Weekend

Off to have a BBQ & watch the Braves tonight...should be a fun time, & a good way to start off the weekend.

My neighbor on the backside finally got his grass mowed after the longest time. Now I just hope the neighbor on the other side does, although they get some slack b/c they just moved in a couple of weeks ago, & apparently they're from Ohio, where the snow doesn't melt until about now.

New fact of the day: The Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans, which is near Uptown/Garden District, was originally used by Uptown residents as a fishing hole! Now, I know modern pump technology has improved, but would you want to live somewhere that you knew people had been fishing less than 100 years ago??? That's ridiculous.

Jazz fest starts today, but Derby takes precedence, so I pay no attention, although the lineup is good. Speaking of Derby, the Derby Marathon is tomorrow...that'd be a fun one to do sometime. I did 6 miles today for my Quebec marathon...that's the "long run" for the week (how not scary!).

Of course it's supposed to rain all day Sunday when I need to mow my grass next. Argh...I feel bad cutting it when wet but I often have no choice b/c it gets so long.

Police Chases

Today while working out I saw not one but two police chases on television, one in LA & one in Dallas/Fort Worth. The second one was obviously more interesting, being from the area...the path he took is approximately this. It was a garden variety criminal though...nothing like the OJ mess.

So someday soon I'm going to give my pick to win the Derby &/or Triple Crown (which I think is no longer sponsored by Visa). Of course I won't win, but I've come close a few times.

Tonight we're off to the driving club for a reunion for my wife's school. It's @ the Piedmont Driving Club though, so it should be pretty cool. I hear it's $75,000 initiation to get into that place now.

I'm baackk...

Hey -
Back from the lost...interesting weekend though...

I did my 1st run for the Quebec Marathon (which I may or may not be doing)...today was only 3 miles, but I'm way out of shape for running b/c I haven't done it in so long.

Also, we turned on & adjusted the sprinkler system in the park that's in our neighborhood...I don't know why that is so fascinating for me, but it is. In any event we did some landscaping around & I got to know some neighbors more...fun times except I'm sunburnt so my dress shirt is killing me!

In the NOLA elections, Nagin & Landrieu (a first family in LA politics) are having a runoff on May 20. Should be a showdown. At least that criminal lady didn't get elected!

Finally, it's about to be Derby time. The officially opening of the Kentucky Derby "season" is Thunder over Louisville, which was held on Saturday. I can't wait (Dunwoody beer fest is also that day!).

Also, it's only about a month until hurricane season...pull out the plywood & the MRE's...

Finally, tonight I'm off to our neighborhood association meeting...there are some "hot" issues to discuss to it'll go long & be heated...pull out the boxing gloves!

Stormy Day

So I just got a cold call from a New York investment banker wanting me to invest $20,000...now I'm not exactly strapped for cash, but I ain't got that much! Wow.

Storms are rolling in to the Atlanta area...earlier today it was Fulton, Cobb & Douglas...now it's just Polk, Carroll & Haralson in far west Georgia. Great...more rain & thunder to make my grass grow more...haha.

So one of the New Orleans mayorial candidates that I've talked about before, Kimberly Butler...yes I've talked about her before b/c she missed a debate due to her being in jail over not doing her job as the Orleans Parish Clerk of Court!....anyway, she had a picture of her in the French Quarter on her website, Elect Kimberly. Anyway, if you looked closely at the picture, which is not up anymore, there was a Disney trash can & a family w/fanny packs on...in other words the picture was of the Bourbon Street in Disney World!!!! HAHAHAHHA.

Hail Ye Festival Day

Better late than never, right?

Easter was great. My wife's parents & brother, and my sister, and our friends came for a huge Easter Feast after church at St. Phil on the Hill. Of course, after eating at 3 in the afternoon you're basically useless for the rest of the day.

I got the annuals yesterday...I got begonias for the beds & the front pots, variegated vinca for the taller pots to add some stuff to hang down, impatiens for the patio, which gets all afternoon shade, & a coconut-lined pot with geraniums & some other stuff for the bracket next to the garage door. I ran out of dirt & mulch so I'll have to do the back pots tonight. They were 4" pots, so I couldn't get that many but I hope they grow together...some Osmocote will do the trick!

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the Great San Francisco earthquake...the only thing remotely akin to Hurricane Katrina/New Orleans. Surprisingly the San Francisco Chronicle does not have much about it, but the other news networks are covering it because it's sensationalist.

The Louisiana legislature is considering a bill to evacuate pets during the storm. Many people died b/c they refused to be separated from their pets...after they'd lost everything else their dog or cat was the only they they had left. There is no money to pay for this however b/c FEMA doesn't reimburse for these sorts of things. I'd never cared about this stuff until we got our dog...that's why we only have one...if we had to leave, he could just hop in the car.

Jorma Duran, one of the newest reports from the Weather Channel, got arrested yesterday for trespassing after reporting on Tornadoes in Tennessee...apparently they'd been asked to leave but said the Sheriff had given them permission...oops.

Hurricane Alpha???

Whoa. Apparently scientists have discovered a new subtropical storm that formed October 4-5, 2005. This is from pouring over the data now that the winds have died down. That storm should have been called Tammy. That means that Wilma, the storm that went through Naples/Ft. Myers & then across to Palm Beach, leaving destruction both there & in Key West, SHOULD have been called Hurricane Alpha & should have been retired. That begs the question how they would have retired a Greek name...would the Greek alphabet start at Beta next time, or would it be Alpha 2007??? Interesting.

Also, this is the weekend of the big Easter Parade on Monument Avenue in Richmond. This is a big excuse to get dressed up, drink mimosas with the Governor, and generally just enjoy a beautiful spring day in the Fan and more specfically on the Avenue. I definitely want to try it sometime. Maybe next year!

Countdowns

Well, it's a little over a week until Thunder over Louisville, which starts the Derby Festival...two weeks of fun stuff leading up to the Kentucky Derby. It looks like we may have a cookout to go to on Derby day which would be very fun (it's also the weekend where I usually do my annual waxing of my car).

Also, in a month we'll be in Charlottesville at a wedding. Unfortunately we can't go to Foxfields b/c we can't afford any more plane tickets, but we're thinking this summer of going to a) the Hamptons, b) Quebec, Canada (for a marathon in August), or c) somewhere else fun.

Finally, my wife's family and my sister are coming in for this Easter weekend. I just got some of the stuff in the yard spiffed up so I don't have to do it this weekend. I do have to cut the grass again, but I think I'll be able to get out of work early to do so. Speaking of the yard, even the rent-a-cop we have says my yard looks good...hell yeah!

Also FEMA released flood maps today...essentially they just use the old 1984 flood maps & add +3 to the base elevation needed. That means you have to either raise your house 3+ or up to see level, whichever is higher. This is only for houses that are 50%+ damaged however, & the rest are grandfathered in. Basically this most likely means no more slab on grade houses, esp. in NOLA East, which is very prone to flooding.

N.O.P.D.

There are new billboards in New Orleans which state "New Orleans' finest drive Sewell". This refers to the incident where NOLA cops took Escalades from the Sewell dealership shortly after Katrina hit. Very funny pun....(get it...finest = rich people & finest = colloqial term for police???).

Bad joke of the day: A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West. He sidles up to the bar and announces: "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw." That's for our dog.

Speaking of our dog, this is the first time that he hasn't finished all his food in about a second...apparently it's due to the medicine. My wife thinks he's depressed but I disagree...can a dog get depressed???

Finally, the pollen is so bad that our bright red front door was covered in yellow. Gross. I've been sneezing up a storm.

Etc.

1) They were interviewing this fratty sounding dude on Dave FM today...it turns out that it was Edwin McCain. I'd always thought of him as the sappy pop singer of "I'll Be" fame. That song though is actually kind of "dark" & admits he sold out b/c he wanted the $$. He started though touring w/the Allman Brothers and the like. FYI, he's from Greenville. Who knew???

2) Are you a Louisiana resident and want to recall Governor Blanco (which I would support if I were a resident)? Click here. There's even a petition to pass around to your friends & then send in. They're about 1/2 way to the number of signatures needed by mid-June.

3) According to the News & Observer out of the Raleigh/Durham area, there is no DNA link between the stripper & the Duke LAX players. Now I don't doubt that something went on, but I think this has gotten way out of proportion. Too many Yankees though at Duke that think their s*&t doesn't stink.

4) I've decided I really want to see United 93 about the plane that went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. A bit gruesome probably, but very important nonethless. On a similar note, conspiracy theory people are saying that the plane got shot down by the government...if so, who cares? If people want to believe that their husbands, etc. helped the plane to avoid a collision w/the White House or Capitol, let them. Who is it hurting?

Tornadoes, Dixie Chicks & Green Jackets

Well, this weekend was certainly eventful...

On early Saturday morning we woke up when the windows sounded like they were going to break in. We turned on the television to find a Tornado Warning for Cobb & Fulton Counties. Fortunately Fulton is very large (70 miles across??) and we were not in the path of the tornadoes & did not have to seek shelter. Alpharetta & Marietta (the "etta's") did suffer some damage w/F-0 & F-1 tornadoes. The suburbs of Nashville really took it too...a bad weather weekend all around for Tennessee (P.S. I did not win the weather contest....argh).

Second, the new Dixie Chicks song "Not Ready to Make Nice" is growing on me. I didn't like it @ first, but the more I hear it the more I like it. I was always a Dixie Chicks fan until 2003 when they made their unfortunate comments about W. Everyone always says, "There's nothing illegal about that". I know that, but being illegal & being right are 2 different things. It was the wrong time & wrong place considering we were about to go to war. I've always wondered what the sisters, Martie & Emily, really thought about this whole thing. In any event, they are the hotter ones. We'll see what happens!

Good ole Phil Mickelson won the Masters. How can anyone not like him? As usual the television shots, especially in hi-def, were beautiful, even if Saturday was almost a total rain-out. The Masters has got to rank up there w/the frattiest sporting events...up there w/an Ole Miss game.

P.S. Don' t you hate those people that are dead wrong about something but refuse to back down & instead then just sound ignorant? Argh.

Finally friday

First of all, the pollen count in the area today is in the 3000's. Anything above 125 is considered bad. Monday's however was 5861, which is the 2nd highest count ever in Atlanta.

Retired hurricane names: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan & Wilma, to be replaced w/Don, Katia, Rina, Sean & Whitney...do those sound just like the retired ones to you? (Katia & Katrina???).

Finally our dog swallowed a 2 foot long zipper Thursday during the early AM. He spent yesterday puking all over our white carpet, so now we have big stains. Anyone rented a steam cleaner from Home Depot before???

New Hampshire: The government is debating making "Live Free or Die" the official logo, replacing the logo "You're going to love it here" which was made up by an advertising agency. But, the Yankees are too cheap so they're just going to paste LFOD on top of the old signs instead of ponying up for new signs.

Louisiana: They're most likely going to start giving DUI plates for anyone having 2+ DUI's. How embarrasing is that???

WX

Is it just me or does it seem like everyone's talking about the "extreme" weather these days? I mean, I could be wrong but it suddenly seems like everyone's taking an interest & saying how the weather has never been this bad, blah blah blah. However, a lot of the stuff we're facing (i.e. floods in North Dakota) happens EVERY year, & no one cares. It's just now that this global warming talk is heating up (sorry couldn't resist), that people are freaking out. Also everyone is talking about the tornadoes we're having, but we had very few last year, & that was an abnomally.

The hurricane forecast is for about 17 storms, but not as many severe ones striking the U.S. Knowing my parent's luck, one will hit the northern outer banks (i.e. Duck), then move up to W'burg. I doubt it though.

Although it's only been 4 days, my grass is out of control. I guess that's a good thing. I hope to mow it tonight if I have time but I also have a UVa alumni meeting to go to...argh. Work is never done.

$3000???

That's how much the total vet bill might be for our dog. He was doing great, but then they found a little dead skin & now they have to keep cleaning the area every once in a while at $100+ a pop. Yikes. This is definitely a lesson to NOT let him off the leash when he's outside, even if his friends are.

Other than that, things are pretty good...it just seems like I'm ALWAYS busy...at work, at home, etc. etc. I want to just kick back & relax but my busy schedule simply doesn't allow it (that's a Grinch reference by the way).

Throwin' dem bones & the Orange & Blue

My wife got a job today...it's exactly what she wanted. It's about time for some good news! Now I just have to figure out how to draft up and employment agreement.

Also, Florida won the NCAA basketball tournament. How is it that with few exceptions neither of the 2 teams in a given championship (Super Bowl, NCAA, etc.) I care in the least about? I rooted for Florida b/c they were East Coast! In any event someone congratulated me today b/c they got UVa confused w/UF. Now, there is NOTHING similar about UF & UVa except for the orange & blue. The chances of either of us winning the NCAA were just about as likely however...haha. In related news I tied for 1st in the basketball pool. No word yet on the weather pool.

This one's for South Carolina....

Raise up...

So Carolina Cup was awesome. Beautiful weather, beautiful people, tasty drinks & lots of appetizers. I rocked the green swordfish bowtie w/the seersucker this year...I have a tan/burn on the top 1/2 of my neck & my forearms. Oh well.

Yesterday was spent "licking my wounds" and also scraping all the bugs off the car...it's definitely getting to be summertime in the South. I also mowed the grass, which had gotten really long in just four days. It's only going to get worse since I just fertilized it & then we had a lightening storm (which I've heard somehow makes the grass grow).

Our dog is also healing, but expensively...he's had to have some debriding done, which makes me too queasy to look up, but it ain't cheap. I just want him to come home & not be hurt anymore! I miss the little guy.