Hello.

I realize it's been a solid 4 months since I've posted anything worthwhile. In fact, this entry may go largely unheralded, but I'm not worried.


I've been equal parts Busy and Distracted during this summer. My wife & I planted a garden, and tomatoes were never this much fun growing up. Beyond that, it's been good to scratch out a living, so to speak.

Amanda & I went back to where it all began: Akron, Ohio. Well, we were in Akron to go to Canton for the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies for Rickey Jackson, the first Saints player to march into Canton. I didn't fully realize it in 2003, 2 years after the Summer That Changed Just About Everything, but here in 2010, 9 years after the fact, I do understand: time marches forward. Many things change, yet some stay the same. The world in my memories now exists only there: in my memories.
And yet, it's a good thing. By the same token that it was good for BIONICLE to not sit & spin where it was in 2001, it's good that I don't sit & spin where I was in 2001, regardless of my wishes at the time for that to be the case.

I promised thoughts on the Deepwater - Horizon oil spill. By virtue of some emails Congress decided to leak, this falls purely on British Petroleum's head. Whether or not upper management created a culture that some engineers had to forfeit their ethos and send unsafe, unsound directions to the rig, I don't know. I don't really care, either: Obama's shut down of deepwater drilling cost my dad his job: 35 years with one company, only to be laid off 2 years before he can start drawing Social Security.

I'll try to hunt & peck at more thoughts to come, but this is all I've time for at the moment. Rest assured, big things are on the horizon here.


-KIE

Not that I've actually done anything to the computer, well, I have: we had to replace the monitor. Went from a 19" ViewSonic VX922 at 1280×1024 to a 22" widescreen ViewSonic VX2233wm running 1920×1080[p]. When they say HD, apparently they aren't kidding: text is awfully tiny now.

But anyway, just wanted to drop a note saying I'm 3 years late to the party, but here I am: this entry was typed using the internet channel on our Wii.

And yes, I am using the remote, not a keyboard.

-KIE

I do have thoughts on Deepwater Horizon, but that will have to wait for later this week. Today is a day of celebration.

It may be disputed as to whether 69th mayor was the worst mayor in the history of New Orleans, but it will hardly be disputed that he was not the right man for the job immediately after Katrina. To have seen one whose platform be based on "business" and "clean up corruption" turn around to hire a tech chief who allegedly pocketed hundreds of thousands on non-working technology (Greg Meffert), let Montgomery Watson Harza use the city as an ATM (recovery project management), and attempt to end-run through "contracts for nothing" that couldn't be reimbursed with federal dollars (Municipal Auditorium), it's a shame really. I have to wonder if, in 2002, he only saw his election as a payday, his turn to move the dollars around, and nothing more.

If you hear one thing from me, public, hear this: money is not the be-all end-all in life. If you hear a second thing from me, hear this: just because your hands control purse strings does not give you license to direct someone else's money to yourself or to your buddies without just cause.

As Mitchell Joseph Landrieu (a.k.a. "Little Moon") is sworn into office in about 80 minutes, I don't doubt there will be some dancing in the streets by some truly cynical pundits. I, for one, will be grinning up here in Illinois. I'm not about to christen him as the Savior of Perdido Street, but it would be very difficult to do worse than the blundering incompetence that hallmarked the Nagin mayorship.


-KIE

(No poissons d'avril here. This is one of the many years I'm not pulling any pranks on the 91st day of the year.)

So sorry I've been away.
Been really, really busy with work, and right now, packing.

(Actually, it's my wife & mom packing now: I'm at work until 4:30 PM.)


It's an odd feeling.

When I moved here in February 2005, I was all "country boy coming to the city." This was where I was going to make my fortune; this is where my life was leading me. After Katrina, 6 months later, this city became something of which I was proud, and protective. Rebuilding this place, and defending this place, was suddenly important to me.

Then life continued to happen. I had the opportunity to state my intentions to Amanda. We became so wonderfully attached, there was no way I couldn't propose. We got married.

And then the rug was pulled out from under my seemingly steady job.

I still should've seen it coming, but our train still jumped the tracks. God provided another job, and another track. This one leads to Chicago. Illinois, one of those blue states of which I'm glad I'm not a resident...oh wait.

New Orleans is a special place. Louisiana is an amazing state, even if it's always 48, 49, or 50 in the ranking of certain key figures (like education). (Good thing Mississippi obliges us by being the 49, 50, & 49 to us.) If you've ever heard the jazz song "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans", if you've ever heard it here in the Crescent City, then you know that it's more than just a song: it's a different way of life that's just so difficult to describe, I can only exhort one to visit and pass a season here: anyone that has ever visited at length knows that the notion of abandoning this city is nonsensical.

I'm not one for patronizing Home Box Office, but oh, how I want to see Treme when it premieres the weekend after Easter. Knowing that my work will bring us back towards the end of next year doesn't lessen the sting of leaving family, friends, a church, and a city.

I might get another entry posted, but it'd be a lyric, nothing more. Next stop, Morris, Illinois.

-KIE

For as much fun as Wii Sports is, Wii Sports Resort is funnER.

That is all.

Amanda & I saw a parade 43 years in the making tonight.
We saw the Super Bowl XLIV victory parade from the plaza outside my office in downtown.

The parade would've been better if the ##### in front of us hadn't been such a #####, but when he left, no one but new found fellow friends were near. (Words fail to describe how "cool" this ##### was.)

What they say is true: no NFL fan base has a love affair with their team quite like the Saints & New Orleans. It's the common thread that crosses all races and income brackets in this town. It's more than just a synergy between team & fans: it's nigh symbiosis: colors and moods are brighter on Monday after a win, city-wide.

If you ever get to taste this, enjoy it: it is a rare thing indeed. If not, I suppose I can't adequately describe it: the joy, the camaraderie, the euphoria that has taken hold. Will this fix everything Katrina broke 4½ years ago? No, and no one really expects it to. But this goes beyond Katrina, to 40+ years of suffering and futility. That the burden of Saints futility is lifted does indeed brighten the colors everyone sees and cheers every passer-by.

Especially if those colors are black & gold and the passer-by has a fleur-de-lis emblazoned on their wardrobe.


It's so pretty!


-KIE

Tracy Porter, you are a hero.
With 3:22 to play, you delivered the backbreaker, the legend-slayer, the forever-curse-breaker.

Nine times the Lombardi trophy has left New Orleans. For the first time ever, it comes to New Orleans. To stay.

I don't know what the next CBA will hold, but 43 years are a distant memory now.

WHO DAT! WHO DAT! WHO DAT SAY DEY GONNA BEAT DEM SAINTS!

-KIE, collapsing in a heap

"Pigs have flown. ###### has frozen over. The Saints are on their way to the Super Bowl." -call from Jim Henderson on the Saints Radio Network

Somewhere, if only on the front page of the Living section of this morning's Times-Picayune, Buddy D is wearing a dress.

Euphoria is running rampant in Chocolate City. I swear, but nothing else of relevance happened in the world except that the Saints are going to the Super Bowl.

• being the 1 in Tampa's 1-26 franchise mark
• Bum Phillips not figuring out how to win
• 1-15
• the original Paper Bags
• The Aints
• Finally winning the Division, only to get throttled by the Vikings in the Wild Card round (1991)
• Bobby Hebert blowing the Dome Patrol's shots at postseason glory
• The River City Relay, only to watch Carney miss the extra point
• Mike Ditka trading away an entire draft for one questionable running back
• Aaron ___ Brooks *wince*
• Not a single player enshrined in Canton

43 years of abject futility are washing away even as I type this. This is every 8-year-old's dream come true, even those 8-year-olds that are now 28. Or 48.

The party has started early this year in New Orleans. I can guarantee it won't stop for the next two weeks. And, if the Saints win another game, Lord only knows what will happen next.

Y'all come along for the ride.

-KIE

Amanda & I bought a Wii last night.
How do I hook this up to the internet to pull in the Mii's of all my friends here?


-KIE