The Gras that is Lundi
February 28, 2006
I just got home, and Lundi Gras is over.
I’m going to get a few hours of sleep, and head over to hris’ house in two hours to get ready to roll for mardi grad.
Goddamn. What a great town.
May the Grand Duke Alexis ride a buffalo in Texas
February 23, 2006
The other day, I recieved a rather large envelope in the mail.
The contents? An invitation to the Rex Ball. Unfortunately, our krewe rambles that day, and will most likely be too inebriated or perhaps unconscious for the 8pm white tie event. I don’t even have a tuxedo t-shirt.
Maybe next year.
Watercolor Float Designs by Carlotta Bonnecaze from the 1912 Rex Parade “Phases of Nature”.
Now where did I leave that damn Triforce?
February 21, 2006
Wow. The Legend of Zelda turned 20 today. Happy Birthday, Link.
I remember when I first played this game in all it’s shiny, golden, catridge-based console glory. I mean, it was fucking gold! Gold, I tells ya! Hell, I was playing it at the R-Bar last night, waiting for the coverage of the Tour de California to come on ESPN2. That says alot about a game, but even more about me, I fear.
As the Reflection Slowly Fades
February 20, 2006
Before Dave and Belen NOLA, they gave me an offshoot of one of their oregano plants.
What seems like an eternity ago, I fed and watered their plants and cats while they vacationed in Turkey. Belen came home, looked at her vegeation on the balconey, and proceeded to make loud noises. Her oregano plant had doubled or tripled in volume.
The secret to oregano growth? I think it’s pretty obvious when I tell you the answer is Goatwhore. Nothin like some New Orleans metal to make a plant wanna grow.
Unfortunately when I returned home from the Katrina mess, my now nearly Audrey II sized plant had died of dehydration and lack of metal.
While visting this weekend, she bestowed upon me a snippet of the of the original plant that I have dubbed Goatwhore II: The Goatteeâ„¢. Behold:
And Lo, it shall be good.
We will speak as men do.
February 18, 2006
Well, Cassady‘s bachelor party was tonight. That’s all I’m really at liberty to say.
Goodnight.
Pititis, Te Invoco.
February 15, 2006
I just looked at my paycheck stub today – was smaller than usual. Odd.
Glancing over it, I realized that it’s been over a year here of full-time employment, and my 401(k) kicked in.
I decided to go with $250/check ($6,000/year) in a more aggressive fund/plan with a partial match by my company. Hooray for free(ish) money.
I’ll also we working from home for the next two days because the workers renovating the other apartments have to do something with my wall/ceiling. Since they will most likely be Mexican day laborers, you know what that means?
That’s right, it’s Brujeria time, bitches. Yo soy el diablo albino, motherfucker.
With Western Eyes
February 13, 2006
Okay, wish me luck. I’m heading to Texas today for a personal/business trip.
The last time I left for a couple of days for business/personal trip to Texas, a hurricane hit New Orleans.
Oh, and I have that whole traffic court thing tomorrow for a 95 in a 70. Let’s hope they don’t hit me in the head with a brick. Because that’s what they do in Texas.
They will like us when we win.
February 10, 2006
I recently watched an episode of The West Wing (Sesaon 3 Episode 14: Night Five), and I thought that the dialogue between Toby and his ex-wife Andy were somewhat appropriate in regards to this whole illustrations of Mohammed uproar.
ANDY: America doesn’t have a monopoly on what’s right. And even if we did, I think you’re gonna have a tough time convincing the Arab world.
TOBY: Well, we’d like to talk to them about it.
ANDY: That ought to do the trick.
TOBY: It’s worth a shot.
ANDY: The U.S. Constitution defends religious pluralism. It doesn’t reduce all of Islam to fanaticism.
TOBY: Neither does the speech. It calls fanaticism fanaticism.
ANDY: Toby…
TOBY: It’s fanaticism whether we call it that or not, so were going to call it that. We respect all religions, all cultures.
ANDY: To a point.
TOBY: Yes, to a point. Grotesque oppression isn’t okay just because it’s been institutionlised. If you ask me, I think we should have gotten into the game three, four decades ago, but they’re coming after us now, so it’s time to saddle up.
ANDY: Toby…
TOBY: We do know what’s right.
ANDY: This is why they hate us.
TOBY: There’s a lot of reasons why they hate us. You know when they’re gonna like us? When we win.
ANDY: This will follow your paragraph.
TOBY [reading]: “Our goal is neither to preach nor proclaim American values. We have deep respect for our Islamic brothers and sisters and we have a great deal to learn from the values of… tolerence and faith that are deeply held throughout the Islamic world.” So this is your way of saying any resemblance the previous paragraph may have had to foreign policy is purely coincidental?
ANDY: That’s right.
TOBY: Guess what?
ANDY: What?
TOBY: Our goal is to proclaim American values.
ANDY: This speech isn’t supposed to be about ideology. It’s supposed to be about reality.
TOBY: I think the President will decide what the speech is suppose to be about, but the reality is, the United States of America no longer sucks up to reactionaries, and our staunch allies will know what we mean.
ANDY: We don’t have any staunch allies in the Arab world; just reluctant ones. We have a coalition held together with duct tape! A coalition without which we cannot fight!
TOBY: Nobody’s blowing off the coalition, and that coalition will be plenty strong.
ANDY: Oh, when we win?
TOBY: That’s right.
ANDY: What’s Egypt going to think? Or Pakistan?
TOBY: That freedom and democracy are coming soon to a theatre near them, so get dressed.
ANDY: Toby… you guys are on a thing right now. And I’m behind you. You know I’m behind you; a lot of House Democrats are…
TOBY: Not enough.
ANDY: And plenty of Republicans. But this one moment in time, you have to get off your horse and just… simply put – be nice to the Arab world.
TOBY: Be nice?
ANDY: Yes.
TOBY: Well… How about when we, instead of blowing Iraq back to the seventh century for harbouring terrorists and trying to develop nuclear weapons, we just imposed economic sanctions and were reviled by the Arab world for not giving them a global charge card and a free trade treaty? How about when we pushed Israel to give up land for peace? How about when we sent American soldiers to protect Saudi Arabia, and the Arab world told us we were desecrating their holy land? We’ll ignore the fact that we were invited. How about two weeks ago, in the State of the Union when the President praised the Islamic people as faithful and hardworking only to be denounced in the Arab press as knowing nothing about Islam? But none of that is the point.
ANDY: What’s the point?
TOBY: I don’t remember having to explain to Italians that our problem wasn’t with them, but with Mussolini! Why does the U.S. have to take every Arab country out for an ice cream cone? They’ll like us when we win!
TOBY: Thousands of madrassahs teaching children nothing, nothing, nothing but the Koran and to hate America. Who do we see about that? Do I want to preach America? Judeo-Christianity? No. If their religion forbids them from playing the trumpet, so be it. But I want those kids to… look at a globe. Be exposed to social sciences, history. Some literature. I’ll like us when we win.
ANDY: [after a moment] Okay.
Hittin’ the Spillway
February 8, 2006
Saturday morning, Sonny, Chris, John, and myself all headed out to the Bonnet Carré Spillway to hit the mountain biking trail. Now I know what you’re saying: “Mountain biking? In New Orleans?”
Yeah, that’s right. Granted, it’s not alot of mountains, but it can be hilly. Yeah, I sound ridiculous, whatever. It’s only ~30 minutes away, it’s fast, it’s fun, and as Sonny has documented, is being improved.
The teeter-totter was quite fun. I knew exactly what it was going to do, but my brain couldn’t seem to wrap around the fact that it would indeed tilt down. I ended up hitting it a drop-off speed, and having to brake at the edge and ride it down. Here’s a photo of John in action:
And even though it was a bit mushy and slide-y at parts, I realized it was time to retire my beloved Maxxis Larsen TT‘s strictly to the streets, and get a new pair strictly for the dirt. Look Ma! No Tread!
Yeah, I know there’s tread, but much has worn off from street-riding, and it didn’t feel like I was gripping much on the trail.
Turns out, on the center tread (which isn’t really visible in the above photo), there is approximately 2mm of nub left. The ones on both sides of the center (you can see those, they’re the second row), have approx. 3mm of tread left.
That ain’t much. Here is another, slightly blurry photo, without a reference for scale:
I like how this little trail is shaping up. I look forward to more visits.