  John and Nancy anchored at Gallier Hall.  Also there was our sister company, Horizon Entertainment which has some seven HD cameras and HD satellite production truck on sight to bring us some awesome footage of the passing parade.  We had live truck broadcasting further up the route.  It wasn’t until close to seven o’clock that the bulk of the parade reached Gallier where our most elaborate equipment was.  Management made the call to bump American Idol by one hour and continue coverage from Gallier Hall.  The timing of that last hour could not have been much better.  The last float with coach Sean Peyton and the Lombardi trophy approached Gallier Hall with 10 minutes left in the hour.We did an evening newscast at nine which was almost entirely a recap of the parade with snippets of footage throughout.  Scanners were quiet after the news.  I wasn’t feeling very well during the show and afterward.  Luckily nothing was going on this evening and Amanda showed up at 11:40 so I didn’t have a problem with leaving a half hour early at midnight.  I got a cab in short order and went home to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:24:33 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1316</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Having stayed up rather late last night, I slept in this morning and skipped my shift at the doctor’s office.  I caught a cab to WVUE for my 4-12:30 shift this afternoon.  We were broadcasting live from the airport this afternoon for the New Orleans Saints arrival from Miami.  We had a few people there covering some 15,000 fans who lined Bainbridge Street to greet the team.  That coverage ended at four.As one might imagine, the five and nine news shows were swamped with Saints stuff.  The late evening passed quietly and I was home before one.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:23:05 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Black and Gold Super Bowl]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1315</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Today was the big day.  The New Orleans Saints playing in Super Bowl XLIV versus the Indianapolis Colts.  As for me, I would be working at WVUE this evening through the game but would be free to watch it in the newsroom.As dad was concerned about possible traffic congestion and having a stop to make, we left early at four.  Traffic wasn’t too bad in spite of all that was going on in town.  Dad had something to pick up at Rite-Aid on Canal Street.  I picked up some drinks, chips, ice and cups to bring to the station.  I arrived at WVUE at 4:30.  Plenty of people were  already at the station.  We had no pre-game broadcast but we did have a post game show to do.  That was mostly the domain of people above my pay grade.  Myself and the other desk personnel were largely free to watch the game which started at 5:30.  The game itself, and what a game it was.  It certainly didn’t start in fine fashion for the Saints who fell behind 10-0.  The Saints answered with two field goals in the second quarter but the Colts had a fine goal line stand preventing the Saints from scoring a touchdown.  The second half was the quite something.  The Saints opened the half with a successful onside kick and turned it into points.  Going into the fourth quarter, the Colts lead 17-16.  The Saints scored a touchdown after a good drive in their first possession of the quarter and a successful two point conversion.  In the closing minutes of the game, a Peyton Manning pass was intercepted by Tracy Porter and returned for a touchdown.  With that, 43 years of waiting came to an end and the Saints won their first Super Bowl.  I suspect the Saints have cured global warming.Immediately following the game I had to prompt our post game show although it was all live shots from around the city including Bourbon Street which erupted in celebration, perhaps unlike the city has ever seen.  As our post game show aas not going as scripted in any way, shape or form, I was eventually relieved of prompter duties.  Around 11, myself and Dannah were dismissed for the evening.  By then things were pretty quiet in the newsroom even though we would remain on the air until one.  I heard from Andrey who was in the quarter with some friends and went down to meet them.  Danna gave me a ride down Canal Street as far as she could before hitting the traffic jam.  That put me a couple blocks from the Claiborne overpass.  I walked down canal Street and soon saw the most cheerful gridlock of my life.   Everyone was honking.  Some people were hanging out of their cars, standing of the roofs.  It was quite a spectacle.I eventually made my way to Pat O’brien’s where I found Andrey, Patrick, David, Chelsi and another friend of theirs whose name escapes me.  They were at Pat O’s waiting for me so we left when I arrived and walked around the quarter a bit.  We stopped in a bar called Bourbon Oh! for a little while and wandered around some more.  Eventually we made our way back to Chelsi’s car which was parked on Poydras Street.  There were still six in our party including myself which made for a tight fit in the small car.  Andrey, David, Patrick and myself were dropped off at David’s house.  From there we went to Patrick’s place in River Ride so he could go home and Andrey could pick up his car.I wasn’t quite ready for bed yet so David and I headed back into town around three.  We first stopped at a gas station and I went in to pee.  As I was about to leave I noticed the next day’s paper was in stock.  The Monday edition featured the Saints Super Bowl win with “Amen!” topping the page.  Below that was a picture of MVP Drew Brees hoisting the Lombardi trophy.  I bought six copies.  I suspect I will be glad I did in the coming years.  Nor David or I wanted to head back to the quarter so we went to Bruno’s and found it closed.  Oak and Maple Street were deserted so we headed to a place that had to be open still, Snake and Jake’s.  Sure enough there was a crowd there.  We stayed for a couple drinks including the obligatory round of Schlitz.  Shortly before we left, someone walked in with a couple boxes of cold pizza and proclaimed there was free pizza for whoever wanted it.  He also said this was a limited offer… only when the Saints win the Super Bowl.David was kind enough to offer me a ride home.  On the way we wanted to stop for something to eat.  We waited until we hit General De Gaulle drive to try a place.  Rally’s was closed.  McDonalds was open but they were only serving sausage biscuits for some reason.  We got four... no drinks though.  We tried nearby Burger King for that but apparently they were closed.  Someone was there to tell us though.   We had to wait to get home for that.  I finally arrived home around five in the morning and went to bed after quite a day, to say the least.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:08:39 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Mayoral Election]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1314</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I slept in this morning and woke up around 11.  I fooled around on the computer for a while, mopped the kitchen and cleaned myself up to go vote.  New Orleans is electing a new mayor tonight along with city council races, a new assessor, coroner and some judge positions.  With Mardi Gras parades potentially being a problem, Dad and I left a bit early for me to get to work on time for five.  I picked up some dinner from Five Happiness on the way although an hour after I arrived, a lot of pizza showed up.  With the impending Super Bowl and tonight’s election, WVUE decided to do a lot of news coverage tonight.  We scheduled an hour of Saints stuff at seven to be followed by three hours of election coverage.  Finally we would have our standard half house news broadcast at 11.Unfortunately, we were preempting a NASCAR race, the Budweiser Shootout.  The station was bombarded with complaint calls today in addition to the scores of e-mail we have received over the last few days.  Since Fox 8’s viewing area extends far beyond Orleans parish, we had a lot of viewers on the Northshore and even Jefferson parish who were indignant.The polls closed at eight and we began our election coverage.  John and Nancy were in studio with a political science professor from Tulane.  We assigned a number of people to collect vote totals from 28 predetermined precincts decided by a gentleman we hired to act as an election analyst in the newsroom.  It only took 10-15 minutes for the outcome of the mayor’s race to be apparent.  The results we collected early showed vast support among black as well as white voters for Mitch Landrieu.  We called the race on air at about 8:30.  Landrieu got over 60% of the vote, more than enough to avoid a runoff election.  Most of the other races were reasonably clear-cut early on.  The only real drama was for the Council at Large seats.  The two top candidates in the field were to be elected.  Arnie Fielkow placed first.  Jackie Clarkson, the other incumbent edged out Cynthia Willard-Lewis by about 1,500 votes in a tight battle for second place.Between reporting on the returns we had several live shots to go to with look lives thrown in as well.  We were live from the Landrieu and Georges campaign headquarters.  Our special coverage continued until about 11 when we started a regular half hour news broadcast which wrapped our election stuff and presented other news of the day, like tomorrow’s Black and Gold Super Bowl.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:06:55 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Friday Off]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1313</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Like a few Friday’s past, I took the day off.  I got some laundry done but I didn’t really do any school work like I should have.  I have a written exam next Thursday which I will need to seriously study for if I want to do well.  I watched Caprica this evening.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:04:55 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[No Dancing]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1312</link>
		<description><![CDATA[It was wet outside throughout the day today.  Dad and I made it to the doctor’s office sometime around noon.  I got a couple reports ready and shortly before five Dad drove me down Canal Street to catch the shuttle.  I either missed it or it was running late.  Dad ended up giving me a ride to campus which was a bit of work for Dad with the wet streets and rain.  I didn’t get to campus as early as I usually do so I went right to Hebert for my history class this evening.  Tonight’s lecture was concerned with World War I as it related to the American Expeditionary Force.  Class was dismissed at around eight o’clock.Ballroom dancing was moved to Tuesday this week because there was a special swing dancing event at Reily.  I wasn’t in the mood to go to that tonight.  Before heading home, I stopped by the library to check out some books.  I’m planning on writing a research paper on chemical weapons in the United States for this military history class so I picked up some reference material on that.  I caught a cab home from the Boot.  I think I watched some TV before heading to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:04:16 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Shiny]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1311</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I slept in today after a night out yesterday and didn’t do much until I had to go to work this evening.  Saturday is usually a pretty chill night to work but the station was bustling tonight.  The main news set underwent to renovation today with a partial redesign of the backdrops.  That work went on through the day and up until just 10 minutes before we went on air.  Everyone seems very fond of the new design.  The more abstract background partially obscured with panes of frosted glass was replaced with a mural of the New Orleans skyline and flanked darker hued backdrops on the sides.  We also debuted new on screen graphics for the show open and supers.In addition to the goings on here at the station, plenty is happening in Miami as well where the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl will be played in the coming week.  With the exception of weather personnel, a majority of our talent is in Miami for live broadcasts.  John and Nancy are there, the morning crew and all of our sports people.Tonight we did a special hour-long newscast largely comprised of feature stories and live hits from Miami.  Shelley was in studio as usual.  Shelley opened the show and eventually tossed to John and Nancy.  Rob and Kim also appeared on the show and had packages.  All three sports guys appeared live in Miami as well.  Several of the pieces were about the city of Miami itself and the residents there.  I can only assume that sort of exposition will continue as the week goes on.  After the show ended, Travis asked me to stay a little while longer and hold down the assignment desk while he took care of something.  I was able to leave for the night at 10:20.  When I got home I watched the new episode of Caprica I missed a day or so ago.  I saw the pilot months ago when it was put out on DVD.  This, the second episode was even better.  The series does look promising.  I also started watching a movie and talked to Krystle on the phone before finally going to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:54:18 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1311-1264830858</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Out and About]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1310</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took Friday of today to relax a bit and get some laundry done.  Overall I wasn’t as productive as I would have liked.  This evening I heard from Andrey who was organizing a little outing this evening.  The turnout was ultimately smaller than he anticipated.   Andrey picked me up from home and we drove out to Tulane to pick up Romi.We went from there to La Thai this evening where they were having some event called SiP:PM.  The restaurant basically converted to a club with a DJ for the evening.  Defend New Orleans was sponsoring the event in some fashion.  After an hour or so hanging out there we decided to check out Karma, a recurring party sponsored by a Tulane student organization at Nirvana.  When we got to the door we learned there were already some 200 people there… quite a lot for the cramped location.  Instead we went to the Ohm Lounge downtown which was comparatively deserted.  They had a DJ spinning house music with only a couple patrons and two bartenders there.   It was nice being able to stretch out and relax in their "VIP area."  We might have spent an entire hour here before moving on.Our last stop for the evening was Whiskey Blue.  I bought a round of drinks and we retreated to one of the seating areas just outside the bar.  We were there until around three I think.  I took a cab home from the hotel and went to bed.  The next place we stopped in to was Le Phare at the Loft 523 hotel.  There was a decent but not overwhelming crowd there.  It’s a lovely place with interesting, subtle décor and comfortable furniture.  After getting drinks we relaxed on what I could only call beds they had situated down opposite the bar.  'DJ Jive' was spinning some sort of house music… I think.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:52:33 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1310-1264744353</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Friday and Saturday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1308</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I never ended up at the doctor’s office today although I intended on working today having already taken Wednesday off.  I do not recall making the most of the free time either.  I worked Saturday night, but I don’t remember much.  Our intern named Brian was there for a few hours.  I think I had five happiness for dinner.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:39:58 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Argentine Tango]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1307</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took the day off yesterday to relax, catch up on TV watching and get some laundry done.  I “accomplished” all those things.  Today I went to the office and again didn’t have a great deal to do with no freshly released patient charts on my desk.  Dad drove me down Canal Street at four so I could catch the uptown/downtown Tulane shuttle.  I disembarked at the Reily Center so I could stop by and pickup a club sports pass for ballroom this semester.With that taken care of I went to the LBC for a while and worked on log entries. I went to the Hebert building for my history class around 5:30.  This evening’s lecture covered the Indian wars and the Spanish-American War.  Class was dismissed at around eight.After class I went to PJ’s on Willow to relax for a while before ballroom dancing this evening.  There were about 50 people on hand for the first ballroom session of the semester.  Turnout was half of last term but there was no club sports expo to advertise us.The first dance style we’re doing this term is argentine tango.  I managed to stumble through the opening steps without stepping on any toes.  Andrey and I left ballroom a couple minutes early to meet up with David and Patrick at the theater in Elmwood.  Earlier in the evening I spoke with David and told me they were going to see a 10:05 showing of The Book of Eli.  I didn’t want to show up late but between leaving a bit early and the trailers, we arrived in plenty of time.The film it self was pretty interesting.  The plot demands that I not discuss the movie in any detail with someone who hasn’t seen it.  I will say that I enjoyed the movie a great deal and I think it is a fine film.  I have not walked out of a movie theater impressed in quite some time.After the movie I got a ride to the Boot and caught a cab home from there.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:38:26 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[103-F]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1306</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t remember having any real work to do this afternoon at the doc’s office.  I went to WVUE for four this evening.  A lot of the script for the five o’clock news was late arriving, a source of mild frustration. I wasn’t in the mood for the leftover pizza from last night so I ordered sweet and sour chicken from Five Happiness instead.  During the break between newscasts I wrote a “rest of” story regarding the rain and snow storms bombarding California.  It was hard to write just 20 seconds of material when there was so much happening related to the bad weather there.  There was flash flooding, mud slides, erosion of coastal cliffs, thousands without power and a 21 year-old man was killed in his sleep Monday when a huge tree was blown down and crushed his house.  We also seemed to lack good video to put over the reading.  I looked at available video on Pathfire and there was nothing particularly spectacular.  We ended up airing aerial footage of vehicles driving through high water.I struggled with it for about an hour but I solicited some advice from Snell who again offered some good points.  I did get the impression he was being too nice and holding back how he really felt.  I didn’t like my first draft either.The nine o’clock news went well enough and my story made air.  There were no major crimes on the scanners tonight although there was an apparent stabbing in the quarter.  It was most curious because it was later remarked as a 103-F, a “fight.”  Curious, to say the least.  I quickly got a cab this evening.  The driver was very polite and accommodating.  I was a couple bucks short and I forgot to stop at an ATM on the way home.  I talked to Krystle on the phone for a little while before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:21:15 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1306-1263939675</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[MLK Day]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1305</link>
		<description><![CDATA[As this was Martin Luther King Jr. day, I didn’t go to the doctor’s office this morning as we were closed.  Before leaving the house for my shift at Fox 8, I started a drive mirroring on my desktop.  I have been meaning to make a full backup of my main drive which has Windows 7 and XP partitions on it.  A backup drive should save me loads of time if something happens to my C drive.Printing the five o’clock news was not particularly hectic today.  Unfortunately it was a violent day in New Orleans with a few shootings on the westbank.  I wanted to get dinner from Italian Pie this evening but they weren’t answering the phone so I decided to try Domino’s “new recipe” pizza.  I haven’t eaten their pizza in quite a while and for good reason.  Their recent ads suckered me into giving them a try again.  In short, their pizza sucks less than it used to but I still prefer Papa John’s by far.The nine o’clock news went fine and the scanners were quiet enough this evening.  I got home around one.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:20:16 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1305-1263853216</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Jack is Back]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1304</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I slept in this morning I and I don’t recall doing much in the afternoon outside of watching football.  The Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings played today.  The Saints will face the winner of that game in the NFC championship next week.  The game was essentially a blowout for Brett Favre and the Vikings.  They won 34-3.I went to WVUE for five this evening.  Our weekend newscast started an hour late at 10 PM tonight because Fox was airing a two hour 24 premiere special at eight.  I’m a fan of the show myself although I certainly would have minded an earlier air time.  I watched the first hour on the desk and then tuned it out because I wouldn’t be able to pay attention to the end of the second hour.  The implications of the Vikings game dominated the newscast although we did run a story on the Haiti earthquake.The Final Play show went smoothly enough, although guess Jonathan Vilma barely arrived in time for air at 10:30.  With that and the morning sports taping, I wasn’t able to leave for the evening until 11:20.  After I got home I watched the second hour of the 24 premiere before bed.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:18:07 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[NFC Champions]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1309</link>
		<description><![CDATA[It seemed like everyone at Fox was working today. Myself and the other two PM PA’s were called in for noon today.   I slept in this morning and spent nearly all of my waking hours at the station.  We did a pregame show from 2-5 and then a post game show after today’s Saints game. WVUE did a three hour pre-game show for the championship matchup at 5:40.  I was at the station well before air time but it didn’t seem that me or the other desk personnel had any role in it.  I suppose I was called in early just to help with the phones which weren’t that bad.  What I saw of the pre-game show seemed to go pretty smoothly.  There were only a couple minor hiccups.  The broadcast differed from our previous shows in that we didn’t have anyone adjacent to the Superdome.  Instead, Fox8 cosponsored a stage with Coors on South Rampart street at Girod.    John and Nancy were positioned on a platform some distance from the stage.  Bob Breck appeared on stage to introduce a couple of the musical acts.  We also had reporters scattered around to cover the tailgating downtown. We went off the air at five and the FOX Sports pre-game show started.  Without an actual newscast this evening, most of the newsroom staff was largely free to watch the game in its entirety.  I know this log doesn’t need to document the game itself in detail.  It won’t be forgotten anytime soon.  I can say that it was like a lot of game, down to the wire… more so than usual. There were a good number of people in the newsroom to watch the game.  Me and the other assignment desk folks, Mike, John and Nancy and the directors and producers were there.  They had food brought in at five which was nice.The game was a see-saw of momentum changes.  Neither team ever led by more than a touchdown.  At the end of regulation the game was tied.  The Saints won the coin toss for first overtime possession, kicked a field goal and won their first trip to the Super Bowl.Everyone at the station was “visibly elated” with the win, to put it mildly.  I was ecstatic myself, in shock really.  Immediately after the game ended we could see scores of people flood Bourbon Street which was looked nearly deserted seconds before.  The police scanners lit up as well with various crowd control traffic.  Overall however, things were pretty calm considering the insane number of people in the streets.  Over the course of the evening there were no major crime incidents.About a half hour after the game ended and the trophy presentation took place, we began our own post game show with fan reactions, reports from downtown, at the dome, highlight clips, etc.  It went for a good while too.  We were on the air until 1:45 AM.  I finally went home after we finished the broadcast at around two, finishing up a 14 hour workday.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Jan 2010 01:40:38 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1309-1263710438</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Saints Win Divisional]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1303</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I had the day off on Friday and did exactly nothing.  This afternoon, I watched the Saints first playoff game versus the Arizona Cardinals.  I was expecting a tighter contest but New Orleans rolled over the Cardinals 45-14.  During the game I spent some time trying to fix a small Thinkpad I bought a couple months ago but I didn’t have any luck.  I went into work this afternoon a bit later so I could watch the game in full at home before leaving tonight.  When I arrived at the station at 6:45, our short post game show was already underway.  This evening’s newscast featured some live Saints stuff and generally went off without incident.  I left for the evening on time at 10.  I think I finished watching Braveheart this evening. I saw the movie years ago but I rented to blu-ray.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:17:00 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1303-1263680220</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[State of Play]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1302</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I spent most of the workday at the office today updating the books and clearing old charts off my desk.  We left for the day at six.  This evening, I watched some TV including Monday’s episode of Hustle, a BBC show.  I also watched State of Play and talked to Ami on the phone before heading to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:30:38 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1302-1263421838</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Cabin Fever]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1301</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t recall anything extraordinary happening at the doctor’s office this afternoon.  I ordered pizza for lunch and took the leftovers to the station for dinner later tonight.  It was not quite as cold today but it was a violent night in New Orleans.  There were seven shootings and three murders in a matter of hours.  One of the incidents took place during our late newscast.  When I started monitoring the scanners shortly after 10 I was expecting another major incident but this were quiet enough until I went home for the evening at 12:30.  Travis was out at a scene in Marrero and got back to the station around 11.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:29:57 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1301-1263335397</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Sickly]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1300</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I had some mild symptoms over the weekend but I felt quite bad this morning with a sore throat and the sniffles.  I don’t remember much from work at the doctor’s office this afternoon.  I muddled through work at Fox 8 this evening.  Dad was kind enough to bring me some Tylenol and a snack after we went off the air at six.  I managed to get through the rest of the evening alright but I was glad to go home and to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:28:54 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1300-1263248934</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Skating]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1299</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I let a whole week go by without a log entry and I was debating how much time to put into catching up.  I’ve decided to do a half-assed job.Last Tuesday, we had a bowl game to wait for prior to going on the air with the late news show finally finished around 11:45.  As soon as I was done prompting I learned of a shooting that happened almost an hour before.  I elected not to send anyone.On Friday, I received a Nintendo DSi that I purchased the day before.  I really didn’t need it but was sufficiently curious about any potential improvements over the DS lite which I have been using frequently with a flash card to play old games with emulators.  It’s a very incremental upgrade and not really worth the $170 I paid.  It might prove to be more valuable in the future if the homebrew scene can make use of the increased CPU power and RAM.  I will probably sell my Lite to offset my stupidity.I worked at the station Saturday and Sunday evening.  I spent a good portion of Saturday evening hanging out with the sports photographer, Edwin who was editing a few things.  He was following the Cardinals/Packers game with great interest because he and Rob would be flying to the winning team’s city the following morning.  Obviously, Phoenix offers considerably better weather.  Arizona pulled off a win with a turnover and touchdown in overtime.  Edwin had the last laugh after some taunting from other folks in edit world.I went with Andrey and his little brother to Baton Rouge Sunday afternoon to go ice skating.  I went with him last year for an evening outing that was pretty fun.  I didn’t enjoy myself quite as much this time though.  The Centroplex, which we went to last year was no longer open for public skating sessions.  Instead, we went to a place called Leo's Ice Skating & Hockey Complex.  They had a full size rink that was nearly overflowing with little kids thanks to a couple birthday parties being held there.  The session was well underway when we arrived. The ice was in need of resurfacing and it was littered with children.  They were also permitting people to use plastic chairs as walkers on the ice, something I never saw skating on Colorado.After the skating session ended we went to find a place to eat.  We ended up at Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse on Airline highway.  I had the crawfish etoufee and Andrey and his brother both had hamburger steaks.  My food was good and my sample of the hamburger steak was also quite good.Following dinner we drove back to New Orleans.  Andrey dropped me off at WVUE for work this evening.  Work was not particularly eventful.  We had Jonathan Vilma in for Final Play this evening, a first in a couple weeks.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:14:47 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1299-1263183287</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Fiesta Bowl]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1298</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I must have stayed up too late last night because I was terribly tired this morning and didn’t feel great through the day.  I skipped lunch at the doctor’s office.By this afternoon I felt better.  Preparation for the five o’clock news was more lively due to a big development in the Tim Whitmer ‘scandal’ with his resignation after not quite 30 years of service as Jefferson Parish CAO.  The evening newscast was delayed this evening by the Fiesta Bowl which we were airing this evening.  We had to wait for the football game and post game to show to end before we went on air.  We finally did go on shortly after 11.  That newscast went just fine.  We certainly had enough time to prepare it and we only did a half-hour show.I wasn’t alone long for monitoring the scanners.  I was fortunate to have another evening with no shootings or other calamities.  I was late in getting to bed this evening.  I watched yesterday’s Top Gear episode and found myself playing Nintendo until almost 4 AM.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:10:17 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1298-1262635817</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Back to Work]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1297</link>
		<description><![CDATA[We were up for about seven this morning to be out the door at eight.  I did not want to have to rush the return trip this time.  During my last visit to Ruston I boarded the train about 20 seconds before departure.  Today I had even more time to spare than I would have expected.At eight we went to Waffle House for breakfast but Krystle was not feeling well and decided not to eat anything.  The two hour drive to Jackson was uneventful.  Unlike some previous days, the sun was out today.  Just after I arrived at the train station, it was announced that the train would be over an hour late.  After parting ways with Krystle I walked over to the Hilton hotel across the street and camped out there with my laptop until noon.Shortly after I got back to the station, the train pulled in and departed around half past 12.  In spite of the delay we still arrived in New Orleans “on schedule” at about 3:45.  I took a cab from the station to WVUE where I was scheduled to work my regular 5-10 PM shift.  The evening passed without incident although I did feel unwell, mostly tired.  I finally arrived back home this evening around 11 and promptly went to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:08:19 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1297-1262549299</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[The Good Night]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1296</link>
		<description><![CDATA[If I remember right, I was up at a more respectable hour this morning.  After a visit to Krystle’s mom this morning, we went out to lunch at a new restaurant in Ruston, Portico.  Apparently the place was just built and has been very popular.  We both found the food to unremarkable and rather expensive, however.After lunch, Krystle gathered some laundry at her place and we paid another visit to her mom’s house.  Krystle’s new apartment does not have laundry facilities.  We hung around there for a couple hours.  I played a couple games of chess with Krystle and later taught her younger brother Jacob how to play the game.  	Later in the evening we both went back to Krystle’s place for dinner.  She cooked steak and potatoes which turned out quite well.  Before bed we watched a movie called The Good Night.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:07:13 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1296-1262462833</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[A Little Shopping]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1295</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was about as tardy in getting up today as yesterday.  Krystle and I went to Chili’s for lunch and afterward drove out to Monroe to do a little shopping.  We went to Academy Sports and I got a couple pairs of jeans.  We also stopped at Pier 1 so Krystle could look at furniture and various knick-knacks.After that we went to Best Buy so I could ogle some things myself.  I bought a case for my DS since I am actually using it now and taking it with me when I go places.  We also stopped at a nearby clothing store and later the mall down the street.  We got there 15 minutes before the mall closed at six, however, so that was a wasted stop.When we got back to Ruston we visited Krystle’s mom’s house again.  We had some time to kill before meeting some people later this evening.  At 7:30, we went to see several of Krystle’s friends at Jessica’s house.  A handful of people were there including Krystle’s friend Kristin who was in Ruston for a brief visit.  Most of the time was spent chatting, eating and playing Mario Party on the WIi.  I believe it was after 12 when we left for the evening.  After we got back to her place we realized we had a bit more shopping that needed doing so we made a quick stop at Walmart.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:38:58 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1295-1262378338</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[2010]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1294</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After sleeping in this morning, Krystle and I went to a Chinese place for lunch.  The food wasn’t great but we knew that going in.  We probably went to visit Krystle’s mom after lunch but I honestly don’t remember.  Later in the evening we went to Walmart to do some grocery shopping.  We bought a couple steaks to cook in the next couple nights.Later this evening we got something to eat from McDonalds and watched another movie.  I think the one tonight was In the Valley of Elah.  We never did go out anywhere.  I thought we might meet up with some of Krystle’s family or something but we stayed in.  It was terribly cold outside anyway… and raining.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:35:53 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1294-1262291753</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Rainy Trip]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1293</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Like a lot of days in New Orleans lately, the weather today was rather wet and gloomy.   With my stuff packed for my impending trip to Ruston this afternoon, I went to the office with Dad for about an hour to get a couple things done prior to leaving for the week.  Dad dropped me off at the train station around one.  I wanted to be early in case there was any trouble.  I learned late last night that the train was nearly sold out when I booked a reservation over the phone.  I’ve never seen much a crowd at the train station before.  I arrived 45 minutes before departure and there was already a long line of folks waiting to board.  I did not have any problems, though.  I was able to get my ticket and board.  We departed on time at 1:45.  I spent a good portion of the train ride playing my Nintendo DS.  If I remember right, the train was just a couple minutes late in arriving in Jackson.  It didn’t matter much to me though.  Krystle got hung up with some stuff this afternoon and was late in leaving to pick me up.  I went to the nearby Hilton hotel to wait for her.  She arrived at 6:30 and made the drive back to Ruston.  It was raining through at least the first hour of the ride.We must have arrived in Ruston around 8:30.  After we got settled we went to Waffle House for dinner, my first visit to such an establishment.  We might have watched a movie later that evening.  I think it was a DVD a brought with me, Akira Kurosawa’s Scandal.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:35:05 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[95/108]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1292</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The workday today was very similar to that of yesterday although I was not as sloppy in my work as yesterday.  I monitored a 108 (officer needs assistance, life in danger) on the scanners this evening that apparently involved a lot of cops and a SWAT team on Marigny although nothing really came of it by the time I was done for the evening at 12:30 AM.  Nobody was hurt and one of our freelance photographers happened to be in the area and called the desk to tell me what’s going on.  Later this evening I packed for a trip I’ll be taking tomorrow.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:24:17 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Da Bears]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1291</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I'm only two days removed from writing this log entry but I am already struggling to remember the day.  I do remember prompting the nine and feeling a bit sloppy.  I forgot to change camera three after weather and John didn’t have the prompter for that tease.Later in the evening I was watching the Bears Vikings game.  A win by the Chicago Bears would give the New Orleans Saints home field advantage in the playoffs.  John Snell called the desk and suggested I send out a breaking news e-mail alert should the Bears win so the other John helped me set that up before he left.  Improbably enough, the 5-9 Bears did win so I sent out the alert.  Someone else from the station sent another less than a minutes after me though.  Later in the evening I posted an AP story on the game to the website.  Luckily there were no other incidents to worry about tonight as the game nearly monopolized my attention.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:18:09 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1291-1262017089</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Beat by the Bucks]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1290</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The Saints played another bad football game this week, this one versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a 2-12 team.  The Saints were slow to start and didn’t appear to even show up until the 4th quarter.  BY then it was too late.  The Bucks missed a game-ending field goal late which gave the Saints a shot to tie the game at the end but a sack to Brees but an end to that.  The Saints lost 17-20.  I went in to fox for five this evening.  I don’t remember much about work although I do recall Dana volunteered to run the prompter tonight so I was able to leave on time at 10.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:17:10 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1290-1261930630</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[WPA]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1289</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Early this afternoon, I went with Mom and my brothers to visit Aunt Dionne.  In years past we’ve visited them and all the other people there on Christmas day but that didn’t happen this year.  After I got there I was quickly recruited to install a new wireless router and set up the security and then connect all the devices around the house to it including a new blu-ray player and TV in the living room.  Despite my familiarity with such things it took a good while to get it working with all the computers and peripheral hardware around the house.  I think I had all the settings right from the outset, however.  We also exchanged gifts with Aunt Dionne and Uncle Larry while we were there.  Mom and Andrew left ahead of Jeff and me as she needed to get back home while I was still fooling with their stuff.  Later after I finished everything I went with Jeff to Lakeside Mall.  He wanted to get a gift for a friend he was seeing later this week and I had time to kill before heading to work this evening.  It was exceptionally crowded and we were lucky to get a parking stop some distance from the mall itself.  We went through a bunch of stores but I didn’t see anything I wanted to buy.  I have enough new toys to play with anyway.We left the mall at around 3:45.  I wanted to pick something up for dinner to bring to the station but Jeff was hungry too and we had enough time to eat out somewhere.  He said he was in the mood for a po-boy so we went to Mandina’s, which is more-or-less on the way to WVUE anyway.  The place was just starting to fill up when we arrived and we were seated immediately.  Jeff ordered a fried oyster po-boy and I had the shrimp po-boy and some fries.  The wait for our food was longer than usual.  Our waiter told us 90% of their orders today were for fried seafood which was backing them up a bit.  He surmised most people wanted something different from traditional Christmas dinners.I was going to be a bit late to work so I called ahead and arrived at about 5:10.  I don’t recall much of anything about the workday.  I printed the script and prompted like I always do on Saturdays.  Everything went smoothly if I remember right.  I got back home around 10:15.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:14:51 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1289-1261844091</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Christmas 2009]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1288</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This Christmas Eve was a pleasant day at home.  I had the day off and didn’t have much of anything to do.  Dad made his awesome jambalaya for dinner, sort of a Christmas Eve tradition.   I felt strangely tired early this evening and went to bed around eight.Following a long night’s sleep I was up at a decent hour this Christmas morning.  Sometime after ten everyone was up and we opened our gifts.  We didn’t put up the tree this year so they were all stacked in front the fire place under the stockings.  It was gadgets all around this year.  Mom and Dad bought me a Zune HD and some toiletries.  Andrew got a new laptop and Jeff got an iPhone.  Dad bought Mom an Amazon Kindle, apparently a very popular gift this year.  I gave away several copies of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album and cash this year.  I spent the better part of the afternoon playing with my new toy.  I have one of the old Zunes now known as the “Zune 30.”  It’s a nice player but the new Zune HD is very appealing.  Its OLED screen is the best display on a portable device I have ever seen.  The interface is quite slick as well and the applications and web browser and nice novelties.  Like most mainstream players, it lacks FLAC and DivX support which is a bit disappointing.Later this evening, I went out with Andrey and a few friends of his.   One my way across the river I picked up LaQuenta, an acquaintance of Andrey’s I went to high school with.  She was part of our “lunch table” crew but I had not seen her since I graduated.  She doesn’t live here now but was in town for the week and staying just off De Gaulle drive.We went to Melange at the Ritz-Carlton where we were to meet Andrey and a couple of his friends.  Even though it was Christmas Day, the place was still quite crowded and Jeremy Davenport was playing like any other Friday night, although the repertoire was more “seasonal.”  I managed to find a table for the two of us although it wouldn’t suffice after the rest of our party arrived.Andrey arrived with two ladies in tow about 15 minutes after we did.  I met one at Patrick’s birthday a couple weeks ago.  We all stuck around at the Ritz for an hour or so.  We were two chairs short for the duration though so Andrey and I had to stand.  After we left the Ritz we walked a couple blocks to the Ohm Lounge.  There was supposed to be a DJ there this evening but we didn’t see one yet.  LaQuenta had to be home by midnight and Andrey gave her a ride back.  One of the other girls was hungry so I went with both of them to IHOP on Canal Street while we waited for Andrey to return from the west bank.  I was hardly hungry but I ordered a little something to occupy myself.Following our late night meal we met back up with Andrey on canal Street and went back to the Ohm Lounge.  The DJ finally showed up a while after we did. The house music wasn’t bad although it did make conversation cumbersome.  We called it a night around two if I remember right.  I caught a cab from Canal Street in short order and went home and to bed around three.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:13:26 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Bad Lieutenant]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1287</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Although the doctor’s office will be closed tomorrow and Friday, things didn’t seem very busy at work today.  Patient flow was reasonably steady but hardly overwhelming.Late this evening I met up with Andrey, David and some other to see a movie.  Originally, I was going to meet David at his house to go to the theater but that didn’t work out so well.  First, I was unable to get a cab after waiting for 40 minutes.  I called David to let them know I couldn’t make it since I didn’t have a ride but he called me back and offered to come over the river and pick me up.  There was also the small issue of the showing we were going to apparently not happening.  We planned on going to Elmwood but had to go to a theater in Kenner to see an 11 PM show.  David picked up Lucas and them came over to pick me up.  We met Andrey and a couple other people at the Hollywood Cinema 9 in Kenner, a dumpy and not particularly charming theater adjacent to the Esplanade mall.We saw Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, a Werner Herzog film.  Our group made up the entire audience so we were free to make “comments” during the film without going to “the special hell.”  It was a crazy and very entertaining film although immediately after watching it I did not have much appreciation for its artistic merits.  I remember saying it was one of the best bad movies I have ever seen.  Having had a couple days to digest it, I think it is worthy of higher praise.  I will be watching it again sometime in the future to try and solidify my opinion.  After the movie, I asked David to drop me off at Harrah’s Casino downtown to catch a cab home.  I assumed there would be a handful just sitting there but I had to wait a little while.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:41:21 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Tuesday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1286</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I didn’t have much in the line of real work to worry about to day.  I was mostly worried with getting some mail out.  On the way to the station this afternoon I stopped at Rouses to get deodorant and something for dinner.  Overall, work at the station was not unusual.  The five o’clock news was smooth enough although it would have been easier if more scripts were in sooner.  I wrote a short “rest of” story about Celebration in the Oaks extending its run which was read largely as I wrote it although Bobby added a couple lines.I was lucky enough to have another late night shift pass quietly with the exception of some vacuuming in the newsroom.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:24:48 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1286-1261502688</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1285</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I needed a jump to get my car started this morning to move it out of the way this morning.  I had a couple reports to work on at the office which I largely finished.  I headed to WVUE at quarter to four this afternoon.  Script printing for the five o’clock show was more hectic than usual, largely because Val’s Tim Whitmer stuff which was to lead both the five and 5:30 shows was late arriving.I wrote a “rest of” story for the nine o’clock show that made air.  It was a short thing about the Roman Polanski rape case.  John took a couple minutes to offer some constructive criticism.  I made a couple changes based on his suggestions and it was read as I revised it.After the news I was on duty until 12:30.  Luckily nothing of circumstance happened.  When I got home I talked to Krystle on the phone for a while before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:14:20 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1285-1261376060</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Out of Time]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1284</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I'm writing this entry only the day after and my memory is already largely faded.  Before getting ready for work and leaving for the evening I recall mopping the kitchen.  Work at Fox was largely uneventful. A bunch of us got dinner from the Italian Pie. I don't remember any problems with the newscast.There was one significant timing issue with an otherwise smooth Final Play show.  John Henry did not have a guest this evening to add any variables but we ran out of time after the C block.  There is supposed to be a final goodbye segment, which John teased after he started reading the show closer, but it turned out that there was not enough time for it and the show simply ended.  There was a substantive discussion at the end of the show about what exactly happened.I thought I might be partially responsible because I scrolled right passed the black C block tease in the script and the break and started rolling the final show closer which John started reading before corrected himself and said we’d be right back.  We still wouldn’t have had time for him to actually come back on air but the end might have looked a little cleaner had I held on the blank script page header.It took a little while to get morning sports ready and I finally left at 10:20.  I watched some of this week's Top gear episode and talked to Krystle on the phone for a little while before heading to bed.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:07:50 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1284-1261289270</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[13 - 1]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1283</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t remember much going on this afternoon.  I went to Fox for five this evening.  The New Orleans Saints played the Dallas Cowboys this evening at the Superdome.  WVUE did a three-hour pregame show live from there this afternoon.  It was on-going when I arrived and I didn’t have anything to do related to the show.  I was also largely free to watch the game in the newsroom tonight.  We did a half hour newscast at nine which partially overlapped with halftime.As for the game itself, it appeared to be another instance of the Saints phoning in the first half.  Unfortunately they didn’t make things happen until the fourth quarter. Late in the game after the Cowboys missed a field goal and failed to make it a two score game, it looked like the Saints had a chance to score a touchdown and tie the game.  It was not to be, however and the 8-5 Dallas team handed the Saints their first loss.Although my weekend shifts usually end at 10, I stayed until quarter to 11 to see the rest of the game.  Afterward, I heard from Andrey and agreed to meet him and some friends for drinks at The Cure on Frenchman.  After a long wait for a cab I finally got there only to find it was closed for a private party.  I called Andrey again and he eventually picked me up and we went to pick up David and then headed to the Monkey Hill Bar on Magazine Street.  It’s a nice place but it would have been better with a lighter crowd.  We were soon joined by Andrey’s friend John and a couple ladies he brought with him.  Andrey had to lave a little after one and I decided to take my leave at the same time.  I caught a cab home from in front of the bar.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:06:35 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1283-1261202795</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Avatar]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1282</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I did not go to work today but I did get some things done.  This morning I got a haircut after putting it off for a couple weeks.  I did have to wait a while to get it done though.  I can usually walk in when they open at 10.  Today I couldn’t get a place until 10:30 and some confusion prevented me from being seen until quarter to 11.  I also made stops a stop at the bank before heading back home.  I was planning on stopping at the post office too but Dad graciously agreed to take care of the Christmas cards and gifts I wanted to ship today.This afternoon at home I got some laundry done but I did not have everything done and in order by this evening.  Jeff was home tonight for the weekend and we both went out to the AMC quazi-IMAX theater in Elmwood to the 10:45 showing of James Cameron’s Avatar this evening.  We arrived 45 minutes early after getting dinner nearby and there were already some 200 people in line to get in.  We managed to snag respectable seats up high though.  I was expecting a simplistic but gorgeous film and that’s pretty much what we got.  This was my first time seeing a feature-length 3D movie.  The added dimension was not gimmicky which was nice although many of the seemingly 3D objects were unrealistically out of focus.  As for the film itself, it was very pretty to look at.  Story wise, it was quite simplistic and a bit trite… Dances with Wolves in space, really.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:04:10 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1282-1261116250</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Leslie Out]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1281</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I got a couple charts done at the doc’s office this afternoon before leaving to go to Fox this evening.  I normally do not work Wednesdays but someone needed to cover a shift for Monica who was taking an exam today.  The script for the five was a bit slow to finish to so I got a nice workout running scripts for the newscast.  Dana, Edwin and myself I ordered dinner from Mikimoto this evening.  I couldn’t decide what I wanted and picked out the “Combo Box” randomly.  I did not care for what I got and didn’t eat much of it.Shortly before seven this evening we learned Leslie Jacobs was pulling out the mayoral race following Mitch Landrieu’s late entry.  Ms. Jacobs joined the anchors for an on set interview at the beginning of the nine o’clock news.  Ed Chervenak from UNO dropped by around eight to record a short interview offering reaction to Jacob’s decision.  We also heard a shooting on the scanners before we went on air which we were able to fit into the end of the news broadcast.I was on duty until 12:30 AM.  The scanners were busy this evening but there were no major incidents.  This evening I had the same cab driver who I had on Monday with the heavy rain.  He said his car developed a minor electrical problem on the way back to the east bank but it fixed itself after a couple days.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:23:58 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1281-1260987838</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Still Wet]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1280</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t remember getting much work done at the doctor’s office today.  We were a bit late to arrive though.  I went to the station at four this afternoon.  John Snell was co-anchoring live from Raceland today to cover the flooding there following a couple days of heavy rain.  His feed dropped out once during the show which was unfortunate.  Jennifer Hale also had a live shot that dropped as she was wrapping up.  Overall though, the broadcast looked pretty good.Between shows I wrote a short story about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s successful test flight today.  It went on air almost exactly as I wrote it.  Bobby broke my lead sentence into two separate ones.  A murder occurred comparatively early this evening but we could not get any details on the incident so it didn’t make air.I was at the desk until 12:30 this evening.  Luckily there were no more incidents this evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:00:49 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1280-1260856849</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[More Rain]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1279</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Most of my time at the doctor’s office this afternoon was spent fooling with medical record copies that had to be sent out.  I handled the printing for the five o’clock news at Fox 8 this evening.  I didn’t have much to do with the downtime.  John and I got dinner delivered from Five Happiness.  I had the self-discipline to only eat half of it following pizza for lunch earlier today.The greater New Orleans area was subjected to heavy rain much like what we saw on Saturday.  We had some live coverage but the rainfall was not severe enough to cause significant street flooding when we were on air. We had people out until about midnight, however.  With a lot of people still on the clock well after we were off the air at 10, I was not alone in the newsroom this evening.  John didn’t go home until 11:30, right after a morning show producer, Andrea, arrived early.  Kim Vaughn was around too to do live weather updates on the hour.  It seemed to rain at the station steadily over the course of the evening and we did get a couple reports of street flooding while I was there. I left at 12:30 and luckily I got a cab in a reasonable amount of time in spite of the weather.  I updated my log after I got home and talked to Krystle on the phone briefly before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:37:47 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1279-1260776267</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[13 - 0]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1278</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I watched the Saints play the Atlanta Falcons this afternoon.  The Falcons aren’t a push over team and again it was no blowout.  Atlanta was in the game until the end but a few strokes of luck turned things in favor of the Saints who won 26-23.I went to work for five this evening.  As the Saints were playing out of town we didn’t have very much game coverage to worry about.  Fin went out to shoot video of the fans greeting players at the Airport and we had the Final Play sports show.  I don’t remember any problems with the newscast.  Even the sports show was half decent.  We didn’t have the same timing problems as the past few weeks, but we did end the show prematurely.  John Henry and Vilma could have chatted for about another 20 seconds in the show close.I didn’t have any trouble getting home this evening.  A familiar cab driver picked me up after 10.  I spent the rest of the evening fooling with instant messenger apps.  I tried unsuccessfully to import my Trillian chat logs into Miranda IM and eventually gave up and started using Pidgin again.  I talked to Ami online for a good while before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:36:55 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Rained Out]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1277</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was at home through the day today.  I slept in today after getting home at 4 AM last night.  I spent the better part of the day fooling with my computer.  I installed Miranda IM because I can skin it to fix the default Aero Glass UI better.There was some serious rain across the city this evening.  Streets were starting to flood around four this afternoon.  Dad took me over the river at about 4:30 to get me to work.  It was raining heavily and Dad had to avoid deep water in the street on several occasions.  After taking the Claiborne off ramp we hit the corner of Earhart and Magnolia where the HOV lane ramp is.  Just beyond that we saw some very deep water that Dad’s Eclipse likely would not have successfully crossed.  We hooked a right along with other smaller cars and headed back to the west bank and back home.  I called the station and let them know I was unable to make it to the station.  I talked to Allison who seemed pretty understanding.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one having trouble.  As we were returning we could see water in the drainage canal on General De Gaulle look like it was about to spill into the street.I figured I might make another attempt to get there if the weather let up but it rained continuously through the better part of the evening.  I basically spent the rest of the evening on my computer.  We had heavy rain and a bit of lightning but we didn’t lose electricity tonight.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:35:51 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1277-1260603351</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Not Quite Birthday Party]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1276</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took the day off today and spent most of it doing nothing.  It was rainy all day and night.  Late this evening, I went to a quazi-birthday party for Patrick’s girlfriend Erin.  Her birthday isn’t until January but she will be going abroad soon.The party was at a friend of a friend’s house, nobody I really knew.  There were a handful of unfamiliar faces there.  I’m not motivated to describe the gathering in detail but it was fun and Andrey and Stephanie teamed up to make mojitos that were pretty good.  I had three, some beer and later lots of water to compensate.  Sometime after three the party broke down and I went with Andrey to his place to call a cab.  I got home around four and went right to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:34:52 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1276-1260516892</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Last Practicum Class]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1275</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t recall much from yesterday.  I went to work but other than that I cannot remember any details of the day.  After work today I went to my final media arts practicum class.  I finished up my work last week but I did have to turn in an evaluation form I was late in receiving and I was curious to get my project back and read the comments.  There were three class presentations remaining and we were done by 6:40.  Ms. Hart was fond of my journal but didn’t like my final report, and rightfully so.  I didn’t like it either.  Regrettably, the class is pass/fail so extra efforts did not count for anything.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:34:10 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Tuesday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1274</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Overall today was what is now a typical Tuesday.  I had some work at the doctor’s office this afternoon but not too much.  I arrived at WVUE on time and did the reads for the five o’clock show and then printed the 5 while Dana prompted.  I satisfied a personal curiosity and timed how much time actual news burned during our hour long broadcast.  Excluding commercials, weather and sports, there was just under 25 minutes of real news.I wrote a “rest of” news story to fill some time between newscasts although I gave more attention to my beef teriyaki from Mikimoto for dinner.  It was just four sentences about the White House gate crashers.  It was good practice though and John Snell and Kim only had minor gripes.  I am currently reading a book on broadcast writing which so far has been quite informative. I prompted the newscast which featured some breaking news about a cab driver shooting and a “Heart of Louisiana” package.  Near the end, the time management left a lot to be desired.  In the H block, several rest of stories were killed and at the end of the show we still had loads of time.  Bob Breck took plenty of time for final weather and that still left well over a minute for the show close which featured over a minute of a rather dismal Saints tribute song and a Jefferson Awards graphic and skycam shots after that.  All of rest of could have been read in that time.The scanners were quiet during my late night monitoring until I left for the night at 12:30.  A cab arrived almost immediately and I had a speedy ride home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:00:42 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Sources]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1273</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Before leaving for work this I had a couple reports to work on at the doctor’s office this afternoon and I cleared some charts off my desk and filed them.  A pizza from Subway was lunch.I was at Fox for four.  The five o’clock news appeared to go pretty smoothly although I was printing it and not watching intently.  I did not do much to do during the downtime.  There were no “rest of” stories needing attention.  I mostly nursed my e-mail which is in constant need of culling thanks to the small mailbox size limit.Through "sources," it was learned that Mitch Landrieu will be announce his candidacy for New Orleans mayor tomorrow.  We had a guest for the nine o’clock news, Loyola professor Peter Burns.  He and the anchors had a nice chat in the A block (the first segment, before the first break) about the implications.  There was also some sports news of personal interest tonight.  A high school teacher of mine and football coach, Frank Wilson, has been hired by LSU.  He will be their running backs coach and recruiting coordinator.I was at the station until 12:30 AM.  Luckily nobody got shot so I didn’t have to wake up any photographers.  There were no “good” choices tonight.  On the way home, I had an interesting conversation with the cab driver, Eddie.  He has a psychology degree and also did paralegal studies.  Over the course of our conversation I learned he used to work for an attorney Dad does business with and the driver was actually a patient at our clinic before Katrina.As I was fishing through my wallet pay the driver, he asked if I was on the phone because he said he heard someone say hello.  My Blackberry was in my pocket so I dismissed him but when I got out the car and had a look I saw I had inadvertently called Claudia.  It’s not the first time my phone had dialed someone in my pocket.I also missed a call back so I called her to apologize. Luckily she was awake and just got off work.  We talked for about 20 minutes on how she is doing at WWL-TV.  In short, she is doing quite well and seems quite happy there.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:58:06 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Whew Dat]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1272</link>
		<description><![CDATA[In addition to playing with my computer this afternoon, I also watched the Saints game versus the Washington Redskins.  Like last week I was in disbelief but this time for different reasons.   Our smack down of the lauded Patriots was pleasantly shocking.  Today, our languishing performance but "improbable" comeback win was just as surprising.  I didn’t get a headache last week though.I went in to work for five this evening.  At around seven, there was a murder on Bass Street in the East.  With a few people at the airport for the Saints fans welcoming and a couple other circumstances, we didn’t have any photographers to send out immediately.  A couple hours passes before someone was on scene, which no doubt displeased management.The nine o’clock news was plagued with technical issues.  During the weather segment, Nicondra's microphone wasn’t working and the director rolled a commercial break after about 20 seconds with no sound.  The problem was fixed and we did another take after the break.  There were also a couple instances where talent was on camera where B roll or other video should have been.  The Final Play show was plagued by the typical time management problems and general sloppiness.  After the Final Play, we recorded morning sports and I was able to go home around 10:40.  I had time to play on my computer before bed.  I also watched some TV including the season premiere of Shatner’s Raw Nerve.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:19:03 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Later Than Usual]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1271</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This afternoon, I spent some time with my desktop computer and Windows 7.  I recently bought a retail copy and installed it on my desktop over the release candidate I had set up to dual boot with XP.  I fixed a couple problems I was having with the second monitor.  My USB audio interface seems to be behaving now as well.On Saturday, I “discovered” after I arrived that I had to work until midnight tonight instead of 10 PM.  Nearly a month ago, I agreed to cover part of John’s shift so he could leave early tonight at 10.  I was rather bummed since I planned on making use of what would have remained of my evening.  I felt better after getting something to eat, however.  I went with Nicondra to the grocery store around seven and bought a ham po-boy which was pretty decent.  I only went myself because I needed to get cash back.  Since I was staying later, I was not expecting a ride home now.  Dad had agreed to pick me up Saturday night since he was going to be up.I prompted the broadcast at nine.  I don’t recall any irregularities.  By 10:30 I was pretty much alone in the newsroom to monitor the scanners.  There was a murder in Marrero around 11 and I called Travis to check it out.  He volunteered himself should I need someone this evening and I lived in reasonable proximity.Around 12 AM after Jessica arrived for the overnight shift, she pulled Travis to go catch a perp walk at central lockup.  When I left for the night, I found Dad waiting outside for me.  I obviously misunderstood what he said when I called him earlier to say I would be late.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:17:45 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Fox Party]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1270</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This evening after an uneventful afternoon at work, I got as dressed up as I could stand and went to the WVUE / Horizon Entertainment Christmas party... update to come.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:15:34 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[(Last) Class]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1269</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took the day off on Wednesday to work on my final project for Media Arts Practicum class.  I had to write a short report on my internship experience which I bundled with in journal and some other previous work to hand in as one package.  I had a hard time focusing on the work, however, and didn’t finish until late that night.This morning, it still needed some final polish like a table of contents.  I worked on this before leaving for work today and a little bit after arriving.  On the way to the office we stopped at Office Depot so I could buy a little plastic report binding thing.  I managed to get it all put together in reasonably short order so I was able to get some actual work done today.  At around two I went to Venesia for lunch and had the fettuccini alfredo.This evening’s media arts practicum class was wholly devoted to class presentations.  In place of a regular exam, we had to speak in front of the class about our internship and what we learned from it.  Earlier in the week I prepared a slide show of pictures of the station to accompany my speech.  I wrote an outline for it but I did not formally prepare anything.  Even so, I think I got by alright and I think the pictures were a successful distraction.Several other students have their presentations as well.  A couple students worked at non-profits, one worked at WDSU and another had a decidedly unremarkable experience at Where Y’At magazine.  Class was dismissed at about 7:30 and Dad picked me up shortly before eight and gave me a ride to the uptown campus for the final session of ballroom dancing this evening...]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:44:14 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Late Start for the Nine]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1268</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I got to the office at quarter to noon.  It was cold and rainy out today, quite cold.  I only had some housekeeping work to handle today, no reports to write.  After a big dinner from the Italian Pie last night, I was not hungry this morning or afternoon.I arrived on time at Fox this afternoon.  I did the anchor reads and printed the five o’clock news while Dana prompted.  The broadcast appeared to go smoothly enough even though the entire sports block in ENPS was dragged into the trash minutes before we came back from commercial.After the show a handful of us in the newsroom ordered dinner from Lebanon Café.  I’m not a big fan of Middle Eastern food but was willing to try something different.  I had a beef shawarma.  The ingredients sounded good on the menu but the sauce in this ‘sandwich’ has a sandy texture I didn’t like.Due to Obama’s primetime address on Afghanistan, the nine o’clock news started 37 minutes late.  Fox just ran So You Can Dance in full after the speech.  I prompted the nine o’clock news largely without incident.  Later in the evening there was a non-fatal shooting that I didn’t send any photographers to.  Things were quiet enough outside of that.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:28:22 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[11 - 0]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1267</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Fox 8 did a three hour pre-game special today leading up the New Orleans Saints appearance on Monday Night Football versus the New England Patriots.  Janette asked me to come in early at one this afternoon since we were going on the air at three, an hour before my shift usually starts.Dad and I arrived at 11:30 this morning so I was only at the doctor’s office for a little while before heading out to WVUE for the rest of the day.  I got a little bit of housekeeping done but didn’t have the time to do much substantive work.I got a lift to the station shortly before one, stopping at McDonald’s to pick up some lunch to take with me.  I was not very busy after I arrived so I was able to eat my lunch.  I was interrupted by a request from Paul to fetch a battery charger out of his car… which was only a bit of a hassle because it took three tries before I took the right keys out to the parking lot.  Before John and Nancy left, I printed a few scripts for them to take to the Superdome where they would be broadcasting from.With the exception of one segment, everything was live at the dome or various packages and VOs so there was nearly no prompting to be done.  I printed the scripts.  The broadcast was divided into two rundowns.  Since most of it was packages and cues for live shots, there was not much hassle with the printing.  I was able to watch a good portion of the special from the control room.  It’s always interesting to watch a live show like this unfold in the control room.  Truly anything can happen on live television.  Overall, this broadcast appeared to go pretty smoothly and they got plenty of great content in.  Even though it was gray and damp outside, there were still more than enough fans outside for scenery.  A good portion of the show covered the tailgaters, although we did have a couple sports anchors inside the dome for “X’s and O’s.”  Sprinkled in between that were weather hits with Nicondra in studio.  Kim Vaughn was with John and Nancy for occasional weather commentary as well.In the second segment of the five o’clock hour we did an in-studio news segment with Val Bracy anchoring.  Although there was more than enough real news today, it was only given a token time allotment.  The Saints game started at 7:30.  Monday Night Football is on ESPN but WDSU was simulcasting the game as well.  At nine o’clock we ran our usual evening newscast even though the game was still on.  I can’t imagine why anyone would be watching us over the football game but it wasn’t my decision to bother with.  It’s not permitted to run highlight clips while the game is ongoing so we couldn’t say a great deal about the game.  Natasha did a live look at Bruno’s Tavern.  It was nearly halftime during her segment.  John Henry and Rob were broadcasting live under the seats at the Dome but they basically just commented on the noise and relayed the score.  Monica was kind enough to run prompter for the show which freed me up to just print and keep watching the football game.…and what a game it was.  I cannot wax eloquent, but I can say it was an astounding match up.  Like a lot of people, I was expecting a closer game, maybe even a Patriots win.  What we essentially got was another Saints blowout.  The Patriots answered our early field goal with a touchdown but the Saints pulled ahead in the second quarter, outscoring New England 21-3.  I never would have guessed the Saints would be two touchdowns ahead of Tom Brady and the Patriots at the half.The Patriots narrowed the gap early in the second half with a touchdown but two more touchdown passes from Drew Brees in the third and fourth quarter sealed the deal.  Final score: 38-17.  Who Dat!The newsroom largely emptied out after 10:30.  Eric was working late and Avis got back to the station to play solitaire shortly before 11.  There was a auto accident on the Danziger Bridge shortly after 11 which had a fatality confirmed close to midnight.  I didn't send anyone to the scene, however.  I left for the night at 12:30.  The wait for the cab felt pretty long as it was so cold outside.After I got home, I looked though a couple pictures I took today and talked to Krystle on the phone for a little while before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:39:07 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Thanksgiving]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1266</link>
		<description><![CDATA[With some school work coming up this week, time devoted to writing should be devoted to that so I’ll be skipping over a few days to write a little about this past Thanksgiving before I likely skip another couple days.  Jeff was in town this weekend so we had the whole immediate family at home for this Thanksgiving.  Mom and Dad spent the morning cooking.  We had a nice turkey.  Dad made his signature sweet potato casserole and oyster dressing.  We also had a corn bread dressing, mashed potatoes, salad, cranberry sauce and probably a couple things I’m forgetting.  Everything was delicious, of course.  Later in the afternoon we went to visit Aunt Doris and all the people who gathered at her house including Aunt Mimi and Dad’s sister’s family.  As usual there was plenty of rowdy talk about indiscretions of youth.I had the day off on Friday and didn’t do much of anything.  Late that evening I watched Coraline before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:47:36 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Po-Boy Fest]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1265</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Although I should have gone to church this rare morning not following a late night out, I ended up elsewhere.  Today was the third annual New Orleans Po-Boy Preservation Festival.  This event, a celebration of the locally invented sandwich, takes place on seven blocks of Oak Street from Carrollton to Monroe.  Live music stages capped then ends and there were about 40 food vendors and an arts/crafts showcase in between.  Several of the Oak Street businesses were open in spite of the crowds, which was nice.  Camera in hand, I took a cab uptown and got there about noon.  The cabbie dropped me off at Leonidas where the Artist Village was.  I glanced at the crafts as I walked by and then up to the stage at Monroe Street to see the band that was playing before wandering around for a while.I’ll have to let my pictures document my wandering in any detail, but I will mention some highlights.  At 1:30 there was an “ultimate French bread fight” at the Carrollton stage between a second generation representative of the Po-boy and a robed man representing the sub sandwich.  There was verbal taunting and people getting hit with bread loaves… it was quite a spectacle.If I remember right, it was after this that I got something to eat.  Every conceivable variety of Po-boy was represented including traditional varieties and some odd ones.  No stranger to the local creation myself, I opted for something not found on Mandina’s menu.  I had the “premium crabcake Po-boy” from the carnival brands booth.  It was quite decent although I wished I had the appetite to sample a lot more.  I also tried the “Fried Bread Pudding Po-boy” from Ye Olde College Inn.A while after this I stopped in Jacques-Imo's to catch some of the Saints game.  The New Orleans Saints were playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida this afternoon.  Even at this outdoor festival you could not avoid the ongoing game.  Aside from all the attendees in Saints garb, you could hear the radio broadcast in places and it was visible on a handful of TV’s outside and in all the bars lining Oak Street.  During my respite in Jacques-Imo's the game was pretty much over as the Saints had a very comfortable lead in the third quarter.  The Saints won today with a final score of 38-7.I had to be at work for five and by four o’clock I was a bit weary anyway so I walked up South Carrollton and got a cab to the station, arriving at about 4:45.  It was a pretty uneventful evening overall with the Saints win and Po-Boy fest dominating the short newscast.  I had very little to do until it came time for the news.  Dannah was working today too so I had very little to deal with.  She handled the printing tonight rather than contend with John Henry during Final Play.The newscast went well although as John was recapping highlights during the sports block of the news I completely lost my place as he was going through the plays.  He was off camera and going from memory anyway but it was still a bit unsettling.I got another crack at it during the sports show, Final Play, and did a bit better.  I can’t say the same for the rundown though.  The show ran long again and a lot of material got cut.  By the time the show close came around, there were only five seconds left to say goodbye.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:29:25 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Lost Week]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1264</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After taking ill on Tuesday evening, the rest of the week seemed to waste away.Following an uneventful afternoon at the office, I went over to Fox for my evening shift.  I was a little nauseous after lunch and didn’t feel too well after four but I assumed it would pass.  I was pretty miserable after I started working though.  I ran scripts for the five o’clock news and felt quite exhausted by the end of the show.I didn’t know quite how sick I was until about 10 minutes later when I threw up most of my lunch in the bathroom.  All I had to eat that day was a club sandwich from Theo’s Pizza.  I felt a lot better after I composed myself but by seven o’clock I felt ill again and at 7:30 I was back kneeling over the toilet.  I didn’t have the same feeling of relief after vomiting a second time so I left early and went home, where I rested as best I could for the night.I felt better the following morning but took the day off to rest.  I did a little laundry but the day was otherwise uneventful.  I went to work on Thursday but I still felt a little off and was tired for the better part of the day.  Mercifully we left of the day at four o’clock and went home.  I had no desire to go to class or ballroom dancing this evening.  I ended up going to bed when we got home and pretty much slept until the following morning. Friday was a sufficiently normal day of work.  Doc Stephenson dictated some patient reports on tape for me to work on.  I haven’t done any patient reports from dictation in quite some time, well over a year I think.  I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked but I’ll have time next week.Today, Saturday, I got up around 10.  I didn’t do much of anything this afternoon even though I have a lot of clean laundry to deal with.  Before getting ready for work this evening I watched The African Queen.  I’ve been on my "to watch" list for a while but it’s not on Region 1 DVD.  By chance I saw it was airing on TCM a few weeks back and recorded it to watch later.  Overall I thought it was a pretty decent film.Dad gave me a lift to the station for my 5-10 shift this evening.  As usual there was not much that needed doing until about 8:30.  Printing the scripts was no trouble and prompting went smoothly too, although I can tell I still need more practice dealing with the sports anchors.  The newscast ended rather abruptly after sports.  Apparently there were 45 more seconds of commercials than usual which threw things off.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:54:54 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1263</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I arrived at the office shortly after 11 this morning.  I had a little work to do but nothing of incredible circumstance… had lunch from Subway.I got a lift to WVUE for four this afternoon.  I printed the 5:30 show which would have been without incident were it not for the sports block, which will apparently continue to be problematic.  I had dinner delivered a bit late so Monica agreed to print the nine o’clock so I wouldn’t be tied up before the newscast.  I had plenty of time to eat before heading in studio to prompt the hour-long newscast.  I suppose it was a slow news day since our lead story this evening was a possible cat killer in Mid City.  We also ran packages on the taxicab bureau and a current dust up between sanitation companies and the city of New Orleans over budget cuts.The newsroom did not empty out until after 10:30 which didn’t leave me with much “alone time” tonight.  Luckily the scanners were relatively quiet, another night gone by without waking up a photographer.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:11:12 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[9 - 0]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1262</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I slept in this morning following a late night last night.  I was up I time to see the start of the Saints game versus the Carolina Panthers.  It was a good game, but even against the nearly winless St. Louis Rams, they don’t make things easy.  The Rams were in the game down to the last play when an incomplete pass in the end-zone could have just as easily been a touchdown to end the Saints’ winning streak.  The final score was 28-23.Dad gave me a lift to the station for five this evening.  It was a reasonably quiet night with no major news events outside of the Saints’ win.  Nicondra picked up dinner for a bunch of us from Hoshun restaurant, a reasonably new place on St. Charles Avenue.  I ordered their General Tso’s chicken.  It wasn’t bad although I would refrain from passing harsh judgment since it had a long trip.I printed and prompted the nine o’clock newscast without incident.  I caught a cab home after 10.  I had the same driver as Friday, I think he said his names is James.  We had another pleasant conversation on the ride home.  I watched some TV before bed this evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:02:37 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Patrick's 23rd]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1261</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I slept in this morning following my outing last night.  I went out early this afternoon and fit in some chores before leaving the house for the day.  I went to Andrey’s house for two this afternoon.  He was hosting a birthday party for Patrick.  Shortly before I left, the lens I won on eBay this week arrived.  It’s the Canon 17-40mm lens.  It arrived a little dirty and I cleaned it up before taking it and my camera with me.There were a handful of people there when I arrived.  I won’t attempt to document the attendees here.  My pictures make enough effort on that front.  The crowd grew as time went by.  It was the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen to a gathering at Andrey’s place.  Some 50 people must have stopped by over the course of the evening.  David, Patrick and Andrey were preparing food when I got there.  We had kabobs, beef brisket and a few hamburgers.  Assembling the kabobs for grilling was the biggest task and a handful of people lent a hand over the course of the afternoon.The food was good, there were plenty of people and since this was at Andrey’s place we also had the ceremonial vodka shot with pickle and Russian rye chaser.At quarter to six I had to take a cab to get to work.  I was unable to get any additional hours off of my Saturday shift.  Outside of the script printing and prompting the half-hour newscast I was largely unoccupied.   I left for the evening at 9:45.Before departing I called Andrey and he invited me back to his place as the party was winding down.  There were only a handful of people remaining.  Patrick and Erin departed about 30 minutes after I arrived.  With only me, Andrey, David, Nick, Andrey’s roommate and neighbor remaining, we went inside to talk and drink a bit more.  Later in the evening a couple guitars and a banjo appeared for what have sounded like a painful jam session.  I was either very tolerant or otherwise too impaired to be bothered.Before calling it a night, the lot of us walked a couple blocks away for a couple rounds of Schlitz at Snake and Jakes.  It went well.  Not long after getting back to Andrey’s place I called a cab home.  We stopped to drop off David and Nick on the way.  I got home around three and immediately went to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:02:09 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA["New" Places]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1260</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This post will summarize three days and will be consequently abbreviated.  I can safely skip over Wednesday as there was nothing really going on outside of a normal day at the office.Work on Thursday was similarly uneventful, although I did eat out at Café Minh for lunch. After work, Dad gave me a lift to class.  This evening’s practicum session had a lecture on interview.  Afterward I went uptown for ballroom this evening.  Thursday night was the second week of Cha Cha and I had a good handle on the material.  There was a light crowd of a little more than 20 this evening and a surplus of guys.  Late that evening I talked to Ami on the phone for the first time in quite some time.  We both had new jobs to talk about.I took the day off Friday.  Dad cooked hamburgers for dinner.  That evening I went out to meet Aunt Lauren.  She is in town with Arien for a couple days to visit.  She originally told me to meet her at Le Bon Temps Roule but the band she was expecting was not there so we met at Rock ‘n’ Bowl.  The bowling alley / music venue moved recently from its Carrolton and Tulane location into a new building.  This was my first time at the new facility and I was quite impressed.  There are several homages to the old location including a long entry hallway, much like the photo-lined staircase you used to climb.  Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, a well-known zydeco group was playing.  They took a break shortly after I arrived.  I got a drink and waited for Lauren and her friend to arrive.Lauren and her friend whose name escapes me at present arrived about 20 minutes after I got there.  The band started back up not long after that.  The new location is considerably larger and consequently more conducive to dancing… and plenty of people were.  An older gentleman even got Lauren out to dance for a song.  While we were there I said hello to Kevin Fontenot, a history teacher at Tulane I had a couple classes with.  I’m always impressed that he remembers me.We left Rock ‘n’ Bowl after having our fill of Zydeco.  Lauren’s friend parted company with us but Lauren was not ready for bed yet to we went to the Maple Leaf Bar to see Big Sam’s Funky Nation.  There was another band playing when we arrived whose name I cannot recall.  After the opening act finished, Lauren and I got a spot right at the stage on the left side.There was a considerable wait for the main act to start and when they did we learned out great spot wasn’t so great.  It was entirely too loud so we moved to the back where the sound was a lot more tolerable.  Later on we moved to the patio in the back for a while before heading out for the evening.Rather than catch a cab from Maple Street, I had Lauren drop me off in front of the Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street.  I had not been there in a long while and wanted to stop in before heading home.  Unfortunately I arrived just before one, closing time.  It took me a minute to realize it.  I sat down at the bar and got no attention while I saw the bartenders locking up the liquor.Still not in the mood to go home, I took a walk up Canal Street and stopped in IHOP on a whim.  The Canal location is not that old.  I ordered a little something to eat and then walked up a bit more to the Roosevelt Hotel, which reopened not to long ago.  I just wanted to look around and I stopped in the Sazerac Bar for a drink.  I only had time for one round as they closed at two.I hailed a cab home from Canal Street after my drink.  I think I went to bed not long after getting home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:16:27 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[New People]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1259</link>
		<description><![CDATA[It was well after 11 before we got to the office this morning.  I had some charts to work on although I was not as productive as I should have been.  I was paying attention to a couple eBay auctions.  One was a classic VAIO, a lot of people wanted it more than me.  The other was a Canon EF 17-40mm F/4 L lens which I won, a great lens which fits into the “budget L” category.  It should complement my 70-200mm lens nicely, especially if I wind up with a full-frame camera someday.I went to Fox 8 for four this afternoon.  Lee Zurik, who the Times-Picayune reported landed a job at WVUE today, was at the station getting acquainted with people.  Dannah has some practice with the teleprompter so she did the five o’clock news and I did all the script printing.  I got a good workout and I was unable to get a couple pages out but overall it wasn’t too much trouble.  Shortly before we went on air, John Snell invited me to seek out some writing assignments to get some practice.  Obviously writing is a valuable skill even if I don’t make a living out of it.  Later on, I picked a short update about a missing fisherman who likely drowned in the Mississippi river while assisting some stranded boaters as Tropical Storm Ida was approaching.  I made a couple calls and wrote a few sentences based on that info and an AP story.  Around 8:30, John had a look at it and issued some constructive criticism and made changes accordingly.As I was working on my little story after half past the hour, Dannah printed the nine and I prompted.  Dave McNamara, also a former WWL-TV reporter, debuted on Fox 8 this evening with his first installment of “The Heart of Louisiana” specials about state culture, history and people.  His first package was a lovely piece about Fred’s Lounge in Mamou where locals gather for fun and live Cajun music.The remainder of the broadcast seemed pretty standard, although John and I noticed a bit of an issue.  In the prompter, the story I had written was the version I wrote, not the one John revised.  He read it as is although his version was better.  I suppose it was good enough for the producer, though.  I talked to the producer after the show and asked abuot the discrepancy.  The revised version was visible in ENPS yet my earlier draft was on the teleprompter.  There was no clear explanation.This being a Tuesday, I was on the clock until 12:30.  Luckily nobody got killed so I didn’t have to wake anybody up.  The cab driver that took me home was a familiar face I saw once not long ago.  We had an interesting conversation during the ride.  I went to bed not longer after getting home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:11:01 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Ida]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1258</link>
		<description><![CDATA[It was past 11 before we got to the office this afternoon.  I really didn’t have anything to do this morning... not even busywork.  I got a sandwich from Theo’s for lunch before heading to WVUE for the evening.  This morning I got a call asking me to come in a bit early at three so I would be ready for the news at four.  Now tropical storm Ida was making landfall tonight and they did extended coverage of the storm with a two and a half hour broadcast.Monica printed scripts for what would largely by a live, ad-libbed broadcast.   The whole newscast was drawn from “A block” and then the breaks were put in at the producer’s discretion.  I ran prompter for the extended newscast although there was no much to do since a majority of the airtime was devoted to Bob Breck and various live remotes from across southeast Louisiana.  We had people at the lakefront, lower Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Grand Isle, and Biloxi.  Originally they had planned to do three hours of coverage although the weather was not severe in the greater New Orleans area so Mike decided two and a half hours was enough.  After the broadcast, I again was largely unoccupied.  I had time to update my website.  We did not do any additional primetime coverage.  We had a regular newscast at nine which went about an hour and 15 minutes.  Monica prompted that and I did a little bit of script printing but was still largely unoccupied.A lot of people went home after the broadcast and I was alone in the newsroom until about midnight although Nicondra was in the “weather palace” for a couple hourly updates.  There were no major incidents on the scanners, thankfully.  I left at 12:30 and got a cab home.  The same driver from yesterday picked me up (#220).  After I got home I watched The Daily Show and talked to Krystle briefly before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:48:36 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[8 - 0]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1257</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This morning was rather uneventful.  I went to bed too late to comfortably get up for church.  I watched some of the Saints game at home before heading to WVUE for work this evening.  The station was buzzing, especially for a weekend.  They had post-game coverage to deal with and Hurricane Ida was a big news story.  Consequently, just about everybody seemed to be working today.  Mike, Nancy and Janette were here and they called in John and Nancy to anchor the nine o’clock news.  WDSU was doing wall to wall coverage.  We received e-mails pleading us not to break in for weather updates, which we didn’t.I was largely free to watch the Saints game at the assignment desk.  It was another close, comeback game for the Saints.  Down 17-6 at halftime, the Saints roared back after the break with an early touchdown and went to outscore the Carolina Panthers 24-3 in the second half for a final score of 30-20.  The Saints are now 8-0, their best start in franchise history.Still with nothing to do, I went upstairs and watched the live postgame show from the control room.  Although this broadcast was not nearly as complex as last week’s pre-game special, I still enjoy seeing a live show unfold.  I can’t remember what if anything I was doing between newscasts.  As Hurricane Ida was a big story this evening, we extended the evening newscast to a full hour with lots of weather.  The script was pretty much done when we went to air and the show seemed to go nicely.  Afterward, I also prompted The Final Play.  New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma was in studio for an interview.  Following the show that just left morning sports to tape and I was free to go home afterward.  I clocked out at 10:45 and got a cab home.Late in the evening I watched Curb Your Enthusiasm and started a movie before Krystle called.  We talked for less than an hour and then I went to sleep.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:59:54 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Cafe Prytania]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1256</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took the day off Friday, having not had one in a week or so.  I spent it relaxing and doing some chores like laundry and cleaning up.  This afternoon was rather uneventful.  I got a ride to Fox 8 for my shift this evening.  I work five to ten on weekends although I am now discovering that the shift is only five hours so PA’s last a little longer.  There really isn’t much of any work to do until an hour before we go on air.  The rest of the time you can only seek out busy work or maybe hang out somewhere and learn something new.The script was done before we went on air at nine tonight.  I was able to handle the script printing as well and run the teleprompter for Shelley.  Things went smoothly for me but not so much for everyone else.  “Big weather,” the main weather segment, took a minute and a half longer than expected which adversely affected the rest of the broadcast.  A couple news stories were cut and sports which is in the final block took the brunt of the damage.  Footage from Tulane’s big win over UTEP was cut, the Rummel / Shaw game was cut as was some Saints stuff.  There was some talk after the show about how sports always gets hosed because it’s at the end of the show.Just after 10, Andrey and David arrived at the station.  I heard from Andrey before nine and he told me about an outing they were planning for late this evening.  He agreed to pick me up and asked for a little tour of the station and I obliged him.  I showed them the newsroom, studios, introduced Andrey and David to Nicondra and went upstairs to see the control room and other engineering rooms.Following the dime tour we went out to Cafe Prytania, a bar/grill across the street from Touro Hospital.  It’s a decent place.  There was live music to talk over and beer pitchers.  After we were there for a while, Patrick graced us with his presence for an hour or so before departing for the evening.After a while, Andrey and David wanted to go somewhere with pool tables and we ended up at Igor's Buddha Belly Bar on Magazine.  They had a couple tables with a noticeable lean.  It was fun to play just the same, even though I still suck at pool.  Following a couple rounds there, we went to Rally’s per tradition and ate at Andrey’s house.  I called a cab home and arrived at about 2:45.  On the way, the cab stopped to return the wallet left in the car by the last fare.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:26:09 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Cha Cha (Cha)]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1255</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I can safely glaze over Wednesday as it was rather uneventful… just another day at the office.  Work on Thursday was similarly typical.  I had the time to handle some things that left my desk clear when we left the office for the night.  On the way to school this evening, I stopped at Old Navy briefly to pick up some crew neck tees and at McDonalds to pick up some dinner.During class this evening, Ms. Hart went over our informational interview letters and talked with individually with students about the latest revisions of our resumes.  I arrived pretty early and she went over mine well before class started.  The only suggestions she had were related to the WVUE internship entry and everything else has been picked over before.Class was dismissed at about 7:30.  I went to the uptown campus for ballroom this evening and went to PJ’s.  I ran into Caroline there and we ended up talking for a good while.  Ballroom started a nine this evening as always.  There was a good crowd of about 40 tonight for the first week of Cha Cha.  We’ve done this dance style in ballroom before but it’s not like riding a bike.  Even so, I did pretty well and was able to pick up the basic steps with no trouble.After ballroom there was a cab waiting at Willow and McAlister by the time I got there.  I watched some TV and talked to Krystle on the phone for a while before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:42:22 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[{JOHN}]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1254</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Following an uneventful afternoon at the office I went to the station at four.  There was a new PA working her first day today, Dannah.  After I arrived I showed her a couple things she would need to know as she was printing scripts with Claudia for the five o’clock.  I put some reads in but I was not terribly occupied until 5:00 to prompt the show.  This was my first time running teleprompter for a five o’clock newscast with multiple anchors.  I was hoping to get in another quiet weekend show before prompting during the week but I had no such luck.I did an okay job but I did make a few mistakes.  Well into the newscast, the new sports guy, John Henry Smith came in alongside John Snell and Nancy.  One of John Henry’s reads was tagged {JOHN} like John Snell’s reads,  A couple days ago when I prompted John Henry’s sports show, his tags were {***JHS ON CAM***} so I was waiting for John Henry to stop talking when I should have been scrolling for John Henry.  Luckily even though I dropped the ball, he recovered nicely… so well that the director had to tell me over the intercom I was lost.  Later on I was also late scrolling through a package but I think the clip cut off before it should have.  Other than that, I did reasonably well.  After the broadcast, I got around to entering a big stack of press releases.  I think I had a couple other small tasks but nothing I really remember.  I ordered pizzas for delivery for myself and two others at 7:30 but they didn’t arrive until after 8:30, not long before the nine o’clock news started.  I was not printing scripts so I had time to eat a little before getting to the prompter.  The nine o’clock went pretty smoothly by comparison although I think it’s going to take me a few more days to get a good handle on this.After the broadcast, people started going home.  John Adams showed me how to post videos to the website before departing for the evening.  After he left I was alone in the newsroom to listen to the scanners.  Luckily they were reasonably quiet this evening and I didn’t have to call anybody.  It was just as well as I was unsure who to pick had I needed to.  Claudia called me at about 11 to see how I was doing, which was nice.  I made beat checks at 11:45 and left for the night at 12:30.  The same guy who picked me up Monday, Saheed, was the cabbie this evening.  After I got home, I watched some TV before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:53:20 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Dirty Bird Gumbo]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1253</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I got to the office at quarter to noon this morning.  I did not have any patient reports to work on so I spent some time doing some housekeeping to clear files off my desk.At about quarter to four I went to WVUE for the evening.  When I arrived they were a couple minutes to air for their two hour special edition of the news live from the Superdome where the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons would be playing a game broadcast on Monday Night Football.There was nobody else to run prompter so I did that for the duration of the broadcast.  Jennifer Van Vrancken was the lone in studio anchor who did the "real news" but the show consisted almost entirely of pre game festivities at the Dome so neither of us had a great deal to do.  I was free to enjoy the revelry on TV and listen to the incessant intercom chatter that was coordinating all the on-screen action.  Among the interviews and features were a Saints-themed wedding that took place among the tailgaters and one man who was cooking up a huge pot of "dirty bird gumbo."I was largely unoccupied after the broadcast although I did do some busy work.  I even had time to update the VAIO wallpaper collection on the website.  At seven, we broadcasted game four of the World Series.  WDSU was carrying ESPN's Monday Night Football with the Saints.  I was able to catch a vast majority of the game in the newsroom.  It was a pretty awesome match.  The Saints overcame four turnovers to beat the Falcons 35-27.I was expecting to the World Series game to end after the Saints game and the late news show was originally planned to open with post-game coverage from the Superdome.  However, the baseball game ended well before the football game so we went on the air as there were about five minutes left in the Saints match up.  We covered the real news of the day in the first block such as the crime camera trial verdict.  After the game ended they ran live coverage from outside the dome, some of the press conference and some reaction from the sports guys.  They let Monica go home during the show since there wasn't anything to prompt with all the live stuff they were doing.The station gradually started to empty out after the broadcast ended not long after 11.  My shift lasted until 12:30 AM, after the morning show producer arrives.  Luckily the scanners were reasonably quiet although we did receive a call about a fatal shooting in LaPlace as the newscast was running.  I presumed the morning show would get to that.  I got a cab home and finally finished watching Last Tango in Paris before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:21:16 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Scrolling]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1252</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I slept in later than I care to admit today.  It seems like I wasn’t awake all that long before I had to go to work again.  I got to WVUE at ten to five.  I did not immediately have a whole lot to do but I did take care of a stack of press releases that were sitting around.  Jessica pointed them out last night.A little later in the evening I went up to the graphics office with Monica to learn a little about Avid DekoMOS Playback Controller.  She just started running graphics herself so there was not a great deal she could tell me.  It was interesting just to see the graphics office as I never got around to visiting there while I was interning.There was another World Series game tonight and we were again quite late getting started.  I think it was about 10:50 when we went on air.  Both Leah and Claudia left at about 10 so I was the only one left to run the teleprompter.  I was already familiar with the software and equipment but this was my first time running the prompter for a newscast.  This was as good a day as any to start although it would have been better to be supervised for the first go-round.  There is only one anchor on the weekend and the script was done by the time we started.  I did pretty well although I was a bit slow.  I’m sure I will master it soon enough.After the half hour newscast I had to prompt for John Henry Smith and the Final Play, a local sports show.  Before leaving for the night I also had to run the prompter for a morning promo taping.  I left for the night at 12:15. After I got home I had something to eat and finished watching a movie before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:18:14 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Learning to Hate Baseball]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1251</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This morning and afternoon were reasonably uneventful.  I had to work 5 to 10 PM this evening.  Dad agreed to give me a ride there this afternoon.  On the way we stopped at the Pep Boys on Carrollton to test the battery in my car and drop off some old ones.  They told us my battery was still good but needed charging.  We left it there to return and pick it up tomorrow.I arrived at the station at quarter to five.  There was not much for me to do until the newscast this evening.  Unfortunately that didn’t happen as scheduled.  Fox broadcast the World Series baseball game this evening and we don’t do the news until the game is over.  Only two and a half hours for the pre game show and match itself are scheduled which often isn’t enough for a whole baseball game.  On top of that there was a rain delay of over an hour.  I soon understood what Leah meant when she said I would learn to hate baseball.We finally went on the air after 11 o’clock.  With all the extra time to prepare the script, it was actually complete when the broadcast started which negated the actual purpose of coming to work today.  I watched the broadcast alone at the assignment desk so I could monitor the scanners.The staff started to go home after the show was over.  I contemplated trying to call a cab to the station but as it was Halloween night I decided I might want to seek out alternatives.  Nicondra, the meterologist working this evening said she was going down to Frenchman Street to meet some friends and I thoguht I might have a much easier time finding a ride down there than waiting around in Gert Town.I had to wait for her to get ready which ended up taking a lot longer than I was expecting.  Since the game set us so far behind anyway I was no longer concerned about salvaging the rest of my evening so I was content to wait until about 1:30 when she was finally ready to leave.We drove down to the Marigny and had a hell of a time finding a parking space.  We must have cruised around for a half hour before finding a space.  While we were looking we inadvertently drove through Halloween parade of well over 100 costumed participants.  It was pretty cool to watch everyone walk around us, wave and carry on.  Eventually Nicondra found a good spot on Elysian Fields.After wading throught he crowd on Frenchman Street we met her friends outside.  I don’t recall all their names althogh a few of them work at WDSU.  I went to high school with one of the, Nicole.  She actually started as a Fox 8 intern and now writes for channel six.Over the course of the evening we walked around a bit and stopped in a couple places on Frenchman Street.  The place we spent the most time at was whatever Ray’s Boom Boom Room is now called.  They had a band there and plenty of people.We were there for quite a whiel before leaving.  The group decided to go out to IHOP in Metairie.  The smart thing to to might have been to part company but with all the people still around and no cabs in sight, I figured I might as well tag along rather than wander around by myself for an hour trying to fetch a cab.The International House of Pancakes we went to was the one off I-10 adjacent to the Days Hotel.  There was a rather healthy crowd of costumed patrons there.  When we walked in I remarked to Nicondra that it almost felt like walking into an emergency room.  Two people in front of us were ‘helping; in a third person obviously drunk and in need of some food to go with the liquor.It took us longer than the other to arrive so we already had a table when we walked in.  Everyone ordered something to eat.  I had not had one drink so I didn’t “need” any food but I ordered a small breakfast plate anyway.  Eventually we were joined by four other friends of theirs.  I’m afraid I don’t remember any of their names.  We were there for at least an hour sitting and talking about this and that.Sometime after four we paid the check and left.  Nicondra was not going in my direction so I went to the hotel lobby and started trying to call a cab.  There was a large party in the lobby who called two cabs to go to the train station but those cabs were not expected for over an hour so I eventually got Service Cab on the phone and one arrived 10 minutes later.  I had a plesant conversation with the driver and got home around 5 AM.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:42:45 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Another First Day at Fox]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1250</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After serving as an intern at WVUE for two months, I went there today as a new employee.  Friday evening will not be a regular shift for me but Janette wanted me to learn how things work between 10 and midnight because I will be alone in the newsroom next Monday night.Shortly after I arrived, Monica had me enter the reads where missing in the script.  These are tags in the script telling the talent which anchor will read the following segment.  The producers often enter these already but they are frequently missing.At 4:30 I helped Monica print the scripts.  She sort of watched me do it to insure I had a grasp on it.  At five I sat with her while she operated the teleprompter during the newscast.  I scrolled the script during packages to get some practice but I still don’t quite have a feel for it.  I tend to get ahead of those speaking.I don’t remember having a great deal to do after the five o’clock news.  At nine we basically did the whole process again.  At ten after the last broadcast of the night, the newsroom started to empty out and eventually it was just me and Claudia.  Over the course of the evening she explained a number of things to me including the primary task of sitting in the newsroom overnight.  There is an array of police scanners at the assignment desk and it’s the PAs job to monitor them for major incidents such as big fires and shootings.  Should such a thing occur, we generally have to call one of the on-call photographers to go check it out.  Things were reasonably quiet until 11:30 when there was a shooting on South Galvez.  I had to wake up Donny to go check it out shortly before I Claudia and I left for the evening around midnight.  Travis arrived for the overnight shift and I talked to him for a couple minutes before catching a cab home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:05:02 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Last Swing]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1249</link>
		<description><![CDATA[At Janette’s request, I stopped by the station at 10:30 this morning to fill out some paperwork.  I thought I might also get some other things done like fill out tax forms and get an ID made but that didn’t happen today.  I was back at the office sometime after 11:30.  I had a little work to do but nothing overwhelming.  I got Dad and I sandwiches from Theo’s for lunch.After five, I went up to campus for class this evening.  During this evening’s class, we went over more student cover letters.  After the break there was a short lecture on “informational interviews.”  Following class, Dad took me to Tulane’s uptown campus for ballroom this evening.  I went down to the Rat in the LBC.  Bill Summers was playing there as part of the Jazz at the Rat series.  It was an interesting percussion ensemble although I am partial to a stronger horn section.At ten to nine, I walked to the Reily Center for ballroom dancing this evening.  This was the fourth and final week of west coast swing.  Most of it was review although we did learn one new sequence tonight that involved me twirling around.  I never do that well.  At ten I walked to Willow and McAlister.  There was a cab waiting and I took it home.  I put some laundry on and watched Last Tango in Paris.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:47:12 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[New Job]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1248</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I made it to the office at about 11:30.  The workday was of no remarkable interest but I did receive an important phone call this afternoon.  I spoke with Janette at WVUE and she offered me a production assistant position.  She went over some vital information like paperwork I will need to come in and sign tomorrow, my hours (evenings on Sunday through Tuesday) and the pay, apparently minimum wage.  I am going to start on Friday to shadow a PA and learn some more.  She said by next Monday I will be the only PA on the assignment desk.When we got home tonight I found my car wouldn’t start.  I was able to jump it but running the engine did not seem to charge the battery.  I suspect I may just need a new one.  I watched the first game of the world series this evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:28:39 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Sunday - Tuesday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1247</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Sunday was rather uneventful to the best of my recollection.  I did watch the rather remarkable Saints game in which New Orleans overcame a 21 point deficit to beat the Miami Dolphins.I worked at Fox on Monday.  There was not a great deal going on that day.  During the newscast I helped one of the new PAs, Monica, run scripts.  I was there again today.  I had some things to keep me busy on the assignment desk.  At two, Ms. DeCorte sent me with Avis to Children’s Hospital.  It was my first trip out “in the field” in a while.  They were administering their first batch of H1N1 vaccine to “high exposure risk” employees like doctors and nurses.  Those in Charge of Fox 8 News have had a bit of a hard on over the swine flu and have been covering it extensively… perhaps not as widely as WDSU who had a microwave truck there for live broadcasts from the hospital and four, five and six PM.  We were there for 45 minutes, mostly so Avis could shoot B roll of people getting the flu shot.  I interviewed Rodolfo E Bégué, MD again.  I asked some rather basic questions about the vaccine that were not exactly compelling.  Again, I asked a question of my own making although I can’t remember if the answer got on air.Later on I ran scripts for Claudia.  I had the chance to speak with her at length and she told she was leaving in a couple weeks for a new job.  Before I left for the evening after six, I left a copy of my resume on Janette’s desk for the PA job.    Later that evening I watched Bobby.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:06:48 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Schlitz!]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1246</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This afternoon, Dad and I installed the new alternator that I repaired recently.  The battery was pretty dead so we still weren’t able to start the car, even after jumping it.  A neighbor across the street was kind enough to lend me a trickle charger which did work.This evening at seven, I met Amy for dinner at a small Thai restaurant adjacent to Cooter Browns uptown.  I read good things about Bangkok Thai’s food.  I haven’t had good Pad Thai since hurricane Katrina and I have been anxious to find a place that does it well since.  The décor leaves a lot to be desired but the food was good.  After dinner, we went to Cooter Browns for one drink.  I would consider it a local landmark and Amy had never been there so I felt obligated.    The place was rather crowded as an LSU game was on.  After a little while there, Amy insisted on buying me a drink so we walked across the street to the daiquiri shop and then took a little walk to the levee and back.I invited Amy to come with me to meet Andrey and some friends this evening.  She decided to go home instead but she was kind enough to wait with me for the streetcar.  I was going to Helix at the Le Cirque Hotel downtown which the streetcar passes right in front of.  I can’t quite remember the last time I rode the streetcar.I arrived at the hotel shortly after nine this evening.  My friends didn’t arrive until after ten so I had a couple light drinks by myself and exchanged some text messages to pass the time.  Eventually everyone did show up.  Andrey, David, Romy and Patrick were there along with Nick who I have not met before.  We remained at Helix for an hour or so and had a few drinks while talking about this and that.  There was music playing but it was possible to have a conversation.  I ordered a little pizza from their kitchen so I had some more food to go with the drinks I was having.We left Helix around 11 and went to Cure on Freret, a reasonably new place I’ve rode past over the last several months but not visited.  It’s a classy and well decorated place with a cozy bar and seating area as well as a nice lounge area outside.  We all took a table outside and ordered some drinks.  There we met another friend of Andrey’s, John.  The place is known for exceptional mixed drinks and I had a sazerac.  It was even easier to carry on a conversation here.  I don’t remember much of what we talked about though.We left there perhaps sometime after midnight.  Nick and Andrey wanted to square off at pool and we walked a couple block to Friar Tucks but Andrey didn’t want to pay the cover so we drove down to Der Ratskeller at Tulane which also has pool tables.  Andrey and Nick had it out and I got something to munch on.  Later on we parted company with Patrick and John.  The rest of us made one last stop at Snake & Jakes for a round of Schlitz.  I’ve been hoping to visit this renowned dive bar for quite some time.  Afterward I called a cab from Andrey’s house and got home sometime after three.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:20:28 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1246-1256358028</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Lusher Homecoming]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1245</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I didn’t go to the office today.  We had a problem with the gas at the house.  And there was no particularly compelling reason to be there.  This evening, I went with mom to Lusher High School’s homecoming game versus Fisher.  My brother Andrew was on the homecoming court and I took my camera with me to get some pictures.The school has a newly renovated football field and bleachers which look pretty good.  There was a decent but not incredible crowd for the game.  I shot pictures of the game without much success and during the homecoming court presentation or whatever people call it.  I didn’t have much luck with those pictures either.  May of them were out of focus.After halftime, Mom and I left the game.  Andrew was not staying and we didn’t see much reason to.  That evening I got the least sucky pictures online.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:04:27 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Wet Thursday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1244</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I am writing this entry a couple days after the fact and I am totally blanking on the events of Wednesday.  All I remember is lunch from Five Happiness.After a normal day at work, Dad took to me to Elmwood for class this evening.  There was some severe weather in the area which no doubt affected the low attendance.  At six when class started, I was one of only two students who showed.  We were to go over cover letters we’d written this week and Ms. Hart said we would just go over both of ours and be done with class.  I was expecting to be out before seven and sent Dad a text message to that effect.  By 6:30, a bunch of other people showed up.  Class dragged on until 7:40 when we took a break.  I didn’t want dad to wait any longer so I left at the break.Dad dropped me off uptown shortly after eight.  I sat in PJ’s for a little while until it was time for ballroom this evening.  This was the third week of west coast swing and there was not much new material so I think I handled things pretty well.  Afterward we got everyone together for a group picture.  I brought my camera and tripod to take it.  Unfortunately I thought it turned out rather poorly as the pictures were rather underexposed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:28:22 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Game Four]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1243</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked at Fox on Monday although at present I cannot really remember anything that happened that day.  I was there again today.  I was in the newsroom for a few hours this morning, put in some press releases and did not have much else to do.  At around three, I went upstairs to hang out with Ron in master control.  We were broadcasting game four of the ALCS and that was as good a place as any to watch the game.  I was also curious to see how commercials were run during a live sporting event.  To my surprise, there was not much work involved there because there were so few local breaks.  We only had three opportunities during nine innings to run local ads.  The rest of the breaks were from network and required no intervention on our end.  The few times we did have commercials, Ron only needed to hit a “roll take” button at the right moment and the pre-queued commercials ran.  The rest of the time he was free to work on other things like ingesting promos.At about 4:20 I went downstairs to see if Claudia needed any help.  Leah was working with her but I made myself busy running pages here and there.  I stayed in the newsroom through the broadcast.  While I was doing that, I had an interesting exchange with Janette that I might have more to say about later.After the broadcast, while waiting for promos to be approved for printing, Claudia showed me another thing PA’s do, call gas stations to get prices for the morning news’ “Gas Gauge” feature.  After I got home I got some dinner and watched the rest of the ALCS game which went into extra innings.  I called Ron during the game to ask about the upcoming primetime schedule and to offer my sympathies for the extra trouble of dealing with another game in overtime.  Eventually the game ended with an Angels win and I watched House which immediately followed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:00:07 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Return]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1242</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This was my last day in Brookhaven.  Bianca made a late breakfast and around noon, she drove me down to the “station,” really a small covered shelter.  The train was due at 12:16 and we talked and watched Kyle while we waited.  After the train was late I called Amtrak’s automated phone system and learned the train was not expected until after one. With a half hour to kill we took a little walk up and down the street the tracks run along.  Eventually we went back top to the stop in anticipation of the train.  We got to talking about digital photographs and had a lively but unproductive discussion.  I was armed with facts but couldn’t convince Bianca she should be keeping pictures as resolutions beyond VGA size.  It was pretty painful for someone like myself who owns an 8MP dSLR and still occasionally has feelings of inadequacy.  Luckily we changed the subject before the train showed up.  The train ride was pleasant enough, although considerably longer than the ride to Brookhaven. After getting settled I moved up to the dining car to sit with my laptop and get something to drink.  I ended up sitting with a fellow student, Emily who I’ve seen before in ballroom.  She lives in Mississippi and was visiting family during the fall break.Dad was waiting to pick me up at the station when I arrived, although he was not in a particularly good mood.  I don’t recall much from that evening although I must have spent time unpacking and going through the pictures I shot over the weekend.  I think I got them on the website that night.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:56:23 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Photo Shoot]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1241</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Bianca made omelets for breakfast this morning that were pretty good.  This afternoon, Bianca, me and her dog went out to a park to shoot some pictures.  It was hardly a scenic park but I did my best to experiment with what I had to work with.  I took some pictures at an old baseball diamond and a swing set.  This was my first attempt at shooting a model in the traditional sense.  I was not very happy with the results but I learned a lot.Later in the evening, Bianca cooked steak and baked potatoes for dinner.   We walked the dog again after dinner.  We got an earlier start today so we were back before sundown.  Bianca made some cookies for dessert after we got back.  There wasn’t much of anything on TV this evening ad we ended up watching game two of the ALCS.  The game went 14 innings and I stayed up until the game ended around one and then went to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:38:59 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Great Dinner]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1240</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Unlike Bianca the early riser, I was in no hurry to get up this morning.  Bianca made pancakes for breakfast… one big one actually.  This afternoon, Bianca and I went grocery shopping.  We dropped offer dog Kyle at a vet’s office for an hour or so while we went to Wal-Mart.  We were there to buy stuff for dinner over the next couple days.With groceries in tow we picked up Bianca’s dog at the vet and went back to her house.  Late this afternoon, Bianca’s friend Raymond, a retired chef, cooked dinner for us.  He cooked sweet potatoes as good as I’ve ever had them as well as chicken parmesan and red beans.  Bianca has been hyping his chicken dish for a while and she was not exaggerating.  All the food was excellent.Later in the evening, Bianca and I took her dog Kyle for a walk.  We got a late start and it was well after dark when we got back.  After we got home I watched Stargate Universe and one of the Netflix movies I brought with me, Gates of heaven.  I did not particularly care for it and Bianca certainly didn’t.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:38:00 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Brookhaven]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1239</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Work on Wednesday was not particularly eventful.  I got lunch from Five Happiness like most Wednesdays.  With a trip coming up tomorrow I had a few things to do this evening.  I had a couple loads of laundry to do and finish packing.  I also reassembled an alternator for my car.  The brush housing broke last week and I put in a new one. On Thursday morning, I finished packing in the morning and went to work for a little while.  I had a couple reports to work on and some records to copy.  I got some lunch from Theo’s before leaving for the day at about quarter past one when Dad took me to the train station.  I was going to Brookhaven, Mississippi to visit Bianca for a couple days.  She has been encouraging me to visit since she moved there well over a year ago.  I’ve passed through a couple times before with Krystle but never went stay for any length of time.  The train departed pretty much on time at 1:45.  There was not much of a crowd on the train at the origin station.  The ride was pleasant enough and only two hours.Bianca arrived a couple minutes after I did.  There isn’t an actual train station at the stop anymore.  The old one has been converted to a military museum and Amtrak only has a tiny covered shelter there.   We drove back to her house afterward.This evening, Bianca made a chicken and rice dish with green bean casserole.  I rented a flash for the weekend and hat it shipped to her house.  I’ve never used a Speedlite before so I took some time to play with it.  For the most part we spent the evening watching movies and TV.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:09:18 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Ehud Olmert at Tulane]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1238</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Before going to WVUE today, dad took me to the office for a little while to reconfigure the office router.  Apparently there was an outage yesterday and an ISP tech came by and wiped the router settings in the process of fixing things, probably because he did not have the router password.  After getting that fixed, dad took me to the station.Most of the action at Fox 8 was well over when I arrived at noon.  During their three hour morning show from six to nine, they featured wall-to-wall coverage of the “sail away ceremony” of the USS New York, a San-Antonio class amphibious transport dock built at Avondale Shipyards.  The ship was leaving the port for the Gulf of Mexico and on to Norfolk and later New York City.  Residents were invited to line the levee and see the ship and crew on their way.  There was a heavy fog early this morning that limited visibility, however.  Rom Masson was broadcasting live from Avondale.  Jennifer Hale, Donny and Travis were doing live reports on board the Navy vessel.  Chris Franklin and Kim Holden were set up at the moon walk at the river in the French Quarter.  They also got live shots of the ship from the Gretna ferry landing and rented a helicopter for aerial shots of the boat passing through New Orleans.The mood in the newsroom seemed pretty positive today as everyone seemed very proud of their coverage and they had a lot of good material for the evening news cast.  Free pizza for lunch couldn’t have hurt either.  It ended up being the only thing I got to eat today.  I stuck around downstairs for the better part of the afternoon although I was never exceptionally busy.  There was a big stack of press releases to put in which kept me occupied when I so desired.This afternoon, Janette gave me a similar job to do.  She handed me the New Orleans Hornets home game schedule and had me enter reminders in ENPS for each game.  Bob Breck will be doing his halftime weather reports to be shown on the jumbotron at the games like he is currently doing for the Saints.Rather than go upstairs right at five to watch the news I stayed at the assignment desk in case Claudia needed any help and I watched the first half hour with Nancy, Janette and news director Mikel Schaefer who was in a decidedly chipper mood this afternoon.  Before this afternoon I didn’t know he was even aware of my existence.The script was uncharacteristically complete when the broadcast started and there wasn’t much printing to be done after five although I did run a couple pages upstairs for Claudia a couple minutes into the broadcast.  Things were pretty calm by 5:30 so I went up to the control room and watched the rest of the news and the promo taping that immediately followed.I was expecting Dad to pick me up not long after six but he was held up.  He went to an advisory board meeting this evening and didn’t get out until well after six.  I was planning to go to Tulane after work this afternoon and we were going to go together.  Former prime minister of Israel Ehud Olmert spoke at McAlister auditorium this evening.  I wouldn’t call myself a fan of his but the chance to see a head of state was very interesting to me.  I thought I would have to call a cab to make it there for seven but I got lucky.  We received an e-mail about a planned protest and they decided to send a photographer to check it out.  I rode with Bob, a freelance photographer, to the uptown campus.  We got there before 6:30 so I was able to hang out with him for a few minutes before parting ways.  We parked at Freret and McAlister.  There were about a dozen kids there holding signs and not doing much else.  We were greeted by a PR rep of Tulane University and I gave him the station’s e-mail address so he could forward a cozy statement that pointed out that TUCP, a student organization, arranged for Olmert’s visit.  Soon after one of the protesters approached us and Bob asked her some questions on camera while I held the microphone.After the interview, I left to get a seat in the auditorium.  They were checking student IDs at the door and wanding people.  I would have taken my camera to get some pictures but they were prohibited.  By sevent there was a pretty decent crowd but the theater was not close to a capacity crowd.  Although the event was scheduled for 7 o’clock, Mr. Olmert was not introduced until 7:30.  He spoke for about 45 minutes than then took a couple questions that the audience had written on cards.Olmert did not look like much of an orator in the first half of his presentation, frequently pausing to say “uh,” a problem I have when giving speeches.  I would have to assume he does much better with his first language than English.  He started by speaking about Israeli domestic policy and his accomplishments with regard to the economy and education.  Later, he sounded much more sure of himself and articulate as he began to address foreign policy issues and the middle east peace process.   He spoke at length about peace with the Palestinians and addressed his idea to return to the 1967 borders and competing ideas from the current Israeli administration led by Netanyahu.I would guess many attendees, including myself, wanted to hear his thoughts about the recent Gaza conflict but he didn’t have very much to say about it outside of rather standard talking points.  None of the chosen audience questions addressed it either.  The corruption indictment he is currently facing was not mentioned at all.Over all, I was glad I went to the event but it certainly was not as fascinating or provocative as I would have liked.  Luckily he was only interrupted once by an audience member and Olmert handled it will.  As we left the auditorium after the Q & A, the protesters were outside in slightly greater numbers and making a lot of noise, chanting something about “free Palestine.”  I’m sure there is plenty of legitimate criticism that could be leveled against Olmert but what the protesters chose to mention revealed plenty of ignorance and probably feigned passion.With fall break this weekend, ballroom was rescheduled for this evening.  Olmert’s appearance concluded just after 8:30 so I headed to the Reily center after stopping briefly at the LBC.  In spite of the schedule change, we still have a good turnout this evening with about 40 students there.  Tammy was again accompanied by Byron who served as guest instructor.  This was the second week of west coast swing and I had a reasonably firm grasp on the dance steps tonight which is always nice.Intermediate salsa started tonight after the beginner lesson but I elected not to stay for it.  As I was leaving, I ran into Nicole from the BSG meetups.  We spoke for 20 minutes, largely about recent goings-on in her life.  She told me about an internship she is currently doing in Stacey Head’s office at City Hall and her trip to Dragon Con.  I caught a cab home after that and got home around 11.  The tripod I won on eBay finally arrived today.  It’s a Bogen 3001 tripod with a Manfrotto 168 head.  It was dusty but I cleaned it up and I think I’m going to be very happy with it.  Before bed I started some laundry and watched the better part of the film Wanted.  Krystle called late and I talked to her a few minutes before turning in for the night.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:30:17 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1237</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This past Sunday was rather uneventful.  I cannot really recall anything particular that happened.  On Monday, I worked at Fox from 11 to six as usual.  Things seemed busy enough in the newsroom for a while so I stayed there for a while although I really did not do much of anything there.  At about 3:00 I walked upstairs to hand out in master control for a while.  Ron kept reasonably busy ingesting promos so I didn’t pester him much.  At 4:30 I went back to the newsroom to see what was going on and then went back upstairs to the control room to watch the broadcast.  Things appeared  to go rather smoothly with no big fires to be put out.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:27:25 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Duck and Danny]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1236</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After a late night out yesterday evening I slept in.  Andrew woke me at 11 because Dad needed my car keys.  He took out the alternator today to have it tested.  Removing it wasn’t much trouble.  It turned out to be bad and Dad bought a replacement at Pep Boys.  Later in the afternoon when he tried to install it he discovered that the connections were oriented the wrong way.  In the process of trying to put it back together the right way, he broke the brush housing.This evening I met Amy for dinner at the Maple Street Café.  We had arranged to meet yesterday but she had to cancel that afternoon.  I was running a bit late having had to deal with the car unexpectedly but I got lucky with the cab and arrived not long after 6:30.  Amy arrived just after I did.  I had the Duck Jameel, “pan seared boneless pepper crusted duck breast served with a fig sauce.”  Earlier in the afternoon my brother Andrew recommended it and it was quite good.  Amy had a crawfish pasta dish.Having just met the last week I didn’t know much about her.  I asked a bunch of questions about her childhood and growing up in Shanghai.  I don’t believe I know anyone else from China so I was curious to hear about it from someone with first hand experience.After dinner we walked to Dixon Hall on campus.  Amy came to the restaurant in a small scooter and I pushed it along as we walked, a decent work out for my right arm.  There was a recital this evening featuring British pianist Danny Driver.  It struck me as a pretty safe bet compared to the last time I took someone to see new live music on a first date.The turnout for the performance looked pretty light in the 1000-seat auditorium.  It was taking place during the much hyped Florida/LSU game.  Mr. Driver opened with Partita for keyboard No. 1 in B flat major by Bach.  Admittedly I’m a novice in the realm of classical music but I was most impressed by his performance.  Playing from memory alone was pretty remarkable to me.  While technically superb he is also a visibly animated player, which I suppose makes sense when you don’t have any sheet music to look at.  You could see him pause and overtly shift his mood between movements depending on the tempo.Following the Bach piece, Mr. Driver addressed the audience and discussed the next piece, Sonata No. 5 by York Bowen, a comparatively unknown British composer.  I would be hard-pressed to colorfully describe his performance but I can say it was damn good.An intermission followed.  Amy and I relocated from fourth row center to the left side for a different perspective.  From our new seats you could see the performer’s fingers work the keys in stellar form.  It was a bit mesmerizing.  Driver resumed playing with Four Piano Pieces by Brahms and concluded with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32, a soft ending to a rousing performance that earned a standing ovation.After the performance I walked Amy to the business school where we parted ways for the evening.  Before heading home I stopped at the Boot for one drink and to catch the end of the Florida vs. LSU game which was apparently quite anti-climatic.  Florida scored the lone touchdown of the game for a final of 13-3.  I almost felt sorry for all those people that paid hundreds of dollars to see the dud of a football game.   I finished my drink and walked up to The Mushroom to see if there was anything I might like buying.  I picked up a copy of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue which the clerk was kind enough to play over the stereo while I continued browsing.  I also walked out with a copy of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly It took longer than I would have liked to catch a cab but I did get home before midnight.  I wasn’t tired yet so I watched A Fish Called Wanda which was pretty amusing.  Krystle called pretty late but I still was not very tired so I talked to her for a while before finally turning in for the night.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:13:27 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Bar Hopping]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1235</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was at Fox from 11 to four this afternoon.  I might have stayed later but a dinner date I had planned was cancelled so I didn’t have the cause to stay later than I thought I did.  Like most Fridays, it was largely uneventful.  One of the bigger local stories today was a press conference called by Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price where he announced his resignation.Just before I left for the day at four I ran the teleprompter for a live news tease.  The newsroom decided to cover the Eddie Price press conference live at 4:30 and use the regular 30 second weather update at 3:59 to tease the press conference.  Claudia took a couple minutes to show me how it’s operated last week so I was able to get by.  I had the prompter running a couple minutes before going on air so Nancy Parker was good enough to let me practice a couple times.  I did just fine on the actual run through.I got home around 4:30.  We had spaghetti for dinner.  Later this evening, I met Andrey and a couple of his friends downtown.  Just before ten I arrived at the Ohm Lounge on St. Charles downtown.   It’s a small, chic place although being adjacent to the lobby of the Royal St. Charles Hotel dents the intended ambiance.  Andrey, Amy and his friend Romy who I met for the first time this evening arrived not long after I did.  Not long after they showed up we were joined by Patrick and Chelsi who only stayed for a couple rounds before departing.  Andrey was fond of the house DJ and the rest of us stayed for a good while longer.Our next stop was Whiskey Blue and the W Hotel.  Most of us weren’t dressed for it but it’s so dark in there I doubt anybody noticed.  After a mojito there we checked out the adjacent “living room” and explored some other parts of the hotel before heading back to Andrey’s car.He heard about a house party on Maple Street.  Apparently it was the birthday party of a classmate he barely knows.   I have not been to any great number of this sort of party but it did seem a bit typical, although there was a DJ.  There was no furniture in the living areas and the floors were covered in plastic.  We got there around one, apparently at the tail end of the frivolities.  None of us really knew anyone and whatever decent alcohol there might have been was gone.  Whatever was left was rather vile, frankly.  We left after about 15 minutes.  As we were leaving a TUPD cop walked in and we heard the rather loud music come to an abrupt end.We had planned to go to Andrey’s house for a little while after that but made a short impromptu stop at Phillip’s bar on Maple Street first.  They would be closing soon and we only stayed for one round of pool.  Following our brief stop there we went to Andrey’s house for a little while.  We had a drink there and talked about different stuff including Andrey’s experiences at job fairs and the like.  A little while after two, I called for a cab to go home.  Amy and Romy came with me to be dropped off at their places nearby.  I got home around three and went to bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:07:44 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[West Coast Swing]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1234</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I got a haircut at 10 this morning and there was no rush to get to the office afterward so we arrived at work at 12:30 this afternoon.   I didn’t have a great deal to do but I took care of what housekeeping tasks I did have.  Having eaten more than I should have the day before, I debated skipping lunch and eventually gave in an ordered a toasted club sandwich from Theo’s, which was very good because it was good or because I was starving.Dad took me to Elmwood for class this evening.  Everyone in the class now has an internship.  After going around doing progress reports, we looked over a couple lingering student’s resumes before watching a short video about cover letters.  I got a ride to campus uptown and sat at the Rat for a while before ballroom this evening.  This was the first week of west coast swing.  And we had a crowd of about 40 show up.  Tammy showed up with dance partner of hers, Byron if I remember right, who served as co-instructor for the evening.  He changed things up and had the guys rotate around to change partners, a serious disturbance in the force.  As for the dance itself, I’ve been in ballroom long enough to try west coast a couple times so the steps jogged my memory although it’s nothing like riding a bike.  I did well enough to have fun.  When the session ended, Tammy and Byron gave a short and impressive dancing demonstration.  I caught a cab from Willow and McAlister to go home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:47:21 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1234-1255052841</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[For All Mankind]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1233</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was at WVUE from 11 to six again today.  Nancy was back on the assignment desk this morning.  I decided to stay at the assignment desk in case I was needed for anything.  I never did end up being that busy.   Shortly before and during the newscast, I helped Claudia distribute the scripts for the newscast.  When we weren’t running around I got to talk to her about this and that.  I left for the day right at six.We had roast beef sandwiches for dinner this evening.  Later on I watched For All Mankind, an impressive documentary about the Apollo program.  Krystle called while I was watching it to make an intermission.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:27:23 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Come Back Next Week]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1232</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked at Fox from 11 to six this afternoon.  Chris was still running the newsroom today.  This afternoon I went with Donny to interview a doctor at Children’s Hospital about the H1N1 vaccine.  We were under the impression that they received their shipment and were there to get sound about the distribution of the vaccine.  During the interview we learned that they would not be getting it until next week, so we certainly wouldn’t be getting any B roll of the syringes or people receiving the vaccine.  That being the case, there wasn’t really any story.  I did happen to ask him what the side effects of the swine flu vaccine would be and his answer is what they used during the five o’clock news.On the way back to the station we stopped at the Pita Pit on Magazine for lunch.   I don’t remember doing much of circumstance afterward.  At five I went up to the control room to watch the newscast.  Apparently some packages were a bit late but everything seemed to run smoothly.I left not long after six.  We had red beans for dinner this evening.  I don’t recall doing anything of circumstance afterward.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:22:11 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Chicago]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1231</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The better part of this Saturday was uneventful.  I was having issues with the sound on my new toy but I eventually got it working.  This evening, I went with Mom and Dad to the Gretna Heritage Festival to see Chicago.  I’ve been enjoying their first album a lot lately so I was glad to have a chance to see them live.The Gretna Fest was going on since four this afternoon and we didn’t leave the house until around seven.  It took quite some time to find a parking space and it was a good distance from the grounds.  After parking and a healthy walk we finally made it to the fest.  I’ve never been to this particular festival before and I was shocked at the turnout.  It looked like 100,000 people were there.  We mostly showed for Chicago’s performance so we waded through the crowds and the booths and eventually made it to the main stage on the riverfront as Allen Toussaint was wrapping up.  Mom and Dad found a stop on the levee.Allen Toussaint’s set was over I moved up to the front.  I brought my camera with me intent on getting some good pictures.  When I worked my up to the front, I was dismayed to find people with chairs set up all in the front up to the barricade.  Jazz Fest put an end to the practice of confiscating such prime real estate with chairs years ago.  I found a cozy spot on the right side behind the first row of chairs, just a couple feet from the barricade.  There was about an hour before Chicago’s set started.  As I was just standing around waiting, I was dismayed to witness a group of front row squatters arguing with a man who was standing at the rail beside them because he had a prime spot without camping there all afternoon.  Overall, the crowd was incredibly healthy.  There must have been some 20,000 people there to see the show.The band started nearly on time just after 10 PM.  Three of the four founding members of Chicago were there along with some long time members.  I do enjoy their early music but I couldn’t have named any of the members before this evening.  The performance was awesome and they sounded quite good live.  Luckily, they largely played their older stuff which I and a lot of others find preferable to their newer material… to put it mildly.The stage was reasonably well lit most of the time and I was able to take some decent pictures even though my 70-200mm f/4 zoom lens is slow.    After the show I met up with Mom and Dad and we walked back to the car.  We got home at about midnight.  Rather than go to bed like I should have, I stayed up until three culling the 815 pictures I took and uploaded the keepers to the website.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:41:10 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Cao and Trains]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1230</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I arrived at Fox for 11 this morning.  Both Nancy and Janette were both out of the office today so web editor Chris Finch was running the assignment desk with Jessica.  There were enough stories on the board and a live remote complete with a field producer was planned for the Gretna Heritage Festival this afternoon.  Wit plenty going on in the newsroom I was content to stay downstairs today.Around one, Chris gave me a press release from Sherrif Gusman about a bank robbery and had me turn it into an article for the Fox8 website.  I’ve taken some journalism classes so this wasn’t foreign to me although I’ve never written a news story outside of a class assignment.  I did reasonably well but I forgot to attribute the press release which is a pretty big mistake.Shortly after two I went with Avis to shoot a couple events in town.  Congressman Joseph Cao was appearing at two railroad related events.  The first we went to was an event for the New Orleans Public Belt in which they were basically thanking FEMA and the LRA support.The second was a press conference with Cao in front of the Union Passenger terminal in which Cao called on Governor Jindal to apply for federal funds to build a high speed rail line between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.I left for the day not long after I got back to the stadium around four.  I probably should have arranged to stay later as they were still shorthanded this afternoon.Later this evening I spent a lot of time playing my ‘new’ ThinkPad.  The LCD screen appeared to have several dead pixels near the bottom of the screen but close examination revealed it to be some sort of dirt under the top layers of the display.  Prices for replacement LCDs are not favorable so I elected to take the screen apart and clean it.This was my first attempt dissecting a computer LCD screen.  All the layers are rather fragile once you have the metal frame off so I had to be quite careful.  The dirt was between the polarized film layers and the plastic backlight plate.  The cleanup was quite successful and I’m much happier with my purchase now.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:27:51 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1230-1254515271</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[X41]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1229</link>
		<description><![CDATA[As I am only working my day job two days a week at the moment, I had more than enough work to keep me busy Wednesday even though we were reasonably caught up with the reports.  Yesterday evening I watched some TV and The Quiet Man.Today I spent a good deal of time with filing work at the office.  We haven’t culled any settled cases from the files in months and I was able to draw out a box full.  For lunch I went to the recently opened Theo’s Pizza on Canal Street.  I’ve been to their location on Magazine a few times and liked it.  Their pizza is good although pricey for lunch.  I might try one of their sandwiches next week.During this evening’s practicum class, we went over some more student resumes including a couple revised ones.  Following that there was a short lecture on resume and cover letter tips.  Dad was waiting to pick me up when class was dismissed around 7:30.  On the way to Tulane’s uptown campus I heard from Amy, a friend of Andrey’s who has a Thinkpad to sell.  I arranged to meet her at the business school library.  It needs work but is functional.  She still had a lot of her data on it so I lent her my thumb drive and agreed to return later to pick it up.After a brief stop at the LBC I went to the Reily Center for ballroom this evening.  This was the final week of Samba.  As is typical with last week sessions, attendance was light.  There were only about 15 people in attendance but it was still fun.  There was only one new sequence this evening.  The rest was review of previous material which I had a reasonably competent grasp of.After ballroom I walked back to the business school to pick up the laptop.  In no hurry to go home, I went to Der Rathskeller in the LBC for something to eat before catching a cab home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:45:57 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1229-1254444357</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Jog Dial Adventures]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1228</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Monday and Tuesday at Fox were largely variations on a theme.  On Monday I sat on the assignment desk for a while but it was a slow news day and I eventually went up to master control upstairs.  Unlike previous days I’ve done this, Ms. DeCorte must have missed me because she came up and asked when I would be done.  I went back to the newsroom but didn’t have much to do.  Perhaps they were swamped earlier.  I did take some calls but I was largely unoccupied.At five I went up to the control room to watch the broadcast, always fun. Things went pretty smoothly so I was able to ask some questions of the producer I was sitting next to.  Later that evening after I watched Thunderball.On Tuesday I worked in the newsroom again with more hope that I would have a chance to get out of the station for a while.  There wasn’t too much to do in the early afternoon.  Shortly after four I volunteered to cue some tapes, which gave me a chance to play with the Betacam recorders.  The station received a subpoena for media coverage of a French Quarter murder and some tapes were pulled.  The ones I got didn’t have much on them and when I finished, Nicole helped me find more.  I went through those as the five o’clock news was starting.  I was able to find the relevant story without too much trouble although I had a bit of trouble.  The copies they make of the newscasts do not seem to have voiceover audio on the take so when B roll is running during VOSOTs, you hear the audio of the footage and not the anchor speaking, which I would imagine is not much help for someone wanting a copy of news segments.After I finished I went back to the assignment desk and got to talking with one of the production assistants I met a couple weeks ago.  She’s interesting to talk to as she’s very candid about how things work at the station, so to speak.  When the newscast ended at six, she was good enough to show me how to operate the teleprompter.  They use Autoscript +WinPlus+ which works with ENPS.  Operating the software does not seem difficult although it would take practice to master the scrolling dial and matching the speed of the anchors.The real difficulty is keeping up with the script changes as the broadcast is ongoing.  The producer will routinely kill stories and apparently it’s not always clearly marked by the producer for the prompter operator.  The operator has to pay close attention to the radio chatter while keeping up with the anchors and everything else going on.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:25:37 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[All Dressed Up]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1227</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This weekend passed rather quietly at home, with the exception of Friday night.  That evening I was about to settle into a night of movie watching when Andrey called me at eight.  He told me to put on a suit, tie and be ready to be picked up in 30 minutes.  I was rather bemused by the request but I didn’t have anything better to do.  A short while later, Andrey and David arrived dressed as well as me and we went to the westbank Palace theater to see The Informant.  There weren’t a lot of people around when we arrived so three dudes in suits at the movie theater didn’t make much of a scene.  It was a funny movie and the viewing experience reminded me of Curb Your Enthusiasm in that it’s very funny but I often find myself covering my face, unable to watch the absurdity ensuing on screen.After the movie I was adamant that we went some place where a suit and tie were appropriate so we went to Melange at the Ritz-Carlton.  It was about midnight when we arrived and the band was on break but Jeremy Davenport was scheduled to play until one so we saw some of him before last call.Following a couple rounds at the Ritz we honored tradition and stopped at Rally’s on the way to Andrey’s place.  We hung out there until about 2:30 when I got a cab home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:51:05 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Betsy's]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1226</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Wednesday at work was rather uneventful.  I had some things to work on and didn’t leave myself much to do tomorrow.  That evening I started watching The Kid Stays in the Picture and 25 minutes in I couldn’t keep my eyes open any more.  I went to bed uncharacteristically early at nine.Having slept so thoroughly the night before I was up uncharacteristically early this morning, but there was no milk to have an uncharacteristic breakfast.  Dad didn’t eat before we left either and he decided we were going to Betsy’s Pancake House, a fixture of New Orleans I’ve not visited before.  I probably should have gotten a breakfast item which they are famous for but I got fried chicken and baked macaroni instead.I mostly had housekeeping work to do this afternoon and by the end of the workday I had a clean desk.  This evening’s Practicum class was a continuation of the resume dissections we did last week.  Attendance was light and there were only three to get through tonight including mine.  There was some constructive criticism of my resume although I was expecting more radical suggestions.  Class was dismissed just before 7:30.Dad was waiting to pick me up afterward.  He went back to the office after dropping me off to do some work so I didn’t feel as bad about him agreeing to wait around.  I was dropped off at the LBC around eight so I had plenty of time to kill.  I spent a portion of it writing this.We had a healthy crowd at ballroom this evening... somewhere around 40 I suspect.  I had trouble with both the old and the new material.  Afterward I got a cab home although I did have to wait a while for it.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:37:22 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1226-1253839042</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Late Package]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1225</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Like yesterday, Dad dropped me off at WVUE not long before 11 this morning.  There were only seven stories on the board when I arrived and it was looking like another slow news day.  I was not particularly interested in working the desk today either so like yesterday I camped out in master control again.  I learned a little more today.  Debbie and later Ron talked about how they “ingest” programming for broadcast.  Promos, some commercials and other content come in through digital Betacam tapes which are manually reviewed and transferred to a server.  Some syndicated programming is received in advance via C/Ku band satellite and other shows are received through Pathfire, a digital media distribution service.Two live feeds were scheduled for the newscast and I saw how those signals are acquired.  The weather was stormy however and they were canceled due to the threat of lightning.At five this afternoon I went to the director’s booth to watch the newscast.  I saw one from there last week which was pretty interesting.  There was a lot going on but everything did go smoothly.  Tonight there was a hiccup that had to be worked out for the rest of the broadcast.  One of today’s top stories was the start of the crime camera trial and Sabrina Wilson shot a package to be aired.  Unfortunately it wasn’t ready when the broadcast started and it still wasn’t ready when it came time to air it.Instead, Wilson did an ad-lib Q & A with the anchors instead, hoping all the while it would be a lead-in to the package.  After two minutes it still wasn’t ready and they moved on to the next story.  A few minutes after that it was ready and apparently one of the editors made the call to run it even though the story had already been covered.  That put the broadcast in the red on time, a couple minutes over the hour allotted.  For the remainder of the broadcast, the producers I was sitting next two cut segments, rearranged and shortened others to fix the time issue.  Being a novice at this sort of thing, it was interesting to watch them solve a frustrating problem while remaining perfectly calm.I left for the day just after six.  I don’t recall doing anything in particular this evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:36:27 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Master Control]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1224</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This weekend passed without incident.  I was home throughout and didn’t do much.  This morning, I arrived at Fox just before 11.  Ms. DeCorte was not working today and it was a slow news day, like most Mondays apparently.  Not content to sit in the newsroom all day, I went upstairs to the master control room and introduced myself to the people working there and hung out for the day.  I met Debbie, a broadcast engineer with about 20 years at WVUE.  I was here last week for a few hours but I didn’t actually learn much as all the equipment is a bit overwhelming at first.Debbie was kind enough to show me Florical Airboss, software which controls the programming and commercials.  Generally speaking it’s programmed a day in advance so a lot of the work that the master controllers handle is for future broadcasts, although that changes when they are showing live events like Saints games.  After two o’clock, Debbie’s shift was over and Rob, who I met last week, arrived to take over.  He showed me a few other things although there wasn’t much going on in relation to the programming on screen.  There were a couple guys huddled over a screen working on a problem after upgrading Avid Deko, software used for “bugs” in the corner of the screen.I stayed through the newscast at six.  Although I knew Airboss was configured well in advance, I was still surprised to see that absolutely no intervention was needed in Master Control throughout the hour-long live broadcast.  Control of commercial breaks is diverted to the director during the news.  The news appeared to go pretty smoothly, at least from my seat.  I left for the day at six.We had red beans for dinner, quite good.  I don’t recall wasting the rest of the evening in any unusual way.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:08:45 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1224-1253506125</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Friday at Fox]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1223</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I arrived at Fox just before 11 this morning.  There was more than enough news to fill the broadcast this evening but I didn’t have a great deal to do.  Early this afternoon Nancy suggested I observe some in studio interviews Val Bracy conducted.   She interviewed a couple people working with the inspector general’s office which is part of an ongoing news story.Later on I accompanied Natasha Robin and photographer to a small press conference held by Danatus King, local NAACP head.  He and a local minister were announcing that the NAACP were launching their own investigation into the current business with the inspector general’s office.I left for the day at four o’clock.  I squandered the better part of the evening playing Team Fortress 2.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:23:59 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1223-1253251439</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Resumes]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1222</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Work at the office on Wednesday and today was pretty uneventful.  I did take some time today to go to the Ruby Slipper for lunch.  I ordered an omlette.  At six, Dad took me to Elmwood for class this evening.  This evening’s practicum class was about resumes.  We were all directed to e-mail one to Ms. Hart and we spent the class.  We ended up dissecting about five of them.  Class was dismissed at 8:30.  We’re supposed to get to the rest next week.Early in class I asked around for a ride uptown for ballroom this evening.  One lady obliged me although I deeply regret not remembering her name just now.  Another friend was riding with her and she needed to stop at Wal-Mart before heading towards the city.With that out of the way we made it uptown pretty quickly but I was still about 10 minutes late.  The turnout this evening was quite impressive at about 80 people, a drop off from last week but still quite remarkable compared to previous years.  There wasn’t much new material this evening which was fine with me because I could hardly get what we were introduced to.After ballroom, I got something to eat with Andrey at Felipe’s.  He told me about a table tennis tournament he participated in a few weeks ago and some other things going on in his life.  At about 11, I caught a cab home from Tulane.  I had the same driver as last week, Tom, and had another interesting conversation with him.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:23:07 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1222-1253164987</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Tuesday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1221</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Like Monday, there was not much going on at the station, being a slow news day.  I spend quite a while at the assignment desk not doing much.  I decided to give myself a tour of the engineering stuff upstairs.  I took a seat in the director’s booth upstairs and introduced myself to the lady who was working there.  Nothing was really happening since it was over an hour away from the newscast.  After a little while I walked down to the master control room where I met a young man who was working there.  All the screens and controls were pretty fascinating and I learned a bit about how commercials and syndicated programming are queued up.  While everything is still rather complicated, the extensive automation makes things a lot easier than it might otherwise be.At five I walked back to the director’s booth to observe the director and producer conduct the broadcast.  It was fascinating to watch all the talk and commotion that goes into directing a newscast.  The director was calling out the shots and graphics, the producer sat behind the director and keeps the newscast on track, and keeps track of time.  There is an assistant to play back all the video clips and sound bytes as well as a woman there to talk to the two live trucks that were doing remote broadcasts.At 5:30 I left for the day.  The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:22:00 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1221-1252992120</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Friday to Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1220</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Friday at Fox was not particularly interesting.  It rained all day and I was on the assignment desk most of the afternoon.  I did go with one of the photogs, Donny, to interview some AmeriCorps people that were handing out flyers on flu/disaster preparedness at Loyola.  It wasn’t much of a story and I got nice and wet from the rain.  I left for the day at four.The weekend was rather uneventful. I didn’t leave the house and spent a lot of time playing shoot-em-up games on the computer and I watched a couple of movies.I worked at Fox today from 11 to five.  I would normally stay until six but Dad took Mom out to dinner this evening so my ride wanted to be home earlier.  I was in the newsroom all day and didn’t go anywhere or do much of anything.  I might have been more forward in finding something to do were I not leaving as the evening newscast was starting.This evening I watched Paris, je t’aime, a collection of short films centered around the City of Lights which was actually quite interesting.  Later on I watched some of the Jay Leno Show premiere and the Raiders / Chargers game.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:17:02 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1220-1252984622</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Samba]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1219</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Work on Wednesday was pretty uneventful.  Dad seemed to be reasonably caught up on reports so I got around to some housekeeping work that’s been on my desk for a while.  Several months worth of checks were waiting to be entered into the computer and I spent a lot of time doing that among the distraction of other activites.  That evening I broke down and upgraded to Trillian Astra and finished watching Bringing Out the Dead.Today, Dad and I arrived at the office after 11.  Earlier this morning I was watching the conclusion of an eBay auction offering a Sony VAIO U101.  I would have loved to have it, but not as much as a couple other people, apparently.  Work was not particularly eventful.  Some of the data entry was yet undone but I didn’t get to it today.  Instead I have a couple patient reports and records to prepare.  I also made a couple calls to the Reily Center this evening for a club sports pass.  The assistant director, Allison, was very helpful and I was able to buy a pass over the phone rather than having to take time off of work and appear in person and I have in previous terms.  After work, Dad dropped me off for class this evening in Elmwood.Tonight’s practicum class featured another around-the-table update on everyone’s internships or lack thereof.  We had a couple class presentations to get through including one by a familiar face, David, another student I’ve seen in previous classes over the years. After a lecture about personality traits relation to career paths, Ms. Hart played an instructional video from the 90’s on resumes.After class, Dad was waiting to pick me up.  He was kind enough to wait for me and take me to Tulane’s uptown campus for the first session of Ballroom dancing this semester.This was my first time being at the Uptown campus since last term.  The McAlister Place project appears to be in full swing, converting the street and parking to a pedestrian walkway.  This pretty much guarantees Tulane will remain a perpetual construction site through the five years I have been a student.With about a half hour to kill before ballroom this evening, I sat in the LBC for a little while and typed most of this.  I walked to the Reily Center.  There was quite a crowd milling about on the top floor.  Luckily we are in the larger lakeside room this fall which was more apt to accommodate everyone.  There were several familiar faces to say hello to as well as a plethora of new ones.  I believe the count was 139.Tammy Clark is back as out instructor as well and samba is the first dance style of the term.  It took me a little while to pick up the basic step.  I usually depend on seeing the instructor but it was rather crowded and I seldom had a clear view.  Megan, who’s recently returned from Europe, had a grip on things and showed me the how it was done.  Later on when we moved on to a promenade step I was a bit lost again.  I should be caught up next week though.Afterward I caught a cab home and had an interesting conversation with a long-time local who has been involved with several business ventures.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:45:19 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[VO Patrol]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1218</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I arrived at Fox shortly before 11 this morning.   I didn’t have much to do at the desk this morning.  This afternoon, Nancy sent me out with Avis to do a short interview with Roger Villere and photograph some “real estate” Kenner related to a double shooting last night.I was a bit nervous about conducting an interview per se but it was no big deal.  The questions don’t go on the air if an intern or photographer is doing the asking and the subjects generally know exactly what you’re going to ask and already have answers in mind so I would guess they almost always get the sound byte they want without incident.  We met Mr. Villere at his florist shop off Veterans Blvd. and the whole thing only took about two minutes.With that in the can we drove out to Kenner and Avis shot some voice-over footage of duplex apartments in the area where a shooting occurred last night.  There was no evidence that anything had taken place last night, not even caution tape.  Before heading back to the studio we had to drive out to Harahan for some reason so Avis could take care of something.  As we started heading back, Ms. Decorte called and sent us to do another interview with Cedric Richmond who announced his candidacy for congress next year.  This and the Villere interview would both be VO/SOTs, which stands for voice over/sound on tape.  During the newscast, an anchor will read some copy, a soundbyte will be played and the anchor will wrap up the story before moving on.  We interviewed him at a law office slash UPS Store on Elysian Fields.  Nancy gave me a couple questions over the phone.  Most importantly, I asked why he was choosing to run for office.   I also asked him why he was announcing so early, over a year before the November 2010 election.  He decried partisan politics and said incumbent Joseph Cao was merely voting on the party line and lamented his no vote on the stimulus package.After returning to the studio I sat around for a little while and eventually in with Avis as he edited down the “real estate” footage and later with another editor who was doing the interviews we shot.  That didn’t take long.  Most of the time I spent observing, he was working on the super open, which promos the upcoming newscast with snippets of the main stories.At five o’clock I left for the day.  Dad was waiting to pick me up.  The HOV lane was closed today and traffic was heavier than usual.  It took almost an hour to get home.  I didn’t do much later this evening as I developed a headache after work.  I did start watching a movie before Krystle called.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:07:06 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Script Running]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1217</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad dropped me off at Fox at 10:30 this morning.  Janette, the lone managing editor for the day let me in.  After I got settled, John, a production assistant on the desk, gave me some press releases to enter in  ENPS and later I did the better part of the beat check, which involves calling surround police precincts to ask if they are working any big cases.  Apparently you almost never get a bite, and after 30 calls my notepad was still blank.Later on I went out with one of the photographers, Avis, to Marrero where governor Bobby Jindal was appearing to present 157 Louisiana Veterans’ Honor Medal at American Legion Post 222.  A handful of local politicians and sheriff Marlin Gusman were also in attendance.  Aside from carrying the tripod in and out there was not much for me to do outside of observing.  The ceremony itself went smoothly with the exception of some excitement during Jindal’s address when one of the medal receipts had a fainting spell of some sort.  He appeared to be fine but he was taken away by ambulance.  Governor Jindal presented him with his medal before he left.Following the interruption, Jindal finished his speech and they began distributing the medals.  Avis and I were there for about half of that process before heading back to the studio.  When I got back I had lunch.  Chick-fil-a left a bunch of food for the newsroom right before we left and I finally had a chance to eat.  15 minutes before I was planning to leave at four, Janette asked me to stay until six.  Apparently the rest of the interns were leaving at four and she wanted one to hang around through the newscast.  I called Dad to let him know and he didn’t seem to mind staying at the office for a while longer.I spent the rest of the afternoon helping one of the production assistants with the script printing and distribution.  She showed me how she goes about printing script copies before the newscast.  It would be a trivial affair but the process is complicated by late arriving copy.  They start printing at 4:30, half an hour before they go on the air.  As things come in closer to five o’clock and even later, those pages are run to the director’s booth, sound engineer and news anchors separately.  A few minutes before the show started, the assistant I was working with went in the studio to set up and operate the teleprompter and left me to get the last remaining pages printed and distributed to everybody.  Being my first time doing this it was kind of exciting even though the tone of the whole day was comparatively calm and quiet.  I had to make four or five trips to the anchor desk and the booths upstairs.By the second commercial break, everyone had all the pages.  I sat in with Claudia while she operated the teleprompter through the duration of the newscast.  I had a headset to listen to the director’s and producer’s chatter which was interesting and occasionally amusing.  Nancy Parker was the lone anchor this evening and I got to chat with her briefly during a couple of the breaks. She comes across as a rather pleasant person.   I left for the day at six o’clock, just after the newscast ended.  Dad was waiting for me outside.I don’t remember doing much of anything that evening outside of dinner and wasting time on the internet.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:13:55 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1217-1252098835</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Wednesday at Work]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1216</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I got to the office at about 11:30 this morning, maybe sooner.  There was no significant backlog from my absence yesterday and I didn’t have much work remaining to do by quitting time at five.  This evening I spent some time working on my practicum class homework, an oral presentation on a career possibility.  I picked sports telecast director, a rare job and not a good choice as far as potential research is concerned.  There was a great article on the subject in January’s Atlantic Magazine, though.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:46:43 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[First Day at Fox]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1215</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad dropped me off at Fox 8 at around 10:30 this morning, half an house before I was supposed to report.  Travis, one of the PA's, let me in and showed me the ropes for a while, mostly the ENPS newsroom workflow software they use and how to interact with it.  One of the jobs interns sometimes do is enter information from faxes, e-mails and press releases into the event calendar.  Certain items are pulled from the calendar and use for story ideas.  I was shown the software during my station tour but I didn’t use it myself.  That afternoon we got a handful of calls about the John McDonogh High School principle repeatedly canceling band practice.  I didn’t pay the first call much thought but we received calls from a few parents and MS. DeCorte apparently made an inquiry and received a less than informative response.Later on I accompanied reporter Jennifer Hale and a camera man to get a brief interview with congressman Joseph Cao who was spending the afternoon touring points of interest related to the homeless problem in New Orleans.  We were waiting at the abandoned St. Augustine High School which was to be one of his stops.  We never did see him and ended up returning to the station empty handed, as the reporter also got a de facto interview cancellation on another unrelated story.After returning to the station I didn’t have much of anything to do, although just before five, the lady that operates the teleprompter and apparently works on the scripts invited me to help her out a bit and I went with her as she distributed copies of the scripts to the producers upstairs and the anchors in the studio.  I was able to introduce myself to Nancy Parker and Jennifer Van Vrancken.  I left not long after five but I got to sit at the teleprompter controls for the first few minutes in the studio.  I was surprised to see the cameras are controlled remotely upstairs rather than having operators behind them.  The only people actually in the studio are the anchors and teleprompter operator.Dad picked me up from the station just after five.  I didn’t do much in the evening.  I had a bit of a headache and laid down for a while and eventually went to sleep for the night.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:42:54 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1215-1251780174</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[d.b.a. and BMC]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1214</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This evening after work, Andrey called me and told me he was putting together an outing this evening to d.b.a. and points elsewhere.  I got a cab to d.b.a. for 9:45, the prearranged time.  My friends showed up a little later.  In addition to the regular crew of Andrey, Patrick and David, Chelsi accompanied us this evening as well.  Alex McMurray began his set not too long after they arrived.After a while we walked to the Balcony Music Club on Decatur Street where Sasha Masakowski was scheduled to appear there but it looked like only her band showed up.  We hung around there for quite a while.  We left there sometime after midnight to walk around a bit.  We ended up at Cafe Bamboo at the Dragon’s Den.  It’s a vegetarian restaurant by day but apparently by night it’s a dimly lit bar with a DJ spinning some sort of techno music.Following a round there we walked back to Patrick’s car on Esplanade and went to Rally’s and then to Andrey’s house.  Patrick and Chelsi parted company after we got there.  Andrey, David and I got to talking about movies and we watched a bit of Be Cool.  I called a cab shortly before three and got home at about 3:30.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:29:48 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Back to School]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1213</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After an uneventful day at work, Dad drove to me Tulane’s Elmwood campus in Harahan for class this evening.  The fall semester started this week and I only have one class this term, Media Arts Practicum with Katherine Hart.  The class centers around an internship each student is required to have to complete their major.   A couple weeks ago I had a meeting at WVUE and I will be starting there next week.  During this first class we all introduced ourselves.  It didn’t take very long as there were only seven other students.  The instructor also went over the writing assignments that we will be doing.  They include a journal we are to keep and a final report on the internship at the end of the term.Class was dismissed at about seven.  Dad went to see some relatives in Metairie after dropping me off and it was to be a little while before he could pick me up so I walked to a strip mall nearby to pass the time.  I browsed around at Guitar Center for a while before going to Nacho Mama’s for something to eat.  Dad showed up sometime after eight.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:29:01 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Evening Out]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1212</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This Saturday evening I met Andrey, Patrick and David at the Balcony Music Club on Decatur Street.  This was my first time there but apparently the rest of the “crew” has been there a few times.  I regret I do not recall the name of the band that was playing but they were entertaining.  It was a bit louder than necessary but not bad.  After about an hour there we walked across the street to Checkpoint Charlie and played some pool with a rather mediocre band in the background.  After a good while there we drove to Rally’s and on to Andrey’s house for a little while before calling a cab to go home.The rest of this week has not been particularly eventful.  If it has I don’t remember much.  I did update the VAIO wallpaper page for the first time in several months this weekend.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:45:36 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1212-1251261936</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Another Long Weekend]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1211</link>
		<description><![CDATA[With Dad’s car in the ship through the morning we didn’t make it to the office today.  I used the extra time to get ready and finished packing for a trip to Ruston this weekend.  I was taking a train to Jackson this afternoon so I had to call a cab to get to the station.  The train departed shortly before two this afternoon.  The ride was reasonably smooth an uneventful.  Unfortunately the train didn’t have a observation car to sit in.The train arrived a few minutes early.  Krystle was still a half hour away from Jackson so I waited outside.  The weather was cool and it rained sporadically.  When she arrived we went to the nearby Mayflower Cafe for dinner before the drive to Ruston.  It was a bit late to do anything when we arrived.Saturday evening, we went to the theater after Krystle made dinner.  We went to see District 9, a sci-fi film with an interesting premise and less than stellar execution.  I shared Roger Ebert’s lament that an otherwise intelligent film devolves into a firefight in the third act. On Sunday we got out of the house in the afternoon and went to Raising Cane for lunch and probably paid Krystle’s family a visit.  Krystle’s roommate Sabrina hosted a party on Monday that made going home on Tuesday rather imprudent and inconvenient.  Tuesday afternoon, we had a late lunch with Krystle’s roommates Sabrina and Thomas at Chili’s after dropping off Krystle’s dog at her mom’s house.  The canine was sick with worms.  We went to the movies again that night and saw Julie & Julia, a lightweight and inoffensive film about Julia Child and Julie Powell, who cooked through Child’s imposing Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year.  It was a decent date movie but I would have enjoyed a well-made biopic of Julia Child more.On Wednesday morning, we had to leave for Jackson early.  We didn’t leave the house until nine in the morning which was later than we should have but I was able to catch the train to New Orleans, just barely.  The train pulled away less than a minute after I found a seat.  During the ride I listened to an audiobook, a reading of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and played with my laptop.  The train arrived early at around three o’clock and Dad was at the station to pick me up and go to the office for the remainder of the workday.  When I got home, the remaining parts for the Blackberry were waiting for me and I installed them to finally have a fully functional Blackberry 8800.  I also put in an 8 GB memory card for music and videos.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:47:06 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Pho and Fox]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1210</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This past Sunday, I went with Andrey, David and Patrick on an evening out on the west bank, a more than somewhat unusual occurrence.  They wanted to go to a Vietnamese restaurant on the west bank for some pho soup.  They picked me up and we drove past a few possibilities but they were all closed.  We ended up at Three Happiness restaurant on Lafayette Street.  I went there once before a few years ago with Jessica and the décor, or lack thereof, was nothing like what I remembered.  The food wasn’t too bad though.After dinner we went to Honey’s pool hall on the west bank expressway.  We played pool at a bar on Magazine a few weeks before but it was a bit cramped so this was a better venue for the game, if not the scenery.  We played several rounds before leaving sometime around 11.Rather than go over the river, we went to a Rally’s on Gen De Gaulle and went to my house to eat and talk for a while.  I think it was close to one before my guests left for the evening.On Monday I made some calls and was able to schedule an interview with Fox 8 for an internship for the fall.  As part of my upcoming Media Arts Practium class, I am required to have an internship.  I had the interview on Tuesday afternoon which went rather well as it seemed I was “hired” as soon as I walked through the door.  I met with the managing news editor, Nancy DeCorte, and eventually was given a tour of the studio by a current intern and was introduced to a few people working there including Bob Breck, their resident meteorologist for evening newscasts.On Wednesday after work, I went to the movies with Andrey and David.  I got a cab to David’s house and then Andrey picked us up to go to the AMC theater in Elmwood.  We saw Funny People, a movie with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen.  I couldn’t call it a great film but it was funny and entertaining.  We went to the 10:30 showing and I didn’t get back home until well after one in the morning.Thursday had the makings of a typical workday but Dad’s car broke down in the afternoon as he was picking Andrew up from an appointment.  Mom retrieved them and eventually me close to six o’clock.  We went to dinner near the office at Venezia where I had lunch on Wednesday.  Dad and I had the lasagna, Mom had stuffed shells and Andrew had some sort of combination plate.  That evening, I spent a lot of time doing laundry as I needed clothes washed for a trip I’m taking tomorrow.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:38:05 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1210-1250213885</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Unbreaking Toys]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1209</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This week has passed with relative quiet although I did get out of the house this weekend.  This past Saturday evening I met Andrey, Patrick and David for a little outing to Mona’s Café on Carrollton.  Before that I went to Andrey’s house to try and resurrect an external hard drive belonging to Andrey’s friend Veronica that wasn’t working.  Without having seen the drive, my best bet was a faulty USB controller so I brought along a universal USB drive adapter.  Removing the drive from the enclosure and connecting it with the adapter didn’t work.  The drive still read as having an 8 GB partition and the rest unpartitioned, probably caused by some sort of fluke involving another flash drive.  I then tried restoring the original partition with a program called Partition Table Doctor which worked swimmingly.  Mission Accomplished.With the drive fixed we eventually made it to Mona’s where we sat around for a while with a sampling of beers Andrey brought.  Patrick’s friend Paige was working there and we saw a lot of her while there.  Later on we went back to Andrey’s place and eventually made a run to Rally’s.  I was rather tired when I left there sometime after one.  Before I did leave Andrey gave me a battered Blackberry 8800 to play with.Over the course of the week I’ve been killing a lot of time with the phone.  Apparently it had seen some liquid as there was rust inside but I was still able to revive it with some attention and a new battery.  The outer casing is in pretty bad shape so I bought a new housing for it.  I also discovered that the microphone is virtually dead and got the part to fix that as well.  With the hardware side accounted for I’ve been playing with applications and other such things, this being the first Blackberry I’ve had time to play with for an extended period.  The GPS receiver works and I installed TrekBuddy so I can use maps without a data connection.I also watched a few movies this week including One Six Right, How the West was Won and Cinerama Adventure, a documentary about the ground-breaking motion picture process that ushered in widescreen movies.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:02:46 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1209-1249671766</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Sunday and Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1208</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was up earlier than usual Sunday morning as Bianca woke up at eight to be ready to leave at nine for her flight today.  Since I was awake I was able to go to church without any problem.  The rest of the day was rather uneventful.Monday was rather uneventful as well.  The radiator on Dad’s car broke last Friday and this morning he took it to Steve’s on Gen. DeGaulle to have it fixed.  We didn’t hear from them until about four in the afternoon when the work day was near its end so I never got to the office today.  I took the time to clean my closet, do some laundry and waste time on the computer.  I also finished watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which was not entertaining despite whatever artistic merit the film might have.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:08:51 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1208-1248671331</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Shirts and Snug]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1207</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier this week I heard from Bianca who said she was going to be in town today to catch a plane tomorrow morning.   She needed a place to stay and I was able to oblige.  I took care of some chores before she showed up at one this afternoon.  Not long after she arrived and got settled, we went out to Metairie to do some shopping.  There aren’t any malls where she lives and she expressed a desire to look for clothes and shoes.Our first stop was Clearview Mall.  I think we only went there because she thought there was an Old Navy store there.  There isn’t one and we weren’t there long but we did stop in several stores first.   After walking through Clearview we drove down Veterans to Lakeside Mall.We were at Lakeside for a few hours and stopped in several stores.  Our first stop was Express.  Bianca bought a few items and I got a purple collared shirt.  We then went to the food court to satisfy Bianca’s craving for cookies.  Later we went through good number of stores including several that cater only to females.  Before we left the mall we stopped at Eddie Bauer where Bianca helped me pick out a short-sleeved collared shirt and an undershirt.  I wasn’t really happy with what I was wearing and wanted something else to wear for dinner.We left the mall at about 4:30.  As there was no longer an Old Navy in Lakeside either and Bianca still wanted to go, we drove out to the nearest location in Elmwood.  Bianca seemed disappointed in what they had to offer but she did get a couple of shirts.  I got some undershirts myself.  Before we headed to dinner we also stopped at two other stores nearby, K-Mart and Rue 21.We took Earhart Blvd. back to the city.  We had a 6:30 reservation for dinner at Snug Harbor.  As we were driving across the Quarter on Decatur Street we both saw Ray Nagin at a crosswalk and waved at him.  He waved and smiled back which was pretty cool.There was a healthy crowd in the restaurant when we arrived.  I ordered the blackened fish and Bianca ordered a hamburger.  During dinner we got to talking to a couple semi-regular visitors from Florida.  After dinner we took our seats for the first set of the evening with Astral Project.I’ve seen Astral Project several times here but this was one of the best sets in memory.  All four members were in attendance and the music was great.  They played several songs from their latest CD and some new compositions including what was billed at the “premiere performance” of McCoy by Steve Masakowski.  They also played Sophisticated Lady featuring a solo by Tony Dagradi on his newly-purchased baritone saxophone.After the set, Bianca and I walked to Cafe Du Monde for some beignets.  Neither of us had been there in quite a while so it seemed an obligatory stop.  It was quite crowded even though it was about 10 PM but we were able to find a table without any trouble.  I decided to try the Cafe au Lait even though I don’t like coffee.  I was reminded why.  The beignets were excellent as always, though.  Having had our fill, we walked back to the car and home for the evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:03:06 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Meh]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1206</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Not much happened since my long weekend out of town and I was not very interesting I posting virtually nothing, although I should have posted last Saturday after going to a little gathering at Patrick’s house in River Ridge.  Not a great deal has happened lately.  On Monday I saw a career counselor at Tulane regarding an internship I will need in the fall.  I bought some floor stands for my new computer speakers… and that about covers it.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:02:00 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1206-1248411720</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Extended Weekend]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1205</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Some days of this past week deserved their own entries but I have decided to summarize my recent change of scenery with this one entry.  I am writing this log entry from the lounge car of an Amtrak train on my way back to New Orleans after a few days in Ruston.  A few days ago, Krystle told me she had a chance to come down to New Orleans with a new roommate and asked if I might like coming back up to Ruston for a few days.  As I already had a three day weekend and a couple more days off would be no big problem, a change of scenery was appealing.She arrived on Wednesday night.  I was trying to unclog the bathroom sink when she arrived and couldn’t have looked presentable.  Later that night we watched Changling on my newly-purchased Pioneer Blu-ray player.  It works well but it’s painfully slow compared to the PS3.We left for Ruston the next day.  We stopped at IHOP on the way out of town.  I suspect that destination is in danger of becoming a tradition.  If I remember right, we had dinner at Ponchatoula’s that evening.The week kind of blends together although I can easily recall individual events.  One of the days I was there, we had lunch with Krystle’s roommates, Sabrina and Jose.  Later that day we drove to Monroe to go to Best Buy.  Another evening, Krystle and I went to see Public Enemy.  IT was a well crafted film but I found the handheld cinematography rather distracting as it was a period piece.The evening of the fourth, we drove out to Pea Ridge where some relatives and friends of Krystle’s folks were celebrating Independence Day with plenty of booze and explosives.  We were there for an hour or two before we decided we had seen enough fireworks.On Monday we went out to Monroe in the afternoon.  We just needed to get out of the house and I wanted to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy a clock.  Krystle’s roommate Jose had a rather interesting wall clock that I just had to have.  When we got there we stopped at a new sushi place for something to eat.  After a late lunch we did our shopping and I found the clock I was looking for.Krystle and I left this morning to head to Jackson.  Rather than have her drive me all the way to New Orleans, I just caught the train to go the second half of the way.  The trip was not unpleasant although I the run from Jackson to New Orleans can be done in half the time by car.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:57:57 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[The Death of Spring and Celebrities]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1204</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This is probably the first post in quite sometime that isn’t the summary to some outing.  I figured I would write an entry before the weekend to mention a couple things.Work has been droning on as normal with a little dose of melodrama.  A couple weeks ago we started opening the office on Mondays with doctor’s hours which generally is working out so far and is relieving the patient load on Wednesdays.  Yesterday was the first full eight hour day I've worked in a while.  Dad and I left the house earlier than usual so he could take Mom to the airport.  She is going to Florida for a few days to visit her sister.Over the last couple weeks, spring came to an abrupt end with increasingly hot temperatures.  Yesterday was the hottest day on record ever in New Orleans with temperatures reaching 104 degrees.  This morning, Dad took me to Moldaner’s Camera on Maple Street to pick up some film I dropped off last Friday.  I had a roll of black and white film I shot years ago developed and I had some film negatives from my high school graduation scanned.  Afterward we had lunch at Camellia Grill.  I had an omlette and dad had hot sausage on bun.  Later this evening after work I fooled with my “new” pictures and watched Deconstructing Harry.Today also completed another unfortunate celebrity death trifecta.   Ed McMahon died earlier this week and then today, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away.  The first two were not exactly surprising but the death of the king of pop was pretty shocking to me... maybe just because I never really followed him.  In any event, I suspect the media circus that started today and will no doubt continue is going to be more depressing than his death.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:45:02 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[City Zoo and DJ Soul Sister]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1203</link>
		<description><![CDATA[On Saturday evening, I met Andrey, Patrick and David at the Woodward Loft Apartments.  Jeff was home for the weekend and happened to be going out so he offered a ride.  Apparently this was a birthday party for somebody.  The only connection any of us had to anyone there was that Andrey was very loosely acquainted with the drummer in one of the two local bands that was performing.  The bands were interesting if nothing else and there was all the beer you could drink for five bucks.After an hour or so at the rooftop party we drove to a little place called Mimi’s in the Marigny where DJ Soul Sister who has gigs there regularly and specializes in “deep funk and rare grooves.”   The music was quite good but I was up to attempting to dance.  I think we were there for an hour and half before heading out.  Afterward we made the traditional Rally’s run and went to Andrey’s house.  At some point the conversation necessitated we watch American Pie although we weren’t there long enough to see all of it... pity.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:07:05 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[New Sound]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1202</link>
		<description><![CDATA[As I mentioned in the last entry, I’ve been spending time lately on the audio components for my computer.  When I haven’t been fooling with new toys I’ve been reading about them online.  This past Thursday, my new Audioengine speakers arrived in the mail.  I set them up on my desk and the sounded great out of the box.  They are light years ahead of my old Logitech set.  The clarity and soundstage of these speakers is awesome.  Supposedly they will sound even better after they’ve been broken in a bit.  The only shortcoming is the lack of a subwoofer.  The speakers handle lows quite well considering their size but they don’t really cut it for video games where things are exploding all around you.  Most of my usage is music though so I suspect it will be a while before I feel compelled to add a subwoofer to the mix.On Saturday, I received the E-MU 0404 USB I won on eBay.  It’s an external audio/MIDI interface to replace my current sound card. Removing the audio circuitry from the computer case eliminates electrical noise issues and in general should serve as a far better source for my new speakers.  This particular unit offers a very good DAC for the money and a headphone amp that drives my Sennheiser HD-595 headphones satisfactorily.  Generally speaking I’m pretty happy with it although I have some mild functionality issues I haven’t figures out yet.  This afternoon I cleaned, photographed and packed my old Logitech speakers and listed then on Craigslist.  I’ve never sold anything through the site but as the whole set and packaging weights 43 pounds, putting it up on eBay was an unappealing prospect.Saturday evening, I met Andrey, Patrick and David at d.b.a.  Apparently there was supposed to be a larger contingent but only the usual suspects showed.  One of them brought a deck of cards and we played a few rounds of Tien Len, which was commonly played when Andrey and I attended Edna Karr.  I had to relearn the game but it’s not difficult.  I didn’t win any rounds although I was nearly always first loser.  We remained there until nearly 11, almost an hour after the Zydepunks were scheduled to start their set.  We elected not to wait any longer and venture elsewhere.  We walked down the street a bit to Cafe Negril where a band was playing.  They were good although I have no idea who they were.  After a few numbers we departed.  Patrick had driven the other and we went in his car.  We stopped at Rally’s per “tradition” although none of us had nearly enough to drink to make it “necessary.”  Fries in hand we went to Andrey’s house.  Automobiles dominated the conversation as they often do when Andrey is present.  I got a cab home after one.I slept in on Sunday.  I only had a couple bites for my old speakers and I contacted the person who made the best offer.  He picked them up after five this afternoon.  Not long after that I noticed the memory card reader on my computer was not working.  As I was planning on removing my old sound card eventually anyway I used the issue as an excuse to pull out the case and clean inside while affecting necessary adjustments.  It occurred to me when I removed my X-Fi card that I would be losing the ability to output HDMI with audio, although I had not really used the feature anyway.  Later this evening I worked on a design for some speaker stands that would fit my new speakers alongside my monitors.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:46:05 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Three for Three]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1201</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Regrettably, I've let the week go by without an entry, passing at least a couple of days deserving their own posts.  Outside of work, a lot of my time has been spent with one thing or another taken apart on my desk.On Wednesday, maybe, a flip clock I won on eBay arrived.  The latest addition to my collection, a Panasonic RC-7053, is in good shape although it was more than somewhat dirty.  It’s an interesting model and includes a day of week indicator.  The main neon illumination bulb was bad so I harvested one from a broken clock I have on hand and installed it without incident.  After a couple hours work I had the clock looking great.Yesterday, a non-functional laptop I bought out of curiosity arrived.  It is a Sony VAIO QR20, a nine year-old novelty that featured a carrying handle.  It was packed rather poorly but arrived well enough.  Like the notebook I fixed earlier this week there was nothing visibly wrong with it, but I hard to rebuild it and add RAM and a hard drive.  I ran out of spare laptop drives and had to pull the drive from my first MP3 player, an Archos Jukebox 20.Once I confirmed it was functional I started cleaning each component.  The cosmetic condition of the computer was pretty good but it was quite dirty.  It appeared it was used as a place mat by the previous owner with little bits of food everywhere, even inside the casing.  The keyboard was especially filthy.  I spent several hours completely disassembling the laptop including the LCD bezel and cleaning each component individually before reassembling the laptop.  Later I installed Windows XP and searched for the drivers for this model.  I am still trying to get the hotkeys and jogdial to work.Today my handiwork with a screwdriver was much simpler.  I accompanied Mom to Harry’s Ace Hardware to buy potting soil and some other odds and ends.  We left the store with a mailbox for the house.  It has been in need of replacement for quite some time but only now did she find a suitable replacement.  I mounted it when we got home.  Later in the afternoon I installed a mini-pci Wi-Fi card I ordered for my recently resurrected ThinkPad.  I thought I was buying an IBM “authorized” card but I had to use the no-1802 fix to make it work.Later this evening I decided to pull the trigger on some new speakers for my computer.  I’ve been spending time these past couple weeks reading about speakers, amps, headphones, DACs, etcetera.  I’ve been less than content with my current Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 speaker setup.  Most of my usage is music which only utilizes 2 of the five speakers I have and I have never been able to properly position the rear channel speakers anyway.  I considered purchasing some passive bookshelf speakers and an amplifier but ultimately decided on a simpler arrangement.  Tonight I ordered the Audioengine A5 powered bookshelf speakers, which apparently sound incredible for their size and price point.  Later on I may purchase an USB Digital/Analog Converter and an amplifier to power my Sennheiser headphones and perhaps a future set of passive speakers.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:59:24 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Blueberry Mojito and a Screwdriver]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1200</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Following church and an uneventful afternoon, I went to dinner with Andrey, Patrick, David and Veronica.  We went to Nine Roses on the west bank so Andrey was willing to pick me up.  Before we left he gave me a broken laptop of which he said had been rained on and no longer worked.  Dinner was nice.  Everyone else had pho soup which they always get there.  I’ve had it before and don’t care for it, especially not in the huge quantity they serve.  I ordered general’s chicken instead which was decent although a cowardly selection.As we were finishing up dinner Andrey was looking on his phone to see what was playing at the movies but there was nothing compelling.  We all went over to St. Joe’s Bar on Magazine Street apparently because they have a pool table.  I rode with Patrick and we picked up a friend of his whose name escapes me at present.  We were at the bar for two hours, maybe less.  I think just about everybody including myself tried the blueberry mojito which this place is apparently known for.  I would say the notoriety is earned.We left for the evening at about 10:30.  Patrick drove me to the Boot where I caught a cab home.  There was one parked when I arrived.  I was his first fare of the evening.After I got home this evening I had a look at the laptop Andrey gave me, a worn Averatec 3280.  First I tried turning it on but the power light was the only sign of life.  I proceeded to completely disassemble and clean the parts.  There was some evidence of water damage on the casing and DVD drive.  There didn’t appear to be any damage to components, however.  I installed a hard drive and RAM which the computer was missing.  After a partial reassembly I turned it on again and found the notebook worked fine.  Before bed I installed Windows XP and found some of the drivers for it.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 31 May 2009 01:07:14 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Baked Silicon]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1199</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Nothing of circumstance happened at work yesterday and today.  Last night I finished watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  This evening, I took another crack at fixing a laptop I’ve had on hand for a while.I kept Krystle's IBM Thinkpad T40 at my house after my trip to Ruston last New Years.  I was not able to fix it as I determined that the onboard video chip had a faulty connection which caused the laptop to lockup randomly and whenever the laptop was bumped in some fashion.  As this wasn’t something I was able to fix at the time I sent Krystle a "new" laptop and shelved the broken one until I could fix it.  I read about how people successfully repaired the video chip connection with something called a solder reflow in which the chip and board are heated, melting the solder and repairing the connections.  The method described involved a heat gun and infrared thermometer.  I wasn't interested in purchasing those items to fix a laptop worth less than $200.  Replacement motherboards on eBay were prohibitively expensive so I just stuck the laptop in my closet.On Wednesday I read an interesting topic at [H]ard|Forum in which someone repaired a broken video card, presumably with a chip connection issue, by heating his card in a standard kitchen oven for a couple minutes.  I immediately recalled the Thinkpad in my closet with the same problem and was intrigued by the possibility of fixing the laptop with "equipment" I already have.After doing some reading online I learned that others have successfully attempted the reflow fix in conventional ovens, toaster ovens and even skillets.  With a possibility of success in mind I decided to give it a shot.  At worst, a laptop that only works when you don’t touch it would not work at all.  I spent a good portion of this evening tearing down the laptop.  I open up laptops somewhat frequently but I seldom have to gut them like I did tonight.  With the motherboard stripped of everything that could be removed, even stickers, I set it up on a cookie sheet.  I set it off the metal surface with three little balls of aluminum foil.  I was careful to rest the foil on bare areas of the board away from bunches of little circuits.  I set the board in the oven preheated to 425 degrees for five minutes.  I determined the time and temperature from various estimations and solder melting points I read online.  I watched the board through the five minutes just in case of some sort of catastrophe.  I never saw any solder appear to be melting so my first thought was I didn't leave it in long enough.Later after removing the motherboard and letting it cool, I started to reassemble the laptop.  I first connected just the display, keyboard and battery to confirm the computer would still POST.  It did boot so as I was putting it back together I at least knew I did not fry the thing.  It took over an hour to fully reassemble the laptop.  I was on the phone with Krystle through a good deal of the process although I was not able to give her much of my attention.  I had not documented which screws went where to it took a bit longer than it could have to get the Thinkpad back together.  I turned it on a couple times during the job to make sure I didn’t screw anything up.There was no operating system installed so when I was finished I booted a formatting tool from CD and did a zero wipe and format of the hard drive to see if the computer could remain working for an extended period.  After that completed successfully I booted a Windows XP installation CD and tapped the touchpad repeatedly while it loaded files.  Normally such activity would promptly lockup the computer but again there were no problems.  I also installed Windows 7 RC without incident.Following the installation I fooled around with the laptop for a while and still no lockups.  I am typing this entry on the resurrected Thinkpad right now, something I would never have been able to do.  Keying 750 words is the most substantial stress test I wish to carry out at present but so far it appears baking the motherboard actually worked, which is perfectly logical and astonishing at the same time.  I’m quite pleased with myself just now.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2009 16:01:38 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[DMV Adventures]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1198</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After getting a proper night’s sleep, I got up early this morning with Mom to go get my driver’s license.  It’s something I should have done years ago but it was never a priority.  Mom had me drive to the DMV office in Gretna for a little practice before the road test.  It was my most circumstantial bit of driving since taking the 36 hour course back in 2004.When we arrived I got in line and after a few minutes I spoke to the woman up front who said I had the wrong copy of my driving course certificate.  I brought the pink one and she wanted the original white one.  More than somewhat miffed, Mom and I went back home.  I found the appropriate copy and returned to the DMV, arriving back sometime after nine.  The line was a lot shorter this time.  In about 15 minutes my number was called.  After presenting some paperwork, answering a few questions and taking a quick eye exam I was directed to a computer to take the “written” portion of the test.I did well enough on the test.  However, after question 37, three from the end, the test failed to load.  I made the staff aware of the problem and they had me sit and wait while they sorted it out.  I had missed too many for them to just mark the last three wrong and pass me so I was asked a couple questions orally.  The lady who administered the question disappeared for about 15 after asking the second one.  By the time I actually “passed” the written exam it was 10:50.  As there is no road testing between 11 and one, I would have to wait a couple hours to finish the process.  I was instructed to return as close to one o’clock as possible.With two hours to kill, I offered to buy lunch someplace.  Mom and I ended up at Zea Rotisserie & Grill on Manhattan.  I was not particularly hungry but I skipped breakfast so it was nice to get something to eat.  I had the shrimp etoufee which was decent and Mom had a chicken sandwich of some sort.  Lunch only killed 40 minutes so Mom and I went to Barnes and Noble and Best Buy respectively.  We left at 12:30 to be sure to be early.One o’clock came and went and I didn’t notice people getting called for road tests.  I wasn’t called until 1:50.  I took the road tent in Mom’s Taurus with a pleasant woman of about 50 years.  She had me drive through a couple of the surrounding residential streets and across the expressway around West Jefferson High School.  After the road test I had to wait a little while longer to pay and have the license printed.By about three, I finally had my first driver’s license in hand.  Mom dropped me off at the office for the remainder of the work day in which I didn’t do all that much in the two hours I was there.  Dad and I left the office for the day at 5:15.  We stopped at the uptown post office on the way home.  That evening we had red beans and rice for dinner.  Later I watched Sunset Blvd. with my parents as I didn’t have anything better to do.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2009 16:15:29 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[25]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1197</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This year I was committed to writing entries for every day of Jazz Fest 2009.  As my limited time management skills are practically non-existent during the summer, it took three weeks to get around to it.  Consequently, what little time I spend on this log was spent on the Fest.  Now three weeks behind on the log I need to catch up.  Unfortunately I don’t have photographs, notes and a festival schedule to help we remember things between Jazz Fest and today.  The remainder of this entry will likely be a smattering of memories of the last three weeks. On May 4th, the Monday following the festival, Krystle and I had lunch at Mandina's before she left for home.  I wanted to take her to a place on Cleveland Avenue called the Ruby Slipper but they were closed on Mondays.  Since Krystle isn’t here much I like to take her to new places but if you have to repeat a restaurant, Mandina's certainly isn’t a bad choice.Later that week on Thursday the 7th, Dad, Andrew and I went to see the new Star Trek movie.  I was not happy with the premise of the film as I find it imprudent to “reboot” the franchise and recast the original series cast.  However, preceding the film’s release was a wave of critical adulation which made me cautiously optimistic about the movie.  However, I left the theater feeling ill.  The franchise I have enjoyed for years has been reduced to generic summer blockbuster garbage with lots of explosions and a minimum of story.  The main villain was just a plot device for a script that made no real sense.  I could go on for a while.  Let it suffice to say that I am hard pressed to think of much anything I liked about the movie.  I know my opinion isn’t widely shared as much of the press and the public enjoyed Trek’s accommodation of the lowest common denominator.The following week, the lamp in the radio dial of my Panasonic RC-6551 alarm clock died after 40-something years.  Luckily they still make fuse lamps which is what I needed.  Replacing it was as close as I care to get to making a ship in a bottle.  The following day I brought another flip clock of mine home from the office to clean.On Friday the 15th, I got a call from Andrey during work inviting me to join him and some family and friends for the Wave Goodbye party at Tulane.  The event is put on by the university president and is held in the Gibson Quad.  Andrey picked me up from the office at about five this afternoon.  His father who is visiting from Russia and his younger brother were with him.  We went to Andrey’s house for a little while and then walked to campus, meeting up with David along the way.  At the party we also saw Patrick, Jason and Andrey’s mother.  It was a rather large gathering that spanned the quad from Gibson Hall to the environmental science building.  There was plenty of food including grilled oysters and Bonerama was performing.  We were there until about eight o’clock.Later that evening Andrey, David and I went to Patrick’s place in River Ridge for his sister Taylor’s graduation party.  We were "early" but several others arrived in due course, many of which were Taylor’s relatives in friends I was not acquainted with.  It was a nice little affair with pizza and beverages.  I think we were there until sometime after 10.On Sunday the 17th after an uneventful afternoon, Andrey invited me to join him and a few others at D.B.A.  Washboard Chaz was playing that evening.  It took quite a while to get a cab to my house to everyone was there when I finally arrived after 10.  Andrey, Patrick, David, Andrey’s father, Veronica and Ella were there.  The girls are usually gone by this time of the year but they were still in town because they are traveling to Spain for a summer semester with Tulane.The next day, my 25th birthday, I saw the same crowd at a barbecue at Andrey’s house.  That got off to a gradual start as some of them had been strolling downtown that afternoon and Veronica lost her phone on the way home.  I can’t remember what day it was but Jeff returned for a brief stay around this time.  On Thursday the 21st, Jeff and I went to the Westbank Palace to see Terminator Salvation.  There were lots of ‘splosions but the plot left a lot to be desired… in that there wasn’t one.Yesterday, the 24th, I went to Patrick’s place in River Ridge with David again for a little barbecue at his place with Andrey, Veronica, Ella and Liz.  Again, I caught a cab uptown and rode with David the rest of the way.  It was a pleasant gathering although it did rain that evening.  After enjoying our hamburgers we settled down and ended up watching Superbad.  Later after David dropped me off in front of the Boot I decided to browse the Mushroom record store.  I ended up walking out with a copy of The Dark Knight on blu-ray.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 May 2009 22:47:29 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Jazz Fest Draws to a Close]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1196</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Krystle and I went to the final day of Jazz Fest this afternoon.  Again we didn’t get there as early as I would have liked.  I was planning on see Lionel Ferbos open the day at Economy Hall but we didn’t arrive until about noon.  Having just seen him at the French Quarter Festival I wasn’t broken up about it.  We arrived shortly before the New Orleans Jazz Ramblers began their set.  The traditional jazz band started the show playing down the aisle in front of the stage with the “Ladies of Unity” second lining behind them.Following their lively performance, I went to get something to eat.  I got the pecan catfish meuniere combo.  Krystle said she wasn’t very hungry so I just her some crawfish bread.  Ultimately that wasn’t a good choice.After lunch, The New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra got started.  This revival orchestra is a real treat every year and I was glad Krystle was here to see them as I’ve raved about them in the past.  As always they put on a great show with performances of songs like Egyptian Ella.  “…if you hear of a gal who can quake and shake 'till it makes you think of a nervous snake, they're speakin' ... of Egyptian Ella”The next highlight of the schedule was Ellis Marsalis in the jazz tent at 2:55.  We got there pretty early and managed to score a couple seats up front, but they were on the left fringe so the view wasn’t spectacular.  As always, the jazz family patriarch put had a great performance although I was slightly disappointed that more of Ellis’s sons weren’t present.  Drummer Jason Marsalis was present along with a sax and bass player I did not recognize.  This seemed to be the high point of the fest for Krystle.  She didn’t express interest in taking any other musicians home with her.With nothing else compelling on the schedule after Ellis, we took a walk to get some ice cream.  On the way we passed one of the mardi gras Indian parades.  With strawberry shortcake ice cream cones in hand, we went to nearby economy hall to sit and relax for a bit.  Bob French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band were playing.  I wasn’t planning on staying very long but shortly after we got there it started raining heavily and the tent was suddenly very popular.Eventually the rain let up and we walked over to the blues tent where Buddy Guy would be performing in a little while.  Even though we were stuck for a bit we still arrived well before the closing act would start.  Unfortunately the rain flooded the tent with bodies and you could barely navigate the aisles, much less find a seat.  We were not carrying chairs so I was not interested in watching the whole set from outside the tent.  However, Buddy Guy is pretty much a legend that I wouldn’t likely have an opportunity to see in the future so I decided we should at least stick around for the first few songs.  Luckily it did not rain again so we were able to wait outside without ill effect.  Eventually he got started and did sound pretty good but not so much that I felt like standing outside the tent for an hour and a half.  Shortly after six, Krystle and I left the fairgrounds and made our way home.Mom, Dad and Andrew were at the house when we got home.  They had just returned from their trip to Michigan for Jeff’s graduation.  I got to talk to them for a while about their trip.  Apparently it was not especially enjoyable but they came home with some good stories.Later this evening, Krystle and I went to Snug Harbor for dinner and a show.  We had nine o’clock dinner reservations and tickets for the 11 o’clock performance by Astral Project.  I had a ribeye and baked potato which was quite good.  Since we were early and it was the late set we had fine seats for Astral Project.  Their performance was quite good but we didn’t stay for all of it.  By midnight I was quite tired and Krystle didn’t mind leaving.  I’ve never left a set early at Snug but I’ve also never stayed out late after a full day at Jazz Fest.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2009 21:56:31 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Day at Economy Hall]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1195</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was not up and about as early as I would have liked this morning but there were no dire consequences.  When Krystle and I left the house this morning, we did the illogical thing and went out to eat before heading to the fairgrounds.  We stopped at IHOP because it was still plausibly breakfast time when we first thought of the idea.  After eating more than enough pizza last night I was not very hungry so I just got a small plate of eggs and pancakes.  Following “breakfast,” Krystle and I drove to the fairgrounds.  Armed with a little trick I learned from a cab driver last weekend, we found a respectable parking spot on Laharpe, a couple blocks from Broad Avenue.  It was a four or five minute walk from the Gentilly Street entrance.  We got in at about 12:30.  I did want to see Otra this morning which was the opening act on the Acura stage but both of us have seen them before so I wasn’t broken up about it.When we arrived we went to Economy Hall where we would remain for a good while.  The New Orleans-Helsinki Connection had just begun their set when we took our seats.  The band consists of a few local musicians, a couple folks from Finland including Katja Toivola on trombone.  The star of the show was vocalist Tricia Boutté, a New Orleans native that has spent a great deal of time in Europe.We stuck around after the Connection to hear Hot Club of New Orleans.  They play a sort of “gypsy jazz” and they do it quite well.  I saw them a few weeks ago at the French Quarter Festival.  It’s not a sort of jazz I listen to at home but I thoroughly enjoy hearing it live.The main event followed Hot Club, the Treme Brass Band.  Their annual performances in Economy Hall are always a lively and memorable affair complete with a big crowd, the band parading down the aisles and a lengthy and enthusiastic second-line following behind.  True to form, Treme played host to a great party and it was a lot of fun to see with a friend.  I shot a lot of pictures during the performance but sadly I screwed up the camera setting again like last year and underexposed most of the pictures.Afterward, we walked around for a while.  I wasn’t planning on seeing any bands at Acura this weekend but I figured she should at least get a look at the huge crowd that’s often there.  Bon Jovi was playing as we walked the track around the stage.  I can’t say I was impressed by the performance but maybe it was just bad acoustics.  Krystle was even more unimpressed.A couple weeks ago I was browsing the Jazz Fest website message boards looking for suggestions and one act I saw mentioned frequently was the New Orleans Bingo Show.  With no other particularly compelling closing acts, I decided to check them out.  They were performing in the grandstands which are a convenient place to eat.  We both had the crawfish etouffee puff/cajun rice.  The Bingo Show is more of a theatrical cabaret than a band.  Their act was certainly interesting and fun to photograph but Krystle was not amused.  After we had our food and I took my fill of pictures, we made our way back to the car.Later this evening after cleaning up and recovering from a day at the fair grounds, we went to the Westbank Palace theater to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  To be generous, the movie was “shallow.”  To be honest, it was complete garbage.  My good company was the only consolation.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2009 20:17:03 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Second Weekend of Jazz Fest]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1194</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Mom, Dad and Andrew left the house before I was out and about this morning.  They flew to Ann Arbor this morning for Jeff’s college graduation tomorrow.  I could not miss Jazz Fest so I stayed behind.After feeling a bit ill for the last two days, I felt a lot better this morning and had a normal temperature.  Dad wanted me to cover the office phones for a while.  It was just as well as I was more certain of my health if it held out through the morning.  I talked to Krystle on the phone and told her I was well.  She’s been planning to come here to New Orleans for the weekend.I made it to the fairgrounds just before one this afternoon.  My first stop was the gospel tent where Glen Davis Andrews was putting on a rather lively performance.  Trombone Shorty was a guest on stage and Mr. Andrews came down off the stage at one point and walked through the audience while singing.  It was quite a photo opportunity but I had the wrong lens on my camera.  I later saw an impressive shot of him in the crowd appear in the New York Times.I left shortly before the show ended to get some lunch.  I got the catfish almondine and brought it back to the gospel tent.  I stuck around for the Leviticus Gospel Singers but I didn’t care for them so I walked to Economy Hall and saw Walter Payton and Gumbo File.  I left a little while before they finished to get a seat for John Boutte in the jazz tent.  It was already pretty packed but I did find a chair in the back on the right side.  I was able to hear fine although I had to take a walk to get any pictures.After John Boutte I walked to the grandstands to catch the end of Twangorama’s set.  It may have just been the name of the band that attracted me but they were entertaining.  When they finished I went to Economy Hall for Tim Laughlin at 4:35.  As always he put on a great set with the help of his ensemble of local musicians.Following Tim Laughlin I walked to the gentilly stage.  I was able to get pretty close but not as much as I would have liked.  Tony Bennett was the closing act this evening.  I have not seen him in person before.  Before Tony took the stage, his band and daughter Antonia Bennett took the stage.  Antonia is an aspiring jazz singer and not a half bad one.  After a few numbers, Tony Bennett took the stage.  It’s apparent he need only show up to command the crowd.  He put on a fine performance and sang a number of familiar standards.I started making my way out of the fairgrounds shortly before seven to try and beat some of the rush.  I walked past Stallings playground to catch a cab home.  I had a couple hours to clean myself up as well as the house before Krystle arrived this evening.  She didn’t get here until after nine.  I ordered pizza for dinner.  After she got settled we watched Baraka.  I’ve been wanting to show it to her since I watched it myself for the first time a couple months ago.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2009 16:27:43 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Intermission]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1193</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The intervening days between the first and second weekends of Jazz Fest feel like a long intermission.  I know I went to work on Monday and Tuesday… I think.  On Wednesday, I woke up feeling a little ill with no significant symptoms but a fever of 101.  I felt much improved on Thursday but decided to stay home from Jazz Fest as a precaution since I wasn’t 100%.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:44:53 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Etta James]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1192</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was up and about early enough to get to the fairgrounds around 11 this morning.  If I remember right, this was the day Elliot was the driver that picked me up.  Unlike Saturday, I did a good bit more walking around at the fairgrounds today.  The first set I saw was the Loyola University Jazz Ensemble.  I saw them last year on a smaller stage but they were the opening act in the jazz tent this morning.  The crowd was light so I had no trouble getting a good seat.  They played a pretty good set and featured a few impressive solo performances from the students.  As the performers were three rows deep it was nearly impossible to photograph most of them.Following the Loyola set I walked over to Economy Hall, stopping to get something to eat along the way.  I got a fried pork chop sandwich which was somewhat problematic as it still had the bone in it.  When I got to the Economy Hall tent I saw the same couple from New Jersey I met yesterday.  The start of the next act caught me a bit by surprise.  Rather than take the stage, the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble began by parading back and forth in front of the stage.  The music was pretty good, mostly traditional brass band jazz.  I stayed for the whole set which was about an hour.Afterward, I made it to the Jazz Tent early so I could get a front row seat for Germaine Bazzle.  Her accompanying musicians started first to warm up the crowd.  Miss Bazzle took the stage after a couple numbers by her accompanying musicians.   Her unassuming appearance and personal modesty contrast starkly with commanding stage presence.  She owned the crowd after two bars.I make sure to enjoy the music at Jazz Fest and not just shoot pictures.  There is always a mad rush to the front when a performer takes the stage but I like to sit back and enjoy the music while the camera-wielding mob does its thing.  My favorite song of her performance was her rendition of What a Diff'rence a Day Made.After a couple of songs I started taking pictures.  More often than not I was shooting during up-tempo tunes.  My hobby has had me shooting live music for quite some time but the exhilaration I felt photographing Miss Bazzle was a first time experience for me.  Not only did I have a lively, fascinating subject and respectable vantage point, I knew I was getting good pictures.  Having interesting people to photograph is not unusual but capturing them with confidence was a new and awesome feeling.  After her performance I had the opportunity to introduce myself to Germaine and complement her both on her performance and her photogenic nature.  I also told her my little story from last year and remarked that she was the most interesting person I have ever photographed at the Fest.  She was reluctant to accept the compliment but it was indeed a true statement.I stuck around at the jazz tent to wait for the next act as there was nothing on the schedule that struck me.  At 2:35, Herlin Riley took the stage.  The drummer often appears with other musicians but he earned his own stop on the schedule this year.  I was there for about 20 minutes before I decided to take a walk.  I ended up with an ice cream cone in Economy Hall as Clive Wilson’s New Orleans Serenaders were wrapping up.The next band was Dr. Michael White and the Original Liberty Jazz Band.  This was one of the few acts on the today’s schedule I had been planning to see.  I’ve seen this group a few times before and like previously they put on a great show.Following Dr. Michael White I walked to the Gentilly Stage and found a place at the front.  There was a tough choice to make in deciding which final act of the evening to see.  Dave Matthews, Etta James and Earth, Wind & Fire were playing concurrently.  I decided to see Etta James as I saw Dave Matthews Band a couple years ago.  For someone her age who spends most of her time seated, she has quite an impressive stage presence.  The set was very entertaining and she owned the crowd.  Considering my distance from the stage I managed to get a few decent pictures.  A gentleman I was standing next to took an interest in my camera and I got to talking to his for a little while after the fest ended for the day.  After we parted ways I got a look at the disturbingly long cab line at Stallings Playground.  I decided to walk to Broad Avenue and catch a cab from there. Like the last two evenings, I spent a good deal of time going through the day’s pictures.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:05:33 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Afternoon at the Jazz Tent]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1191</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I caught a cab to the fairgrounds this morning and arrived perhaps around 11:30 after the NOCCA Jazz Ensemble began in the Jazz Tent.  The creative arts school has some respectable jazz talents in spite of their high school ages.  I’ve been catching NOCCA at Jazz Fest largely out of curiosity as their students are indeed “the future.”  The music was decent although it is rather hard to keep track of who’s on stage since they feature quite a few students in various sections.After NOCCA finished I stuck around the Jazz tent to hold a front row seat for the next act, Leah Chase.  The local jazz vocalist is always a treat to hear as well as photograph.  She had a sizable ensemble with her this year.  Three students from NOCCA performed including sax player Stephen Gladney. After Leah Chase I went to get some lunch.  The couple I was sitting next to was willing to hold my seat until I got back.  I had the barbeque ribs, white beans and coleslaw.  The food was good but it was a bit of an adventure trying to eat it without a table or napkin dispenser.Shortly after I finished eating, Astral Project began their set in the jazz tent.  As always they put on a great show.  They played some songs from their latest CD as well as some older stuff.  Following the set I walked over to the Borders tent where they sell CDs from the fest performers.  Astral Project was doing a CD signing after their set and I decided that was as good a time as any to pick up their new album.  While I was waiting, one of the mardi gras Indian parades passed by.  With my autographs in hand I walked over to Economy Hall for Pete Fountain.  I got there a good while before the show started and managed to get a half decent seat.  As always, Fountain drew a pretty large crowd.  While I was waiting to spoke to a couple from New Jersey that was sitting next to me.  We got to talking about New Orleans and the goings on here.  They were curious as they are contemplating a move here.  Pete’s performance was great as always with the help of the nice ensemble he puts together.After Pete Fountain, I walked over to the jazz tent where the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis was performing.  The tent was packed and I only stayed for a little while before leaving the fairgrounds.This late evening was much like yesterday.  I didn’t have too much trouble getting home and I spent the better part of the night sorting through pictures.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:55:56 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[40th Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1190</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Like last year, Jazz Fest came and went before I got around to writing any log entries.  Luckily I am only a couple days removed from the end of the second weekend of the festival.  My memories are reasonably intact and for the moment I have the will to write.I bought a brass pass again this year and rented two lenses for both weekends.  I got the EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 and the famous EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS lens.On Friday, Dad have me a ride to the fairgrounds.  I got there early enough to see the start of the first act of the day.  I saw the duration of the Xavier University Jazz Ensemble performance.  I generally like strong horn sections so this act was a treat.  After the performance I got something to eat, the crawfish sack/beignets and oyster patties combo.  I took It to the grandstands and saw the 19th Street Red Blues Band while I ate.  I’m not a huge blues fan but it was nice background for my meal.After lunch I stopped by the WWOZ tent and then on to Economy Hall for Fred Dupin’s New Bumpers Revival Jazz Band.  I was not familiar with them but I like to check out international acts when the opportunity presents itself.  Their performance was centered around a French jazz composer named Jacques Gauthe with a good portion of their numbers written by him.The next item today was the Johnny Vidocovich interview by Bruce Raeburn.  Vidocovich is the longtime drummer of my favorite local band, Astral Project.  He’s a pretty amusing character so I was sure this interview would be a treat.  Mr. Raeburn spend most of his time talking with Johnny about growing up in mid city, his start in the music business and his work in the seventies including an extended trip to Europe.  Overall it was a very interesting interview and very insightful as I knew very little about Johnny before this.Following the interview I took the short walk to the gospel tent.  In years past and more recently I have heard good things about the Tribute to Mahalia Jackson that takes place there and with no overlapping must-see acts I decided to check it out.  It was a fine performance featuring Mavis Staples and Irma Thomas.  It was a good show to hear but a hard one to photograph as the security folks were not allowing people to approach the railing.I left a few minutes early hoping to get a good seat for Tab Benoit but there were a lot of people considerably more dedicated than myself.  I ended up with a chair towards the back.  I was unfamiliar with Benoit but I heard good things so I decided to check him out.  To be frank, I wasn’t especially impressed with his music and I lousy seat did not help in convincing me to stay long.  I ended up staying for two or three songs, shooting a handful of pictures and leaving the festival for the day early around six.Since I did leave early I had no trouble catching a cab home.  That evening I spent a good deal of time culling my pictures and getting them on the website.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:35:41 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Saint-Saens and Last Rumba]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1189</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I probably should have covered Monday through Wednesday in an earlier post but I suppose now is fine.  Monday was a big non-event as we didn’t go to the office and I didn’t have class either.My final Ethical Issues in Media class was held this Tuesday evening.  Mr. Greenberg has an engagement next week so this was the last session.  There was a short lecture on the ethics of news reporting and the take home final exam was distributed.I didn’t have an actual class on Wednesday.  Instead, the writing teacher scheduled individual conferences with students regarding their final papers.  I’m reasonably confident in my topic and the instructor was generally happy with the outline I showed him.With that out of the way I can talk about today.  I wasn’t sure when or if I would make it to the office this evening.  I had to wait for the second delivery attempt of the lenses I rented for Jazz Fest.  Dad didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get to work and he was content to wait with me for a while.  Luckily they showed up at 12:45 so only a little bit of the afternoon was lost.I just had a test scheduled for this evening and there was an orchestra and concert band performance at Dixon Hall this evening so I decided to take my camera gear with me instead of my laptop. I figured some picture taking at the concert would be a nice warm up for the next two weekends.Before class started this evening I was confused about the conclusion of my business law class.  Mr. Whittington thought we had another lecture before the final exam but I showed him the academic calendar which showed classes ending next Tuesday.  Consequently some alterations to his plans were necessary.  We were supposed to have a test on contracts tonight but we decided to instead hear the lecture on breach of contract remedies he was expecting to give next week.  The exam he was planning for tonight would be amended to include tonight’s material and we will take the test next week.  I guess I might have to leave Jazz Fest early next Thursday.I left class at the break at 7:20.  I was expecting to be done with class in short order since there was supposed to be a test this evening.  I made it to Dixon Hall a few minutes before the concert started.  I picked a seat up front to the left right next to Jessie and Ella.The concert band performed first.  They opened with selections from the Harry Potter Suite and also played Clarinet Candy by Anderson as well as selections from West Side Story.After an intermission in which two pianos were rolled out, the Tulane University Orchestra took the stage.  They began with a performance of Carnival of Animals by Carmille Saint-Saens complete with the poetic narration.  After that a vocalist, Lauren Elens, took the stage to perform Steal Me, Sweet Thief from Old Maid and a Thief.  Her rendition was quite impressive.  The orchestra concluded with selection from Star Wars, no doubt a crowd pleaser.Immediately after the show I walked with Jessie to the Reily Center.  We were about 15 minutes late for ballroom this evening.  Tonight was the last session of the semester.  My tardiness really threw me off although I managed to muddle through.  Afterward we all took a few group pictures which turned out reasonably well although I looked even fatter than I actually am.During ballroom I asked Ellie about the computer problems she mentioned to me a while back.  She said they had not been fixed yet and I offered to take a look at her laptop after the session ended.  I followed her around for a little while and we eventually ended up at the LBC.  Cristina, Megan and eventually Caroline were there as well.  I picked at the laptop for a couple hours but I didn’t have much luck.  It was running quite slowly and there were some error messages to deal with.  The conversation was a lot more interesting than my apparent technological prowess.  I finally departed at about one in the morning.  I should have gone right to bed but I decided to sort and upload the pictures from the concert so I didn’t actually turn out the lights until after three.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:29:10 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Fine Sunday Weather]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1188</link>
		<description><![CDATA[My lofty goal of getting up early enough to catch the start of the final day of the French Quarter Festival was not to be.  I was going to call a cab this morning but dad agreed to drop me at the ferry landing.  I made it to Jackson Square at around 12:30 as Dukes of Dixieland was wrapping up.  When the finished I decided to just hang around the stage and wait for Jeremy Davenport to begin at one.  He was a bit late getting started as their drummer was tardy.  Once they did get started, Davenport and the band put on a good show.  He brought some of his club banter to the stage with lines like “If you feel like singing along, don’t.  It makes me nervous.”  He also got a little jab in at the drummer for being late. At around two, I left the stage and got some lunch.  I decided on the barbeque shrimp pasta from The Alibi booth.  After I ate I walked to the Royal Sonesta Hotel where there was at a bar in the hotel, recently rebranded at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse.  The schedule had the Mario Abney Quintet as the performer but it was in fast the Ashlin Parker Quintet with Jesse McBride at the piano.  The ensemble was quite impressive and sounded great, especially in the small venue which required no amplification.  Before they took a break, Ashlin Parker invited Irvin Mayfield on stage for an impromptu performance and he sounded incredible.During a break in the music I had a chance to speak with a gentleman from Manchester, England who was visiting New Orleans for the festival.  I was quite impressed with his knowledge of the local music scene.  It’s not often I hear a tourist even mention Frenchman Street much less speak with authority about the venues there.I remained at the Royal Cenesta until the set concluded at four.  I took a walk down Royal, slowly heading back to Jackson Square.  As I was walking I ran into Nicole who was with a friend.  We spoke for a couple minutes before I continued on to the 400 block stage where Anasis St. John and the Harry Mayronne Trio were performing.  I stuck around for a few numbers and shot some pictures.  I also saw a wee bit of the Washboard Chaz Blues Trio which drew quite a crowd for a street stage.When I made it to Jackson Square, Irvin Mayfield was performing.  I was in no hurry to get to the stage so I got something to eat and found a shady spot to sit.  I got some seafood pasta and pecan pie.  While I was eating I noticed a boy doing some sort of juggling act and after I finished I moved closer to get some pictures.  While I was sitting there I got to talking to a man who was lamenting the sort of jazz Mayfield was playing at the moment.  He got to talking about the jazz scene in New York City in the 50s, 60s and 70s.  Later on I moved up to the stage so I could get some pictures.  It was crowded up front but a second line spawned in front of the stage and eventually Irvin invited some of the people on stage to show the crowd how it’s done.  It was quite awesome and a great photo opportunity.As Irvin Mayfield was finishing I took my leave to get one more shot of a crowded Jackson Square.  The music ended at seven this evening and I decided to go home as nothing could top Irvin’s performance and the enthusiastic crowd.  I walked to Harrah’s casino to get a cab and went home.  After relaxing for a while and watching the St. Louis Blues game, I combed through the day’s pictures which I was very pleased with.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:28:49 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Saturday at FQF]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1187</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Mom wasn’t up to going to the French Quarter Festival today but she gave Lauren and me a ride to the Algiers ferry.  We made it over the river at about 11:30.  I walked to Jackson Square to see some of Tim Laughlin.   I only caught a couple songs before he took a break.  Since there were other acts I wanted to see I took a walk to Royal Street and saw a few minutes of Bamboola 2000.   I then went over to the Historic New Orleans Collection on Chartres Street where there was a classical music venue.  I went to see Opera a la Carte.  I saw it last year and it was pretty interesting.  This year was less entertaining.  There were only two performers this year and their routine was centered on teaching the audience about opera.  Apparently this routine is performed for elementary school students.After the performance I walked to the riverfront to get some lunch.  I had the shrimp etouffee and bananas foster from the GW Fins booth.  I ate near the pavilion stage which had a big crowd for Marva Wright.When I finished lunch I took a walk down Royal and saw a few minutes of Hot Club of New Orleans.  I’ve seen them at Jazz Fest in the past and they put on a great show.  I then walked to 300 Bourbon Street where Jimmy Larocca & The Original Dixieland Band was just getting started at the Jazz Legends Park.  This venue is part of a bar and there are tables and chairs so it’s a great place to relax and enjoy the music.  I remained there for about an hour until about 4:15 when I left to walk to the riverfront.  I wanted to check out the Treme Brass Band.  It seemed that they had very few of their regular members in attendance which was rather disappointing.   Their appearance at Jazz Fest will be a lot more interesting.With no particular interest in seeing half of Treme I walked across the Quarter to the US Mint where Astral Project was scheduled to perform at 5:45.  I got there just before Ingrid Lucia finished her set.  I used the time between sets to get something to eat.  I had the Crawfish Ravioli and Tiramisu from the Bravo! booth.Astral Project’s bass player, James Singleton, was in town so all four members were in attendance for this evening’s performance.  As always they were excellent.  They played a couple songs from their new CD which I didn’t know existed until this evening.  I stayed through the end of the set at 7 o’clock.  I talked to Lauren after and we met at the ferry landing before eight.  On the way I saw a couple minutes of The Renard Poche Band.Mom picked us up again tonight.  This evening was much like last night.  I spend a good deal of time combing through the day’s pictures.  Aunt Lauren departed this evening.  She’ll be spending the remainder of her stay at a friend’s house.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:38:35 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[26th Annual French Quarter Festival]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1186</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Here goes.  It’s Monday now and I have three great days of Quarter Fest to write about.  I will probably tire of this and before I finish it all but I will press on.  Jazz Fest is next week and I can’t leave this hanging over my head.After the usual morning routine, prepping my camera and making sure I my cargo shorts were filled with all the little do-dads I needed, Mom, Aunt Lauren and myself left before 11 to go to the French Quarter Festival, a free, three day event featuring live, local music and food all over the quarter.  Mom drove down Decatur hoping to land a spot on one of the riverfront parking lots but they were all full. I did the selfish thing and got out of the car near the French Market.  I walked down to Jackson Square where Connie Jones and the French Quarter Festival All Stars were playing.  I recognized most of the musicians on stage including Tim Laughlin.  I listened to the music in front of the stage for about an hour before I decided to get lunch.  I got the Cajun Jambalaya and bread pudding whiskey sauce from the Desire Oyster Bar booth.After lunch I walked to the French Market where there was a traditional jazz stage.  I got there before Lionel Ferbos and the Louisiana Shakers got started.  At 97, Mr. Ferbos is the oldest active jazz musician in New Orleans.  He can still play with the best of them after all these years and they put on a great show.  I left after about an hour to walk to the zydeco stage Old US Mint where Jonno and Bayou Deville were playing.  I only stayed for a few songs before deciding to take a walk to the river front.  I thought I might see Lauren at the Abita stage near the aquarium where Freddy Omar was playing but I didn’t see her.After Freddy Omar finished I walked back to the Mint where Feufollet was playing.  They drew a large crowd of spectators and dancers.  I saw about an hour of their set.  Mom and Lauren caught up with me there.  The windy weather was bothering Mom and she was a ready to go so I walked her back to the car which was parked in the Marigny.Mom drove me back to the Mint and I strolled from there to Jackson Square where The Nobles were getting started although I didn’t really care for what I was hearing so I continued on to the riverfront where The Zydepunks were just getting started at the pavilion stage.  I think this was one of the bands Lauren mentioned she was going to see so I decided to check it out.  Suffice it to say, their music was pretty interesting.  I would say the group is appropriately named.After about a half hour, the wind was starting to bother me.  The wind has been blowing pretty swiftly throughout the day.  As it was overcast it was starting to feel downright cold.  I went to the Jax Brewery to relax indoors for a while.  I got something to eat from the food court while I was there.Feeling sufficiently refreshed, I walked back out to the pavilion stage where The Zydepunks has just finished.  I got myself a ‘front row’ seat for Otra which started at 7:30.  I got to talking to a lady next to me who was apparently acquainted with their sax player, Brent Ross.  The wind was still howling during their performance and they didn’t have enough foam covers for all the microphones so the wind was carrying over the speakers which detracted a bit from the music which was otherwise excellent.Before the show started I saw Lauren and we agreed to take a ferry after 8:30 so I walked to the ferry landing and met up with Lauren at about quarter past.  The ferry departed at 8:45.  Mom was waiting to pick us up on the other side.  Later that evening I spent a couple hours going through the 1,200 pictures I took over the course of the afternoon.  I bought 12 gigabytes worth of memory cards with me so I was shooting with reckless abandon.  I was reasonably pleased with my pictures.  I rented the 24-105mm F/4L IS lens for the festival which was a pleasure to use although there were times when I could have used more reach.  The simplicity of a one-lens solution was a reasonable compromise though.  I did not have a desire to make picture taking the priority I do when I go to Jazz Fest.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:19:04 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Free Ride on Thursday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1185</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I didn’t get to work until 12:30 this afternoon.  I had a few reports to work on this afternoon although pizza for lunch was the highlight.  I took the shuttle to campus for class this evening.  Tonight’s business law class continued an ongoing discussion of contracts.  There was also a review for the test next week.After class I went to Reily for ballroom this evening.  Tonight was the second to last session of the semester.  I didn’t have any trouble remember the steps from the past two weeks although the new stuff introduced tonight was somewhat perplexing.Following ballroom, Dad picked me up in front of the LBC.  He went to the airport earlier to pick up Aunt Lauren who flew in this weekend for the French Quarter Festival.  We got to visit for a while after we got home.  Later in the evening I tried to fix a USB problem with Lauren’s laptop and talked to Krystle on the phone.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:16:35 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Tuesday & Wednesday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1184</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After a rather uninteresting four day weekend, I was back to work and school on Tuesday.  I don’t recall anything interesting happening at work.  Tuesday’s night media ethics class was about ethics in advertising.  The evening’s case study was about a Superbowl ad from a few years ago that featured Christopher Reeve walking with the aid of CGI.  Later that evening I watched The Final Countdown.I had enough work to do on Wednesday although I don’t remember much.  This evening’s writing class featured a short discussion of the most recent cryptic reading assignment and a Simpsons episode.  I don’t recall anything interesting happening later this evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:51:24 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Easter Break]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1183</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Between skipping class on Monday and the Easter break this past weekend, the work week was a short one for me.  We didn’t go to the office on Monday as Dad had things to work on at home.  Tuesday was rather normal.After a nice break from my writing class I returned for the Wednesday session after the class watched the movie Network over two days.  As I reluctantly suspected, the discussion of the movie completely overlooked the film’s significance and instead focused on character relationships rather than the prophetic nature of the screenplay.Thursday’s business law class was a continuation of the discussion of contracts.  There were about a dozen people on hand for the second week on Rumba this evening.  A lot of them were a bit late so the crowd seemed pretty thin at nine.  Afterward I ended up sharing a cab again when I was picked up by a cabbie who already had a fare.The office was closed for Good Friday so I was at home all day.  The lens I rented for the French Quarter Festival arrived today so I got to play with it for a while.  Saturday evening, I drained my waterbed to fix a supporting board that fell over.  The same thing happened last September.  This time I braced it hoping to prevent the issue in the future.  Patrick invited me to go out that evening but I was still working on it when he called.After church on Sunday, I watched the final round of the Masters Tournament for no particular reason.  On Monday, we again didn’t go to the office.  I was still on break for Easter so there was no class.  This afternoon I had my car towed to a repair shop as it had been marked as abandoned.  That evening I watched Battle of Britain.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:05:15 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Akitabare]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1182</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This afternoon, I went out with Mom and Andrew to visit Aunt Doris and Aunt Dionne in Metairie.  My folks never visited them for Christmas so we finally brought their gifts to them.  After visiting with Aunt Doris we went over to Aunt Dionne’s house.  They are in the middle of some home renovations.  They are adding a laundry room to the back of the house to replace a shed they were using.This evening I met Andrey and Patrick at d.b.a. for a night out precipitated by Patrick’s recent change in availability.  I arrived earlier than them and got to talking to an older lady there.  My friend arrived at about 10:15 and Little Freddie King started his set not long after that.Later we left d.b.a. and went down the street a bit to Yuki Izakaya for a bottle of sake and some of their food offerings.  I think we ordered a bottle of Akitabare "Koshiki Junzukuri" but I’m not sure.  Andrey had to drive so I think Patrick and I drank most of it.  We also sampled some of their small portioned food items like edamame, onigiri, kimchi and something else I’m sure I wouldn’t have tried were it not for the adult beverages… it was grilled, and green.If I remember right we left there sometime after midnight, maybe closer to one.  We went back to Andrey’s house, stopping at Rally’s for the traditional fries and a coke.  We also picked up David from his house.  After hanging out there for about an hour I called a cab at about two to go home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:54:56 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Fast & Furious]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1181</link>
		<description><![CDATA[General’s chicken from Five Happiness was the high point of the workday.  Later in the afternoon I got a message from Andrey inviting me to join a bunch of friends to see Fast & Furious.  I knew the movie was not worth my money but it was still more appealing than staying home.I called a cab to meet Andrey uptown and ended up waiting for him at the Popeye’s on Carrollton.  He picked me up from there and we drove to the Elmwood palace theater.  Veronica, David and Kerry were with him.  We arrived at the theater around nine, a half hours before the previews started.  I probably shouldn’t have been but I was surprised to see how crowded the theater was, even though this was opening night.  The showing must have been sold out.  After we arrived we were joined by a few more of Andrey’s friends who I am not acquainted with.As for the movie itself, the consensus of reviews are correct.  It’s got fast cars, explosions, hot chicks and a pathetic excuse for a plot.  It was marginally entertaining, even if it had absolutely no regard for the laws of physics.After the movie they drove back to Tulane and I caught a cab home from there.  I got home after 11 and talked to Krystle on the phone before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:41:09 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Bucktown All-Stars]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1180</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Tuesday went by just fine.  Yesterday evening’s ethics class went well, although Mr. Greenberg did not collect the homework because he did not recall assigning it.There was no class today.  I left the office at 4:30 to take the streetcar downtown for the first Wednesday at the Square concert of 2009.  It was my first time riding the red Canal Street cars since Katrina.  I made it to Lafayette Square before the music started this evening.  As I was looking around I saw Nicole, who I met a couple weeks ago at the BSG meetup.I brought my camera with me to get some pictures. The opening act this evening was the Soul Rebels Brass Band.  I’m sure I’ve seen them before although I don’t recall when.  They put on a nice show and the crowd seemed to like it.  As they were wrapping up I got something to eat and tried my hand at photographing the crowd.  New Orleans Saints’ mascot “Gumbo” was mingling with people.Later on after six, the main event started.  The Bucktown All-Stars, a nine-member ensemble put on a lively performance.  Unfortunately I only saw about a half hour of it before my ride arrived.  The band was very engaging and easy to photograph.Later this evening I spent a good deal of time looking through my pictures.  As usual, taking the pictures was much more fun than combing through the results.  It was overcast this afternoon so my F/4 telephoto lens didn’t have quite enough light to work with.  I bumped my camera up to ISO 800 but it wasn’t enough for viable handheld speeds so a lot my pictures were a bit blurry.  I ended up keeping 59 of the 633 I took.  Later this evening after I had my pictures online and spoke to Krystle on the phone and watched 28 Days Later.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:31:43 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Spring Break]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1179</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I had the past week off of school for spring break although I didn’t make much use of the time.  I still worked during the day as usual this week.  With a more flexible schedule, my mom insisted on scheduling a couple checkups while I’m still insured.  I had a dentist appointment on Monday afternoon for cleaning and a checkup.  It went pretty well and it’s always reassuring to hear a dentist speak highly of the condition of your teeth.  I’ve always been nervous when they dig those metal probes into your molars looking for cavities.  Before work on Wednesday I had an appointment with a general practitioner for a checkup which I thought was entirely unnecessary.  Sure enough, I’m fine.  The remainder of my week was wasted on the computer and movies.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:23:03 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Daybreak]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1178</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After a relatively uneventful day at work and a couple hours at home getting some things done, I went to Squeal BBQ one more time to watch the series finale of Battlestar Galactica with some other fans.  There was a smaller crowd this evening compared to last week.  Six other people showed up including two new people.  Following the airing, the group of us discussed various aspects of the finale before dispersing around 11.I suppose this the part where I am supposed to comment on the series finale of a show I’ve been watching and loving since it began five years ago.  I have yet to watch it a second time which will likely refine my opinion.  At this point I am not exactly pleased with the way the show ended, although the ultimate “happy ending” was somewhat surprising and satisfactory.  However, the last few episodes did not answer as many questions as they could have.  While the focus on characters was not necessarily a flawed idea, I think it could have been done without sacrificing so much plot.The rest of this weekend was pretty uneventful.  I watched a couple movies including Winchester ‘73.   I did speak to Theresa on the phone Saturday evening, a pretty rare event.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:04:27 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Last Foxtrot]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1177</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This past Saturday and Sunday were rather uneventful, or something incredible happened and I just don’t remember… probably the former.Monday’s class was shorter than usual to allow students the opportunity to see a guest speaker on campus, Billy Collins.  Tuesday’s class was about the media and anti-social behavior.  The discussion centered bad behavior depicted in the media and its possible effects on the public.  Wednesday’s writing class had something to do with subcultures which served as an excuse to watch the Hop Topic episode of South Park.I had more than enough to do at work today.  Before class this evening I had some time to see the festivities outside Boggs Hall for Science and Engineering Week.  They had a crawfish boil and a band. I can’t remember what they called themselves but I recognized several of the members from the Tulane Jazz Ensemble.  This evening’s class concerned contracts, which were introduced last week.  The lecture lasted until about 8:30.  There was a small crowd of about 10 for ballroom this evening, likely due to the impending spring break.  This was the last week of foxtrot.  We only learned one more new step so for the most part we just danced steps we’d learned previously, which was a lot of fun.  I’ve actually picked up on this particular style pretty well compared to other things we’ve done.Like last week it took a good while to get a cab to pick me up.  A young lady named Krista was also waiting for a cab to go to Bourbon Street and we agreed to share one since I was heading in that general direction anyway.  She’s relatively new to the city so I mentioned a bunch of places around town I like, hopefully without boring the girl.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:42:38 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[BSG at Squeal BBQ]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1176</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Before leaving for work this evening I tried my hand at wet shaving for the first time.  I did some research a few weeks ago on this as an alternative to multi-blade cartridges and ordered all the required equipment.  I bought a badger hair brush, a Merkur safety razor, English shaving soap and an assortment of double edged blades.  Even though shaving this way takes practice, the comparison between this and cartridges was readily apparent.I don’t recall anything of consequence happening at work.  Later this evening, I took a cab out to Squeal BBQ uptown.  I read about a meetup on TrekBBS to watch Battlestar Galactica and figured it would be pretty interesting compared to watching at home.  I arrived there at about eight.  Before BSG started at nine about eight other people showed up.  It was pretty fun watching the show with other fans and the food there is quite decent.  After the show aired the group of us spoke about the episode for a little while before people started heading home.  Later on after everyone else left I spoke for a while with Nicole, a fellow Tulane student who posted the gathering on the message board.  It turns out we have both taken a lot of the same classes.  If I remember right, we spoke until about midnight after which I caught a cab home in front of the Maple Leaf Bar.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:57:37 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Blowup]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1175</link>
		<description><![CDATA[By and large this week has gone quietly enough.  Things haven’t been especially busy at work.  In writing class this week we finished watching Blowup on Monday and then discussed it on Wednesday.  You might say I didn’t share the instructor’s 'appreciation' for the film.  I found it to be uninteresting and rather overrated based on what I’ve read about it.  I spoke frankly on the film in a Blackboard post but largely held my tongue during the group discussion.  It took serious will power to contain myself when Mr. Griffith equated the filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni with Stanley Kubrick.  If I wasn’t in such a good mood a profanity-laced outburst might have ensued.Tuesday’s ethics in media class was short as the professor had a speaking engagement that evening.  His lecture on ethics in entertainment wouldn’t have been much longer anyway.Tonight’s business law class was a bit late in getting started and only partially introduced contracts, the next subject of extended discussion.  The professor spent a lot of time covering certain laws he thought would be of interest such as D.U.I. law, leins and business taxes.  Class was not dismissed until 8:30 so I didn’t have a long wait for ballroom tonight.  This was the third of four weeks of foxtrot.  Attendance was light this evening, likely due to the Lupe Fiasco concert at McAlister.  There was only one new step introduced this evening so I didn’t have much trouble with the dancing, although it did take me 40 minutes to get a cab home.Later this evening I watched the big event, Stewart vs. Cramer on The Daily Show.  A wireless card I won on eBay for my old VAIO Picturebook, a PCWA-C800S arrived in the mail today and I got it working with no problem.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:39:13 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Tulane vs. Tulsa]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1174</link>
		<description><![CDATA[With another whole week gone by, I thought I would be able to think of a couple circumstantial events to mention, but very little comes to mind.  Nothing of particular circumstance occurred in class or work early this week.  At home I watched some movies and wasted my time in other ways.Today, Thursday, afforded some modicum of variety.  I tried a new place for lunch this afternoon, The Ruby Slipper on Cleveland at Cortez.  The grilled sandwich I had was good but I now know I don’t care for sweet potato fries.There was no lecture in business law class this evening.  The professor returned our exams and then dismissed class so he could attend a funeral.  I was pleasantly surprised to find I did very well on the exam, even though my essays were apparently brief compared to other students that took a lot longer to finish the test.With so much time to kill before ballroom this evening, I went to the women’s basketball game which was already in progress.  Tulane is hosting the Women’s Conference USA championship.  They were playing Tulsa in the first round.  I arrived with five minutes remaining in the first half.  It’s my understanding that they could have been playing better, but the score was 27-21 Tulane at the half.Tulsa’s offense and defense appeared to break down completely at the start of the second half.  Tulane opened with a nine minute rally, outscoring Tulsa 15-0.  Tulsa finally scored a layup which started a comeback which made the game interesting up to the end.  Over the final 10 minutes, Tulsa closed to within three points.  Tulane stepped up again in the final minutes to win the game with a final of 44-49.  The game ended around 8 o’clock so I still had an hour to go so I went to the LBC and sat with my laptop for a while before ballroom this evening…]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:19:26 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Mardi Gras and Such]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1173</link>
		<description><![CDATA[In this the latest entry in what might as well be called the weekly log, I will attempt to recall events from the last 11 days.  The week preceding the Mardi Gras break was not especially unusual although there was no class on Wednesday.In class last Monday we watched a Simpsons episode about the Internet and then the first half of the pilot episode of The Prisoner, a BBC show from the 60’s which the previous Simpsons episode referenced heavily.  Tuesday’s media ethics class was about confidentiality if I remember right.  There was no homework assignment in deference to the upcoming holiday.  I was at the office for a “full” day on Wednesday since I didn’t have class.  I had my business law class as usual on Thursday.  After a full lecture we reviewed for the upcoming exam the following week.The weekend was pretty quiet for me.  Andrew was out of the house a lot.  I did make an update to the VAIO wallpaper page last week, adding the VAIO P included wallpapers which I’ve been seeking for a while.After hearing from Andrey Monday night, I met him and some of his friends uptown Tuesday morning for the Rex parade.  We watched the parade on the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Louisiana.  I had my camera with me and took a few half decent pictures.  I didn’t get hit in the face with any throws this time although I suppose that’s expected since Rex doesn’t throw much anyway.After the parade we walked to Magazine Street and had lunch at Rocky’s Pizzeria that wasn’t too crowded.  The food was decent for a place running a limited menu.  Patrick and Becca had to leave after lunch for a few of us walked back to St. Charles Avenue and saw some of the Elks truck parade before walking back to the car and returning to Tulane.  I caught a cab home from there and had an interesting conversation with the driver who was bit of a computer geek and had a PC rig next to the driver’s seat.It would have been nice to have Ash Wednesday off too but both the office and Tulane was back to work.  After work yesterday I went to writing class where the teacher showed Run Lola Run, a German movie I’d seen before which somehow ties into the reading assignment we are supposed to get to next week.  Had I known what the professor had planned I would have went home.After a quiet day at work today in which I both did some actual work and reviewed for my business law mid term, I took the shuttle to campus for class this evening.  The test consisted of two fictional tort cases.  We were given the facts of the cases and then instructed to discuss both the plaintiff and defendants arguments and then render a decision as a judge would.  I was the first to finish, either a very good or very bad thing.  I think my answers were sufficiently detailed but I couldn’t say if they will meet Mr. Whittington’s expectations.I finished at 6:45, over two hours before ballroom this evening.  I walked to the LBC to get something to eat.  Having had Subway for lunch I didn’t find any of the offerings appetizing to I walked to the Boot and got a Boot burger and some fries.  I typed this very entry at the Boot on my little Picturebook.  I couldn’t fit both my TR notebook and the big law textbook in my book bag so I brought this instead.This was the first week of foxtrot in ballroom dancing this evening.  So far it’s one of the easier dances we’ve tried and I actually picked up it well enough.  There were not a lot of steps covered tonight so we had more time to just dance.  I caught a cab home after ballroom and watched Burn After Reading.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:12:05 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Andrey's 22nd]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1172</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This past Thursday night was the last week of east coast swing for ballroom dancing.  I had a lot of trouble with the later steps.  On Sunday night, I met Andrey and several of his friends at Mona’s Café on Carrollton gathered to celebrate Andrey’s 22nd birthday.  The staff there was very accommodating.  We ordered some combination platters but Andrey and his friends also brought a cake and some adult beverages.Later in the evening, a few of us went down to Frenchman Street after making stops at Tulane and Andrey’s place.  We stopped in a few places including d.b.a. and the Apple Barrel.  When we left to go home at around one, I was pretty tired.  I didn’t have any trouble getting a cab home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:00:18 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Superclocked]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1171</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Alas, yet another week gone by.  Ballroom was nice last Thursday.  I didn't do anything in particular over the weekend.  Tuesday's ethics in media was about confidentiality of sources and information.  Later that evening I received the new video card I ordered a couple days ago.I got the eVGA nVidia GTX 260 Superclocked (65nm), the latest installment in my slow desktop upgrade process.  I had to rearrange some wiring in my case to make it fit.  Since I had my PC case open so long I went ahead and cleaned out the case, something I haven’t really done in several months.  The fan filters have kept things tolerable, only fine powdery dust gets through.  The card is working wonderfully although I’m aware of the performance penalty having a rather new card running with an old AMD64 system.  I was able to get HDMI + audio working with no trouble which was also quite nice.I went to campus after work this evening but class was canceled.  After I got home this evening I used my old video card to complete a second PC which I have been planning to use as a NAS box.  I installed FreeNAS with no trouble but I was unable to mount NTFS hard drives, which apparently are hard to get working with any network storage solution.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:11:32 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[The Language of God]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1170</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After writing class this evening, I attended a Veritas forum in the packed McAlister Auditorium featuring Dr. Francis S. Collins, former head of the human genome project.  Primarily, he spoke about his work as it relates to his Christian faith.  He also spoke at length about his belief that the Bible’s creation story and the theory of evolution are compatible.  His hour-long talk was compelling although his arguments were not entirely convincing.  Following his talk he took questions from the audience which was equally interesting.  I didn’t have any trouble getting a cab afterward.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:04:56 -0500</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Un Chien Andalou]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1169</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Somewhat unintentionally, I let another week slip by without a post.  Nothing especially unusual has happened lately, however.  Expository writing class still goes over like nails on a chalkboard.  The ethics class is fine and the business law class is quite tolerable.  Ballroom was a lot of fun last week.  We had a nice crowd of about 30 people.  Work on Friday was of no consequence and the weekend was rather quiet as well.  On Monday’s expository writing class, we discussed another Marxist diatribe we had to read and watched Un Chien Andalou.  Tuesday’s ethical issues class was about privacy and the media.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:32:10 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Torts and East Coast Swing]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1168</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This post like so many others is late so it will be skipping Tuesday and Wednesday.  After work this afternoon, I took the shuttle to campus for class this evening.  Having dropped the war on terrorism class, I signed up for another elective called “legal aspects of business.”  My expectations were quite low but I need a Thursday night class.  There were only a handful of students although there was one familiar face, Jerry Perez, who I’ve seen in several previous classes.The instructor, attorney Ron Whittington seems like a nice guy.  He spent the class discussing various types of torts.  Class was not dismissed until 8:30.Afterward, I made my way to the Reily Center.  Ballroom dancing resumed this evening.  There were over 50 people in attendance for our first session, many new faces.  The first dance style this semester is east coast swing.  We went over the basic step and I thing one other thing.  For the most part, I think I knew what I was doing and it was a lot of fun.  I caught a cab home afterward.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:14:40 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Three Day Weekend]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1167</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After work on Thursday, I went to class this evening.  I signed up for “War on Terrorism,” a 400 level political science class with Louis Campomenosi.  My impression of the professor and the class was very positive.  However, there is far reading and work involved in the class than I care to take on so I’ll probably be dropping the class.Work was especially quiet on Friday.  With Martin Luther King Day on Monday, I had a three day weekend to relax and do nothing.  I was home all weekend where I did very little although I did clean out my closet on Sunday.  I don’t recall anything in particular happening Monday.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:42:06 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Tulane vs. Southern Miss.]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1166</link>
		<description><![CDATA[We saw patients at a pretty good clip this afternoon.  I took the 4:40 shuttle to campus.  I stopped at the bookstore before class to have a look at my textbooks.  I saw Larry there and we spoke for a few minutes.This evening's writing composition class was a discussion on two readings we were assigned on Monday, "The Everyday and Everydayness," an essay by Henri Lefebvre and the first chapter of one of the textbooks.  The first piece was a rambling mess in my opinion and I got some entertainment out of being mildly condescending and argumentative.Class was dismissed shortly after seven.  I walked to Fogelman Arena after class to see Tulane's basketball team play Southern Mississippi.  I arrived a few minutes into the first half with USM leading 10-2.  Their lead waxed and waned over the course of the game but I never saw Tulane in the lead.  Tulane was mainly thwarted by their own shooting woes.  Tulane didn't hit a single three-pointer all game.  For the most part they managed to keep hope alive in some of the final minutes, closing to a four point deficit.  The final score was 61-54.  I caught a cab home after the game.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:18:06 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Back to School]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1165</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After a quiet weekend of playing Fallout 3 and updating the VAIO wallpaper page, I started school again on Monday.  I’m only taking three classes this term, but one of them meets twice weekly.  On Monday I went to the first session of expository writing with Mike Griffth.  This is a class required for my major and I was not looking forward to it.  What I read about the instructor was unflattering and it was immediately apparent to me that what I read was accurate.   After digressing at length about the nature of the class and the writing it entails, he assigned a non-graded writing assignment about a life-changing epiphany.  Later that evening, I watched the second two hours of the new season of 24.I got a hair cut this morning before heading to the office today.  I didn’t have much to do at work and performed an LCD transplant on an old Thinkpad I’ve been working on.  This evening’s class was Ethical Issues in Media with Paul Greenberg.  I had a class with him last semester which I enjoyed so I figured it was a safe bet.  After discussing the class there was a short lecture on ethics in general.  Later this evening I watched Fail-Safe.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:43:37 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Change of Scenery]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1164</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After Christmas, I took a little vacation of sorts through New Year’s Eve.  Consequently, I wasn’t paying attention to this log so this single entry will cover that time period.Krystle drove down to New Orleans to pick me up the day after Christmas.  She considered making the return trip to Ruston the same day but decided against it.  That evening we had dinner at the Ground Pati on the westbank.  The next day we made the five hour drive to Ruston.  It was largely uneventful although there was heavy rain in the final stretch.I was in Ruston for a solid week.  It would be difficult to detail each day as they sort of blended together although I could probably make a good effort by looking at all my receipts.  There isn’t much to do in Ruston so we spent a lot of time watching movies.  I brought some Netflix DVDs with me, we went to the local theater three times and we bought a movie Krystle wanted to watch, Death Race.  At the theater we saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I enjoyed, Yes Man and Valkyrie, which was not as bad as the negative hype suggested.  We also went out for dinner almost every night.  There isn’t much to pick from aside from a couple chains, however.  We spent a lot of time at Chili’s.  We visited Krystle’s parent’s house a couple times for various reasons.  I taught her to play chess with no difficulty.  The evening of New Year’s Eve, Krystle and I went with her little brother Jacob to meet some of her extended family that have a little property in what looks like the middle of nowhere.  There was a bonfire and lots of people and fireworks.  We only stayed for an hour or so because Jacob wanted to leave early.  We spent the rest of the evening at Krystle’s apartment.We drove back to New Orleans on Saturday afternoon.  We stopped in Monroe to get some lunch and tried for a second time to go to a sushi place called Samurai, but we were thwarted by their odd hours.  We went to the Olive Garden instead.  The drive back was considerably less pleasant.  It rained through the better part of Mississippi and Louisiana.  There was a reprieve from the rain around Brookhaven, where we stopped to visit Bianca.  We were there for an hour or so.  Bianca seems to be doing well and her dog has grown considerably since I was last there about five months ago.  We met a friend of hers while there, Raymond, a retired chef.  Bianca has spoken highly of him in the past and he seems like a nice guy.On Sunday, Krystle and I got a muffuletta from DiMartino’s before she headed back to Ruston.I didn’t go to work on Monday because Dad was tied up throughout the day, both with a doctor’s appointment for Andrew and work in Mid City.  I was at work on Tuesday although we were out of the office for a while in the afternoon.  I met with my student advisor at Tulane, Paul Greenberg to discuss the remaining requirements for my bachelor’s degree.  I was pleasantly surprised to find how close I am to graduating.  I still have to take an expository writing class and complete an internship in my final semester.  I also want to complete a 400+ level history course to finish off my minor.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:24:00 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Christmas 2008]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1163</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This Christmas was a pleasant and rather quiet one.  We did the usual Christmas morning thing.  Mom and Dad bought me a new Dremel.  This afternoon, we had a nice meal with ham, turkey, sweet potato casserole and oyster dressing among other things.  We didn’t go to Aunt Dionne’s house in the evening like we have in years past so the evening was uneventful.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:28:02 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Christmas Eve]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1162</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The better part of this Christmas Eve morning was spent with various cleaning up around the house.  This evening, Dad cooked a nice dinner and we had guests, Aunt Lauren and Arien, who are in town for the week from St. Petersburg.  We had a lovely dinner with jambalaya and sweet potato casserole.  Aunt Lauren gave us each a thumb drive with a few hundred old family photos that she scanned, which was a very nice gift as putting it together would have been rather time consuming.  The family spent some time looking at them after dinner.Later this evening, I watched Night at the Museum while I caught up on my log entries.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:07:46 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Half Work Day]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1161</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I went to the office this morning but we weren’t there all that long.  After a little while we drove out to the Metairie office to get payroll.  While in the neighborhood we went to the mall.  I ordered Mom and Dad’s gift for in-store pickup at Sears.  When I got there I had to wait in line a while only to find they didn’t have the item I ordered so I had to go upstairs to electronics to process a return for something I never received.    We got something to eat in the food court before heading back to the office.We were only at the mid city office for a little while before leaving.  On the way home, we stopped at the west bank office to give Annisha her pay check and stopped by the bank.  Later that evening I watched Tsotsi.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:57:24 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Yes Man]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1160</link>
		<description><![CDATA[We opened the mid city office to patients this morning as we have a shortened week with the Christmas holiday.  Things were quiet around the office but we did see a few patients.After work, I went to Wal-Mart with Mom to do a little shopping.  I wanted to get something for my parents but they were out of stock of the item I wanted.  I did pick something out for my Dad’s sister’s family though.Later this evening, I went to the movies with Jeff.  We saw the 9:50 showing of Yes Man, and entertaining if forgettable Jim Carrey comedy.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:35:01 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Gov't Majik]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1159</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was at home for the better part of the weekend.  I got my room clean, watched TV and so forth.  On Sunday night I met Andrey, Patrick and David at the Hookah Cafe on Frenchman Street.  It took over an hour to get a cab on the west bank but I wasn't terribly late.  Gov't Majik had been playing for about 15 minutes when I arrived.  I've heard them play at least once at the Hookah Cafe.  I couldn't characterize their music but they call themselves an "Afro-beat arkestra."  We were there for a couple hours and left at around midnight.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:22:48 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Take 2]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1158</link>
		<description><![CDATA[With the semester break underway, I’ve had a lot more free time to spend.  In addition to my usual wasting time on the Internet, I’ve also been playing Fallout 3, which frankly feels too much like work.  That may only be the case because my computer isn’t quite fast enough to handle the game properly.For the last couple days, I’ve been working on a revision to my website.  I wasn’t especially happy with the redesign I did back in August and decided to take another crack at it over the Christmas break.  I’m pretty happy with the end result although I don’t expect the new color scheme to be any more widely liked than the last one.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:28:37 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1158-1229668117</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[School's Out]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1157</link>
		<description><![CDATA[With final exams and projects looming and my procrastination, I was preoccupied this past week with school work.  Over the last weekend I spent my time with a large project for advertising class.  After Monday’s LA politics exam which I think I did well on, I turned my efforts to the research paper assigned for that class.  I took the better part of Wednesday off to finish it.  My advertising exam on Tuesday was a simple affair.On Wednesday, I took the exam for finance class.  I thought I did reasonably well and was the first to finish after about an hour.  There was no exam for online journalism class but I did have a final assignment due Thursday evening, most of which I did that afternoon.  With school done, I’ll have some time to catch up on some things I’ve been putting off like an update to the website.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:12:22 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Thanksgiving Break]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1156</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Regrettably, I’ve let another couple weeks go by without a log entry, skipping Thanksgiving and some of the lead out of the Fall semester.  Jeff was in town for Thanksgiving and we had a nice meal at home.  Later that evening we went over Aunt Doris’s house to visit some family.This past weekend I got out of the house on Saturday to go to dinner and a movie with Andrey, Patrick and David.  Dad gave me a ride to David’s house and we drove out to Metairie and met up with Andrey and Patrick.  It took a bit longer than it should have but we decided on the Sake Cafe on Veterans Blvd.  I can’t remember the name of the dish I had but it was decent.  I also had some sushi, something I enjoy but have only had a few times.  It’s not the sort of food I would want to get from just anywhere.After dinner we went out to the Palace Theater in Elmwood to see Transporter 3, which quite frankly was pretty bad.I had work and class last Monday and Tuesday which was rather uneventful.  This week was the first time in a while that I’ve been at the office at closing time on a Wednesday.  Wednesday’s class went long as there was a lengthy review for the exam.Thursday’s final journalism class was about ethics.  There was a small camera crew set up in the back of the classroom shooting footage for an upcoming school commercial.  We received our final assignment, 850 words reviewing one of four online news websites.After class I went to McAlister Auditorium where Tulane’s orchestra and concert band performed this evening.  I had my camera with me and shot some pictures with limited success.  Performances included a rendition of "Peter and the Wolf" by the woodwind quintet and works by Bizet, Holst, Schubert, Sibelius and Saint Saens.There was a light crowd for the final session of ballroom dancing later that night.  I couldn’t call the second hand of the semester a successful learning experience as I was still having trouble with the steps at the end.  It continues to be an enjoyable diversion, however.This past weekend, I spent time working on a final project for advertizing class which required me to create a marketing plan for reusable cloth diapers.  It wasn’t until late Sunday night when I remembered the project due Monday was for Louisiana politics class and I hadn’t started on that yet.I wasn’t at work this afternoon all that long.  We were late arriving and I took the 3:40 shuttle to campus so I could go to the library to get a book or two for the Louisiana politics paper I need to write.The exam this evening was a short and simple affair.  One student brought jambalaya as part of a special project.  The professor was very understanding about the paper so I have a couple days to finish it. ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:06:43 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Ellis Marsalis at Snug Harbor]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1155</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After a “full” day of work on Friday, Mom gave me a ride home with the caveat of a trip to the grocery store on the way.  That evening, I took a cab to Frenchman Street to meet some friends at Snug Harbor to see Ellis Marsalis this evening.  Andrey, Veronica, Jason, Shona and her friend Eric were there.  I got there shortly before nine.  With time to spare before the 10 PM set, we went over to d.b.a. for a couple rounds before the show.We all walked back to Snug Harbor at about 9:45 as a line was forming to get into the lounge.  We elected to just sit in the balcony rather than try to find enough tables for our group.  The music was quite good, more up tempo than some occasions I’ve seen him previously.  Jason Marsalis was on the drums tonight, who I last saw at Jazz Fest.  Peter Harris was on bass and Roman Skakun was on the vibraphone.  After the show , we all piled into Veronica’s little Ford and drove to Magazine street in search of a place we never found.  The rest of the group elected to call it a night and I ended up calling a cab home from Tulane.The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet.  Dad got home Sunday morning.   I tried to get some school work done this evening but the TV and my computer prevailed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:31:16 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Another Week]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1154</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Although I have had the time to post since last Thursday, I elected to ignore it and do other things like play computer games and watch old episodes of House MD.After an uneventful Friday, I got out of the house on Saturday and went to a birthday party for Patrick at his parent’s place in River Ridge.  Jeff was in town this weekend and agreed to give me a ride out there.  He was planning to visit relatives nearby in Metairie.  It was a nice, low-key gathering with lots of good food, a keg of Abita Amber and about 15 guests.  I’d met most of them before at least once but the only other people there I was circumstantially acquainted with were Andrey, Veronica and David.Several of the guests departed around ten and the rest of us left sometime after 11.  David gave me a ride uptown so I wouldn’t have to pay for a cab from so far out.  He dropped me at the Boot and I got a cab from there in about three minutes, which was good as it was rather cold outside that evening.I had to cover for Dad at the office this week as he has been away.  Consequently, I’ve been getting cabs to the office every morning.  Elliot, the United driver I’m most acquainted with, has been filling the orders.  On Tuesday and Thursday, I accepted rides from my co-worker Chander to get to campus after work.  I also had to cancel plans I had to take a trip out of town this weekend which required me to get Friday off.Classes this week weren’t too bad.  Monday’s Louisiana politics class was largely off-topic but characteristically short.  One fellow student, Colin, and the professor were my only company in Tuesday’s advertising class in which our large final project was discussed.  We are to prepare a marketing plan for a company that makes cloth diapers.  Wednesday’s finance class was genuinely interesting and featured a lot of insightful discussion of the current market circumstances.  The lecture was largely about investor methodologies.Tonight’s online journalism class was about media convergence and journalism and featured a lot of talk about blogs including the professor’s own.  He didn’t issue a new assignment so any time I might devote to school work in the coming days can be devoted to the three final projects I have hanging over my head.There was a decent crowd in ballroom this evening.  Most of the session was a recap of steps from last week with a new move introduced later.  It looks cool when it’s done right but I wasn’t doing it right.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:04:24 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Last Weekend]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1153</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Friday and this past weekend were quiet.  I don’t recall going anywhere.  On Sunday I spent most of the evening working on a large update to the VAIO wallpaper collection on my website.  I added about 90 new desktops which I’ve been collecting over the past month or so.I never left the house on Monday.  There was no class because the professor had a family obligation.  Dad had enough work to do at home so there was no real need to go to the office.  I pretty much wasted the day in front of my computer.Work on Tuesday was nice and dull, as was the class which followed that evening.  We didn’t finish until after eight because the discussion was littered with personal anecdotes.  Later that evening, I started experimenting with an application called Samurize and altered a desktop widget I downloaded to suit my purposes.  I want to replace the desktop calendar and system meters I’ve had with Yahoo! Widgets with something more minimalist.  I am still working to find a suitable successor to the weather widget I’ve been using for the last few years.Class was more interesting on Wednesday.  There was discussion on the current financial situation and the lecture seemed to have a bit more practical application than what has been discussed the last two weeks.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:09:23 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Swing, Week 2]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1152</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Wednesday was a reasonably uneventful day.  There was decent patient flow at the office this afternoon.  I left at four to catch the shuttle to campus.  This evening’s finance class was about capital projects.  We spent a majority of the time using our calculators to find out if project examples in the book would be profitable.Today, Thursday, had more going on.  I got a haircut at 10 this morning.  At work this afternoon I wrote a story for my online journalism class.  The feature was about the declining state of newspapers.  I had to incorporate an interview I did in class with another student last week.  I’m not sure if the two little quotes I used will be considered sufficient inclusion.This evening’s class was about different forms of online advertising and their sketchy effectiveness.  Class was dismissed rather early and I was able to catch the 7 PM tip-off of the Tulane/Loyola basketball game.  Loyola looked pretty good against us for the majority of the game.  Tulane had an early lead but Loyola came back big mid way though the first half.  Momentum shifted before the buzzer but Loyola had a 29-25 lead at the half.  Tulane came back in the second half after what I would assume was a stern talking-to by head coach Dave Dickerson.  Slowly but surely they reclaimed the lead and built on it as the game drew to a close.  The final score was 64-71.There was a healthy crowd in ballroom dancing this evening.  Most of the hour was spent recapping last week’s steps but there was some new material which I was slow to pick up on.  Afterward, I went over to PJ’s for a while.  Andrey told me there was a chance a group of friends would be going out this evening.  I left ph cell phone at home today so I just had him meet me there when he knew something.  He showed up at 10:40 still unsure and we talked for a while until he got a call saying nothing was going on tonight.  I got a cab home and arrived at about 11:30.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:56:03 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Election Day]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1151</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This past weekend was decidedly uneventful.  I never even got around to writing my paper for Louisiana politics class.  On Monday, I did the paper at work.  Class that evening was short, an overview of the book we’d just written a paper on.Before going to work this morning, Dad and I went to go vote.  Our precinct is rather small so there was only a 15 minute wait.  The other precinct at Eisenhower School looked like it had over an hour wait.Work was rather uneventful today.  I watched the series finale of The Sopranos, a show I’ve been watching for the first time recently.  I didn’t pay all that much attention in class this evening because I was poring over election returns on my laptop.  With Pennsylvania called immediately after the polls closed and Obama up in the count early in Florida, the outcome was apparent rather early.  Dad picked me up after class.  I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:43:50 -0500</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Jazz and West Coast Swing]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1150</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Again, I am behind in posting and I don’t remember much from Wednesday.  I had a reasonably full day on Thursday.  I spent the whole workday getting a mid-term assignment done for online journalism.  I had to write up to 1000 words on the upcoming election.  I managed to finish before I had to leave for campus this afternoon.  I’m not sure how well it will go over with the professor, however.This evening’s class was a continuation on interviewing which was discussed last week.  Mr. Greenberg showed us some more interviews and at the end of class we interviewed fellow students for next week’s writing assignment.I finished with my ‘interviewing’ shortly after seven.  I walked over to Dixon Hall where Ellis Marsalis was playing a free concert.  Accompanying him were the three familiar musicians that can be seen at his Snug Harbor performances including xylophone player Roman Skakun.   The auditorium was nice and crowded.  Following the hour-long set, Mr. Marsalis took questions from the audience.  For the most part, the questions had him speaking about his background in music including his teaching days at NOCCA.  One of the questions was a request to play “A Night in Tunisia.”  Marsalis quipped that he could play if he was in Tunisia at nighttime.  At the end of the question period, the Marsalis quartet took a crack at the song, even though they had never played the song together before.Afterward, I went to the Reily Center for ballroom dancing this evening.  This was the first week of west coast swing and there were about 26 people in attendance.  I had fun but I did have trouble picking up the basic step, which really isn’t that complicated.  After ballroom I ended up talking to Andrey on the corner of Willow and McAlister until I got a cab home at about 11.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:44:33 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Catch Up]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1149</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Another week gone by with no posts.  There has almost been enough going on to post but I just haven’t felt like bothering.  Tuesday’s advertising class was of no particular circumstance.  On Wednesday we spent a lot of time learning how to use our financial calculators.  Thursday’s online journalism class was about interviewing.  We received out take home mid-term assignment, 1000 words on the state of the election five days out.  That night’s ballroom dancing session was a lot of fun.  I was finally getting used to the moves.  Next week we will start west coast swing and I’ll be back to looking like a complete novice.After work on Friday, I assembled my new computer desk, a Safco 54 inch reversible top desk.  The surface edges took some slight damage in shipment, but not enough for me to want to bother replacing it.  I also attached a couple Balt 66350 cable management trays, which will keep all the wiring hidden.  I used large binder clips top attach the trays since I’m a bit lazy and I preferred a non-destructive means of making additions to the desk.  I also bought a Belkin Concealed Surge Protector which I attached to the back of the desk’s modesty panel with “Industrial Strength” Velcro.  The florescent backlighting was also attached with Velcro.Finally, I installed a Humanscale M7 dual monitor arm I scored on eBay last week.  It’s an absolutely beautiful piece of hardware, which is to be expected considering the obscene retail price.  The only remaining piece to the puzzle in another 22 inch monitor to match the Samsung I have now.Jeff was in town this weekend which really didn’t affect me much although I was compelled to keep my door shut a little more often than usual.  I watched The Motorcycle Diaries and Juno on Saturday and Sunday respectively.  I didn’t have class on Monday and I elected not to go on Tuesday.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:16:37 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Work-Free Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1148</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad took his car to the shop early this morning to fix some minor issues.  The work wasn’t finished today so I took a cab to campus for class this evening.  I was expecting a circumstantial lecture on Huey Long as it related to some video we watched last week and the book were reading, but that never panned out.Dad picked me up after class, which ended at about seven.  He fried some hot sausage for sandwiches at dinner.  I watched TV later this evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:45:32 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Week of October 14]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1147</link>
		<description><![CDATA[By and large this week has not been especially eventful.  I got my tests back in both Louisiana politics and finance, I made Bs on both.  I got an A+ on the most recent online journalism assignment.  I ordered a new computer desk on Thursday and also won an auction for a Humanscale M7 dual monitor arm that will go on the desk.  I won’t have it all done until November, though.I left finance class at the break Wednesday night so I could go to the debate watching event at the JL lounge.  There was pizza and a good turnout like the last two such events I went too.  The debate was considerably more interesting this time.Online journalism class was exceptionally short this week.  I had a lot of time between the end of class and dancing.  Turnout at ballroom on was very healthy this week.  I don’t remember much of anything from Friday or this weekend.  I spent some time looking for various accessories for my new desk such as a new surge protector and some things to manage the wiring.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:39:34 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Week of October 6]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1146</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Although I wasn’t incredibly busy this weekend, I neglected the log for a week again.  I had two tests in school this week, both in Louisiana politics and introduction to finance.  I think I did pretty well with both of them, more so on the former.  On Tuesday I watched the second presidential debate at the viewing party in the JL lounge on campus.  I hung around afterward for a little while with a bunch of students and a poli-sci professor that wanted to ask the audience questions.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:36:37 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[The Sopranos]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1145</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ I slept until a rather embarrassing hour this morning.  I didn’t really do anything outside of cleaning up my room a bit and taking care of laundry.  I watched the first four episodes of The Sopranos this afternoon.  I know I’m behind the times here but I never watched this show when it was on the air.  I’m sorry I didn’t though because it seems like a pretty good show and I intend to see all of it.  It is somewhat unfortunate that the last TV show I really got into was another crime drama as well, The Wire, another show I am quite fond of.  This evening I talked to Krystle and watched Auntie Mame.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:00:41 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Homecoming Disaster and Swing Dancing]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1144</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Mom, Dad and I went out to Tad Gormley stadium this afternoon for Tulane’s homecoming game versus Army.  At 0-4, Army is the worst team in the division and Tulane should have beat them handily.  It didn’t happen that way though.  Tulane suffered a demoralizing and embarrassing defeat, 44-13.  The game was quite sickening and I don’t especially care to document it in detail.  The pregame festivities were by all accounts very successful, however.Later this evening, I went out to a dance studio on Magazine Street where a swing dancing party was taking place.  A good handful of people from Tulane went. I called a cab at eight, well in advance of the nine o’clock start time but nobody ever showed up.  Jeff gave me a ride out there instead.  There looked to be about 50 people at the event, about eight of which were familiar faces.  There was a beginner swing lesson at the start which I was a bit late to.  After that there was a DJ until midnight.  I didn’t dance much after the lesson but Caroline and Ireal endured my ineptitude a few times.  I also got to talk with a few people new to the ballroom dancing club.  Overall it was a lot of fun although it would have been ever better if the studio was air-conditioned.  Afterward, I called Jeff who was still out and about.  I had to wait a little while but I got a free ride home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:00:07 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[How to Lose Friends and Alienate People]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1143</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked from 10:15 to three this afternoon. We didn’t have a doctor today so things were pretty quiet.  I got to stop at the bank on the way home.  Jeff came home for the weekend and brought his friend August with him.  They went out to see a movie this evening and I joined them, mostly out of boredom.  We saw How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.  Overall it was pretty forgettable, but it was amusing in parts.  After the movie we went to IHOP for something to eat.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:58:15 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Debate and Salsa]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1142</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t recall much from Wednesday outside of class.  I can’t quite remember what the lecture was about but there was long review of the exam next week.I worked from about 11 to 4:30 as usual this afternoon.  Tonight’s online journalism class was a continuation of last week’s lecture on good writing.  Class was dismissed at seven.  We were assigned 500 words on tonight’s VP debate and were let out of class early enough to get home to watch it.There was a VP debate watching party in the JL residence hall at eight this evening.  With an hour to kill, I sat outside the LBC for a while where a concert was going on for Tulane’s homecoming week.  The Benjy Davis Project was just finishing when I got there and Reel Big Fish played after that.There looked to be upwards of a hundred people in the JL lounge for the vice-presidential debate this evening.  Unsurprisingly, the audience appeared rather slanted one way.  I got to watch the first 50 minutes of the debate before I left to go to ballroom dancing this evening.There were about 50 people in the riverside room this evening, another great turnout for the third week of salsa dancing.  After going through the basic step again, Tammy introduced some new move that I totally didn’t get.  Later on we went over steps we learned last week and I was considerably less lost.Later this evening after I got home, I watched the rest of the VP debate, some of CNN’s post-debate commentary and The Daily Show.  Like a lot of people, I was surprised and impressed with Sarah Palin’s performance.  Expectations were so low of course that she didn’t have to do much to come out ahead.  Biden did very well too.  I expect both campaigns got what they wanted.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:56:04 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Lucky]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1141</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked from about 11 to 5 this afternoon.  Dad took me straight to campus this afternoon instead of catching the shuttle.  Before class this evening I went to room 202 in Newcomb where my Thursday night class is.  I left my sunglasses there last week and I tried a few times to try and collect them but the room is kept lock.  Someone was there this evening and luckily my sunglasses were still right where I left them.  The man there suggested I buy a lottery ticket… perhaps good advice.There were four people in tonight’s advertising class, five after 7:30.  There was a quiz on chapter four and a lecture about consumer behavior, as well as a series of anecdotes from the professor.  Class was dismissed shortly before eight if I remember correctly.  Dad picked me up after class.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:55:03 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Weekend + Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1140</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Friday and the weekend were not particularly interesting.  On Saturday I fool with the lawnmower a bit as it wasn’t starting.  Replacing the spark plug didn’t work.  It may be a timing issue.In Louisiana politics class this evening, the professor discussed chapters two and three from the “Carnival” book.  I’d read chapter two on the way to class this afternoon so I was reasonably familiar with what was covered.  Class was dismissed at seven and Dad picked me up a little while after that.  We had to stop at the west bank office on the way.  We didn’t get home until 8.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:31:34 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[First CR Meeting]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1139</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked from 12 to 4:30 this afternoon but didn’t have a great deal to do.  Tonight’s finance class was about different types of companies and federal income tax.  I left at the break to go to the first meeting of the Tulane college republicans.  Although I have class in the middle of their meetings and couldn’t expect to attend regularly, I did want to go tonight to see Anh Cao, the first Vietnamese refugee to run for congress and the only republican running for Bill Jefferson’s congressional seat in district 2.  To be honest, the first thing I noticed about this guy is his short stature.  He seems rather gentile and soft spoken considering his background.  For the most part he talked about the McCain-Palin ticket and not so much about himself and his own campaign.After the meeting ended at about 8:45 I walked across Freret and I was going to call a cab but there was already one there waiting for a fare.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:07:48 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Newcomb 123]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1138</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Attendance at tonight’s advertising class was painfully sparse.  Only two other students showed up for the lecture on whatever it was.  There was another room change and the class has been moved to Newcomb.  After class I walked over to the LBC and called a cab.  I saw Ireal while I was waiting.  A very familiar cab driver, Elliot, was the one that picked me up.  Later this evening I watched a movie and talked on the phone before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:06:57 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[The First Day of Fall]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1137</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The cool weather we’ve enjoyed over the last few days is continuing as fall begins.  I don’t remember anything from work this today.  This evening’s Louisiana politics was about modern Louisiana governors including Huey Long, who the professor talked about at some length.  There was still a lot of overlap from my Louisiana history class last semester so I couldn’t really convince myself to take notes.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:06:26 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Tulane vs. ULM]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1136</link>
		<description><![CDATA[By and large the weekend was pretty quiet.  I did get out of the house on Saturday.  Dad and I went to the Superdome to see Tulane’s football team play the University of Louisiana at Monroe.  Attendance was pretty dismal today, looked like about 5,000.  Apparently there was an impressive turnout for the first home game but that was a tough loss that no doubt quelled curiosity new fans might have had.  Unlike most of the games I saw last season, Tulane looked pretty good today.  They scored two unanswered touchdowns in the first quarter.  Going into the 4th quarter the score was 17-3.  Both teams scored once in the fourth for a final of 24-10.I was at home all day Sunday.  I played Spore for the first time today and like a lot of people, was rather disappointed with the game.  The gameplay is a bit too tedious and rudimentary, but the creature creator is very entertaining.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:57:01 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Ballroom is Back]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1135</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked from 10:30 to 4:30.  I did have some patient reports to proofread but I spend a lot of time working on an assignment for my online journalism class.  I started working on it a few days ago.  I was having trouble thinking up what to write.  The assignment called for me to write a story about myself and I ended up copping out and quoted myself in order to make it work.After I got off the campus shuttle, I stopped at the bookstore and finally bought a small binder to keep my class handouts.  This evening’s class was about various news websites.  We looked at a variety of online news outlets and a couple of partisan blogs.  We discussed the appeal, appearance and content of the various sites.Class was dismissed at about 7:30 so I still had plenty of time before ballroom dancing this evening.  With the time to spare I finished the journalism homework, answering questions about one of the news websites.  Having already done a similar assignment for my advertising class, it didn’t take very long.As mentioned, Tulane ballroom dancing was back up and running this evening.  The turnout was amazing, about 80 people showed up.  The Riverside room where we hold lessons was pretty cramped but it worked out all right.  If we were to have a crowd that big every week, we’d want a bigger space.  The first dance style of the semester is salsa.  We went over the basic step and a few other moves this evening.  Tammy, the instructor, stared explaining a more complicated move near the end of the session that I didn’t get at all.   After it ended at 10, I stuck around for a few minutes.  Most of the people who came tonight signed waiver forms which certainly bodes well for attendance next week.  I caught a cab home after I left.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:59:40 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[A League of Ordinary Gentlemen]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1134</link>
		<description><![CDATA[On the way to work this morning, which took longer than usual due to road work, we saw one of the red Canal Street streetcars being tested.  It looks like they are on track to start returning on October.Although I didn't have much to do at work this afternoon, it became rather annoying after two as we are busy on Wednesdays and things get noisy and cramped.  I had Dad bring me to an earlier shuttle so I could take care of something before class but that never ended up happening.  I have to get a club sport pass for ballroom this semester the club president hasn't filed the appropriate paperwork yet.This evening's finance class was about banks, financial intermediaries and interest rates.  Either I haven't been paying attention or attendance was up considerably from last week.  Class was dismissed somewhat mercifully at 8:00.  Mom and Dad were at an open house at Andrew school down Freret this evening so Dad was able to pick up up again this evening.  While I waited I got something to eat at the LBC.  Later this evening, I finished watching A League of Ordinary Gentlemen.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:13:14 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Introduction to Advertising]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1133</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The Zune 3.0 Software/Firmware update was released today and I got it all installed this morning before leaving for work.  It was a smooth process and adds a lot of interesting new features like browsing the Zune marketplace wirelessly on the device and support for games.I don't remember much of anything from work this afternoon.  I caught the 4:40 shuttle to campus.  Tonight was my first class for Introduction to Advertising.  I dropped a Photoshop class last week and this is the replacement.  I had to call the professor, Richard Reso, prior to the class as they had been dropped from their room assignment and I had not heard about the new one.Although apparently eight including myself are registered for the class, there were only three fellow students present.  I recognized two of them from classes gone by.  Tonight's lecture was about some of the reasons advertising exists and the cultural and economic climate that allows it to be fruitful.  The lecture wasn't boring but it was a bit longer than it needed to be with a substantial quantity of personal anecdotes worked in.  Such tangents are forgivable in the case of this class as all of us are bombarded by advertisements daily so nobody is a stranger to it.Class was dismissed at 8:15.  Dad was hanging around to pick me up.  Later this evening I started watching a movie before Krystle called.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:58:11 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Grazed by Ike]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1132</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This weekend was rather uneventful for me as I didn’t go anywhere outside of work on Friday and church.  I watched a number of movies over the weekend and reinstalled Windows on my desktop to solve a nagging problem that a repair install a number of weeks ago did not permanently fix.I was at the office from about one to 4:30 this afternoon.  I didn’t have that much to do but I did get some reports in the mail.This evening’s Louisiana Politics class was largely about the history of the state of Louisiana.  Having taken a Louisiana History class last semester and a Colonial Louisiana History class the term before that, I didn’t bother to pay that much attention.  Class was dismissed at 7:30.  I sat in the LBC for a few minutes.  An old coworker from the bookstore, Sharon, was there and we spoke for a few minutes while I waited for my ride.Later this evening after I got home I watched 10 Items or Less, an awesome little movie with Morgan Freeman.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:43:23 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[The Greenberg Rule]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1131</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The weather was more that somewhat windy this morning.  We will probably be getting some nasty weather from of the outer bands of Hurricane Ike which is currently on track to hit Houston.  Dad and I got to the office for 11 this morning.  At 12:30, we lost power for exactly one hour.  There were no patients in the office so it wasn’t a big deal.This evening’s Online Journalism class was about differences between print and online journalism.  Basically there is an even bigger emphasis on saying more with fewer words.  Class ended around 7:30 and I got a ride home not long after that.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:51:53 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[The Balance Sheet]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1130</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad mentioned the washing machine wasn’t working this morning, although the electrical outlet is good.  I did not have a great deal of work to do at the office this afternoon, but I did get some reports ready to go out.Dad took me down Canal Street to catch the 4:10 shuttle this afternoon.  I went to the bookstore when I got to campus with the intention of buying a small binder to hold some handouts for class.  As is frequently the case, there was a long line that I did not need to be in badly enough.  I sat in the LBC dining room for a little while with my laptop for a little while before class this evening.Tonight’s introductory finance class covered the basics of the balance sheet and investments and loans such as T-Bills, stocks and bonds.  I was having a hard time paying attention so I’ll probably be reading the chapters a couple times this week. After class, Dad picked me up in front of the LBC.  Apparently he was still in the neighborhood.  When I got home this evening I read a reply e-mail from the professor of an advertising class I’ll be signing up for in lieu of the Photoshop class.  The e-mail included the first assignment, a short critique of MSNBC.com that I took care of this evening.  Later on I talked to Krystle and watched most of the movie 10, which is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:44:18 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Digital Design I]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1129</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I had a few things in storage that I got back last night, one of them being a hard drive that belongs in my desktop PC.  With that back at home I was able to put my computer back together this morning before work.  I didn’t get it hooked up until this evening though.After work this afternoon, Dad drove me out to Tulane’s Elmwood campus in Harahan.  I signed up for a class called, Digital Design I, essentially an introduction to Adobe Photoshop.  I have wanted to take a class like this for a couple years but it is only offered at the distant Elmwood campus which presents a significant inconvenience to me.  With the increased likelihood that I’ll be driving soon I decided to sign up anyway.The class takes place in a small G5 Mac lab.  There were 14 other students registered for the class.  When the class finally got started, the professor, Martin Straka, went over the syllabus and what the class entails.  The first lesson was today as well, in which the instructor went over some basic functions in Photoshop.   Although I have nearly no experience working with Photoshop, I really didn’t learn anything new today.  Based on the syllabus, it doesn’t look I’d learn much of anything through the whole semester.  I could probably learn anything I don’t already know with some tutorials on the Internet.  During the break I glanced at the textbook for the class which pretty much confirmed my thinking on this.  Although the class offers an easy A and probably some fun projects, it’s just not worth going out to Harahan and back once a week.  Perhaps next semester I will sign up for Digital Design II, which would be more challenging.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:08:43 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Back to Business]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1128</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After a weekend of watching TV, putting things back where they belong and clearing a few downed branches from the lawn, it was back to work… pretty much.  Dad and I went to the mid city office this morning but we weren’t actually open so the only real work was putting things back together like the computers and EMS machines.Dad dropped me downtown to take the 4:40 shuttle to campus for class this evening.  Tonight was the first session of Louisiana Political Culture, which is essentially a class covering Louisiana Politics of the 20th century.  There was no lecture this evening, just an introduction to the course and the writing assignments.  The professor was a bit hard to peg but this class should be alright.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:07:18 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Home]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1127</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I got up early enough this morning to shower and help myself to the waffle maker in the lobby this morning.  We checked out of the hotel shortly after nine this morning and headed home.  We had to take a detour to Baton Rouge to pick up Jeff, Dad's car and a number of items we left in Jeff's apartment.  After entering the city we could see more of the damage we saw on the way out a few days ago, mostly downed signs and fallen trees that occasionally landed on houses.After getting the cars packed, we got back on the road.  We had to take Highway 30 to 74 because the I-10 just south of Baton Rouge was closed.  The right was largely quite smooth but there was a significant slowdown at the I-10, I-55 merge.  Driving through the city, things looked a lot better in New Orleans than they did in Baton Rouge.  There was some damage to a few businesses and billboards, but overall the city looks fine.  Our neighborhood had a lot of tree foliage in the street, but nothing else of circumstance.  Our house looks fine but more than a few of our shingles were in the yard so we'll need a new roof and soon.After unloading the cars, getting some of my stuff back in order and removing the boards from the windows, I helped clean the refrigerator.  Everything in the fridge and freezer had to be thrown away.  Mom had the foresight to triple-bag all the meat in the freezer so thankfully there was no vile stench.This evening I noticed that one of the boards holding up my waterbed fell over.  Since a collapsed waterbed would be a huge mess I started fixing it immediately.  Dad has a utility pump so I didn't have to start a siphon to drain the bed.  I took advantage of the situation and cleaned the liner and vacuumed behind the bed where a couple years of dust accumulated.  It took the rest of the night to get that done so I went to bed with a big mess on the floor in my room.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:18:05 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Still Waiting]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1126</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I got up early enough this morning to get some breakfast in the lobby.  Today was more than slightly dull as we never even left the hotel today.  We were practically certain we do not have power at the house yet and Dad saw no reason to fight the inevitable traffic only to return to a sweltering house.  I spent most of the afternoon in the lobby as the wireless internet was quite poor in our room but worked great downstairs. This evening I watched just about all of the republican convention on TV, which unsurprisingly didn’t top the one given by his #2 yesterday.  Late this evening we learned the electricity is back on at the house.  Both our answering machine and fax picked up.  We’ll be heading home tomorrow morning.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:16:14 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1126-1220570174</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Waiting]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1125</link>
		<description><![CDATA[For the most part, today was uneventful as we were just hanging out at the hotel and not really doing anything.  I have my computer to keep me occupied however so I wasn’t terribly bored.  At about two this afternoon we went out for a late lunch.  Dad wanted to go to a Chinese place but we couldn’t find the one he looked up so we ate at O’Charley's instead.There was a good deal of news out of Louisiana today about the state of affairs including damage and power outages.  This evening, I watched republican convention coverage including the speech by Sarah Palin which I found immensely entertaining.  The democrats who appeared on Larry King later in the evening were not amused, however.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:39:22 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1125-1220492362</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Ridgeland]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1124</link>
		<description><![CDATA[A second night of sleeping on the floor did not make the experience any less unsavory.  The power was still out this morning and news on the radio stated 97% of Baton Rouge was also without power.  Apparently, hurricane Gustav has arguably inflicted the worst damage on the city as any storm in Baton Rouge history.This afternoon, Aunt Lauren searched around and found a hotel room for us in Ridgeland, Mississippi, just north of Jackson.  Dad wanted to leave a car and a bunch of our stuff at Jeff’s apartment so we only took the Taurus.  It took us about four hours to make it to the hotel, traffic in Baton Rouge was heavy and slow moving.  As we drove out of the city we got to see some of the damage, mostly downed trees.  In itself that’s not a big deal but quite a few of them fell on roads.  On one road there was a nearly continuous line of chopped up trees that clearly indicated a substantial effort to clear the road.  I also saw a good number of trees that fell on houses and automobiles.We arrived at the hotel, a Comfort Suites, shortly after eight this evening.  After getting settled in, Dad went out to pick up something for dinner.  I didn’t have much luck getting the internet to work in the room.  I watched some of the Republican convention on CNN and saw Fred Thompson, President Bush and Joe Lieberman speak.  Later on I went down to the lobby, where the Internet worked, and talked to Krystle on the phone for a while before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:43:24 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1124-1220381004</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[In the Dark]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1123</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The news this morning was looking decidedly optimistic as most hurricane force winds missed New Orleans.  We had the news and such on until one o’clock this afternoon when the power went out and stayed out.  Over the course of the day, the weather remained rough with intermittent rain and high winds.  Many tree branches fell from trees but that was largely the extent of damage near us.  We never even attempted to go to the hotel this afternoon.  It was somewhat fortunate that the air was cool, if wet and there was a pretty stiff breeze coming through the windows.  ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:39:55 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1123-1220243995</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Evacuation]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1122</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After a bit more packing and preparation this morning, Mom, Dad and I left New Orleans shortly after 7:30 this morning.  The night before we intended to be on the road a couple hours earlier but that turned out not to be necessary for us.  We took the I-10 to the contraflow lanes headed for Baton Rouge.  The normal westbound lanes were directed to Hammond where traffic was very congested and at a standstill in places.  I felt pretty fortunate being able to zoom past those poor people, but Dad was planning on riding out the storm in Baton Rouge which all forecasts say is a bad place to be.It was about 9:30 this morning when we arrived at Jeff’s ‘new’ apartment in Baton Rouge.  Jeff, Andrew, Jeff’s roommate and her parents were already here.  His apartment lacks furniture so most of the day was spend sitting on the floor watching TV and browsing the Internet.  I also watched the movie Rope.   Jeff and his roommate left with a friend to spend the night elsewhere.Over the course of the evening, the news looked less grim for New Orleans with the storm track trending westward a bit.  In addition to the increased chance of returning to an intact house, staying here in Baton Rouge should be a bit safer.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:36:39 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1122-1220157399</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA["Waiting on Gustav"]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1121</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Unlike just about every other Saturday ever, I woke up at about 8 this morning... just because I was awake.  Mom had me to mow the back lawn this morning, which seemed like rearranging the deck chair on the Titanic.  I spend the rest of the morning and afternoon packing clothes and some other belongings and watching TV.  I also helped get certain things off the ground which may or may not save some things depending on the possibility of mold intrusion.At one point this afternoon I went with Dad to a U-Haul storage facility to move some belongings out of the house.  Dad’s space is on the third floor of what looks like a pretty sturdy building so the stuff kept there should be safer than what’s left at home.This evening we packed both cars almost completely so we will have only a minimum of work to do before we evacuate early tomorrow morning.  I’m taking a lot of my portable electronics, some hard drives, five days of clothing, photographs, my scrapbook and a painting.  I own very few things that are irreplaceable so packing things has not been any ordeal for me.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:04:11 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1121-1220141051</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Start Packing]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1120</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I went to the office this morning but we had no doctor as we usually do on Friday’s due to the impending hurricane.  I didn’t have much work to get done and we closed the office early at 2 PM.  After getting home this afternoon I divided my time between gathering the material things that will be leaving the house and watching the news on TV.  Aside from electronic things I’m taking with me, I have one box of stuff set to go to a "secure" third floor storage space and one box to go with us.  Since we were a bit busy this afternoon we just ordered pizza for dinner.  Jeff came to town today for no apparent reason and left with Andrew when he went back to Baton Rouge late this evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:28:27 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1120-1220030907</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Online Journalism]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1119</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Before heading to work this afternoon I got a haircut.  Work was no terribly eventful but I did get some reports out.  This evening’s class was Online Journalism with Paul Greenberg.  There was no lecture this evening as attendance was less than stellar.  From what I did gather, I think I’m going to like this class as the professor is obviously intelligent and engaging.After class I went to the LBC for a short while and ran into an old co worker in the food court.  Later this evening I watched the democrat convention in Denver and Obama’s big speech.  My attention was also turned to tropical storm Gustav which in threatening to make landfall on the gulf coast early next week.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:42:12 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1119-1219948932</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Introduction to Finance]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1118</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I got to work before 11 this morning.  There was not a great deal going on at the office today, at least not as long as I was there.  I left at 4:30 to catch a shuttle to Tulane this afternoon for my first class of the fall 2008 semester.  This evening’s class was Introduction to Finance with Ronald Dyer.  There were about 20 other students present in the Boggs building classroom.  This evening, the professor went over the syllabus in painful detail and also talked about a running project students will complete over the course of the semester which involves tracking three stocks.Mr. Dyer also held the first regular lecture, more or less, covering the first chapter which covered several topics related to the history of finance.  Overall I get the feeling this class will be tolerable, but not particularly interesting.  The material does interest me however, so I am hoping for improvement.Class was dismissed at 7:30 and I waited a half hour in the LBC for Dad to pick me up.  He was working late at the office.Later this evening, I watched an episode of Architecture School with Mom.  The show features students from Tulane University here in New Orleans.  Later watched some of the democrat convention.  I caught most of Joe Biden’s speech but I had a headache and ended up going to sleep early.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:52:28 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1118-1219877548</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[The End of Summer (Vacation)]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1117</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Things have been reasonably quiet as summer vacation draws to a close.  Work has been quite uneventful for my duties but we are still seeing plenty of patients.  Although I "completed" my website last week, I have continued to work on it.  Only this past weekend did I finally come up with a satisfactory color scheme.My brother Jeff was in town this weekend.  He flew in from Chicago where he spent the summer as an intern with a construction firm.  For reasons I cannot fathom, he is transferring from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to LSU.  He was here to pack and move to an apartment he'll be living at in Baton Rouge.  Mom and Dad went up there with him on Sunday so the house was rather quiet.On Monday, I was at home answering the work phone rather than at the office.  Dad bought Jeff a vehicle today and had to go get it taken care of.  He bought Jeff a '97 Mitsubishi Montero.  He got a great deal on it and the SUV runs well.  The main drawback is that it’s one owner, a relative, is a smoker and the car smells and has stains all over the place.I did go to the office on Tuesday.  On the way to work Dad and I stopped at Office Depot to pick up a financial calculator, an HP 12c Platinum, which I will likely make good use of in an upcoming introductory finance course I'm taking in the fall semester.  I spent some time at work today learning about how it works as I've never used such a calculator before.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:53:32 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1117-1219787612</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[V8]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1116</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Another ten days gone by since the last entry.  I've spent enough time in front of the computer but most of it was devoted to creating my next website.  I've already commented on it in the site news.  The gist of my remarks was that the new website is more practical and simple as far as the code goes, but the appearance still leaves a lot of be desired.  As the site Is simpler in structure, it was not especially difficult to make or to make the gallery template.Other than the website, not a great deal has been going on lately.  This past weekend, my parents took a weekend vacation in Florida so I had the house to myself.  That Sunday evening, Patrick and David came by the house to watch some movies on the plasma TV.I haven't had a great deal to do at work lately, although I did meet the doctor Dad hired recently.  Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be working out so well.  One day this week, Tuesday I think, Dad and I stopped at the AT&amp;T store and Best Buy on the way home from work.  Dad had to replace his phone that took water damage during his vacation.  He replaced the RAZR with a BlackBerry Pearl 8120.  Earlier that day, I tried his SIM card in my phone that somehow prevented it from booting again.  The warrantee expired on my phone two weeks ago but luckily, I was able to reflash my phone and get it working again.  Best Buy had a Sony TZ series subnotebook for sale which he bought.  I believe it was my first time seeing one of these in person, it’s a beautiful machine.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:21:32 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1116-1219004492</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[A Week or Two]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1115</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Although I've been neglecting the log for the last two weeks, my website has been very much on the brain of late.  Last week I completed another significant update to the VAIO wallpaper page.  Over the past five days, I've been working on the next version of Mr. B's Domain.  It will be the first redesign of my personal website in five years.  I didn't do it sooner in large part because I didn't have any better ideas.  Although the new site probably won't be visually superior, there are some other goals I have in mind.  It will be bigger to accommodate larger monitors and I'll be moving from XHTML 1.0 Transitional to Strict.   I will also be removing some old stuff and making some small additions.Work over the last few weeks has not been exciting, with a new water cooler at the mid city office being one of the highlights.  Dad did hire an additional doctor this week but I haven't met him yet.  Last week, I think, I went out with Andrey, Patrick and David.  We went to the Hookah Cafe for a while and later walked to the Blue Nile nearby to hear Vivaz!, a local Latin band that I've spoken highly of in this log before.  After leaving there to make the Rally's run, we got pulled over after some right-of-way confusion but nothing came of it.  I got a cab home that night from Andrey's house.Other than that, there just hasn't been much of circumstance going on.  Things are especially quiet at home as my brother Andrew is out of town visiting relatives in Atlanta.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:49:04 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1115-1218084544</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Long Weekend]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1114</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took a short trip to Ruston for a long weekend over the past few days.  I left work early Thursday afternoon at about three.  Krystle and her mother picked me up from the office to head up to Ruston.  On Friday, Krystle and I had lunch with Khadijah at Applebee's and later saw the 9:45 showing The Dark Knight.On Saturday afternoon, I went with Krystle to meet some of her friends at a Mexican restaurant until Khadijah picked me up so we could go to dinner.  We went to a place called Cicero's that wasn't bad.  After dinner we went back to her house and talked for a while before I got back to Krystle's place at ten.  On Sunday, Krystle and didn't really do much or go anywhere, although a short trip to get butter for a dinner dish turned into an unnecessarily melodramatic mess of a fender bender.  Ultimately, dinner was pretty damn good.  Krystle cooked steak. Krystle and Drove back to New Orleans on Monday.  We left after one in the afternoon.  We stopped for lunch at the Olive Garden in Monroe.  We stopped again in Brookhaven, Mississippi to visit Bianca for a couple hours.  She cooked dinner for us and we talked until we left at about 7:30 to go the rest of the way home.  We got home at about 9:30.Before Krystle left to head home on Tuesday, we stopped for lunch at Liuzza's.  Dad asked us to stop for something at Rouses before I was dropped off at the office.  That evening after dinner, I went out with Andrey, Patrick and David to Nine Roses again.  I wasn't really hungry but I ordered some sweet and sour pork anyway.The rest of this week has been pretty uneventful.  I don't have much to do at work.  I've spent some free time with my VAIO Picturebook.  I finally got a CD drive for it so I was able to install Windows XP.  It runs well enough but a lot of the Sony-specific functions still don't work after considerable prodding so I'm going to try and get some recovery CDs.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:40:34 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1114-1217014834</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Louisiana Bistro]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1113</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Very little went on Monday and Tuesday so I can largely ignore it.  I did hear back from the guy I bought the external DVD drive from and it is going to be resent.  Next week I'll actually be able to play with my Picturebook.After work on Wednesday, I met Krystle and her mom for dinner at Louisiana Bistro on Dauphine in the Quarter.  The both arrived in New Orleans yesterday for a short visit.  It's a rather small place with no more than 12 tables, but the food is very good.  I had a grilled pork chop dish with crawfish etouffee.  Before that I had a bowl of their gumbo which was okay but it had too much file in it.After dinner we wandered around the Quarter for a while before they went back to the hotel.  I got a cab home before ten and spent the evening watching TV and packing for a trip tomorrow.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:45:03 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1113-1216237503</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[July So Far ]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1112</link>
		<description><![CDATA[With not much going on this week, or last week I guess, I wasn't included to post anything.  Aside from work I spent a lot of spare time in front of my computer.  Last week, I spent a good deal of time searching and subsequently made a major update to my VAIO wallpapers page.  I won an AR series Sony VAIO laptop on eBay this week that I intended to sell if I won it.  It looks like I may sell it to my little brother at cost rather than bother to list it on eBay to make some money.  It came in the mail this week and I spent some time fooling with it.  It's a huge machine with a 17 inch widescreen monitor.On Saturday, Mom, Dad and Andrew drove out to Baton Rouge to visit Jeff who is there for LSU orientation. That night, I went out to Frenchman Street.  The cabbie that picked me up was a familiar face that I've seen times before, Elliot Flood III, #146.  Unlike most United drivers, he works the west bank frequently.  I met Andrey, David and Patrick at the Hookah Cafe and were there for a couple hours.  We went to d.b.a. for a little while after that.  I think we left there at about one, at which time I was tired.  We stopped at Rally's and then Andrey's house for a short while.  I called a cab from there and arrived home some time before three.On Sunday, the auctions I listed last weekend ended so I spent some time getting those items ready to ship.  I spent most of the afternoon assembling a new computer from spare parts in my closet with the general intention of building a file server.  Unfortunately I don't have a spare PCI express video card and the power supply I have on hand doesn't have SATA power connectors so I'll have to spend a few bucks before I have another working computer.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:59:42 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1112-1215982782</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[St. Louis Slim and Pappy Van Winkle]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1111</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Nothing of circumstance happened this weekend so I'm skipping it.  Work was a bit of a downer today as it has been with increasing frequency of late.  When I got home I learned that the DVD drive I ordered for my new toy was shipped to the wrong address, an address which was listed on my ebay account and appeared as my Paypal confirmed address in the email receipt even though it certainly is not.  It sucks not only because I'll likely have to pay the inflated shipping charges twice but I'm still unable to play with my new gadget.After work while I was at the grocery store with Dad I got a call from Patrick who told me he and a couple people were going out to Frenchman sometime tonight.  Going out on Monday night is a bit odd but it's David's 21st birthday.  At ten I had to call him because I hadn't heard what, if anything was going on.  I got a cab downtown and arrived at d.b.a. at about 10:45.  Andrey, David and Patrick were already out and about and got there not long after I did.  Some local act I'd never heard of called St. Louis Slim was playing.  I didn't recognize the band leader but there were a few familiar musicians in the band I've seen play with other acts.  I had my good camera with me by request this evening which became a primary source of amusement after we found a place to sit.After a few rounds and perhaps an hour and a half, designated driver Andrey drove us back to his place after stopping at Rally's for some much needed solid food.  While we were there, Andrey showed us his model car collection he was parting with through Craigslist.  I called at cab at about 2:15 and got home not long before three.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:40:56 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[June 16-26]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1110</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the past ten days there have been a couple occasions that just barely justified their own entries but I never got around to it... not enough time on my laptop I guess.  I finished MGS4 last week, an absolutely epic work.  I also completed a substantial update to the VAIO wallpapers page on my website with 21 "new" items.  Last Friday, I went out to dinner (after eating at home) with Andrey and Patrick at Nine Roses in Gretna.  We all had some kind of Vietnamese soup that was perfectly decent.This past weekend, Aunt Lauren and her daughter Arien came to New Orleans from Florida to visit for a few days. They've been staying with us since Sunday.  I have wanted to play with my new VAIO recently but I am still waiting on an external DVD drive so I can reinstall Windows on the new hard drive I bought for the notebook.  Yesterday, the replacement keyboard and extra RAM arrived.  The keyboard was somewhat dirty and used so I cleaned it up and swapped out some of the keys from the old one which were in better shape, a somewhat delicate operation.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:02:35 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1110-1214510555</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Week of June 9]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1109</link>
		<description><![CDATA[For the most part there were no major upheavals at work this week.  Dad did have me redesign the initial evaluation form but we have yet to implement it.  On Thursday after work I picked up my preordered copy of Metal Gear Solid 4.  Like everybody else, I am in awe of this masterpiece of a game.  Gameplay, story, graphics, sound... all remarkably polished.  A lot of the reviews already online say raises, if not obliterates the bar.When I wasn't playing MGS4, I was probably online reading about Sony's old VAIO Picturebook line.  I won a PCG-C1MVP on eBay this weekend and I'll be fooling with it in the coming weeks as a pet project.  I've also already bought a couple things I'll need to upgrade it.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:55:46 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1109-1213552546</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Weekend]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1108</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I spent a lot of time at home this weekend, mostly in front of the Playstation with Metal Gear Solid 2.  I preordered MGS4 at Gamestop on the way home from church Sunday.  On Saturday I went with Mom shopping for paint.  Sunday night, a botched boot time Diskeeper operation screwed the boot sector of the OS drive on my desktop.  After some simple remedies failed I opted to just format the drive and reinstall Windows rather than continue to fight with it.  I am diligent about backing things up but I did lose seven months worth of Trillian chat logs.  By the time I went to bed that night I had the computer largely restored, but I'll be reinstalling programs periodically for a couple weeks.  This incident got me thinking about doing weekly backups of my OS drive in addition to all my media which is multiply mirrored.  That way I could bounce back from a goof like this with only minimal hassle.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:07:45 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1108-1212955665</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Week of June 2]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1107</link>
		<description><![CDATA[There hasn't been a great deal going on this week.  There's been nothing especially unusual about work.  I've spent some of my spare time playing Metal Gear Solid 2 in anticipation of the upcoming MGS4 release.  I've never played any of the games before but I did spend a good deal of time watching Jeff play them.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:28:07 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1107-1212809287</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[The Courtyard Kings]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1106</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I got up a little too late to go to church this morning.  I spent a good portion of the afternoon playing both Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2.  I plan on buying the new game when it comes out and wanted to familiarize myself with past iterations first.Later this evening I went to the Hookah Cafe with Andrey, Patrick and David.  We were to meet at nine but I didn't get there until almost 9:30. A live band was there this evening, The Courtyard Kings.  The acoustic music was good but didn't exactly fit the style of the place.  I saw Patrick was drinking a cerveza Pacifico Clara and decided to try that, which was quite good.  A good portion of the conversation this evening actually related to video games.We called it a night around 12 because Patrick had to be home by 12:30.  I had no trouble getting a cab home.  Before bed this evening I got this entry typed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:44:31 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1106-1212299071</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Week of May 26]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1105</link>
		<description><![CDATA[With my little vacation over it was back to work.  While I was gone Dad hired a new doctor as Dr. Stephenson is ill and won't be back any time soon.  Unfortunately the new one doesn't seem to be working out too well.  As this entry is over a week late I don't really remember much from this week.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2008 01:20:12 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Western Omelette]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1104</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Before Krystle left to go home today I wanted to go out to lunch at Camellia Grill.  On the way there we stopped at an O'Reilly auto parts store to buy her some new windshield wipers.  She was in dire need of new ones as demonstrated by our previous trips to and from New Orleans.  With that out of the way, we went on to lunch.There was a short line outside of Camellia Grill and we waited about 20 minutes for seats.  Having looked at the menu during the wait, I knew I was getting the western omelette with ham, cheese, onions and bell peppers.  Krystle had a cheeseburger.  The food was excellent of course and the service was fun as always.After we got home from lunch we cleaned her car a bit, topped off the pressure in her tires before she left to go home.  Later in the day, I got my car started and Dad and I took it to a nearby repair shop to be repaired on Monday.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 26 May 2008 01:19:12 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Indy, Lasagna, Ice Cream]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1103</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I was at home for the better part of the afternoon.  I wanted to watch the Indianapolis 500 and Krystle didn't seem to mind too much.  I was interested in seeing Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick do well but neither of them finished.  This evening, Krystle and I went out to dinner at Venezia.  I had the lasagna and she had the stuffed shells.  Afterward we went to Angela Brocato for ice cream before heading home.  Later on we watched a couple movies if I remember right.  The second one was Ikiru.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 25 May 2008 01:17:51 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1103-1211692671</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Vizard's, Otra, Sake]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1102</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I don't remember doing much with my afternoon outside of chores around the house.  I cleaned some of the vents in the living area and a ceiling fan.Later this evening, Krystle and I went out to dinner at Vizard's on Magazine Street, the place owned by Patrick's dad.  We arrived at 7:15.  Having not made reservations, we were unable to get a table in the cramped restaurant so we sat at the bar.  The sparse menu has about six choices for two courses.  We both started with the andouille gumbo, which was quite good.  It had an unusual sweet taste.  Later, I had fish, the name of the entree escapes me.  Krystle had the lamb chops, which were also excellent.  We were to meet some friends of mine this evening but we still had time to kill so I suggested we go somewhere on Frenchman.  We couldn't get any attention at the Marigny Brasserie so we went to the Praline Connection for some dessert.  I had the bread pudding and Krystle had the praline cheesecake.After dessert we eventually made our way to the Blue Nile.  Otra was playing there this evening.  The music didn't start until 10:30 but we were able to carry on conversation before then.  Andrey and Patrick joined us sometime after ten.  We remained there for a while to hear Otra and later wandered around a bit to a couple other places over the course of the evening.  We stopped at a reasonably new sake bar called Yuki.  I had not had sake before and I was impressed.  Unfortunately the place had no air conditioning so we did not stay long.  We later met up with a familiar face from high school, Darryl Cook who tagged along with us for a while.  One of our last stops was another establishment with pizza and lacking air conditioning.I think we called it a night sometime after one.  I don't remember doing anything before bed.  I would have been pretty tired.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 May 2008 00:26:57 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1102-1211516817</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Brookhaven and Home]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1101</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Today was the day to go home.  Yesterday or the day before that we arranged to drive down with Bianca, who is moving to Brookhaven, Mississippi.  The town near where she will be employed is on the way to New Orleans so it was no trouble.  Krystle and I arrived at Bianca's place sometime around noon if I recall correctly.  She had most of the packing done but there were a couple things she still needed to load like her dog.  I volunteered Krystle to take a couple of Bianca's pieces of luggage.We didn't make the time for lunch so we just stopped at McDonalds on the way out of town.  Bianca just started driving not long ago and wanted some company for the drive so I rode with her in her new Honda.  Krystle led the way in front of us.  The ride was uneventful for the first hour or so and then we ran into some heavy rain which made for rather unpleasant driving.  The rain continued on and off for the rest of the ride to Brookhaven.  Krystle got pretty far ahead of us after we both stopped in separate placed outside of Jackson.  We caught up with her in a funeral home parking lot and went the rest of the way to Bianca's place.  She's rented a nice little duplex off a small road.  When we arrived, there was no electricity.  Apparently there was an issue with the previous tenant.  Luckily there was still daylight so we were able to unpack her car without any trouble.  She managed to pack an impressive amount of stuff in her small car.After we finished unpacking we all went to the local Wal-Mart to get some things for her house like detergent and other cleaning supplies.  With the shopping done, we drove around a bit to find a place to eat dinner.  We eventually decided on a place called Mitchell's Steak & Seafood.  I can't quite remember what I had but it was decent.After dinner we drove back to Bianca's place.  It was still without power but her landlord arranged for her to stay at a hotel for the night.  Krystle and I said our goodbyes and drove the rest of the way to New Orleans.  There was more rain and more stressful driving the rest of the way down.  We got home safe around 11.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 May 2008 01:35:51 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Wednesday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1100</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I met Khadijah for lunch at Monjunis this afternoon.  Krystle was with me and Gerard accompanied Kali.  I showed up at noon and Khadijah arrived at 12:30.  There was some food to much on while we waited.  I last saw Khadijah during my previous visit to Ruston last March.  A lot of the conversation over lunch was about what we've both been up to lately.   I had the lasagna and a piece of milky way cake for dessert.A little later in the afternoon, Khadijah and Gerard came over to Krystle's apartment for a while.  Krystle had Guitar Hero and DDR to amuse ourselves.  They visited for a couple hours before Khadijah had to leave because she was working this evening.Later tonight Krystle and I watched a couple episodes of House that she wanted to show me.  We drove to Hong Kong Buffet to get some carry-out for dinner.  I tried my hand at painting toenails(not mine).  I think we watched a movie later on too but I don't remember which one.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 May 2008 00:05:56 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1100-1211342756</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Iron Man]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1099</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I spend the better part of the afternoon doing just about nothing.  I was expecting to have dinner with Khadijah this evening but I couldn't get in touch with her until she finally called me back around 6:30.  By then, Krystle and I were on our way to Monroe for dinner and a movie.  We had dinner at Copeland's.  I ordered stuffed shrimp which was butterfly shrimp stuffed with crabmeat dressing, then battered and fried.After dinner we went to a movie theater in West Monroe and saw an 8:15 showing of Iron Man.  I wasn't expecting much in spite of the good reviews but it was actually pretty decent and the suit was pretty cool.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 May 2008 02:12:20 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Monroe]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1098</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Krystle and I had lunch at the Dawg House this afternoon.  When I was staying here after Katrina I went there a few times.  The bar was moved since the last time I was there.  Yesyerday, Krystle's mom recommended the steak here so I decided to give it a try, having already had more than a couple burgers here.  I wouldn't have guessed it but the steak was actually quite good.  I was a bit careless in cutting it and got some steak sauce on Krystle's shirt.Krystle had a three o'clock meeting with the dean of liberal arts at tech today so the better part of the morning was related to that.  We had to stop in a computer lab in Wyly tower and then the elementary school her mom works at.  Apparently the meeting went pretty well but she didn't get the final result she wanted.After a stop back home, we drove out to Monroe to go to the mall there and dinner.  We browsed the mall for a couple hours.  I bought a couple shirts and a game for my Nintendo DS.  After shopping we went to dinner and Olive Garden.  We both had a dish with shrimp and ravioli, which was quite decent.We stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home because Krystle needed laundry and dishwasher detergent.  Later that evening we watched game seven of the Hornets/Spurs series.  Unfortunately the Hornets didn't have it tonight.  Later on we watched Fargo.  Krystle was too annoyed by the funny accents to enjoy the movie.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 May 2008 17:12:37 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1098-1211231557</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[24]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1097</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Today was my 24th birthday.  They are sucking less these days.  Krystle and I had lunch at a restaurant called Old Mexico.  After lunch we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some cake mix.  Krystle called her mom while we were there who told her that a cake was already in the oven.  I got a call from Bianca.  Her mom wanted me to buy an SD card to and put all the pictures I took of her on it.  I also decided to pick up a multi-card reader so I'll be able to read compactflash cards on the road in the future.  Getting the pictures directly off my camera yesterday was torturously slow.Afterward, we went to Krystle's parent's house for dinner.  We were there visiting for a few hours.  Her little brother Jacob was there, who I hadn't met yesterday.   While we were there we took Jacob for a ride to his aunt Dorothy's house, whom I also had not met yesterday.  Krystle's mom, Shalaine, grilled some things for dinner, all of which were pretty good.After eight, we drove over to Bianca's house at her invitation, mostly to hang out for a while.  Her boyfriend, Roy, was there as well.  We've spoken briefly on the phone a couple times but this was my first time meeting him.  We talked for a while about a number of things. They bought me a birthday cake with magic relight candles and we watched a movie, Untracable.  Later on we went for a whort walk with their dogs, Kyle and Kozuma.  We went home not long after one.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 May 2008 16:02:26 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Louisiana Tech Commencement - 2008]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1096</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Shortly after one this afternoon, Krystle and I went over to the Thomas Assembly Center where Louisiana Tech's graduation ceremony was to take place at two.  I wasn't sure when the doors were to open but it clearly wasn't one o'clock as most of the good seats were occupied when we arrived.  We eventually got pretty lucky and found some seats with a good view, but as the venue is a basketball stadium, we were pretty far back, which did not bode well for my photo aspirations.The ceremony itself wasn't too bad considering the large number of students receiving degrees.  There was a comparable minimum of crap prior to the presentation of the degrees.  There were a couple award presentations for people other than students and a speech by local congressman Rodney Alexander.  I remember him talking about politics but not much else.  The presentation of degrees went smoothly and looked like just about any other graduation.  There were about 500 graduates though so it did take a while.  In addition to Bianca, I recognized a couple other graduates like Sara Shafer and Joy from high school.  I tried to take pictures of them, a couple of Krystle's friends as well as the daughter of a gentleman I was sitting next to that caught sight of my big camera.After the ceremony I met with Bianca and her family.  About a dozen relatives made the trip to Ruston for her graduation.  At about the same time Krystle met up with her friend Kristin, who I first met yesterday.  Her family posed for several pictures.I didn't want to impose on her family this evening so Krystle and I went out to dinner this evening.  We went to a place down town called Ponchatoula�s.  It's an interesting little college hangout, especially if sorority waitresses are your thing.  The food had potential but the stuff I ordered was a bit flawed.  While they got the fried food right, the etoufee was too thick and the file gumbo was far too salty.After dinner we drove out to Krystle's parent's house to visit for a little while.  I had not met them before.  Long story short, she has a very colorful family.  Later that evening we continued watching Citizen Kane.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 17 May 2008 02:00:47 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[To Ruston]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1095</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Krystle and I left the house to leave for Ruston shortly after 11 this morning, later than I would have liked.  We stopped for "breakfast" at IHOP at the end of DeGaulle.  I had the banana caramel stuffed French toast and Krystle had something similar with strawberries.  After eating, we made our way Ruston. We stopped once for gas and beef jerky just after Jackson, Mississippi.We finally arrived in Ruston at about six.  Krystle arranged to meet some friends earlier in the day and since we were arriving late we didn't waste much time going out for dinner.  We met up with three of her friends, Kristin, Aaron and Jessica at one of their houses and eventually decided to go to Applebee's for dinner.  Apparently their menu has changed much since I was there last, quite some time ago, and I had trouble finding something I thought I'd like.  I ended up with just a hamburger.After dinner we went to the movies and saw Made of Honor, mostly because guys were outnumbered 3-2.  Suffice it to say, it was not one of the better movies I've seen.Krystle and I went back to her place afterward and watched the better part of Citizen Kane.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 May 2008 12:55:44 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1095-1210956944</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Arrival]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1094</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took the day off of work today to clean up around the house and get some things done this afternoon before Krystle showed up at the house this evening.  She drove down to New Orleans today to take me back up to Ruston for Bianca's graduation at Louisiana Tech on Saturday.She arrived at my house at about 5:30 this afternoon.  We originally planned on going to the Tulane/Rice baseball game but it started earlier than I thought.  She was tired from the long drive anyway so we didn't bother going anywhere far.  We did go out to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant on the west bank that my mom recommended called Hoa Hong 9 Roses.  I don't think I've seen a bigger menu in my life, they have an overwhelming selection of Vietnamese and Chinese food.  I couldn't begin to choose so Krystle and I both had recommendations from the waitress.After dinner we stopped at Oakwood mall for a little bit.  I had not been there since their post-Katrina reopening a few months ago and I wanted to have a look.  We looked through a good handful of stores but didn't buy anything.  The mall looks pretty good, a lot brighter than I remember.  The light fixtures are a bit childish through. Later tha evening after we got home we watched some TV and Casablanca.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 12:54:17 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1094-1210870457</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Catch Up]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1093</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Although I haven't been particularly busy since school ended on Sunday after my weather and climate exam, I've been neglecting the log.  Not a great deal has been going on.  I've been working in the day and had my evenings free.  I've been blowing the extra time in front of my computer and getting things cleaned up around the house. Last Thursday night I went to Andrey's house for a small party before all his friends left town for the summer.  There were several familiar faces there, Andrey cooked hamburgers.    This week I also spend some time preparing for an upcoming trip.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 22:49:06 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1093-1210819746</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Pirates Exam]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1092</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad left the house early this morning to work at the west bank this morning leaving me at the house for a while.  I probably should have spent the free time studying but I read that there was a Zune software update so I fooled with that for a while.  There was no large noticeable change for me as I don't use the marketplace.  Both the firmware and software seem a bit more polished, however.Dad swung by around noon to pick me up and take me to the mid city office.  I spent most of the workday studying for tonight's exam.  I did stop at about 1:30 to get lunch at Subway.  At 4 I left for the day to take the streetcar downtown so I could catch the shuttle to campus.This evening, I took the final exam for pirate societies class.  It was another written exam with 10 short answer identifications and three essays.  Thanks to my studying I think I did well on the IDs.  I did well enough on two of the essay questions but I didn't know enough about buccaneers to flesh out the third essay.Dad picked me up after class.  Later this evening I watched the Indiana primary coverage, which dragged on after midnight, with Hillary Clinton winning just barely.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 May 2008 01:27:35 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1092-1210051655</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[History Exam]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1091</link>
		<description><![CDATA[There was no hurry to get to the office this morning.   I had time to get lunch before we left today.  I only worked on a couple reports today before I left for the day at three.  Dad dropped me downtown for the 3:10 shuttle.I went to the LBC after getting to campus.  I stopped in the bookstore for some bluebooks and ran into Larry, my old boss who I saw play with New Leviathan this past weekend at Jazz Fest.  We spoke for a little while, mostly about the fest and other gigs the orchestra has played.  Before my final exam this evening I did a little studying before heading to Hebert.This evening was the history in everyday life exam, which consisted of several short answer questions and four essays.  I think I did reasonably well but the professor may not like the short length of my essays.  Dad was waiting for me out front when I finished, about an hour after the exam started.I didn't do much later this evening outside of watching the final quarter of the Hornets game.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 May 2008 01:55:07 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1091-1209966907</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Jazz Fest 2008 Comes to a Close]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1090</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad gave me a ride to the fairgrounds before he went to church this morning.  This was the last day of the festival and I spent most of it wandering around as there were no acts I was especially interested in seeing.  I arrived early and got a daiquiri at Liuzza's to nurse for a while before heading inside.  I spoke with a fellow New Orleanian, Claire, for a little while, mostly about the festival and our affection for the city.I got through the gate shortly before 11.  I went to the nearby gospel tent to see the some of the first act of the day there, the New Orleans Spiritualettes.  After the first two numbers there I walked the short distance to the jazz & heritage stage to see the Loyola University Jazz Ensemble.  They were pretty good.  I spoke briefly with a gentleman who was related to one of the students playing, Andrew Wright on guitar.  He asked if I would take some pictures of his nephew, which I did.After I left there I went to get lunch.  I picked the crawfish strudel and white chocolate bread pudding.  I took it to a tree at the folk village so I could eat in the shade and be nearby for the Native American pow-wow at 12:30.  I wanted to see this because I got some interesting pictures of it last year.  There was a different group doing it in 2008, however, and the participants were in traditional dress rather than elaborate costumes.  The pictures I shot didn't come close to what I managed last year though.After leaving the folk village I wandered around and wound up at the jazz tent where Jonathan Batiste.  I stayed for a couple numbers and attempted to shoot a handful of pictures.  I then wandered back to the grandstands and sat in on a food demo at the "Zatarain's Cajun Cabin" outside which had just started at 1:45.  Mike Gowland of NOFD and Fireman Mike's Kitchen was making what he called "Shrimp Caila," which I can best describe as a creamy barbeque shrimp.  While he was cooking and not talking about the food he spoke about the New Orleans Fire Department including goings-on related to Katrina and daily life for firemen, which was pretty entertaining.  A good crowd had gathered including several fellow firemen by the time he finished cooking.  Everybody got a sample of what he cooked, which was quite good.  The only trouble is you had to peel the shrimp yourself which is a bit messy.I heard from Patrick during the demo and he told me he'd be at the fairgrounds for Galactic so I went by the Gentilly stage to meet him but I guess he was having trouble getting to the fairgrounds, perhaps just because he parked far away.Shortly after three I left there to do to the Acura stage for Santana.  He had already started when I approached the stage.  I got a spot between the medical stent and the stage dead center, not close enough to get any decent pictures though.  I stayed there for about a half hour before I decided I'd had enough of the crowd.  I wandered around a while and saw some of Abagail Washburn before deciding I was hungry.  I wanted to try the fried chicken and jambalaya but the lines were too long.  I got a muffuletta instead and took it the WWOZ hospitality tent to eat in peace.After I finished I walked over to the jazz tent to hear some of Dianne Reeves.  I didn't stay long because she was nearly finished and the tent was packed.  I couldn't reach Patrick on the phone so I decided to see if I could find him by the Acura stage.  I was finally able to raise him on the phone and we agreed to meet by the blues tent.  It took him a good while to make it there, it was exceptionally crowded so it was hard to get around.  He eventually showed up with some friends, Chelsi and Valerie.  The Derek Trucks band was playing inside the blues tent but it was jam packed inside and there was a significant crowd outside.  We remained outside the tent, mostly talking for a good while until near the end of the show when we were able to creep into the tent for the end of the sho, extremely enthusiastic and continuing applause, and subsequent encore.A short while after the show Chelsi and Valerie departed and Jenna and Danielle, both of whom I first met last week, joined us.  Patrick agreed to give me a ride to the riverfront so I could get home easier than waiting at the cab stand.  The walk to his car, which was backed at the art museum, was a show in itself, suffice it to say.  I ended up catching a cab home from Tulane.  That evening I finished sorting yesterday's pictures as well as today's pictures.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 May 2008 01:52:13 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Great Day at Economy Hall]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1089</link>
		<description><![CDATA[New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra... Treme Brass Band... Cuban sandwich... New Orleans Jazz Hounds of Tokyo... Aroon Neville's Gospel Soul... John Mooney & Bluesiana... Dr. Michael White... Jimmy Buffet & the Coral Reefer Band... update to comeAs I'm writing this entry four days after the fact, I'm not entirely sure how I got out to the fairgrounds this afternoon.  This may have been the day I took a cab and a familiar driver, Elliot, picked me up.  He's driven out to the west bank to pick me up on a handful of occasions in the recent past.I got to the fairgrounds before the first act of the day.  Unlike some days of wandering, I had the day largely planned out.  I knew I'd be spending a good portion of the day in economy hall and seeing Jimmy Buffet in the evening.The first act of the day was the The New Leviathan Oriental Fox-Trot Orchestra.  They're a revival orchestra I've spoken of at length in previous Jazz Fest log entries.  Suffice it to say, they're very entertaining and a highlight of Jazz Fest for me.  They are hard to photograph being such a big group with lots of people, music stands and microphones on stage.After New Leviathan, I kept my seat for the next act, the Treme Brass Band.  I spoke with a gentleman sitting behind me with a laptop during the break.  It was Doug MacCash, an art critic for the Times-Picayune.  He was writing a blog entry about the orchestra as we spoke.Treme Brass band is another must-see act at Jazz Fest in my opinion.  They're one of the best brass bands around.  I shot some great pictures from their show last year and I wanted another crack at it.  They put on a very lively show with loud music and second-lining in the aisles through most of the performance.  They played the lazy song walking through the aisles themselves with the second line trailing them.  It's really something you have to see, or at least read about it from somebody considerably more eloquent than myself.  I shot some okay pictures but I didn't get one great shot like I got last year.After the show I went to find something to eat and deiced on the Cuban sandwich, which was pretty good.  I took it back to economy hall for the next performance there of the day, the New Orleans Jazz Hounds of Tokyo, Japan.  They were a very impressive group with a very talented banjo player.  You'd have trouble telling their sound apart from any of the great local jazz bands until they start to sing, when their land of origin becomes pretty obvious.After the Jazz Hounds, I went to the WWOZ tent for a little while to relax and look at my pictures and then walked to the gospel tent for Aaron Neville's Gospel Soul.  Unfortunately for me, it was so crowded you could barely get near the tent so I didn't stay.  I walked over to the somewhat less crowded blues tent where John Mooney and Bluesiana were playing.  They sounded pretty good and I stayed for the first half of their show before I left to take the scenic route to the Acura stage.On the way there I remember stopping by economy hall and seeing a couple minutes of Dr. Michael White and the Original Liberty Jazz Band.I took a spot at the barricade just to the right of the stage.  I managed to get a good spot as I arrived well before Jimmy Buffet started this evening.  The crowd of well over 100,000 got an interesting treat at around five o'clock.  We got to see "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports," the Kentucky Derby on the big screens adjacent to the stage.  Quint Davis introduced the derby my mentioning that one of the horses in the race, Recapturetheglory is locally owned.  He led briefly during the race but ultimately placed fifth.  Big Brown was the winner.Jimmy Buffet started nearly on time this evening.  I saw home at Jazz Fest a couple years ago and he put on a great show tonight just like last time.  HE can't sing worth a damn, but he is a fine entertainer and the Coral Reefer Band backs him up well.  Seeing him "up close" was a much different experience than in 2005 when I was back by the track.  It was a lot of fun with one exception.  The beach balls that bounce around the audience, which normally don't bother me, were frequently laced with mud from the wet ground, which was very annoying and several people around me got pretty dirty and I didn't escape unscathed myself.  The folks immediately behind me eventually got fed up with it and we eventually started pulling them to the ground when they came by and someone stabbed them with a large umbrella, much to the rejoicing of the spectators.  We took out at least a dozen of them.Near the end of the show, Jimmy Buffet caught sight of someone in the audience with a shirt that read "Rebuilding New Orleans  One Margarita at a Time."  Jimmy offered the his flip flops for the shirt and they traded, which was pretty interesting.  Jimmy played a little past his scheduled block which ended at seven.  For the final song, Allen Toussaint came out to play piano while Jimmy sang  Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?, a true "jazz fest moment," as Quint Davis put it as he bid the crowd good night.I don't remember how I got home that evening, although I think Dad gave me a ride.  That evening I went through my pictures, of which there were plenty.  I maxed out all three of my memory cards today.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 May 2008 01:50:31 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Stevie Wonder]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1088</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad dropped me at the fairgrounds one his way to work again this morning.  I got there not long after 10 this morning.  After a drink at Liuzza's I headed in at about ten to 11.  I walked to the Gentilly stage where Tulane University Jazz Ensemble was scheduled to start at 11:35.  To be frank, they were the worst act I saw at Jazz Fest last year but I read a recommendation recently and they were moved to a bigger stage so I decided to satisfy my curiosity and try seeing them again.  They were significantly larger in number this year, although there were a couple familiar faces.  Most of the numbers I saw were original compositions that I had not heard before.  They did sound a hell of a lot better today, although groups like this are best heard without amplification.I left the Gentilly stage early to get at decent seat at Economy Hall to see the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble.  They play traditional jazz music from the early 20th century.  They go to a lot of trouble to make it sound the same as it did back in the twenties, including the use of period instruments.I left there a bit early to see the last few minutes of Lyle Henderson and Emmanuel at the gospel tent.  I saw him last year and it was a pretty decent, although he had a smaller group behind him this year if memory serves.After leaving there and wandering briefly I went to get something to eat.  I decided on the pheasant, quail &amp; andouille gumbo as well as the crawfish enchiladas.  I had the enchiladas last year but the gumbo was new to me.  Both were quite good and I was especially impressed with the gumbo.  I usually have low expectations for such things that are cooked in large quantities.  I took my food to the blues tent where Jumpin' Johnny Sansone's Harmonica Revue.  It was hot and crowded there so it wasn't the most pleasant place to eat, but the music was interesting.I left the blues tent as soon as I finished eating, much to the relief of my pores.  I made my way to Economy Hall to get a seat for the New Orleans Jazz Vipers with Miss Sophie Lee.  I've seen the Jazz Vipers play the Spotted Cat on Frenchman Street and they put on a great show in the cramped venue.  They handed the tent just fine too and gave a great show to a packed house.  The vocalist they had as a guest was pretty decent too.  Unlike the earlier stuff today I saw the duration of this show.After the Vipers finished I walked down toward the Acura stage to see Stevie Wonder this evening.  Art Neville was just finishing when I picked out a spot about 20 paces from the barricade.  As could be expected, it was quite crowded near the stage, and pretty far back from it too.  Stevie started just a couple minutes at about 5:20.  I didn't really recognize the first few songs he played, the familiar crowd pleasers came later.   It was cloudy all day but it finally started raining during the set.  It would pour for a minute or two and then subside.  This happened at least four times.  His performance was quite entertaining.  Another harmonica player whose name I didn't catch did a number with Stevie and Irma Thomas came out for a few songs too.  Overall it was a lot of fun, in spite of the rain.After Stevie Wonder finished at about seven I made my out of the fairgrounds.  I walked to the cab stand at Mystery Street but there looked to be an hour wait so I went to Luizza's for a drink.  While I was there I talked to a Theresa and Amy, mostly about our cameras.  On my way out I knocked over a lady's drink and graciously bought a replacement.  I finally got a cab home shortly before nine.  Later that evening I watched Battlestar Galactica and yesterday's O'Reily Factor which I worked on this entry before finally turning in for the night.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2008 00:38:29 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1088-1209703109</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[The Second Weekend Starts Thursday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1087</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The second weekend of Jazz Fest began on today, Thursday.  Dad dropped me by the fairgrounds on the way to work.  This weekend I rented the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens and carried along my 70-200mm f/4 L lens.  This being the "extra day," there weren't any big names in my opinion so I had no plans of being somewhere for any particular time.My first stop after getting through the gate today was Economy Hall, for no particular reason.  The first act of the day was Joseph Torregano.  He's a clarinet player and he had a nice little band behind him.  Later on I walked to the Fais Do-Do stage where the Lafayette Rhythm Devils were playing.  They're a Cajun band I first saw when two of their members were interviewed by a professor I had a class with last year.  They put on a good show and I remained there until it was about over when I walked to the jazz tent to catch some of John Ellis and Double-Wide.  When they were through I walked to Economy Hall to catch the last two numbers by the Dukes of Dixieland.After the Dukes finished I walked to the first food area to get something for lunch.  I picked out a combo with Creole Stuffed Crab, Catfish Almondine and Potato Salad.  I took it over to the grandstand to eat in the shade and relax for a bit.  Kerry Grombacher, a fold/western singer was playing.  It's not really my kind of music but the man plays it well.After lunch I took a walk.  I meant to get over to the blues tent to see a Revue but I ended up looking at the crafts section instead.  I saw a number of interesting things, some of which I photographed.  I also ended up around congo square for a while and saw the end of Freddy Omar Con su Banda.Eventually I wound up back at Economy Hall.  On the way there I got some banana bread pudding and some lemonade.  Hot Club of New Orleans.  By 4:30 I was feeling tired.  I eventually met Dad on his way home from work on Esplanade where he dropped me off.Later that evening I watched to make sure Dad didn't fall of the roof while working on it.  I ended up taking a longer than desired nap from about 7 to 10.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 03:07:35 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Stede Bonnet: Not Guilty]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1086</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This entry is quite late and I want to go to bed so I'll just briefly mention what went down during the Jazz Fest Intermission.  I don't recall much except for the trial in pirate societies class.  This final project involved me and a fellow group of students 'reenacting' the trial of Stede Bonnet, a pirate who was associated with Blackbeard.  Luckily we were only loose;ly confined by history and were largely able to simply make things up.  The classmates not playing parts in the trial served as the jury.  The classmate who played Bonnet was to have me play General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia.  A couple days before the trial he changed by character to former North Carolina governor Charles Eden, which screwed up my bibliography.  The trial itself went quite smoothly.  Matthew, who played Bonnet, gave an "epic" opening statement and we ultimately made the prosecution look pretty stupid and we won a unanimous not guilty verdict. ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:06:54 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Still Wet]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1085</link>
		<description><![CDATA[My family went to church today and I got a cab to the fairgrounds for Jazz Fest this afternoon.  The first act I saw today was Lionel Ferbos and the Palm Court Jazz Band.  Mr. Ferbos is 97 years old but he apparently has young lungs because his trumpet still sounds pretty damn good.  He and his band play traditional jazz that goes along well with second lines.After the first show I got something to eat and took it to the jazz tent.  Today I had the crawfish etouffee in bread bowl and Cajun crawfish rice.  The second act at the jazz tent this afternoon was Jeremy Davenport.  He's a fine entertainer with a good band that I've seen a few times at the Melange at the Ritz.  It was odd to see his act in such a different venue.  To be honest, it works a lot better in a more intimate setting.I kepy my front row seat after Davenport finished to watch Jesse McBride and The Next Generation.  McBride showcases new local talent at his performances.  I recognized a couple of the accompanying musicians from last year's show.  I left there early to check out a group from west Africa, Mamadou Diabate.  Suffice it to say, it was unusual performance but very entertaining.  Mamadou played a kora and his accompanying musicians played some equally interesting instruments.  During the performance it started pouring.  He tent got very popular and the aisle behind me started flooding with water.  I kept a close eye on the water line so I'd know if I had to pick my camera bag up off the ground.  Since it was pouring outside I kept my seat in the tent after Mamadou Diabate finished, as I didn't want to walk in the rain and my seat was now very valuable.  I saw the first half of the next act, Roy Young, an "explosive soul singer with a truly unique and memorable voice."I left the blues tent at about 4:15 to head to Economy Hall to see Pete Fountain.  Whatever needs to be said about Pete I probably covered a couple weeks ago in my French Quarter Fest entry.  Suffice it to say, it was a great show.  After Pete Fountain finished, I walked over to Congo Square where Al Green was closing out tonight.  He was 'fashionably late' so I saw the start of the set.  Having to contend with mud and overwhelming crowds, I didn't stay that long. BeauSoleil was playing about 100 paces away at the FAis-Do-Do stage and I saw them for a little while and shot some pictures of people dancing in the mud before I made my way out of the fairgrounds to a cab and home.  By six o'clock I was tired and didn't want to content with what would be long lines for cabs had I waited.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:06:04 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Rain Soaked Jazz]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1084</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad gave me a ride to the fairgrounds today amid some dreary weather.  I got there shortly after noon, in time for the start of The Original Last Straws in Economy Hall.  They were pretty decent but I left there after about 20 minutes to see Riccardo Crespo & Sol Brasil.  I watched him for a few minutes and eventually wandered over to the jazz tent to see Germaine Bazzle, seeing a glass blowing demonstration along the way.  It was crowded there in the jazz tend and I didn't stay that long.After that, I got something to eat at the food area by the crafts section.  I got the trout baquet and gumbo, which was pretty decent but not the easiest thing to eat.  After lunch I walked back to Economy Hall, seeing a bit of the Mahogany Brass Band along the way.  I went to Economy Hall to see Tricia Boutt and the Ytre Sulens Jass-ensemble.  I always like to see international acts when they play at Jazz Fest as they're usually very good and the there is seldom an opportunity to see them ever again.  This particular act was quite good.  The band was foreign but the vocalist is a local who has toured with the band from Norway.I left this show about halfway through to go see Astral Project, my favorite local band, at the jazz tent.  With the group today was James Singleton, their bassist who relocated to Los Angeles following Katrina.  Having not seen him in previous performances of late, it was a treat to see him with the band.  The rain came down hard during their performance.  I got to speak with a professional photographer I believe either before or after the show.  She said her name was Ellis, possibly Gloria Ellis, who was shooting with Canon film cameras, which is rather unique among the pros I see wandering at Jazz Fest.  I've seen her pop up several times over the past few years.  Frankly, she always looks a tired carrying all that gear around, but I was impressed with how pleasant she was.  We spoke for a few minutes about our camera before she had to leave for anther stage.I broke out my umbrella to walk to the blues tent as I had no desire to see Billy Joel in the rain.  The closing act in the blues tent was the Ponderosa Stomp Revue, which a fellow patron recommended to me.  With the rain as bad as it was, the tent was very popular and extremely crowded.  I stood at the barricade to the far left of the stage.  I never got near the middle to shoot any good pictures.  I eventually grey tired of the warmth of the close quarters so I retreated to the WWOZ hospitality tent and got a bit wet along the way, in spite of my umbrella.  I sat down to relax for a while and shot some pictures of the wet passerby's.  I talked to Dad who had to pick up Andrew but had trouble due to street flooding.  He was willing to pick me up but it could take a while.Eventually they started to seal up the tent and I left to go to the lagniappe stage in the grandstands.  Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road Show played for a little while with one microphone but eventually had to stop early because the stage was flooded and the rain was still pouring.  That didn't stop a good number of people from enjoying themselves though, dancing in the rain.  Eventually they started to shutter the grandstands for the night.  I was sitting when a police officer informed me they were closing and politely asked me to make my way to the exit.I left the fair grounds and headed to Liuzza's to continue to wait for Dad.  I got a drink and the barbeque shrimp po-boy.  It was a bit of a stretch to call it a sandwich but I've had worse.  I was there for a good while before Dad arrived.  When he did we rode out to Lakeview to get Andrew.  On the way home we picked up Popeye's for dinner although getting home was an ordeal with the street flooding as had to take a few detours around west bank streets.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:05:46 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[39th Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1083</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I had the day off of work today to attend the first day of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.  Dad dropped me off near the fairgrounds on his way to the office this morning.  I arrived there at about 10 so I had time to kill before getting in line.  I bought some lemonade and shot a few pictures by Liuzza's.  Speaking of which, I should mention the camera gear I had with me this weekend.  I rented the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS lens for the first weekend. A few weeks ago I bought a Lowepro Toploader 70 AW case, which really only accommodates just the zoom lens.  I did manage to stuff the kit lens in one of the pockets for wide shots though.   I don't really care for the case but it's all I have until another case I ordered arrives.My first stop after getting though the gate today was Economy Hall.  June Gardner & The Fellas was the opening act.  I can't remember why I highlighted them on my schedule.  It may have been because I remembered seeing him last year.  They put on a good show of reasonably traditional jazz music.  I left there early to catch a few minutes of Jonno Frishberg & Bayou Deville, who I saw at the French Quarter festival and enjoyed.After leaving the clubhouse I went to pick out something for lunch.  I got a Cajun duck po-boy and some crawfish bread.  I was quite dismayed when I went to get a drink.  Pepsi is the drink sponsor of Jazz Fest this year and there is no Coke to be found at the fairgrounds.  Frankly, I can't think of any other singular action that could fuck up Jazz Fest more than trading Pepsi for Coke.  Anyway, the po-boy was good but kind of messy to eat so I couldn't really recommend it.I took my lunch to congo square where Otra played 12:45.  I saw them at the French Quarter Festival a couple weeks ago.  Today they had their regular piano player with them and they put on a great show as always.  I did leave the set early to go to the gospel tent.  On the way here this morning Dad suggested I go see Rosalie "Lady Tambourine" Washington.  I had never heard of this lady although thinking back I've probably seen her before.  Her impromptu appearances with other bands are somewhat infamous in New Orleans.  She was backed by a gospel choir.  The performance started without her and when she came on I immediately understood what Dad mean when referring to her show-stealing.  It was really something to see, a very enjoyable performance.After Lady Tambourine I walked to the Jazz Tent to get a spot for Leah Chase, a local jazz voacalist.  I saw her at Jazz Fest last year where she put on a great show.  She's also an interesting photographic subject.  She out on a great show this year too and I stayed for the duration.When she was finished I walked to Economy Hall to see Kustbandet of Sweden.  When I can I try to see international acts at the Fest.  They were pretty decent but I didn't stay terribly long because I wanted to catch Ellis Marsalis, who was playing at the same time back at the jazz tent.Later in the afternoon after Ellis I eventually met up with Patrick and his friend Jenna after wandering around the Acura stage for a bit.  Sheryl Crow was playing, the last act of the evening there.  After a few minutes of conversation and Patrick getting a good look at my camera, we walked over to congo square where some of Jenna's friends were.  We hung around there until the last act of the day finished at 7.  We parted ways after we walked out the gate at the end of the evening. I walked to the cab stand at a nearby playground where it looked like some 500 people were waiting for a cab.  I walked to another cab stand near Mystery Street where there was a much shorter line.  It took be just under 20 minutes to get a cab.  I got in a cab by myself unlike how most people were doing it.  I don't think the cabbie was thrilled about going all the way to the west bank.Later that evening I went through all my pictures and got the best ones online.  This year I've resolved to get my pictures sorted the evening after the event rather than waiting months to get around to it.  This is also helped by the fact that I'm shooting RAW this year so necessity and an increased deliberate nature to my picture taking will the number of shots per day.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:03:49 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1083-1209107029</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[30 Minute Discussion]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1082</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I didn't go to work on time this morning to be home for a FedEx shipment today.  It showed up at about two and I got a cab to the office for three.  I was there until five when Dad took me to campus.There wasn't an actual class for small group communications.  Myself and a couple other students showed up to do our final projects, a 30 minute discussion.  I was having trouble getting a group together and some other students were having the same problem so we met tonight knock out a few discussions.  Laurie went first this evening.  Her topic was saving for retirement.  I went second with my discussion on improving spending habits and Steve went last with his talk on student loan payments.  I haven't listened to the recording yet but I think my discussion went smoothly.  One day this week I'll have to write a short paper discussing how the talk went.After we finished at about 7:40, I walked over to Dixon Hall where Tulane's concert band was playing.  The performance started at 7:30 so I was late.  They sounded pretty decent.  They finished at about 8:15 at which time there was an intermission.  The second half of the concert featured a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 by the Tulane Orchestra featuring Piano soloist Mayuri Kurihara.  There was another short intermission after that, long enough for the piano to be rolled out and a choir to walk in.  I'm not sure exactly what was played next but it sounded good.After the concert I wasn't quite ready to go home so I went to the Rat for a little while to get something to eat and continued work on my history paper, which I nearly finished.  I called a cab around ten although it didn't show up for almost a half hour.  I had a pleasant conversation with the driver, a fellow Limbaugh listener.  I had not previously had the occasion to invoke Operation: Chaos in conversation.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:41:53 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Fri-Wed]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1081</link>
		<description><![CDATA[...not much happening, update to come... maybe]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:41:19 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1081-1208929279</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Second Last Dance]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1080</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked on getting stuff ready to mail out at work this afternoon.  In small group communications class this afternoon, we discussed the final project.  I brought up my trouble getting a group together.  My call for volunteers to meet at a restaurant for my project turned into six or seven students with the same problem.  Ms. Ebel eventually decided to turn next week's class into an opportunity for us folks to record our final discussions.I left class a bit early to go to Freeman Auditorium to see Harry Benson speak at an event, part of Canon's Explorer's of Light program.  Mr. Benson is a photojournalist who's been in the business for quite a long time, having photographed every president since Eisenhower.  He ran a slide show of his work over the decades.  I confess I was not really familiar with his work, although having not read Life magazine I am at a disadvantage.  After his hour-long presentation, he took questions from the audience for about 45 minutes.  I asked him what differentiates a good photographer from a great photographer.  His answer: the photographs.I left there at about 8:45 and walked to Reily for ballroom this evening.  Tonight was the last session of the semester.  Turnout was a little better than last week.  The hour was spent reviewing steps from previous weeks, and we didn't even get as far as last week.  It was a lot of fun even though my dancing was pretty lousy.  Ellie took pictures through the evening and at the end the group posed for a couple shots.  Afterward I got a cab home and I talked to Krystle for a little while before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:26:59 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Mon-Wed]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1079</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The week thus far hasn't been especially eventful.  Monday's class was exceptionally boring.  If I remember right, the workday Tuesday was short.  I brought back the Panasonic flip clock to the office after 'fixing' the motor with a shot of WD-40.  Last night's pirate societies class featured the first of three pirate trials.  The class had good reason to suspect the first group was woefully unprepared but they managed to pull off an entertaining performance.  After class I saw the final three innings of the Tulane/Southeastern Louisiana baseball game.  Apparently I missed most of the action.  Taylor Richard pitched a great game this evening, the first seven innings.I worked from 11 to 3:30 on Wednesday.  This afternoon's weather and climate class covered chapters 12 and 13, covering weather forecasting and air pollution respectively.  After class I walked over to the LBC to wait for Dad to pick me up.  He was still at of the office, and remained there for another hour before I got a ride.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:26:09 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1079-1208330769</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[French Quarter Festival Finale]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1078</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I had lofty goals about getting up at a decent hour this morning and get out to the quarter before the first performance of the day started.  I woke up at 10 instead.  Even so, it didn't take me too long to get ready and I didn't have to wait all that long for the cab to arrive.  I made it to the Jackson Square at about 11:20, not much later than my plans.There was not a cloud in the sky today but it was cool outside  and windy at times.  The crowds were even more massive than Saturday.  I avoided the riverfront at times because you could barely move.The first act of the day on the Jackson Square stage was local clarinet player Tim Laughlin.  I can't recall the names of the musicians playing with him but they were mostly familiar faces.  I was able to get right up front to shoot pictures.The long set was divided by a break.  I took the opportunity get something to eat and eventually decided on the "french quarter pasta."  After I finished eating I sort of wandered around for the rest of the afternoon, I didn't hang around one place for any extended periods.  The pictures I shot to day pretty well reflect where I was.  I was interested in what was going on at the international stage on Bourbon that featured band outside the United States so I saw the Liberty Hall Stompers and KBR there.I started making my way home at about six as my feet were pretty tired by then.  Sunday evening was similar to Saturday in that I spend time watching TV and sorting the day's pictures.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:59:37 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[There for Otra]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1077</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I didn't get out to the quarter as early as I could have liked on Saturday but as there were no acts I was especially interested in until three in the afternoon it was no tragedy.  The weather was cool and largely overcast, quite pleasant.  Dad dropped me to the Algiers ferry landing at two in the afternoon.  After getting off the boat I wandered on the riverfront for a little while and stopped to see one of the bands playing at the time.  I made it to the old U.S. mint with time to spare before Otra's performance at three.  They are a local afro-cuban jazz band I have probably spoken highly of before in this log.  Noticeably absent from the grout today was their regular piano player and Eric Lucero on trumpet, who may not be with the band anymore, I'm not really sure.  In any case, they put on a great show as always and there were plenty of people there to see it.After Otra's set, I took a walk down Royal Street to see what was going on there before stopping inside the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street to see what was going on there.  They have a small stage set up in the "Mystick Bar."  I was interested in seeing "Opera on Tap - Featuring Some of New Orleans Best Young Emerging Singers."  I assume the performance was closely related to the New Orleans Opera Association. The performance featured five or six young opera singers taking turns singing arias and such.  While I'm not a fan of this sort of music I do have an appreciation for the skill required to do it right.  It was easy to appreciate their talents as it was a very small venue and no amplification equipment was used.  I stayed there until their performance ended at six.  After that I walked back to the Riverfront, mostly to get something to eat.  I got some jambalaya and bread pudding and took a seat near the aquarium as the Soul Rebels Brass Band played.  I tried with no particular success to get some pictures of them.  There was a big crowd at the stage and I didn't want any photos bad enough to fight my way in.  Shortly after seven I caught a cab home from the Hilton hotel.Later that evening I spent about an hour culling the pictures I took today.    I also watched some of the Tulane game which they won tonight.  I also finished watching the movie Big.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:25:49 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1077-1208035549</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[25th Anniversary French Quarter Festival]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1076</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I took the day off of work today to go to the French Quarter Festival.  I got downtown at about 11, Dad gave me a ride there on his way to the office.  For the three day event, I rented a EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens, a beautiful piece of glass.  I had no desire to carry multiple lenses and the stages are small enough that you don't need much reach.  The weather was quite nice today in spite of gloomy forecasts.  Unfortunately for me, I was expecting clouds and rain all day so I left my hat in the car.  It cleared up soon after and I got a lot more sun than I would have liked.The first act I went to see today was the "Connie Jones and The French Quarter Festival Allstars" featuring Pete Fountain.  Mr. Fountain isn't getting any younger but he can still play that clarinet with the best of them.  I got close to the stage at the beginning of the act and shot some pictures and then walked around for something to eat.  I ended up getting a combo plate from the Muriel's booth.Following that I made my way over to the old U.S. Mint to see Jonno and Bayou Deville.  I was not familiar with this band but Dad spoke highly of them last week so I thought I'd check them out.  They play Cajun music and they're pretty damn good at it.  They had a sizable crowd for the performance.After watching that act for about 90 minutes I walked back to Jackson Square for Ellis Marsalis.  He performed this afternoon as a quartet, with the same musicians as I've seen previously at Snug Harbor.  As usual, they put on a great set.  It would have been a lot easier to get good pictures had they not put a microphone in front of Ellis's face right after the show started.I watched some street performers for a little while before walking back to the mint for Vivaz at 5:15.  I sat down with some gumbo and a coke before the set started.  They were a few minutes late to fix some sound troubles.  I saw Vivaz at Jazz Fest last year and was impressed.  With Otra mostly AWOL, Vivaz is one of the best latin bands in town.I got a call from Dad shortly before six offering me a ride home.  It was a tad early but I didn't think another hour was worth the hassle of getting a cab so I accepted.This evening I sorted through the pictures I took today.  I was quite pleased with my handiwork today.  Obviously I have a lot yet to learn but I am getting better.  The awesome lens I had to use certainly contributed as well.  Later on I watched some of the Tulane Houston game on TV, which they lost 3-4.  Battlestar Galactica was also on tonight.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:23:11 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1076-1207894991</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Rumba Review]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1075</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I stayed home this afternoon to wait for a FedEx shipment.  I wanted to make some progress on a paper for school but I had trouble getting stated and focusing on it.  Dad came home and took me to work at about 3:30 this afternoon.  He had a couple reports he needed done so I handled that before we left for the day at five.Dad took me to campus for class this evening.  There were some makeup discussions in class this evening.  Ms. Ebel went one of the groups go long so we could see "the process" run its course.  Class was dismissed at 8:10.  With time to get something to eat I went to Der Rathskeller for a late dinner.After some chicken tenders and fries, I walked to Reily just before nine this evening.  The turnout was a bit smaller than last week.  There was no new material tonight, although we did try to cover a lot last week.  Even though I had a good deal of trouble with the steps this evening, it was a lot of fun.  After the beginner session I walked to Willow and caught a cab home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:45:14 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Wednesday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1074</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Again, there was no sense of urgency in getting to the office today.  Dad and I arrived in Mid City not long before noon.  I did a wee bit of dictation and other chores before leaving to catch the shuttle at 3:30.  This afternoon's weather class was a continuation of the Katrina lecture from last week.After class I called Dad who said he'd pick me up after he left work.  I waited in the LBC for a while and worked on a paper.  Dad didn't arrive until almost eight so I got a good deal done.Later that evening I finished watching Millions and talked to Krystle for a while before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:28:23 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1074-1207722503</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Sodomy, The Library and Baseball]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1073</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I worked at the west bank office from about noon to five this afternoon.  The phone list and current patient billing were woefully out of date.  I never finished the billing.This evening's pirate societies class was the last actual lecture, which covered "violence and sex."   The lecture was reasonably short.  The guy I'll be taking orders from on my trial team was not in attendance so I'm no closer to knowing what will be going on with that.After class I went to the library to pick up a couple books, both on my history paper and pirate trial coming up.  Following that I walked to Turchin where Tulane was playing Nicholls State this evening.  The game started at six.  I started listening to the game right after class ended and the score was tied at one.  Tulane hit a grand slam while I was at the library and the score was 6-1 by the time I arrived at the stadium sometime before eight.  Tulane scored two more runs before the game ended.  They could have dome even better, however, as they left a lot of people on the pads this evening.  They left the bases loaded three times.Later this evening after I got home I watched Boston Legal and The Daily Show before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:02:50 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1072</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I'm typing this entry three days after the fact and the day is already a blur.  If I remember right, I never quite made it to work on Monday for some reason.  I got to campus early and had time to sit in the LBC with my laptop and a smoothie for a while before class.That evening's history in everyday life class was largely about the Mississippi river.  The instructor discussed the Bonnet Carre spillway for a while as it's been in the news recently.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:57:41 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA["Tie... Ugh!"]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1071</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This afternoon, Dad and I went to Turchin Stadium see Tulane play Marshall.  This was the last game of the series.  Tulane won a 'festive' match on Friday and lost on Saturday.  Tulane opened big with three runs in the bottom of the first to answer Marshall's one RBI in the top of the inning.Tulane should have dominated later in the game but made some critical errors that kept Marshall in the game.  Tulane had a 5-2 lead doing into the ninth inning but Marshall scored three runs to tie the game and force extra innings.  After the tenth inning which ended at about 4:30, Marshall walked of the field to catch their plane.  Earlier in the game, coach Rick Jones declared he was playing the game under protest because Marshall did not make their travel plans known ahead of time.  Had they done so, Tulane would have gladly rescheduled the game to start at noon instead of one.With no runs scored in the 10th, the game ended in a tie, which was decidedly disappointing.Later this evening I watched Kurosawa's The Most Beautiful, the least impressive of his films I've seen thus far. ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Apr 2008 17:09:38 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1071-1207516178</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[He That Beliveth In Me]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1070</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I can't quite remember if we made a stop on the way home from work this afternoon.  We probably did since we left early at 3:30.This evening, we watched the season four premiere of Battlestar Galactica, which has been off the air for nearly a year.  Given that the producers have 22 episodes to wrap up the show, I suppose they weren't concerned with having all that much go on in the premiere.  Later on tonight I watched No Country for Old Men.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:08:44 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1070-1207343324</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Second Discussion, Second Rumba]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1069</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad drove me to campus for class this evening after work.  This was the third week of the second in class discussions.  My discussion was tonight.  It went a lot better than my first one but there was room for improvement.  Class dismissed late enough that I was able to deposit my paycheck at the LBC and walk straight to the Reily center.This evening's ballroom session was the second week of rumba.  I had trouble getting a grasp on the steps we learned last week and the new ones that were introduced tonight were an enigma to me.  Attendance was healthy tonight with an even crowd of about 16.  Afterward I called a cab to go home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:02:15 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Hurricanes Continued]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1068</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After a short workday this afternoon, I caught a shuttle to campus for weather and climate class this afternoon.  I was expecting the class to start with a quiz on the material we talked about last week. However, the professor wasn't done talking about hurricanes and spent the majority of the class time discussing hurricane Katrina.  Being a long term resident who reads the news regularly, very little of the lecture was news to me.  There was some comfort, however, in that I was not subjected to some tripe rant about how the government sucks.  The quiz I was expecting came after the lecture and I was out of class by 6:50.  I called Dad who said he was on his way from the office. Before getting home I stopped at the library to request of off-site book related to the pirate societies trial.Later that evening, I started watching My Voyage to Italy, a documentary in which Martin Scorsese discusses Italian cinema and the movies that influenced him early in life and later in his film career.  It's a four hour movie that I got about 90 minutes in to.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:01:11 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Delayed 1:13]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1067</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I don't remember anything from work today.  Dad took me to campus for about 5:30 this evening.  Tonight's pirate societies class was largely about discipline and daily life aboard pirate ships.  After the break there was a brief meeting with my trial group.I managed to get out of class at about 7:15.  I walked over to Turchin Stadium where the baseball game versus McNeese State had just started.  The 6 o'clock start was delayed over an hour due to rain.  I eventually saw Dad who was also at the game.  We stayed until about 9:30 when the game was in the 6th inning.  Tulane had just rallied increasing their lead to 8-3.  They eventually won the game 10-3.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:00:07 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1067-1207036807</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[History Mags]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1066</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I made it to the office shortly after 11 this morning.  We went out to Metairie at about 3.  I had enough work there to look busy.  We left the office at about 4:45.  Before dropping me off on campus, Dad stopped at the Mid City office to pick something up.This evening's history in everyday life class was about "popular history."  He spent a lot of time discussing history related magazines.  He passed out a stack of them to the class.  After perusing them silently for 15 minutes, everyone in the class briefly talked about their magazine.  My magazine was Louisiana Cultural Vistas, which apparently has a heavy focus on local art.  After the break, Professor Lyon played a lecture on CD that was largely about the flaws in the teaching of history.  After class I called a cab to go home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:04:55 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Weekend]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1065</link>
		<description><![CDATA[This Friday was less than memorable.  I was a work a "full" day and did nothing of circumstance that evening.  Saturday and Sunday were equally banal.  I did a couple things around the house, watched a couple movies and made some additions to my MP3 collection with a "free" trial to emusic.com.  The service doesn't have much "popular" music although that hardly bothers me.  The trouble with eMusic is the MP3 files they sell, while DRM free, are only 128kbps, far inferior to CD quality.  I added enough music to my collection to keep my Zune interesting for a few weeks.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:04:07 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1065-1206921847</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Rumba]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1064</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I arrived at the office shortly after 11 this morning.  I spent the afternoon working on record copies and discharge reports.  We left the office at 4:30 this afternoon.  Dad dropped me off on campus after making a stop downtown.I was planning on attending a TUCP event but it didn't start on time and I wouldn't have been able to see the whole thing anyway.  I saw Patrick in the LBC and handed off a disc he asked for.  We ended up walking to PJs for a little while before I went to class this evening.Tonight's small group communications class was the second week of the second in-class discussions.  Unlike past classes I was not a participant in any of the discussions this evening.Ballroom dancing tonight was the first week of Rumba.  There were similarities to waltz but not so much that there was any great benefit to having just learned some of it.  For a first session, there was a lot of material but I think I did alright.  The review at the start of next week's class will certainly help though.  Afterward I caught a cab home.  I can't remember what, if anything, I did later that evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:03:34 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1064-1206662614</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Poor Clock]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1063</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I believe Dad and I arrived at work sometime around noon today.  He was no particular hurry to get to the office this morning.  I think I worked on discharge reports this afternoon for the short time I was there.  Dad took e to the shuttle stop to catch the 3:40 shuttle to campus.This afternoon's weather and climate class was about hurricanes with some limited discussion on Katrina.  After class we got back our tests from a couple weeks ago I did very badly.  Dad had just arrived to pick me up when class was dismissed.Later this evening I worked on setting up rsync via Deltacopy to sync my remote backup drive and my home PC.  I couldn't get it to work so I talked to my old roommate John who was only able to replicate my error message but he had some good ideas for things I can try when I'm at the office tomorrow which should get things running.  I also took home a flip clock which I had at the office that stopped working this afternoon.  I found that the motor does not start when you plug it in but if you flick the flywheel it will start running fine on its own.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:30:12 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1063-1206574212</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Back to School]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1062</link>
		<description><![CDATA[With 'spring break' over it was back to the grind this evening.  After work, Dad took me to class for pirate societies class this evening.  Tonight's class was mostly about women in piracy, which overall was quite rare as it's a male dominated 'profession.'  At the end of class we got our mid term exams back.  I did as badly as I thought I did.  I called a cab home afterward.  The external hard drive enclosure I ordered arrived today, a Rosewill RX81-MP-SC-BLK.   I spent the evening watching TV and getting things copied to the drive which I will be keeping at work.  In the event of a house fire or some other catastrophe I'll still have a copy of all my data.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:12:00 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1062-1206486720</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA["Spring Break"]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1061</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Recent events and preoccupations have again kept me from making my regular updates.  I intended to write individual posts for the weekend as there was enough going on.Last weekend, I went to all three Tulane baseball games versus Oakland University.  Friday's game was a bit tight, but we did win 3-0.  The Saturday and Sunday matches looked like t-ball games with 19-0 and 16-0 wins respectively.  This was the first series shutout for Tulane in a few years.  On Saturday I left the game early to see Bill Clinton speak at Fogelman Arena on the Clinton Global Initiative.  I'm not a fan of his but I'd never seen a president in person before and figured I'd enjoy it.  I had my camera with me and took a couple respectable photos.Before heading to the baseball game on Sunday, Dad and I stopped at East Jefferson Hospital to visit grandma Janet.  Dionne was already there and informed us grandma's condition had significantly worsened of late.  She passed away Monday night.On Tuesday I was home from work as Mom and Dad were out for the afternoon making funeral arrangement for Dad's mom.  I presume Dionne was with them.  Wednesday was a reasonably normal work day as far as I can remember.The family including myself was out the door early Thursday morning for the visitation and funeral services at Lake Lawn Metairie.  Much of grandma's family and a handful of friends were there.  I'd seen many of them somewhat recently at Uncle Joe's service.  Shortly after 12 there was a funeral service held in an adjacent chapel.  The priest who officiated it the Priest at grandma's church so he seemed to be somewhat acquainted with her.  Following that there was a procession to a cemetery in the 9th ward where she was laid to rest.I can't remember if I worked or not on Friday, it would have been a short day if I did.  That evening I went out with Patrick and David to Club 300 on Decatur Street.  Earlier in the day I looked at the music listing and didn't see much of anything familiar but I did see that Astral Project's sax player Toni Degradi was behind jazz vocalist Mary Jane Ewing, which I figured would probably be a decent show.  I caught a cab there and arrived shortly before 8.  David and Patrick followed not long after.  The music started not long after 8:30.  We ordered some drinks, an appetizer and later dessert to hold our table.  This was my first time to this particular club.  It's a nice place to hear music but I wouldn't equate it with Snug Harbor.  We left there shortly after nine and walked to Melange for a while and saw Jeremy Davenport.  After a round there we drove out to The Frat House where Patrick wanted to meet three high school friends of his.  I think Nick, Steve and Claire were their names.  We had some drinks there too and I lost a round of pool to David.  After perhaps another hour there we all piled into Patrick's little VW beetle and went to Friar Tucks, an equally splendid drinking establishment.  I was there until 1:45 when I decided I'd had enough fun for the night and caught a cab home.The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet.  I didn't catch any of the Tulane baseball games this weekend.  I did get out of the house to go to Loew's with Mom to buy some mundane things for the house.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:46:50 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1061-1206312410</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Final Waltz]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1060</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I left the house at about 10:45 this morning.  There was an issue with Mom's car that tied him up this morning.  I worked on a few discharge reports at the office this afternoon.  Dad had things to do this evening so he took me down Canal Street to catch the 4:10 shuttle to campus.  I spent my time before class this evening in the LBC.  I picked up my ticket for the upcoming Clinton speech when I arrived.This evening's slam group communications class featured the first of the second round of class discussions.  They followed the same format as last time but they were 12 minutes in length and Ms. Ebel did not interject during the discussion.  I participated in three of the five this evening.  They were on homelessness, identity theft and recycling.  After class I walked to the Willow lab to wait until nine.This evening's ballroom dancing session was the fourth and final lesson of waltz.  I think mid terms kept some people away tonight but attendance was even between guys and girls.  There was only one new dance step which was simple enough.  The main goal tonight was to recap everything once more and tie it all together.  I had a little trouble this evening but overall I think I danced pretty well.  Of all the dances I've done in the ballroom club I think this waltz was the easiest.  I left to head home after the beginner lesson.  It was raining and I shared my umbrella with Ivana as far as her dorm.  I caught a cab home in front of the LBC.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:04:35 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1060-1205463875</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Two Wins Versus the Demons]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1059</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I left the office at about 2:30 this afternoon.  Dad went to the baseball game this afternoon but I wanted to study for a test this afternoon so I went to the LBC for a while.  While I was there I saw Patrick who finally returned the spare cell phone battery I lent him a couple weeks ago.I didn't feel that the studying helped my weather and climate test this afternoon, I might have bombed it, even though it's a multiple choice test.  I guess I'll find out how good of a guesser I am.  After I finished I walked over to Turchin to catch the rest of the ball game.  On the way I ran into Patrick again who obviously wasn't busy and came to the baseball game with me.  When we arrived about halfway through the game the score was 10-8 or something ridiculous.  Apparently today's match closely resembled a tee-ball game.  Tulane pulled ahead in later innings and won the game 18-11.Later that evening after getting home I got some clothes put away, finished watching Breakfast at Tiffany's and caught up on my log before bed.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:10:32 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1059-1205331032</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Pirate's Midterm]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1058</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I spent the "work day" studying for an upcoming midterm.  We left the office not long after five this evening.  The pirate societies midterm this evening consisted of ten identifications and three essay questions.    Studying really helped me with the IDs but I had a lot of trouble with the essays.  I was able to get stuff down for two of them but I was completely lost on the first one which will do me no favors.I finished the exam in just under an hour.  I walked to Turchin Stadium where the baseball game versus the Northwestern State Demons was well underway.  It was about the fifth inning and the game was Tulane had a 1-0 lead.  Northwestern scored a run of their own in the seventh.  Tulane answered in the bottom of the eighth with two more runs to take the lead.In the top of the ninth, Tulane got two of the three outs needed to win the game before Northwestern's Mike Jaworski hit a two run homer to tie the game.  Tulane failed to score a run in the bottom half and the game went to extra innings.  Dad wanted to get home so we left after nine.  We listened to the rest of the game on the way home.  Tulane managed to come away with a win in the 11th inning.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:10:03 -0400</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Monday]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1057</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad had things to do this afternoon so he had me work alone at the Mid City office this afternoon.  Among other things I got the hydrocollator cleaned before leaving for school at about 3:30.  I had to wait a little while for the streetcar but I managed to catch the 4:10 shuttle to campus.This evening's history in everyday life class was dull as is becoming the norm.  It was about museums and historical sites.  I'm hard pressed to immediately recall any information of circumstance from class this evening.  After class ended "early" at 8:10, I called Dad who was still on the east bank.  He agreed to pick me up and I waited at the LBC.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:09:25 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1057-1205158165</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Weekend]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1056</link>
		<description><![CDATA[On Saturday, Dad, Andrew and I went to Turchin to see Tulane play Irvine again.  The weather was considerably better.  It was still cold but the sun was shining.  The game itself was not an improvement.  Tulane's starting pitcher didn't fool anybody this afternoon and allowed four earned runs in the second inning before he was pulled.  In addition to the early setback, Tulane missed a lot of opportunities, leaving 10 men on the bases.  The final score was 7-3.On Sunday I stayed home from the game to clean my room and get some things done.  Inevitably I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked.  Sunday evening I watched the series finale of The Wire, a show well deserving of the "best show on television" claim often mentioned.  The last episode was really good but of course it's a shame there won't be any more episodes.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:09:00 -0400</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1056-1205071740</guid>
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		<title><![CDATA[Ice Cold Baseball]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1055</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After an uneventful day of work, Dad and I headed uptown to pick up Andrew and get something to eat before the baseball game this evening.  We went to Felipe's across Claiborne from the stadium.  Dad had a burrito.  Andrew and I ordered quesadillas.It was already pretty cold and wet when we got to the stadium at about quarter to six.  The start of the game was delayed about 15 minutes.  The artificial surface at Turchin stadium has excellent drainage so rain is not a serious problem.  All the seats were still wet though.Tonight was the first of three games versus the University of California, Irvine.  They have a great team this year, largely due to their unbelievable pitching.  Tulane's Shooter Hunt pitched an excellent game as well.  He pitched seven innings, struck out 11 and allowed only one hit.  Although the game was tense throughout, the only scoring came in the bottom of the third.  Scelfo walked after racking up a full count and the stole second.  McFadden doubled to shallow left and then Josh Price hit a two-run giving Tulane a 2-0 lead.  Irvine had chances to tie the game in later innings including two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth but Tulane managed to pitch their way out of it.  In spite of the worst cold I've ever endured at a baseball game, it was still an awesome thing to see.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:08:40 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1055-1204902520</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[BBall x 2]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1054</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad and I left the office at 2:30 this afternoon to catch the Tulane baseball game.  They played Southern University this afternoon at 3.  I brought my camera with me but didn't get many shots.  Not long after I arrived at spotted my old high school history teacher Mr. Bryant and went to speak with him and his wife for a while.  He seems to be thoroughly enjoying retirement.  Tulane took a commanding lead early with three runs in the 2nd and three more in the 3rd.  I had to leave at the fourth inning to get to class this afternoon.  Tulane went on to win the game 14-6.This afternoon's weather and climate class was about thunderstorms.  Before the usual PowerPoint lecture, the professor had us watch a number of videos on YouTube with hail, lightning and tornadoes.After class this afternoon I walked over to Fogelman Arena for this evening Tulane basketball game versus Marshall.  This was the second to last home game of the season, but attendance tonight was rather sparse.  Tulane looked good in the first half with a reasonable lead.  The built on thaty lead at the start of the second half but it diminished as the half progressed and Marshall took the lead late in the game.  Tulane had opportunities to catch up but failed to capitalize.  They ultimately lost 68-70, which was exceptionally disappointing.After class I caught a cab home which arrived rather quickly.  The driver was pleasant and talkative.  That evening I finished watching Stargate: The Ark of Truth.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:42:26 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1054-1204771346</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Tulane vs. UNO]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1053</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Dad dropped me off on campus this evening as he was already in the area to go to the Baseball game this evening versus UNO.  I had class at 5:45 so I missed a good portion of the game.  Pirate societies class this evening was about the backgrounds of some of the more famous pirates.  The general point was that they call from a wide variety of backgrounds.  While many were from poor circumstances, others were from well-to-do families or had law degrees.I walked to Turchin stadium after class.  I think I showed up around the 4th inning.  UNO had a 2-0 lead.  Generally speaking, Tulane looked pretty lousy.  On the radio, Graff equated their performance to a "coma."  As it was rather cold outside, Dad and I left at the start of the 8th inning.  As we listened to the rest of the game on the way home, Tulane rallied.  The loaded the bases and got two runs in.  With two outs and the bases loaded, Andrew Rogers hit a line drive right to the wall under the scoreboard.  Had there been any wind it would certainly have been a grand slam but it was caught at the wall to end the game 4-2.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:41:49 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1053-1204684909</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Anthropogeography]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1052</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Generally speaking, the weekend was pretty quiet although I did get out of the house at least once.  Friday was pretty quiet.  On Saturday, the family including myself went out to dinner at the cheesecake bistro.  This was their first time here since the storm.  I ordered the jambalaya pasta.  Jeff and Andrew split a BBQ shrimp linguine, which I had at my last visit.  Dad had the crawfish ravioli and Mom ordered the shrimp St. Charles.  For desert everyone had the bananas foster cheesecake except myself.  I had the bananas foster sundae which was good but not exactly what I was expecting.  Later that evening I watched Live Free or Die Hard.  It was entertaining enough but it requires substantial suspension of disbelief.After church on Sunday, we went to EJ hospital to visit grandma Janet who has been back in ICU since a recent mild heart attack.  Later that evening I watched 3:10 to Yuma, the recent remake.  Having seen the original 1957 movie a couple weeks ago, my view of the new film was severely tainted.  Compared to the original which had a singular and coherent theme, the new film is littered with unnecessary action and plot threads.Dad had to take Jeff to the airport today so he left me at the Mid City office by myself for the afternoon.  When Dad made it to the Metairie office at about 2:30, I left for the day and took the streetcar down Canal and then took the shuttle to campus.  I arrived on campus at about 3:45.  I sat in the LBC for almost a couple hours while I waited for class this evening.  I saw Patrick for a little while who met me to return a cell phone battery I lent him but he still needed it.We had a guest speaker in History in Everyday Life class this evening, Dr. William Fagen.  He spoke about historical anthropogeography as it related to his research of Rockland, Maine.  It's a small coastal town that evolved over the past 150 years from various industrial economies to tourism.  Following Mr. Fagen's presentation, Professor Lyon proceeded to lecture for about an hour on historical memory or something like that.  I met Dad after class, he had been waiting for me after working late this evening.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:52:19 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1052-1204581139</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Lazy Post]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1051</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After class on both Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to Tulane baseball games versus Southeastern Louisiana and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette respectively.  It was exceptionally cold on Tuesday and a comedy of errors led the game into extra innings.  Tulane managed to pull out a win 4-3 after 12 innings but we left after the 11th.  Tulane dominated ULL on Wednesday 10-1.  It wasn't windy that day so the cold was much more tolerable.  Over the last two nights I finished watching Gone with the Wind and saw Heat.Dad and I arrived at the office after 11 this afternoon.  Dad drove me to campus at about 4:30 because he had to stop by the ticket office.  As I was walking to the LBC I ran into Patrick who was apparently wandering aimlessly.  He was at the LBC with me for a little while before venturing off.This evening's small group communications class was the third and hopefully final week of first group discussions.  I did mine third this evening.  My topic was increasing attendance at Tulane football games.  Generally my turn went pretty well although apparently I still say "um" a lot when addressing a group.  That was a recurring problem in my last speech class but I improved in it.After class I walked to Willow lab to wait for a little while before ballroom this evening.  This evening's session was the second week of waltz.  I was able to pick up on the steps pretty well tonight, at least until Tammy rearranged us into a circle and I totally forgot what I was supposed to do.Afterward, I stuck around for intermediate east coast swing lessons which started tonight at 10.  Including myself there were about 12 people remaining.  Swing was the dance style I started with when I first joined ballroom, so the basic steps were familiar to me.  It was a lot of fun although I didn't know what the hell I was doing.  It would be nice if I could keep up at this level but I would quickly become an annoyance.After the second session I walked with Andrey to Mayer dorm.   A number of people were already there.  Eventually a group of us left to go to Verz Cruz on Maple.  In our group were myself, Andrey, Patrick, Jason, Veronica and Shona.  When we got there we found the place was closed.  Judging by the signage on the door they don't have late hours anymore.  We walked across the street to the new Bruno's but didn't stay long because there were no free tables.  We went to the old Bruno's instead which had some room.  The lot of us were there until we left at about 1:30.  I walked back with Jason and Shona to her dorm because I had to pick up my jacked and book bag.  With my belongings in hand I ended up at the Rat for a while to get something to eat to go with the beverages I had earlier.  Sometimes before three I left and got a cab home.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:41:41 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1051-1204188101</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[First Mid-Term]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1050</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I more or less had the day off.  Dad left at about 11 to retrieve Jeff from the Greyhound station.  We went to the office not long after he arrived back arrived.  We were at the office for about an hour before Dad dropped me at the shuttle.  I wanted some time to study for the test this evening.  After I got off the bus I walked over to the ticket office in the Wilson center.  I called there this morning to inquire about the tripod ring I left clamped to an armrest in Turchin Stadium yesterday.  I spoke with 'Brent,' who was kind enough to go find it.  On the way to pick it up I bumped into Patrick and he walked with me for a while.Having retrieved my drastically overpriced camera accessory, we walked back to the LBC.  I got a smoothie and sat with my laptop for a while to try and study for the test this evening.  I re(read) some of the past reading assignments and read some more about the National Register of Historic Places.  It all felt pretty futile as I was doing it.I walked to Hebert a good half hour before class.  The test this evening consisted of 10 short answer identifications and a choice of two of five essay topics.  Although I was worried about bombing this test, I walked away feeling fine.  If the professor is satisfied with my essays, which I thought were decent, I should get a good grade.I called Dad after class and he told me to wait in LBC for him to pick me up.  At the time I didn't know he was stopping at the hospital to visit Grandma before picking me up.  I waited for a little over an hour before he arrived.  Later that evening I watched some of Gone with the Wind.  I've been watching the movie in small parts over the last week or so.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:41:25 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1050-1203964885</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Sweep]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1049</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I stayed home from the baseball game on Saturday to get some things done at home.  I intended to clean my room, do some laundry, clean out the inside of my desktop computer and do some reading for school, but ultimately I only got my computer clean and watched The Dish.On Sunday, Dad and I went to the third and final game of the Illinois-Chicago game.  They won 4-3 on Saturday.  The weather could not have been better.  Temperatures were pleasantly mild and it was largely sunny.  Our seats today were in section 209, not as low as I might like but it's a fine vantage point.  The stadium was only about half full so I was able to move down later and shoot some passable pictures.  UIC scored first with two runs in the top of the second.  Tulane answered with three runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead.  Tulane scored five more runs in the bottom of the fifth including a 2 RBI home run by Jared Dyer.  Freshman pitcher Robby Broach from Rummel High School pitched five decent innings in his first appearance at Tulane.   The final score was 9-2.  After the game they let kids 'run the bases' on the field and the team signed autographs in the dugout.  Dad and I got home sometime around five.  Mom made smothered chicken for dinner.  Later that evening, I sorted though the pictures I took and uploaded a good handful of them.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:36:16 -0500</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">fus_1049-1203878176</guid>
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	<item>
		<title><![CDATA[Greer Field at Turchin Stadium]]></title>
		<link>http://mrbsdomain.com/news/fullnews.php?fn_id=1048</link>
		<description><![CDATA[After work this afternoon, Dad and I went down to the new Turchin Stadium for Tulane baseball team's opening game.  Mom met us where we parked, on the Claiborne Avenue neutral ground.  After a little while we walked across the street to the Frostop for something to eat before the game.  I wasn't very hungry so I just got a milkshake and some onion rings.After "dinner," we walked down to the stadium before its' official opening.  There was a crowd congregates around the marching band and flag team.  There was a ribbon cutting at about 5:30 preceded by speeches by athletic director Rick Dickson, Tulane president Scott Cowen, board chairman Philip Greer, for whom the field is names and baseball head coach Rick Jones.  I was right up front by the podium to shoot some pictures of those speaking.  Afterward I managed to find Andrew and my parents so we could walk in.This was my first time in the new stadium, although I've seen it frequently from the outside for the last few years, and there was a webcam that you could track construction progress with.  In short, it's an awesome new stadium, much bigger than what was in its place.  There is also a huge new video board adjacent to left field.  New Orleans native Irma Thomas sung the national anthem which was followed by an impressive fireworks display.Our seats for the game were in the left field bleachers, adequate for watching the game but useless for taking pictures of the on-field action.  Tulane handled the opposing team from the University of Illinois at Chicago without too much trouble.  Shooter hunt opened the game with three strikeouts and in the bottom of the first scored three runs.  Tulane pretty much coasted for the remainder of the game