Back Home Again - The Flight

I know I don't really blog anymore, but I thought I would begin the blogging during the holiday season while I was away from Baton Rouge, and visiting my roots in Lafayette (Indiana that is).
The trip was suppose to be a smooth transition from the 60 degrees of Baton Rouge to the wintry domain of Chicago. I was leaving from the Baton Rouge airport, which is nice. I literally showed up 45 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave. I had checked in online and security only takes a few minutes - even on the weekend before Christmas. However, the convenience of this airport always ends after security. As soon as you are finished getting frisked by security you head straight to the boards to check your flights status. This will, of course, do you no good because your flight will be listed on time. Nevermind the fact the plane should be boarding at this point and its not even at the terminal. A quick look at the incoming flights will quickly tell you that the plane hasn't even arrived from Chicago. So its rather doubtful that the plane will be taking off on time. So you sit in the terminal waiting to depart, and it really doesn't phase you that the flight disappears off the departure list after it was suppose to take off. (Keep in mind there is still no plane at the terminal). As I have learned from past experiences the airport just doesn't update the departure list - ever. Once your flight was suppose to leave it just disappears like it never existed.
At least this situation doesn't phase me after a few flights from this airport. It still concerns others at the terminal. They begin freaking out that the flight is: 1) late; 2) has disappeared from the board; and 3) no staff is posted at the gate. Very legitimate reasons to be concerned, but from past experiences I know that someone will show up sooner or later. And indeed a crew starts to wonder onto the scene and finally announces that there is a two hour delay.
After patiently waiting the two hours there is still no plane at the terminal. Of course I assume that there is a longer delay. But would they ever lie to us? Of course not. At 4:15 they tell us that we can go ahead and board plane; but instead will be boarding at another gate. There is now a mass exodus across the airport because we can now finally get on the plane, but after boarding we discover that we won't even taxi until another hour. But that doesn't matter because the airline needs to find three volunteers to leave the plane due to us being over weight. They force three people off - who board again after a half an hour and they pull a family of four off. Someone back at headquarters must have reworked a wrong equation.
After about an hour, we begin taxing to the runway ready for departure - until a Louisiana monsoon hits. Not even I would be comfortable driving in one of these monsoons, let alone trusting a pilot to airborne the plane. We then wait another half an hour until this passed (mostly) and then I experience one of the most turbulent takeoffs in a lightning storm. I honestly didn't care at this point because we were finally headed home.
The rest of the trip was smooth. My parents came to meet me and we left for downtown. It was only 40-some degrees that night, but we woke up the next morning in Chicago-style winds with flurries and temps in the teens. It was great… for about thirty seconds. About two minutes after I described the situation as "refreshing" to my brother, I decided the wind could die down a little. But it was still great. I miss Chicago and even though the trip was short, it was good to be back.
The rest of the trip can be described in pictures on Facebook.

lonely blog

I thought I would sit down and blog today. Considering I use to blog all the time – and update y'all on my boring routine and mundane life – I really haven't had the will power or urge to sit down and write all those boring, routine, and moundane "stuff". But I got an email from a friend today, basically asking if I had dropped off the face of this planet. I was like, not exactly. But close. So I decided to sit and blog.
What to blog about. Work? Way exciting – but not bloggable.

Life? Yes. A great blog topic. Everyone does it now-a-days. I mean, you can sit and read about people's sad breakup, wedding days, child bearing, etc. And all in the privacy of my own home. Why would you want to do this? Absolutely no reason at all, just because it's fun. Therefore, I'm not really caring what I blog about. You'll read my blog anyway, because you're just as boring as me. That reasoning makes me feel better.
So, let me blog about traveling. Other then my quick jaunts back home, and the one time I went to Philadelphia and New York, I stay in the south, (which, by the way, is everything south of I-10; if you were not aware of the location of the south). In fact, just last weekend I attended the Shrimp and Petroleum festival in Morgan City, which is two hours south of Baton Rouge. Two weekends before that I went two more hours south ofMorgan City where basically land (kinda) meets water. (Kinda) meets water, because even though you've been driving down this bayou for an hour and the road finally ends – you still have another fifteen miles until the ocean. You can see oil rigs off in the distance; along with shrimp boats making their way to sea. In fact the beaches are great. It's basically swimming in the Wabash River. Remember all that crap everyone else is dumping in the water up stream? Well it makes its way down the Mississippi and dumps it onto our coast line. And Louisiana people can swim in it, if they chose. Most don't.

But swimming in the ocean isn't the fun, really. It's the Cajun dances at BreuxBridge every Saturday morning. I don't usually partake, but its nice to sit back with your (spicy) scramble eggs with a Bloody Mary and watch people older then my grandpa go crazy Cajun. That definitely makes it fun. For sure. 

Umm, lets see. What else goes on. I'll list everywhere I've made journeys too:Houston, Dallas, Little Rock, Lafayette, New Orleans, Biloxi, Destin, FL. Destin just counts as a good place to go see Andrea and chill. It's about where you start getting good beaches down here; Dallas is actually a cool little city; I like Little Rock a lot, even though Lindsay didn't so much; and Lafayette is the big cajun city.

Otherwise, I just sit back and hang out with friends. 

Anyway. There is LOTS more to tell, and maybe I will blog about it all later. But that's about it for now.

An update worth sharing/maybe not worth reading

Well, I haven't blogged in an age or two. But I am speed blogging tonight - due to requests and need for sharing my boring life. Since my last blog I have been home and out to Philly and NYC. But now I am back in Louisiana sweltering in the heat.

However, instead of backtracking hugely and blogging about my mini-east trip, I am going to keep my blog wrapped into a smaller section and save my longer trip blog for later.

When I got back from New York I had mixed and confused feelings. I mean, seriously, I go from New York to Louisiana. It became suddenly apparent that I just went to the two polar opposites of the USA. And I can't lie – I like the north. People talk faster and to the point; in fact, it took me an entire day to re-realize how much I love it down here. (But I guess that goes with the slow pace of life here).

Anyway, the first night I had to sleep. An entire week of 8am to 3am, with drinking all the time, and conferences in the middle, means I needed a good nights sleep. However, the next day was great. I had to get up and go to the (biggest USA – I've been told) Earth Day festival downtown. So I got dressed and walked through Spanish Town – at which point I run into a parade. Apparently the neighborhood had decided to host a funeral procession for a stray dog that was held dear to most Spanish Town residents. I continued to the Earth Day festival to work our booth. It was a nice day, and I was beginning to slow down enough to talk to the residents of Baton Rouge.

Afterwards my friends had a crawfish boil – which is the coolest thing about Louisiana. How many people take live animals and dump them in a boiling pot in order to eat them five minutes later? Then they call all their friends and chill out all night. It's great.

So I am basically back in the swing of Louisiana. I like work. We're updating our long-range plan and we are now revisiting a lot of our zoning and ordinance codes – with a staff of three people; in addition to implementing a stormwater BMP grant; and severl overlay districts. My yuppie-tool organization I belong too held a downtown meeting, which will hopefully make people excited about downtown. I love it. In addition, people are trying to get a long range regional plan for southern Louisiana, which could be really cool.

So, Louisiana is cool. I do like it.

I'll be home for Candace's wedding on June 9th! Then Chris's and Toni's in July!

I just blog about weekends

I need help. One of the many activities this weekend included me paying a $10 cover to see – not one – but two 80's cover bands. And I wonder why I have financial fo-pas.

Anyway, other then that, this weekend has been fun. Friday night I attempted (again) to get some of my co-workers to go out. But no one wanted to partake (except Emanuel, of course). So instead I went to dinner with Lanny at Capital City Grill where a guy with Fannie May came to join us. Emanuel came out a little later on, accompanied with a friend.

We decided to go to a "street party" after dinner. A street, yes. A party, no. The "party" was actually occurring inside two different bars, so no one was really out on the street. It was kinda sad. Plus they were charging $10 to get in and see an 80's cover band. We all decided it wasn't worth it, so we went up to Tsunami's which was hosting a frat party. Not worth it. So we went to the Red Star and drank. Lanny and John went home. We headed over to the Roux House. We now had enough drinks to pay $10 to see a cover band. It still wasn't worth it. To home.

I had to get up early for the Saint Patrick's Day Parade. It was rolling through mid-town, so I was invited to a few house parties for parade activities and crawfish boils. The parade only resembled St. Patrick's Day by making a lot of things green. Otherwise, it was basically just a Mardi Gras parade. They didn't even attempt to play cliché Irish music or serve green beer. Afterwards I went and hung out with Jordan, Cyp, and Emanuel. I needed a nap, so I left.

That night we got some bottles of wine. Drank. Got restless. Wandered downtown attempting to get into a bar. No one bought the story that Cyp's ID burnt in a fire (which is true). But we went home.

Today was lazy. I spent the day in Perks Coffee doing random stuff. I am heading to kickball practice soon. Very soon.

crawfish boil and the beginning of kickball season

I'm going to start this post by talking about Wheat Thins. I'm somewhat addicted to these things, and for that reason I don't buy boxes of Wheat Thins very often. Well, at the weekly grocery store outing I decided to get a box of Wheat Thins – Parmesan Basil to be exact. Now I am debating on eating the entire box tonight so I won't have the temptation of eating them later this week. I mean, once their gone their gone. I don't handle addictions very well. My philosophy is to get rid of the addiction and go cold turkey.

This weekend was supposed to be low-key. I spent Friday night in my apartment (well, I had my nighly walk which involved sitting on the State Capital Building steps contemplating life). I got up early Saturday so I could go to the Farmers Market to get some food. Just before I left for the Farmer's Market Keith and Kelcey called and wanted me to go to a crawfish boil. I've obviously eaten crawfish before; and Jordan had provided us with some crawfish a few nights ago. But this was going to be my first "real" boil.

The event took place at Keith and Kelcey's friends and they had a bag of crawfish. After playing with them for a while we threw them in the pot for some boil action. For those of you who don't know, the crawfish are huge down here. But even at that, they don't have much meat. So once you scope up a dish of crawfish you have to work hard just to get a little bit of meat. It takes a long time before you are satisfied – but the meat is amazing. Especially with the seasoning. You eat the tail, and then suck their head for the juice. I guess the professionals even get meat from their claws. I didn't do that.

So we left the boil and dropped Kelcey off at work. Keith and I went for some coffee to wear off some of the alcohol. Afterwards, we met his and Kelcey's mom at Sunami's (a bar at the top of a downtown building which overlooks the Mississippi). We met some friends and chilled there for a while. I noticed a party happening at the Ball Room over at the Hilton Hotel. At which point I began telling everyone that I was invited to go to the party. I thought it would be easier to crash the party if my friends were lead to believe they were actually suppose to be there. However, once the alcohol started wearing off, I didn't think it was a great idea. So I had to work myself out of that mess. But it worked out OK. We went to the Red Star instead. My friend Emanuel was there. It was fun.

Afterwards we went to the Wine Loft and Rasputin's. However, their clientele are elite and can't wear sandals. So I couldn't go in.

Today was another low-key (getting over an entire day of drinking) day. However, tonight was our kickball team's first practice. So I had to go to that. I haven't played kickball since 5th grade. So I needed to brush up. But I think once the season starts I will rock. Our team is pretty good too. Disciplined. Most were there on time. (Well, the ones that showed up). We even warmed up by running around the bases. There was a baseball team on the other diamond who was doing this, so we thought it was a good idea for us to do it also. We recruited someone to yell at us as we ran. Lemme tell you, that lap around the diamond wore us all out. We got a beer.

In other news I'm thinking about buying a condo. My friends are into all of this, so I think it might be a good idea. But I can't live downtown anymore. Which would suck. Bad. But… it might be OK.

I apologize for lack of updates. I'll be better. I will write about Mardi Gras later.

another weekend, come and gone

I just got my electric bill and it was almost twice as much as I have used in the previous months. I found this ridiculous. I mean, if I actually used the heat then it might be OK. But it rarely gets turned on since the temp barley drops below freezing. Plus I live on the fifth floor, so everyone below me is heating my apartment.

It just motivates me to move out of my apartment. I overlook the neighborhood that I live in – longing to be within the ranking of all these other people. It is the most urban neighborhood I have found in Baton Rouge. I can walk downtown; there is a small market; and I actually see people when I am walking the streets. Its great.

My only complaint thus far is the slow movement of society. Apparently nothing really gets done. Considering I am an urban planner that kind of sucks.
However, they do like to have fun. I attended the Spanish Town Ball this weekend which was fun. It's the only time I ever attended an event labeled as a "ball". So I had to find something pink – they told me – and wear something associated with Asian culture. This is when I decided to pull out some 1970's tux that I had been keeping in storage. Usually when I go out it will be the simple suite coat and jeans. Tonight it was the off-white tux, complimented with a pink shirt. I had told my friend the ridiculousness of owning a pink shirt just two weeks ago. Now I found myself at Kohl's purchasing a pink shirt. Then after I got the pink shirt, I went to this Vietnamese Market on the east side to see if they – by chance – had some rice hats. Or Coolie Hats. So here I am, in the Vietnamese Market wondering the store until I find some Coolie hats on the top shelf. I had to stand on the bottom self and dig through these stereotypical hats, while the workers talked about me in Vietnamese. At least I am sure they were talking about me. I mean, the first time they see me in their market is to get these cheap, stereotypical hats. I couldn't take their starring anymore so I got three different hats and checked out. Since they were only three dollars each, I thought I could afford a few and try them on later. The only thing I would have to do is spray paint my hat pink, now.

I was ready for the ball.

My brother (who moved to Houston last week) emailed me Friday with nothing to do so I sent around some emails and got him a ticket to the ball. He came over to Baton Rougethat night. We would find him something to wear on Saturday, but Friday we went out with the intention of light drinking. Well, that didn't last too long. We went to Happy's Irish Pub first, which is basically the downtown frat bar. We moved soon to the Red Star... a lot better than Happy's.

We stumbled home.

The next day we found my brother something to wear at Goodwill and TJ Max. Then I spent my only savings on a new camera. My old one broke over Christmas, and I can't go any where with out my camera.

That night we went to Doug's pre-party and then to the Spanish Town Ball. The interesting thing about the ball was BYO beer and food. Basically they provided the venue and the music. It was pretty rad.

At some point we went to someone's house in Spanish Town for a post-party, and at some point I went home. Somewhere between there I lost my brother. I called him pissed and then hung up. Fortunately he found his way into the apartment.

I want to thank Erin for my CD. I've been too lazy to dig through my music and find a good collection of songs. But Erin kindly sent me a CD for Christmas. The CD is awesome. It will be my Spring 2007 mix. Thank you.

the weekend

I was awoken this morning by the fire alarm at 7am. I didn't know what to do, but I definitely couldn't sleep. At first I got dressed just incase this was real – but I stuck my head outside and no one was outside. Apparently everything was OK. So I decided to go to McDonalds for breakfast. I love treating myself to McDonalds every so often.

This weekend was alright.

Friday: what better thing to do then go to the American Legion for some dancing? My friend Allison had invited me along, for what was supposed to be a fun-filled night of Cajun dancing. So I arrived an hour before hand for some lessons. The only time I partake in any dancing is after midnight (for obvious reason) and I figured I needed to brush up on my (totally absent) rhythm skills.

When I got to the American Legion I was surprised to see a mixture of ages: some old, some young, some really old, some really young. After the dance lessons, the lights dimmed and the disco ball began to spin. I got beer.

First on the agenda was some chicken chase thing. This is apparently some Mardi gras ritual that involves catching chickens. That's a good enough description.

Then they played "When the Saint Go Matching" in honor of the upcoming game today.

After that, the dance took place. It was amazing. Old (may I say elderly) people are amazing dancers. Enough said – can't explain it.
Afterwards we went to Alison's house for drinks.

Saturday I slept in late… again. Then I had to go to the bank. I barley made it before it closed. I chose a bank across the river instead of going to a bank in town. I thought I out-smarted the system because it is a lot easier for me to take the bridge to the west side of the river then to drive in to town. But I didn't make it before it closed. It was closed when I got there. The workers had decided to shut up shop a little early and go home. Thus I had to find another bank in town. My plan failed. Next time - just you wait.

That night we (Jordan, Jess, and me) went to go see Children of Men. Which was good, and interesting. I've been predicting this for years, and someone finally believes me.

Then we went to Champs and drank for a long time. My friends allowed me to get some artichoke drip. I have the coolest friends.

Today is the Saints game. I'm trying to get my Saints game down, since I'm in their country. But then we get to watch the Colts after the Saints.

zydeco

It's cold today. Actually it isn't cold at all – its almost ready to hit the freezing point. But when I was leaving work I acted as if I as going to die when I stepped outdoors. It took me a good three minutes to realize that it wasn't cold at all, and only an illusion in my mind. At this point I was walking out with one of my co-workers originally from Green Bay, WI. The same city that weathermen always say – "it might be cold here, but up inGreen Bay, it's REALLY cold". So she was apt to the winter ways. Yet, she was complaining more then me.

Coldness is all relative.

So relative that I cancelled my plans to go to the comedy thing I've wanted to attend for a long time. That's how cold it was.

I'm terrified to see these people drive when temps drop below freezing. They have enough problems keeping their driving in order when there isn't ice.

Anyway, I went to lunch with a co-worker to a seafood deli place. It was good and cheap. Which is the only two criteria I need. I also learned a little about crawfishing. I told the story of the time my brother caught a crawdad in Michigan and we cooked the thing for dinner. At which point I was asked why we don't eat crawdad's up north if they habitat in the area. I had no answer – until I realized that it took LOTS of crawfish to make a meal.

So this is my life: complaining about the cold, eating seafood, and learning about the trade of crawfishing.

To top it off people across from me conversing in French.

Anyway, funny story yesterday –

I lied. Nothing funny happened.

nothing much

I got up this morning feeling fairly good, even though it was late. 10:30. I never sleep this long so I was a little paranoid that I was going to miss the day. Saturday is the farmers market, so I got my act together and made a walk over to the city market.

This was the second week I was attending the farmers market. Last week I had a comprehensive list of needed supplies in order to make my first batch of jambalaya. I bought most the stuff I needed at the farmer's market, which included chicken, sausage, onions, lots of spices, and some other stuff. The directions basically told me to cut everything up and throw it in a pot that was supposed to bake for an hour and a half. My gage for a good meal is editable. And the jambalaya was editable – and fairly good. So I succeeded.

This week I wasn't prepared with a list of supplies, so I just bought some strawberries and went into to the inside portion and got some food for lunch.

I'm beginning to get to the point that I will see someone I know when I trace out into the town. Today I got to see one of the landscape architects that we work with a lot. She's cool. Last week I met someone that is part of the yuppie-tool organization I'm a member of (aka Forum 35).

I walked back to my apartment, and took another nap. Somehow I was tired. The previous night I had gone out with ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Jordan to the Roux House. the Roux House is a some-what band venue that also had some outside seating. Some covered band was playing, and it wasn't great. So we sat outside and had conversation until we migrated to the Irish Pub across the street. But it was definitely not a late night. Nor was there an abundance of drinking involved.

Thursday night was happy hour with the agglomeration of people that work in the statehouse. We went to Chelsea's. Chelsea's is located at the Perkins underpass. It's an ecleptic area, that isn't pretty. I mean, the entire bar strip is located under the interstate. But the area is pretty much awesome. Our happy hours will fluxuate between the Perkins area or Red Star downtown.

Wednesday night was the premier of Armed and Famous, which I was prepared to give aMuncie party. It wasn't until I turned on the TV at 7:20 and found the show partially over. (I thought it was on at 8:00, but I keep forgetting the TV schedules are different here). So I called the (few) people attending the party and cancelled, then took the remaining pizza over to my friends apartment down the street. They had a bunch of people over, along with a wine. This was fun, but at this point I was ready for bed and just sunk into the atmosphere instead of participating.

This weekend is low key – just like most weekends that I have been experiencing. Although this weekend is three days. Awesome. Plus we got off at 1:30 on Friday. The mayor has a policy that shuts the city down at 2:00 the day before a holiday. But here of lately we are allowed to leave at 1:30. This includes taking a lunch.

I have finally secured my first visitor. Jess will be coming down for the LA conference at the end of February. This rocks.