On the Road Again...

Well, I've got one more weekend of freedom before I jump on a plane for the conference in St Louis. I'm still pissed at the jerkoff who screwed me into having to go but what the hell, I'll just make the best of it. By the way, while I'm spending the weekend doing laundry, cleaning and packing, he'll be down in Garmisch enjoying a nice holiday with his girlfriend in the Alps. Did I mention that he never even apologized? Or that he hasn't even bothered to thank me for going in his stead? Prick.

The last time I had to go to one of these conferences was back in 2004 while I was still in the Army. I kind of enjoyed it back then because I had to go to the pre-conference in Atlanta first and in between conferences I went down to visit my brother in New Orleans. So in a three week span, I was able to see three major US cities that I had never seen, and the 3 days spent in New Orleans with my brother is, to this day, one of my favorite memories. I had such a great time, I got to experience Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, got an bunch of Mardi Gras beads, had a crawfish boil, went to JazzFest, the works. I'm sure Eric misses New Orleans quite a bit and after only 3 days there I can understand why.

Eric and I outside the French Market in N'Awlins, May, 2004.

One interesting side note to my last trip there was that I was able to take in a Cardinals game. It was their last year in the old Busch Stadium before they tore it down and compared to Fenway Park, it was HUGE. The Cardinal fans are great and pretty knowledgeable but the atmosphere doesn't even come close to a game at Fenway. There was also a disappointing lack of sports bars outside the stadium. What's so interesting about seeing a baseball game you ask? Well, as I mentioned, it was 2004. And a mere 5 months after attending a game at the old Busch Stadium, I would sit on my couch at 4 am back in Caldogno, Italy and watch my beloved Boston Red Sox break the 86 year old Curse of the Bambino in that very same stadium against the very same Cardinals team. Needless to say I'm definitely going to try and catch another game this time. Hopefully history will repeat itself...