Geoff began planning the New Orleans trip in July. The TCU football team opened its season there against Tulane on Labor Day. And we were there to experience it.

Billy, Matt, Heath, Ben, Geoff, and Kelly in the hotel room

The usual suspects signed up early with Geoff: Scott, Jose, Kelly, Dietz, Nathan, and as school began, our group slowly grew. Also on the trip were Ben, Matt Loo, Billy, Happy Matt, Heath, Amber, Heather, and Beth. The drive to the Big Easy is longer than I thought (8 hours), and I thankfully didn’t have to experience it. Due to a weekend at Worth Ranch, I was unable to get back early enough to make the drive. I chose the easy option: flying. I took a midday flight from DFW to MSY and met Jose at the airport. He flew from Corpus Christi, where he attended a family reunion. We traded plane stories upon arrival. His:

“So I get on the plane from Houston to New Orleans, and guess who I see. Meredith Alonso! I was like, what are you doing? Going to the game? She was, so I sat next to her for the flight.”“I’m on the plane going from Houston to Corpus on Friday night. This really hot girl gets on the plane, and she sits next to me. I ask her what she’s doing this weekend, and she said, ‘I’m going to a family reunion.’ I said no way, so am I. That’s kind of weird. And I ask her what family. She says ‘Marroquin.’ And I say, wow, me too. That’s odd. I guess I won’t be getting your number.”They were funny stories, but not nearly as cool as mine. I’m on my way to the TCU game, so I figure my flight would include a few alumni. It didn’t turn out that way. Rather, I was on the same plane as Chancellor Victor Boschini and his wife. Naturally, I took this opportunity to introduce myself and have a good conversation with him. He knows Ruben (my summer boss) very well, and was familiar with the website project I worked on. He also had kind words to say about Eric, Andrew, and Blake (the Odessa guys, where he ate dinner this summer). So of course, Vic and I are old buds now.Jose and I took a shuttle downtown and were able to check into our spacious hotel room at the Parc St. Charles. After that, we HAD to see the casino. We only had about an hour before the road crew got in, so there wasn’t enough time to gamble. But Harrah’s was truly amazing, and I was certain that I’d see more of it later.For dinner, the senior members of the trip went to Bourbon Street. They included Jose, Happy Matt, Nathan, Dietz, and I. Coincidentally, Labor Day weekend is also “Southern Decadence 2003” in the French Quarter. Southern Decadence is a gay festival, so the surroundings were noticeably…gay. We chose a very straight bar for dinner, where the guys were actually dancing with girls. The bar – Howl at the Moon. It’s a piano bar, and we were sold when the pianist started playing some Journey. Happy hour specials, Mellencamp tunes, and nachos made it a swell time (photo at left).Take a good look at the photo on the left, by the way. It's Louisiana, so two flavors of Tabasco go on EVERY TABLE. What a state.Later that night, it was time to visit the casino. We got to Harrah’s at 12:30, and Scott and I sat down at a Texas Hold’em table right away. At first, we were in over our heads. But as I slowly learned the table and the players’ tendencies, I began to win. By the time I left, I cashed out for $250. I would have taken some pictures with my chips, but I think it would be frowned upon. Jose cashed out at a lot more than me, like $500. But he played for about 8 hours, as opposed to my 4 hours. And he bought a 64oz beer to celebrate.

On Monday, we went to lunch at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. The menu was typical Buffet, with margaritas and cheeseburgers in paradise. Jose and Happy Matt went back to Harrah’s, but I decided to go out on top and not develop a gambling addiction.

There were other things to do around New Orleans. Some of the guys visited the docks on the Mississippi River, with a far-off, Huck Finn look in their eyes. One day you'll work on a REAL riverboat, Nathan! Oh yeah, we also ran across some sort of oil emitting from the river. It looked like a pipe had broken, and all that delicious oil was spilling into the river. Ah, America. We're so resourceful.The fountain next to the aquarium was just begging us to run through it...so we did.

Gametime was 6:00. Itwas a lot of fun. There weren’t many students there, probably because there was class the next day. But we represented – Kelly, Scott, Heath, Billy, and I spelled out FROGS on our chests. Thanks to Joe Anton’s company, three of our guys were outfitted in Halloween costumes: Matt Loo as Wolverine, Geoff as Spiderman, and Dietz as a pirate. Unfortunately, all our efforts didn’t merit a lot of TV time. The team withstood a fourth quarter rally by Tulane to win 38-35.

Spiderman (Geoff), Ben, Happy Matt, a pirate (Dietz), and Wolverine (Matt Loo)

Chancellor Boschini and I, at the game

The game was over about 11, and we began our trek home. We went in four cars, driven by Scott, Matt, Heather, and Ben. I was in Scott’s car with Jose, Dietz, and Nathan. Dietz drove a good portion of the night, since he has extensive experience with long drives (coming from Wisconsin to Texas). Dietz had to deal with a monsoon and the evil Nabisco truck, as he called it. I slept for most of the night, first in the far back seat, then in the middle row, which wasn’t as comfortable.At 6am, we were on the east side of Dallas, about 5 miles from the 635 merge. Scott is fielding calls from his mom and from Whitney, who’s at the radio station without anyone to train her. Geoff calls, telling us that Ben has run out of gas. His idea is for us to turn around and take them home, worrying about Ben’s car later. A better plan that Dietz came up with was to get a can of gas to get him to a station for a full tank.

At 6am, things are pretty darn funny, especially Dietz’s bit on Ben, now dubbed “Captain Run-of-Out-Gas.” We had all sorts of ideas, like attaching a towel to the gas can, lighting it, and tossing the can from our window, Molotov cocktail style. Now that I’m fully rested, the whole thing didn’t seem as funny.

I probably got the most sleep of anyone, one, because I didn’t drive, and two, I had the latest start time of classes, at 11. Although I heard some people skipped class and slept instead.

A little too close for comfort...

So that’s the New Orleans story. Jose has already asked me when we’re going to “go to work” again, meaning we need to get back to a casino and make some money. I foresee a visit to “the office” at least once this semester…