To Do List

Carlos is out of town this weekend, visiting his sister in Montgomery. (He isn't coming back until late Monday. I just got back from a few days in Fort Walton Beach, Florida with some of our friends so I didn't want to take any more time off.)

I guess I could have ensconced myself in porn and candy all weekend. Instead, I thought I would go through my ever growing To Do List.

Over time, as I think of ideas, I write them down on little sheets of paper, totaling around 40 right now. As I organize them, I thought I'd take you through the journey. (I'm skipping listing ones like "Call Steve back." and "Weed cucumber garden." I don't think those points are of any interest to you.)

Add to DVR:
- America's Test Kitchen (PBS)
- If you Really Knew Me (MTV) I have to keep at least one teen oriented show on my DVR list. I recently finally dropped Degrassi: The Next Generation.
- Locked Up Abroad (Nat Geo) The episode describing the true life story that inspired the movie Midnight Express is coming next week.

Visit Jeep dealerships
I think I want my next car to be a Jeep


Create menu for August Family Dinner
My younger sister Claudia and her family are coming back in town for a week near the end of July. Our immediate family rotates hosting dinner the first Monday of each month. August is my turn (with a bit of help from Carlos). To coincide with Claudia's visit, we're moving the dinner back a bit. I am thinking simple: French bread, cheese, wine, salad, potato salad, hot dogs, chili, pudding. I am still working out the details.

Add to Netflix queue:
- When You're Strange (a Doors documentary)
- Better Off Dead (for a planned John Cusack 80's teen trilogy weekend)
- One Crazy Summer (ditto) Savage Steve Holland directed both Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer - and one of my other favorite 80's teen movies, How I Got Into College, starring a young Laura Flynn Boyle and a cute Corey Parker. I wonder whatever happened to him?
- The Sure Thing (ditto)
- It Might Get Loud (to see Jimmy Page)
- Prodigal Sons (documentary - "star of the high school football team comes home to his 20 year high school reunion as a woman.")

Add to Amazon Wish List:
- 100 Greatest Comic Books - Jerry Weist and Jim Steranko
- Mr. Peanut - Adam Ross
- New Orleans Kitchens: Recipes from the Big Easy's Best Restaurants - Troy Gilbert & Stacey Meyer (Troy and I worked together at Kinko's in the early 1990's.)


To Buy:
- iPhone holder
- This Arch vase (pictured below top) that I saw in a recent issue of Cooking Light magazine
- The Pivotrim - that I saw on late night TV, to help with my yard work, but I want to do tons of research first
- Thumb Wine Decanter (pictured below bottom), that I saw at a party Carlos and I attended recently





Listen to the Paul Pena CD that Karen at work lent me.
We were listening to WWOZ at work recently and the song Jet Airliner came on. I had always assumed that The Steve Miller Band did the original version. I was wrong. Here is the original, Paul Pena version:


Check out:
- Discoveries Furniture and Finds on N. Rampart Street in Downtown New Orleans
- St. James Cheese Company

Find Pictures of Jay Hayden
He's the guy in this popular commercial:

It took me almost 2 months to research his name!

Download Songs (legally, of course):
- Dierks Bentley - Pride (In the Name of Love), a U2 cover
- Thinkin' 'Bout Something - Hansen (to sample their new CD)
- And I Waited - Hansen (ditto)
- Anything by the band Tinted Windows (From Wikipedia: "Tinted Windows is an American rock supergroup formed by guitarist James Iha, previously of The Smashing Pumpkins, singer Taylor Hanson of Hanson, bassist Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Ivy, and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick.") I'm curious to hear what they sound like.
- Anything by the band The Decemberists (I heard them on WTUL yesterday and really liked them.)

Okay, I have to get busy.

Gardening: Day 48

I have created a cucumber!

To follow the history of my garden:
Day 1
Day 34

This is my first year so I am still learning, but it is very exciting. (I really need to weed and water my garden more often.)

Carlos and I cut it up and ate it with a simple vinaigrette. Mmmmmmmmm Good!

Gay-Themed McDonald's Ad from France

If only our McDonald's ads were this intriguing...

Gardening - Day 34

Here is what my garden looks like - Day 34.




Here is what my garden looked like on Day 1.

Supposedly, by Day 75 I will have cucumbers and bell peppers. We'll see.

I Bought an iPhone

I have been wanting an iPhone for awhile, but promised myself that I wouldn't buy one until my current cell phone died. Well, for the past week, I have been having to charge my phone at least daily (and some days more). I used to have to charge my cell every three or four days.

That seemed like a good reason to upgrade.

My new iPhone (3GS 16gs) arrives at the end of this week. Updates to follow.

Chuck Lorre Productions #280

Chuck Lorre produces the TV shows Two and a Half Men (which I don't watch) and The Big Bang Theory (which I do). Ever since he produced the TV show Dharma & Greg, he has shown, in place of an end card (think "Sit Ubu Sit" or "Bad Robot"), a card with a dense paragraph - but for only a couple of seconds. In the early days, the only way to read the entire card was to tape the show (with a VCR) and then pause the frame at the exact correct moment. These days, pausing a DVR shows the card - and in much better clarity. (These days, the entire collection is also listed on his web site.)

Here is his recent # 280 card, which I thought was quite funny (and I could relate to) -

You know you're getting old when... You throw your back out on the toilet. You shave your ears. Your second wife calls your first wife “ma’am.” You're genuinely excited when your prescriptions arrive in the mail. You read the obits in the newspaper to check the ages of the dead people. You read a newspaper. You're bummed out that the smokin’ hot chick from Body Heat now looks like William Shatner in drag. You say “bummed out.” Women your age have real breasts and artificial hips. Masturbation leaves you winded. You try to amuse the kid hooking up your Blu-ray player by telling him about Betamax. You pee in morse code -- dots and dashes -- and have to look down to see when you’re done. Your car radio is set to “classic rock” so you have something to switch to during NPR pledge drives. Your doctor says things like, “that’s normal for a man your age” and “consider yourself lucky.” Beneath your chin is what appears to be a neck skin hammock. Beneath your penis is what appears to be two ping pong balls hanging from a flesh-colored bolo tie. You choose your new car because it offers great lumbar support and convenient cup holders. Watching “The Who” perform at the Superbowl made you inconsolably sad. You wonder if the orgasm you're about to have will actually end your life. Your doctor tells you a new medication will reduce the amount of semen in your body and your only response is, “so what.” Your car radio is set to “classic rock” so you have something to... oh, wait, I already did that one.

Chuck Lorre has a complete list of cards on his web site. To read his very first one, go here.

Note the ones that have (c) next to the number. Those are the ones that were censored and were never broadcast. Here, for example, is the broadcast version of #255 and here is the uncensored version.

Jazz Fest 2010 – Day 2

Jazz Fest Day 2 was much different from Day 1.

A few days before our “second Friday” Jazz Fest day, I had been getting sick. Not feeling sick, but sounding it – including harsh chest congestion. The Thursday night that Jason, Jason, Carlos and I saw David Sedaris live was the night that my throat hurt the worst. (On the way home, Carlos stopped at Walgreen’s for me and bought me all the correct drugs for my symptoms. Dating a hypochondriac has its benefits.)

I slept great Thursday night, but woke up Friday morning almost completely hoarse. By around 1 pm, right about the time Carlos and I hit the New Orleans Fair Grounds (where the Jazz Fest is held), I had totally lost my voice. I could either whisper or have Carlos read my lips. We quickly worked out some basic hand signals (and I still remember A through G in sign language – which turned out to be not much help) and were off to…

Fleur de Ladies Brass Band at the Jazz & Heritage Stage. They really grooved! I searched around for a video of them, but came up with nothing. Picture the Hot 8 Brass Band – but as women with attitudes.



Besides the music, Carlos and I love the food. I was really looking forward to a (highly recommended) Duck Po Boy. Carlos thinks that no one should eat a plate of shredded duck on a piece of French bread. I ate that and a plate of Crab and Crawfish Sushi. Both dishes tasted odd. I think because of my sickness. Or maybe Carlos is right.

We then listened to The Dixie Cups ("Chapel of Love") for a bit on our way to...

John Boutté at the WWOZ Jazz Tent. We arrived one song into his set and so asked around if he had played "the hit". Apparently, we weren't the only ones there for "the hit". As more and more people swelled the Jazz Tent, each new arrival asked if he had played "the hit". John Boutté's music runs from blues to gospel, all of which he sings really well - and we all loved. I really hope that his "hit" gives him more exposure.

I went to Amazon to see about buying one of his CD's. They're all expensive Imports. Spread the word: Let's get his music released locally.

Here's the "hit", the theme to HBO's current show "Treme"...



The Nicholas Payton Sextet followed John Boutté. After John Boutté finished his set, the Jazz Tent cleared out. I bet that's never happened to Nicholas Payton before.

Carlos and I then listened to Allen Toussaint...


on our way to...

"Unfinished Blues with Harold Battiste, Ellis Marsalis, and Karen Celestan with interviewer Kalamu ya Salaam"

The Music Heritage Stage, where older musicians are interviewed, is inside the club house (read: the air conditioning). That was our original motive for going there. We stayed for the entire show. Hearing how these mid 20th century jazz musicians got together was fascinating.

From Ellis Marsalis: "I remember in high school skipping my bus stop and riding one more further with Harold so we could jam together. He didn't want to play piano so that's how I ended up playing it."

From Harold Battiste: "I helped Sam Cooke compose 'You Send Me' and ended up playing on it."...


A book based on their experiences is coming out in June.

Here's a quick NPR Jazz story about the same.

Carlos and I then met some friends of his from school and caught almost the entire Earth, Wind & Fire set...


They were a last-minute replacement for Aretha Franklin. After the Unfinished Blues session, we were talking with one of the employees of the Fest. She told us that Aretha was "scared of the oil spill". I added that I saw on her Biography that she is scared of flying. Our employee friend told us that, since this is her second time canceling at the last minute, she won't be ever asked back. Too diva.

We did leave before the final two EWF songs. Apparently even though the band was a last minute replacement, they were able to track down Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind & Fire's original/best known singer)...

...and have him sing the final songs with the band. Carlos and I heard those as we were walking out of the Fair Grounds back to my car.

Overall, another great day.

Job Update

A quick update on my job.

I am the Manager of the Duplicating & Graphics Department at one of the universities here in New Orleans. Our department handles the copying, printing, graphics, and copy machines for the entire university, as well as some other associated departments around the city and the state. Think of us as an on-campus Kinko’s – with the addition of overseeing 120 copy machines around the campus/city/state.

I got a (sort of) promotion at work. I say “sort of” because my boss gave me more responsibility, but no more money.

I am now also Manager of the Warehouse and Delivery departments. The Warehouse orders and delivers (via many vendors) all the cleaning products used by every janitorial department on every campus (and it’s a shit load!). The Delivery department handles those deliveries, plus the deliveries for all other departments under our larger umbrella department (17 total).

The Manager who formerly handled Warehouse and Delivery is a good friend of mine so we are having an easy transition. It is still tough to take on all these new responsibilities, while still trying to maintain our current customers - and more importantly, increase our sales.

It’ll all work out, but for now it’s really stressful at work. [Sound of me popping open a third beer.]

Mother's Day

A few years back, my sister Christine and her girlfriend Karlie took over the Mother's Day Crawfish Boil from Aunt Mary and Uncle Greg. As always, the crawfish and the company were perfect.

Carlos and I caught up with, among other people, my 41-year-old cousin Paul who is battling colon cancer, which has also somehow attached to his liver. He seems very upbeat about the whole thing - even though he is about a month into chemotherapy. We'll see. I think it'll turn out okay.

My parents were in Eldora, Iowa for my dad's cousin's wedding. My mom hated to miss Mother's Day, but she said 45+ years ago, when my parents first got together, that since my dad was willing to move to New Orleans for her, she would attend all his family events. (My dad grew up in Clarendon Hills and Hinsdale, Illinois - and his parents are from Iowa.) I bet the wedding was on a farm.

Christine and I were discussing the fact that mom wasn't at today's event.
ME: Did you call mom today? I called her right before I got to your house.
SIS: No, but I will right now. I sent her a Mother's Day card next day air so she'll get it tomorrow in Milwaukee, where they'll be.
ME: I bought her a card - and Carol Burnett's new autobiography, which I will leave on mom's coffee table for her to see when she returns.

Sibling rivalry never truly dies.

Music Wandering

As Pandora does for you automatically, tonight I started with one song that I love – and let the song guide me through the rest of my night.

At least in my mind, the prior song prompted me toward the next one. It may have been a memory from my past or a trigger within the song, but the playlist flowed naturally for me.

Here are the songs I wandered through this evening. Find the songs on LimeWire or YouTube. And make your own journey.

(The first song) Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil
Wire – U2
Tempted – Squeeze
Tom Sawyer (DJ Z Trip Remix) – Rush
Romeo’s Tune – Steve Forbert
Shelter – Lone Justice
I’ll Be Your Shelter – Taylor Dayne
You’re Still The One – Shania Twain
Shelter - Ray LaMontagne
Shelter from the Storm - Bob Dylan
Blue On Black – Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Hope It Gives You Hell – The All-American Rejects
Ledbetter Heights – Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Riot Van - Arctic Monkeys
Supernova – Liz Phair
Cotton Fields – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Send The Pain Below – Chevelle
Woman - Wolfmother
Son’s Gonna Rise – Citizen Cope
John Lennon – Citizen Cope
Bullet and a Target – Citizen Cope

And then I stopped. I thought that song was a good spot.

Here are the videos of a few of the above tunes…

Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil


Romeo’s Tune by Steve Forbert


You’re Still The One – Shania Twain



Blue On Black by Kenny Wayne Shepherd (an acoustic version)


I make at least one mixed CD per month – and this is how I pick the songs: I throw enough stream-of-consciousness darts at the wall and see which ones I like best.

Of all the songs I went through above, only three made it onto my May 2010 Super Mix. Which ones do you think? (Hint: I have NEVER put U2 – my all-time favorite artist - on any mixed CD ever. They just seem too personal to me to share.)