Heading to New Orleans

Ever since November 2004, I've been attending the international conference for Super Computing. I've traveled to Seattle, Tampa, Austin, Reno, Portland (OR), and now New Orleans. Each new trip is an adventure, and one in which I get an opportunity to taste the foods of the local fare. Exploring the variety of cultures in America is exciting as well, because they each have an underlying root - the United States.

My trip began as usual, hastily attempting to pack the variety of clothes, toiletries, medications, media tools, and additional items to help make my trip successful. Each time I travel for more than a few days, I find myself needing drinks, glucose supplements (candy), and foods. To accommodate these, I usually bring my own plastic ware so I am not having to take or abscond with hotel items that are needed. But this trip, as in any trip I take, I forgot the utensils. I did bring Koolaid packs with Splenda, and wired hookup devices so I could listen to my iPod from a TV or even a clock radio. The last has proven futile, the former timely.

The flight from Richmond to Charlotte was uneventful, except to note that the colors of the trees are more vivid than I could ever remember. And from the skies above, the view was breath taking. Of course, I debated about taking my camera on this trip and now wish I had brought it so I could have taken some shots from the sky to include in this post. Suffice it to say, the magenta, orange, and yellows made for an orange globe, not a green one in our neck of the woods.

The flight from Charlotte was uneventful as well, except to note that I had a 3 hour lay over in Charlotte. I didn't think about that when I made the arrangements, but it worked out for me because I was able to do some work. The interesting thing to me is that in the variety of places I've traveled almost no airport offers free wireless internet. Now, Charlotte (CLT) does and it is really a plus to get a connecting flight. It's a big airport, but with time to waste and a free internet connection, the time "flys".

In a recent discussion with someone I was told that New Orleans still suffers from Katrina; it smells like sewage. To me, it does not and I have a keen sense of smell. In fact, I was able to pick up the scent of donuts being eaten about 30 minutes prior, when greeting some colleagues here. What did strike me as rather odorous was the fact that everyone here seems to be smoking. I walked for 3 blocks last night behind a set of 5 young couples, where three of the men were smoking cigars. Now I'm not too opposed to it, but it was like walking behind a freight train spewing smoke and ash. I was covered with the stench and it was so thick I could taste it. Not to mention what others seemed to be smoking was akin to wacky weed. It made for a rather interesting night.

So New Orleans to me, in 14 years, has not changed. It's as loud as it ever has been, and the smells are the same. Cajun cooking abounds, tobacco products are used extensively, and the city seems to be the same unethical place it always has been.