I went to New Orleans by myself this time for Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras. I stayed that the Hotel Intercontinental which was a bigger deal than I even realized. It was in the perfect location to everything I needed and wanted.
Lundi Gras I hit it hard drinking Southern Star's Buried Hatchet Stout. It was freezing cold out, so I felt like I had to drink more to stay warm. The next morning, I realized that wasn't the best of ideas. I got up early to catch the Mardi Gras parades, took in Zulu, but had to bounce before Rex. I had to find some food and ended up not even eating all of what I had ordered. I went to a Mexican place and I had to sit outside and freeze while I tried to put down an average but over-priced Chicken Enchilada dinner at El Gato Negro across from the French Market. I took a cab ride back because I wasn't feeling well and took a nap. By the time I woke up, all of the parades were over and the only thing going on were drunk people wandering around the French Quarter. I strolled the streets for a while, but nothing too exciting was going on so I just called it a night.
I woke up this morning and got a kind of early start to the day. I knew I was going to take extra time to get back because I was going to make a couple of stops. I am a big hot sauce fanatic, so I had to finally stop by the Tabasco factory to see how things are done. Honestly, the factory tour was only a video that I could have seen online and a walkway with a window into the bottling line. We didn't get to see any of the actual barrels being aged, or the peppers being brought in. The gift shop was nice with acceptable prices, so I bought a few things for my parents and myself. I also sampled a few interesting food items they had out to enjoy. The Jalepeno Ice Cream was really good, actually.
I then made a stop in Jennings at the Mission Store to meet Ugly Shyla and her mom and to check out their thrift store. I ended up with a few items that they refused to let me pay for! Such sweet ladies, and I could tell everyone there was having fun. That's super awesome, in my opinion.
I made one more stop for some food in Vinton and then cruised back home with time to spare to do my live Talkin' Houston Wrasslin' LIVE podcast. It did not go well. First Skype crapped out on me. Then my mouse batteries died. Then my computer froze. Then I got on to my netbook and Blog Talk Radio was busy. When I did get in, they kept telling me that my passcode was incorrect even though I just copied and pasted it. I gave up and went to shoot the shit with the Wrestling Randomness guys, instead. With about 20 minutes left, we called back and and had no problems. If you go and listen, skip to that point and you'll hear almost no talk about anything that the show was supposed to be about. Ah, well.
I do believe that is the last time I attempt to do a live show on BTR. I appreciate the fact that it's a free service, but I'd rather do things a better way. I'll work it out later, but I have an idea of what I want to get done.
Alright, I'm going to get off of here and go to bed. Tomorrow I'm going to Dallas to hang out with my Uncle Harvey and Friday I'm going to Ft. Worth for the VCCW show. I'm coming back on Saturday for the IWE show and then Sunday I go back to work.
I took a ton of pictures, and I'll take a ton more. I'll post here once I have them uploaded.