Chris graduates from college

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My brother, Chris, graduated from the University of New Orleans last weekend, so LL and I flew to Louisiana to celebrate with him and the rest of the family. We were both really glad for an excuse to visit everyone! We stayed at cousin Wil's in Ponchatoula.




Here's Wil on the front porch with Casey. Casey's a great dog, though due for a haircut. Her favorite toy is Donkey from Shrek. She pretty much goes everywhere with Donkey.


When we're in Ponchatoula we always like to go out on the town and see what's new...what the new restaurants are, who's hanging out where. Actually, the restaurants and bars are always in the same places, but they change names once people get tired of the menu or the vibe. We went to a new place called Rockefeller's. I had some sort of cajun pasta with fried shrimp thrown in, which I ate till the near-bursting point. The portions were enormous. Not a skinny place, Louisiana. However, that doesn't mean there aren't some good-looking residents...

Here's LL and I posing with this year's Strawberry Festival Queen (the Festival was just a few weeks ago)! She was eating at Rockefeller's just like us, but looks like she must have only gotten appetizers (probably a salad) and then did 200 situps. Now...you may be wondering...is this the way she goes around town all the time? With a giant crown and a sash? Well, no. It just so happens that she had her crown and sash in the trunk of her car (I'll admit that it's' possible she has it available at all times, but who could blame her?), and LL was not ashamed to ask her to pull it all out for a photo. The crown has its own custom case (with built-in mirror in the lid to aid a quick change), and the sash was protected in a cute little sack that her grandmother made for her. I think this makes the 3rd or 4th picture LL has taken with a Strawberry Festival Queen...for whatever reason, she really has a knack for sniffing them out. In this case, Wil introduced us to her. Wil is in the Ponchatoula Chamber of Commerce and in the Rotary Club and he works in an office on main street, so he pretty much knows everyone in the town, Festival royalty being no exception.

The next day we drove down to New Orleans for the graduation, which took place at the UNO Lakefront Arena. It's a nice facility (my sister, Celeste, saw Styx here a few years ago...she has fond memories). Fittingly, the roof resembles a mortar board.

Here is Celeste helping Chris into his regalia in the parking lot. Amazingly, it wasn't hot or really all that humid in New Orleans. In fact, it was hotter in Menlo Park that weekend!

And here's me helping my little brother get his hat on straight. I think he had spent some time on his hair, so I did my best to ruffle it in every possible direction. It seemed like a good brotherly thing to do.

And for the actual graduation:

After that everyone went to dinner.

Some of us went to Brennan's, a very good restaurant in the French Quarter. Here's Chris and "Maw-maw Betty" out front. Maw-maw isn't quite as mobile as she was a few years ago, but she hung tough all weekend going to the various grade school/high school/college graduations and awards ceremonies for four of her grandchildren (Paw-paw adopted the opposite strategy and skipped all of them...both methods adequately avoiding favoritism). She actually has this little 3-wheeled walker (not the cane in the picture) that she zips around with...like you'll turn around and she'll be across the room.

After dinner, the 'kids' (those 32 and under) stayed out till 2:30 on Bourbon Street. Quite a feat, I believe, though I felt pretty old. You'll see what I mean in a bit...

Here's Chris with a friend of his from UNO named Carrie. She was really fun and sweet. She also helps run the Arthur Roger art gallery. Really not too much wrong with old Carrie.

At this point, she was going up on stage to try and get them to do something for Chris, though I can't remember what it was. Whatever she was angling for, the guy in charge was having none of it (keep in mind that the 'guy in charge' is a loser whose sphere of influence extends across a 7x10 foot stage where he uses his microphone to sing (badly) over the club music and make sure that he's the only male up there).

This is also the point where the 30+ club (me, LL, Celeste and her husband) became certain that we needed to call it a night. We were having fun, but the thumping music and smoke and lights that would have been hypnotically intoxicating ten years ago, failed to charm us this time. Instead we spent a lot of time looking around wondering why no one else could see the run-down bar behind the flashy facade. Must be a sign of old age.

Finally, take note of the girl in burnt orange (no need to ask where she goes to school). In about two seconds (not pictured) she starts rocking out with a series of pelvic thrusts, leaving Chris in a state of... ...sheer wonder? Well, anyway, everyone is pretty overwhelmed. Happy Graduation, Chris!

And if you want to see more pics, click here!