mikeandtim

Louisiana, Bombs, and Counseling

Louisiana-
I went on a business trip to Louisiana last week. Among the highlights:
-Travelled with Rob Mathieu from our office. Amongst his best qualities is the ability to trade ridiculous stories with rednecks. He drove almost the entire way. Number of U-turns over 4 days: 38. Those that were my fault: 4. We drove from Houston to Lake Charles, to Shreveport, to Lafayette, to Baton Rouge, to New Orleans, and back. My level of frustration was amazing, as was Rob's ability to suck down a Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's in under 7 seconds.

-Upon entering the plant at CF Industries (south of Baton Rouge) we had to watch a plant safety video (fairly common) and then had our car searched. (Also common) In the back of the car, Rob and I each had large duffel bags, hanging clothes, and laptops. We also had miscellaneous electrical parts and systems per customer. Among these: a large stainless steel enclosure (approximate size 1.5 ft per side, cubic with a sloped top, hinged to open.) This enclosure has two things coming out of it. A controller and a large red light. (Which is big enough to look like a button) The guy searching our car looks under the hood, checks out the car, then goes around back. Of all of the things to look at he chooses my duffel bag. Amazing. Big steel enclosure with red button and controller- nothing. Not even a glance. If anything could look more like a bomb without actually being a bomb, this would be it.

-The French Quarter is smelly, but fun. But only fun for two nights, a third night would have sucked.

-LSU would be a cool place to go to school. Baton Rouge is a good town.

I have also decided to cave in and go to counseling. It has been a long time coming, and I've got to figure out how to reason with hating the place I live in, being undateable, and spiritual torture. And I mean all of that seriously. More to come...

posted by mikeandtim @ 8:41:00 AM