More New Orleans

In the continuing theme of New Orleans, here's a photo of the beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde. It's an institution there and I'm afraid to hazard a guess as to how much powdered sugar they go through. It's definitely not the healthiest eating city but at least the walkability of the place helps out.

It was a lousy week for my training as I wasn't able to get my long run in on Sunday due to a pretty miserable cold. I couldn't work on Friday or Monday so my sofa and I spent way too much time together. My trip to Walgreens on Saturday morning had a ridiculous set of items: Zicam, Tylenol Cold, Dayquil, Puffs and Halls cough drops. I also rented two movies from the Red Box out front while I was there. Both were entertaining but not the best. Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere and Diane Lane and Cadillac Records with Beyonce. The music on that one was great. I think I need to download some more Etta James music.

It's only a few weeks to opening day which is cool. I was only able to get cheap seats tickets unfortunately. I have a feeling it will be the last opener I see since the new stadium is smaller and demand will be greater. I'm an odd case because while I know the specs/seating/etc at the Metrodome stink, I love that it has a roof. Minneapolis has great outdoor amenities and I like to enjoy them on a Sunday evening and by that I mean doing some sort of activity. If it's nice I want to be biking or running and I've used the Twins as a rainy evening activity numerous times. Therefore, I guess it will work out since tickets will be hard to come by and I'll want to go to less. Stinks that I'll miss an opener. If I've been in town I've been at the opener for the past 8 years. I only missed the two years I was in Tokyo.

I'm watching the Biggest Loser which is definitely an addiction. A bit melodramatic but overall very inspirational. A sobfest although right now I wish a different contestant would have been sent home. It's definitely a bit too staged these days though.

That's all for my random musings except for a list of movies. I had to name my five favorite movies on facebook so here they are:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Glory
It's a Wonderful Life
The Shawshank Redemption
Moulin Rouge

I think all are well worth viewing although Moulin is definitely lighthearted in comparison to the other four "heavy" dramas which is more my typical taste.

New Orleans

As I was setting up my webpage for fundraising for St Bernard I realized I had taken almost zero pictures on my trip there last November. I think I don't totally feel like a tourist there and instead feel fairly at home instead. However, I asked my friends if they had any so the one above is Erika, Mellisa and I in front of the home in St. Bernard Parish that we worked on while we were there.

I'm reading a book right now called Nine Lives by Dan Baum and I thought that with all the information I'd gathered about Katrina, nothing could shock me but this one definitely has at least one story that I can't shake. Baum was a writer for the New Yorker who relocated there after the storm and the book is a collection of nine stories that he gathered from interviews with residents there. It takes you from the 1960s up to present day but one story in particular of actions that a police officer took the day after the storm is particularly haunting. I'm not going to say more than that but I would strongly recommend the book even though I'm actually not quite done yet.

The weather has been warming up with the exception of last Thursday's snow storm. Today was great so a friend and I went on a short run by the river with no hats, gloves and I even wore a lighter shell than I have in months. Nice. It also is staying lighter longer and with daylight savings time next week's evening runs will be awesome!