Ms. Mae's

One of the most New Orleans of New Orleans bars is Ms. Mae's. Ms. Mae's is located at the corner of Magazine St. and Napoleon. Ms. Mae's used to be located down the street at what is now St. Joe's Bar. If you don't like the crowd just wait a few minutes and it will change: College kids, frat boys and sorority girls, bikers, neighborhood folks, senior citizens, professionals, and drinkers alike. It is one of the cheapest places to get a drink as well and is an awesome choice for Mardi Gras drinking as all the Uptown parades line up in front of it. Cash only though.

The reason for this story is here. Ms. Mae's was damaged in a fire last night. Hopefully it will reopen soon. Ms. Mae herself could often be spotted sitting at the bar in college, but I have not seen her in awhile.

Work is an amazing place

When meeting with a trade group that is a major source of soft money (grants!) is it okay when asked to talk about your work to reply "I am not sure what I am working on right now?". No? Are you sure? Hmmm my colleague must have missed the memo.

This really happened today. The boss kept prodding him and spoon feeding topics to him, in the end did most of the talking for him. I have only been here for a few months but was able to talk intelligently about my work on several topics for 15 minutes or so.

I did manage to get a tour of where I work, which was nice since I had never really been shown completely around.

John Force

I enjoy NHRA drag racing. From an engineering standpoint it is truly phenomenal. The idea of a Nitro-Methane powered Funny Car pumping 8000 horsepower out of an 8 cylinder engine is unbelievable. Undoubtedly the best Funny Car driver ever is John Force. John has won 14 national championships from 1990 through last year. He won the national championship every year from 1993 through 2003, he owned the winning team in 2004 and came back to win in 2006. This year has a new format for the points and although he had the worst start to a season he has ever had through the half way point, including the death of a team mate (Eric Medlen) from a wreck in practice he had worked himself into position to challenge for the championship again this year. He won his 2nd round elimination race yesterday before an accident caused his car to rip in two and shatter and tumble. John had surgery today for a compound ankle fracture, extremely dislocated wrist, and lacerated knee. He is standing already. He is likely out for the year, although he has inquired to his doctors as to what it would take to be back in the car in 2 weeks. The man is a machine, best of luck to he and his family.

View the crash here. Notice, the chunk of car they follow is not John, his front wheels and enjoy are what they follow, not realizing the rear wheels and John were left at the point of impact. The thought is the foam marker that Kenny Bernstein hit, went under John's car and exploded his tire at the same time his chutes deployed, ripping the car apart. Oh yeah, that is 300 MPH and John won.

Ramblings of a Government Worker

Boss is back after almost 2 weeks....damn. Off to a wonderful start. He ordered a new device and it did not come with instructions, whatever should we do? Apparently bring it to me and tell me to figure it out. Then, rather then ask me what I have been doing we had to schedule a meeting for tomorrow for me to tell him what I have been doing and what my plans are. I love scheduling meetings for stuff that we could just take care of on the spot.....c'est la vie.

I had to participate in a teleconference phone interview today for an attempt to hire a replacement employee for the old job. HR dumbed down all of the requirements and the list of candidates was woefully unqualified. Today's victim said he was very familar with Linux and used it for all of his work in one of his labs unless they had to modify a picture, then they had to switch to windows. Anyone who is fairly familiar with Linux should know about the GIMP. The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program and is one of the most popular Linux applications. There is a Windows version which I highly recommend. It is a great replacement for Adobe Photoshop and is free and Open Source.
Ok, I can forgive him for that (barely). The final straw was my asking if he understood what it was to accept a job and move to New Orleans right now (he is in the midwest). He said yes, he understood it would be hot. Ummmm, OK, what about the little Katrina thing down there? Cost of housing? Crime rate? Job located in a partial ghost-town? Nope! Just that it is hot!

Talk Like a Pirate

The day be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Pirate jokes and other booty may be found where X marks the spot, to assist in celebrating the day. A bottle of rum and a wench or two would be better.

On a Pirate related note, please examine the chart closely. I think Al Gore needs to be notified. I must attribute the chart to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Also, anyone who wants a new and interesting job should check this out. I think NASA might be a bit desperate for good publicity.

Chinese Food in Greenville

Another restaurant review from lovely Greenville, Mississippi. Tonight's special was Hunan Restaurant. There are a handful of Chinese restaurants in town and I thought I would try one tonight since after some very yummy Vietnamese food at both Pho Tau Bay and Tan Dinh in New Orleans.
I am pretty sure the place has not been redecorated since the early 1980s. It was a stereotypical sea of red and a bit of gold asian motif everywhere with a giant oversize wristwatch on the wall (similar to one my sister had in bedroom in the early 80s).
The service was friendly but slow. The prices were a bit high for Chinese food but not out of line and the quantity was impressive so if you consider it two meals (maybe more) it was worth it. The quality was good, but not great. The fried rice was ok, soy sauce made it better. The Hunan Chicken was good but hardly spicy.

On the other hand I was finally able to get new tires for my truck today. Apparently 275/70R17 tires can be a bit tricky to find. The Goodyear Tire store in Greenville was quite friendly and got the job done in less then an hour. 4 new Goodyear Eagle GT II tires for less then $650. Score 1 for Greenville.

Just say no to K-Ville

If you watched the premier of the new Fox series K-Ville tonight I think you will agree with me that the rest of the episodes should not see the light of day. It was bad. Really bad. Words defy me bad. Forget the couple of idiot actors trying to do a "New Orleans accent", forget the bad geography, the idiotic escape by boat from "the docks" (where might one go? how would one get in a small boat at the Mississippi River docks?), forget the evil white "Dubois" family that owns the casinos and lives on a plantation, it is just bad. The 9th Ward is referred to throughout, including the Upper 9th, I guess trying to show the producers know something about the real New Orleans. The premise is just bad, especially the stereotypical white cop/black cop partner/buddy theme. Of course the black cop is a veteran cop who stayed through the storm and his partner left him during the storm. The white cop has a secret too, he is actually an escaped prisoner from OPP, but the cop he is partnered with does not mind when he finds out. The truly bad moment was when they referenced "neutral ground" but never explained what it was. Another truly stunningly bad moment was the reference to a "Gumbo party". Fox....listen to me.....KILL IT NOW!

We don't need no stinkin' water!

I have complained about the brown water in the Delta in the past. Today is a bit different. No water. Most businesses would shut down without water, or perhaps notify the employees at a minimum if the water was to be turned off. Not the government.
The government owns a number of homes scattered throughout the research facility. These houses are maintained by the government and rented to some of the employees. Our electronics technician rents the building on our front lawn. This weekend he was digging a hole and ran into a water line and it broke. The government maintenance folks came out this morning to fix it and at some point terminated the water service to our facility. Of course they did not notify of this. We found out the hard way.

Last week: no power
Two weeks ago: no phones
This week: no water

What next?

#!@#$@! Tropical Weather

I am speaking of Humberto. It turned into a hurricane overnight and zipped through Texas and into central Louisiana before becoming a Tropical Depression. It is currently dumping on the Delta and me. I am right near where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi meet.
It is also bad timing for the cotton crop as the fields have been defoliated and were ready for harvest. The rain is bad, but if the wind comes tonight it will be really bad. The leaves are off the plants and there is nothing to protect the bolls from the wind. If the bolls hit the ground it is game over.

The Liquor Store

I finally broke down and hit one of the local liquor stores. I went to Chilie's on Hwy 82. It it the biggest in town and was recommended by a number of folks. Well it appears to have a pretty decent selection of wine and an okay selection of liquor. I was a bit stumped though. I worked for 2 years in a Liquor Wholesaler and have a better than average understanding of how a liquor store is arranged. I quickly located the liquors (very few) and the clears (vodka, gin, tequila) and around the corner from that was an adequate selection of Irish Whiskey and Scotch. By adequate I mean they carry Jameson, Bushmills, and Blackbush. I looked around but did not find bourbon. I was on a quest for bourbon, I keep a very nice bottle or two of Scotch in the apartment as well as Irish Whisky but was out of bourbon. Mike hooked me up with a bottle of Maker's Mark when I moved here and I knocked that off a few weeks ago. I was hoping to find a bottle of Booker's which is my preferred brand (although it is more then a little pricey). I blame Grover, he got me hooked on it.

Anyway, the bourbon, Canadian, and sour mash whiskey is all behind the counter for some reason at this place. I had to wait for the owner to finish talking to a customer about how the guy's son got popped in the face by his rifle scope while deer hunting and therefore took 3 shots to hit a deer (perhaps deer in these parts are a bit dumb thanks to the brown water). I asked for a fifth of Maker's Mark as it was the top brand they carry and the guy asked me if I needed anything else. I said that was it and as he rang it up he asked where I was from. He did not believe I was from NO....don't know why. What happened next was a 15 minute conversation about where I went to college, why was I in Greenville, how big was UNO, was it a private school, how did I like LSU, how big is LSU's graduate school, and was I really from NO....bizarre, but friendly. Remember, it is important to be friends with your liquor suppliers. After all, Grover and I still get great service at Elio's.

If you are in NO and need a drink, especially a keg, check out Elio's. Check out the list of kegs available on the website, it is the most extensive list I have seen anywhere!

Lots of stuff

Boss is out of town so I have been editing a paper for the umpteenth time since he has made more "suggestions" for the umpteenth time. I took some time out from editing to focus on one of my latest projects (also known as the "throw chris under the bus" project). This means I have been doing Split-Plot experimental design data analysis with Minitab. Minitab is my preferred statistical analysis package, I find it much easier then SAS and it will be interesting to see my boss' reaction to my use of it. I have used it for a number of years, but never as much as in my new job. My boss is big on "statistics", not that I have seen much in the way of real good statistics coming out of the lab, but that is a story for another day. Suffice it to say, Garbage In = Garbage Out and nothing will improve that. I may not be the smartest, but I have integrity.

I am taking advantage of my time in Greenville to do some planning for my house. The downstairs addition is coming along nicely and I am trying to figure out the downstairs bathroom. I am considering doing a tile shower to add a 3/4 bath to the laundry/entry area. I am discoverd a nifty system called the Kerdi system. You can read more about it here.

I also have decided it is time to buy an actual bed. The air mattress is starting to need air almost daily and has needed two patches. Yes, I really am that lazy that I am still using an air mattress. I used one in Clemson for about 5 months, so this is not that new of a concept. Jacqueline pointed me to Overstock, as they have shipping for $2.95 and a number of places are dumping their old mattresses. The regulations just changed on July 1 to require more strict flammability regulations. This is what Jacqueline works on nowadays. I did not see anything that jumped out at me, but I did find Mattress.com which looks like it might workout. I need to look into it more. Anyone have suggestions on where to get a really decent firm mattress in the middle of nowhere?

Back in the Delta

Vacation is over. I am back in the Delta.
Vacation was good but a bit short. I got a lot of work done on the house and even put in about 7 hours of work.....ARGH!

This should be an interesting week and a half with my boss gone.

If anyone is going to be in Indianapolis in September, check out ORANJE, La will be presenting some art at the show.

I finally got my truck in the shop at Chief. Progressive has been a pain in the rear to do business with, but only because the claim rep I was assigned does not believe in returning phone calls and instead likes to call late in the day on weekends or holidays. I got her boss on the phone and was able to get a rental car lined up. This is a bit unusual for me, but I was rented a car that I had never seen or heard of: Ford's Edge. It is a crossover-SUV similar to Nissan's Murano. It is okay, but I prefer my truck. It was good to see some progress happening at Chief, even though it meant leaving my keys with either the idiot or the ex-con at the shop as Barry had taken his wife to dinner on Saturday. They are still the best place to get body work done in New Orleans even without electricity, but it is coming.

I made a run to one of my absolute favorite lumberyards in New Orleans before dropping my truck off. It is hard to transport 14' pieces of Cypress siding without a truck. Bourg is a very small lumber yard, but they carry a ton of inventory. They specialize in a lot of the materials needed to build a proper New Orleans house. They have the best quality and price on cypress siding and also carry the tongue-and-groove porch boards used on the porches across the city. In addition to 25 pieces of 14' cypress (I had 16 16' boards left from my garage front) I picked up a half-dozen 5/4 x 6 x 12' pressure treated boards to be the corner boards on the addition when I install the siding. The neat part was that this was the absolute best looking PT wood I have ever seen. I have never seen #1 grade PT wood, this means almost no knots and the few knots are incredibly small. It was not cheap, but well worth it at $1.85 per linear foot. Thankfully I don't need to too much of the stuff. I enjoy going to Bourg, but it always costs me quite a bit of $$$$. It is one of the few places where I usually don't ask price, just get what I need. If I am there, they have what I need and it will be the best price for what I am getting. I also love their location, they are in the Marigny/Bywater area on S. Peters and it is a very NO experience to go there and then have to drive through the Quarter to get my haul home.

Random Ruminations

I survived the weekend at the farm. There was a first time event, we ran out of beer. One case of champagne (actually Spanish Cava), 6 cases of beer, and a large bottle of Vodka are all history. Many stories will come forth from this little adventure.

I am in NO for the rest of the week enjoying some time off and working on my house. Now it looks like I have to go into my old job for a few hours tomorrow to interview someone. The funny thing is I don't even know what I am interviewing this person for.....go figure. Gotta love government efficiency.