I am back.

New Orleans was a completely different place this time from the last. Perhaps because this was an Ornithology conference and last time it was Mardis Gras...there was alot less drinking and fewer demands to see womens' breasts on this trip. I had a good time despite that and learned a whole lot...Like, I don't like pretentious, asshole undergrads who come to professional meetings and try to act smarter than everyone there (most of whom have advanced graduate degrees like a PhD for example). Also I don't really like sitting at the dinner table with people I don't know (said undergrad included) and discussing what each person's favorite type of sparrow is (a group of little brown birds). I told them people that I hated every type of sparrow and refused to participate in any conversation until the subject was changed.

All in all the meeting went well and Isadore didn't interfere too much. The city instituted a curfew on Wednesday night cause the sky was pissing rain and the flood waters were rising. My advisor, and I and a few other folks, being the bad-asses that we are broke curfew in the name of Beer and Food. We went out that night with one of the authors of the text book that I am currently using in my statistics class. That was cool, and surprisingly so was he.

The Russian Guy, who was my roomate, did not know the meaning of the word curfew and thought everyone was talking about a "Curlew." He kept asking "who is bringing the curlew at 10:00 pm?"...Comunists are so funny...

Don't worry, kids. Despite Isidore, Conor got to give his talk and it went swimmingly, according to him, and to the 42 people who came up to him afterwards and said "Damn, Conor! That is the best damn talk on the breeding success of American Oystercatchers that I have ever seen!" I'm paraphrasing, but I'm sure they said something along those lines.

By the way, there was no pun intended with the use of the word "swimmingly," a play on words that could have been inferred from the fact that there is a tremendous amount of flooding in New Orleans right now. I most certainly did not intend to lead you to believe that Conor had to do any swimming while giving his talk. The conference area was not flooded at all.

One more thing, and then I'm going to deal with these 4 billion documents on my desk, for real:

I think I am on the verge of developing an addiction to the new season of The Bachelor. I know, I know, it is sexist trash. But so entertaining is its trashiness!

Hi, I added comments, primarily because I am bored at work and am constantly looking for distractions, and planning pretend vacations to the Cayman Islands or Bora Bora just ins't cutting it anymore. Also I think it might inspire me to write more witty and intelligent things that actually merit being commented upon. No guarantees there, though.

With a cue from the fuzziest sweater on the net, I paid a visit to this site to learn my pirate name. It is, apparently, Captain Anne Cash, which I must say is alarmingly similar to my actual full name. I mean, the initials and the middle part are right anyway.

Entertaining scandal:

A man in the Weight Watchers at Work program won $100 for losing the most weight of the group. SCANDAL! He supplemented with diet pills.

Yeah, things are pretty intense here at the office. INtense.

Divert Isidore! Divert!

Conor worked on his talk for 10 billion years and practiced 12 billion times. I hope the conference isn't cancelled. I hope he doesn't get stranded in a hurricane-wreckaged New Orleans.

I can't possibly be expected to do any work today. I am just way too tired. I could go home right now and sleep til morning, but I have a paper to write. Also I would probably wake up after a while wanting to eat something because I am really hungry. Hungry and sleepy. Yes, work cannot be expected of me.

So Conor arrived safely in New Orleans this afternoon. I really wanted to go with him, to see his talk obviously, but also to eat beignets and drink coffee in the French Quarter. I could easily do that for all but the 12 minutes in which Conor is speaking. But no, I am here, and it is raining like mad in New Orleans anyway because Hurricane Whatever It's Called is heading there as we speak. It's supposed to hit on Thursday and if it does, they will cancel the remainder of the conference. Conor is slated to speak on Thursday. Think positive thoughts.

I am kind of a huge dork...this week I am going to New Orleans. Party Town Central! I am going to an Ornithology confrence and I am giving a 12 minute talk about my Oystercatcher work. I know that right now you are trying to comprehend how cool I am and wishing you could be going to such a meeting to give such a talk...my mother always told me I was special.

This new car I got, is much more car than I deserve. It kind of makes me want to miss my plane tomorrow morning and drive to New Orleans.

Conor pointed out to me last night that I haven't posted since I put up that broken link to the Chicken Lady (sorry about that, it worked for me, I swear), so I decided to stop in and share a couple of things I am thinking about:

1. An item was purchased off our registry. Wedding presents are cool!

2. I really need to go to the dentist. I think I have cavaties.

3. I am having problems with time management which is making it difficult to, in addition to my regular work and class load, learn to play the bass and learn to read the Bible as literature and next month to find my perfect career and understand poetry.

4. I know it is weird that I am master's student in English and I need to take a class called "Understanding Poetry," but I need a refresher of the basics and by the time you get to graduate school, the basics never come up, they just go on and on about iambs and trochees and curtal sonnets and you are responsible for knowing what's up.

5. Word of the day that I feel dumb for having not known the definition of all along: ostensibly. Glancing over papers of a certain very very smart classmate makes me realize that my vocabulary is really shitty for an English grad student.

6. I have decided I would like to write my thesis on James Merrill and form but am unable to come up with a cohesive topic. If you have any suggestions let me know.

Today I am listening to Radiohead’s instant classic album OK Computer. I find it soothes the West Nile...all that Echinacea tea and vitamin C pills when all I really needed was Radio Head. Of course it could be the good night's sleep that did the trick.

I had this horribly graphic dream. My apartment has recently become overrun with Moths. It happened some time over the summer when I was at the beach but there are literally hundreds of little moths living somewhere in my house (this is reality, not the dream part). I spent a good part of Sunday trying to deal with the problem. They were breeding in my bag of birdseed, which I disposed of a few weeks ago and since then that had begun living in the pantry. The caterpillars like Rice, and grain products like oatmeal and cheerios cereal. I must have thrown out enough food to feed an Ethiopian family for two months. It was disturbing to see those little caterpillars in the bottom of the rice bags. I probably ate several of them with out knowing over the last few weeks...and this is where the graphic dream comes in. It was somewhat like an episode of Fear Factor but with me instead of Playmates. I am sorry to say Cate, but I would rather watch Playmates eat insects than watch myself eat insects.

I think that the moth problem is under control for now (knock on wood). The West Nile Virus is going into remission (knock on wood)...and This weekend I am scheduled to go to yet another Pig Pickin'. The Novelty is wearing off...that will make 6 in a little over a year...I really hope to hear some Lynard Skynard at this one as well. Southern culture is repetitive at best.

ps: Happy Birthday to my Daddy

It seems like this stress never ends. I have been suffering from what I can only describe as a migraine for the last two days. My head is pounding, I am nauseous, I am dizzy...Maybe its West Nile Virus...HOLY SHIT, I AM GONNA DIE!!! I have West Nile Virus...what do I do? Stay Calm...HOLY SHIT!...Wait that’s not Helping...I bet CNN has some good advise...they'll know exactly what to do. Wow, it’s a good thing I stockpiled cipro last year during the Anthrax scare...that should take care of this little problem I am having.

Its too bad I caught West Nile this week cause I am also getting a new car on Saturday...we'll call it a wedding present from daddy. I was really looking forward to driving the new car for the next 15 years. Oh well.

So much good stuff has happened this week, but I haven't had time to acknowledge them or appreciate them. I was so completely stressed out all week. I foolishly volunteered to Grade the first exam of the class I am TA'ing this semester. The professor dumped 90, one-page essays about the structural and physiological changes that plants underwent as they evolved to land habitats. It was brutal to grade...first of all 98% of the students have no concept of the theory of evolution, that would make it difficult to write about the evolution of plants don't you think. But even worse some have no concept of sentence structure. I remember my teachers in college asking me how I managed to graduate high school with such poor writing skills; they never knew how good they had it with a run on here and there, or a few comas missing.

But that’s over now, so I will try not to speak of it any more. Our first performance went pretty, although the sound levels were pretty horrible and Cate and I could barely hear our selves. I would like to say that I generally think that feed back is good, but not on a mellow folk song...the sound board operator was too busy selling over dressed, freshmen girls some mocha lattés to turn down Cate's mic. But all in all I am really glad we did it...and I want to go back some time...or at least to another open mic or something

Enough sadness...

there are plenty of good things going on in our lives these days. Slicing Ginger is scheduled for its debut performance at the Global Village Open Mike Night this Friday. Last night we rehearsed a few songs...for those of you who are long time fans...we are playing The Zoo Song and Rainbows and Butterflys and then a new song that has yet to be released called The Road to Heaven Is Paved With Bullshit. Cate wrote the new one. She is also well on her way to being the next Les Claypool with her new Bass Guitar.

We are also in the midst of planning a sweet vacation for after the culmination of the Big Big Plan...it is gonna be awesome. I ended up just asking the former college roomate with Polish heritage who shafted me from his own wedding party to be one of my groomsman...though if by some miracle Steve Malkmus were to let me know that he wanted to be in our wedding party, the old college roommate immediately gets the boot!

Everybody is talking about it again. The date has been impossible to ignore. I have been a little pissed at the news networks for doing their best to make money off of our terrible memories...but I suppose thats good for the economy.

I would like to take a moment to remember my old friend Jonathan Cappello who died on this day last year. He was not my brother, or my son, he was my best friend in 4th grade and I had almost completely lost touch with him. I was so relieved to hear that everyone in my family was alive that day...that, was difficult information to obtain from way down here in NC, but when Jono's name was casually mentioned amongst some others in a foward from my sister I was shocked. I guess I justed wanted to say that I still think about him and to let his family and close friends that I still hold on to my childhood memories.

I whole heartedly agree with Meghan, that it is difficult to be so far away and removed from New York today, and especially last year...when the phones were dead and there was no information coming through, and 8 close relatives that live and work in downtown New York. I am not trying to be special, I realize it was hard day for everybody in the country...I don't know what I am trying to say really. I should stop typing though, cause our moment of silence is quickly approaching.

Something I am getting tired of...going to the Doctor's office and waiting a full hour to be seen. I had an appointment for 10:30am...I was not done until 11:45...the man is an allergist, its not like I was expecting to drop in for a quick round of chemotherapy which took an extra 45 minutes of my day, or I thought I'd swing by for an impromptu liver transplant. Two shots and a new Claritin prescription was all I needed. Should have taken 30 minutes, instead it took 75. I think I'll send him a bill for my time.

Something I am very much excited about...Cate got a new bass guitar late last week and is rapidly learning how to play it. She rocks! We are expecting to start performing in public soon. We will of course remain faithful to the crowd at Cate's living room but I think our band has grown beyond the confines of her apartment complex. I am hoping that by the end of October we'll have had our first gig...the record contract with Matador will surely follow soon there after.

Does anyone else think that Justin Guarini of American Idol bears a frightening resemblance to The Chicken Lady?

Wednesday again...I think. We had a splendid weekend. My cousin lives in Pittsboro NC and he threw a sweet party on sunday. It was an all day pig roasting keg party...reound here they call it a pig pickin'...last year I had never been to a pig pickin' but now I have been to 4 and will be attending my 5th in two weeks. North Carolina is a good place to be a vegitarian.

Things I am excited about:

1. Learning the why behind the rules of grammar, such as not ending a sentence with a preposition as I have done above. And just now.
2. Buying a bass. Will be happening within 10 days. Will keep you posted.
3. My new floor lamp
4. Having seen Rocketfire Red at Humble Pie on Friday.
5. How chill I am feeling at the end of this 3-day weekend.

But now I have a crapload of homework to do. Have a great week.