July 2009


Sunday and Monday

I was up earlier than usual Sunday morning as Bianca woke up at eight to be ready to leave at nine for her flight today. Since I was awake I was able to go to church without any problem. The rest of the day was rather uneventful.Monday was rather uneventful as well. The radiator on Dad’s car broke last Friday and this morning he took it to Steve’s on Gen. DeGaulle to have it fixed. We didn’t hear from them until about four in the afternoon when the work day was near its end so I never got to the office today. I took the time to clean my closet, do some laundry and waste time on the computer. I also finished watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which was not entertaining despite whatever artistic merit the film might have.

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Shirts and Snug

Earlier this week I heard from Bianca who said she was going to be in town today to catch a plane tomorrow morning. She needed a place to stay and I was able to oblige. I took care of some chores before she showed up at one this afternoon. Not long after she arrived and got settled, we went out to Metairie to do some shopping. There aren’t any malls where she lives and she expressed a desire to look for clothes and shoes.Our first stop was Clearview Mall. I think we only went there because she thought there was an Old Navy store there. There isn’t one and we weren’t there long but we did stop in several stores first. After walking through Clearview we drove down Veterans to Lakeside Mall.We were at Lakeside for a few hours and stopped in several stores. Our first stop was Express. Bianca bought a few items and I got a purple collared shirt. We then went to the food court to satisfy Bianca’s craving for cookies. Later we went through good number of stores including several that cater only to females. Before we left the mall we stopped at Eddie Bauer where Bianca helped me pick out a short-sleeved collared shirt and an undershirt. I wasn’t really happy with what I was wearing and wanted something else to wear for dinner.We left the mall at about 4:30. As there was no longer an Old Navy in Lakeside either and Bianca still wanted to go, we drove out to the nearest location in Elmwood. Bianca seemed disappointed in what they had to offer but she did get a couple of shirts. I got some undershirts myself. Before we headed to dinner we also stopped at two other stores nearby, K-Mart and Rue 21.We took Earhart Blvd. back to the city. We had a 6:30 reservation for dinner at Snug Harbor. As we were driving across the Quarter on Decatur Street we both saw Ray Nagin at a crosswalk and waved at him. He waved and smiled back which was pretty cool.There was a healthy crowd in the restaurant when we arrived. I ordered the blackened fish and Bianca ordered a hamburger. During dinner we got to talking to a couple semi-regular visitors from Florida. After dinner we took our seats for the first set of the evening with Astral Project.I’ve seen Astral Project several times here but this was one of the best sets in memory. All four members were in attendance and the music was great. They played several songs from their latest CD and some new compositions including what was billed at the “premiere performance” of McCoy by Steve Masakowski. They also played Sophisticated Lady featuring a solo by Tony Dagradi on his newly-purchased baritone saxophone.After the set, Bianca and I walked to Cafe Du Monde for some beignets. Neither of us had been there in quite a while so it seemed an obligatory stop. It was quite crowded even though it was about 10 PM but we were able to find a table without any trouble. I decided to try the Cafe au Lait even though I don’t like coffee. I was reminded why. The beignets were excellent as always, though. Having had our fill, we walked back to the car and home for the evening.

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Meh

Not much happened since my long weekend out of town and I was not very interesting I posting virtually nothing, although I should have posted last Saturday after going to a little gathering at Patrick’s house in River Ridge. Not a great deal has happened lately. On Monday I saw a career counselor at Tulane regarding an internship I will need in the fall. I bought some floor stands for my new computer speakers… and that about covers it.

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Extended Weekend

Some days of this past week deserved their own entries but I have decided to summarize my recent change of scenery with this one entry. I am writing this log entry from the lounge car of an Amtrak train on my way back to New Orleans after a few days in Ruston. A few days ago, Krystle told me she had a chance to come down to New Orleans with a new roommate and asked if I might like coming back up to Ruston for a few days. As I already had a three day weekend and a couple more days off would be no big problem, a change of scenery was appealing.She arrived on Wednesday night. I was trying to unclog the bathroom sink when she arrived and couldn’t have looked presentable. Later that night we watched Changling on my newly-purchased Pioneer Blu-ray player. It works well but it’s painfully slow compared to the PS3.We left for Ruston the next day. We stopped at IHOP on the way out of town. I suspect that destination is in danger of becoming a tradition. If I remember right, we had dinner at Ponchatoula’s that evening.The week kind of blends together although I can easily recall individual events. One of the days I was there, we had lunch with Krystle’s roommates, Sabrina and Jose. Later that day we drove to Monroe to go to Best Buy. Another evening, Krystle and I went to see Public Enemy. IT was a well crafted film but I found the handheld cinematography rather distracting as it was a period piece.The evening of the fourth, we drove out to Pea Ridge where some relatives and friends of Krystle’s folks were celebrating Independence Day with plenty of booze and explosives. We were there for an hour or two before we decided we had seen enough fireworks.On Monday we went out to Monroe in the afternoon. We just needed to get out of the house and I wanted to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy a clock. Krystle’s roommate Jose had a rather interesting wall clock that I just had to have. When we got there we stopped at a new sushi place for something to eat. After a late lunch we did our shopping and I found the clock I was looking for.Krystle and I left this morning to head to Jackson. Rather than have her drive me all the way to New Orleans, I just caught the train to go the second half of the way. The trip was not unpleasant although I the run from Jackson to New Orleans can be done in half the time by car.

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