Archive for April, 2010

This place is crazy. Everyone involved with the Expo is in high gear and running from place to place. I ran into Tommy Mayne and Mark McCulla this morning. They are the go to guys and everyone is going to them. Mark got all the volunteers togetehr and has been the anchor locally. Tommy is the director of the PES conferences. While we talked about 15 people came to him and asked questions that only he could answer. Tommy takes it all with a grain of salt. He is the quiet eye of the storm. I’ll have more about him later.

Pam and I were hunting the companion tour booth. We bumped into Al Rotz our PES president. He was running three ways at once. He has more places to be and no time to get there, but he still stopped and visited with us for a few minutes. If you see him, tell him what a good job he is doing. am sure he will enjoy the kind words.

I ran into a new friend of mine, Bob Gonzales. He is Tommy Mayne’s right hand man. He had a load of bags and boxes, which got my attention. Bob told me on Thursday there is going to be a big raffle taking place at the party.

Everyone will drop their ID badge into a bucket. During the festivities, they will start drawing names. The prizes - a Mac Pro computer, 4 iPads, and 4 Kindles! Wow, that is a raffle. Make sure you stick around for the party.

The convention center is huge. I can’t think of any other word. The photo is taken from the corner looking down the street. As far as you can see - the convention center. Today there are two or three other events taking place in the center - make sure you go to the correct hall. The Expo is in the set up mode. When you get inside start walking. You need to be at the “H” Exhibit Hall.

I am so glad I brought 2 pairs of running shoes. I hope you all did. I would not want to be wearing dress shoes here!

Well, breakfast is done. It’s time to head over to the convention center and start working. The weekend vacation was so much fun, but it is time to start getting into T&D Expo mode. There is so much to see, do, and people to meet.

Pam and I are going to catch the shuttle bus and see what is happening. I know the exhibitors are up to their collective noses in building the booths and exhibits we are going to see starting tomorrow. I’ll try to give you all a sneak peak at what is happening.

Today New Orleans had its Iron Man celebration. I didn’t think the movie came out until next month. Just kidding. The streets were blocked. it was safe to jaywalk - actually encouraged. It was more like a party than a grueling physical event where people push themselves to the brink of endurance. But the local committee (Crescent City Currents) told me the Big Easy makes everything a party. I believe them now. I can’t wait to see what goes on at the conference. I know it will be good!!!

For the past couple of nights, we have gone the traditional path of going to restaurants. We went to the Court of the 2 Sisters and it was fantastic. We also went to K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, again fantastic. I can highly recommend either of these fine establishments. You can’t go wrong, but do get reservations. There will be an Information booth on the floor at the Expo. Stop there and talk to the volunteers. They are locals and have a great sense of where to go if you tell them what you like.

We tried another method today - the progressive dinner. We hit the French Quarter and wandered amongst the stores, stalls, and restaurants. We found a great little place for sea food gumbo. They had a plate of lightly toasted French bread to go with it. Next, we found a place with alligator kabobs. They also had snapping turtle, but I really wanted the gator. I haven’t had that in a long time. Twenty paces later, I found alligator on a stick, but passed it by in search of other taste treats. We found frogs legs too with a spicy sauce on them - great, great, great! To wrap it up, there was a place with homemade bread pudding. Mine had white chocolate sauce. Pam’s had rum. When you are looking for something to eat at the Expo take advantage of the area. Cajun cooking is great. There is just about anything else you could want too.

I shot a couple of gigs worth of swamp photos today. It isn’t hard when you are in a setting like that, but this is my last swamp photo and story - promise. We saw movement on a finger of dry land near the river as we entered a narrow channel. There were two adult pigs and about 6 or so young pigs. The guide said the hang around the this area close to the river. He believes sooner or later he will be seeing gators hanging around this area if the pigs don’t get smarter.

The great egret was almost driven to extinction due to fashion. They were hunted for their plumage to adorn hats. They are no longer endangered. We spent about ten minutes watching this one walk along the shallow water fishing (I just had to share this photo). They eat just about anything - from fish to gators (small ones of course).

I got my answer about swamps too. The Louisiana swamps are like the swamps in Northern Florida - lots of trees. There were gum, cedar, and cyprus. The swamps in Southern Florida are more open. It was a wonderful way to spend a beautiful Sunday morning. A couple of times the guide stopped the boat, cut the motor, and we just sat. We watched the animals, saw some snakes, and of course gators. The sounds were better than anything an iPod or any other stereo could deliver. Bird songs came from every direction.