Rising Tide 8

I attended another Rising Tide this year and it has inspired me to blog more. The New Orleans blog sphere that rose up after Katrina has settled down with many of the people, myself included, blogging less or not at all. It's always nice to see the people I used to read almost daily. Plus the conference always has good content, a great lunch and refreshments.* A bargain at only $20 a ticket.

This year I spent most of my time in "Tech School" to brush up on my blogging and on-line presence. I learned some new stuff that I'm looking forward to trying. My friend Addie from Culicurious was on the second panel and did a great job. The biggest take away was just dooooo iiiiiit.

Gen. Honore, the keynote speaker, gave a rousing speech about Louisiana's disappearing wet lands, unfair and illegal practices by the oil companies, and the politicians who take money from oil companies and don't hold them accountable. He told us to work to change things, if not for ourselves, for our children, even if it meant engaging in civil disobedience. He was also quite funny but whenever his gaze came my way I felt the need to sit up straight and say "yes sir!"

There will be video of the conference soon, once it's been edited. Uptown Messenger live blogged some of the conference. I high recommend checking out the video once it's out. Video of past conference is available on the web site. I missed the tourism panel but I heard it got rather heated.

*Only in New Orleans is there a keg at a conference I bet.

K+5 and Rising Tide

Sunday will be the 5 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi. Wow. 5 years. All week there's been TV specials and articles devoted to the anniversary. Chris Rose wrote an article asking "What if Katrina Never Happened?" which is something I can't wrap my head around.

For book club we are reading two Katrina related books, City of Refuge by Tom Piazza and Nine Lives by Dan Baum. I'm halfway through City of Refuge. I loved Piazza's book Why New Orleans Matters but I'm just not connecting to City. I think it would be a very good book for someone who doesn't live in New Orleans to read. It's a novel but very true to life, following two families Katrina experiences. Their stories are ones we New Orleanians have heard many times. I have yet to start Nine Lives.

I have learned that rituals are a good thing to help get through a difficult anniversary. Every year to remember my mother's passing (August 23rd-I hate August), I cook a special meal while listening to some of her favorite music, then watch one of her favorite movies. The first year after Katrina, G and I didn't do anything special. We tried to pretend it was just another day, went to work, didn't go to any wreath layings or bell ringings, but it wasn't a normal day and it felt off. The 2 year mark we drank a bottle of wine we had picked up in Sonoma and was saving for a special occasion. Every year around this time is the Rising Tide Conference. To me it's a great way to mark the anniversary. I started blogging because of Katrina and have met a whole host of wonderful people after the storm through our blogs. I don't post as often and I have not been keeping up on others' blogs because of Facebook. I'm looking forward to the group FYYFF shout out.

The artwork is a revised design from the t-shirts I put on CafePress after Katrina. Occasionally someone still buys stuff. I had to do something to keep from going crazy.

Well I have quite the weekend ahead of me. Tonight's the Opening Reception for the Rising Tide IV "Bloggers" Conference. Got to love this year's theme "Sinking to New Heights." Looking forward to checking out the new and improved Avenue Pub. It's been a long time since I stepped foot in there.

The conference starts Saturday at 9 a.m. Ouch. I'm not really one who follows celebrities but I am very excited that Harry Shearer is going to be the keynote speaker. He's so talented, I hope I get a chance to meet him. It can be hard to get a word in with other bloggers (they can talk as much as they type) and I'm sure Harry will be the belle of the ball. The conference has been getting some press so it should be interesting to see what this year's turn is like.

That evening there will sure to be the post-party somewhere, but I'll be scooting off to go join my fellow FSU alumni at the Greater New Orleans Seminole Club inaugural meeting. Years ago there was a club but it became defunct. Thanks to the tireless Shrimp Po-Boy we again have a group. That's 7-10pm at Cafe Prytania, 3445 Prytania Ave, in case some fellow Seminole stumbles across this page.

Sunday marks 10 years since my mother passed away. In her memory I'm going to have a movie marathon of some of her favs. I already watched "Clue" (can't ever get enough of Tim Curry and a favorite board game of ours) and saw "Young Frankinstein" when I was in Albuquerque (Gene Wilder was on of her favs). First up will the "Blues Brothers," hands down her #1 fav movie followed by "Murder by Death" (she loved murder mysteries and had a great sense of humor). I have all of these on DVD. Another fav is "Ladyhawke" that I only have on VHS - it's kinds of a silly movie with a bizarre soundtrack by Alan Parson's Project, but has Rutger Hauer and Matthew Broderick so there you have it. And I should get a Dirty Harry but there's only so much sitting around I can do at one time so we'll see. Plus I'm going to make Hungarian stuffed cabbage and that can be time consuming. Hmm... maybe I can roll the cabbage rolls while watching one of the movies?

A new (new to me) sassy gal blogger: Rubypearl!

I loved this excerpt from a recent blog about things she does not like:

Old people who write checks in line in front of me. Get a Goddamn debit card! The technology is 20 years old, so it's about time for you to adopt it. You should be in a hurry, you don't have much time left, yet you choose to spend it crossing every t and dotting every I while I am DYING inside behind you.

Amen sister.

I've been sucked into the world of FaceBook (would that be called sucking face?). I got a MySpace page so I could read a friend's blog after Katrina (good excuse) and found a few other friends on there. But it's so clunky and lame. Other friends would tell me "Come over to Facebook. It's nicer over here." I resisted. I already have too much computer related stuff with my various blogs, trying to read everyone else's blogs, email, IM, etc. Friday was a slow day at work - I told all my clients I was going to JazzFest and then ended up not - so I spent several hours playing on Facebook. It is much nicer than MySpace. And I found a few friends I had lost touch with. I didn't really bother filling out all the "What are your interests/favorite movies/music" kind of stuff. A) there is too much good stuff to list, b) I'm lazy, c) I'm only allowing friends who know me see my page and they already know what I'm all about. One thing I could never answer was "Who are your heroes?" We all have heroes don't we? Someone we look up to. I guess I do but I never really thought about it. Well. I am happy to announce one of my heroes... Salty Miss Jill! I stumbled onto her blog and was impressed with her wit, cleverness and major snarkiness. I'd love to hear a conversation betwix her, Adrastros and Jeffery, with all their different styles of snark and kvetching.

The Police concert tapped into some memories that were old and musty. I poked around on Classmates.com this morning looking for former friends with little luck. Classmates was cool when it first came out, and it was free. Now, you have to buy a membership to post anything or see anything, and even though you're paying for the service, you get bombarded by ads! Next I pulled out my yearbooks from junior high. Oh boy... I remember us all thinking we were all that but we were just babies! So many people I haven't thought of in years. And some I thought "who IS that? I don't remember being friends with them." And some I'd rather not be reminded of. I am still in touch with some people from back then, as well as Tanya, my friend since 2nd grade. It is amazing how many people pass through our lives.

It was harder back then to be the world's biggest (insert band name here) fan. You have to work hard to find obscure recordings, magazine interviews and personal tidbits. "I didn't know that about Sting. But did you know Stewart..." Today with the Internet, you just go to the band's web site and/or Myspace page and viola! It's all there for you. I've been boning up on my Police trivia reading interviews on their website. I've been sucked in.

It's time I drag myself away for a while and think about other things. Next weekend Greg and I are going Milwaukee for a family reunion. I get to engulf him with my relatives for a change. I need to buy a new digital camera. I need to find cool thing to do while we are up there. Any suggestions? There's got to be a beer museum, yes? Eat German food is on the list. And visit the art museum. I need to do laundry and pack.

Today it's hot so I'm inside on the computer (duh!) and was playing catch up on some NOLA bloggers. I'd like to point your attention to Maitri's VatulBlog - she's has had some great posts lately. Especially some insightful comments on the whole "below sea level" issue-she's a geologist and knows her stuff and slams a recent editorial proclaiming New Orleans should not be rebuilt.

I'm still giddy from Police overload to really write anything meaningful. babble.