Parade Fun

I caught my beads and took some pictures of the Krewe of Pontchartrain Parade. We stood at Canal and Bourbon Street to see the action. So much fun, but man the big beads hurt when they hit your hand.

Carnival

Well, this weekend carnival is in full swing leading up to Mardi Gras on Feb 8. If you want to view some of the parades on a web cam, click on the ParadeCam link. For parade schedules and routes, click on the ParadeSchedule link. I'm planning on viewing the Krewe of Pontchartrain's parade with friends tomorrow afternoon. Watch on the web if you're interested, and I'll let you know how it goes!

FYI - Carnival (the period between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday) means saying goodbye to meat, in the tradition of "eat, drink, and be merry" before giving it all up for lent.

I'm Back!

I am both back in New Orleans after an amazing trip to DC and KC and back online after experiencing some problems (hopefully all resolved now) updating my web page with all the great photos I took from the inauguration and baptism last weekend. It felt truly historic to be a part of the inaugural festivities in Washington last week. It was a bit cold for the swearing in, and the long security line kept us from hearing President Bush's entire inaugural address. I couldn't help but feel a patriotic vibe during the whole ceremony. The Independence Ball that night was so much fun. President Bush and Laura were there for a few minutes to thank the crowd and enjoy a dance together. We had fun dancing to some great music and enjoyed some wine and cheese. Mostly, I just enjoyed being with Lindsey and getting the too infrequent chance to see Aunt Shirley and Aunts Cindy and Melinda and their husbands. It was also so much fun to be at the ball with Sarah and Travis too!

After less than 48 hours in DC, I was off to Kansas City to see my family and attend Joe and Wills baptism. The Leuschen boys were baptized in the Johnson's home in a lovely ceremony followed by a fabulous lunch. I was honored to be part of this event, and it was wonderful to share the experience with some of Marci and Carl's family and close friends. We are all blessed to have these wonderful boys in our lives, and I know they are blessed with two incredible, caring parents and an extremely loving and supportive extended family.

One thing I did catch somewhere between DC and KC was a sore throat and cough that I am just now starting to get over. I hope I didn't give it to anyone during my travels. To make matters worse, I strained my back pretty bad getting out of the car at the airport on my way home. That is slowly getting better as well. Now I am getting back to reality in the lab and with class work, so I'm immersing myself in statistics, genetics, and blood vessel cells again. Oh well...Fat Tuesday will be here before you know it!

Presidential Trivia

Since this is inauguration week, I thought it would be fun to look up some trivia on Presidents and inaugurals. I am headed to DC on Wednesday to attend the inaugural festivities with my friend Lindsey. I will then spend the weekend in KC attending Joe and Wills baptism. Ill definitely report next week on what are sure to be two once in a lifetime events! Meanwhile, I hope some of this trivia is new and fascinating to you all:

*Everyone knows that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court administers the oath of office to the President-elect, but do you remember who swears in the VP-elect? Its the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

*Jefferson was the first President to be inaugurated in Washington, DC.

*Madison was the smallest of all the presidents. He was only 5'4" tall and weighed less than 100 pounds.

*Wilson was the only president with a Ph.D.

*Eisenhower was the first nominee to travel by airplane while campaigning, he was the only president who was a licensed pilot, and he initiated the use of Air Force One.

*Nixon was the first president to visit all 50 states and the first to visit China. He was also the first U.S. President to attend a regular season National Football League game while in office.

The fat city I call home

Men's Fitness magazine just came out with their rankings of the fittest and fattest cities. Of note to my friend Kendra: Be careful, Houston is the fattest city in America. In fact, they must really like it bigger in Texas since 3 of the top 10 fattest cities are there. I'm not doing much better - New Orleans is the 7th fattest up from 22nd fattest last year. Watch out Houston, New Orleans is out to get ya! Kansas City is pretty bad too, ranking 18th fattest...although KC did improve from 14th last year. MA and Bubba better move back to KC because Chicago is the 5th fattest city both this year and last. Matt, while healthy for sure, must not be biking enough because San Francisco fell from the 2nd fittest city to the 4th. How do they come up with such a ranking? They basically divide the number of Gold's Gyms in the phone book by the number of McDonalds...well, its a little more complicated than that, (they factor in weather patterns and Dunkin' Doughnuts as well) but it is not incredibly scientific. Weather must not factor in too much if Seattle is the fittest city. I guess if this motivates city governments to build more parks and sidewalks, that's a good thing. I'm not too convinced it matters, but Its fun to ponder.

Technology

Hitachi has just come out with a hard drive that is smaller than an inch and holds 8-10 GB of data; wireless internet is becoming increasingly more available and affordable, and I can have the K-State football score sent to my cell phone instantly after every touchdown. We are increasingly able to visualize and understand our universe from subatomic particles to galaxies light years away. We can now fight some forms of cancer with drugs that specifically attack the cancer cells, sparing the healthy ones. Stem cells offer promise to patients with a wide variety of diseases from diabetes to heart failure. So how can it be, in the 21st century, a bunch of waves caused by an earthquake can kill over 150,000 people? Why couldn't we warn them to move inland and escape the devastation? It makes you wonder.

Tsunami

After tuning out from news and the outside world for a few days over Christmas, I was shocked to learn of the devastating tsunami in Asia which have claimed an estimated 150,000 lives. It amazed me to learn that the Swedish toll alone was comparable to that of Sept. 11th. Amazon.com has already raised over $13 million in disaster relief for the American Red Cross, and I'm sure billions in private donations from around the world will eventually be pledged. I'm left wondering how many lives could have been saved had an effective early warning system been in place. Ill continue to pray for the souls that were lost and the millions whose lives have been forever changed by this tragedy.

Happy 2005!

I hope the New Year found everyone in good health and spirits. I am back in the lab after two very enjoyable and relaxing weeks back home in Kansas City. It was great to hang out and catch up with family and friends. I saw some good movies including Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events and Meet the Fockers, see my review on my About Me page.

Welcome to my blog...first post

Thanks for reading my blog. I decided to start blogging for two reasons. First, I want to let my friends and family keep up to date on the latest in my life now that I've moved to New Orleans. Also, I think this is an interesting format to post my thoughts and reactions to news, movies, politics, and whatever else interests me. I look forward to hearing your comments on my blog; just email them to me at blogger@janetitterington.com and let me know if you want them posted or not.