We moved to Lafayette!

Beth got a lawyer job in Lafayette, so we have moved to the bustling metropolis of Lafayette, LA.  It's a bit of a culture shock, but very pleasant and we are very close to the main branch of the Lafayette Public Library and downtown.

The house is buzzing with the sounds of contractor's saws, the pneumatic rhythms of nail guns, and the roar of air compressors recharging.  Sounds like progress!

My brother in law Donald invented a new dish called Pizza Casserole.  It has lots of squash and tomato sauce and meat and cheese.  I adapted his recipe for ground beef instead of pepperoni.    This is a picture of the mixture cooking down before it gets mixed with mozzarella and put in the oven.  I suspect the name serves the purpose of fooling small children into eating vegetables.  It is very good!

AT&T merger with Time Warner

Soapbox time:

I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlords.  AT&T's DSL service is one quarter the cost of COX communications in my area.  I have no problem with AT&T owning a movie studio/ tv network, they really do need to compete with Netflix/Amazon/Hulu.

Do data caps suck?  Yes.  Are they necessary for reasonable network management? Also, Yes.  Should the network be soaked by some kid who wants to torrent every episode of every tv show ever made?  Nope.

Operating a telecom / ISP requires a huge amount of physical infrastructure.  I would guess there are well over 10 million telephone poles in my state alone, over 100 million feet of legacy telephone wire which also runs DSL, the same amount of coaxial cable for the wireline cable distribution system, and fiber being installed as well.  All of this requires a huge amount of manpower to install and maintain.  AT&T has 254,000 employees. I would bet most of these employees actually do stuff related to installation / maintenance.   At some point, we will all be able to beam internet to our homes via cellular towers and have infinite capacity, but for now I think running cables really is the smartest way for people to get internet / data communications to the plethora of devices that power our homes in these heady times.


This was a 100 percent politically motivated action by the DOJ and I am happy that AT&T prevailed.

42

We finished the European leg of the Evanescence tour in London, which was bittersweet.  It's always a little sad to say goodbye to friends( new and old) and work colleagues after a show because in all likelihood that particular configuration of people won't ever exist again.   Hopefully I will see everyone "down the road".
I had a chance to catch up with my old friend Wayne Davis in London.  Wayne is one of my oldest friends from the New Orleans production community.  He hired me to work with him at Pyramid Audio right after Hurricane Katrina.  Wayne is working for a band called Arcade Fire right now, and it was fun to pick Wayne's brain about all the cool production elements that their show uses.
I also got to visit Highgate cemetery, where Karl Marx, Alexander Litvinenko, and Douglas Adams are buried.  Being a huge Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Fan I had to take a picture of Mr Adam's grave.  I was very happy someone put the number 42 there, which is "The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything"!

After spending several days off in London, I took the Channel Tunnel to Paris to meet Beth for a little more R&R.  She booked us into a place right on the Seine, overlooking the Louvre, and the Place Du Concorde, which is where Marie Antoinette was executed.  Anyway, to make a long story short:  Our room number was 42!  We didn't request the number, the universe just gave it to us!  Here's a picture of my tour luggage ID (also 42) with the key from the Hotel (42!).  This old fashioned key definitely fit the hotel, which was a fun, if somewhat cramped experience.   C'est La Vie!

 
We spent some time in Paris, went to the Eiffel Tower, etc.  and then enjoyed several days in Berlin.  A highlight of the Berlin portion was going to the Berlin Philharmonic.   They were fantastic!

Today we fly back to Louisiana and I start working to at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival until May 6.

Cool clock tower in Brisbane

Very greek?

Brisbane Panorama

This is a panoramic photo of Brisbane.  I'm here now mixing the orchestra for Evanescence's Synthesis tour.  We have four shows in Australia.  The show went well last night, considering I have really felt my jet lag acutely this time traveling.  The time difference between here and Louisiana is 16 hours, so you could say that I am living in the future!