2005

Mar232005

Long Day at Work

This whole Wednesday largely amounted to a long day at work. Dad and I arrived at the office for 10:15. The office was closed today but I had more than enough to keep occupied. There were some damaged ceiling tiles from a leak on the 3rd floor so I tried replacing a few of those with less luck than I would have liked. I cleaned the hydrocollator, more thoroughly than usual, which took about an hour. There was also dictation to do. I finished all seven reports that were waiting. Around four or five I finished all my work but I didn’t leave the office until quarter to seven when Dad got back from the east office to take me home. Later in the evening, I watched 61*. I talked to Khadijah for a while before bed.

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Mar222005

The Merchant of Venice

Dad and I went to the office for 11 this morning. I had some various activities to do but I was hardly busy. The office was busy though, a good number of patients made their way through. I had a date at 6:30 but I was pretty bored by five so I had dad take me down Carrollton to a camera shop that was nearby where Melanie and I were having dinner. Unfortunately there wasn’t a whole lot to look at in the camera shop so I didn’t stay long. I still had over an hour before I was to meet Melanie so I stopped in a couple of the other nearby stores Ace Hardware, the Sprint Store, Blockbuster. I still had lots of time though so I went to an ice cream shop a couple doors down from Venezia where I was to have dinner. I got a cup of ice cream and sat down with a copy of the Gambit for a little while. I moved to a table at Venezia shortly after six. Melanie showed up on time at 6:30. I had the stuffed shells, a small but quite adequate dish. After dinner we took a streetcar towards the river to Canal Place. We went to see the 10 o’clock showing of The Merchant of Venice. We got downtown before eight though so we sat in the Wyndam lobby and talked for a while until the movie started. The movie was quite good. I’m hardly a Shakespeare fan but his play was beautifully rendered on the silver screen. Al Pachino gave an excellent performance. After the movie Melanie and I went back to the lobby for an hour or so to sit around before going home. Shortly after one, we got a cab home. I rode home with Melanie to her house and then went home myself.

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Mar212005

Work

There was a reasonably full day of work today. There were a number of reports to do. There was also a considerable problem with the most recent patient data base, apparently it isn’t so up to date, which I guess poses a significant problem. We left the office around five to go home. I made sloppy joe sandwiches for dinner. I spent a good part of the evening looking at camera on ebay, both digital and seventies era rangefinders. I watched a little TV before getting to bed at a decent hour.

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Mar202005

Another Series Sweep

We went home for a few minutes after church before leaving again to go to this afternoon’s baseball game. Dad, Andrew and I went to see Tulane play East Carolina for the last game of the series. Unlike the easy win yester, this game was a lot more interesting. Going into the eights inning the score was 6-4 East Carolina. I figured Tulane would probably lose but they rallied, scoring four runs. An NCAA rule prohibits starting an inning on Sunday after 4 PM. As a result, no ninth inning was played and Tulane won 8-6. Later that evening, I watched the second to last episode of Carnivale before going to bed.

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Mar192005

Tulane vs. East Carolina

Dad, Andrew and I went out to the baseball game this afternoon. Tulane played East Carolina. Tulane played rather well, outscoring ECU rather handily. Tulane won again, 13-6, not nearly as dramatically as Friday. After dinner, we watched Ray, a well-polished biopic. Before going to bed, I watched Clerks.

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Mar192005

Uneventful Friday

I went to work today, which on a whole was rather uncircumstantial. Dad and I picked up Andrew from school before heading home. We had pizza for dinner before mom and dad went out for the evening. I changed an old toilet seat which was a considerable pain in the ass because the hardware was pretty well rusted. I watched some TV and spoke with Khadijah on the phone before bed. Overall it was a pretty full Friday night, which doesn’t usually bother me but this wasn’t how I’d been planning to spend the evening.

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Mar182005

Once Upon a Matress

Once Upon a Mattress Dad dropped me off at work early today so he could attend a funeral. There was just a little dictation waiting, which I did. I took a bus downtown around 11 to go to my class at noon. Today’s marketing class overviewed retailing. Ms. Snell went for 45 minutes, late but still early. I had lunch with Ann after class. I took the bus back to work after class and arrived just before two. I think there was just half of a report for me to finish. I was largely unoccupied until Dad and I left the office around five. This being St. Patrick’s Day, Dad wanted to stop by Parasol’s, a seemingly inexplicable popular place to go on this day. There’s always a block party around the place. We had a little trouble parking but managed. We got a drink and our fill of the crowds and left around 6:30 as I had somewhere to be. I attended a school play this evening which Melanie and her mother were heavily involved in. It was an adaptation of the Princess and the Pea entitled Once Upon a Mattress. It was a pretty impressive production, especially considering the cast was formed of middle-school students. I spoke with Melanie for a short while before getting a ride home from my dad, who I introduced to Melanie’s parent’s this evening. Before going to bed, I watched Dazed and Confused.

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Mar162005

Tokyo Cowboys

Dad and I got to the office around 11. There wasn’t much work to do for me today, especially since the clinic was closed. I got some lunch not long after arriving. Dad took me uptown at quarter past one. I had him drop me off at a camera shop on Maple St that I’ve wanted to check out, as I’m still looking for a dependable place to get my film developed. I dropped off a roll and bought some film for grandma’s old camera. They have a collection of used equipment I browsed for a while. I walked to the Boot and remained there for a while until my prints were ready. I left around four and walked back to the camera shop. The black and white film I gave them yielded prints with a substantial blue cast probably due to the older machine. The pictures were of nothing important anyway. The negatives are fine. I browsed the shop for a while longer as I had nothing to do until quarter to six. I left around five. There was a guest speaker in class this evening, Daneeta Saft. She’s a filmmaker and presumably a friend of the professor. She came to talk about filmmaking in general and her most recent project, Tokyo Cowboys. There were also a few presentations and some lecture regarding the movie we watched last week. After class I walked to Turchin to meet Dad who was watching Tulane play Texas Southern. Shortly after we arrived, Tulane was winning 7-3. We left a little while after I got there as it was rather cold. Tulane won with a final of 8-4. Later in the evening I took apart the Mamiyaflex again as the work I did on the shutter wasn’t enough. I think I got it this time. I talked to Melanie online briefly, she canceled our date for Friday, which in itself doesn’t bother me but I thought I deserved at least a phone call to blow off week-old plans. Before bed I watched Dazed and Confused.

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Mar152005

Finger Sandwiches and a Shutter

I got up around nine and had plenty of time this morning before we left the house for the day and watched Battlestar Galactica. I got to the mall at about 10 past eleven so I had plenty of time to browse the news and some message boards before class. Marketing class today pertained to marketing channels and her husbands sudden albeit not entirely surprising unemployment. He was an assistant basketball coach that was let go when head coach Shawn Finney was fired over the weekend. Dad picked me up after class and took me to the office. Before making it there though we picked up some things from Winn Dixie. Today is Dr. Stevenson’s birthday so we got some food for a little ad-hoc celebration during work. The rainy weather kept a lot of patient’s away so there wasn’t too much distraction from the chicken wings, finger sandwiches and birthday cake. I didn’t do anything resembling work while I was at the office. With the food out of the way I just sat with my laptop for a while and listened to music while I continued to catch up with log entries. We left the office a fee minutes past five. Traffic was rather heavy but Dad got me downtown to class with a few minutes to spare. Randy discussed some events during the sixties, most notably the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club. Class was dismissed around eight. Dad was waiting to pick me up. Later in the evening after I got home, I tried cleaning the shutter on the Mamiyaflex with reasonable success. I also watched some TV and printed some pictures of the clinics for Dad before bed.

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Mar142005

500th Post – "Polished" Movie Review

This is the 500th entry in my daily log, proving that words can flow freely even if you have nothing to say. I had to get up pretty early this morning to get a ride to work with mom as dad was staying home for the day while Larry was back at the house this afternoon patching up some things from Saturday. The beautiful weather from the weekend was gone, it was overcast today. I arrived at work at 7:45. There were a number of reports to do, all of which I finished around two. After some FreeCell and checking a number of bills, I got a cab to school around four. I went to Richardson for a little while before heading to class around 20 past five. During this evening’s review writing class, we went over the ‘polished’ movie reviews we revised from the last couple week’s assignments. We only had time in class to discuss the generic movie review. Mine got reasonable praise. I put it on the website during the class. We also discussed the next assignment, in which we are to interview a previous professor about a class we’ve taken. I called Dad after class and he offered to meet me downtown to take me home. I took the Freret bus to Canal Street, where Dad was waiting for me in front of the Sheraton. I had some of the red beans Dad made for dinner when I got home. Later in the evening I unpacked and tested the photo printer Dad bought over the weekend. Before bed I watched Carnivale and flipped through my scrapbook for a while.

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Mar132005

Triple Play!

After church, Dad and I went straight to Turchin for this afternoon’s Tulane Baseball game, the 3rd and final in the Cal State Fullerton series. We did stop at the Frostop for lunch first. I got a roast beef sandwich. The weather was even warmer than yesterday, but there was a howling wind through the better part of the game that caused havoc with the ball. Even so, this was a pretty enjoyable game. Tulane played considerably better than the previous two games. After coming close yesterday, I doubt they were intimidated by Fullerton anymore. Cal State had a number of home runs during the game, carried by the wind. Tulane scored consistently and stayed on top, but I don’t remember any Tulane balls leaving the park. Tulane got a triple play in the 5th, one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. The game ended with a win for Tulane with a final of 13-9, salvaging the three game series. We went home after the game. Grandma and Andrew made some smothered chicken for dinner. The evening was largely devoid of circumstance. I fooled with the Mamiyaflex for a while. The shutter is going to need a little work. I watched Stargate SG-1 before bed.

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Mar122005

Game 2 – Astral Project

Shortly after I meandered out of bed this morning, Uncle Larry showed up at the house to work on the plumbing. We’ve had a slow leak somewhere that causes a running water sound to mild noise through the house. Dad, Andrew and I went to see Tulane play Cal State again at Zypher Field this afternoon. We left the house around noon. We brought some food and drinks along. We didn’t have all that much time to eat it as it took a while to get in, the place was rather jammed with cars. We took our time with the finger sandwiches though and walked in after the 1st inning. Tulane did a little better today, but not good enough. The game wasn’t much to watch until the 7th inning. Going in the score was 9-3. Tulane rallied however, scoring five runs in the 7th, bringing the score to 9-8. Unfortunately there was no more scoring and Tulane lost by one which at the very least was better than losing by 14. After the game, Dad took me to Mandina’s after stopping by the office for a minute. Although it was pretty crowded, I felt lucky to get a table in just a couple minutes. Melanie arrived about 10 minutes after I got a table. We split a shrimp po-boy, which was more than enough. After dinner we caught a streetcar down Canal St. to go to a show this evening. We walked across the quarter to Frenchman St. after getting off at the end of the line. We went to see Astral Project play at Snug Harbor for nine. We arrived at about 20 past eight. A lot of seats were already taken. There were some cameras there, which the audience was told were filming for a live DVD. The show was alright, although I enjoyed them more the last time we saw them New Year ‘s Eve I think. After the show we walked next door to d.b.a. where Dad said he’d be for an 11 o’clock show. I called him and learned he wasn’t able to leave the house this evening. Melanie said she was tired anyway and wanted to go home. We walked down Decatur a good ways looking for a United Cab so I could use the account. We eventually found one parked on Conti. As it turns out, it was the same driver as the cab I took last night, I figured there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I’d ever see the same cab driver twice. I rode with Melanie to her house and then went home myself after dropping her off. I was on the computer for a while after I got home and I think I talked to Khadijah on the phone for a little while before going to bed.

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Mar112005

Cold Water

I was going to go to work with dad this morning but I ended up having to stay home. When we got up this morning the hot water heater was off. It turned out that the gas had been shut off as the bill got lost and was not paid. I had to stay home and wait for them to come out and turn the gas back on. Someone came by around noon. He was at the house for a little while as he had to look over the water heater and some other things. Shortly after he left, I left the house myself to go to work. I got real lucky as the bus passed as soon as I got to the stop. Dad was waiting for me on Tulane and Loyola to take me the rest of the way to the office. The office closed just after we arrived. Dad had some things to do but I don’t remember doing any actual work. I think we left a little over an hour after we arrived. We drove uptown to Andrew’s school to pick him up. With him in tow, we drove to somebody’s house to pick up some tickets for this evening’s baseball game. We then went to get something to eat and ended up at Theo’s, a little pizza place on Magazine I’ve been to twice before. We were there for about 45 minutes. We all split a pepperoni pizza. Having eaten, we made our way to Turchin Stadium for this evening’s Tulane baseball game versus Cal State Fullerton, defending College World Series champions. We arrived shortly after 5:30. Dad and Andrew had their tickets and went in. I waited outside the gate for Melanie, who had her parent’s grandstand tickets. I already knew she was going to be a little late but the game was almost a half hour old when she arrived around seven. We hadn’t missed much anyway, and what we did see wasn’t all that great either. Cal State dominated throughout the game. Besides the score, Tulane just didn’t look to be putting up much of a fight. The final score was 15-1. We left in the 8th inning when a Fullerton home run bumped the score to 9-1. We both walked to her house after the game. I brought 2001: A Space Odyssey with me and we watched that. I got a cab home not too long after it was over. Melanie said she had to get up early in the morning. When I got home I found an old camera on my bed, a Mamiyaflex II. It belonged to my late grandfather who purchased it in Japan while he was in the service after the Korean War. Grandma Laughlin had spoken with me about giving me the camera but I wasn’t expecting it. Although I should have just gone to bed when got home around two, I stayed up for an hour researching this particular camera on the net. It took me about a half hour just to figure out exactly what model it is.

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Mar102005

A Little Class, Less Work

I don’t remember having all that much time to spare before this afternoon’s marketing class. We just took an exam today. 20 multiple choice questions and an essay, I think I did reasonably well even though I failed to study. I walked to ‘the Chinese place’ after class to meet Ann for lunch around 12:30. She showed at ten to one. After lunch, I walked back with her to the store, bought something and then walked outside to catch a bus to work. I walked out in time to see one pass by. I didn’t have to wait long for the next one though. While I was waiting, one bus stopped and two men stormed out ready to fist fight. The bus driver deprived those waiting of a show. I got to the office around two. There were some reports waiting but I wasn’t very busy. Dad and I left the office around five. I think he stopped to wash the car on the way home. I don’t remember anything of circumstance taking place in the evening.

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2005

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