Lovin’ NOLA and new friends!

I’ve got a bit of time here before Ken gets back from his meetings, so I thought I’d get a quick entry in.

We’re having an absolute blast, and it’s not even the weekend yet! I joked on Facebook that my liver deserves hazardous duty pay for this week.

We got to the hotel Sunday evening, checked in with no problems, and while Ken went foraging for beer (liquor stores everywhere, so no problem), I checked the channel lineup and was delighted to discover that they get AMC! So I didn’t miss my Dead, and I won’t miss them this coming Sunday, either. Yay! We went out for a bite to eat, and after the Dead, we headed out to Bourbon Street. We finished watching the Colts game in a bar there, then just started walking around.

We saw a couple on the street, and I don’t recall how we started talking, but we found out they were originally from Indiana, a small town where our friend Sam is from. We kind of hit it off and went to Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop for drinks and talk. The guy and Ken exchanged cards, and they actually invited us out to their condo in Idaho to go skiing at Sun Valley. Very nice!

That ended up being kind of a late night, but we still got up at a decent time the next morning and got our workouts in. I’ve been doing really well with that and have done an hour on the bike every morning! Probably a good thing to sweat out the previous night’s toxins, you know! Ha! Then it was back to Bourbon for some food (a muffaletta at Napoleon House...we realized we’d never been to that place before) and music. One of the places we often go is called Krazy Korner, and that’s where we used to see Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers. As we got close, we could hear someone playing the washboard vest, and sure enough, it was Alex from the Hellraisers! Turns out that Alex is no longer with Dwayne and formed his own band called the Daywalkers.

I might even like this band more (although Dwayne can play the hell out of the accordion). They do some zydeco, but also blues and southern rock. We had a blast dancing, and were there until the band stopped playing at 7:30. (There is more to this story, too.) Then it was a place for Cajun music, and this band included a fiddle player! We had more fun there, and the band was chatting us up, asking where we were from, that sort of thing, as well as the nice couple sitting next to us.

The next day we went back to the Krazy Korner, where the Daywalkers were playing again. Jason recognized us right away, and we chatted a bit during one of their breaks. He told me, “Hey, I wanted to invite you and Ken out to hear me play tonight.” He explained where it was, that he was doing an acoustic set, and hoped we’d be there. How nice of him to invite us as well as remember our names! After they finished, we headed back to the hotel for a change of clothes, then on over to his other gig at Kerry’s Irish Pub. It was an open mic night, and he didn’t play the entire time, but that worked out okay because then he came over to chat me up while Ken played pool with some guy he met. Jason is just super nice, and seemed happy that we came out. He was onstage when we got there and said, “Beth and Ken!”

Then I got roped into playing pool with Ken and the guy and his girlfriend, who were also super nice. I kind of held my own, and we ended up winning. Miracles DO happen...I’m a sucky pool player!

There is still more to the Krazy Korner saga! The following day, Ken was golfing with some of his fellow conference goers, so after my workout, I headed on over to Bourbon all by my lonesome to see what kind of trouble I could get into...and you know where I went! Jason raised his eyebrows and grinned, and when they took a break, he came over and gave me a hug and we chatted a bit. He said, “Hey, I can rub on you all I want ‘cause your husband’s not here!” (No worries...he was just being nice and making a joke.) When Alex came around with the tip jar, he said, “Hey sweet baby, welcome back.” When they were getting ready to play again, I motioned Jason over to where I was sitting, and he said, “Hey Boo!” I’m telling you, people, if you show the band some love, they’ll give it right back to you. I asked if they were here the rest of the week, and he said no, they were off Thursday, thank God, but they were at another bar on Bourbon on Friday...so you know where I’ll be!

Since this was the middle of the afternoon, the crowd was somewhat spotty. There would be quite a few people in there, then it would clear out. At one point, I was the only one in there, and I looked around and raised my hands in a “what the hell?” gesture. Jason just shrugged, like “Yeah, it happens sometimes.” So when the song ended, I applauded and gave a “Woooo!” They laughed and the keyboard player said, “Yell louder!” Jason said, “That’s Beth. She’s the only one we need.” Awww!

Anyway, it’s been fun to make friends with people, and Jason has been especially sweet. I look forward to hearing him play again tomorrow! I won’t have to go by myself this time, because our friend George will be with me. He gets in tonight!

Oh, I had to leave before the band was done, because we had a dinner we had to go to for Ken’s conference. When they took a break, I went out to say goodbye, and Jason said, “Where you goin’?” I said, “Ahh, we got a stupid dinner we have to go to.” He said, “Oh, tell Ken to blow it off.” Haha! I said I couldn’t, but I’d see them again on Friday. He seemed okay with that. :) I said, “I just love you guys. You’re a blast and you make me smile.” I don’t recall if it was Jason or Alex who said, “Well, that’s what we’re here for.” See? Show ‘em some love! I am obviously enthusiastic about the music, and I think any musician appreciates that.

The dinner turned out to be quite a bit of fun, and there were some really nice people there that I was meeting for the first time. Usually I’m a somewhat shy person when around people I don’t know, but there’s just something about this city that brings out my social butterfly. Or maybe it’s the good side of the Inner Lizard...I don’t know. But I had no problem talking with people last night. I think this city just has so much fun energy that it rubs off on you. Social situations sometimes exhaust me, but New Orleans gives me so much energy that I don’t feel the usual exhaustion.

So let’s see what kind of trouble I can get into the rest of the time here…!

Taking a breath

Whew!

It’s been a busy week, and today I finished up the bulk of what I needed to do before vacation. After doing kitty care at Shane’s, I came home and did a couple of small loads of laundry. I like having all the laundry done before vacation, how about you? You know you’re going to have a bunch when you get back, so I like to have that done before taking off. Then I decided what to take and got all that folded and laid out. I took my final exam in the History of Rock course (29 out of 30! I missed a Beatles/Beach Boys question, darn it. I could take it again, but I’m cool with 29/30.), and I feel like I got the majority of things done. Now I can just enjoy an evening at home, and not have a stressful afternoon tomorrow trying to rush around before the game.

Notre Dame plays USC tomorrow night, and that’s always a big game. We found out earlier this week that our friend Andy was flying out to attend the game with his Dad, Bill. It worked out that we were able to get together with them for dinner last night, and we had a great time! If you recall, Andy is the one who got his doctorate from Cal Tech, and Ken and I went to his graduation at the culmination of our Route 66 trip.

We got to talk and get caught up while enjoying a super yummy dinner at our favorite local place, Maxi’s. (Thanks, Katie!) It has definitely become our go-to place for when family and friends come in from out of town to visit. Although if you’re a vegetarian, you might be out of luck. Their steaks are delicious, and I’ve tried several other items there. I’ve never had a bad meal there, and we love to treat people when they come to visit! So come on by and we’ll take you to Maxi’s!

Bill recently retired and is loving it. I’ve never understood people who hate retirement. You can’t let work define you. It can be a big part of your life, and it was for me for many years. Then you’re done and you can enjoy all the things that you never had time for when you were working! I’m very happy for him and glad that he is enjoying his retirement so much!

Andy is doing great, too. He’s dealing well with his six months in Afghanistan. Something like that can really put things in perspective and profoundly affect a person, but he’s okay. He’s dating someone and seems happy about that. He still seems to be trying to find his special purpose, just like Navin Johnson. I don’t doubt that he will find it. He is incredibly smart, has a personality that just lights up the room, and he makes no bones about it: he wants to change the world!

It was a wonderful evening, and I was so happy to be out and about with three great guys. We’ll try and hook up with them at a tailgate tomorrow before the game. I hope that works out.

Next big thing: New Orleans! I’ll try to update as much as possible. George is meeting us later in the week, and it will be great to see him, too! Good times, people, good times!

Outbreak!

No, not for real, and not the crappy movie, either. (I almost threw things at the TV when a lab tech stuck his hand inside a centrifuge in a Biosafety Level 4 lab. NO! That would never happen!) Incidentally, the picture is from a BSL4 lab. I never worked in BSL4. The highest I got was BSL3, which was our TB and fungus room. We also did some anthrax testing in there, when that scare happened right after 9/11. I would love to get a chance to go inside a BSL4 lab, though! There are only a few in the world.

This has to do with my latest online class, Epidemics. In addition to the course video, forums, and quizzes, they are doing a real time epidemic simulator using mobile devices. I don’t know exactly how they designed it, but apparently, they have designated a certain number of cases and places where they are occurring. When we scan our location, we find out if we’ve spotted the local cases, and they are considered to be isolated. I’ve found four in my area. Out of two million cases, some 3,000 have been found and isolated, so that should give anyone pause. People are often contagious but not symptomatic, so that guy sitting next to you on the subway could be shedding virus or bacteria ALL OVER YOU. Think about that on your morning commute tomorrow!

The truth is that if an agent is highly transmissible, it would spread like wildfire. (There is a reason Michael Crichton named his surveillance program and facility Project Wildfire in The Andromeda Strain.) With the ubiquitous presence of mobile devices and high level of travel today, I think this will give a fascinating look at how rapidly something like this can spread. I should have a big week coming up, because we’ll be going to the Notre Dame-USC game on Saturday (massive influx of people to the area, 80,000+ people in the stadium), and going to New Orleans on Sunday. I’ll be able to pick up a lot of infections at both. Not literal infections. Virtual ones. At least I hope!

This course, as well as the course connected with “The Walking Dead” out of UC-Irvine, promises to delve into various aspects of a pandemic and the epidemiology associated with it. There are also sociological and psychological implications that will be addressed. All of these things are some of the reasons I love the show, so I think it will be fun to go a little deeper and think about it a little more.

Stay safe out there!

A Dead night

I found myself a tiny bit bereft today, because the season premiere had come and gone!

I think it was one of those deals where you anticipate it so much that once it’s over, you’re like, “Aww, man.” There was a little bit of that involved with the Stones show back in May, too.

I won’t write about it here—I did that on Facebook—but suffice it to say that despite a rather bucolic start, I’m pretty sure that shit is gonna get real very quickly. I think my prediction might come true. I think some sort of infectious disease other than the zombie microorganism is happening. The visual of the zombies coming through the roof was just fantastic. The splats were super cool, as was the zombie hanging by his guts. Wow!

I was pretty pleased with how my “zombie nails” turned out. I texted the pic to my sister and she said they looked infected! Perfect! That’s exactly what I was going for. Pus-filled nails? Success!

The Slimeballs were also a success, and I think I might have to have some more tonight. Yum!

This week is going to be busy. I’m working on getting ready for New Orleans, and will have to start packing soon. This is also my busiest week with the online courses I’m taking. In addition to History of Rock and Vaccines, today the Walking Dead class started, and tomorrow, the Epidemics class starts. The latter two are kind of nice tie-ins.

The Walking Dead class looks like it’s going to be very interesting. I watched the intro lecture today, as well as a video where they talk to some cast members about the show (a nice feature). The Epidemics class will look at pandemic infections from a purely epidemiologic point, but the Walking Dead course is going to explore the sociological and psychological impacts. I think it’s going to be fascinating. My friend Lisa is taking it, too, so it will be fun to discuss with her!

If my online presence is down this week, this is why. Just a lot going on, but you can watch for New Orleans updates next week!

Something to cherish

Mom had told me a while back that she’d cleaned up the case of Dad’s old typewriter. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with it, but he knew that Dad would be pleased at how well it cleaned up.

She said he typed all of his letters on it and used it often. As you can see, it’s an old Royal, and it’s a manual. I said if she was okay with it, I wouldn’t mind having it for the Retro Lounge. Not only is it a cool old typewriter, it was apparently a well-used and treasured thing of my Dad’s.

The thing is really heavy. If anyone ever breaks in here and goes all Annie Wilkes on me, I’ve got a Royal typewriter to bash her in the head with. I love that it’s turquoise and white—great retro colors that match the colors in the Retro Lounge. I’m not sure where I’ll put it, but I’ll find a spot, and I’m pleased to have it.

When we were at Mom’s today, I opened it up and was checking it out. For some reason, I’m fascinated by old typewriters. I guess I’m my father’s daughter! I took a typing class in 8th grade, and I learned on an electric. But we had a really old Royal manual—even older than Dad’s—at home that I often used to type reports for school. It still worked very well, although you had to really apply some force to the keys to get them to work. These things are almost works of art to me now.

Anyway, I opened it up and looked at it. There was a sheet of paper in there, and it looks like Dad had typed a few letters, probably just checking it to see if his old friend still worked well. A string of symbols and letters and then…

My name. The very last thing my Dad ever typed on his typewriter was my name.

My initial reaction was to smile and say, “Aww!” But as I thought about it a little more, I could feel myself becoming sad. I pushed those thoughts away.

For whatever reason, at that moment in time, I was in my Dad’s thoughts. I hope they were good thoughts, and not worried ones. That’s a reason to be happy, not sad.

I was going to cherish the typewriter already. That piece of paper with my name on it makes it even more precious to me, and the paper will remain in place.

It’s almost here

As my buddy Daryl there says, just ONE MORE DAY!

I am so psyched to have my absolute favorite show back tomorrow evening that I can hardly stand it!

We’ll be heading down to my Mom’s tomorrow afternoon for a visit and to wish her a happy birthday (which is coming up on Tuesday). She says she’ll stop and get a pizza on her way home from church, so YUM!

Then we’ll head back here to take care of a few housey things, and the countdown will begin.

I’ve got a couple of things planned. Last year’s season premiere zombie finger cookies didn’t turn out too well (I wish I’d taken a picture...they still tasted good, but they just flattened out and looked like looked like long flat slabs of cookie with an almond stuck on the end. Talk about a Pinterest Fail!) so this year I decided to do a tried and true treat: Slimeballs!

I haven’t made them for years, and I don’t think I’ve ever made them for Ken.

Slimeballs

2 packages Lime Jell-o (or one large package...heh...large package)
2 cups boiling water
1 cup Midori melon liqueur
1 cup vodka

Dissolve the Jell-o in the boiling water, and let it cool for a few minutes, but not so much that it starts to set. Add the booze and let it set. Serve with whipped cream.

I can tell you that it’s some tasty stuff, but really packs a punch! There’s always room for boozy Jell-o!  I got some red gel stuff to drip on it, too. Slimeballs don’t really look like zombie guts or anything, but they’re almost fluorescent green, and the red stuff on the whipped cream will look cool and bloody. Fun!

I also plan on wearing my I ♥ Daryl t-shirt that I got in Senoia at The Woodbury Shoppe.

Finally, I bought some new nail polish today, with several different colors (one is a kind of bright yellow) and a black “crackle” glaze. That’s that thing where you put it on top of another color, and it dries and looks cracked. I was showing Ken, and it resulted in this conversation:

Me: So you put this on top of another color, and it looks crackly.
Him: [nodding] Okay.
Me: I was thinking maybe green underneath? [Then I show him the yellow polish.]
Him: That yellow would look cool underneath the black, too.
Me: Yeah! It would look like pus!

So we’ve got green slimy stuff with bloody whipped cream and fingernails oozing pus. [clapping hands] All right! We’re good to go! I thought about making a couple of these, but I think we’re good with just the slimeballs.

BOOM!

Beth’s Music Moment: The Godfather of Soul

Today I finished up this week’s lectures in History of Rock, and the week ended on a GREAT note, with a discussion of the one and only James Brown!

I won’t pretend to be any sort of expert on JB. I didn’t grow up listening to him, other than the usual hits, and only got turned on to him in the ‘90s, when a boyfriend introduced me to him. The boyfriend turned out to be a real dick, but my love for JB stuck with me, and that was one good thing that came out of that relationship. Hmph.

Anyway, I really enjoyed that particular lecture in the course, and it really put JB’s place in music history into perspective for me. This was a time when the Brits were invading the American music charts; American pop was trying to promote its own versions of teen idol groups; Stax was releasing what some see as more “authentic” black soul music, but still using studio musicians; and Motown was trying to have black artists cross over to the white pop charts—and having great success with it, but seen by some as “selling out” the authenticity of black music. (I’M not saying that, so don’t come after me on it. That is a criticism that has been levied at Motown and Berry Gordy, Jr. Personally, I don’t think it’s accurate. It was just a more polished version of this music, and it was some great stuff.)

James Brown comes along and kind of sets all this stuff on its head. A total showman, probably the best frontman EVER—discuss amongst yourselves—and this is from me, a huge fan of Mick Jagger, the current best frontman, in my opinion! An American artist, James is seen as not “selling out” in any way, shape, or form, not changing his Southern soul sound or his black identity in order to cross over to the pop charts...but having HUGE success there, anyway. The professor speculates that this could have been because he was essentially non-threatening. His songs, at least early on, weren’t overtly sexual. The lyrics weren’t, anyway.

In fact, the lyrics of a lot of his early songs didn’t really say a whole lot. The focus here was not on the songs or the lyrics, but on the grooooove, man. In fact, that should be capitalized. The Groove. James and his band made the whole thing about laying down the beat and gettin’ your funk on. The prof said that even some of James’s vocals became a part of a meshing of sounds...a sound that resulted in this glorious mix that makes you want to shake your moneymaker.

I can personally testify (Testify, sister!) that when out and about, and a band plays some James Brown, and The Groove grabs you...well, you just gotta go with it and work it on out. I find The Groove almost hypnotic, and it just kind of takes you over. It’s a powerful thing. It transcends race and time. Can I hit it and quit it?

Take it to the bridge!