It’s been a lot of fun running at the fly for the past few months. Every time I ran past the river, the level was a little higher than the last time. I don’t remember it ever being as high as it is now, which is probably why the Corps has decided to open the spillway tomorrow. Unfortunately, this will mess up the lake’s algae levels, but I guess it’s important that the river doesn’t overflow, the levees don’t break, and the port doesn’t close.

This week is pretty exciting. It’s not every day that I put myself into massive debt.

Amazing, right after my “I might quit” rant, I have something that I do want to immediately share.  I went to the lower 9th ward yesterday to help build houses for Habitat for Humanity‘s musicians village. I went there with my Newcomb Nursery School teacher, Pat Boothby.  It was really rewarding for me.  I know that it really helps my city just by living here, but this was truly giving back to the city. I even learned a lot about homebuilding – mainly in installing and finishing doors.  It also felt good to use saws and nail guns, which I haven’t used since we lost the Mississippi house.  It would be a lot of fun to go back again with my brothers, friends, or coworkers.  So, if you want to go with me, I’ll probably say yes.

Why do I have a blog?  Why do I have a website?  I have lots of things to say and there are so many things happening to me, yet I don’t ever feel that I can write them here.  It’s sad because some things just don’t get told because I know certain people will be angry if I don’t tell them directly.  I shouldn’t care — and actually I don’t — but I also don’t like it when people are angry.  More than ever, my website is rather useless.  I’m putting things on it to have stuff there instead of because I want it there.  Maybe it’s time for a break.

The last few weeks have been furious.  Not that things are going slow, especially today.  I feel like I’ve experienced every emotion.  While I’ve done so much, it’s the things that I’m looking forward to in the next couple of days that has me most excited, nervous, happy, angry, etc.  I know that I’ll say more in the future, and I don’t even think that anyone will read this before I do… but I just wanted to say something.  Because deep down, I guess I’m really excited.

Mardi Gras is really just about to start and suddenly I’m excited about Jazz Fest.  I’m not even that big of a Jazz Fest fan.  They just introduced the 2008 lineup and it is incredible.  They always say that they have the best artists ever, but this year they really mean it.  There are so many people that I want to go see.  It is an absolutely incredible year.  It’s too bad that the price of tickets went up another $5.

It used to be common knowledge that to win the lottery, you had to buy a ticket.  No longer.  Now you can just be stupid, or figure out how to blame someone else who’s richer than you.  It’s not amazing that a lot of people, companies, and local governments sued the Corps of Engineers.  It is, however, legendary when you sue them for 3 quadrillion dollars.  That’s about 60 times the Gross world product (GDP for the world).  You could probably buy the entire Earth with that sum of money.  This of course coming from some anonymous ass who lives a couple hours north-west of New Orleans (not even affected by the Corps’ levees).  So good luck collecting your money.

Times Picayune article

What a great day of football!  My fantasy team barely won to advance to the second round of the playoffs and so far all but one of the teams that I picked have won.  GEAUX SAINTS tomorrow!

We welcomed back the streetcar to the avenue on Saturday. It’s only running to Napoleon Ave, but that’s enough. It will have the added benefit of requiring the neutral grounds to be cleared immediately after parades this year.

We sat around on the neutral ground having mimosas, bloody marys, and beer. We waved signs. It was almost like Mardi Gras, except we were practically the only people out. It’s kind of interesting to see a band march on the neutral ground (instead of the street).  We waited around for a while and then finally took a streetcar to Fat Harry’s so that we could have more drinks and then took another streetcar back to our neutral ground party.

Everything was truly just an excuse for a party. Although last night was a little different. I was driving across St. Charles at Louisiana and I saw a lit streetcar on the tracks and I got a little teary eyed. Seeing one “in the wild” just made it so much more real. I’m so glad that they are back.

I’ve been complaining (to myself) for years that the New Orleans airport doesn’t have internet access. That apparently just changed. I hope that they keep the access free as it is a great incentive to using the airport. The airport is finally getting business friendly and hopefully that will help keep businesses in the city as well as bring new ones to the city.