2009

Apr042009

Akitabare

This afternoon, I went out with Mom and Andrew to visit Aunt Doris and Aunt Dionne in Metairie. My folks never visited them for Christmas so we finally brought their gifts to them. After visiting with Aunt Doris we went over to Aunt Dionne’s house. They are in the middle of some home renovations. They are adding a laundry room to the back of the house to replace a shed they were using.This evening I met Andrey and Patrick at d.b.a. for a night out precipitated by Patrick’s recent change in availability. I arrived earlier than them and got to talking to an older lady there. My friend arrived at about 10:15 and Little Freddie King started his set not long after that.Later we left d.b.a. and went down the street a bit to Yuki Izakaya for a bottle of sake and some of their food offerings. I think we ordered a bottle of Akitabare “Koshiki Junzukuri” but I’m not sure. Andrey had to drive so I think Patrick and I drank most of it. We also sampled some of their small portioned food items like edamame, onigiri, kimchi and something else I’m sure I wouldn’t have tried were it not for the adult beverages… it was grilled, and green.If I remember right we left there sometime after midnight, maybe closer to one. We went back to Andrey’s house, stopping at Rally’s for the traditional fries and a coke. We also picked up David from his house. After hanging out there for about an hour I called a cab at about two to go home.

Comments Off

Apr032009

Fast & Furious

General’s chicken from Five Happiness was the high point of the workday. Later in the afternoon I got a message from Andrey inviting me to join a bunch of friends to see Fast & Furious. I knew the movie was not worth my money but it was still more appealing than staying home.I called a cab to meet Andrey uptown and ended up waiting for him at the Popeye’s on Carrollton. He picked me up from there and we drove to the Elmwood palace theater. Veronica, David and Kerry were with him. We arrived at the theater around nine, a half hours before the previews started. I probably shouldn’t have been but I was surprised to see how crowded the theater was, even though this was opening night. The showing must have been sold out. After we arrived we were joined by a few more of Andrey’s friends who I am not acquainted with.As for the movie itself, the consensus of reviews are correct. It’s got fast cars, explosions, hot chicks and a pathetic excuse for a plot. It was marginally entertaining, even if it had absolutely no regard for the laws of physics.After the movie they drove back to Tulane and I caught a cab home from there. I got home after 11 and talked to Krystle on the phone before bed.

Comments Off

Apr012009

Bucktown All-Stars

Tuesday went by just fine. Yesterday evening’s ethics class went well, although Mr. Greenberg did not collect the homework because he did not recall assigning it.There was no class today. I left the office at 4:30 to take the streetcar downtown for the first Wednesday at the Square concert of 2009. It was my first time riding the red Canal Street cars since Katrina. I made it to Lafayette Square before the music started this evening. As I was looking around I saw Nicole, who I met a couple weeks ago at the BSG meetup.I brought my camera with me to get some pictures. The opening act this evening was the Soul Rebels Brass Band. I’m sure I’ve seen them before although I don’t recall when. They put on a nice show and the crowd seemed to like it. As they were wrapping up I got something to eat and tried my hand at photographing the crowd. New Orleans Saints’ mascot “Gumbo” was mingling with people.Later on after six, the main event started. The Bucktown All-Stars, a nine-member ensemble put on a lively performance. Unfortunately I only saw about a half hour of it before my ride arrived. The band was very engaging and easy to photograph.Later this evening I spent a good deal of time looking through my pictures. As usual, taking the pictures was much more fun than combing through the results. It was overcast this afternoon so my F/4 telephoto lens didn’t have quite enough light to work with. I bumped my camera up to ISO 800 but it wasn’t enough for viable handheld speeds so a lot my pictures were a bit blurry. I ended up keeping 59 of the 633 I took. Later this evening after I had my pictures online and spoke to Krystle on the phone and watched 28 Days Later.

Comments Off

Mar302009

Spring Break

I had the past week off of school for spring break although I didn’t make much use of the time. I still worked during the day as usual this week. With a more flexible schedule, my mom insisted on scheduling a couple checkups while I’m still insured. I had a dentist appointment on Monday afternoon for cleaning and a checkup. It went pretty well and it’s always reassuring to hear a dentist speak highly of the condition of your teeth. I’ve always been nervous when they dig those metal probes into your molars looking for cavities. Before work on Wednesday I had an appointment with a general practitioner for a checkup which I thought was entirely unnecessary. Sure enough, I’m fine. The remainder of my week was wasted on the computer and movies.

Comments Off

Mar222009

Daybreak

After a relatively uneventful day at work and a couple hours at home getting some things done, I went to Squeal BBQ one more time to watch the series finale of Battlestar Galactica with some other fans. There was a smaller crowd this evening compared to last week. Six other people showed up including two new people. Following the airing, the group of us discussed various aspects of the finale before dispersing around 11.I suppose this the part where I am supposed to comment on the series finale of a show I’ve been watching and loving since it began five years ago. I have yet to watch it a second time which will likely refine my opinion. At this point I am not exactly pleased with the way the show ended, although the ultimate “happy ending” was somewhat surprising and satisfactory. However, the last few episodes did not answer as many questions as they could have. While the focus on characters was not necessarily a flawed idea, I think it could have been done without sacrificing so much plot.The rest of this weekend was pretty uneventful. I watched a couple movies including Winchester ‘73. I did speak to Theresa on the phone Saturday evening, a pretty rare event.

Comments Off

Mar192009

Last Foxtrot

This past Saturday and Sunday were rather uneventful, or something incredible happened and I just don’t remember… probably the former.Monday’s class was shorter than usual to allow students the opportunity to see a guest speaker on campus, Billy Collins. Tuesday’s class was about the media and anti-social behavior. The discussion centered bad behavior depicted in the media and its possible effects on the public. Wednesday’s writing class had something to do with subcultures which served as an excuse to watch the Hop Topic episode of South Park.I had more than enough to do at work today. Before class this evening I had some time to see the festivities outside Boggs Hall for Science and Engineering Week. They had a crawfish boil and a band. I can’t remember what they called themselves but I recognized several of the members from the Tulane Jazz Ensemble. This evening’s class concerned contracts, which were introduced last week. The lecture lasted until about 8:30. There was a small crowd of about 10 for ballroom this evening, likely due to the impending spring break. This was the last week of foxtrot. We only learned one more new step so for the most part we just danced steps we’d learned previously, which was a lot of fun. I’ve actually picked up on this particular style pretty well compared to other things we’ve done.Like last week it took a good while to get a cab to pick me up. A young lady named Krista was also waiting for a cab to go to Bourbon Street and we agreed to share one since I was heading in that general direction anyway. She’s relatively new to the city so I mentioned a bunch of places around town I like, hopefully without boring the girl.

Comments Off

Mar132009

BSG at Squeal BBQ

Before leaving for work this evening I tried my hand at wet shaving for the first time. I did some research a few weeks ago on this as an alternative to multi-blade cartridges and ordered all the required equipment. I bought a badger hair brush, a Merkur safety razor, English shaving soap and an assortment of double edged blades. Even though shaving this way takes practice, the comparison between this and cartridges was readily apparent.I don’t recall anything of consequence happening at work. Later this evening, I took a cab out to Squeal BBQ uptown. I read about a meetup on TrekBBS to watch Battlestar Galactica and figured it would be pretty interesting compared to watching at home. I arrived there at about eight. Before BSG started at nine about eight other people showed up. It was pretty fun watching the show with other fans and the food there is quite decent. After the show aired the group of us spoke about the episode for a little while before people started heading home. Later on after everyone else left I spoke for a while with Nicole, a fellow Tulane student who posted the gathering on the message board. It turns out we have both taken a lot of the same classes. If I remember right, we spoke until about midnight after which I caught a cab home in front of the Maple Leaf Bar.

Comments Off

Mar122009

Blowup

By and large this week has gone quietly enough. Things haven’t been especially busy at work. In writing class this week we finished watching Blowup on Monday and then discussed it on Wednesday. You might say I didn’t share the instructor’s ‘appreciation’ for the film. I found it to be uninteresting and rather overrated based on what I’ve read about it. I spoke frankly on the film in a Blackboard post but largely held my tongue during the group discussion. It took serious will power to contain myself when Mr. Griffith equated the filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni with Stanley Kubrick. If I wasn’t in such a good mood a profanity-laced outburst might have ensued.Tuesday’s ethics in media class was short as the professor had a speaking engagement that evening. His lecture on ethics in entertainment wouldn’t have been much longer anyway.Tonight’s business law class was a bit late in getting started and only partially introduced contracts, the next subject of extended discussion. The professor spent a lot of time covering certain laws he thought would be of interest such as D.U.I. law, leins and business taxes. Class was not dismissed until 8:30 so I didn’t have a long wait for ballroom tonight. This was the third of four weeks of foxtrot. Attendance was light this evening, likely due to the Lupe Fiasco concert at McAlister. There was only one new step introduced this evening so I didn’t have much trouble with the dancing, although it did take me 40 minutes to get a cab home.Later this evening I watched the big event, Stewart vs. Cramer on The Daily Show. A wireless card I won on eBay for my old VAIO Picturebook, a PCWA-C800S arrived in the mail today and I got it working with no problem.

Comments Off

Mar062009

Tulane vs. Tulsa

With another whole week gone by, I thought I would be able to think of a couple circumstantial events to mention, but very little comes to mind. Nothing of particular circumstance occurred in class or work early this week. At home I watched some movies and wasted my time in other ways.Today, Thursday, afforded some modicum of variety. I tried a new place for lunch this afternoon, The Ruby Slipper on Cleveland at Cortez. The grilled sandwich I had was good but I now know I don’t care for sweet potato fries.There was no lecture in business law class this evening. The professor returned our exams and then dismissed class so he could attend a funeral. I was pleasantly surprised to find I did very well on the exam, even though my essays were apparently brief compared to other students that took a lot longer to finish the test.With so much time to kill before ballroom this evening, I went to the women’s basketball game which was already in progress. Tulane is hosting the Women’s Conference USA championship. They were playing Tulsa in the first round. I arrived with five minutes remaining in the first half. It’s my understanding that they could have been playing better, but the score was 27-21 Tulane at the half.Tulsa’s offense and defense appeared to break down completely at the start of the second half. Tulane opened with a nine minute rally, outscoring Tulsa 15-0. Tulsa finally scored a layup which started a comeback which made the game interesting up to the end. Over the final 10 minutes, Tulsa closed to within three points. Tulane stepped up again in the final minutes to win the game with a final of 44-49. The game ended around 8 o’clock so I still had an hour to go so I went to the LBC and sat with my laptop for a while before ballroom this evening…

Comments Off

Feb262009

Mardi Gras and Such

In this the latest entry in what might as well be called the weekly log, I will attempt to recall events from the last 11 days. The week preceding the Mardi Gras break was not especially unusual although there was no class on Wednesday.In class last Monday we watched a Simpsons episode about the Internet and then the first half of the pilot episode of The Prisoner, a BBC show from the 60’s which the previous Simpsons episode referenced heavily. Tuesday’s media ethics class was about confidentiality if I remember right. There was no homework assignment in deference to the upcoming holiday. I was at the office for a “full” day on Wednesday since I didn’t have class. I had my business law class as usual on Thursday. After a full lecture we reviewed for the upcoming exam the following week.The weekend was pretty quiet for me. Andrew was out of the house a lot. I did make an update to the VAIO wallpaper page last week, adding the VAIO P included wallpapers which I’ve been seeking for a while.After hearing from Andrey Monday night, I met him and some of his friends uptown Tuesday morning for the Rex parade. We watched the parade on the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Louisiana. I had my camera with me and took a few half decent pictures. I didn’t get hit in the face with any throws this time although I suppose that’s expected since Rex doesn’t throw much anyway.After the parade we walked to Magazine Street and had lunch at Rocky’s Pizzeria that wasn’t too crowded. The food was decent for a place running a limited menu. Patrick and Becca had to leave after lunch for a few of us walked back to St. Charles Avenue and saw some of the Elks truck parade before walking back to the car and returning to Tulane. I caught a cab home from there and had an interesting conversation with the driver who was bit of a computer geek and had a PC rig next to the driver’s seat.It would have been nice to have Ash Wednesday off too but both the office and Tulane was back to work. After work yesterday I went to writing class where the teacher showed Run Lola Run, a German movie I’d seen before which somehow ties into the reading assignment we are supposed to get to next week. Had I known what the professor had planned I would have went home.After a quiet day at work today in which I both did some actual work and reviewed for my business law mid term, I took the shuttle to campus for class this evening. The test consisted of two fictional tort cases. We were given the facts of the cases and then instructed to discuss both the plaintiff and defendants arguments and then render a decision as a judge would. I was the first to finish, either a very good or very bad thing. I think my answers were sufficiently detailed but I couldn’t say if they will meet Mr. Whittington’s expectations.I finished at 6:45, over two hours before ballroom this evening. I walked to the LBC to get something to eat. Having had Subway for lunch I didn’t find any of the offerings appetizing to I walked to the Boot and got a Boot burger and some fries. I typed this very entry at the Boot on my little Picturebook. I couldn’t fit both my TR notebook and the big law textbook in my book bag so I brought this instead.This was the first week of foxtrot in ballroom dancing this evening. So far it’s one of the easier dances we’ve tried and I actually picked up it well enough. There were not a lot of steps covered tonight so we had more time to just dance. I caught a cab home after ballroom and watched Burn After Reading.

Comments Off

Feb152009

Andrey’s 22nd

This past Thursday night was the last week of east coast swing for ballroom dancing. I had a lot of trouble with the later steps. On Sunday night, I met Andrey and several of his friends at Mona’s Café on Carrollton gathered to celebrate Andrey’s 22nd birthday. The staff there was very accommodating. We ordered some combination platters but Andrey and his friends also brought a cake and some adult beverages.Later in the evening, a few of us went down to Frenchman Street after making stops at Tulane and Andrey’s place. We stopped in a few places including d.b.a. and the Apple Barrel. When we left to go home at around one, I was pretty tired. I didn’t have any trouble getting a cab home.

Comments Off

Feb112009

Superclocked

Alas, yet another week gone by. Ballroom was nice last Thursday. I didn’t do anything in particular over the weekend. Tuesday’s ethics in media was about confidentiality of sources and information. Later that evening I received the new video card I ordered a couple days ago.I got the eVGA nVidia GTX 260 Superclocked (65nm), the latest installment in my slow desktop upgrade process. I had to rearrange some wiring in my case to make it fit. Since I had my PC case open so long I went ahead and cleaned out the case, something I haven’t really done in several months. The fan filters have kept things tolerable, only fine powdery dust gets through. The card is working wonderfully although I’m aware of the performance penalty having a rather new card running with an old AMD64 system. I was able to get HDMI + audio working with no trouble which was also quite nice.I went to campus after work this evening but class was canceled. After I got home this evening I used my old video card to complete a second PC which I have been planning to use as a NAS box. I installed FreeNAS with no trouble but I was unable to mount NTFS hard drives, which apparently are hard to get working with any network storage solution.

Comments Off

Feb052009

The Language of God

After writing class this evening, I attended a Veritas forum in the packed McAlister Auditorium featuring Dr. Francis S. Collins, former head of the human genome project. Primarily, he spoke about his work as it relates to his Christian faith. He also spoke at length about his belief that the Bible’s creation story and the theory of evolution are compatible. His hour-long talk was compelling although his arguments were not entirely convincing. Following his talk he took questions from the audience which was equally interesting. I didn’t have any trouble getting a cab afterward.

Comments Off

Feb032009

Un Chien Andalou

Somewhat unintentionally, I let another week slip by without a post. Nothing especially unusual has happened lately, however. Expository writing class still goes over like nails on a chalkboard. The ethics class is fine and the business law class is quite tolerable. Ballroom was a lot of fun last week. We had a nice crowd of about 30 people. Work on Friday was of no consequence and the weekend was rather quiet as well. On Monday’s expository writing class, we discussed another Marxist diatribe we had to read and watched Un Chien Andalou. Tuesday’s ethical issues class was about privacy and the media.

Comments Off

2009

Recent Posts: