Affairs of the State
Today I had the distinct "privilege" of attending a portion of the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs committee hearing. The main purpose of which was the proposal of over 10 ethics-related bills. The Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce, as a leading participant in the LA Ethics 1 initiative, requested that local businesses in downtown Baton Rouge urge employees to attend to show support for ethics reform.
So, myself and several coworkers made the 5-block trek to the capitol for the 9AM start of the meeting. Much to my surprise however, the meeting didn't start until around 9:40AM (since most of the committee members weren't there until nearly 9:30AM). I know, I really shouldn't have been surprised...but I was. Amazingly, there was another member that didn't show up until around 10:15AM - after missing the entire inital meeting of the committee in this legislative session.
In particular there were 5 bills that the Chamber of Commerce was lobbying for - although they only discussed 2 of those five before I had to leave. I thought the most ironic event of the day was when a committee member blasted one of the lobbyists for being "unprofessional" for presenting the bill to the committee at the "last minute" - apparently it's totally professional to start a meeting almost an HOUR behind schedule, with some of the legislators not in attendance and they also carry on conversations completely oblivious to the actual business matters at hand.
Yes, I finally was able to see how our tax dollars are practically used as toilet paper while these lawmakers joke around and ignore important matters. However, I really did like how EACH member that criticized a particular ethics bill made sure to let everyone know that he/she "highly supported" it before making a completely contradictory statement. I think I'll stay away from politics and stick to banking.
Roller Coaster of the Day
Another great picture of Dueling Dragons - going upside down is FUN!
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
May 9, 2007
NFL Draft 2007 Reaction
Well, I spent most of Saturday watching the marathon that is the NFL Draft's 1st round - coincidentally the longest in draft history. Overall, I thought there were few curve balls - Cleveland taking an offensive lineman instead of QB Brady Quinn from Notre Dame, Miami passing on Quinn (when they desperately need a QB) and taking a rehabbing WR in Ted Ginn, Jr. and then Cleveland trading to get back in the 1st round to then take Quinn at #22 instead of #3. Personally, I think they got a bargain of a pick and probably had one of the best drafts this year.
As for the Saints, they chose Robert Meacham, WR, Tennessee with their first pick and then did some trading. Overall, I give the team a B grade...which isn't bad. I like what they did getting a good WR to fill the void left by Joe Horn. Also, they seemed to have added some much needed depth on the offensive line and in the secondary. The only thing that would have made it an A draft in my eyes would have been getting a top-notch CB in the 2nd round.
Just a side note, congratulations to Jacob Bender, an offensive lineman from Nicholls State that was drafted in the 6th round by the New York Jets. He becomes the Colonels' first o-lineman EVER taken in the NFL draft and the first person drafted from Thibodaux since DB Chris Thompson was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 5th round in 2004.
Update
I know, it's been a while since posting, but with my laptop unable to connect to the Internet, I was more focused at trying to fix that. Sadly, I have yet to fix the problem but have copied all the files I need to a CD-ROM and then transferred some to the desktop computer (like the files for kpJR.net). Luckily for you, I should be able to update a little more often now that I can edit and post from the same system.
Roller Coaster of the Day
Staying with the coasters from Universal Studios, here's a great shot of the dragons dueling.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
April 30, 2007
Long Live the Pelicans! I'm sure all of you know who the NEW ORLEANS ZEPHYRS are, but have you ever heard of New Orlean's original professional baseball team? THE NEW ORLEANS PELICANS?
Well, I do. The hat you see on the right is a replica of the hat worn by the Pelicans during the 1942 season. I recently purchased the hat from EBBETS FIELD FLANNELS (click the image to the right for a bigger picture).
Other Pelicans merchandise offerred by the site include a 1933 hat as well as several throwback jerseys. The Company also features caps, jerseys, jackets and t-shirts related to many now-defunct franchises.
The team was founded in 1887 and played in the Southern Association from 1901 through 1959.
The Pelicans played their games at Pelican Stadium in Mid-City New Orleans at the intersection of Tulane and Carrollton Avenues. Undoubtedly, the most famous player to ever wear the Pelicans uniform was the infamous "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. Sadly, the team folded after the 1959 season. The franchise briefly returned in 1977 (playing home games in the Superdome), only to move to Louisville, KY the following year.
Pelican Mystery I've always been highly interested in history and sports. So, sports history is something logical for me to be drawn to. While reading up on the New Orleans Pelicans, I came accross this site: NEW ORLEANS BASEBALL.com
The site features stories and pictures on professional, college and high school baseball (including the Pelicans, Zephyrs, Tulane, UNO and the Catholic League). While browsing the site, I found the picture you see to the right and found something very interesting. It's from 1949 and, as you can see in the picture, there are two uniforms being worn - the home and away versions. Intersting right?
Indeed it is, but what's most interesting is the caption that appears under the picture. Here it is:
Pelicans manager Hugh Kuby (right) turns a critical eye to Paul Petit, a local pitcher who was trying to make the 1949 club.
That's right. Apparently we have a relative that once tried out for the Pelicans baseball club. I would LOVE if anyone out there may be able to shed a little light on who he is and if he is related.
Pirates 3
In the message board I read daily, someone posted the link to the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I'm very excited about this film (as I have been for the past 2 films) in what looks to be another great installment of what will prove to be one of the best movie series of all time. Below is the trailer.
Roller Coaster of the Day
In keeping with yesterday's theme, here's another picture of Dueling Dragons.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
April 5, 2007
Random Thoughts
Well, it has been a while since my last post...almost a whole month. O read Uncle Todd's site and saw his DEMAND for a new post. I'm not one to dissappoint my fan, so here I am again!
First off, let me just say that since starting my new position at the bank I've been pretty busy. March is the end of the first quarter which is an important deadline within banks. So I haven't been able to surf the net and find all of the wonderfully intersting information that I have been sharing with you all lately.
After reading Uncle Todd's entry about ROTOLO'S, I began craving it. The Company started in Baton Rouge in the early 1990s and is FAMOUS in the LSU student community for its incredibly cheap $4 calzone special on Wednesdays. Also, I remembered that there is a location very near to our apartment. I looked at the menu online today and decided I really wanted to try their Blackened Chicken Alfredo calzone. All I can say is "WOW"!! It was GREAT! Kayla tried the Barbeque Chicken calzone and had similar sentiments about her meal.
We ventured out to New Orleans last weekend to join Kayla's brother Ryan and his wife Liz in bringing their kids to the AUDUBON ZOO. Also joining us were Kayla's mom, Aunt Kathy and cousin Erin. We got there not too long after opening (10am) and stayed until only a few minutes before closing (5pm). I had been to the zoo not too long before Hurricane Katrina and was very much impressed with the improvements that were made (including a new front entrance plaza, bronze animal sculptures throughout the zoo and drastic changes to Monkey Hill). We had a GREAT time and I will post pictures on my PictureTrail account shortly.
Be sure to also check my page tommorrow evening or Friday morning for a new post that I've been thinking about writing for a while. Although it's related to sports, I think many of you will find it interesting - sports fan or not.
Roller Coaster of the Day
Seeing how Uncle Todd's request got me to post, I figured it would be appropriate to post something relevant to his posts. I give you today's coaster pic of the entrance to the Dueling Dragons coaster in Orlando.
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
April 4, 2007
Random Thoughts
How COOL would it be to have a window in the past to see living, breathing dinosaurs?! Scientists in Canada have ANNOUNCED the discovery of a new species of horned dinosaur dubbed Albertaceratops nesmosi, a predecessor to the triceratops.
It was announced last week that the popular Geico commercials stating "It's so easy a caveman could do it" will be turned into a sitcom on ABC. The show will be co-written by one of the writers of the commercials and set in Atlanta. Personally, I love the spots and think that it could become a hit show.
Performance bonuses at work are a WONDERFUL thing! Income taxes, however, SUCK!
The Saints released Joe Horn last week. While I'm sad to see him go, I don't think this will be terribly detrimental to the team....as long as they can get another receiver to fill his spot. I can't let my faith rest on Devery Henderson or Terrance Copper just yet. Both were too inconsistent last season to warrant that. However, what does stink is the way that Horn has handled the release from the team, stating that he would play for $1.50 if he felt that Sean Payton wanted him there.
However, listening to WWL every afternoon on the commute home, I distinctly remember Horn saying (on numerous occasions) that he would NOT take a pay cut under ANY circumstances.
The New Orleans VooDoo resumed play - almost 2 years after its last game - with a heartbreaking loss to the Utah Blaze. The Blaze kicked a field goal on the final play of the game to pull out the 2 point victory...after is seemed as though the VooDoo had sealed the win by recovering a fumble inside the Blaze 5-yard line. The game was riddled with numerous questionable calls (in both directions) that played heavily into the ebb and flow, and ultimately the outcome, of the game.
The team returns to the New Orleans Arena this Friday night in front of what is sure to be a very rowdy crowd. Just recently, it was announced that the franchise set an Arena Football League record by selling 12,000 season tickets! Truly amazing.
Roller Coaster of the Day
Who knew that there is a Universal Studios theme park in Japan? Count me as someone who didn't. But finding this out resulted in coming accross one of the best themed coasters I've ever seen. It's a very tame, steel sit-down family coaster featuring theming of Charles Schultz's Peanuts comic strip!!
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
March 5, 2007
In Case of Emergency...
I'm sure that some of you remember the Duck and Cover "advice" the government was giving during the Cold War, and those of you that are too young have probably heard of it. Well, now the Department of Homeland security has PREPARED A SITE with new advice for today's world.
The site is full of visual guides containing pictures and captions to those pictures detailing what people should do in the event of an emergency such as a chemical spill. Well, some spectacularly imaginative individual took the liberty of picking out some of the illustrations and reworking the captions in a more amusing manner. The site is called SAFENOW.ORG, and here are 5 of my favorite pictures and captions out of the nearly 40:
Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. The current world record is 5 minutes, 12 seconds.
If you've become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that.
That closet door in your bedroom leads to the gates of Hell. Don't go there.
If you see colors in the sky, grasp your throat and pretend to choke yourself. Girls go for that.
If the weather is overcast with dark skies, look for worms in the grass.
Roller Coaster of the Day
While there's nothing great about this typical steel wild-mouse coaster....look at that SPECTACULAR view!!!!
Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
February 28, 2007
Me - v2.0 Well, yesterday I officially began my new job at Capital One. The position is with the "Non-Bank Financial Institutions" department of Capital One's Commercial Banking group in the Southern Franchise (aka old Hibernia). I know...it's a mouthful. What that means is that my department issues loans to companies that give out loans to people that can't get them from banks.
Also, we bank entities like furniture stores that internally finance customer purchases.
with the new job comes a new office, new salary, increased vacation time and....the best of all....new business cards! As you can see to the right, I have inserted a clickable image of the 3 business cards I have had since joining the company.
The first card, or version 1.0, is my initial card when the company was still Hibernia. Version 1.1 is the new card I got when the merger became official last April. The differences between v1.0 and v1.1 are located in the reddish-purple circles - basically the name change. The most important information remained the same, and is underlined with reddish-purple lines.
Version 2.0 is the new card that took effect yesterday. Information that changed from v1.1 is located within the greenish-blue circles. Notice that "commercial banking" is now on the card's header and my position & department have changed.
Anyway, I'm pretty excited about the change just for that reason - change. As all of you know, you can become very bored with a job that seems stagnant and dead-end. This job will give me some exposure to dealing with our commercial customers as well giving me a chance to travel (but only a little). The loan officer I will be working for has current customers in Wisconsin, Chicago and Texas and we're currently working on adding several clients in California. I'm going to lobby hard for a trip to Chi-Town...Wrigley Field, here I come!!!!
Roller Coaster of the Day
Today's coaster drew my attention from the get-go. Although this wasn't the first picture of the coaster that I saw, this one does the best at illustrating the theming of the coaster. And this is an incredible job of theming a coaster to look like a Stegosauras.
