Things to Come

So much warmer! It looks like we won't be seeing any really cold weather for a week or so, and you won't hear any complaining about that from me. The temps for the weekend will be in the 60s and 70s, so I'm hoping for some nice rides - probably even a bit more than advisable, in fact.

The morning levee ride was quite small today, but on the plus side, that meant nice long steady pulls. The pace stayed reasonably slow, although now and then it picked up a bit beyond the usual Friday threshold. It was a nice, relaxing start to what was to be a rather hectic day. On my commute to work I pass a small warehouse that is packed full of Mardi Gras floats. The door is often open, and for the last few months the same old floats have been there without change. However, with Mardi Gras coming so insanely early this year (Feb. 5), they must have ramped up production of the 2008 versions. This morning as I rode past, something caught my eye. I wonder if it's a leftover from one of last year's parades or something new for this year? Whatever, I think I like the direction they're going.

We had a staff luncheon scheduled today at Commander's Palace for 1:30, which was great. Unfortunately, I had a conference call scheduled for 3:00. When you're talking about lunch at Commander's, an hour and a half is really pushing your luck. My entree came, along with those of the three others at our table, presented together by four waiters, at about 2:45. The fish was almost as good as the turtle soup, but I had to eat it quickly and then rush out to sit in my car to do the conference call on my cellphone. This one lasted well over an hour, and after that were three other phone calls, so basically I was sitting in my car on Prytania Street for about two hours, after which I had to go back downtown to retrieve my bike and some files from my computer. So I get back home around 6:00 to find The Wife who had walked about three miles back home from a doctor's appointment and wanted to go out to eat. So as it turned out, I had leftover cold catfish for breakfast, trout for lunch, and salmon for dinner. Nice! Now I'm eating a seemingly unlimited supply of green, red and white M&Ms. Not so nice! I will be glad when all of this tempting holiday candy is gone.