This Is the End

And my trip here is about to come to an end. We're headed to Atlanta, GA, tonight to attend this music festival: http://www.the-echoproject.com/

My time in New Iberia, LA was a nice change of pace. I got to see how Shane spends his time down here in the south, met some cool people, had a few good meals (and some bad ones too), and most importantly got to spend some time with my husband.

In case you're wondering where I got the name for this blog. Timbuktu is a city in the West African nation of Mali. It is an oasis in the middle of nowhere. Although there is air service, the city remains most easily accessible by camel and boat.

The Good:

• CNN Headline news informed me earlier this week that in 2010 everyone will be able to contribute to a Roth IRA regardless of income! Great, great news.
• Telecommuting for a week.
• The bird that sings to me every morning from the tree in the Lowe's parking lot.
• Spending time with hubby.
• Good times and good food.

The Bad:

• Whoever create the spitball that is on the concrete outside our room.
• The guy who didn't speak English but wanted to bum a smoke (I didn't have one but couldn't communicate that to him).
• Chili's
• The Internet outage -- thank goodness for McDonald's.

The Ugly:

• All-in-all a good trip. Nothing ugly to report today.

What's With All the Small Dogs?

The manager has at least 4 different pomeranians all in different colors!

Between the dogs and Harold the maintenance man, and my room attendant I have lots of company during the day. Still, I miss my co-workers!

It was nice to have lunch with Shane today -- more po boys!

As a Side Note

This area is served by CLECO Corporation. Nearby Lafayette is served by Southwest Louisiana Electric Membership Corporation. Yesterday the power surge here forced me to hurry over to McDonald's to work for 2 hours while I waited for the Internet connection at the hotel to be restored.

Also worth mentioning is how long it is taking our friends Bill and Peg to get electricity hooked up at their new property -- months!

Another example of the cooperative difference!

The Co-op Difference

(Disclaimer: I work for an electric co-op.)


October is National Cooperative Month and there are a lot of resources you can access to learn more about co-ops and the cooperative difference. Start on this Web site: http://www.go.coop/

Did you know that co-ops benefit their members and their communities? Unlike investor owned businesses co-ops are owned by the members the serve. Cabot cheese, REI, ACE Hardware, your credit union, farmers co-ops, and your local rural electric cooperative are just a few of the co-ops that exist solely to serve their member-owners. Co-ops are owned democratically and return surplus revenues to members!

Members of electric cooperatives express higher than average levels of customer satisfaction and it’s no wonder. For one thing, co-ops put consumers first because the consumers are the owners. In addition, co-ops are locally owned and operated. When members call the co-op, they are talking with their neighbors. And both of these aspects combine to make co-ops more responsive since members are the owners and they are accountable to their own neighbors and communities. Want to learn more: http://nreca.coop/AboutUs/CooperativeDifference.htm

Working From the Golden Arches

There was a power surge in town and now the Internet connection is down at the hotel. I asked at the front desk but they can't seem to figure out how to fix it. I have half a mind to go into the office and try to fix it myself but then I think about how much trouble I'd be in if I broke it.

Anyway .... Shane noticed this morning that McDonald's has Wi-Fi so here I sit watching the lunch crowd as I furiously try to get work done. The drive thru line is very long but is moving fast while no one is inside placing their order. Yeah, there goes the buzzer for the fries -- I think I'll get me some while they're hot and fresh!

Fantastic Food! Fantastic Night!

Very productive day working from the hotel yesterday. And after work I had time to run some errands. Wal-Mart was blissfully empty and I got everything done in a hour before picking up Shane.

We headed over to Mulligan's -- a nice little Irish pub in the downtown area. We had received a special invitation from the Cajun Hugh Heffner himself (seems he owns 2 bars in town) for a beer tasting. We were not expecting much and ended up having a blast. Tried 12 different beers, learned the difference between and ale and lager, discovered a couple of new beers each of us likes, and met some of the locals. We picked their brains for great places to eat in town and have a great recommendation for the Viet-Kitchen tonight. Can't wait!

Dinner was amazing. Clementine's was FINALLY open and I can say without a shadow of a doubt they have the best food in town. Course, it's the most expensive too but that's not hard to do when the next best food is Chili's. Owner Wayne Peltier greeted us personally and remembered we had tried to stop by the previous night. He made some great food recommendations and we started with the escargot de maison, beef kabobs, and coconut shrimp. Next came our 3 main courses: fried green tomatoes with sweet claw crab meat, soft shelled crab, tuna au poivre, and some of the best mashed potatoes we've ever had! Mr. Peltier even came and sat with us for awhile to make recommendations. Turns out Clementine's has recently been added to the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die." Nice!

The only thing the restaurant lacked was knowledgeable waitstaff. Very sweet, but not very experienced. What they lacked in skills they made up for in personality.

New Iberia, LA, has something to offer after all! Can't wait to try the Viet-Kitchen later today.

$35,000 Hat

Love this hat! Think I'll get one for the Fall season.

No Place to Eat Dinner

Our trek started at 6 p.m. with a drive downtown to Clementine's -- a restaurant Shane has wanted to try since he started working down here. We had tried the restaurant on Saturday afternoon for lunch but they were closed. They were also closed all day Sunday and for dinner last night! Our trek took us further down the street to a local bar where we intended to craft our backup plan. At the bar we met the Cajun Hugh Hefner and his doctor, lawyer and banker. The toilet blew up while we were there (no kidding), but I did get a tour of the mansion.

Eventually we left in our continued quest for food. The only Thai place in town was supposed to be open until 9 p.m. but they were closed too. Apparently, if you don't feel like working you simply don't. Finally ended up at Chili's (again) for some appetizers. Tonight we're headed back to Clementine's ;-)

No wonder the locals end up drinking their dinner so often!

Day 4

It's different here. Everything happens just a little more slowly. It's nice to slow down your pace on the weekend but tough to get work done during the week. For example, I called the front desk to ask if the hotel charged for dialing 800 phone number, "no." I try the phone and I can't dial out. Second phone call, "you have to pay a $10 deposit to have your phone turned on." You think she could have told me that during the first call to the front desk!

The Good:

• Watching the afternoon storms roll in
• Using a landline to call-in to conference calls
• Planning our weekend getaway to Atlanta
• Friends that call to check on me
• The bird that lives in the tree in the Lowe's parking lot across the street -- I love its song!
• Planning hubby's next trip home in late October

The Bad:

• Cell phone dropped out a couple of times during work calls
• Hubby on the road all day
• Stuck w/o a car all day
• Shane's friend and co-worker got food poisoning (we had dinner together last night, thank goodness I didn't get sick)

The Ugly:

• The waitress at Chili's -- her personality AND her looks!

View Photos

Want to see what we've been up to? Here is a link to the photos we've been taking.

http://tinyurl.com/2ruubt

Would You Buy One?

I suspect the mattresses at the hotel are new ...

Misinformation

On Friday a local informed me that 300,000 former New Orleans residents relocated to this area after Hurricane Katrina. Seems no one has a good handle on exactly how many people were displaced. Today a USA Today article informs readers that the total number of people displaced (and that have not returned to New Orleans) is 250,000. Then again, the survey referenced in the article does not track people from year-to-year.

USA Today article "Katrina Evacuees Feel Money Pinch":
http://tinyurl.com/33wjnh

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Okay, so it was mimosas, not bloody marys but still! Slept in, did some grocery shopping, played cards, had a tasty lunch consisting of another po boy. Then a lovely teriyaki grilled salmon. All-in-all, a good day. Most importantly, got to spend a lot of it with the hubby!

The Good:
Sleeping in again
Teriyaki salmon
Tasty alligator

The Bad:
Rain all day long
No restaurants serve brunch
Mimosas on ice

The Ugly:
3 trips to the grocery store

Three Hundred Thousand

This area took in 300,000 former New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina.

Day 2

The Good:
Sleeping in
Tasty meals
Spending time with hubby
Our awesome room attendant
Not getting lost
Sightseeing

The Bad:
The crowds at Wal-Mart
Skipping breakfast

The Ugly:
Me in the rain
Shane w/o Coffee or Red Bull

Drive Thru Daiquiris

Had to go through the drive thru on the way home. Yummy pina colada!

Kinda Cool

Fun day! The downtown area is cute -- small but very quaint. We went to the arts and crafts fair. Forgot to bring cash so couldn't buy the pretty but affordable crafts and it was fun none the less.

Lunch was shrimp and oyster poor boys, yummy! Great introduction to the south. Then, on to Avery Island where we got to see how they make Tabasco. Who knew it was such a long process? They ferment the peppers for 3 years. But, it wasn't that factory that was the most impressive, we really loved Jungle Gardens. Lots of crocks, deer, and birds. There was even a Buddhist temple!

Yes, it was a great day here in Timbuktu and it all ended with a wonderful dinner at Ruth's Chris. What could be more local?

It's a Good Morning!

In fact, it's a wonderful morning. Not only did I get to spend the evening with my husband and a couple of friends but I got to sleep in for the first time in months!

Impressively tasty sushi for dinner last night and a quick glance at the quaint (and surprisingly trendy) downtown area. I'm headed back there this morning to do some proper sightseeing. Later today it's Avery Island and the Tabasco factory. Very much looking forward to that if truth be told.

Saw my first BMW here this morning.

Rush Hour Traffic

Day 1

Since all of my co-workers were enjoying a quarterly department breakfast meeting (and would later have a teambuilding lunch) I decided to try the "continental" breakfast in the lobby. Guess I always thought continental meant fruit ... no fruit. Since the line for the waffles was so long and because I'm in the south I opted for buiscits and gravy. WRONG CHOICE! Cold, the gravy was stone cold -- guess that explains the microwave next to the gravy bowl.

Thoughts about my first day in Timbuktu ...

The Good:
High-speed internet connection
Great cell service
Awesome water pressure
My hair is nice and wavy from the humidity
The pool (looks nice but haven't tried it yet)

The Bad:
Getting up early
The small double bed

The Ugly:

The view from our room

The Trip to Timbuktu

There is something to be said about a place where you eat and shit in the same room: gross!

On to more important things. The trip here could have gone better: flight delays, bad weather, a long drive after I landed. But, that's really not the worst of it. Ever had one of those flights that seemed to take forever because you were seated next to THAT guy? You know, the guy that tells you he's been happily married for 19 yrs but keeps trying to chat you up, offers to buy you beer, makes comments on your attire, and keeps leaning on you as he tries to whisper offensive things in your ear. I had that guy! What to do? Accept his offer for the beer then keep yawning and telling him you're tired and he is boring you.

But it's not all bad. Upon arriving in Timbuktu we finally tracked down some beer at a local bar that let us carry it out. We had already tried the drive thru daiquiri shop and bloody mary bar.