Better Air for Conditioning

Ahhh, what a relief. The heat index is only 105F this afternoon and that's kept the ambient temperature in my office greenhouse within a tolerable range for the first time in a week. In fact, the air outside even looks better, which is to say that the thick haze we've had has dissipated quite a bit which generally indicates a more reasonable dew point. Isn't it convenient living in the city where you can always get a good idea of the air quality because you can actually see it? I wonder if the compressor on my a/c got a chance to take a break this morning.


I could feel that slight difference in the air this morning during the levee training ride. It was kind of a strange one today because the group split early without me even knowing it. When we came upon one of the usual riders who was on the side of the road fixing a flat (and heading in the opposite direction), I was near the front and heard Richard ask if everything was OK. I figured it was because Richard was still with us as we got back up to speed after slowing down. A few miles later I took my pull and dropped back only to find that the back was a whole lot closer than I expected. I think about half of the group must have stopped. I looked back but couldn't see anyone so I just continued on with the group of six or seven that I was in. After the turnaround we passed the rest of the group going the other way and so we soft-pedaled for a couple of miles. Looking back, though, they were nowhere in sight. I figured they would turn around a little early and catch back up, but only one or two riders did that, so I never saw the main group again.


Anyway, we had a good Wednesday ride, even though I was a little bit distracted the whole time thinking about this grant application I had to finish today and my next "challenge" which is to find some authoritative recent demographics on the New Orleans metro area. Wish me luck! Regular census data is usually at least a year or two old by the time its published, and with the New Orleans area's demographics changing on a daily basis, such data are essentially worthless. The best I've located so far is about nine months old, which would ordinarily be considered quite acceptable, but in this case falls into the "ancient news" category.


In other city news, you probably heard about our city councilman who just admitted to taking $15k in bribes from a company that operates parking lots. His "confession" and subsequent resignation reminded me a lot of the whole pro cycling drug situation. Years ago I'm sure he would have denied it and tried to skirt the issue, but now that there has been a major effort to go after corrupt local elected officials, the only option they have is to bow their heads, admit they made a "mistake" and beg forgiveness. Sound familiar? When someone who is afraid he's going to lose a big city contract comes to meet with you about it and hands you a wad of cash, how does that become merely "accepting an inappropriate gift?" Maybe some of the pro cyclists should be taking notes. "I'm sorry, I let all of my fans down when I unfortunately accepted an inappropriate injection." As it turns out, I suspect he's made a deal with the folks in the U.S. attorney's office to cooperate in their much larger investigation that goes back quite a few years (and more than one mayor). Too bad the inhabitants of City Hall haven't managed to at least get their damned sign fixed. Looks great, doesn't it?