He Stopped Loving Beer Today

When I die, I'll need someone to sing this at my funeral:

He said I'll love you 'til I die

Beer told him you'll forget in time

I watched the years pass slowly by

Beer still preyed upon his mind

He kept a cold one by his wall

Got half drunk now and then

But he still loved beer through it all

Hoping he'd never run out again

They found some Dixies by his bed

Dated 1992

He had written out in red

Damnit beer I love you

I went to drink beer with my friend today

Oh but I didn't see no tears

He was all dressed up to go away

First time I'd seen him without a beer

He stopped loving beer today

Friends poured 40 ouncers on the ground

Soon they'll carry him away

He stopped loving beer today

(Spoken)

You know beer came to see him one last time

Oh, we all wondered if beer would

And it kept running through my mind

Well, this time he's over beer for good

(Sung)

He stopped loving beer today

They placed some beers inside his door

And soon they'll carry him away

He stopped loving beer today

Decision Day on May Day

Today is May 1, which is not only May Day, but it is also "Decision Day" as high school seniors across the country finalize their university choice. My daughter Kalypso in the end decided to go to the school hated most by people in Louisiana: the University of Alabama. As Kalypso is a National Merit Scholar, they recruited her heavily to be in their Honors College. She believes she wants to study Mechanical Engineering. To me what she majors in is of no concern. I'm just happy she's got such a great opportunity in front of her. Me, I was not mature enough at 18 to succeed in something like an Honors College. We wish her luck. The first year will be especially challenging. I'm thankful that it's not too far away, and there is an Amtrak train that runs daily between Tuscaloosa and New Orleans.

Enkidu the Flying Bulldog

We have three awesome dogs, the newest one is Enkidu. When we bought him we thought he would traverse in two dimensions. Turns out he can fly.

Higher Education in Louisiana

According to U.S. census data,  just 21.1% of adults over the age of 25 in this state have acquired a college education, the 5th lowest rate in the nation. Louisiana's flagship university, LSU, is sinking under the leadership of Governor Bobby Jindal. U.S. News and Word Report ranks the school 134th, down 10 points from just last year. Since Jindal first term in 2008, the state budget to LSU has been cut by more than $625 million, or 44%. Faculty salaries have been frozen for four years, and tuition has increased from $5000 for residents in 2008 to the current rate of $19,500, and it's expected to rise dramatically next year. My daughter, a high school senior with high grades and test scores, could attend LSU for free, but she is wisely looking at other schools, most of them out of state. Louisiana is poor, and more than 40% of our students receive need based Pell Grants. But these have been cut dramatically over the past decade. I've seen it first hand with declining student numbers at Xavier. Congress cut summer Pell Grants as well as the number of eligible semesters. This hit the South and minorities especially hard. When I went to school, Pell Grants covered nearly all of the costs associated with my education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. That's sadly not the case anymore. The American Dream, where even the poorest could make a better financial life for themselves through education, is now statistically a myth.

Would You Teach This Student?

Here is a picture of my 17-year-old daughter Kalypso.

For wearing this outfit, she was pulled out of all of her classes at Lusher Charter High School and she spent the day in the dean's office doing nothing but sitting in a chair and contemplating her poor behavior. She was also prevented from attending her college credit French class at Tulane University. She was supposed to go to detention this afternoon and again miss her French class. I told her to skip the detention and go to her class. I'm fully aware that there is value in learning to navigate through situations where difficult people throw up hurdles. So there are three months left in her senior year, and she has learned a valuable lesson in that someone at Lusher prefers jeans. This all reminds me of why I hated high school. I loved college though. Hope she does too. 

Black History Month Convocation

Every February my university gets together to celebrate Black History Month. Here is the cover of the program:

Malcolm X, MLK, Rosa Parks, the Obamas, Louis Armstrong, Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglass, all great choices. Even the speaker, Congressman Cedric Richmond, good choice, though I was confused with his speech about the difference between thermometers and thermoses.

But Oprah (TM)? Really? For putting her face on her own magazine? For unprecedented narcissism? For her forgettable role as Sofia in The Color Purple? For crying when authors she blessed with sales lie to her? For killing her dogs? For her bizarre relationship with Stedman? My school must be hoping that they can cash in on some of that sweet Oprah (TM) money like Spelman. Anyway, nothing against Oprah (TM) as a human. I don't view her as a person, but as a corporate entity that will by nature do anything it can to promote itself and gain more money and fame.

Muses Shoes and Life

We had a great time at the Muses parade last night. It reminded me of how much I love living in New Orleans. Thanks to archnemesis Adrastos and his lovely wife Dr. A for hosting the annual shindig. After much screaming and general shoe whoring, I was the fortunate recipient of these three beauties:

This one in particular is my favorite. 

It shows a demonic Ozzy Osbourne dark lording over the fiery pits of shoe hell. So you're thinking it was my general good looks that scored this prize? Nope. It's a strange story actually. I went to high school in Omaha with someone named Greta Olson, now Greta Olson-Landis. I last saw her 30 years ago. Through facebook she mentioned that she had an artist friend in New Orleans named Erika Goldring, and that Erika was riding in Muses. Greta said that Erika makes awesome shoes that are musician themed. So I set it up where I am going to scream "GRETA!" a la Stanley Kowalski at float seven, sidewalk side, to the last rider. And it all paid off. Sure, through this networking I have sunk further then imaginable into the bowels of shoe whoredom, but I think in the end the incredible awesomeness of said Muses shoe outweighs all of the moral issues.

Little Free Library

We are excited to announce that we have a Little Free Library in front of our house. People are free to take a book or leave a book. Neighbors have been great about keeping it stocked. Many thanks to Mark Gstohl for building and installing it. Therese now is looking for an alligator to adorn it, as the library sort of looks like a Cajun Cabin.

47 Pilsner

Today I am 47-years-old. To take advantage of spousal birthday guilt I bought a freezer. Therese hates it because we have no good place to put it, but it's my birthday. I also bought an analog refrigerator thermostat. Why? Well for the first time in my life I am going to brew a Bohemian Pilsner beer. To do that I need to be able to ferment the beer at a constant 50 degrees. Brewing in a controlled colder temperature was one of my two brewmeister goals this year. My second is to switch from bottles to kegs, but I'll do that later.

Super Bowl and Super Sucky 2012

The Super Bowl will be played in New Orleans in a couple of weeks. Nobody I know is that excited. Quite the opposite, as never before has a Superbowl been held in a city that has so much hatred and anger towards the National Football League. It's not because of the construction and sign police and all of the other nonsense, but it's because of Roger Goodell and "bounty gate." His unprecedented suspension of coaches and players crushed this city. I think there is a good chance that Roger Goodell will get punched, and I'm hopeful that he gets booed loudly during the game. But at least the Atlanta Falcons lost in the NFC Championship game. It was a nightmare to think about Goodell handing the Falcons the Lombardi Trophy inside the Superdome. I believe that Goodell's suspensions cost the Saints several games, and that they would have been in the playoffs again without that draconian punishment. This also hurt the value of my season tickets. But today Sean Payton was reinstated as coach, and the Saints should be pretty good next year, if they can fix their defense.

This past football year overall was the worst one I can remember. My favorite college team, Nebraska, did what they always do under coach Bo Pelini. They have at least 9 wins and four losses each of the five years he's been coach. They lose big games. They haven't played in a BCS game since 2001. While it wasn't nearly as bad as the 2007 Bill Callahan season, it was painful. Hopefully a playmaker will emerge on defense, and QB Taylor Martinez will continue to improve for his senior year.