OK the article doesn't say that, just that Aaron Brooks is demoted to benchwarmer. This officially means the Saints have given up on the season. Guess they're trying to become a late entrant into the Reggie Bush Sweepstakes.
Well, I've only been calling the flooding in New Orleans a man-made disaster since September 2 or so. About time someone picked up on that fact.
This needs to be publicized, announced to the world that what happened to New Orleans was a failure of engineering, that the area can be protected with proper funding and design... things most people (in the city and around the country) thought we had.
The more I hear that levees were not built to specs and that, had they been, it would basically be life as normal in most of New Orleans, the more hope I have for the long-term rebuilding of the city.
What we need (and this is coming from a pretty hardcore small-government conservative) is a massive public works project to fix the levees to their proper level of protection. You could spend 10-15 years doing this with a few hundred workers, or 2-3 years with thousands of workers. I'll take the latter.
Male Best Friend You scored 46 despair, 50 relationship potential, 67 feelings, and 100 patience
You're always there, you're nice, you're the shoulder to cry on, you get along just fine, why won't she/he date you? you're the "male best friend"
DragonflyBlade21: A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you're a great guy, but I don't like you in that way. This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we're not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we're going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn't work out, we'll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired.
This test tracked 4 variables. How the score compared to the other people's:
12:20 AM
This Thursday's my birthday. So what do I want?
I want to go back to New Orleans
I want to go have beignets at Cafe Du Monde and walk to the Historic New Orleans Collection to see their Battle of New Orleans display (featuring the sword surrendered to Gen. Jackson). Both open this week.
I want to drink a Monsoon and have a burger and potato at Port of Call that have absolutely nothing to do with my diet. Then I want to go to Pat O's and keep paying the piano players to sing Hey Fighting Tigers every time someone pays them to play Dixie, Rocky Top or (lord forbid) The Eyes of Texas. I've seen no news on when either will open.
I want to go to Country Day and give them whatever I have that they need. A bit of repayment for those 4 years of scholarships. School reopens a limited program on Nov 7.
I want to go see Johnny Sketch in thier first concert back in New Orleans after Katrina. Right now scheduled for November at the Howlin Wolf.
I want to go to Audubon Zoo, spend the day there and roll down Monkey Hill. The Zoo is closed indefinitely.
I want to go to the Sugar Bowl and watch LSU kick someone's ass. I've heard a rumor that the 2007 Sugar Bowl might be the first event the refurbished Superdome will hold. This aligns with the time table presented today.
I want to eat Chicken Box chicken and Popeyes biscuits on the Napoleon Avenue neutral ground and hand some up to the Thoth riders. They say Mardi Gras will go on as planned, so this one looks probable.
I want to be able to flip between WWOZ, WTIX and 106.7 while driving around at home. Kool 95.7 has taken on Bayou 105.3's format (planned pre-Katrina) and it seems like another part of New Orleans is gone.
The only thing on this list that I'll be allowed to do for my birthday is Cafe Du Monde/Historic Collection but work and LSU footbal will get in the way of that. I'll just have to be patient. Luckily, it looks like all of these things will be doable... eventually.
Stayed up late Friday night watching this thing grow. Knew it looked like one bad ass storm. Got my mom out Sat afternoon, telling her to pack all non perishables. Quick trip back to BR, I got out prior to most evacuation as usual.
Sunday, I'm starting to worry in Baton Rouge. The size of this storm and the track over New Orleans would mean bad things for BR as far as wind. Not liking all the windows in my apartment. Charles offers space in Lafayette and we take him up on it...Only a 4.5 hour drive on US 190! On the way, we find that my grandfather has, for the first time in his 88 years, evacuated New Orleans for a storm, going to my uncle's in Covington.
Monday the storm hits. I'm up at 5 AM watching. Communication east of Ascension/Livingston non-existant. Around 3 PM, we get ahold of my neighbor (from Kenner) Ronnie, who has heard from a neighbor that stayed behind that he has 2 in of water in his house. He is in Galveston. We call the neighbor tht stayed behind, get through, and find that while the canal side has water in the houses, she is looking at our house out her window and sees our grass! (We are on a high point that has never flooded... a sort of island in past floods). Minor roof damage also reported. Around 6 PM, I am on the phone with Chris when I hear Erin in the background scream "POWER!" Car is packed and we are in Baton Rouge in 45 minutes. Later I realize my laptop was not packed from Charles's! Oops
Tuesday, mental anguish over rumored levee breaches and rising water in Jefferson after being told that water in Kenner had lowered enough so that the police got Super Wal-Mart open to sell supplies. Also, no contact with Northshore. We assume the best as the news is lots of trees down and no power/cell service but not major injuries. Late at night I try text messages to get a hold of people. AIM too.
Wednesday, things look better. Jefferson is drying. After lunch, my uncle calls. He is on Airline at a Cracker Barrell getting lunch, then heading out in search ice and propane. I have them, so they come to my office and we go home to suprise my mom and stock up. My grandfather is with him and we decide he should stay here, where we have A/C and somewhat more peaceful setting. Also, other family in Tangipahoa contacts us via text. Everyone in my clan appears to have made it through this safely and (so it appears) with minimal property damage, though I want to get back into the places. Cautiously optimistic best describes how I feel about my mom's house (in Kenner) and grandfather's apartment (on the levee in River Ridge).
I also have started recieving calls about locating apartments in BR. Sadly, I can report that you're not likely to find them. Even condominiums have been bought up at an alarming rate in the past 2 days. My complex has gone from 89% occupancy to 100% occupancy before the end of the day today. I suggest people look west, north and mabe even east (Gonzales, Prairieville, Denham Springs). Baton Rouge is about to experience a potentially bad refugee crisis. Traffic is packed with northshore/Livingston residents coming for food and gas and this is the closest location for people from New Orleans to find themselves now that the Twin Spans and highrise are not structurally sound. This is the first real stop on the only way out. Looters have already found their way out of the Centroplex/River Center into downtown Baton Rouge, and things have reportedly been ugly in N BR near Southern today. And that's happened only with the first refugees to get here.
Baton Rouge is a little scarier tonight, but we are high and dry here. Everyone is in my prayers that has been displaced, however, coming here without housing fully shored up is not advisable at this time. Baton Rouge seems full if not overfilled already. I wish I could say otherwise, but the stories I've heard on the real estate side (residential sales and residential/commercial rentals) just won't let me. We're not built to absorb 200,000 to 500,000 people in a week's time.
Friday, August 19, 2005
10:21 AM
If there's one thing Sooner fans are good for, its farking...
The last few weeks have really sucked. I've been burned out tired. Then last week I had a project at work I just couldn't get through. I'd get maybe 5 pages done at work in a whole day and that was the progress I made some days. Got nothing done after coming in on Saturday, ended up going home and sleeping 14 hours. Wrote most of the report on Sunday and it went out in a mad flurry including copier failure yesterday. Now, I ahve nothing to do. Been going through all this stress and slogging through work. Now I'm at a point with a pile of work that's all at a point I can't work on, so I've done next to nothing today (because I can't). Anyway, work's just wierd like that.
Work should have me down in New Orleans this week, probably overnight one night, if anyone down there wants to do anything. I think everyone knows my cell number.
This Thursday on Smackdown, its the return of the Blue World Order
For those that don't know, that Da Blue Guy, Hollywood Nova and Big Stevie Cool.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
1:45 PM
I've gotten really bad at updating this. For the longest, I was just trying to avoid commenting on a certain situation involving friends, so I shaded away from the blog for a while.
Anyway, I'm past that now and just wanted to put some news out there.
The biggest news is that in mid-June, my Pontiac Sunfire was retired. It was a 1998 vehicle and getting close to the 100,000 mile mark. With the new trend of "employee discounts," it was time forme to get the car I've been wanting for over a year, the Pontiac Vibe. Its a great vehicle, has storage space closer to an SUV than a car, Toyota interior, Pontiac exterior and gets great millage. Also got a decent deal after trade in and rebates. First thing I did was go to New Orleans and get precut plywood for my mom's windows since I could actually transport the wood now.
Also I decided this week to stop going to Weight Watchers. Not that I'm stopping the diet, I'm just not going to pay $11 each week to go in and get weighed (since the meetings do nothing for me, thats all I do). I need to adjust the tally on the side of the page b/c there seems to be a difference of about 11 pounds between weighing at Weight Watchers and at the apartment complex. Some of that is different scales, but a lot of it is that at Weight Watchers, I was coming from work in heavy shoes and clothes and with wallet and all in my pockets, while at the complex the scale is in the gym so I am in t-shirt and shorts and leave the wallet and most of the other pocket stuff in the apartment. Anyway, right now I'm closing in to 275 (apartment scale) and a total of 50 lbs lost.
If anyone reads on Sunday or Monday, I am doing 4th stuff at the apartment, call my cell for details. Thinking to grill arond 3 or 4 and then head out to the fireworks downtown on the river.
Friday, June 10, 2005
12:14 AM
This quiz and the one below are courtesy of Rhonda.
Your dating personality profile:
Intellectual - You consider your mind amongst your assets. Learning is not a chore but a constant search after wisdom and knowledge. You value education and rationality. Wealthy/Ambitious - You know what your goals are and you pursue them vigourously. Achieving success is important to you. Practical - You are a down-to-earth individual who is not impressed with material excess. You care about the stuff of like that really matters.
Your date match profile:
Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Intellectual - You seek out intelligence. Idle chit-chat is not what you are after. You prefer your date who can stimulate your mind. Shy - You are put off by people who are open books. You are drawn to someone who is a bit more mysterious. You want to draw her out of her shell and get to know what she is all about.
Your Top Ten Traits
1. Intellectual 2. Wealthy/Ambitious 3. Practical 4. Romantic 5. Religious 6. Conservative 7. Adventurous 8. Shy 9. Traditional 10. Sensual
Your Top Ten Match Traits
1. Practical 2. Intellectual 3. Shy 4. Religious 5. Adventurous 6. Conservative 7. Sensual 8. Traditional 9. Athletic 10. Romantic
Just thought I'd update that as of today I am officially weighing in under 300 lbs, for the first time in at least a year and a half, maybe longer (I know that my scale was useless when I started Weight Watcher, hard to tell at what point it last worked). Officially from Weight Watchers, I've dropped 34.6 lbs in 10 weeks. I've also lost 3-4 inches off my waist. Not sure that the rate of 3.5 lbs/week will hold (pretty sure it won't) but this seems to be working just based on diet (I've been slacking on the walking since I moved).
Star Wars ruled. The end suite is very good, with Williams choosing to include new variations on the victory ceremony from A New Hope even though that music wasn't featured in Revenge of the Sith. The end credits suite musically ties the movie to the original trilogy. That's a nice little touch.
The LSU baseball team managed drop from preseason #2-#5 to not making it out of the Baton Rouge Regional. Smoke is going to keep his job, but his contract is up next year. Averaging 4,000 fans in attendnace again (and thus only making half the hot dog/coke money) will be his undoing. Skip has a new Box planned, and there will need to be butts in the seats to pay for it.
For pretty much all the other stuff going on rectently, I can refer you to Matt, Bobby and Brain's blogs to the left.
I was already in New Orleans on Friday when Place DuPlantier called to tell me that they have a girl that wants my apartmet on May 21, so they want me out by May 15. That's fine, by signing a May 1 lease with the new complex, I am getting a discounted rental. Anyway, I've spent most of this weekend packing instead of Jazz Fest like I planned. I get keys to the new place tomorrow and will be bringing over a carload of stuff.
The plan for the moving of big stuff is next Friday and Saturday. All are welcome to help, especially those with larger vehicles.
A project I'd like some help with is that I have a pile of LSU sports stuff, mostly Reveilles, Advocates and Times Picayunnes after big wins, that I'd like to decorate either a room at the new apartment or, even better, my office with. Problem is I don't want to just put the papers on the wall with thumbtacks like I did when I was a student. Anyone that can think of a better way to present them or would like to just do the decorating (I'll pay all the costs), let me know.
Call or leave a comment if you want to help out with the move, I'll take all the help I can get.
Are guided more by practical considerations than ideological vision Believe US power is crucial to successful diplomacy - and vice versa Don't want US policy options unduly limited by world opinion or ethical considerations Believe strong alliances are important to US interests Weigh the political costs of foreign action Believe foreign intervention must be dictated by compelling national interest
Historical realist: President Dwight D. Eisenhower Modern realist: Secretary of State Colin Powell
I can live with being aligned with Ike and Colin Powell. Guess I think like a General.
1:14 PM
Doctors visit was to show me my cholesterol was out of whack and to further try to convince me to eat better and start exercising. Since I've started both, it was a pretty fast visit. The scale at the office showed that I've lost 9 lbs since last Monday, which makes sense b/c I started walking and cutting back on foods two days before starting Weight Watchers.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
7:42 PM
First weigh in... 326.4. Down 7.4 pounds since last Wednesday!
Also, on the doctor, from what the nurse told me today, my cholesterol is a little high, and I'm guessing I will be told to alter my diet (Weight Watchers, check!) and get some exercise (been walking at least half an hour per day weather permitting, check!), so everything will hopefully be good with the doctor tomorrow (i.e., no more tests, medicines, etc).
They need me to come in this week to talk about my blood test results. Nothing life threatening but don't want to wait until the May appointment I made.
Really not sure what that means.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
10:37 PM Updates Fixed links to my office's website (upper left) and Beth's blog. Also added a Weight Watchers Log to the right column. Hoping that keeping updates there will act as added incentive for me to keep things up.
Friday, April 01, 2005
8:08 PM
Just thought I'd drop a quick line on the Pope. While my personal views and the official views of the Catholic Church sometimes are at odds, Pope John Paul II is a great man. I'm not feeling so much mourning for what is going on tonight because its time for him to finally rest. Very similar to how I felt when my dad finally reached the point of no return. He's suffered very long and its time for him to escape from the pain.
WWL's put up pictures of the Pope's Visit to New Orleans in 1987, and you can see how alive he was back then versus his declining state the last 5+ years. Seeing him at Mass and the Youth Rally in the Superdome donning a Mardi Gras mask with Archbishop Hannan makes his passing hit much more than the pictures on TV of him being wheeled around and propped up in recent years. I hope that his passing tonight is peaceful and painless, which it sounds like his doctors are ensuring.
Kinda random, just had some thoughts to get out. Seeing the slideshow on WWL just hit me.
Most of last week I felt like crap all week. Thursday I finally left work early and bought a thermometer. That night I had a 103.4 fever and ran myself to the emergency room. Apparantly you're NOT supposed to sweat out a fever under the blankets. They did chest x-rays, blood work, urine work, etc. and gave me fluids. Doctors were closed for Good Friday and I spiked again Friday night, but it came down fast.
The fever went away on Saturday and I spent Saturday and Sunday working up myself into sickness thinking everything under the sun was wrong with me. Sunday night I fooled myself into thinking I was having a heart attack (my arm hurt and I thouht my heart was beating fast). EMS came out and said it was more like an anxiety attack.
Next day at the doctor, I thought I was having breathing problems, possibly bronchitis. He said the chest x-rays showed nothing, stethescope showed nothing and that the only thing I had from the blood work was a slightly high glucose level. Everything else was just my nerves getting to me and going stir crazy.
The most important thing to come out of the doctor's office was that I weight 335! Holy shit! My scale stops at 300 and I thought when it was swinging around to 10 (above 300), that was 310. Also, he wrote down the words I had never seen before on my records "morbidly obese". He gave me a perscription to Weight Watchers (paperwork for some medical insurance programs that cover that). I know my dad peaked out around 350-375 and I don't want to "beat" him (even though I still wouldn't be as wide b/c I'm taller).
I have taken his perscription. Today was day 1. I managed to get a smoothie and eat at Picadilly (grilled fish) and Chimes (grilled chicken platter) on the points system. I've also taken the advice of making time to walk by getting up early to walk the neighborhood for half an hour, though it was too nasty this morning.
Its time I learn from my dad's mistakes. He stayed overweight an entire lifetime and he didn't make it to 65. His quality of life after age 50 wasn't that great either. I'm not expecting to become a toothpick, but I can do better than where I am now. I think Weight Watchers can help me get there. So I will be counting points for a while... probably a long while, but its suprisingly free in food selection. Less pizza and fried foods, more veggies and grilled foods. Also, I can still have a drink or two... light beers are only 2 pts for a 12 oz. can. I get sweets too, 2 scoops of low fat ice cream/yogurt is also only 2 pts. Not a bad evening snack.
I will try to keep updates on my "weigh in" weights as I see fit. My official weigh in last night was 333.8, down from 335 at the doctors, likely difference is the scale and maybe 2 mornings of walking. They automatically set your first goal at 10% of body weigh, so I'll be at my first goal when I get down to 300. No time table on that, but I hope it will be sooner rather than later.
Another decision is that the house purchase is off for now. These 4 days of being sick alone in the apartment scared me. Living alone, I was here driving myself insane. I need friends nearby. I've also decided that a house is a lot for one person to take care of, physically and financially. What I could afford and what I want weren't aligning well at this point.
I'm trying to move to Regency Club Apartments, the complex Chris and Erin live in. Its just across Sherwood Forest from my office, has the fireplace I've wanted, is closer to lots of friends and has a fitness center that will hopefully help me stay on the exercise I need. It will be a good place for me to live. I will miss being a hop, skip and jump from my Alma Mater, but its only a 10-15 minute drive on the Interstate.
One last thing....
Ohhhhh, oh oh, ohhhhhh, oh oh... WRES-TLE-MAN-IA... Fightin' to survive
Thats the old lyrics to the Wrestlemania (now Linda McMahon) theme song. Predictions:
World Championship Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Dave Batista Logic says Batista leaves HHH a bloody pulp in the middle of the ring. Unfortunately, logic isn't married to the owner's daughter. HHH is saved when Randy K. Orton returns to Evolution.
WWE Championship John Bradshaw Layfield vs. John Cena This is a world title match? You're kidding. Smackdown sucks. Cena wins I guess.
6-way Ladder Match Chris Jericho vs. Chris Beniot vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian vs. Edge vs. Kane There's a 50% chance that Chris will win. My pick is Chris Jericho.
Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels I pick Kurt Angle to win this so he can feud with John Cena for the Smackdown World Title and so HBK can reunite with Marty Jannety and bring back the Raw tag division.
Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker Undertaker somehow manages to job at Wrestlemania. Might take half the roster to do it, like at the Royal Rumble when they stuffed him in a casket.
WWE Women's Championship Christy Hemme vs. Trish Stratus Lita turns on Christy and we get Trish and Lita as the hot uber bitches running the women on Raw. Christy goes back to bouncing around and being generally annoying.
Big Show vs. Akebono Sumo match? Not sure what this is supposed to be and I'm not sure the WWE does either. My pick is Big Show since he's actually a WWE employee.
Smackdown Tag Champions Explode Rey Misterio vs. Eddie Guerrero Scrap Big Show vs. Akebono and the Women's match and give these two 45 minutes. This will probably be the match of the night if given enough time. Rey Rey wins, eventually leading to the return of Rudo Dick Eddie.
Really sad to see no tag matches at Wrestlemania. They need to get the tag divisions up and running again and not just with matched up singles guys.
"If we must take this war into their homes and burn them to the ground, we will do so."
-Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
President, Louisiana State University
