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Dec312005
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Week of December 26 – Ice Skating |
Another week and just one post to show for it. I only worked two or three days this week. The rest was basically wasted. I found out with certainly that my CPU is defective. I’m just going to get my computer upgraded as soon as I have the money rather than buy a new chip I won’t be using very long. Dad bought the family’s first high definition TV this week, a 30″ Samsung TXR3079. We’ll be getting HD satellite service next week and as yet I haven’t seen a HD signal run through it except at the store. It’s got a remarkably clear picture, and it’s incredibly heavy even though it’s not that big. This afternoon, I went with Andrey to Baton Rouge to go ice skating. I had not seen Andrey since the storm. He hasn’t been back in New Orleans terribly long. I returned one of his DVD’s, which I borrowed over four months ago. We rode out of the city around one, hoping to make the 2:30 public session, but we had so much luck. It’s no secret that Baton Rouge traffic is terrible, especially since the city’s population doubled after the storm. However that didn’t fully occur to either of us, even though we allocated 90 minutes for the trip. The interstate was a parking lot about five miles from downtown. We got off the interstate about five exits ahead of the one we wanted and meandered through what I guess could be called the outskirts of the city until we found our destination, the RiverCenter downtown. We arrived over thirty minutes late and decided to buy tickets for the 5:00 and get some dinner in the mean time. Finding food was a bit of an ordeal in itself as the entire downtown area seems to shut down at two. A bar we stopped in, which doesn’t serve food until five, directed us to a restaurant at the ground level of the Shaw Center. Before we made our way to the Capital City Grill, we had a drink at a Sushi bar on the 6th floor. I had the fried catfish, which was pretty good, and there was plenty of it. I think Andrey had a po-boy. After dinner we arrived for the skating session a little late, as it took us so long to find a place to eat. I brought some skates with me that my dad used to use. I tried them on and cleaned them up before I left the house. It was much more of an ordeal to get them on at the rink, and my feet started to hurt pretty bad when I got on the ice. They were just too small so I got a rental pair, which were ok. Ice skating is not quite like riding a bike. Even though I used to go ice skating pretty frequently, that was almost ten years ago. I was totally lost at first, wobbling all over the place. I found my stride pretty quickly though and I was able to enjoy myself. I’d always enjoyed ice skating. It’s good exercise and it’s fun to move fast with so little effort. Weaving around falling children isn’t so fun. Navigating during public skating sessions is much like driving in New Orleans. Between being a bit late and struggling with my skates for a spell, I was only on the ice for about 45 minutes. The session ended promptly and quickly at 7:30. The drive home was considerably quicker. It was an uneventful ride with one glaring exception. About twenty minutes outside of Baton Rouge, a passenger van crossed over the grassy interstate median from the other direction and pulled right in front of us on to our lane with no sort of acceleration. I’ve seen some crazy shit riding around in New Orleans, but pulling practically stopped vehicle onto an interstate highway with vehicles moving 80 miles an hour is the single most stupid act I’ve ever seen on the road. Luckily, Andrey was quick to react and swerved into (the luckily unoccupied) right lane. I got home before nine. I don’t remember what happened between then and when I went to bed.