Brother Jim awaits the T.

Cornmaze with my sister's kids

Ming Tsai cooking at a fundraiser for the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence at the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Boylston.
He made delicious shrimp treats with some sort of amazing reduction drizzled over-top.
I bid on a night at the symphony during the silent auction. Good times.
Edited to add: I won the night at the symphony for four. It's December 5th. I think Jim's parents will be here. If that's the case, we'll have a blast...plus, they'll think we're really sophisticated.

Ruby on rails workshop for women at harvard

Helping to teach a beginning class in ruby on rails this weekend. It is targeted at women in the hopes of increasing the female presence in software development. Venue is harvard law school. Hooray for gender diversity!

Goodbye, New Orleans. We had fun!

Fountain on the patio of the Bulldog on Magazine Street. Fortunately, the inside taps are equally copious.

Beignets at café du monde - yummy!

Jackson Square. From the second floor of the Cabildo.

Burial crypt of Marie Laveau, the most famous voodoo prietess in the history of New Orleans.

Live jazz is a reason to live

I can only imagine this in the days of kerouac

Trite? Yes, but there's a reason Pat O'Brien's is so famous.

Loyola University. You know, they call this statue "Touchdown" Jesus. To me, he seems more like "eh, whatcha gonna do" Jesus.

At Audubon Park. Then to Loyola and Tulane.

It's raining buckets this minute (sure to change soon) so we ducked into Tujague's for refreshments. A Pimm's cup for me and and absinthe suisesse for Jim. How civilized.

Absinthe Museum in the French Quarter.

Jim enjoying a gator sammich at Cooter Brown's, which is right near C.T.'s place. They have gambling, fried treats and 400 kinds of beeer. Tempting to hunker down for the long haul, but we have a levee to walk.

Here we are! Woo boy, it is hot and humid up in here. I need to switch over from my New England togs ASAP.

Waiting to board for Chicago. So far, so good.

New Orleans, here we come!

Here we sit in Medford, all packed and waiting to go to New Orleans. I plan to do a lot of nothing-in-particular, like drinking coffee, seeing bands and eating amazing food. Our flight leaves at 6AM tomorrow and we get into NOLA at 10:40. Thank goodness for a brother who has a job that allows us a free place to stay in the best town in the US (by my estimation, anyway).
Come back here often in the next four days for a ridiculous pictorial diary of our tip.
Hooray, vacation!

In Burlington Vermont killing time while Jym is working with UVm students on a project. Adter all the rain earlier. it's now a pretty perfect New England autumn day.