Chatty IT Ethics Class

Dad and I arrived at the Mid City office shortly before 10:30 this morning. We were only supposed to be there a few minutes to pick up some files but we were there until 11.I worked on some dictation in Metairie this afternoon. I also swapped out the computer there for the old mid city desktop.We left the office at about four and stopped in Mid City again to drop off a number of things Dad bought for that office. There was some traffic congestion on the way uptown but we got to Tulane not long after five.This evening’s lecture had something do to with corporate IT security, but that part of the class didn’t even start until 7:45. This first two hours were spent ‘discussing’ the three case studies and generally going off topic for long periods. I had to walk out of class before it was over to catch the 8:20 shuttle.

Comments Off

Feb242007

Tulane Basketball Double Header

Update to come with game summaries, tulane won both…

Comments Off

Feb242007

Venezia Open Again

This entry is a couple days later so I don’t remember much of the work day. I think I worked 11-4 but I’m not entirely sure. I know I had a lot of dictation to work on and didn’t get all that much done. Working on my 10 inch laptop is getting more than somewhat annoying.What I do remember is lunch. I walked across Canal to Venezia, an Italian restaurant on North Carrollton that just reopened last week. I only patronized the place a few times before the storm, but I enjoyed it very much. It’s a great little neighborhood place with good food and good prices.The freshly renovated dining room was a bit brighter than I remember, although that may only be because the front door was left open to the beautiful weather today. The back of the restaurant was rearranged somewhat with the bar being moved up from the back room it was in before.I had the fettuccine alfredo with shrimp, which was decent, although I didn’t care for the floury texture of the sauce. Eventually they will probably do takeout and I’m sure they’ll get a lot more of my business.

Comments Off

Feb222007

Tulane vs. SMU

Dad and I arrived at the mid city office not long before 11 this morning. I ha plenty of dictation to work on but I didn’t get as much of it done as I probably should have. We left the office at about 5:15 and dad took me to Tulane for my class this evening.Tonight’s colonial Louisiana history class was about the last 20 years of French rule (1742-1762), which ended after the Treaty of Fontainebleau following the seven years war. We learned that class was actually not canceled last week as the chalk board said. The professor seemed to have taken it pretty well.Class was dismissed uncharacteristically early at about 7:30 this evening, especially unusual since we have a mid term exam next week and I was expecting some sort of review.After class I walked next door to Fogelman Arena where Tulane’s Women’s basketball team was playing Southern Methodist University. I came in as the second half was drawing to the close, the score after which was 36-34 Tulane.In the second half, Tulane started to fall behind, as far as 10 points as one time. They bounced back late in the half with a 24-8 run to retake and hold the head to end the game with a final score of 78-72.

Comments Off

Feb212007

Back to Work

I was at home both Monday and Tuesday to my regret. Mom and Dad were out of town. With Mom and Dad still on the way back from their little vacation this morning, I had to get up early to cover the business phone. After nine, the phone started to ring incessantly. Several new patients were called in. Dad was supposed to be home by about eleven but was held up for some three hours due to an accident on the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway. At about two I had to take a cab to the mid city office so I could unlock the doctor’s office in the suite. Dad was already there when I arrived.With all the new patients, the office was as busy as the phones this morning. It was a long day overall, we left the office at about 7:30. Later this evening I watched Shadow of a Doubt.

Comments Off

Feb182007

Andrey’s Birthday

This evening, I went to a gathering for my friend Andrey’s birthday at Mikimoto restaurant. Earlier this evening I rode downtown with them to a florist shop on Julia street. Uncle Larry and Aunt Dionne are somehow connected with the owner of the florist who has some valuable parking space adjacent to the far end of the uptown parade route. There was food and an RV there along with lots of people. I waited around with them for a while before catching a cab not long after seven. I called the cab far in advance expecting it to take a while with everything going on in town. However, it showed up rather quickly so I got to the restaurants on Carrollton quite early at about 7:20.I wanted at the bar with my DS for a while until Andrey and the rest of his friends showed up. A few friends, Andrey’s girlfriend, her mother and Andrey’s mother were in attendance. Mikimoto is a sushi bar so that was largely what we ate. This was my first time trying sushi and I was pleasantly surprised, as it’s not bad at all. Even so, eating raw fish is still mildly unsettling so I don’t intend to go far out of my way to eat it in the future. Overall the evening was evenly split between sushi, pleasant conversation and a couple bottles of Stolichnaya. I left around ten when Dad arrived to pick me up.Later that evening I watched Rome and Battlestar Galactica before bed.

Comments Off

Feb172007

Endymion

This afternoon, Mom, Dad, Andrew and myself went uptown to see the Endymion. We spend the day near Superior Grill at St. Charles and Amelia St. We got quite lucky with the parking spot. I’m not sure exactly what time we arrived but I think it was around two o’clock. Not long after we got there we got our name on the list at the restaurant for dinner. There was a three hour wait, which wasn’t really a problem.When we arrived, Tucks was still passing. The crowd today was impressive, there were people everywhere.At about 4:30 our table was ready at Superior Grill. I had the steak and shrimp fajitas which were quite good. Endymion started passing as we were finishing our meal. The theme this year was endangered and extinct species. Endymion is a rather long and elaborate parade with 30 beautiful floats, many with fiber lighting, as well as several marching bands and other organizations. It was a very lovely and enjoyable parade although there was a significant hiccup. About half way through the parade, the ‘dinosaurs’ float broke down right in front of us when a wheel fell off the float. Even though the parade was delayed 45 minutes, the party atmosphere seemed largely unhindered. Eventually it was fixed and the rest of the parade rolled. It was over around ten and we went home not long after.

Comments Off

Feb132007

Twister

At about 2:30 this morning, a tornado ripped through Westwego and Carrollton, destroying several homes and killing an elderly woman in a FEMA trailer. The resulting power outages closed several businesses and schools including Loyola and Tulane. Mom and I did not go to work today and my class was cancelled. Dad went out to the mid city office, but the power was out so I don’t believe he was able to accomplish much.While other people across the city had much bigger messes to clean up, I spent some of the afternoon tidying up my room. It wasn’t in particularly bad shape but it needed some work. My evening was spent with other trivial activities.

Comments Off

Feb132007

Corporate Ethics, or Something Like It

On Sunday, Dad and I went to see the third and final game versus Southeastern Louisiana. They lost again, 4-0. Although Tulane was hitting the ball satisfactorily, they were unable to convert hits to runs. Two double plays didn’t help either.I went to work with Dad this afternoon, arriving in Mid City at 12:15. I didn’t really do any work, although I did manage to break the internet connection. I was able to fix it just as we were leaving.We made a stop on the way to Metairie so dad could drop off some paperwork. I was going to work on dictation this afternoon but a bunch of little chores prevented me from getting around to it. We left the office at about five so I could get to class.This evening’s IT Ethics lecture had something to do with ethics in the corporate world. To be honest I didn’t pay that much attention, although a lot the material like personal needs was familiar as I head it in my intro to sociology class a while back at Tech. The lecture in the second have of the class has been consistently much less interesting than the case study discussion in the first half.After class I was hoping to catch the 7:50 shuttle but I either missed it or it never came. I caught the 8:20 and went to the Sheraton to wait for my ride.Later this evening I watched the Galactica and Rome episodes I missed yesterday.

Comments Off

Feb102007

Tulane vs. UAB

Since it was rather cold in Hammond this afternoon, Dad and I passed on the baseball game and went to see the Tulane women’s basketball team play UAB. Tulane has a great team this year, currently 21-4. There was a nice crowd of exactly 1,111 on hand for this afternoon’s match.Tulane and UAB were largely neck and neck through the first half. Tulane had a narrow lead at the half with the score 29-26. While both teams played well, it took me a bit to get used to the infrequency of scoring in women’s basketball. It’s been a good while since I was last at such a game.Tulane pulled ahead in a big way in the second half with a 17-3 run at the start of the half. I kinda felt sorry for UAB’s lead Carmen Guzman, who was visibly distressed. The final score was 66-48.The basketball season is coming to a close and I’m sorry I haven’t been to more games, this one was quite fun. A handful of ‘vocal’ fans added considerable entertainment value, although the loudest one in the house was UAB’s coach, who was barking orders throughout the game. Mid way through the first half, UAB player Brittany Jones knocked down Ashley Langford who’d just stolen the ball, drawing boos throughout the rest of the game. A sizable group of fans booed whenever she had the ball, it was quite amusing.Dad and I came home after the game and went back out not long after. I agreed to tag along with Dad to Office Depot, Best Buy and the west bank office. Just as we were pulling out of tall timbers we heard a car accident right behind us at the corner of Gen. De Gaulle and Tall Oak Drive. This is a frequent trouble spot. Cars for whatever reason pull out in front of oncoming traffic and get hit. In this case a small Ford will two adults and two kids aboard pulled in front of another small sedan. We didn’t see the accident but we certainly heard it. Dad and I, along with the gentleman in the car in front of us got out to attend to those in the accident. Everyone appeared largely uninjured although the lone woman in the car driving Gen. De Gaulle had chest pain, likely caused by the airbag, and got an ambulance. We waited with the woman until it arrived, somewhere in the neighborhood of five minutes.Although I fully intended to buy something I don’t need, I came home empty handed. I wish I’d stayed home could have folded some T-shirts or something.

Comments Off

Feb102007

Tulane Baseball Season Opens Big

Dad and I got to the Mid City office early this morning at about 9:45 I’m not sure why. We had a handful of patient’s through the door today including a few new ones, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly busy. I have a bit of work to this afternoon, but not enough to particularly justify my presence. Had I not accompanied dad to the baseball game this evening I could have actually stayed home.Tulane’s baseball season began this evening with the first of three games versus Southeastern Louisiana at Zypher Field. The new Turchin Stadium is still under contraction so the green wave will continue to play there until about April. The weather was quite cold this evening. I had a jacket but I was a bit underdressed.Attendance to tonight’s game was quite impressive at about 3000 fans, especially considering the lousy weather and parades this evening.Tulane set the tone early with two runs in the first inning including a left field single by Warren McFadden, who saved a run with a great catch in the top of inning. Southeastern scored a run in the third. Tulane scored two in the fifth and one in the bottom of the sixth.I can’t remember exactly when, but I ran into Melanie at the game this evening. We haven’t seen each other in nearly two years. We spoke briefly. The conversation was surprisingly pleasant.SELU closed the gap seventh with two runs, bringing the score to 5-3. After the seventh inning stretch, Tulane scored four runs with two hits, bringing the score to 9-3. By this time Dad and I were ready to go as we were confidant of the outcome and it wasn’t getting any warmer.The eighth inning, which we heard on the radio heading home, was rather spectacular and long. There were ten runs on nine hits, including a grand slam homer by Rustin Rebowe. This “inning that would not end” was largely responsible for stretching the running time to 3:39. Southeastern managed to score one run in the top of the ninth bringing the final score to 19-4, a complete blowout.Later this evening I watched Flags of Our Fathers.

Comments Off

Feb092007

Short Class

Like every other day this week, I went to the office but didn’t do any actual work. The office has been rather slow this week as well, we haven’t seen many patients.This evening’s Colonial Louisiana class generally covered the 1720’s and 30’s. The lecture was rather draining and I left at the break at around 7:10. I went to the boot for a while where I later met Dad. We went home after one drink. Later this evening I watched Annie Hall. I thought it was a decent movie but I don’t quite get why it has the status it does.

Comments Off

Feb062007

John Foster Dulles

I went to the mid city office with dad this morning and was there until about five this afternoon. I don’t recall doing any actual work. I did spend a lot of time making copies, however.This evening’s US Foreign Policy class was about John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under Eisenhower. We were assigned to real a book on Mr. Dulles and the class started with a quiz about him. I made the mistake of ordering the book online and did not receive it in time for class. I did spend the ‘work’ day reading about him online so I was able to scrape by. In addition to think little known historical figure, the lecture was also about US/Soviet relations after World War II and an overview of WWII in the Pacific.I went to the Sheraton after class. Dad was at the mall this evening getting my little brother’s glasses fixed. He picked me up when he was done with that. We got home shortly after nine. As I was a bit late for Boston Legal I decided to watch yesterday’s episode of 24. IT was a decent episode, made a bit better by the 5.1 surround sound on my computer. Later this evening I watched Almost Famous.

Comments Off

Feb052007

Another Week Gone By

So, another week has gone by class and work, not much else. My classes last week were fine, another marathon session in colonial Louisiana history. After the class was about half over I didn’t have the will power to keep taking notes. Tuesday’s foreign policy class was considerably less draining.The new computer speakers and sound card I ordered arrived this week. I got the Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 speakers and a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer card. This combination and a little tweaking produce a very impressive sound. One complaint about my speaker set is the bass is too boomy out of the box, which I would not disagree with. However, setting the bass redirection to the THX recommended 80hz seems to help a great deal. I’m still trying to decide if the sound is entirely satisfactory.Today, Monday, I went to work with dad for about 11 this morning. We were at the Mid City office briefly and then left for Metairie. I really didn’t have much of anything to do today and was unoccupied almost all afternoon. I had a rather nasty losing streak in freecell.This evening’s IT ethics class was much like the last, divided by discussion of three ‘case studies’ from the book and the lecture, which mostly consists of the instructor reading off long-winded powerpoint slides. One of the case studies was mine but it was a rather simple issue, although we discussed it longer than I expected we would.Class was dismissed at about eight. I caught the 8:20 shuttle and waited for Dad downtown at the Sheraton. Later this evening I watched last Sunday’s episode of Rome, which I only missed because I forgot about it.

Comments Off

February 2007

Recent Posts: