Bayerworld

Seattle Day 1

 Started the day at 4:00am.  Clark picked me up at 5:00am and we met Brent at the New Orleans Airport.  At 5:30am the airport was packed with LSU fans heading to the game.  Clark and Brent flew out early and I waited (and worked) for Chris, Jeff, and Ben to arrive.  We left Nola at 10:15am connected in Las Vegas and then flew to Reno and then Seattle.  Pretty uneventful trip except that while in Las Vegas, we saw Bridget from the Girls Next Door, as evidenced in this photo.  Arrived in Seattle around 7:00 PM Pacific time and took the Air Link to hotel.  Met a cranky Clark and Brent, took a shower and then headed to Icon Grill which was across from the Westin where we were staying.  The food was wonderful but I had been up for 24 hours straight.  I went back to the Westin after dinner and went to sleep.

Proposed Baton Rouge Street Car Line

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View Baton Rouge Street Car Line in a larger map

Although I no longer live in Baton Rouge, I still think about ways to improve the city, so that eventually I can make a McArthur like return.  One of things I love about New Orleans is that I can go weeks at a time without driving.  I take the Street Card into the CBD and Taxi  / Walk when I go out. 

Baton Rouge has no mass transit system, or not one that is used a lot.  Its taxi cab service is a joke.  I remember one time waiting an hour for a Taxi Cab to pick us up from a bar.  In New Orleans, I don’t think I have waited more then 5 minutes for a cab. 

I was talking about mass transit with my friend John Bullock today and we came up with the ideal that Baton Rouge should mimic the St.Charles Street Car line.  Since Baton Rouge franchises all of New Orleans restaurants,  why don’t they franchise one of the most iconic images of New Orleans (Stella!!!).  Replicate the New Orleans Street Car Line on St. Charles to Perkins Road. 

Could you imagine bar hopping from Chelsea's, the Bull Dog, and Perkins Rowe without driving.  You have to imagine, because in Baton Rouge, the states Capital, that is impossible.  The original line would use a street car like the one below that ran from Park Ave to Perkins Rowe.  We could look at expanding that based on the need.

Here is a model of the top of Car I would like.  I went to White Lights on Government Street a couple of years ago and they ran similar cars.  Run the stops on a 15 minute schedule to 3am. 

I don’t know if this would be profitable or pay for itself, but at you look at the big picture, an act like this would positively improve the image of Baton Rouge a hundred fold and maybe convince some people it is time to move back home.

Trains on the comeback

I have been thinking about taking a trip on a train for a while now.  I can leave on Friday, working all day on the train.  I have the weekend to party and then work all day on the train on Monday.  I could go up to Atlanta for a round trip of $114.00 which is $57 each way.  Now flying would cost $282.80.  The flight is only 1 hour and 15 minutes but time in the airport takes about 2-3 hours and to get to Atlanta airport takes about an hour so I say the whole trip takes about five hours.  The train takes 11 hours, which is a long time but I can get billable work done the whole way.   

Chicago 2006

I flew in on Thursday and got to Travis's Place on Western.  We hung for awhile, grabbed some food from Floyds Pub and then went to Citizen Bar where Daniel works.  They were having some sort of Magazine Party and  I ended up getting pretty housed which was bad because I passed out on Travis's couch leaving Clark stuck on the streets of Chicago at 1am with no ideal where to go.  Luckily Clark got in touch with Daniel who told him where Travis's house was.  The next morning Clark and I headed over to the Field Museum where we saw the King Tut exhibit and then the Lions of Tsavo from the movie the Ghost and the Darkness.  I was afraid when I looked in their eyes.  Clark and I went to a local bar for a while and then met Travis and headed to Soldier Field to watch the Bears play the Cardinals.  We did not get back to Travis's to around 1am and just went to White Castle and then to sleep.  The next day we got up and headed to Millennium Park which is pretty cool.  Afterwords Travis, Stacy, Clark and I grabbed something to eat for dinner and went to The Hancock Observatory for drinks.  We then headed back to Citizen Bar where Clark fell in love.  The next day was kind of a waste, but funny.  We headed to the Museum of Science and Industry but could not get tickets to the da Vinci Exhibit.  We then went to Wrigley Field to see a Cubs game, but I got the dates wrong and there was no home game.  We went to The Map Room which is a really cool bar.  I managed to win the pool tournament between Travis, Daniel and Clark.  Afterwords we headed to Floyds Pub  for some dinner and then InnJoy for a night cap.  Monday we grabbed the L into the hood where we could not get a cab and got rained on.  We finally made it back to the Museum of Science and Industry where we saw the Leonardo da Vinci Exhibit.  It is a great museum.  Afterwords we got a cab to Midway.  I still love Chicago.