We had a "good-bye" lunch with our friends Ken and Voltaire this afternoon at their place. Voltaire started it off with a very nice martini for me just the way I like it - up with the vermouth bottle waved over the glass. Ken made a fabulous meal that was very healthy and took into consideration D's allergies to gluten and lactose. Sliced mango, pineapple, and persimmon for dessert. Coffee and candied coffee beans afterwards. My first persimmon ever. What can I say, I grew up in Texas.

Our post-prandial conversation wondered all over the place - racism in NO, homelessness in SF, the poor road conditions in NO, economic development in NO, Mardi Gras, what I planned to do after Tulane, etc. I made the observation that neither the homeless problem in SF nor the economic issues in NO would be solved in either city until someone showed some leadership. In SF, the city handles homelessness by outsourcing all of the 'services'. Throwing $200MM towards a problem and letting someone else get their hands dirty is easy, but no resolution will occur until the city takes ownership of the problem. NO isn't going to get real economic development going until the city, parish, and state stop trying to solve the problem by giving money to losing businesses to move there. Luring lousy businesses to a place with a lousy infrastructure doesn't yield true economic development. Fix the streets, fix the schools, fix the infrastructure, and businesses will start, grow, and flourish in NO.

D said I'm going to be a very frustrated person in NO if I thought anything was going to change there. Is that true? Is NO destined to continue to be a mediocre place that knows how to have fun? Is that OK? Should I expect better? Or should I simply order another sazerac and enjoy?

It was a good martini Voltaire made.

It's back to the future in SF!

Today's SF Chronicle reports that SF office rents have fallen so far so fast that they're at 1985 levels. And worse, they're the same as Oakland's!!!

Who remembers 1985? I do, vaguely. D and I celebrated our first anniversary that year. In 1985's top 40, John Mellencamp was John Cougar Mellencamp and I wanted to take on a-ha. The hot gay bar in Houston was JR's and the oil bust hadn't happened.

Ah, good times.

The best thing about getting home? Getting my baby out of the kennel.

So we're back in SF. Had an uneventful trip from NO to SF aside from a few bumps along the way. As an appropriate end to our New Orleans sojourn, I saw New Orleans' mayor Marc Morial get off the plane we were to take to Houston for our connection to SF. He looked quite snazzy in his two-tone dress shirt as he held his jacket over his shoulder. He was returning from Mexico after pleading with them NOT to close their NO consulate, which was the first they'd opened as an independent country (ca. 1826). He got home in time to sell out the interests of LA taxpayers in the name of bringing a losing basketball team (the Charlotte Hornets) to NOLA.

I don't know why I care so much, but after having my Miata hammered by the poor NOLA streets, I wish they'd paid as much attention to fixing the streets as they do to pursuing money-losing business propositions. Then again, maybe the street conditions are a plot by Ford to get folks to buy Lincoln Town Cars - you need that kind of ride to not notice how bad the streets are...

BTW, am I the only one who thinks the New Orleans Time-Picayune's site is gawdawful?

I also got to see Meteor Crater as we flew over Arizona - an amazing sight. Reminded me of that Beau (or was it Jeff?) Bridges movie about an alien who meets the mother ship at Meteor Crater.

We now spend the next four days preparing for our move to NO. A few fond farewells, maybe a few photos, a sidetrip or two, and then we're off.

I'm finished with school until February 1. I had my macroeconomics final Saturday and turned in a paper for my other class. I'm 8% of the way towards completing my MBA!

Best news of all is that we've rented an apartment. We're Uptown gals! We got a nice place 1/2 block from the streetcar line so we're going to be real popular when the Mardi Gras parades start. If nothing else, we'll be everyone's favorite pit stop... Thank God the parades start on St. Charles a week after we move in.

But let me tell you, it wasn't easy finding a decent place in the Big Easy. Bette Davis' line "What a dump" must have been written after looking for an apartment in New Orleans. A/C wreckage in the living room, red kitchen counter tops, and wacky room layouts were some of the things we encountered.

Some random thoughts during the few non-school days I've been able to spend in New Orleans:

• Fall colors arrive in New Orleans in January.


• There were NO low-fat or non-fat chips at the local Sav-A-Center, the local equivalent of Safeway.


• Asking a classmate to order me a turkey burger from a local burger joint caused everyone to laugh and say, "You're in New Orleans now!" So I got a chicken sandwich, dressed.


• Jack-in-the-Box has just started opening stores in Louisiana.


• My Brooks Brothers bill was addressed to Maryetairie, LA. It should have been Metairie, but how did they know its true nature?


• The streets are awful! My poor Miata is getting hammered!!!!

Tonight I have dinner at Cafe Rani with my Tulane teammates.