Lobsta' Night

Last Monday night, I had a couple of friends over to break-in the new lobster pot I purchased. We bought our lobsters on the pier, about two blocks down from my apartment. It was, obviously, a new experience for me, never having to encounter an animal in its living state before cooking it (I understand that some would think that seafood does not count). Although, I vaguely remember chicks, that grew into chickens, that ended up on our table fried (does my memory serve me correctly?) Anyway, I think the first two pics speak for themselves. . .

As you can see, they turned out well. . . .truth be told, they were delicious!

Also on the menu was crab salad stuffed roasted red sweet peppers (pimentos). I got that recipe out of the tapas book my mom bought me at Borders when I was home over the summer (see mom, I actually used it!) We definitely plan to do this again after the holidays. . . .

Polo

What you see in this video is me getting one good hit in then having to transition to the defense when I missed the second opportunity to hit (I'm in yellow if you can't tell. . .)

This video also shows me getting a couple of good hits, but the reason I didn't take the one at the end is because I thought I had committed a foul by crossing in front of the white horse. But, it turned out I had the right of way and could have taken the shot.

Morgaine's New Toy: Part 2

Morgaine's New Toy: Part 1

Video of Quarters

As promised, here's a video of my apartment (sorry it seems disjointed, had to cut parts out due to size issues--that's my Mustang too, at the very beginning):

This is my new quarters for the next year. I'm on the 2nd deck. The best way to show my apartment is to make a video with my camera, so that will be coming shortly. I'm pretty much moved in, but I still do have some finishing touches to make before I do the video.

Goodbye New Orleans!

I departed New Orleans at 0800 this morning with absolutely no sense of regret or nostalgia. Me and the cats have bedded down in Knoxville for the night and will get on the road early in the morning. We'll be staying in Fredericksburg Friday night and, hopefully, will be in Newport Saturday evening. I have a lead on an attractive Mustang convertible that I need to move quickly on which is the reason I'm trying to shave a day off my travel time. I was going to get my uniform squared away on Saturday, but should be able to get that accomplished tomorrow, if I can be on the road by 0600. The Mustang in question is a 2003 convertible, loaded with leather seats, with only 23,000 miles. Cross your fingers that it's not sold before I get there! Hopefully, my next post will include a pic :)

Back From the Range

A co-worker and I went to the range in Mississippi this morning. My main objective was to get my rifle sighted-in (BZO'ed) to get it on target. After messin' around with it for about an hour, we finally got me shooting in the black. Really satisfying. . . . Below is a pic of me firing its first round:

Being a Marine, and a Texan at that, Mr. Gholson also brought some ridiculously large caliber rifle that he offered to let me shoot. I knew (and am not ashamed to admit) that I had no business shooting this rifle, but I did anyway, with the below result:

I "ate the scope" as they say. I know tomorrow it will be nice and swolen and blue. And yes, it hurt but I maintained my bearing! So, afterward, I turned kind of gun-shy and opted not to shoot the Mauser but let Mr. Gholson shoot it. Dad, it still shoots just fine.

Dedicated to All You Lawrence Welk Fans Out There

Harold and Carolyn Visit New Orleans--Again

I know this posting is a bit late, but wanted to update it to reflect Harold and Carolyn's most recent visit. This one will be their last unless I make someone mad and get exiled down here again before I retire. Of course, they are always free to visit NOLA on their own. . . .though I don't recommend it!

This is a pic of the St. Charles streetcar coming to pick us up.

This was taken at the transfer point, where we had to get off one then get on another to do the other half of the route.

Obviously this is them riding the car. Looks like they're having a great time!

We also took a cruise on the Mississippi aboard the Steamboat Natchez.

And we toured the D'Estrehan (Destrehan) plantation (One of the oldest in Louisiana).

And then there's me, sitting on the steps of the slave quarters at Destrehan.

Sight-Seeing

Yesterday, I took a day of leave to do some sight-seeing in preparation for my departure. Unfortunately, I had to cut my day short because I wore the wrong shoes and suffered some pretty bad blisters. Anyway, I was able to conduct my St. Charles streetcar ride and spent a couple of hours just riding from one end to the other. St. Charles avenue was nothing new to me--basically, that's where I ran to train for the Mardi Gras half marathon. What the runners (and walkers) do is run facing oncoming streetcars. When one approaches, you hop over to the other side of the track until it passes then hop back over. I did this from Plum St. and Carrollton, to Lee Circle, which was 5 miles one way, then ran back. After the streetcar ride, I visited Lafayette Cemetery #1, established in 1833. It was at this point, that my feet started to protest so I didn't stay long. Anyway, it was a fairly interesting "city of the dead" and I'm still curious and fascinated by their burial customs down here.




















As a side note, and because I didn't update my blog after I returned from Camp Pendleton a couple of weeks ago, attached is a pic of a very mature bottle brush tree that was down the street from my hotel. Maybe one day mine will look like this: (click on the pic for a better view)

The National Debt Clock

No, I Was Not Shot--I'm Okay

My friend Lisa flew in for a short visit and arrived last Saturday evening. We did not time her visit specifically for Mardi Gras, but since it's a holiday down here and our command gave us some time off, it was the best time for her to visit. Unfortunately, she arrived with a stomach bug and spent the whole day on Sunday indisposed, to put it politely. The bug hit me on Monday, but not nearly as bad as it hit her, so we were still able to have our first authentic Mardi Gras experience on Fat Tuesday. We got an early start (0500) and headed into the French Quarter to beat the crowd. This year's Mardi Gras was attended by pre-Hurricane Katrina numbers, so I was pleased to see the Quarter pretty much deserted when we arrived. Our first stop was Cafe Du Monde, where I treated her to coffee and beignets:

Next on the agenda was to head over to Canal Street to stake our claim of land for the parades starting at 0800. The original plan was to see the Krewe of Zulu and the Krewe of Rex. These are the two biggest parades and, to put it simply, the Zulu parades were historically for black people (and in the early days went AFTER Rex), and Rex was historically for white people and it is the King of Rex who is also the King of Mardi Gras and is given the keys to the city for the day for his reign. Below are pics of the Zulu Rascals (who used to be called the Tramps):

What we didn't plan on was the length of the Zulu parade. Three hours later, Lisa and I were ready to grab some lunch and take a stroll down Bourbon Street to view the colorful characters that make up New Orleans society. We scored well on beads (day parades are family affairs and we earned our beads simply by catching as they were thrown), and Lisa even scored a "Golden Nugget" or a Zulu coconut. Apparently these are highly prized collector's items, dating back to 1910. They are painted either black or gold and are dated--Lisa caught a black one. I almost caught a gold one, but since it bounced around between me and another 13/14 year old girl, I let her have it. Below is a pic of me with my treasure:

So, we grabbed some lunch and when we left the restaurant and walked our way down the other side of Canal, we were able to see some of the Rex parade (since Zulu was a bit behind schedule, we wouldn't have had to wait long to see the Rex). It is definitely the parade to see and has a more Rennaissance theme to it (the Carnival of Venice being the root of modern-day Mardi Gras). But we continued down to Bourbon and walked the length of it so we could say we did. During the daytime, it wasn't so bad, but at night (from the newscasts I saw) starting on Sat evening, you couldn't turn around, the streets and sidewalks were packed so tight with humanity. Only in New Orleans are drag queens celebrated and a household name--unfortunately, we were not in time to see the costume contest that takes place on Bourbon every year. But, Lisa got into the spirit of things (she being a much more outgoing person than myself):

All in all the day was a good one and an interesting experience. At least I can say I've done Mardi Gras. I don't completely "get it" but I've at least checked that box. The shootings were unfortunate, but there were three others that occurred during the day as well that have not been adverstised. But the one thing I can say about the six that were shot, is that the first responders were on the scene quickly and got them evacuated quickly (being shot in the abdomen is not a good thing, so it's worth noting those two individuals are still alive). Anyway, Lisa flew back to Seattle this morning and I went back to work at noon, still nursing a sour stomach.

Just Back From Phoenix

Had a lovely week in Phoenix, AZ. I went there for a Defense Support of Civil Authorities training course. My first two nights there were spent doing my homework for Command and Staff, but I was able to venture out on Wed and Thurs to a local park, where these pics were taken. It was a really nice park with nice trails and nice views of the desert. I really liked Phoenix and wouldn't mind visiting again. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy the first day of my arrival and on the cool side the rest of the week. I checked the weather before I packed, but could have packed warmer clothes!

Had a difficult time with my return on Friday the 13th. My flight left Phoenix at 3:41, with a connection in Chicago O'Hare. Never again will I route through Chicago! My connecting flight was supposed to leave at 9:15 but we didn't get off the ground until 11:45--after spending over an hour on the tarmac, stuck in the plane and in our seats. I arrived in NOLA after 2:00 am and wasn't in bed until almost 4:00 am. There are two airports most notorious for delays: New Orleans and Chicago.

So now I'm on my President's Day holiday, almost caught up with the sleep I missed!

13.1 Miles

Today I completed the Mardi Gras Half-Marathon. I had never been subject to the marathon bug, but I decided to give it a try when asked by another Major I work with. Training for it (a whole 3 weeks) was not as hard as I thought it would be. Felt pretty good this morning and didn't really have any problems until mile 11--that's when I hit the mental wall and let my thoughts spin out of control wondering "am I there yet??" or "when will this end??" According to the official clock, I ran it in 2:10, which breaks down to a consistent 10:00 min mile. However, I know my official time, when they read my chip will be longer than that based on my previous 10 mile times.

Next event will be the Oklahoma City Memorial Half-Marathon. Going to take a week off, then start training again. Unfortunately, the weather is going to start warming up down here which will have a significant impact on my time and endurance. Newport will definitely agree with me because I am a cool/cold weather runner--don't like the heat! Who knows? Maybe the Marine Corps Half Marathon will be an option also--that one's in May in Fredericksburg. . . .