b.rox

Probably my oldest friend that I am still in regular contact with is J, famous to some as the bumbling bartender on ROX. I’m on a first-name basis with his family, though I haven’t seen much of them lately. I almost feel like they are a second set of distant relatives. So it was particularly [...]

Despite my sterling reputation for civic-mindedness, I hardly ever write to my representatives in city gov’t. It just doesn’t seem like a good use of time. But I did it today. I just sent a quick note in support of the proposed charter amendments that would give the master plan the force of law and [...]

My day started off with a bang. I’d just changed the inner tube on my bike because I ran over a screw the other day. First flat I’ve had in over a year, seems like. I pumped it back up, went to the sink to wash my hands and BANG. Really loud. Scared me. At [...]

What are you doing for National Trails Day? If you’re in New Orleans, please join us for the 4th Annual Hike of the Lafitte Corridor. It’s hard to believe this is the fourth such event. The first one only had three hikers and no fanfare. The second hike led to the formation of Friends of [...]

Sometimes it’s worth it. All the trouble, the endless meetings, the grant proposals, the paperwork, navigating bureaucracies, building consensus, wrangling volunteers, the phone calls, the e-mails, did I mention the meetings? I started the Mid-City sign project last year, when I was serving as Communications Director for the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization. We wrote a grant [...]

We finally turned on the AC today as even the nights are getting quite warm. I like to make it to June 1st if we can, but this year not quite. This always strikes me as the saddest day of the year somehow. We now have five window units, at least three of which are [...]

I’ll be at the FOLC booth at the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo this morning, from 10 ’til noon; stop by and say hi.

Just learned of the untimely passing of New Orleans’ own Robert Asprin, creator of Thieves’ World and Another Fine Myth and many other science fiction and fantasy works.

I was browsing through the January issue of Black Enterprise, and I was surprised to see a map on page 79 predicting the “states Obama can win in the primaries.” Surprised, because they predicted an Obama win in Indiana but not Louisiana. In fact, of course, the reverse was true. I think I could have [...]

No school today, so quiet — and then the machinery.

Persephone, I imagine some day you’ll be asking about your name. You’re only three months old now, so obviously it’s not exactly on your mind right now. But some day you’ll realize this name is at least a little unusual, not to mention confusing to some people, and you’ll wonder why we named you this. [...]

The internet and this old world can still blow my mind. Browsing through a random Wikipedia article I discovered that before the Cuban Revolution there was a ferry that sailed twice daily between Havana and New Orleans. This bears further investigation.

I’m back at work today after a three-month leave. It feels weird to be sitting in my office instead of taking care of baby or sweating some renovation details. It seems today is also my boss’ birthday. Funny thing, her husband is a local blogger, but she doesn’t read his blog as a rule, just [...]

Dad wrote me a nice note and, since I know he reads this blog, I thought I’d answer him here.

Haven’t had much chance to read blogs lately, but I went over to Cliff’s Crib Saturday night and what I read there about his weekends post-Katrina really knocked me for a loop.

We’ve been slowly re-occupying our full house. We’ve been living all cramped up in half of it for two and a half years. The other half, the lower floor, was under renovation for waaay longer than I’d expected. But the flood that caused our renovation also disrupted the lives of everyone we knew, including my [...]

Title: Infinite Jest Author: David Foster Wallace Published: 1996 David Foster Wallace, you’ve gotten the better of me. I started reading Infinite Jest shortly before my daughter was born. I’ve continued to plug away at it for three months.

We’re just wrapping up a three-night visit from my parents. I put my Dad to work installing brackets for an ambitious shelving project. We installed 35 brackets total. But of course the real reason behind the visit was to see their new granddaughter. Mom brought some yummy homemade rhubarb pie all the way from Indiana.

I wanted to record before I forget that as Xy and I were coming home from an errand Friday, we saw there were lots of firetrucks clustered around Lindy Boggs Medical Center (aka Mercy). Later we learned that someone had broken in and started a small fire. [WWL has video.] I further learned (through discussion [...]

I couldn’t afford a genuine Punic Persephone coin but I did find a cool pewter pendant. The face of the goddess is surrounded by a sheaf of wheat, representing Demeter, her mother. The perfect gift for Persephone’s mother on her first Mother’s day. Xy calls it an amulet. Also, my Mom and Dad are visiting [...]