(This entry is mostly for the benefit of my friends who know of this blog through Ultima Online.)
I've been spending time re-playing Ultima IX: Ascension.
I've referenced this game before, both the game and the series from which it comes: it's the lead item in my BOTW 27 "acceptance entry".
The game itself is not very playable right now: one of the major goals of the game is the cleansing of 8 shrines of virtue in the game world. Once the Avatar (you, the player) collects the mantra, to
One of the highlights of the past couple of weeks has been the kickoff of construction of the Elmwood Park sewer improvement job. This 1.4 million dollar job involves the relocation of a sewer lift station in a narrow clearance between a buried fiberoptic duct bank and the curb of Wilson Drive, in Metairie, LA. It is a very narrow strip of land where the station must be located, and there's not much room to lay out materials on the side away from the street (There's a canal there.), so the contr
Oh, believe you me, I have entries worth posting. I just don't have time to type them up.
I do, however, have time to relate this to you:
The best fried chicken on the face of the planet is served by a man named Arthur Davis in an old country store in Lorman, MS. Point your GPS to 31° 49' N, 91° 3' W to find it on a service road on US 61.
You will not regret this trip. People from Vancouver, BC, have signed the guest book, saying as much.
More to come later this week, assuming I
Baseball Season is upon us.
Amanda & I went to watch the New Orleans Zephyrs, AAA affiliate of the New York Metropolitans, play in their season opener tonight against the Nashville Sound, AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the first minor league baseball game for either of us: I'm an Astros fan, and I might have gone back when they were the AAA of the Astros franchise, but now they're not. (That's the Round Rock Express, also in the Pacific Coast League.)
We went because ther
Apparently, I rock.
(I bet you thought I was posting lyrics two days in a row. Nyah. )
Easter was fun. Amanda & I went to her parents' place in West Monroe for the weekend. We left Thursday night, and I got to play photographer Friday morning at Biedenhorn Gardens in Monroe. Camelias & tulips were in bloom as the gardens were open for Easter pictures. Those of you who may have linked here otherwise (Yes, BZPower, I advertise my blog on other websites.) should see photographs loaded s
There is music and laughter lately
And there's prayers and praise
There are reasons to be so happy
And at least to embrace
There's a time to be so angry
I'd rather lie in the sun
It's the summer of my lifetime
I've been blessed with some fun
(Ho Ho) I'm a season past springtime
(Ho Ho) And my life has gone boom
(Ho Ho) Keep my eyes on the Father
(Ho Ho) Everything is in bloom.
Everything will just get better.
Through the seasons I roam
When all of the music's over,
I will ge
I mentioned earlier this year (because I couldn't get it together last year) that Amanda gave me XM Satellite Radio for Christmas. She got me a receiver & antenna, an FM adapter, and a 30-day subscription. While I'm content to listen to WBSN or WODT whenever I'm around New Orleans, and can generally stomach KLove between Baton Rouge and home, the only thing I'd need XM for is baseball games.
See, I'm as big an MLB fan as Amanda is an NFL fan. (This is why she has Sirius, not for Howard Ster
I'm so proud of my girlfriend today.
Today is the first day, the first step on this next leg of her trip back from the edge. I am humbled to be party to this journey, and am sure I will be in awe of the future transformation.
I love you, Amanda, and I will be here for you all the way back.
-KIE
There's a place where I come from
It's the place where I belong
Where you will never die
Wipe the tears off from your eyes
Sun and moon and stars above
Never match this perfect love
Just look to the painter's hands
Like an ocean meets its sands.
Digigee Digigee Dime Dime
Digigee Digigee Dime
Digigee Digigee Dime Dime
Digigee Digigee Dime
Twisted castles in her hair
Building mountains in the air
Making profits, lending loans
Ancient TV's golden telephones
But within this m
Man, the trees were whistling last night. Okay, technically, it was the wind in the pine trees, but the sound originated in the trees, so there.
If you were taking someone to their first orchestral performance ever, what scores would you want on the conductor's stand? What would you want performed?
How does the following list strike you? Overture to La Forza del Destino by Verdi "Caro Nome" from Rigoletto, also by Verdi the ballet suite from Faust (7 movements usually not performed with the
My, it's been a while, hasn't it?
I guess I could recap the past week, what I've picked up, news, and what not....
My stock picks don't like me any more, A Collision by David Crowder Band, Thrive by Newsboys, The Eleventh Hour & Christmas Songs by Jars of Clay, I'm not nearly as upset about the Louisiana Republican party subverting my Huckabee vote as everyone else (electability, hello), and who in 1968 knew Fidel Castro would last this long?
There, with that out of the way....
F
Thursday night, I earned all possible points in effort and in degree of difficulty. That was barely enough to avert disaster, though, and there is a lesson to be learned.
For Valentine's Day, I thought I'd get fancy, and pulled a recipe from foodnetwork.com for Pistachio-crusted tilapia & chard with prosciutto and gorgonzola.
Because Amanda doesn't like pistachios, and I have no idea where to find chard, I made some substitutions in the recipe.
It starts simply enough: chop up some or
Rule #1: Eating chocolate on February 14 breaks no diets or New Year's resolutions. Lenten fasts are under debate.
I'm trying to wrap stuff up in Kenner today, so I'm here to type out a blog entry.
Tonight promises to be quite interesting: I'm cooking Ecuadorian tilapia tonight, in lieu of placing reservations at some place I won't afford (Well, I could afford, but then I wouldn't be able to go to a Brewers' game the first weekend of May.)
Quick comment: Gosh, I'm glad my name isn't Rog
Mardi Gras was great. Amanda & I caught 5 parades all told: Excalibur, Atlas, d'État, Isis, and Zeus. We could have caught 7 more (Hermes, Morpheus, Muses, Napoleon, Argus, Elks Jeffersonian, and Jefferson), but circumstances didn't allow for it. Specifically, we were too late for Hermes, Morpheus and Muses were taking too long, Napoleon broke down, and after Zeus, Amanda was just plain Mardi-Gras'd out. Pictures are in the process of being uploaded to my maj folder. (I'm just uploading them
Down in New Orleans where the blues was born
It takes a cool cat to blow a horn
On LaSalle and Rampart Street
The combo's playin' with a mambo beat
The Mardi Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo)
Party Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo)
Mardi Gras Mambo-ooh
Down in New Orleans
In Gert Town where the cats all meet
There's a Mardi Gras mambo ...with a beat
They shout to the Chief with the Zulu gang
And truck on down where the mambo's swing
The Mardi Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo)
Party Gras Mambo (mambo,
There are friends waiting for you.
from left: Mimiru, Helba, Bear, Tsukasa, Subaru, Crim, Sora, BT
Image borrowed from a chinese site, by way of Wikipedia
I may replace it with a better one if I find one in the DVDs that just arrived.
.hack//SIGN was on Toonami back when Veritas, my guild in Ultima Online was still mostly active. Taking away from the main plotline (which, in the text of the characters themselves, really is a subplot), the interactions of the characters and their non-RP
Who knew the first Joker would outlive the second Joker?
Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment this afternoon, at the age of 28.
Pardon me whilst this 28-year-old ponders his own mortality.
I guess it just goes to show you that fame, fortune, and a budding career a reason-for-living do not make. Take this to heart, those of you in high school and college: there must be more to life than what Mr. Ledger found.
-KIE
I expect derision for this entry.
Not because this is not anime, mind you. I concede this does not fall under the category, but the "oversized eyes" category had collected a lot of dust. It needed a little activity.
No, I expect the derision to arise from the general subject matter.
I became a Mo Willems and Tom Warburton fan back in the days of Sheep in the Big City. GREAT little show on Cartoon Network that didn't get nearly enough air-time; I wish I could buy the entire serie
The "E" word no part-time brass player wants to hear when he's just busted his chops by playing for the first time in 12 months.
Also the title of an article in yesterday's paper I thought was very interesting:
Just some food for thought, and the ears...
-KIE
Amanda & I went on a vain attempt to pass the night together earlier tonight. It was an epic series of failure, à la a previous mall encounter. (That watch now says 2 AM, by the way.)
I was reminded of another favorite anime of my college days, and set out, with Amanda, to go find it so that I could introduce her to another storyline. We went to fye at the Esplanade Mall, and they didn't have it (Which one? You'll find out at a later date.), but, amazingly, they could order it. Order pla
Been busy for the past week. Anyone noting the entry ID number on this post will notice that this is from last year. This is true: I started writing an entry about what I got for Christmas. I started in draft, and got really busy.
For any of you wondering, a partial list is below:
WHAT I GAVE: Amanda: a Victoria's Secret gift card (Juvenile comments from the peanut gallery will be deleted.) a bottle of perfume: Ralph Lauren Blue a $20 IOU because underarmour.com can't keep their inventory st
My head hurts.
What year is it?
In all seriousness, we don't have a giant glowing ball of light bulbs. Instead, New Orleans has a pot of gumbo.
Amanda, her mom, & I rang in the new year at Jackson Square this morning. Despite 5 false-starts, we had a first New Year's kiss, and, heeeee.
Sorry, the stupid grin just came back, and I can't seem to shake it.
My bowl picks are a mess, and I'm sick of coughing & blowing my nose (caught something at the end of last week). But 2008
Poinsettia
United States Naval Academy (+9½) over Utah
Utah 35, Navy 32
New Orleans
Florida Atlantic (-2½) over Memphis
FAU 44, MEM 27
Mobile..er, papajohns.com
Southern Mississippi (+10½) over Cincinnati
CIN 31, USM 21
New Mexico
New Mexico (-2½) over Nevada
UNM 23, NEV 0
Las Vegas
Brigham Young (-6½) over California-Los Angeles
BYU 17, UCLA 16
Aloha, er, Hawaii
Boise State (-11½) over East Carolina
ECU 41, BSU 38
Motor City
Central Michigan (+9½) over Purdue
PUR
