May 2007

Better Late Than Never...Right?
While moving some files onto the desktop computer from the laptop, I realized that I didn't really share the pictures from our honeymoon in Walt Disney World. Well, I decided to add the pictures to my PICTURETRAL ACCOUNT when it informed me that I had reached my limit of files after uploading only 45 of over 250 pictures.

This presented me with a problem: How do I share these photos with my adoring fan and the rest of my family?

Well, I decided to look for a new picture hosting site and settled on PHOTOBUCKET for hosting my honeymoon pictures and probably many more pictures hereafter. While I still can't figure out how to share an entire album, the site has the capability to produce something much better: a customizable slideshow. Well, I have uploaded all of the pictures to the site and am currently working on slideshows for different areas of the park. Over the next several posts, I'll try to share one of these with you. Today, it's Disney's Wilderness Lodge - the resort Kayla and I stayed in for the duration of the trip.




Roller Coaster of the Day
Today's picture gives you a good look at the initial launch tunnel for the Incredible Hulk coaster.


Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
Incredible Hulk - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - Orlando, FL US

May 30, 2007

POTC: At World's End
Kayla and I decided to take in the 8pm premier of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. And as I promised yesterday on THE PETIT PAGES, here is my report.

I ordered the tickets yesterday morning online and met Kayla immediately after work to head to the theater. After picking up the tickets from the box office at 6pm, we decided to walk to the Lone Star Steakhouse for a quick dinner since they weren't going to be seating in the theater until at least 7:15.

After dinner, we walked back to the theater to find a fairly large, enthusiastic crowd waiting outside of the theater. At roughly 7:15, the doors opened and people began to sprint for the doors as if they weren't going to get a seat if they didn't. Needless to say, Kayla and I stayed back since the movie was to be playing on 8 screens (each seating an average of 300 people by my estimate) while the crowd outside was maybe only 400 strong.

Our plan worked fine, we walked to the theater farthest from the entrance and found outselves seats right smack in the center of the auditorium. After waiting until about 8:15 - because the manager had to give a little speech at each showing - we were treated to around 15 or 20 minutes of previews before the feature.

The movie starts off pretty fast and doesn't really stop. There are several plot lines that all converge onto the ultimate plot of the movie. As a result, it does make it hard to follow at some points - expecially if it's been a while since you saw the 2nd film in the franchise. The good news is that it did start to make sense a little later on and things that happenned earlier became clearer. The film is full of everything we've come to expect from this series: fitting humor, swashbuckling fight sequences and incredibly detailed special effects.

The directors did a great job in wrapping up the story lines that developed in the first two movies while developing a few new plot lines that can easily be used in future films - with or without Keira Knightley and/or Orlando Bloom. Also, be sure to stay past the credits (a mistake Kayla and I made) for a short clip that introduces another potential plot line.

The film is long with a runtime of 2 hours and 45 minutes - so be sure to take a bathroom break before the start of the movie. Despite the length, the story and action flowed throughout and I never once found myself checking the time. One of my favorite parts of the movie is how they incorporated even more nods to the rides at Walt Disney World and Disneyland - as well as a few other general Disney refernces. None of them seemed forced, however, and they worked into the dialog quite nicely.

As I said before, the fiel is full of action and humor and is a treat for the eyes. While it wasn't as good as the Dead Man's Chest, it was well worth the price of admission and my time. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End gets a B+ rating from me. Nicely done and I'm definitely hoping for more.


Lesson in Advertising
An annual occurance now at Walt Disney World's Disney-MGM Studios theme park is the event know as STAR WARS WEEKENDS. This year, to promote the event, Disney came up with some very clever advertisements. The ads use an airport as the main setting with the primary tag-line of: Now Arriving - Star Wars Weekends. Accordingly, the ads depict famous characters in some funny, airport-related situations. Click the images below for a larger look:


In my opinion, they're all GREAT. But my favorite has to be the Boba Fett baggage claim ad with the Darth Vader ad a close second. There is one more ad that I didn't post above. Consider it a bonus image - HERE IT IS.


Roller Coaster of the Day
Another good look at the Incredible Hulk coaster swooping down to apparently brush the surface of the lake below.


Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
Incredible Hulk - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - Orlando, FL US

May 25, 2007

Shrek: The Third
Yesterday evening, Kayla and I decided to take in a movie - deciding almost immediately on Shrek: The Third. Now it's been a while since I actually took in a movie on its opening day, but we expected to see a lot more people there than we did on a Friday evening at 6:30.

Since we thought it would be packed, Kayla went to the theater and purchased tickets early while I was still at work; that way all I needed to do was change when I got home before heading straight to our seats. Once we got there, I sent Kayla in to find some seats while I purchased concessions. While in line, I noticed two of the best movie displays I've ever seen - more on those in a bit. After getting concessions, I found my seat and waited about 15 minutes for the previews (which are one of the best parts of going to the movies) and then the feature.

I would say that the theater was roughly 60-75% full, a far cry from the nearly 100% I expected. But you could tell that the people that were there were very excited about seeing the third part of the Shrek series...there was even a husband and wife there wearing Shrek and Donkey ears, respectively. Now for the movie review.

Let me start my review by saying that I absolutely loved the first two movies (the 2nd more than the first), and I was overly excited that they made another movie. Overall it was a pretty good movie, typical of the Shrek series with the altered fairy tale characters and terrific animation. That being said, I didn't laugh as much during this one as I had in the first and especially the second. The movie does add more characters - King Arthur, Merlin, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel to name a few - and they are all key players in the story line.

But this movie felt more of a reach than the first two, almost like they were somewhat reluctant to make it or were out of great ideas or made it just to make it. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it, but it didn't live up to my already high expectations which may have been too high to begin with. I give the movie a B-. Even though I didn't care for it as much as the first two, it has its funny moments and is still worth catching on the big screen.


The Sale of a Movie
We all know that a major factor in the success of any motion picture is getting the word out about it - selling it. This can be done in many ways: TV, Internet, word of mouth. But perhaps the most effective way to get the word out is through posters and displays at the theaters themselves - get the word out directly to the people that frequent the theaters.

While at the nearby RAVE MOTION PICTURES theater here in Baton Rouge, I saw two of the best movie displays I've ever seen. Usually, the displays are just large cardboard cutouts that sometimes take on a 3-D look. There were two, however, that took it a step further.

FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER and THE SIMPSONS MOVIE are two entries in this summer's blockbuster war - along with movies like Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Spiderman 3. As such, the studios need to do anything and everything to make their movies stand out - literally. The following images are three pictures I took with my cell phone last night of the coolest movie displays ever:

You can click on each image for a larger view...but as you can see, they're pretty damn cool. The Silver Surfer is flying down the facade of a building while the Simpson family is on their famous couch in their Springfield home. They're life size and very impressive.


Roller Coaster of the Day
Another good look at the Incredible Hulk coaster.


Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
Incredible Hulk - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - Orlando, FL US

May 19, 2007

Promise Fulfilled
As I mentioned a month or so ago, Kayla and I made a trek out to the AUDUBON ZOO with much of her family. As any good Petit would do, I brought along my trusty digital camera to document our trip. Of the more than 130 pictures we took, we were able to get excellent close-ups of the male silverback gorilla, beautiful pictures of the foxes in the Louisiana Swamp Exhibit and some pretty good shots of the African Wild Dogs - an animal that I believe has been added since Katrina since I had never even heard of them before this day.

As promised, I FINALLY got around to adding the pictures to my PICTURETRAIL ACCOUNT. So just click the link in the text or click on the banner on the right of the screen. Enjoy!


Roller Coaster of the Day
Staying in Univeral's Island's of Adventure theme park, we now take alook at the Incredible Hulk coaster with this INCREDIBLE view!


Roller Coaster Pic of the Day
Incredible Hulk - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - Orlando, FL US

May 16, 2007

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
Dueling Dragons - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - Orlando, FL US

May 9, 2007
May 2006

Gameshow Marathon
Kayla and I are going to check out CBS's new show - Gameshow Marathon - hosted by Ricki Lake. The premise of the show is simple, 6 celebrities compete on some of America's favorite gameshows in a 7 episode, elimination tournament where the winner gets $100,000 to donate to its favorite charity. Gameshows played will include The Price is Right, Family Feud and Match Game to name a few. This should be interesting.


Saints Nation
I read a terrific article here by Gus Kattengell from WWL 870 AM. He recently took a trip to Boston with his wife and was amazed at the Red Sox Nation and the City's embrace of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. He put it into context for New Orleans and talked about how Saints fans - and the City of New Orleans as a whole - could benefit from emulating the Red Sox fans.

Although many fans, myself included, do not care for Tom Benson and his actions after Katrina, he made me think about the situation in a whole different light. I still don't like Benson, but I think that many people need to take his advice and support the TEAM, the PLAYERS and - most importantly - the CITY.

May 31, 2006

Something's Missing
This week, something's missing. No American Idol tonight. There's a void in my already lacking TV schedule. What to do? Anyone with suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it! I may have to take up underwater basket weaving.


End of Time
OK, maybe the End of Time is a little bit extreme, but considering that LSU's baseball team missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1988 - it sucks! For those who don't follow college baseball, here's a brief background of the LSU program:

LSU used to be coached by Skip Bertman - who is currently the school's athletic director. In his years at LSU, he created a dynasty winning 5 championships in 10 years. LSU led the nation in attendence for something like the last 10 years. However, he has a drawback....he manages the athletic department (specifically baseball) like a true Louisianian. The curreny coach is Smoke Laval - a protege of Skip. He has been here 5 years: he won 1 SEC championship, and went to the College World Series twice. However, he last all 4 games he played there and has only won 1 SEC tournament game since being here.

My point? It's time for change. Skip needs to stop looking at Smoke like a friend and more like an employee that has had the chance to suceed but hasn't done the job up to the standards it should be done! LSU has fallen behind much of the SEC and many other teams in the country. They should be at the top, competing for a national championship EVERY year with the likes of the University of Texas, Rice, Cal State - Fullerton, Tulane, Georgia Tech and others. Instead, these guys are watching the tournament from home...and LSU freshmen are experiencing a tounamentless baseball season for the first time - EVER!

May 30, 2006

Soldier Salute
Whenever I See A Soldier Boy... - Sam Miller, 1942
Whenever I see a soldier boy
No matter where it be
I give him salutation
for he means so much to me
He's not the boy we used to know
In store, at desk or plow
He's a defender of our faith
He's in the service now
He keeps Old Glory flying
on land and air and sea
He lives to make our homes secure
He dies to keep us free.
May 29, 2006

Too Late
Well, it's too late to think of anything meaningful. Spent the day with Dad and Will at Home Depot buying more supplies for the Love Shack, and I'm pretty damn tired.

May 28, 2006

And So It Begins
Well, the first tropical storm of 2006 has formed....in the Pacific Ocean. Tropical Storm Aletta is located south of the resort city of Acapulco. I wonder if this is a sign from God showing that he is mad at the Mexicans for illegally crossing the border. I think he will smite them!


German Train Set
While surfing the net, I cam across this small picture album of the new central train station in Berlin, Germany. If you haven't heard, Germany is the host nation for this year's World Cup. In case you don't know, the World Cup is the world championship of soccer held every 4 years.

It kinda made me think about the differences in mass transit between Europe and the United States. That's one thing the European Union can actually claim superiority to the USA.

May 27, 2006

Signs of Progress
Today, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas reopened this morning for the first time since Hurricane Katrina forced the evacuation of the facility's staff and the deaths of thousands of marine animals. After months of fish catching missions and donations from other aquariums around the country, the facility is finally stocked and ready for visitors. It will be open everyday until Sunday, June 4 and will be open Tuesdays through Sundays for the rest of 2006.


Heat SUCKS!
Well, we spent practically the whole week at work withOUT air conditioning on the 5th floor. Apparently, a part broke and is on ORDER and the unit will not be fixed until Wednesday at the earliest. Boy, it sucks when you go OUTSIDE, downtown, on the concrete to COOL OFF!!!! At least my boss was kind enough to let us leave at 3:00 this afternoon instead of 5:00.

May 26, 2006

Now All They Need to do is Shorten the Line at the DMV...
Apparently, scientists have determined that an "invisibility cloak" - like the one used in the Harry Potter movies - is scientifically possible. Whose tax dollars were wasted on THAT!!! I mean c'mon! We ALL know that everyone wants to FLY, not be invisible!!!!


The Bush Saga
Reggie Bush lost his appeal to wear the #5 this season...as if anyone expected something different. He will reportedly wear #25 on the condition that 12.5% of the royalties from Bush's jersey sales go to the charity of Fred McAffee's choice. Two genuine class acts right there. Kids, if you're looking for someone to lok up to as a role model, I have 2 EXCELLENT suggestions!

May 25, 2006

It All Comes Down to This....
OK, tonight's the night for any and ALL American Idol fans. WHO IS THE AMERICAN IDOL?

I would LOVE to throw a prediction out there and say it's Taylor. I, personally thought he was the better of the two last night. But if there's one thing this competition has shown us, it's that you NEVER KNOW. Who thought Chris was gone at #4? Who thought the final 3 would have been that close? Certainly not me!!! I do have to say though, Katherine got screwed with her debut single. Taylor got the much better song, and - as much as that SHOULDN'T effect the show's outcome - it probably will. We have seen that week after week. It's a shame that she was forced to sing THAT song. Well, it's almost showtime...we'll find out in about 2 hours time!

May 24, 2006

Idol Showdown...FINALE
No time to post....it's time for American Idol!!!

FYI....Kayla get's a magazine every week that had an article that said the rock bank Fuel has offerred Chris Daughtry its lead position. Some of you may remember that Chris performed a Fuel song on AI earlier this season.

May 23, 2006

Random Thoughts...
I didn't read anything in particular on the net today that warranted a WHOLE paragraph from me, so I'll just feed your appetite for my opinions with these random thoughts:
  • Boy is William Jefferson screwed! I LOVE to see corrupt politicians squirm.
  • ANOTHER pointless headline: Beatles, Stones Top Hillary Clinton's iPod Picks. WHY IS THIS NEWS?!
  • The NBA "officially" announced that New Orleans would be the 2008 host city for the NBA All-Star game supposedly as a sign that the league remains "steadfast about returning the [Hornets] to New Orleans". YEAH RIGHT!
  • WHY does the NFL insist putting a team in Los Angeles is a "top priority"? I know it's about the money, and that the City is the #2 market in the country, but the fans (or lack thereof) have demonstrated that it's not an NFL city!
  • The movie "Rudy" was on last night. I still consider it to be one of the best - if not THE best - sports movies of all time. I did notice that a young Vince Vaughn was in the movie. Don't believe me? Click Here and scroll down to find his name (he plays Jamie O'Hare).
Anyway, enough for tonight, Kayla and I are off to watch The Producers

May 22, 2006

The Reverend
I'm just curious if anyone else is wondering how come - all of a sudden - we aren't hearing from Jesse Jackson anymore regarding the New Orleans mayoral election. I thought that this election was COMPLETELY, TOTALLY unfair?! If that's the case...isn't the re-election of Nagin null and void?

Or perhaps, since the winner of the election was black, it doesn't matter to him anymore. I'm REALLY thinking that if Mitch Landrieu had won the election, all HELL would be breaking loose right about now and we would have seen a repeat of the legal embarrassment that plagued Bush's election in 2000. My, how quickly the tables can turn, eh?


Good Times
Kayla and I were paid a visit by Dad, Mom, Blake, Heather & Will last night and we went out to eat for dinner to celebrate Heather's birthday. Our initial choice of restaraunt, Bonefish Grill was booked solid for at least 2 hours; after the 2 hour wait, we would then have to sit at 2 seperate tables...we opted for a different choice. Plan B did NOT dissappoint.

Carrabba's Italian Grill is an EXCELLENT place to eat. The theming of the facility was great. It had a very upscale feel to it, both inside and out, while the service was top-notch. Oh yeah, the food was GREAT!! If you're ever in Baton Rouge and looking for good Italian food, check out Carrabba's.

May 21, 2006

Happy Birthday
Happy birthday to Heather, who turns 12 today....OK, maybe she's a little older.


Movie Review
Kayla and I rented several movies last night and picked out one to watch last night: Walt Disney's Chicken Little. Disney's initial attempt at computer animation. Personally, Kayla and I LOVED it. The environment the characters live in is perfect. The animators did a great job with even the smallest of details while achieving smooth movement. The story flow very well and character development is top-notch. Overall: A+


One Year Later
Today marks the one-year anniversary of my graduation from LSU with my MBA. Working for a living is definitely different than going to class every day. While I don't have the homework to do at night (which is debateable since many of my coleagues bring their work home with them). The biggest difference is the lack of time I have at home. Leaving at 7:30 every morning and then not getting home until 5:45 on average and sometimes not until 6:30 or 7:00. I sure hope my master get-rich-quick plan takes effect soon. Oh yeah, if anyone knows the winning Powerball numbers for the next drawing....let me know!

May 20, 2006

Commencing Countdown....
The space shuttle Discovery began a more than 4 mile, 7 hour trip aboard a slow moving crawler-transporter to the launch site. This is in preparation for a possible launch sometime in early-to-mid July (1st - 19th). Seems pretty early to move the shuttle out over a month in advance. I'm assuming they're going to run some tests.

Hopefully they can have a successful launch this time without the exterior-foam tank problems that prevented the prior launch and caused the demise of the shuttle Columbia.


Slow News Day??
Who decides what is really news and what's not? Day after day, we het more and more crap stories that take the place of more important things that we should be hearing about. Take this for example: FoxNews.com reported a story on the FRONT PAGE, under "Latest News Headlines" entitled 'Runaway Bride' Dumped?. Remember the 30+ year old Georgia woman that faked her own disappearance because she got cold feet? Aparently, her fiancé decided to break-up with her after they tried to work things out.

WHY IS THIS NEWS?! Granted, it was newsworthy when she disappeared and when they found her. But WHY should the general public care about this?! It's their private life now. PLEASE move on to more dire issues....I'm SURE there are plenty of other issues out there.

May 19, 2006

Break
Taking a break from posting tonight. Gonna just watch some tv and get some sleep.
May 18, 2006

Signs of Sanity
In this law-suit happy society we live in, it's not uncommon to see a ridiculous verdict handed down by a jury related to a case that shouldn't even be in court. However, thanks to the structure of our judicial system, citizens and corporate citizens have the opportunity to appeal these verdicts. A trial judge in the Oregon Court of Appeals overturned one of these excessive awards by striking down a $150 million verdit against Philip Morris related to the death of a woman from lung cancer. One judge had already ruled the amount "over=excessive" and reduced the amount by 1/3 to $100 million. However, the appeals court found that amount still to high and remanded the case back to court to determine proper punitive damages.

If you ask me, the punitive damages should be $1. Period. End of story. To often are companies and government held responsible for individuals. It's time this society start holding people accountable for their actions. Don't pass blame; admit when you're wrong and accept the consequences!


 Saints History
Well, they did it. The Saints broke the franchise record for the most season-tickets sold for a year at 54,900, and they still have 3 1/2 months to sell more! From what I understand, the team sells roughly 65,000 tickets to each game (excluding the allotment of tickets held for opponents' fans). Obviously, the drafting of Reggie Bush played a huge role in breaking the record. However, the team was well on its way prior to the draft.

I hope this serves as a wake-up call to Tom Benson and the rest of the NFL PROVING the true heart of the City and the Region. This definitely proves the need for an NFL team in the City of New Orleans.

May 17, 2006

Steak Anyone?
Driving home today I was listening to WWL - The Big 870. Their special guest on the air was former Miami Dolphin Hall of Fame coach Don Shula. They talked a little sports about his coaching career as well as the Saints and Reggie Bush; however, he main reason for calling in to the show was the grand opening of a new location for his restaurant chain, Shula's Steakhouse, in New Orleans.

The latest addition to this successful chain - rated as one of the Top Steakhouses in America - officially opens tomorrow, May 17, in the J.W. Marriot Hotel on Canal Street. Hopefully this will be a catalyst for attracting other businesses to the City as well as motivating businesses in existence prior to Katrina to reopen and help rebuild the region.


 Idol Showdown
Tonight, the final 3 on American Idol face off to get to next week's finale at the Kodak Theatre. Instead of the "theme" episodes in the past few weeks - some of which were TERRIBLE themes - they contestants each sing 3 songs: one of their choice, one chosen by a judge and one chosen by Clive Davis.

I'm pulling for Taylor Hicks to win it all. I love his character, his voice and his true passion and love for what it is he's doing. I would DEFINITELY buy his CD should he win. In my opinion, I think the final 2 will be Taylor and Elliot.

May 16, 2006

Saints Update
There was a very good article on ESPN.com by Len Pasquarelli regarding the Saints, Reggie Bush, 2nd round draft choice Roman Harper and the team's relationship with the City. I highly recommend reading the article even if you're not a big sport's fan, I think Pasquarelli does a great job capturing the Saints fans' loyalty to the team and their passion for sport.


 Get the HELL out of Dodge!!
The State released its revised evacuation plan for the 2006 hurricane season. The plan uses the contraflow system as implemented last year but comes with a disclaimer warning against people evacuating with their FEMA trailers as the high winds can easily over-turn a travel trailer - oh, by the way....it's also against federal law to move 'em. To see the hurricane guide in pdf format click here and here.

May 15, 2006

Happy Mother's Day
Kayla and I will be making our way down to Ama Saturday afternoon for a family-filled Mother's Day. Just want to say happy mother's day to my mom and all the other mother's out there. I hope you all feel loved and appreciated on your day.

May 14, 2006

Movie Night
Watched 2 movies last night: Fun with Dick and Jane and The Family Stone. The first stars Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni. Bascially, Carrey's character works for a large corporation that has an Enron-like cover-up. The result is the extinction of the Company and the bankruptcy of all the other employees. Jim Carrey, however, was brought on right before the implosion and used as a scapegoat. He finally cracks and he and Leoni begin a lawless streak. Overall, it was pretty entertaining and fun - B+

The 2nd movie takes place at Christmas with Sarah Jessica Parker meeting her boyfriend's - Dermot Mulroney - family. They are complete opposites and she has trouble fitting in. It's a good, family story...probably better saved for Christmas though. We like it however - evidenced as Kayla stayed awake for 2 entire movies - which is a record. Heartfelt, warm and funny - B

May 13, 2006

Take a Break
Move along, nothing to see here. Rented a few movies and are going to relax after a week of work.

May 12, 2006

Here We Go Again
Another of the City's sports franchise owners is now making excuses to try to ease his way out of Louisiana to get to greener pastures. George Shinn and the Hornets are now saying that keeping the Hornet's here is the City's obligation. Now they're saying if they don't get a new practice facility next to the arena, they're practically gone.

I know it may have been a contractual agreement when the City lured the team here (it was also in the contract that it would be built in New Orleans East but the team decided they didn't want it there before Hurrican Katrina), but they know good and well the financial position of the City of New Orleans. They know that the city or state will be hard-pressed to finance a new facility for the team. If they can't, George Shinn and his cronies can then claim that they gave the City and state EVERY opportunity to keep the Hornet's around, but they didn't step-up and balked on their promises.

Mr. Shinn needs to talk to Tom Benson about what happens when you try to hold this region's sports fans hostage. I know he's not earning any brownie ponts with me.


 American Idol
Needless to say....ALL of America was shocked last night with the ousting of Chris. He was definitely shocked and the judges also made no mystery of their feelings either. I thought for a while that he was the shoe-in for the nest American Idol title. Now I'm not really sure.

I think Paula Abdul is partially to blame as she swoons over Elliot CONSTANTLY even though he has never had a performance that made me see him as the Idol or even the best of that particular show. As of now, I'm throwing all of my support to Taylor Hicks.

SOUL PATROL!!

May 11, 2006

Barbarian Invasion
We got an e-mail today at work announcing that, starting Monday, May 15, Capital One will unveil its marketing campaign promoting the Company's consumer banking. Over the last month, the Company began marketing its Small Business products. You may remember the commercials that were popular over the last year or so (especially around Christmas) featuring the Barbarian horde that was put out of work and forced to find new employment as a result of Capital One's "No Hassle" credit card. You may also remember how the Company "retired" the ads and now features a lackadaisical guardian angel. Personally, I was sad to see the Barbarians go.

Well, cry no more! The Barbarian horde is back as the face of the consumer banking side of the Company. And to commemorate the day, the Visigoths as they are officially known, will be at Capital One branches in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houston and Dallas on Monday. This should definitely garner some attention when people are walking to their favorite lunch spots and they run into a 6'7" 300lb bearded man in an animal fur get-up and sandals.

My coworkers and myself are now trying to decide whether we could go to work dressed as either Huns or Romans and battle the Visigoths to the death!


 Football: T-Minus 3 Months and Counting
The most wonderful time of the year is approaching...the beginning of football season. If you know anything about me, and most of you do, I LOVE football. ANY level does the trick: High School, College, NFL, Arena....I love 'em all! While browsing the Internet, I happenned to come across the 2006 football schedule for Hahnvile High School. So, without further ado, here it is:
DateOpponent
Aug. 24St. James - River Parishes Jamboree @ Hahnville
Sept. 1McDonough 35
Sept. 8Central Lafourche
Sept. 15OP Walker
Sept. 22Lutcher
Sept. 29St. Augustine
Oct. 6East St. John*
Oct. 13John Ehret*
Oct. 20West Jefferson*
Oct. 27@ Destrehan*
Nov. 6@ Assumption*
* Denotes District 5-5A Games

That's right, 8 home games to start the season with the only 2 home games coming at the end of the season. However, to me that's not the most interesting aspect of this schedule. What is interesting is that the schedule includes 2 schools from the east bank of New Orleans: McDonough 35 and St. Augustine. What this tells me is that - assuming neither school is open as of yet - both are highly confident that they will be open come August 2006. Progress.

May 10, 2006

Eau de Play-Doh
It's 50 years old. That childhood marvel that everyone knows and many of you grew up playing with: Play-Doh! That's right, 50 years of that smushy, moldable, aromatic, salty toy (yes I tasted it...you know you have too)! And to commemorate the occasion, Hasbro commissioned a special cologne. Consumers can purchase a 1oz. bottle of the fragrance for $19 from Demeter Fragrance Company. Oh and while you're there, pick up a bottle or two of their other fragrances like Dirt, Tomato or Fresh-pumped Gasoline.


 Class Act
While browsing the Internet, specifically the Saints' site, I came across a blog titled - SAINTS NOTEBOOK: As others see us. Living here in Baton Rouge, I only get to see the Times-Picayune on the weekends I visit Ama. Surfing the net during the week, I read the stories on NOLA.com. My curiosity was peaked when I saw something saying how Reggie Bush took out a full-page ad in the Times-Pic. The following text is what the ad said:

The welcome and support that I have received from the organization, the City of New Orleans, and the entire Saints community has been amazing. I am both excited and ready to do whatever I can to help this team and community move forward. There is a resilient, hopeful and winning attitude in New Orleans and with the Saints, that is contagious. I'm looking forward to an amazing career in New Orleans.

--Reggie Bush, New Orleans Saint

 Some people have said that Bush doesn't want to play in New Orleans. You could have fooled me!! It seems like the Saints may FINALLY be going in the right direction. Deuce McAllister has always been an outstanding role-model for the City's youth. Drew Brees is a BORN leader. And Reggie Bush has done nothing but impress me both on and off the field. Let's hope he can keep it going.

May 9, 2006

Back from God's Country
Kayla and I had a really good visit in Ama this weekend. I helped Dad, Blake and Will with the Love Shack on Saturday while Kayla went down to Houma to visit her parents. Then, Kayla and I went to dinner with Nick and Tiff in his new truck: Chevy Colorado. It's a very nice truck with a surprisingly smooth ride due to the off-road suspension. We had a good meal of Chinese food (Shrimp and Lobster Sauce.....YUM!) then went back to their house and played xBox for a while. Sunday was just as nice with a good lunch at Applebee's (but we COULD have gone to WOW Café & Wingery - but it was still a good time. And we will return next weekend as well!


 Endless Gas
NO Blake and Heather, it's NOT what you're thinking! I read a very interesting article on FoxNews.com about First Fuel Banks in Minnesota. Here's the Company's business model:

Customers purchase fuel (any amount they desire) at the current market rate by depositing money with the Company. This "reserves" that specified amount of gas at a locked price. The only additional fee a customer pays is a $1 LIFETIME membership fee to cover the cost of a "debit card" used when stopping at the station to fuel."

What does this mean? Well, it means that while you and I are paying nearly $3/gallon of regular unleaded, nearly 300 of this Company's customers are filling up at less than 99¢/gallon. Um, yeah...you read that right:

LESS THAN 99¢/GALLON

That would come in VERY handy right now. Each station is equipped with three 50,000 gallon tanks - one for each grade of fuel - compared to normal gas stations that have only 6,000-8,000 gallon tanks. The stations have no convenience stores, just the fueling stations. They have been operating successfully since 1982. Man they need to franchise down here!

May 8, 2006

Back to God's Country
Kayla and I are going back to Ama aka God's Country to help Dad with the LOVE SHACK.

May 6 & 7, 2006

Future of TV...or Computers. It's all such a blur now.
I read an interesting article on Wall Street Journal Online regarding CBS's new Web-TV channel. Originally, the company plans to air all new series on the channel and eventually web-cast reruns of network hits. I got to thinking that this may be the future of television. I mean, you can add TV tuners to computers when you order from Dell and Microsoft has its Media Edition of Windows. Hell, you can buy a TV now that has an input designed to interface with computers.

I think we're on the verge of the PC becoming an all-out media/entertainment center. Instead of a separate PC and TV, you will end up using the TV as the computer to view movies and television as well as playing games, surfing the Internet and all other computer function. My hope is that this will lead to a point where you can purchase the SPECIFIC television stations that you want - a la carte - or even just purchase specific shows from networks.


Best of the Worst
Also from the Wall Street Journal Online, I read an article of the Best of the Worst of the DotCom Era. The two ventures that stood out the most to me were: CyberRebate.com and Microsoft's iLoo. CyberRebate.com was a website that tried to make money while giving stuff away for free. Here's how it worked:
The Company would highly overprice items (sometimes up to 10X as much) and then offer rebates for the full purchase price. The catch? You had to go through red tape to get the rebate - filling out forms by a specific deadline and then waiting anywhere from 10-14 weeks for your rebate check. The company hoped that many customers would forget about the rebate forms or miss deadlines and this would result in the Company's profit.

Long-story, short....the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy with over $83 million in liabilities. It then settled with the FTC for $40,000 and issued rebates to customers expecting rebates at the rate of under $0.09/dollar. That's right....for every $100 they owed you, you received roughly $8.

The iLoo was an ingenious idea by Microsoft - Internet enabled TOILETS!!! They would be portable toilets in the UK outfitted with a computer, monitor, waterproof keyboard and wireless Internet access. This is my favorite part...they were to be used at summer music festivals in England. Needless to say the idea didn't really catch and Microsoft actually - at one point - denied the existence of the idea as a hoax.

May 5, 2006

I'm BAAAAACK!!
OK. It's time to try this whole personal website/web-log/blog thing again. This time, since I have no more school work to do, I think I may be able to manage to post updates more frequently. On this edition of kpJR.com - which I like to think of as Version 2.0, you will find 4 buttons under the banner: Home | Past | Links | ???

Home takes you...well...HOME! Past is a link to the website's archive which will also include "Classic" posts from Version 1.0. And finally, ??? is a random button. Each time you load the page, the button will link to a random web page out of a collection of pages I have selected that I think are interesting or just weird...but family-friendly.

Also, I will try to keep everyone updated with what's going on over heyah in Da BR ya Heard!!!! (It's true...I was raised in the streets.)


 Change
Well, I'm sure most of you are aware that I finished MBA school at LSU and EARNED my degree. Post graduation I accepted a position with Hibernia National Bank. Last Spring, the company "merged" with Capital One | What's in Your Wallet? and the "official" name change happened April 24. Overall, I really haven't been affected by the merger as an employee other than wearing a new name tag, getting new business cards & e-mail address and CapOne hooking us up with a free duffel/computer/gym/whatever bag with the company logo to thank us for all our "hard work" to ensure a smooth transition.

As a customer.....so far, so good in my opinion. The NEW online banking is WAY better with many more options and polished, professional look.


 ILLEGAL Immigrants
Alright, it's my turn to weigh in on this whole immigration thing. However, before I start this heated discussion, let me first share a few words of wisdom with you from your friend and mine:

The Cambridge Dictionary
• ILLEGAL (adjective) - against the law; not allowed by law
• ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT (noun) - someone who goes to live or work in another country when they do not have the legal right to do this

Let's break this down, shall we: if illegal means it is against the law and breaking the law makes one a "criminal" then an illegal immigrant is a "criminal" immigrant. So all those signs that say "We're not criminals! Waahhh! Waahhh!"
YES YOU ARE!

If you want to be treated like the rest of us, go BACK across the Rio Grande and enter the country LEGALLY! Then, LEARN E-N-G-L-I-S-H and go through the naturalization process. But DON'T come here and try to turn our country into some Socialist, boderline 3rd World nation because you have politicians that make Edwin Edwards look like the Pope.

May 4, 2006