Three Down,

One to go.



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are my December shorts

December 9th, 70 degrees. I can't really wrap my head around that. I think we're supposed to lose it today, as a cold front moves in, but I went for a nice bikeride this morning along the Mississippi in my t-shirt and shorts. I've heard tell of blizzard conditions in Chicago, frozen lawns in Sacramento. Too bad, guys.

I do wish it would rain again here, though, so that the nearby middle school drumline would practice inside. You guys don't have that, I suppose. Even on a pretty day like this one, it sounds like a thunderstorm.

Cheers on the Wind

Too worked up about the fix in which the Saints found themselves, with less than 2:00 in the fourth quarter, I muted the TV and turned to an article which I was reading. But within a minute (real time, not football time), I heard distant cheers, and turned to the TV to see that the Saints had tied the game!

1:13 to go, Redskins' ball. I'm nervous again.

:43, 1st and 20.

Ah geez, a flag on the Saints.

:28 Interception Saints! More distant cheers.

:18 2nd and 20, Saints' ball.

:12 3rd and 5, on the 50 yard line. The idea is to get within field goal range.

:07 1st and 10, a field goal attempt from the 40 yard line. I guess they don't want to run out of time. What happens in football if it's tied at the end of regulation? I've never seen that before.

Oh, after a Washington timeout, Brees is back on the field.

Nothing doing, 2nd and 10, field goal attempt from the same distance.

Field goal short! Damn. Overtime.

A coin toss. Interesting note, for television's sake, they wrote on the heads side of the coin a large, red H. Redskins get the toss and the ball.

Turnover to the Saints. More cheers.

Field goal Saints! 33-30 in overtime. Lots more distant cheers. They're still going. So the Saints are still undefeated, with a 12-0 record, just like their counterparts in the other league, the Indianapolis Colts, who won earlier today.

As they say here in my new town, WHO DAT? [...say they gonna beat them Saints?]

Uh-Oh (Not Keeping Warm)

This game is not going so well. But while the rest of New Orleans expected to keep warm with a Saints victory today, the Saints themselves look like they're pretty cold in Maryland.

At least, if they lose, it's supposed to be 76 degrees on Tuesday!

Keeping Warm

I know, I know. It's been too long. But I finally have some things to say.

I'm sitting by the fire, in my study, keeping out the cold Southern winter. Am I kidding? Nope. It really is cold. I really am studying (or was, before I decided to blog). And there really is a fire. See, down here, there isn't too much call for heat, but there is some--I think today it's about as cold as it's going to get, and it's in the 40s. The northern side of Lake Pontchartrain is expecting a dusting of snow tonight, the same that Houston got yesterday. Whatever insulation my side of the lake gets from the Gulf is protecting us from that, but we'll get some kind of cold precipitation...right now, actually. The clouds must have heard me blogging.

Forty degrees Fahrenheit is no beach party, but it is no Northern winter either, and it won't last long. (The fifteen-day outlook says it will be 70 again soon!) So houses down here don't make a big deal about heat. The standard equipment is a small metal box that holds an adjustable gas flame (see this link for pictures). My apartment has three of these, one in each bedroom and one in the middle of the house, and that's plenty. I have been resisting lighting mine for several weeks, since my roommate told me (and I later discovered myself) that leaving these little gas burners on really dries out the air. At night, I have been huddled up with the two blankets I brought down with me. But on this occasion of nearby snow, I thought I'd better make sure my heater worked, and learn how to work it. It's burning away right now, heating the room just enough. (Though I suppose I would be my own Scrooge, I can't help thinking of Bob Cratchit's cell with its one coal.)

The whole town will be warmer on Sunday, when the Saints play for their twelfth straight victory. (That's football, for those of you who don't follow.) This is an exciting place to be this season, and maybe I'll write a little celebratory blog if the Saints (11-0) march over the Redskins (3-8) like they have every other team so far.

What's really exciting is to consider the possibility of a Saints superbowl. It would be nine days before Mardi Gras. This city might just explode.

The semester is coming to a grand finale this week, and I'll try to keep you apprised of it!