Shiny Pink Button

Someone lost a shiny pink button in the parking garage attached to my office building.  Everyday as I walked from my car to the building, I would see this button.  For some reason, it always made me smile.

The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a novel that was recently made into a movie.  The movie held up quite well and was fairly faithful to the book.  At the end of the movie, the audience spontaneously erupted into applause.

What's Making Me Happy Today

Happiness is getting home early enough to be able to pick up my cat during that small window when the staff comes to feed the animals.

Galatoire's Bistro

A Galatoire's Bistro recently opened in Baton Rouge.  The menu selection is quite good and comparable to the menu at their former Baton Rouge location.  The food is delicious.  There are still some bugs to work out, however.  I tried out the Sunday brunch.  My dining companion wanted a side of bacon with his crabmeat and asparagus omelet.  This seemed like an easy enough request.  When his food came, however, the bacon was served INSIDE the omelet.  The waiter seemed not to understand why this was not the original order.

The restaurant is small and the acoustics are not ideal.  The main dining room is a tad noisy.

The quality of the food and the attention of the waitstaff, however, makes up for these deficiencies.

The Donut Hole

So Tony Hayward finally gets his life back!

The buzz at the donut hole revolved around the ouster of BP's CEO, Tony Hayward.  He is finally being removed from overseeing the Gulf oilspill clean-up and is being sent to Siberia.  Is that still the terrifying wasteland where political dissentients were sent?  What took the company so long to actually remove Mr. Hayward?  He doesn't actually step-down from BP until October to allow for a smooth transition, and he is getting a huge golden parachute, but still, under his leadership, the company has suffered a horrible public image.  Not that it isn't deserved.  After all, the Gulf of Mexico has suffered a severe ecological disaster.

Although oil may not be visible on many of the Gulf Coast beaches, ultraviolet light shows its presence.  The water has a different feel to it as well.  Where small fish were abundantly found near the shore, there are fewer and fewer of this this summer.

When will those living along the Gulf and making a living along the Gulf get their lives back?

The Dancing Iguana

Do people speaking on their mobile phones in public realize that they are in public, or are they trying to impress those around them by their ignorance?

A woman, obviously a tourist, was speaking very loudly on her phone, bragging about how she had seen tar balls on the beach in Pensacola, Florida.  She lamented the fact that the tar balls were only 1-2 inches in diameter and wondered why everyone was so up in arms about their appearance on the beaches.  She noted that the beaches were quite deserted, with only clean-up crews around to pick up these "little balls of tar."

Does she not understand the consequences of the presence of these "tiny" tar balls on some of the most beautiful beaches of the Gulf Coast?  Does she not realized that the BP oil spill, the cause of these tar balls has caused irreparable damage to the entire Gulf of Mexico?  That the fishing and shrimp industry has been damaged, that the migratory birds have had their habitats destroyed?

The tar balls on the beaches are serious, not something that tourists should be gloating over.

Whippany (New Jersey) Diner

Who is Fat Allen?

The young girls sitting in the booth next to us were wondering who this "Fat Allen" person was.  They kept hearing this name on the news, but couldn't figure out who he was.  Apparently, they weren't listening to the full news stories to realize that the "Fat Allen" in question is actually "Thad Allen", the retired Coast Guard Commander who is the Government's pointman on the Gulf oil spill clean-up.