Monthly Archives: January 2006

Current events - national, General, Local politics

New Orleans story continues…

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Following a link from “The Dead Pelican”, we find this story that shows another 350 jobs leaving New Orleans for good, this time to Dallas, Texas.

Housing shortage here cited in move
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By Mary Judice
Business writer

Hibernia National Bank will move 350 to 400 jobs from New Orleans to the Dallas area this year, the president of Capital One Financial Corp.’s banking segment said Monday.

New Orleans suffers from this malady badly. The one thing it desperately needs as a city is a legitimacy for something other than its “Big Easy” image, and it has driven many a business up the road to Houston or Dallas or othe destinations. That’s why it is so painful to see the mayor kowtowing to the non-productive (unless you count votes) segments of his city in his speeches.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about how much of the work in the clean-up and rebuilding effort in New Orleans is being handled by Hispanic immigrants, and at the same time I hear the “evacuees” whining about how the government is not doing enough for them.

It appears to me that the clean=up of New Orleans should heavily involve New Orleanians, but I doubt that is the case, except for businesses trying to get back into business.

For the welfare class, though, I expect to hear more whining and demands for more government largesse, because these people have yet to learn that the key to a better life is found underneath a pair of work shoes.

Domestic Bliss, General, Pets

Mooch

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In the topsy-turvy world of post-Rita, the cat dynamics of the neighborhood have changed up a lot. Some of the neighborhood cat territories have changed, and a couple of new (to me) cats are showing up at the door pretty regularly. One of them has become a regular visitor, and as such, I have started feeding the silly ol’ thing. He meows to me in the morning and follows me out to the street to get the paper, and then meows until I remember that I’ve been feeding him and he needs more food.

I named him “Mooch”.

Mooch comes into the FEMAtorium from time to time to be petted and to perform important functions that cats MUST do around a house. Here’s one of them: Extreme Lounging.

Mooch kitty

I don’t know if Mooch belongs to somebody or not. He came with a flea collar, but his white coat is smudged from sleeping under cars, and he’s a daily visitor. He may just move in…

Battle of the Sexes, General, Humor

Male Vs Female ATM Procedures

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A new sign in the bank lobby reads: “Please note that this Bank is installing new Drive-through teller machines enabling customers to withdraw cash without leaving their vehicles. Customers using this new facility are requested to use the procedures outlined below when accessing their accounts. After months of careful research, MALE & FEMALE procedures have been developed. Please follow the appropriate steps for your gender.”

Male Procedure:

1. Drive up to the cash machine.

2. Put down your car window.

3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.

4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.

5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.

6. Put window up.

7. Drive off.

Female Procedure:

1. Drive up to cash machine.

2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the
machine.

3. Set parking brake, put the window down.

4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card.

5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.

6. Attempt to insert card into machine.

7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.

8. Insert card.

9. Reinsert card the right way.

10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.

11. Enter PIN.

12. Press cancel and reenter correct PIN.

13. Enter amount of cash required.

14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.

15. Retrieve cash and receipt.

16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.

17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.

18. Recheck makeup.

19. Drive forward 2 feet.

20. Reverse back to cash machine.

21. Retrieve card.

22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided.

23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.

24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.

25. Redial person on cell phone.

26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.

27. Release Parking Brake.

(From an email from good friend Norm)

General, The Name Game

The Name Game XXVII

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Good morning, dear friends! It’s a dreary overcast day as I gaze out upon the panoramic vistas visible from the FEMAtorium while I read my morning paper. This morning we have one local hospital reporting in with 59 births. Of those, 28 were to parent(s) who decided that they didn’t need the benefit of formal marriage.

Let us proceed.

Under the “If I spell it funny, everyone’ll KNOW how special he/she is” category:

Amanda L—— and Clinton S—— announce their daughter Maddison Isabel. Two “d”‘s, twice as special. On the same note, Scott and Bobbi (with an “i”(!)) announce their daughter Isabbella Nicole.

Keith A—– and Rachel C——- announce their daughter Destani Rae. I guess if you pick random words to make names out of, you NEED to spell it funny. Note that they left her with an “i” at the end of her name, suitable for dotting with a little heart of a smiley face in the future.

Jarib H——- and Kimberly V——– announce their son Braedyn Gary. Well, it COULD be spelled RIGHT, seeing as how “Braedyn” is rather contrived, anyway. But that extra “e”, and the “y” instead of the “e”, that makes him sound more like the offspring of sophisticates, doesn’t it?

Travis and Kelly L—– announce the birth of Laynee Kapri. Double “e”, and a “c” traded for a “k”… These people must have been to a seminar on careful selection of baby names…

Melissa C—— named her daughter Kamilah Faye. She spelled it like that so the child would not be confused with Prince Charles’ new wife…

Next comes the “where’d you get THAT?” category. I always think this one is very interesting.

Leading off, we get a pretty good one: Stephenie B—— and Stephen M—- (Stephenie and Stephen! Awwwww! A match made in heaven, right?) named their daughter Kor-Tasia LaShay. Note the extra capital letters and punctuation that mark true quality parentage…

Megan A—- and Marcus J—– named their son Martez Makenzie. The “family” has a thing about the letter “m”, apparently.

Diana B—- named her daughter I’lynn Kayriel. De daddy name be missin’.

De daddy name be liss’ed on de nex un. Albert S—– and Patrice C—- named their son Alquez JaShawn. I’m thinking NBA all the way…

We have a couple of triples, too.

Lynn F—– and Jake F—— have a new son, Bill Bradley Bryce. They either had to pay off a lot of IOU’s in the families or somebody had a thing about basketball coaches.

Brandon and Anna J—— named their daughter Hayley Alida-Ann. Well, I guess technically that’s a hyphened middle name instead of a triple, but you get the picture…

And we have a couple of names that I just couldn’t pass up:

Sonya F——- and Shawn C—— named their son (get ready! here it comes!) “Dusty Layne”. Now, imagine the fun that the playground crowd is gonna have with THAT handle…

Steve and Altria C—– named their son Bo Paul. In an obscure mental linkage, I’m just hoping that the kid isn’t known for bad gas…

There you have it, folks. And just remember, “If you can’t feed ’em, don’t breed ’em!”

General, Humor

Old Priest’s Dying Wish

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The old priest lay dying in the hospital. For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation’s capital. He motioned for one of his aides.

“Yes father” said the aide.

“I would really like to see Ted Kennedy and Charles Schumer before I die”, whispered the priest.

“I’ll see what I can do, father” replied the aide.

The aide sent the request to the Senate and waited for a response. Soon the word arrived. Kennedy and Schumer would be delighted to visit the priest. As they went to the hospital, Schumer commented to Kennedy “I don’t know why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images.” Kennedy couldn’t help but agree.

When they arrived at the priest’s room, the priest took Kennedy’s hand in his right hand and Schumer’s hand in his left. There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest’s face.

Finally Senator Kennedy spoke “Father, of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?”

The old priest slowly replied “I have always tried to pattern my life after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

“Amen” said Kennedy. “Amen” said Schumer.

The old priest continued…”He died between two thieves. I would like to do the same.”

(From an email from my much older sister)

Blogging, General

Introduction

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In case you guys might be wondering, the “Robert” who frequently comments on this blog is my nephew, a son of my much older sister. He’s a technician who specializes, like his father and other brother, in large compressors. His work has taken him around the world, and now he’s back here, apparently for good.

General, Wheels of Industry

Long Day at work

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Went out to the jobsite this morning and completed the job I’ve been on since last week. Swapped out a 1750 horsepower electric motor for a 2500 horsepower replacement. Well, I had PART of the project. The motor was running when I left, two hours past normal quitting time.

My feet hurt.

I will doubtless be seeing the schematic diagrams for that mess in my sleep.

But you folks up north will appreciate the extra natural gas that this will pump into the pipeline.

You’re welcome!

General, Wheels of Industry

Kinda coming up dry today…

It’s been one of those grey, drab days here in Rita country. The leaden overcast kept the temperature in the fifties all day, and the humidity and the breeze made working outside a really nasty deal.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to work outside. The morning was mostly consumed with a meeting with a client and the engineering firm that is blocking out the next stage of his plant’s expansion. We hashed out some of the technical framework of the electrical power system which will make all this stuff work. I enjoy these sorts of conversations, and the engineers we’re dealing with are well informed and interesting to talk with. Morning was a “plus”.

Afternoon. Well, two of my technicians ahd to travel a hundred plus miles to a city east of us to take a test. People in our particular line of work can be certified by a trade organization which is specific to our business. All the technicians with the exception of the guy we hired in October are at least Level II. One is a Level III, and me, I’m Level IV. The test is proctored and covers a wide range of knowledge of electrical power technology, theory and practice. Both these guys today are Level II, and they were taking the exam for Level III. And they both missed it… I have two unhappy technicians.

The truth of the matter is that we’re not talking about a couple of duds here. The senior of the two has ten years experience and has led projects with two dozen technicians working under his supervision. There’s hardly a job that may come up that I cannot send him out and expect the outcome to be positive. The other tech is five years in the business, right after two years of school, and I’ve had him working with me for the past three months, and he’s good, too.

So why no happy faces? Well, the test isn’t quite a case of “define the universe and give three examples”, but it does cover the panoply of the business. And some parts of the business are parts we just don’t get an opportunity to mess with, so they don’t get the exposure.

That leaves me in the unhappy position of having two very well qualified technicians who are upset that they did not achieve the certification they expected to have. We’ll get past this, and there’s a retest session in November, but I hurt for them. We’re a little office. We’re close. And I can’t help but feel bad.

I see more skull sessions coming when times are slow…

Blogging, General

Administrative note…

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I just noticed that the spam filter for comments and trackbacks, Spam Karma 2, has been a bit zealous in guarding me against comment and trackback spam. some days I get a couple of hundred spam comments and trackbacks, and I NEED to keep the program running so I don’t speed hours sorting through and deleting trash.

However, in the last day or so it nailed a few of you who had legitimate comments. Dash emailed me on that, and I looked through the list of spam caught by the program and recovered his and several others.

Please be so kind as to email me if you leave a comment and the comment routine doesn’t seem to accept you as legitimate. The comments go into limbo and CAN be recovered, and usually after I do this, the program “learns” that you’re a real, live, decent human and not one of the accursed spammers…

Cajun culture, General

Two whole years

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Two years ago I was sitting in my living room with my laptop and I logged onto Blogspot. There I typed in the information to put Mostly Cajun on line in the blogging world.

After the requisite “Hello, world” first post, my second post was a recipe for chili. The rest, as we say, is history. 1600+ posts later, I find myself still compelled to sit at the keyboard several times a week and talk about the things that make impressions upon my world.

Somewhere about eight months into the journey I got tired of fighting with Blogspot and bought my own space on a real server. I chose WordPress to be the new platform, and I’ve been happy with it, although it is sometimes a bit more work, kind of stick-shift to Blogger’s failing two-speed automatic…

Visitors increased, and right now I see around a bit over two hundred or so visitors a day. Many of you have been here for almost the whole time, and I see friends when I see the comments and trackbacks. You know who YOU are. I read your stuff, too, you that have your own blogs.

Two years into this thing, the recliner where I used to blog has been forcibly swapped for the top of the Rubbermaid tub that the accessories for my FEMA trailer came in. I have blogged on the road from training in Virginia, and I blogged from a wireless hub at a coffee bar in Houston, and I’ve blogged for weeks from my temporary accomodations in my office following Hurricane Rita.

I’ve talked about everything from Cajun culture to Viet Nam era basic training, from the tender sweetness of the male-female relationship to the trials and tribulations of a tank commander, from sailboats to shotguns. I’ve taken you guys with me sailing through the Gulf of Mexico, and I’ve sat and talked about the wonderful old folks who molded my life. We’ve discussed politics and the foibles of the human creature.

It’s been fun. It’s been two years. And, LORD willing, there will be more.

And to you guys who stop by, well, thank you. I hope that I put a smile on your face and a thought in your head from time to time.

Mostly Cajun

Current events - national, General, Politics

What HE said…

On Monday, Mayor Ray “not THEM buses, fool!” Nagin made his now-famous “chocolate city” remark in a Martin Luther King Day speech in New Orleans, thereby unleashing a firestorm of comment in botht eh mainstream media, who were incensed that they HAD to report what EVERYBODY was talking about, and the non-traditional media (like us bloggers) who weren’t feeling compelled to gloss over Nagin’s faux pas.

In reading things around the internet today, The Dead Pelican, the best source for Louisiana political news, has linked to an article by columnist Leonard Pitts.

Now, Mr. Pitts is a pretty regular feature in our local paper’s editorial presentations and he leans a bit to the left, but not TOO far most of the time. This column if find to be one of his better ones. A couple of chunks:

It’s the Chocolate City remark that most rankles, though, because it’s the one that speaks to the future of a major metropolis.

Nagin has said he simply meant to assure a black audience that the unique African-American culture and heritage of New Orleans will be respected and protected in the rebuilding process. Unfortunately, what he said was closer to this: Whites need not apply.

It took him a day to apologize for that crude bigotry, and that was only after trotting out one of the more bizarre clarifications in recent memory: ”How do you make chocolate?” he asked a reporter. “You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk and it becomes a delicious drink.”

And if you buy that, I’ve got a used levee to sell you. (…)

So in this tragedy, there is opportunity — not simply to rebuild, but to improve, to innovate, to inspire . . . to start over.

The question is: Do the architects of the new New Orleans have the vision and the will to seize that chance? Or will they squander it in the name of racial politics? Nagin seems troublingly intent on the latter.

Yes, race and culture have a role to play in spicing a city, making it unique. Irish Boston and Cuban Miami are obvious examples. But race and ethnicity are icing. The cake is a city that works, and that does so for all its people.

Pretty good stuff. Sounds like me.