is a collection of daily posts that peruses all aspects of life. Most of the focus is on environmental sustainability, the island nation of Dominica, Baton Rouge, LA, and the random things that is life.
Using the guiding principal of living everyday to the fullest, this blog will hopefully entice you to come back for your 'Daily Dose'
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!
Yes, Roy, they did do that to you! I know of late that the posts have sort of gotten off of the ole environ topic of late, but its because I've been busy purchasing a car and getting caught up in KU's run into the Final Four. Last night, headed over to K&A Wags and caused a ruckus, but in all of the yelling, stomping, and pacing KU held off the late charge by the Tar Heels to earn a trip to their first title game since 2003. Hopefully we will be saying Rock Chalk Jayhawk at the end, instead of Rock 'Choke' Jayhawk as the critics like to say. But we beat Roy, so my beef with him is done...Enjoy your Sunday!
Saturday is the Big Day...KU -vs- North Carolina. I have since found out that RAC and Kwags which is the K in K&A Wags are traitors. We can even throw my mom into the mix. What is this craziness I speak of? They all have UCLA beating KANSAS in the championship game of their brackets. If they happen to beat North Carolina this weekend and then play UCLA in the championship game and then loose. All friendship is off. It should make for some interesting tension in the office over the next couple of days. I'm just teasing, but how can you vote against my boys? haha
Parrains is a Star My friend Sigle was back in town for the night on his way around the south selling college apparel. He said he wanted to try some authentic sea food and what better place to do it than in "The Rouge." I suggested Parrains, knowing that he would not be disappointed. If you do happen to stop by, be sure to try out the fried alligator and the list of sea food options is pretty good, you will not be dissapointed.
Afterwards we headed down to Red Star bar for a few drinks and call it a night. Wednesday nights are Karaoke night and have "the champagne" of beers on tap for free till 10 (Miller High Life). Red Star will also be hosting the upcoming Yuri's Night party for "The Rouge."
Yuri's Night, April 12th, celebrates the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin in 1961 and the first launch of the space shuttle 20 years later. It is a world wide party to celebrate space and the exploration of space. "The Rouge's" party will be a celebration of the artistic expression of space by local artists as well local music. If you're around, be sure to check it out. Details can be found here. Cheers!
Get your PAAS off my Eggs! Yes, I know that Easter has come and gone. I successfully found all of those eggs that my parents had hid in my apartment, but its just not 'Easter' without dying some eggs. Its been a family tradition for as long as I can remember and it is something that RAC and I have done for the past two Easters. We wanted to continue that tradition, albeit a tad bit late, but nonetheless we did get to dye.
The results were not bad, but in my cheapness I bought the PAAS egg dying kit that did not come with the 'magic' crayon in which you can write things and the dye does not stick. those that you see with the white lines were created using rubber bands. Makes for some interesting looks and I give credit to RAC for keeping me focused on the dying task at hand, because KU was playing this years NCAA Cinderella story, Davidson.
Four, the Final Four The game, Kansas -vs- Davidson was an ugly, frustrating game for 39 minutes and 59 seconds. Davidson took my team to the brink causing much angst and cursing throughout the game. In the end, Davidson struggled to get an open look and for the first time all four #1 seeds are in the Final four. KU will play North Carolina next Saturday, Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!!!!
First Test Drive Its that time in life in which I need to upgrade the car. The current baby is starting to nickle and dime me every now and then and I should move to something a little more reliable before I am stranded with an expensive hunk of metal.
My tastes are for somethingthat has good gas mileage small, somewhat sporty, and has a nice look. Features are not all that important, but , sunroof, and a manual are a must. These criteria, I have found, limits me drastically in the types of car that appeal to me and are within my price range. All of the cars in my top 5 list are European, which is sad. Our "Big 3" just make ugly small cars that look and (probably) feel cheap, something I do not want. The one car that is "American" on my list is the Saturn Astra, and its even made in Europe. Oh well, its a global economy out there anyway.
I have been walking car lots on Sundays to try and get a feel for what is available, price ranges, and overall physical look. You can only learn so much by doing research online. I have not, however, had the guts to go and test drive a new car. This whole process is new, uncharted territory, but you just got to do it. So today, I drove the Mini pictured above (autotrader.com) and had a blast. I was afraid the Mini would feel small, but it was a lot better ride than I had hoped. I'm hooked. Now, all I need to do is find the one I really want. Wish me luck. If you have a Mini for sale, let me know, I might just be interested!
Webb Struggles In NYC Last weekend was the United States 8k Championship that took place in New York City's Central Park. In the men's division, the race was stacked with the likes of Olympic hopefuls Alan Webb, Jorge Torres, and Andrew Carlson. It was supposed to be a battle between the distance guy (Torres) and the miler (Webb). Unfortunately Webb had to battle food poisoning and ended up finishing a dismal 15th.
This will come across as critical of someone with far superior talent than I have, but Webb always seems to come up short when the moment counts. Its hard to be the next mile/1500 superstar when you start at the age of 18, but when the moments of opportunity has arisen, Webb has run poorly. He is the American record holder in the mile (see pic), breaking Steve Scott's decades old record last year. He had the fastest time in the world going into the world championships in Oska, but ran a poor strategy in the finals and got blown out of the water, much like he did in Athens. I just hope that he will get some luck on his side and runs smart and helps end our drought of medals in the distance events this year in Beijing. That's my rant, stickin to it.
March Madness The Madness continued today in the second round of 'The' Tournament. Kansas is in the Sweet 16, again, after a closer than expected (in my opinion) game against UNLV. In the end, it wasn't much of a game, but with so many stops in play because of fouls, the 'Hawks just could not get into a rhythm. But a win is a win and now its a game against either Villanova or Siena (12 and 13 seeds) I feel the road to Elite 8 is a little easier...hopefully.
The real madness of the day was over in the game with Stanford against Marquette. All you really need to know is that the game went into overtime. Just watch the clip below to get the recap. Cheers!
MudBug Gold Happy Good Friday to all! Good Friday in Louisiana and "The Rouge" is one of, if not the biggest, day for crawfish boils. This Good Friday, the Cajun staple is in short supply. Faced with a trifecta of problems, an unusually early Easter, recent drastic temperature changes, and near tropical force winds that toppled traps earlier this week, supplies of live crawfish were in strong in demand, but light on supply.
Many seafood providers were sold out by early morning and many people were sent away empty handed. Hopefully crawfish farmers, faced with falling prices amid rising costs, made a happy little profit. Earlier this month, many crawfish farmers were making their voices heard as the price of wholesale crawfish has dropped from around $2 per pound to $1 or less. The Louisiana Crawfish Association agreed to try and limit supplies to prop up prices amid price fixing allegations by large seafood buyers.
The allegations state that over the past month, prices have dropped sharply across the state by the same amount on the same day, upsetting many farmers, who are struggling to make ends meet amid rising costs of production. Most farmers state that roughly $1 is invested for every pound of crawfish produced. Some small scale seafood operations are worried that the artificially low prices for crawfish will lead many farmers to dry up their ponds and convert them to grain, limiting future supplies of crawfish.
March Madness 'The' Tournament started yesterday with little fanfare in terms of big time shots or big time upsets. Today, now that is a different story. It started with Western Kentucky upsetting Drake with a buzzer beater three from the wing. The second was a game winning shot by San Diego to stun UCONN. Below is a recap of the two shots. No wonder March Madness is a "Billion Dollar Drain" on worker productivity...wait, we are the most overworked nation in the world anyways, right?
Arena Football Experience A few years back there was this horrible experiment here in America to have a summer professional level football league...the XFL. This was supposed to help hold over football fans till the NFL starts back up and also bridge the gap with those fans of 'professional' wrestling, like the WWF. Fortunately this "Xtreme," though the X officially did not stand extreme, league did not last more than one season, as it had dismal TV ratings and poor attendance.
There is a little known league that has been going steady now for 22 years and I think is the fix, or at least help hold over those who need some good football action: Arena Football. I attended my first game this weekend where the New Orleans Voodoo played the Tampa Bay Storm. I love the rules, the pace of the game and the high scoring that goes on. You realize that a 21 point lead is really nothing in this league and can evaporate in the matter of seconds! Tampa Bay committed 8 turnovers and the voodoo capitalized on many of these. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend catching a game. if your in New Orleans in July, Arena Bowl 22 comes to town. Good times
Big XII Champions and a #1 Seed While I was watching the Voodoo play this weekend, my other team of the day was playing in the Big XII tournament championship game against the Texas Longhorns. This match up is quickly becoming a great rivalry and from the recaps, this game did not disappoint either. KU hit a ridiculous amount of 3-pointers and had steady defense down the stretch to hold of the Longhorns and win their third consecutive Big XII Tournament title.
The win, in my opinion, helped lock KU into the Midwest regions #1 seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament, aka, March Madness! They open against Portland State, and I'm really hoping that Bucknel Bison Fever doesn't hit Portland State. I have no worries, just minor concerns! I just hope that they keep up their mojo long enough to make it to at least the Elite 8. If they make it that far, I hope there is a showdown in the Final Four versus UNC, sweet redemption could be had, oh what a day that would be! Cheers!
This weekend will be a crazy, family filled time in which the Daily Dose gets relegated to the bottom of the list of things to do. Not that I won't be constructing "daily" tidbits of goodness, but completed postings will be put on the backburner for the time being. So what does the weekend hold forth?
Another 5K Road Race
Arena Football Game: New Orleans Voodoo -vs- Tampa Bay Storm
That's about it, look forward to reading the weekend recap and get ready for some crazy basketball in the next couple of weeks. Office productivity will be decreasing at a steady pace the next couple of weeks, guess that means Kwags will have to pick up the slack for me! Have a great weekend! Cheers
Yes, Roy, they did do that to you! I know of late that the posts have sort of gotten off of the ole environ topic of late, but its because I've been busy purchasing a car and getting caught up in KU's run into the Final Four. Last night, headed over to K&A Wags and caused a ruckus, but in all of the yelling, stomping, and pacing KU held off the late charge by the Tar Heels to earn a trip to their first title game since 2003. Hopefully we will be saying Rock Chalk Jayhawk at the end, instead of Rock 'Choke' Jayhawk as the critics like to say. But we beat Roy, so my beef with him is done...Enjoy your Sunday!
