April 2005


Wet Fest

Conjuring memories from last year, it was a wet day at Jazzfest. Dad, Jeff and I left sometime after 11 and got our usual parking spot. There was a light drizzle as we left the car to walk to the gate. As I understand, a power outage of some sort was responsible for the fact that the gates had been closed and a very long line formed. We probably stood in it for about a half hour as we inched our way to the gate, which I also presume was opened just after we got in the line. After we got in we made our way to the blues tent, mostly just to get out of the rain. Shortly after we took some seats to dry off a bit, Raful Neal Jr., a reasonably traditional blues musician, started performing. His set bared resemblance to a family reunion. Some of his family was in the band or appeared on stage just for the hell of it. By the time Neal’s set ended the rain had stopped. We walked over to Economy Hall where Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony was performing, a female vocal quintet. Dad, Jeff and I took turns getting something to eat. There was a striking amount of standing water near the large line of food stands near the economy tent so I stuck to a smaller group on drier ground. I got some jambalaya and crawfish bread, which was pretty good. We ate in Economy Hall and proceeded to the jazz tent to see Astral Project. They’re a remarkably talented contemporary jazz band I happen to be rather fond of. I’ve seen them at Snug Harbor a few times but I’ve never seen them with such a large audience, and they packed the tent pretty well. They put on a great set that featured a lot of the music I heard when I saw them back in March. After they finished we walked over to the Acura stage so more-or-less see Jeff off, He was going to see Dave Matthews Band perform there in a little while. Dad and I then walked back towards the blues tent. We stopped and got some white chocolate bread pudding, which was remarkably tasty. We then stood at the rear of the blues tent and saw a good part of Eddie Bo’s performance. Dad and I then proceeded to the Sprint stage on the other end of the track where Elvis Costello and The Imposters were performing at 5:30. Costello drew a pretty substantial crowd, a feat considering he was up against Dave Matthews, who is quite a draw at Jazzfest. Elvis put on a decent show, although I can’t say I enjoyed it nearly as much as I thought I would. I wish he would have played more of his older stuff. After the set we walked back to the grandstands to meet up with Jeff before leaving. After slowly making our way out of the fairgrounds we made the obligatory stop at Liuzza’s for a drink. We probably hung around there for about an hour before walking back to the car. We drove down Esplanade and made our way to Frenchman St. We had dinner at the Praline Connection. It took almost 40 minutes for us to get seated, largely because our name was called out incorrectly after about 15. As I was still rather busy digesting bread pudding, I wasn’t very hungry and just got an appetizer, fried catfish and cocktail sauce and orange juice with ice. Jeff and Dad got dessert after the entre. Having finished a late dinner we all walked up and down Frenchman a few times before making our way to the car and heading home. After getting home I cleaned myself up and went to bed around one.

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Fixed and Unfixed

I went to work with Dad at the westbank office this morning. I didn’t have anything to do for the first few hours. I was really only there to type reports and there was no dictation until some time after doc arrived after one. I got lunch around 11:30. Doc arrived around one with a birthday cake for Trish. The clinic was rather busy in the afternoon. I had work to keep me busy about half of that time. The other half of the time I felt pretty useless as Trich and Dad were running around dealing with patients. We left sometime after six. Dad stopped on the way home to wash his car. Dad dropped me off at Roxana’s house this evening. A few days before, I agreed to look at her computer and get it working. I was there a couple hours and I managed to get the old thing working fine. However, as I was finishing things up I shut it down to move it and it never turned back on again, it was as if it was unplugged. I tried everything but I couldn’t get it to start up again. That being the case, I pretty much wasted an evening and accomplished nothing. Roxy took me home shortly after nine

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Last Film Class

I went to work with dad this morning and arrived shortly before ten. I was only there for a few hours so the small amount of work wasn’t necessarily a problem. We left shortly after one and Dad took me uptown before going to the east office. Dad dropped me off at the library, where I remained for a few hours. I had not yet finished the powerpoint that went with my class presentation on Stanley Kubrick for film class. I also had typed up my talking points for my monologue. I walked to Norman Mayer pretty early to make sure my laptop and the classroom projector would work properly, which it did. I spent some time trying to go over my little speech. We watched a short documentary on Citizen Kane and Orson Wells first in film class. I gave my presentation first after that. Although I was pretty down and distracted most of the day, I was able to complete my presentation pretty coherently and I had a kick-ass powerpoint to boot. I ended with a clip from Barry Lyndon. There was only one presentation after mine. A lady stumbled through something to do with Beauty and the Beast. I feel kinda bad saying it but it was unbelievably pathetic, although pretty amusing at the same time with the ‘neighbor next door’ persona in front of the class. We were done after that. I took a bus downtown and the ferry across the river to meet Dad. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home. We needed some things at the house and Dad took his good old time picking them out. Later in the evening my self-discipline expired and I called Melanie. We had a pleasant two and a half hour conversation. Although nothing was really resolved, it was very nice speaking with her.

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Last Marketing Class

I took a bus downtown this morning for my last marketing class. Overall this class has been pretty cool, largely due to the great instruction of Ms. Ann Snell. I have no particular interest in marketing but it’s been an enjoyable elective. I got to the mall early so I had time to touch up my presentation before class started. The hour-long class session was spent on student presentations. The project called for students come up with a new product and then discuss how one would go about marketing it. There were some interesting ideas, a couple of the presentations involved student’s actual entrepreneurial endeavors including a local magazine, Liquid, and a portable walkway system for construction sites. My product was a geared hub system for manual wheelchair wheels, like a ten-speed mechanism on a bike. I thought the product idea was pretty good. I thought of it myself although I learned that its development is already in progress. I got a perfect grade on my presentation although I could have been more eloquent had I prepared my speech ahead of time. After class I took a bus up Tulane and got to work pretty quickly at about 1:30. There was no dictation but there were a few bills to check. I was hardly busy, although there was steady traffic through the clinic. Dad called at five to tell me he was stuck in traffic due to a big accident on the bridge and I’d have to get a cab to this evening’s class, which I did. I arrived at the Centre with ten minutes to spare. Randy discussed the 90’s for a little while before a short break. He then spent 20 minutes summarizing the semester for the upcoming final exam. Class was dismissed early at 7:15. I walked to Tulane Ave. and took the medical school shuttle to Turchin Stadium where Tulane played Nicholls State this evening. I arrived during the seventh inning stretch, Tulane had a 2-0 lead. The game had been moving rather quickly and it continued to do so after I arrived. Tulane scored one more run in the eighth. The ninth passed quickly without incident and Tulane won 3-0. The game clocked in at under two hours at 1:50, remarkably fast for a baseball game. Also worth noting is that this was the first no-hitter for Tulane in quite some time. Dad and I went home after the game.

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Last Review Writing Session

I went to work with dad this morning. We went to the west bank first for a couple hours. I didn’t have any work to do so I picked at a project for marketing class. I got some lunch while we were there. Dad and I left the westbank for Mid City around one o’clock. I had some dictation to do there, as well as bills to check. We left the office at ten to five. Dad took me uptown for this evening’s review writing class. This was the last session of the semester. Dr. Houston had each student mention something they learned in the class. She also described the situation for the final exam. The assignment we turned in today would be revised and graded as the final. All students will email two comments on everyone’s review which we’ll received, then revise our reviews and turn them in. Class ended exceptionally early around 6:30. I took a bus downtown and went to the Sheraton to sit around with a drink and my laptop for a while. I took a ferry across the river around 8. Dad picked me up on the other side to take me home. I worked on the marketing project for a little while longer and went to bed around 11. Khadijah called me at about quarter past midnight. I was awake and I haven’t been sleeping all that well the past few days anyway so I didn’t mind talking, which we did for about an hour before I finally got to sleep.

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Passive Sunday

I skipped church this morning. I cleaned my room and did some laundry. I finished watching The Big Sleep. Later in the afternoon I washed my car and fixed the windshield sprayer. The lines were clogged. It’s always quite nice to fix something. The evening passed quietly, Mom and Dad went to the movies. I watched the episode of Enterprise I missed on Friday. I started on a Marketing class assignment later in the evening.

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Jazzfest 2005

I woke up in much better spirits this morning. Dad and I went to the second day of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. This was my third of forth year attending. The weather was cool and sunny exceptionally pleasant. It’s usually stiflingly hot. Dad parked in his usual stop not too far from the track. We got in just after one o’clock. We bumped into Aunt Lauren and Arien just after getting in. We made our way to the economy tent. The New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra played at 1:45. The band’s clarinet player used to be my boss, or one of them, at the uptown bookstore. I had been telling I would catch a performance. The New Leviathan is an 18-piece revivial orchestra that plays a pretty wide range of music dating back as far as 1895, including proto-Jazz and ragtime. While I didn’t overwhelmingly enjoy their performance, their talent and purpose is unmistakable. There are very few groups around preserving such musical forms. I went to get something to eat for Dad and I during the performance. Just afterward we went to see Ellis Marsalis. The sizable Jazz tent was quite full. We had to stand on the left end. Ellis’s son Branford was there as well as some other great supporting musicians. The show was excellent, no surprise there. After the Ellis Marsalis performance, we made our way through some thickening crowds to the Sprint/Sanyo stage where the Meters were to perform at 5:30. We took some seats on the track itself and then moved up shortly before 5:30. It was insanely crowded around the stage, so much so that it was difficult to enjoy the music, which wasn’t exactly stellar anyway. We remained in our spots until they finished at about ten past seven. After a trip to the potty, we left the fairgrounds and walked to Liuzza’s. We were there for a good while along with a hell of a lot of other people. We made our way home sometime after nine. I was pretty tired and I went to bed at a decent hour.

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Bad Day

update to come

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Last Marketing Lecture

I took the bus downtown to class this morning. Today was the last day of lecture for marketing class. Today’s session dealt with person-to-person marketing. We filled out class evaluations after, which I was ‘in charge’ of. As I was leaving, Ms. Snell informed me that I need not take the exam due to the high grade I have in class, which was as surprising as it was nice, since she never mentioned exemptions before. I took another bus to work after class. There was a good deal of dictation to do, which kept me busy for most of the workday. Mom picked me up around five to take me home. The evening was uneventful. I stated on an assignment for Monday, did some laundry, and watched the better part of The Big Sleep.

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Citizen Kane

As usual, there was no rush to get to work this morning, we arrived at 11. There were some reports to do, none of which required significant effort. We left the office around one. Before taking me uptown, we stopped at an attorney’s office just up Carrolton to drop something off. Dad dropped me of at The Boot. I got something to eat and typed up some log entries while I was there. I walked over to the library around three. I read the last chapter of the film class textbook, which pertained to the movie we watched this evening. I walked to Norman Mayer around quarter past five. There was a short review for the final exam in this evening's class. We then watched Citizen Kane, a landmark film in several respects. Dad picked me up after class.

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Tulane Kick’s LSU’s Ass… Again

I took the bus downtown again this morning to get to class this afternoon. This afternoon’s marketing class, one of the last, pertained to customer relationship management. Ms. Snell boiled it down pretty well as she always does. I took another bus up Tulane to work after class. I arrived at one and didn’t have much to do when I got there. Don picked me up in a little U-Haul truck at about 1:30 because his wife had some surplus chairs at her office that were to be used at the clinic. The office was just up Airline Dr. so it wasn’t much of an ordeal. There were just four chairs, we loaded them up and took them back to the clinic, no problem. There wasn’t so much dictation today but I was still pretty occupied. The clinic was pretty bust as it always is so there’s usually some little thing to do. An attorney called asking for records copied on like eight patients so that took a little while. Dad arrived at the office sometime after three with Andrew. We left the office shortly after six having learned that the late patients weren’t going to show up. Dad, Andrew and I went straight to Zypher Field for tonight’ highly anticipated Tulane baseball game versus LSU. The game started at six, a time which had been adjusted to be earlier for television. The game was broadcast live on ESPN 2. The sizable parking lot was full so we parked somewhat awkwardly, close to the stadium entrance off Airline. We arrived early in the second inning if I recall correctly. LSU was at bat to start and scored three runs in the top of the first. Tulane managed one in the bottom. Although it was mildly discouraging to walk in to a score of 3-1, things got better. Both teams scored a single run in the second. Tulane tied the game in the third with two runs for a score of 4-4. In the bottom of the fourth, Tulane managed to load the bases twice and score seven runs, sharply resetting the tone of the game with a score of 11-4. Tulane didn’t score any more runs in the game. Although they managed to score four more in later innings, it wasn’t enough and Tulane won the game ever so sweetly with a final of 11-8. Beating LSU is quite nice in itself, having victory broadcast live on ESPN was even better. This game also marked the largest attendance of a college baseball game ever in Louisiana with an attendance of 12,069. We were lucky in leaving the station considering out awkward parking spot onside the road where most people were trying to exit. We went to Caf� Du Monde for some beignets after the game, which were great as always. My long streak of no powdered sugar on my clothing was not broken. Later in the evening after getting home I talked to Khadijah on the phone for about an hour before going to bed.

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Full Day at Work – Camera Arrived

I had more than a little trouble getting up rather early this morning. Mom took me to the office early this morning. I arrived at about 7:45. I had to spend the first few hours of the day finishing my review writing assignment while doing some work in between. I was done with that around noon and took care of the little dictation that remained from Friday. There were some faxes to send a patient files to copy, but things were pretty slow overall. Dad arrived from the westbank sometime after one. He gave me some assorted work to do that kept me marginally occupied until we left shortly after five. Dad took me uptown for class this evening before heading home himself. We had a guest speaker in review writing class, someone who actually writes reviews for a living, quite a feat I’d say. He talked for a little while about his work during a break in the workshop. The review I wrote in the 11th hour wasn’t burned to a crisp. There were a few valid criticisms that I’ll correct. There was no lecture but we still didn’t get out until eight. That was early enough for me to catch the shuttle bus downtown, however. From the medical school I walked down Canal St. to the river to catch the ferry. I was pretty lucky with the timing in catching the ferry. The one I caught was largely unoccupied, just three cars and a handful of pedestrians. I stood at the bow as it made the trip across. It seemed to move a lot faster than I remember, especially in turning around. It being dark outside may have had something to do with that perception. Dad picked me up on the other side to take me the rest of the way home. The camera I bought on ebay arrived in the mail today, a Sony DSC-V1, so I got to play with that for a while in the evening. I also talked to Khadijah on the phone for a good while before getting to bed.

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More Sharper

After church, Dad, Andrew and I went to the third and final game of the Houston series. The weather was beautiful again, mild and sunny. Tulane seemed to play even better today than they did yesterday. The score was tied at one after the 1st inning, but Tulane built a small lead by scoring the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th innings. Houston only got one more run in the 7th, amounting to a final of 7-2. We stopped at the store on the way home to pick up some things for dinner this evening. I picked up a roll of film I dropped off earlier in the week. Somehow, I managed to run the roll through the camera twice. There were pictures from Christmas other images double exposed from the baseball game a couple weeks ago. It was as amusing as it was frustrating, as some of the pictures would have been decent and of course it’s a waste of money. Dad grilled hamburgers and sausages for dinner. Later in the evening I tried unsuccessfully to create a mirror of the laptop I just restored, cooked some seasoning for red beans tomorrow and started on a class assignment due in about 12 hours.

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Sharper Performance

I worked on getting my laptop back up to spec after getting up this morning. Dad, Andrew and I went to the baseball game this afternoon. Tulane played Houston again. This game was considerably more enjoyable to watch. Scoring was a little more liberally scattered this afternoon. It was 2-1 Tulane after the 1st. The score was tied at three after the 4th. Tulane took the lead with a run in the 7th. Houston answered with a run in the top of the ninth with two outs to tie the score at four after Tulane almost had the game won. Tulane responded in kind, however. Brad Emaus, the first at-bat in the bottom of the ninth, hit a home run out of right field to win the game 5-4. We went home after the game. We had dinner not too long after arriving. Mom made lemon chicken. Later in the evening I worked on my laptop some more and watched Gaslight.

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