june 10-12 -- vacation in NOLA

thanks, allan, for the advice! as i haven't really programmed before, learning a new programming language shouldn't be too hard. i think. lol. i think it's an interesting field. let's see what happens...

right now, i'm still in bed, watching Along Came A Spider on FX. yay cable! now back to the beginning...
-----------------------
went to work thursday morning and was expecting to spend a few hours in courant too, but they didn't need me, so i chilled out with rae in the lab for a bit. lisle was also around for a bit. girl-talk and catch-up, lol.

my flight was at 8:40pm out of laguardia. i wanted to head out a bit early to new orleans to scope out the scene and get a feel for the city before i got sucked into the conference. arjun surprised me by coming with! he's such a sweetie -- didn't want me to take my first airplane flight alone. we stopped by jackson heights for some bombay chaat.

checking in and going through security was soo nerve-wrecking. they took my (or rather, fanny's) toothpaste. it isn't even a liquid! sorry, fanny, i owe you $2. i also borrowed your sunscreen (works pretty well, doesnt feel too icky on the skin). then we sat around for a while, waiting to board. arjun did research and i people- and plane-watched.

the plane itself was pretty small. almost every seat was filled. the flight attendants were pretty nice. i got complimentary cranberry juice and pretzels. the flight was delayed an hour cause they were doing construction on the runway. take-off was amazing. the plane just suddenly accelerated and then we were up! and spiraling up into the sky in wide circles. my seat was next to the window (17A) and the city looked so different from up above. it was a giant array of orange lights -- like a neuron in the brain. we eventually broke thru the cloud layer and headed south. i looked out every once in a while. we even passed by a lighting storm and i saw flashes of lightning! parts of the country was just DARK -- no lights at all.

landing was interesting. i had fallen asleep so waking up to unpop my ears was hard. i still had trouble hearing the day after. when i got off the plane, it was like i had walked into a sauna. the hot, humid air just hit me for a second as i crossed the transition area between the plane and the airport. the airport itself was nearly dead. there wasn't anyone around at all. we got the a general waiting area and there were a few people. other than that, it was empty. we got on a long line for a taxicab. it's so weird to not see yellow cabs -- the cabs here are like minivans and trucks (and some sedans).

checking into the hotel was interesting. the guy at the desk was really nice and gave personal attention to every customer. (which also prolonged our wait to get checked in) but he gave us a nice walking map and pointed out some nice locations to go to. i got upgraded from a queen size to a king size! there's a microwave and a coffeemaker. unfortunately, i discovered my shampoo bottle had exploded in my bag so i spent some time washing out my bag and hanging it out to dry. SLEEP finally. also discovered it's actually central time here (an extra hour!)
-----------------------------
friday, 6/11 -- slept in of course, lol. we went to mother's for lunch. i had jim's jambalaya and arjun had mae's gumbo and a potato salad. the meat is just great! then we walked around -- down decatur st to the french market area. we stopped by a souvenir shop and picked up some postcards and then walked along the mississippi river and he actually waded in. no, we didn't see any oil, but the water was kind of murky. we stopped by cafe du monde and had coffee and these desserts (i forgot the name). we went to the creole tomato festival -- saw lots of tomatoes, but didn't try any of them lol. we went into the flea market and arjun bought me a dress. all the dresses here have a similar style. we walked down bourbon st on our way back to the hotel. it's a lively street with lots of bars and xxx rated clubs (pornographic material plastered all on the outside).

we took the canal streetcar to decatur st and had dinner at the crescent city brewhouse. he got a chicken salad and i got stuffed shrimp. food was great! (yes, this was discovering that new orleans does really good food). we took another quick stroll along the mississippi before calling it a night.
-------------------------
sat, june 12 -- we walked down to poydras st, to drago's restaurant. we heard they had awesome charboiled oysters. and indeed they did, tho i thought it was a bit salty. despite hating seafood, arjun loved these. we started with a half dozen and then upgraded to a dozen. we also got a chicken romano -- the meat was just great (noticing a trend here?).

then we walked down to the national wwii museum and spent a good 3 hours there (till closing). the exhibits were amazing and the video clips and documentary stuff was just great.

we spent the evening at palm court jazz club. we took the canal streetcar down to the riverfront and took another streetcar to the end (french market). the live music was just awesome. all the players in the band were just great. the food was ok; it wasn't as good as some of the other stuff we've had so far, but the service was great. then we took another stroll along the mississippi. (he's such a romantic sometimes).
---------------------------
he took the first flight out this morning (7am) and i've been up ever since (that's 4:30am). so my short-lived vacation is over. i gotta get to work. so a general plan for the day:

1. check-in with SLA headquarters
2. go to PAM's newcomer lunch and meet ruth!
3. check out the Info-Expo
   

and i'll keep ya'll posted as things happen...
--------------------------
ps i've spent so long writing this, it's now 9:13am. another movie is on: Next. but i dont have time to watch all of it. gotta go get my complimentary breakfast, shower, and head out.