Day: April 19, 2018

Today was the first official day of the conference.  I had to struggle to get out of bed since last night we had a late meal at one of our favorites, Irene’s.  Patrice had the fish, I had the duck and when the waiter started to list the desserts I stopped listening after he said bread pudding.  I know my wife.  Dinner was great but Masa still reigns as the bread pudding king.

Today’s first lecture began at 7:00 AM (5:00 AM Los Angeles time) and I had trouble getting there.  The time was only part of the problem.  Our hotel is situated only a 5 minute walk from the convention center.  But after I arrived I had another 10 minute walk to get to the lecture hall.  The lecture room easily would have accommodated 300 people but there couldn’t have been more that 25 in attendance.  The masses knew something I didn’t; the lecture was awful.  I was in room 393-399 (4 rooms combined to make one massive venue) and my next lecture was in room 343.  It seemed as if all I needed to do was to walk down the hall a bit and I would arrive at my destination.  Not so simple.  I could not find the room.  Then I heard another couple of doctors say they were looking for room 343 so I decided to tag along with them.  They didn’t help much.  Then they recruited one of the convention center employees for assistance and when the employee couldn’t find the room I gave up and went to a different lecture.  I picked the closest one to where I was standing because I knew, if nothing else, at least I could find it. It turned out to be an excellent lecture so I left very pleased.

After that I met up with Patrice and we toured the exhibit hall.  Patrice is the queen of the exhibit halls.  She loves to visit the different booths and scoop up the various swag (see below).

As you can see Patrice got all sorts of goodies.  The combination pizza cutter bottle opener is my favorite.

We had lunch at the convention and then I returned for the afternoon sessions.  I told Patrice I needed to give plenty of time because I was certain that the center was designed by a guy on LSD and I was not sure I could find my lecture room.   This time I quickly found my location (Theater C) but leaving the hall wasn’t as easy.   To play things safe I decided to leave from the same place I thought I had entered.  This took me up a series of steps leading to an exit sign.  It was very dark and when I opened the door to leave I was struck by very bright light and found myself on a rooftop deck without an exit.  When I turned around the bright light had made it impossible for me to see on the already dark walkway.  I had to turn on my phone flashlight (I know this sounds fabricated but it is 100% true) so I could walk back down the stairs.  I stopped another attendee from making the same mistake I had and then found another exit and left Theater C only to turn around and see that it was labeled Theater B.  Like I said, the guy who designed this place must have been on LSD at the time.

At the conclusion of the days events, I set out for the hotel.  This was also an adventure.  We might be in LA (Louisiana) but this is not LA (Los Angeles) when it comes to traffic.  In Los Angeles the crosswalks are safe zones for pedestrians.  Here they are corral zones to be used as round up targets for drivers.  I did not see one driver slow down for any pedestrians.  One of the lecturers quoted a study that found an inverse relationship with walking speed and longevity.  I am convinced the study was done in this town.

Tonight we ate at Katies (3701 Iberville St, New Orleans, LA 70119) and had another excellent meal.  Apparently the restaurant was badly hit by Katrina in 2005 (See below).

That’s enough for tonight.  I need to get to sleep, 7 AM (or 5AM) is just around the corner.

This morning started on a very healthy note since I was feeling very guilty about the meal we had last night at Commander’s Palace.  We had been there in 1984 on our first trip to NOLA and decided to go back this time after recently seeing the documentary “Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table” (it is on Netflix and I recommend you watch it).   I had probably the best fish I have ever eaten (Pecan Crusted Gulf Fish).   For dessert we shared bread pudding which was good but we still think Masa in Los Angeles has the best we have tasted.  A meal like that had to be followed by an early morning work out.

This morning, after running 3.1 miles on the treadmill (5,000 meters for those of you reading in Europe) we started some touring of the city.  Of course we had to start the day with breakfast at Elizabeth’s (our favorite in this town).  We decided to Uber there and walk back.  We had a very pleasant driver and I noticed he had an LSU bandana in the car.  I innocently asked, “Did you go to LSU?”.  He nodded and replied “Yes, six years at LSU and I am an Uber driver.”   Giving him the benefit of the doubt I asked “Are you pursuing another career?”.  I was thinking possibly he wants to be an actor and needs flexibility to go for auditions or maybe he is at a start-up that requires lots of time at work but does not pay a lot of money.  He answered, “Nope, I am just a Uber driver”.  I stopped while I was behind and thanked him for the ride.

At Elizabeth’s I had my usual order of “Red Neck Eggs” (Eggs Benedict using Fried Green Tomatoes instead of Canadian bacon and grits on the side) and Praline Bacon (an excuse to eat candy at breakfast).  After breakfast we decided to walk back to the hotel.  On our way we stopped at Dr. Bob’s art shop.  We had seen some of his work at Elizabeth’s and his studio was on the way.  At the shop we were told that Bob was vacationing in Arkansas (Doesn’t the life of a successful artist make you so envious?).  After taking a quick look at Dr Bob’s work, Dr. Robert decided it was time to move on.

We continued our journey and stopped to visit the St. Augustine church which is the site of a memorial called “The Tomb of the Unknown Slave” (see below).  We also passed by the famous French Quarter and a small building that supposedly was the site where Fats Domino recorded what people in NOLA claim was the first Rock and Roll album.  Very interesting if you are a R&R fan but if you are a fan of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog the correct answer is “Who gives a S–T”.

For dinner we will be heading to Irene’s.  No not my mother’s house but another one of our NOLA favorites.  More about that tomorrow when the conference begins and I have to start thinking more about medicine and less about food.  I will leave the food thinking to Patrice.