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| Day 7 - Wednesday, 28 August 2002 |
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| Setting: Downtown
New Orleans; includes the hotel (New Orleans Marriott), the convention
center (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center), the Sake Cafe, and the
Superdome and adjoining arena.
Today's Cast:
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5:59am - The boy seemed relieved that he woke up just as the alarm should have gone off; he was of the opinion he never set the alarm, you see.
6:00am - He's proven wrong -- the alarm went off. Thinking it was lounging time, he lingered under the blankeys.
6:39am - The lounging proved successful, I'm guessing, when he woke up into a flurry of hurried activity.
7:03am - The shuttle dropped us off at the convention center and we parked our things into the lounge.
7:18am - After snacking on dry cereal (Tubby) and a croissant (me), we returned to our assigned area to carry out our duties. Or something.
11:07am - The morning has drawn to a routine of handing things out, signing them back in, and the like. Then, I figured I could play with the copier... making me think of the tune that describes chestnuts roasting on an open fire...
11:14am - Bill, brilliant as ever, noted two lovely ladies who couldn't resist posing with me. Duck power!
12:31pm - Lunch. Meatloaf and salad. We settled for cake and soda. Mmmm, chocolate cake.
1:14pm - Bill managed to arrange a photo with me of some charming showgirls wandering the lobby area.
2:29pm - Hardware loaned to date: 10 dongles, 2 power supplies. 2 dongles, 1 power supply still outstanding. I am also outstanding, on the table.
4:34pm - Are we there yet? And by that, I of course mean it feels like closing time. Two hours to go...
5:41pm - Tubby and I are sent to the hotel to get changed for dinner.
5:51pm - We leave for the 6pm reservation at Sake Cafe (which does not have a web site... kinda of a surprise these days).
6:12pm - Our actual arrival. It seems that when the directions were given to us, the map lacked the building number, and the street is somewhat long. We got there eventually, but it was some doing in the arrival.
7:46pm - Our party was split into two areas in the restaurant (We presented them with a challenge of accommodating 25 or so people). Dinner was served with a range of colors and textures. The boy and I settled on the very safe-sounding Beef Teriyaki.
8:51pm - Turns out we were also celebrating David's belated birthday. It's a dot-release birthday, apparently, but I can't explain that too well... nor can I explain the evil eye he's showing. (But I'll blame the camera.)
9:01pm - We head outside and get ready to head over to the gala wrap-up party. We also found ads for local talent on the telephone poles.
9:07pm - The car ride got a little exciting, but no laws were broken, no tickets received, and no lives lost. And we arrived well in time for the good stuff...
9:18pm - We arrive at the Superdome for the wrap-up party.
- Just walking in, the decorations were colorful. Others looked like giant, colorful marshmallows, for lack of a better description.
- They brought in amusement park-like rides, including the Starship, Bumper Cars, a spinny thing, and the not-photographed Ring of Fire (basically get into a roller-coaster like car, and go around in a large circle, eventually with it stopping while you're upside-down.
- All of the food was indicated with large, float-like characters, like this cherub, the bell-ringing cow, and the little guy that looks like he's from the book, "Things that Go Bump in the Night".
- Others were just there, like the snake.
- There was the dance floor in the Superdome, which had a disco-esque theme feel early on (circa 9:30pm)
- One of the biggest surprises with the introduction of aliens from their poorly cloaked UFO.
- The ice dragon sculpture was already too far melted to be recognized, but still photographed.
- We found a booth that focused entirely on bubbles (mostly creating them), and even had bubbles integrated into the supporting legs.
- Gladys Knight was probably the best-known performer (to me) at the show.
- A girl doing slow-moving gymnastic-like dance while suspended from a rope, 15 feet off the ground.
- Two girls doing a variety of trapeze and such things in the same place as the girl above. (And I got my pic with them!)
10:52pm - While walking back into the Superdome, a woman commented that was cute, and gave me a flower. How sweet.
11:00pm - A Zydeco band started up around this time, by pulling a handful of ladies from the audience to the stage to show the crowd how it's done...
11:33pm - Tuckered out, I took up a seat on the shuttle back to the hotel (complete with my flower gift).
11:46pm - We arrived back in the room, checked out the moon, and headed off to sleep after taking care of this and that.