Daiquiri to go anyone??

Saturday night, Lewis, Jerome and myself went to Southpaw Daiquiris in Geismer for Jerome's brother in law's birthday. I got to meet a lot of Jerome's family members and I see now where he gets his Cajun flavor. There was a band and they played a lot of rock songs, including Van Halen.


The funniest thing was that just outside the main entrance was a TO GO parking spot. A TO GO parking spot for a daiquiri shop! Only in Louisiana.

Tennis Time

This evening Lewis and I went to Forest Park to play tennis and it was awesome. First of all, the weather was hot, but it was cloudy so the sun didn't beat down on us like it normally does.

Secondly, I won!! Lewis put up a good fight, but after two sets, we were both sweaty and breathing hard. There were a couple of other guys there and for our third set, we decided to switch partners and I lost to a guy named Tang 3-6 in the final set. It was lots of fun to play somebody new though and most of our games were pretty tight. I lost a couple of games where we were tied at deuce four and five times.

Looking forward to playing him again and doing much better.

Hurricane Dolly

News from MSN.com: BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Hurricane Dolly barreled into South Texas on Wednesday, lashing the coast with winds up to 100 mph and dumping heavy rain that flooded some low-lying areas, but sparing levees along the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley.

Now for my commentary. For those unaware of where Brownsville is, it is located on the southern most tip of Texas, on the border of Mexico and near the Gulf of Mexico. Port Isabel is about 20 miles north of Brownsville and on the Gulf of Mexico, and South Padre Island is connected to the mainland (Port Isabel) via a 3 mile causeway bridge.



Picture of the causeway that links South Padre Island to Port Isabel. The island had most of the residents evacuate in preparation for Hurricane Dolly.



I lived in Brownsville for about a year and half from in 2003 and 2004. While there, we went through Tropical Storm Emily and it was my first taste of severe weather in the United States. I can't imagine going through that with the Category 2 storm that Dolly became. I have been in contact with some friends down there and although everybody seems ok, they are still waiting for the storm to fully pass so they can see what the actual damage is.

A few years before I moved to Brownsville, there was severe flooding in the center that I worked. When I first moved there, you could still see the water lines that were about three feet high around the center, even though they had attempted to paint over it. Good luck everybody down there and take care.

Weekend Update

Last Friday, Stephanie and I went to see Mamma Mia. I had seen the stage show at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for my 31th birthday and loved it. So, I was super excited to see the movie when it came out. Meryl Streep and the cast did not disappoint, it was every bit a feel good movie as the play was. I sat there and tapped my feet and laughed and sung along a little under my breath. Stephanie was laughing at me because I was acting like such a goof.





Of course, the big movie event was Batman "The Dark Knight". I went to see that with Lewis, Jerome, and Kevin on Sunday night. I really liked the show, it was full of action and Heath Ledger as the Joker was great.


Then, on Monday night, I got to play volleyball with Lewis and Karl. They play in a league on Monday nights, but because I usually work when they are playing, I don't normally play with them. This time though, I had Monday off and they were short a player so Lewis called me and I went to play with them. We had a really good time, except for the fact that we lost all three games. SUCKS!!

I guess I can mention that we attempted to play tennis on Sunday as well, but we got rained out, so that didn't happen.

All in all, it was a nice weekend.

Casino Night

From L to R: Kevin, Lewis, Jerome, and myself put on our own Casino Night tonight. Of course, I had to be in charge of it, being that I am the Native American in the group. I can't tell you how many Indian jokes there were about me being the dealer for our casino night. We have done this a couple times this summer and it's always a ton of fun. We are learning games in the casino and my guess is that as we become well versed in each type of game, we will expand into different types of games, but tonight we played blackjack. I went to Target earlier this month and bought some poker chips and then ordered a blackjack felt table top from Amazon.com to complete the setting. Because Jerome and I are the most versed in actual trips to a casino, we took point in starting the games. We doled out $300 to each individual at the start of the night and made the provision that if we ran out of money, we had to deal (go to work) and after we finished dealing, we earned an additional $150. Jerome and I had about $500 towards the end of the night when we just started betting out of our heads.....I think the wine and beer we were drinking played a part in how brave we eventually became with our bets and of course on the last hand when we went for broke, we all lost (Kevin was the dealer). It was fun and we're starting to understand the game a lot more. We're starting to make plans to go to the real casinos and try out luck, but we may need a few more practice rounds.

Prior to playing blackjack, we peppered (volleyball) outside of the complex and had fun just hitting the ball around and relaxed this Saturday. After our little game, we headed to the pool at our complex to cool down, because of the hot, humid, Louisiana weather. It wasn't until after that, then we came into the house and started playing blackjack. It was lots of fun and I look forward to doing it again.

Tennis time at Forest Park

Over the weekend, I also got to play a little tennis with my friend Mike. We played at the Forest Park Tennis Center, which also has a gym and softball fields adjacent. Normally on Sundays, I will play volleyball at the gym at Forest Park and will get an updated post on that later. I beat Mike 6-2 during the one set that we played. It was fun and we should continue to play throughout the summer.

When we played last Summer, I think it took about two months before he finally took a game from me and prior to us playing, he stated his goal was to take one game from me. He got his wish and took two! Guess that means I need to rent the ball machine and spend a couple hours working on my shots.

Regardless of the score though, it was fun to play.

My Top 10 Places to eat in Baton Rouge

I am not known for being a finicky eater and although I could possibly subsist on nothing but McDonald’s or Ramen noodles, living in Baton Rouge has provided me the luxury of several delicious places to eat. Aside from the Southern cooking, there are lots of restaurants here that specialize in a variety of items that are not normally found in Utah. Here is a list of my favorites.

#10: Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits: Southerners know fried chicken and Popeye’s is one of the best fast food places to get it. I like the spicy version along with mashed potatoes and Cajun gravy. Other sides include Cajun rice, as well as red beans and rice, and biscuits.



#9: Jason’s Deli: With two locations on Siegen Lane and Citiplace, this place has the best sandwiches and a great mixed fruit side. I love the Turkey Royale, turkey, ham, and bacon all dressed on a buttery croissant! p.s. “dressed” means w/ tomatoes, lettuce, mayo.


#8: Voodoo BBQ & Grill: Pork pulled sandwiches and your choice of BBQ sauce at the table helps Voodoo BBQ & Grill cater to lots of different tastes.


#7: P.F. Chang’s: Located at Towne Center, this Chinese restaurant is a little on the pricy side, but has good calamari, spicy chicken (general tso’s), fried wontons, and brown rice. For a less pricy option, Oriental Pearl on Sherwood and Coursey is really good too.


#6: The Jambalaya Shoppe: Located on Government St. the Jambalaya Shoppe has great…..guess……go ahead guess…….come on……….that’s right………Jambalaya!! Also, they serve an awesome gumbo, red beans and rice side.


#5: Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro: My favorite dish here is the Jambalaya pasta followed by any kind of cheesecake they have. It seems there’s no limit to the types of cheesecake here, peanut butter, chocolate, strawberry, oreo, etc. The owner of this chain died earlier this year, but he has left his mark on the local cuisine.


#4: India Restaurant: It’s Stephanie’s fault that I like this restaurant, she took me there. Located on Essen Lane, India restaurant has some great Indian dishes like Tandori Chicken, chicken biryani, naan, and kabobs.

#3: Superior Grill: Margaritas are why people usually stop by Superior Grill, but they have the best chicken quesadillas in town. Fun atmosphere and good chips/salsa also are reasons to go to Superior Grill. I like the one on Government St. (it’s close to work).


#2: Fish City Grill: Located in the Perkins Rowe shopping center, Fish City Grill is new to Baton Rouge and I can’t stay away from their darn fish tacos. I had never had a fish taco in my life, but these are awesome. I get them grilled and they are great. Also has a good calamari appetizer.


#1: Whole Foods: I know that this isn’t a restaurant per say, but the choices are amazing. I’ve had soup, salad, sandwiches, pizza, potato salad, crab cakes, sushi, bbq, cold drinks, fruit, pasta, and dessert from this one stop shop in Towne Center, and there’s still lots of other options that I haven’t gotten to. It’s quick, it’s easy, and very good.

New Orleans Aquarium and WWII Museum

Today, Stephanie and I went to New Orleans to have a tourist day. We met up with a friend of Stephanie's and I took my camera and we went to the aquarium in New Orleans and the WWII Museum. Both places were neat and I got to learn a lot about fish in the ocean and what happened during WWII. We left Baton Rouge early and started in the aquariam at 10am and stayed for two hours. I loved the fish, sharks, sting rays, penguins, and otters along with the other things there.


Afterwards we went to the WWII museum and I spent over four hours walking through the thing. My favorite piece was about the Pacific battles as I felt closer to that due to my connection with the Philippines. It was neat to see that, but also sobering and sad. We had a good ride back and I was home by 6pm.


There were so many things to see, there were uniforms, guns, tanks, ammunition, oral histories, short videos, and stories showing the strategy that the U.S. and Allies took to storm the beaches at Normany, take out Japanese naval ships, etc. Four and half hours was not enough, and I would like to see it again some time.


Here are just a few pictures, I only took pictures in the outside gallery, because the inside of the place was so melancholy that I didn't want to detract from the ambiance with my camera flashing every few seconds. It was definitly worth the price of admission, only $10.

Fun at Work

Every so often, you have to break up the monotony at work. Today, my team and I had the luxury of washing other people's cars as a reward for their performance during the month of June.

That's the spin I'm putting on it anyway. In a competition, my team lost and so our reward was to wash the other teams cars. It could've been a bad experience, spending two hours in 95 degree weather in hot, humid Baton Rouge, but we turned it into a fun team bonding activity.

The people I work with are extremely funny and I haven't laughed like I did today for a long time. My stomach still hurts. Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with pizza and cold drinks. Next month will be different.


My car after it was washed.

Update of my travels in the world (really need to get out more)

visited 6 states (2.66%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Try another interesting project

An update of my travels in the U.S.

visited 34 states (68%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Try another interesting project

Here is an update to the states that I have been to. Looks like I need to plan something that will take me up the East Coast and it is the only part of the U.S. that I haven't spent any time in. Being from Utah, I guess it shouldn't come as too much of a shock that I haven't yet meandered that way, but someday, I will have been to every state in the U.S. (Guess I need to find a reason to visit Alaska too.)

Here is my yearly update

Woo hoo!! I hit 32. And it looks like it's time to update the blog again. As it is 2:15 am, this won't be a long post, but will say that I have been in Baton Rouge, LA for one year. I seem to like to move around a lot. Need to dig out my camera and start detailing my adventures out here. Over the past year, have been to new places, met new people, etc. So, I hope to keep this updated a little more regularly as family have been asking what I've been up to lately.