February 2004


Doing…some…work…sorta

I went to work with my dad today. We stopped by the bookstore so I could pick up my last check. I did a few little tasks and some filing at mid city before we left. We had lunch at a nearby Chinese resturant. I had wonton soup and Phat Thai, which was actually quite good. We went to the east office. I went through some files and updated a spreadsheet. That was really all I did there. We left around five. After crossing the river we went to a full service car wash. We got there a little while before close. We ended up waiting about an hour. Later in the evening I watched Sunset Blvd, a surprisingly good movie.

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Mardi Gras – Parents Return

This was another uneventful day. I made myself some breakfast around lunchtime and watched TV for a bit. Later in the afternoon I spoke with to Khadijah on the phone for a while, played the UT2004 demo, folded some clothes. Andrew came home in the afternoon. I watched “The Big Lebowski” in the evening, a rather amusing movie. My parents returned from NYC. Today was Mardi Gras, but I was at home all day and didn't see any of it on TV, so…

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The Movies, Dinner, and Bowling…In That Order

I spent the evening with some friends of mine, something we intended to do on Saturday but it didn't work out. I, Jessica, and Shani went to the movies for about 2:30. It's rather depressing as there really isn't anything worth seeing at present. We ended up seeing “50 First Dates.” I suppose worse things could have happened. The movie had it's moments but I didn't really like it. After the movie, we picked up Bianca and went to Semolina's for dinner. I had the pasta alfredo with shrimp which wasn't bad at all. The waitress was quite nice and I tipped accordingly. After dinner we drove over to the Mid City Lanes. It seemed like they were closed, as there was no answer to their phone and there were no listings of a music act but we found it hard to believe they were actually closed, but we found that they were when we got there so we decided to head back to the west bank and go to Rainbow Lanes. The ride was nice so the trip back and forth was no big deal. We played for two hours and got two games in. None of us have any discernable skill, but neither did most anyone else there so that was fine. Bianca seemed the most adept. I learned a little bit about correct form. Jessica looked like she was intentionally putting the ball in the gutter. Shani clearly didn't give a dame and just flung the ball down the lane, but scored comparatively than the rest of us. For what it's worth, Bianca won both rounds by a slim margin. We shot a few games of pool after that. Again, no discernable skill from any of us. When I got home I found my order from Coolerguys had arrived, a day late. I bought four blue LED case fans and some silver round drive cables. I installed those items, and while I was at it, I removed the Geforce4 PCI card that powers my second monitor. The fan noise of the GPU cooler is unbearable. For the time being, my second monitor will be connected to the DVI socket on my ATI AGP card. Form what I can tell so far, there is no detriment to performance. Hopefully I'll be able to find a replacement for that fan.

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Hangin' Around the House

I woke up late and made myself some breakfast. My grandma and Andrew came by to visit in the afternoon and I did some cleaning around the house. After cleaning up my car a bit, I got some laundry done. I was planning on going out for the evening but that fell though. I watched “Taxi Driver” in the evening.

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Sunday

Practically nothing to mention today. Didn't really do any work or even watch much TV. I did see a rather amusing episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” though.

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The End

Today was my last day at the bookstore. Renee had the day off so it was rather pleasant. I spent most of the workday boxing up books, as we had been doing for quite some time. I went to Purple Roses one last time for lunch and to say goodbye to the lady that works there, who dubbed me “The Prince.” My parents left for New York City this afternoon. They're taking a short vacation for their 23rd wedding anniversary. My brother arrived in town today as well.

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Just Another Day

More Returns. Can't think of any other happenings.

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Dinner With a Friend

Work was an unremarkable combination of chores. I had lunch with Ann at McDonalds. I didn't eat much comparatively since I was going out to eat later. We walked through the mall for a bit after eating. After work, Shani picked me up and we went to a small Italian place called “Venezia.” It was recommended to me as a reasonable place with great food, and it was just that. I had the lasagna, a small-looking but quite filling dish. I'm sure I'll be back there soon. I left my jacket there but my dad was able to pick it up.

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Um…yeah…Tuesday

I spent the better part of the workday straighting up the store. There were some clothes that needed filling in, stuff like that. I had lunch with Ann and another lady who we see often that used to work at the bookstore. I really should know her name. Nothing of circumstance happened this evening. I rebuilt my computer after cleaning it up, my new power supply should arrive tomorrow. I watched “The Guardian” this evening.

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Happy Birthday Dad

The workday seemed rather short today, which I suppose is no surprise since I only worked about three hours. I spent most of the day in the office helping Ann with a sales summary spreadsheet that she lost and needed redone. We both went to lunch and returned later. I didn't really do much work between then and leaving. This evening my parents, brother, aunt and her child, three of my dad's nurses, a friend of them and my dad, one of the nurse's boyfriend, and myself had dinner at Superior Grill on St. Charles Avenue. My dad's birthday is tomorrow and they figured they could acknowledge that and the nurse’s birthdays in one outing. The nurses and friends were late, presumable because of the congestion generated by the “Pygmalion” parade, which we got to see as it passed right in front of the restaurant. It seemed like a short parade, although it was at least 30 minutes. They had some great bands. Alex Fortier was particularly impressive, although they were all quite good. Those guests being as late as they were, we ordered after the parade passed. I had a combo plate with ribs and grilled shrimp. It was pretty good, although some of the shrimp were a little too grilled. Our guests arrived shortly after we ordered so they weren't waiting long while we were eating. They brought a cake for my dad and got some of the wait staff to sing along with our large group.

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Rhea and Mercury

The ride to church was mildly amusing as nearly the whole trip was along a parade route for a parade with an hour before start. There were RVs, cars, and lots of people along the side of the road. We had to take a 'scenic' route home as a parade was underway on the usual roads. In the afternoon we joined my dad's family in the same spot as yesterday to see two more parades, “Rhea” and “Mercury.” They went quite as fancy as last night's “Caesar.” There were alot of little kids in these parades. Afterwards, we just went home and watched some TV. I spent some time on the computer looking at PC parts and talked to a friend on the phone.

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Caesar Parade

This morning me and my dad went to Don's house to bring over his computer and set it up. He lives in Kenner so it was a bit of a trip. We stayed over there longer than I expected. After getting home, I napped until about three. We considered going to the New Orleans Voodoo's first home game but decided against it. It's a shame too because it was a great game, they won on the last play. Later in the afternoon we went back to Kenner because my dad left his jacket there and they had a little problem with the computer. It wasn't that big of a deal as we were headed to Metarie anyway to join my dad's folks to see the Krewe of Caesar parade. The ground was soaked and it was quite cold but it wasn't so bad. We were standing on Veteran's Drive in front of a Bank One. It was the longest parade I had ever been too, although that isn't saying much since I've only been to a handful. There were 30 floats with a band in-between most of them. I was standing in front of some kids on ladders so all sorts of beads and stuffed animals were flying over my head all night. The parade ended about an hour after it started. Me, my dad, brother, some of my dad's family and some of their friends then went to dinner at a Mexican buffet. As is usually the case with me and buffets, I lost my appetite immediately after arriving. We went home after dinner, and left Andrew to stay the night with my aunt.

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Lots of Returns

Murial from uptown was in the store again today helping with returns. I spent the better part of the day boxing up books. We sent out 23 boxes of books today, weighing in at about a half-ton. I didn't do much in the evening aside form watch TV. I think I got my motherboard repaired but I won't know until my new power supply arrives.

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Dull Day

Work was rather uneventful today. I performed a variety of tasks not worth mentioning. I stayed a bit later than I planned as I was on the phone with AMEX tech support again trying to get or gift card machine working. Looking at that little screen and holding the phone gave me a headache again. I was lucky enough to get the same tech person again, quite a coincidence as there are 40 people like her. She's been very patient and helpful but it still doesn't work properly. It appears to be a problem on their end. Late in the evening I watched “Enemy of the State.” I was an interesting and compelling movie, certainly better than I expected.

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