Pictures from New Orleans

It occurred to me that I visited New Orleans over six weeks ago but never wrote anything about it. Better late than never, I suppose.

Anyway, last month's visit was my fourth trip to the Crescent City since it was flooded by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Every time I go back I see that the city is indeed recovering, however slowly: more businesses are open, more tourists are exploring the French Quarter, more houses are occupied and fewer FEMA trailers are seen in front yards or in parking lots. This isn't to say that the city has completely recovered, of course; as of a year ago it was still slightly less than half of its 2000 size in terms of population and evidence of the hurricane's devastation is still not very difficult to find.


But I wasn't there to painstakingly evaluate the city's on-going recovery; I was there to have a good time with my family. Given the trauma and stress of the previous weeks, a few days of taking it easy in the Big Easy was a good idea for everyone. So after attending a conference in Chicago, I flew down to join my mom, dad, wife, son, brother and brother-in-law for a short vacation.

My brother-in-law Danny had never been to New Orleans before, and my brother David hadn't been there since he was a small child. It didn't take them very long to get acquianted with the French Quarter and its many bars and restaurants. Because my parents' timeshare is close to the French Quarter, in fact, we spent most of our time there. Due to its architecture, its ecclectic mix of uses and its history, the Vieux Carre really is one of the nicest neighborhoods in the United States. Even in the pouring rain.Vacationing in New Orleans with small children presents some dilemmas, since there are some parts of the city that are decidedly not kid-friendly. Bourbon Street is an obvious example. One evening all of us went to a restaurant on said street for dinner; I guess we were too hungry to give much thought as to whether it would be appropriate for Kirby. The restaurant turned out to be fine, but as we finished our meal, took Kirby outside through the raucous and drunken Bourbon Street hordes, and returned to our timeshare, Lori couldn't help but comment that she felt like a bad parent for exposing her innocent toddler to the depravity and debauchery that is Bourbon Street. The following evening, however, I found myself back on Bourbon Street with David and Danny, and as we walked down the street I overheard another woman, her small child in hand, say exactly the same thing. So I've come to the conclusion that a lot of small children have been exposed to Bourbon Street at night, and that it probably isn't a big deal as long as it is limited.

To be honest, David, Danny and I liked the bars right off Bourbon Street better than the ones on the street itself. They were smaller, quieter, more friendly and the drinks were maybe a little cheaper, too. They were neighborhood-type bars, as opposed to the tourist-oriented bars on Bourbon Street itself. Pat O'Briens is overrated.

Like any good visitor to New Orleans, we spent as much time eating as we did drinking. I finally got to eat at Tujague's on Decatur Street, which was so good I'm already looking forward to eating there again the next time I visit the city. Mothers, at the corner of Poydras and Tchapitoulas, used to be one of our favorite restaurants, but they've jacked their prices up so much since Katrina that we don't eat there that often anymore. Cafe Maspero on Decatur is just as good and less expensive, but I could do without their "we have to keep it real so we don't take credit cards" policy. Cafe du Monde is overrated.

Service on the historic St. Charles streetcar line had been restored as far as Carrollton when we visited. Shortly after we left the remaining portion of the streetcar's route was put back into service. The St. Charles streetcar now fully operational, almost three years after Katrina. Until the red replica streetcars that were used on the Riverfront and Canal lines and which were flooded by Katrina are completely repaired, the olive green Perleys are operating along the entire rail network. Pretty good for vehicles manufactured back in 1923. Kirby called the streetcars "trains." At his age, everything that rides on rails is a "train." He enjoyed riding them, while I enjoyed looking at the stately homes lining St. Charles Avenue. A couple of men sat on the front porch of this house, watching the cars, joggers, bicyclists and streetcars ply up and down the boulevard: Lori wanted to take a "real" swamp tour, so I went along with her. We drove several miles south of New Orleans to the Intracoastal Waterway and got in an airboat with several other people and a local guide with a rather thick local accent. Lori and I struggled to understand him, so we have no idea if the two people from England who were part of our tour understood anything he said at all. Not that it mattered; the beauty of the Louisiana swamp spoke for itself:
Our guide took us to a lake where some "friends" of his lived. One them climbed up the side of the boat to say hello, causing many people on the boat to scream.Alligators like marshmallows, by the way. They are white, which makes them easy for the noctournally-sighted reptile to see, and they float on top of the water, which makes them easy to approach and eat. Whether marshmallows are actually good for alligators is, of course, a different story.

Aside from the re-opening of the last portion of the St. Charles streetcar line, we also missed the grand opening of the Audubon Insectarium by one week. Since it was on the French Quarter side of Canal Street in the old US Customs House, we passed by it everyday. It looked interesting through the windows and we thought that it might have been something Kirby would enjoy. Maybe next year.

The last day we were there we took a paddlewheel cruise down the Mississippi River. Traveling down the Mississippi, and seeing all the wharves, ships, industries and in action, reinforces the concept that New Orleans, as the port at the mouth of the Mississippi River, is absolutely crucial to the economy of the United States of America. Hurricanes or no, the existence of New Orleans is not negotiable. Yet, even as it struggles to recover from Hurricane Katrina, it continues to face threats: wetlands erosion, old and unsafe levees, and indifferent or even hostile national attitudes towards its recovery and well-being. That is indeed unfortunate, because for all its problems, it really is one of the most vital and unique cities in the country, if not the world.

Yes, New Orleans, you are beautiful.

Adventures in abysmal customer service

Samuraisam has a fascinating account of how it took Etisalat, the telecom monopoly here in Dubai, 43 days to upgrade his internet connection.

It's a very long post, but worth the read if you have time.

Halfway through rotation four

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. We're facing a critical project deadline this Thursday so I've been pretty busy here at work.

I think the fact that I've spent the better part of the last four months here in Dubai is beginning to take its toll. It's gotten to the point that I'm really looking forward to returning to Houston next week, and I'm really wishing my return here in August for my fifth rotation would somehow get canceled.

It's not that I don't like Dubai. Anybody who knows me knows how much I enjoy this city. But being not-quite-halfway around the world from home, and away from your family, for weeks at a time is not fun. It is stressful. Especially when your wife just lost her mother and you can't be there to support her.

Work is beginning to grate on me as well. I'll never get used to the way business is conducted in the Persian Gulf: schedules constantly change, client demands that would be immediately dismissed as unreasonable or infeasible in the United States are routinely granted here, companies tend to take on more work than they can handle and the resulting office culture is one that is chaotic and last-minute in nature. I'm not feeling very good about the deliverable we're submitting on Thursday, in fact, because I don't think we've been given enough time or resources to do it properly.

But it's my transportation situation here in Dubai that is really annoying me. Being dependent on taxis to get around town is not fun; it means that getting to and from work every day is a real adventure. Waiting in the hot sun for a taxi, dealing with asshole cab drivers who don't want to take me from my hotel to my office because the distance is too short to be worth their while, taxis that don't show up even after I've called for them, drivers who are too distracted to safely transport me, drivers whose body odor is pungent enough to kill small animals and drivers who don't know their way around town are all routine Dubai taxi hassles. And don't even think about getting a cab during the morning and afternoon peak; it's gotten to the point that I stay at the office until at least 8 in the evening because I know that there's no way I'll find a cab before then.

But, other than the crowded, slow and infrequent bus route that goes from my office to someplace near my hotel (and yes, I've ridden it before), taxis are my only realistic transportation option. I absolutely refuse to rent a car: I'm not going to try to drive in the utter chaos that is Dubai traffic, and there's really no place for me to park it at work anyway. And I don't want to walk: I've done it a few times before but it takes over an hour to get from my office to my hotel on foot, pedestrian safety is not a high priority here, and the heat makes long walks uncomfortable, even in the evening. There are hotels within much shorter walking distance of my office, but they're unfortunately out of our project budget's price range. Which means I'm stuck with taxis.

I really shouldn't complain too much; I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to come over here and help out on this project. But I think I've just about had my fill. I'm really looking forward to this project being completed and me returning home for good.

Budweiser is not real beer

Belgian brewer InBev SA has purchased American brewer Anheuser-Busch for a cool $52 billion, and some people are upset about the loss of a piece of Americana to foreign interests.

I, on the other hand, think this is a good deal. Because now, under European guidance, maybe Anheuser-Busch will quit brewing that disgusting swill known as Budweiser and start brewing real beer.

Seriously. Budweiser is not real beer. Real beer does not have rice in it. Real beer also has actual taste, something Budweiser lacks.

It's not just Budweiser that falls into this "not real beer" category, either. Most mass-produced and mass-marketed American brews - Miller Lite and Coors, for example - have the same problem: they aren't real beers and they taste like shit.

It's not that Americans cannot brew real beer. Samuel Adams, Yeungling, Abita Turbodog and even Shiner Bock are good examples of real beer that tastes good. It's just that way too many Americans simply don't know any better: they've been tricked into thinking that crap like Budweiser is actually real beer, even though it is not.

Fortunately, the Belgians have been brewing beer for far longer than the United States has existed. They know what real beer is. Hopefully, they'll use their takeover of Anheuser-Busch to educate the American people about real beer, and in the process do away with the flavorless horsepiss that is Budweiser.

Houston-based ExpressJet ends self-branded service

Take a good look at the airplane in the picture below, after September 2nd, you won't see it anymore. Houston-based regional carrier ExpressJet is pulling the plug on its self-branded service.Until 2002, ExpressJet was a Continental Airlines subsidiary known as Continental Express. Even after becoming an independent company, it continued to operate regional services for Continental Airlines under the Continental Express brand. Its stand-alone service was an idea borne out of neccessity after Continental reduced ExpressJet's role as a Continental Express operator in 2005; faced with the prospect of idling a quarter of its fleet and laying off hundreds of crew, ExpressJet decided to enter the airline market under its own name.

It made intuitive sense: using smaller-capacity Embraer regional jets, ExpressJet would operate nonstop service between city pairs that were not economical to be served by mainlane carriers with larger aircraft; for example: Austin - Tucson, Kansas City - Jacksonville, Albequerque - Oklahoma City, Sacramento - San Antonio, or LA/Ontario - Omaha. ExpressJet's branded service allowed travelers flying between these two cities a one-seat ride, without the hassles of transferring through a larger carrier's hub-and-spoke network. Service began in 2007.

Operating in a nache market, however, had is perils. On some city pairs, there were barely enough passengers to make the service worthwhile. Some cities, such as Corpus Christi, proved to be unprofitable to serve even with the smaller ERJs. On other city pairs, however, the opposite problem occured: ExpressJet's service between New Orleans and Birmingham was very successful and caught the attention of Southwest Airlines. Southwest then began operating its own New Orleans - Birmingham service, forcing ExpressJet to drop that route. Ultimately, however, the same rising fuel costs that have hammered the airline industry as a whole forced ExpressJet to cancel its year-and-a-half-long stint as its own airline.

Several cities will feel the effect of ExpressJet's shutdown. New Orleans, San Diego, Sacramento and LA/Ontario were airports with a significant ExpressJet presence, offering nonstop service to several destinations that no other carrier could match. "ExpressJet offered twice as many nonstop routes than any other airline operating from Ontario," the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. "Once the airline departs for good, travelers through Ontario Airport should expect more of what they used to experience -- a stop or two."

In addition to its stand-alone service, ExpressJet is also ending its contract as a regional carrier for Delta. ExpressJet will continue to operate as a regional carrier for Continental Airlines and will continue to operate a charter service.

An acquaintance of mine works for ExpressJet as a dispatcher. I hope his job isn't affected by this service cut.

What do New Orleans and Denton have in common?

According to the US Census Bureau, New Olreans and Denton are two of the top ten fastest-growing large cities in the United States. New Orleans, which continues to repopulate following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, grew by 13.8% in the year that ended July 1, 2007, making it the fastest-growing large city in the United States. As of a year ago, the Census Bureau estimated the Big Easy's population at 239,124. It is doubtlessly even larger today, but is still nowhere near its 2000 population of 484,674.

Denton was the tenth-fastest-growing large city in the United States. The Census Bureau estimated its one-year growth rate at 4.7%, with a population of 115,506 as of July 1st of last year. The fact that Denton has been growing so rapidly (it crossed the 90,000 threshold in 2000, when I worked and lived there) is not a surprise to me; the fact that Denton is considered a "large city" by the Census Bureau is, on the other hand, a bit of a surprise. And Denton wasn't even the fastest-growing city in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for the year ending July 1, 2007, either: McKinney, next door in Collin County, had a growth rate of eight percent, making it the third-fastest growing large city in the nation.

And here's another interesting tidbit from the Census Bureau:

In terms of sheer numbers, Houston led the nation's cities in numerical increase during the period. Houston added 38,932 residents in the year ended July 1, 2007 to reach 2.2 million.

In spite of that, Houston might not be the nation's fourth-largest city when the 2010 census is taken. The Census Bureau estimates that Houston is currently tied with Phoenix, Arizona at the number four position with 1.6 million inhabitants each.

New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are still the first, second and third-largest municipalities in the United States, respectively.

Well, at least it waited until I got back to Houston

The hard drive on my work laptop crashed yesterday. One minute, I'm happily working away. The next minute, I hear a screechy grinding noise and my computer freezes up. Great!

Luckily, my company's IT folks were able to install a new hard drive, and I'm back in business. I'm also fortunate in that I was fairly good about backing up all my local files onto my company's servers, so I haven't lost anything that was absolutely critical to my work (although, to be sure, I have lost a few files I would have liked to have kept). The worst thing is that it's been a real productivity-killer for me at a time when I have a lot of work to do. Reconfiguring preferences, mapping to servers, connecting to printers and transferring files back to my local drive is a time-consuming pain in the ass.

I kind of wish they would have just given me a completely new laptop. Alas, no such luck.

Greetings from Dubai International Airport

I don't know what's slower: this airport's wireless internet connection or the drink service at this bar.

Anyway, my flight boards shortly, and I'll be on my way back to Houston. Via Atlanta, of course. It turns out that the nonstop service on Emirates is booked solid through the end of the summer.

I'm looking forward to seeing fireworks with Kirby tomorrow night. Not that I'll be jetlagged or anything...

Is Oklahoma City a major league town?

I guess it is now.

Meh. I never liked the Supersonics anyway.

Obama versus McCain... In Dubai?

The Washington Post's David Ignatius unveils an interesting, if not far-fetched, idea apparently making the rounds in the royal palaces here: why not invite Barack Obama and John McCain to hold one of this fall's presidential debates in Dubai?

The idea for this debate emerged in conversations and e-mails over the past week with officials in Dubai. It appears to have the unofficial blessing of Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid, the emirate's ruler. Dubai's leaders "realize the importance of such an idea and are ready to receive the candidates and organize the event," one senior official told me.

There is, of course, no chance that it would actually happen. I'm not aware of any case where presidential candidates for any country any have held a debate outside of their home nation, American voters (most of whom, sadly, can't even find Dubai on a world map) would likely find such a spectacle confusing and off-putting, and the logistics with arranging such an event - travel, security, media set-up, not to mention the time difference - are overwhelming. But I do think it is a novel and even worthy idea. What better place than Dubai, after all, to discuss crucial regional issues such as America's future in Iraq, its relationship with Iran, the fight against terrorism or its dependence on Middle Eastern petroleum? Ignatius thinks it's a good idea, too:

I hope that McCain and Obama will think seriously about these unofficial feelers from Dubai. The Middle East is a mess, sad to say, and dealing with the problems of that part of the world will be job one for the next president. We Americans like to talk about the miracle of our democracy, but putting that democratic process on the road would make it real for billions of people.

I especially like the idea of Iranians watching on satellite TV as Obama and McCain debate the future a few miles away across the Gulf. Now that would be good political theater.

(hat tip: UAE Community Blog)