Home alone. After work yesterday I went home and took care of a few things that were needed to insure that the house wouldn't burn down, I wouldn't starve to death, and I'd have clean underwear today. Installation of a new smoke detector went smoothly enough as my pasta sauce simmered and the washing machine churned. I even had time to sit out on the porch with a glass of wine and read the front section of Science Mag. All of which constituted a rather boring evening that I capped off with a couple of hours of updating LCCS rankings and once again signing the annual Homestead Exemption card. You see, we have this interesting Homestead Exemption down here that basically means that you don't have to pay property taxes on the first $75k of your appraised value. However, in order to get that tax break you have to sign off each year on a little card saying that you actually live there. The local tax assessors, who of course are elected based on their promises to do as little as possible to actually collect or, heaven forbid, raise taxes, always take the opportunity to include a "personal" letter that includes a nice photo of themselves, lest you forget who it is who is making sure you don't have to pay more taxes. This year, there was a special card for people whose houses are still vacant but who "promise" to return and live there within the next FIVE years. Big Easy is right, eh? But I digress. With few consumables in the house and little desire to brave the after-work hourdes at the supermarket checkout lines, I rustled up some pasta sauce with whatever wasn't growing mold in the 'fridge. By the time I put the pasta on, I'd already had a couple of glasses of Merlot, so naturally I overcooked the spaghetti. It was pretty good anyway. Almost anything tastes good to me if it's got enough garlic, olive oil and wine in it.
So this morning's long levee ride got off to a fast start thanks to a gradually building tailwind. We spent a long, long time up around 28-29 mph, although at some point I dropped back too far and kind of got stuck back there. Up ahead was Rob on his Argon TT bike with the handlebars down below the headset thanks to one of those adjustable stems. Lucky for us he didn't have his full-out time trial wheels on there too. Anyway, it was a pretty fast and hard ride both coming and going today and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Tomorrow morning is looking kind of sketchy for me because I have to be up in Baton Rouge for 10:30 to shuffle around the lobby of the capitol building where we'll have a bunch of displays set up for "Tulane Day." Afterward will be a reception at the "Old" Capitol Building, so it'll be a late night for me and The Wife will have to take a cab back home from the airport. The old capitol building is one of the most out-of-place and, for its time, over-the-top structures I know of. Mark Twain got it right when he said "It is pathetic ... that a whitewashed castle, with turrets and things ... should ever have been built in this otherwise honorable place." Still, it's a great place to have a party!!
Things are a little hectic around here today what with the usual last-minute problems. Situation normal.
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