So I got back from Tuscaloosa on Labor Day at around 6pm. I stepped into my apartment, and felt a blast of warm air come out. My AC had died yet again. I call maintenance, which is obviously not in at the time (they're open until 5:30pm on a non-holiday), and get the answering service and tell them about my AC being dead again. About two hours later, the maintenance guy knocks on my door and says that the AC is indeed dead, and that he will have a new compressor for me in the morning and offers me a corporate suite if he can get in touch with management (he can't). No biggie, I slept with one sheet on me and a fan blowing.
I get up and go to work the next morning. At about 10:30 or so, Mike asks me to go to Hattiesburg again and that I didn't have to come back after lunch. Having no other plans, this isn't a problem. We're just needing to wrap up the land use survey. I get a reservation at the same motel at the intersection of I-59 and US-49. It is about a four hour drive down there (2 1/2 hours roughly to Jackson, and 1 1/2 hours roughly to Hattiesburg from Jackson) and I arrive at about 5pm...just in time for the free cocktails (the last time I was there, I got there at 7:30, which is when they stop...which seemed rather early to me, but whatever). I ran out and got some BBQ at a place that reminded me of Fat Man (that's Fat Man's, not Fat Boy's) in Prattville. It's not the best BBQ around, but for a quick BBQ sandwich, it wasn't bad.
The land use went fine and I got back into Oxford about 7pm on Wednesday. This time, my AC was working, and in contrast to the last time I got back, I was blown away by the cool air (much like the day I first got into the apartment...except no condensation on the doorknob). There is a new condenser outside, and they have yet to remove the old one from the premises (it is disconnected, mind you, just not removed). Now I can start bugging them about the other problems with my apartment.
So I've put a lot of miles on my car lately, but I've seen a lot of Mississippi that I hadn't ever seen before...the Delta comes to mind.
I also ended up tailgating on the Grove on Saturday. They do know how to tailgate here. There were tents EVERYWHERE on the grove. (And I mean, EVERYWHERE). "Bumper to bumper" tents. It was like a concentrated version of the gameday at Tuscaloosa, so I felt at home, in spite of the Ole Miss fans surrounding me. I parked at work. I probably could have parked closer, but I do not know where the parking spots are. I'm sure the walk didn't do me any harm.
I'm thinking about what to do this weekend. I might go to Clarksdale and see some live Delta Blues at the club Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman owns. I might go to Jackson to see some friends down there. If I go to Jackson this weekend, I'll probably "do" Clarksdale the next weekend. Then the next weekend I go to Tuscaloosa/Northport for Suzanna's 3rd birthday/Mckenzie's baptism shindig. I should arrive Friday night and spend time/the night with other people I know there to just "hang out". Looks to be a full remainder of September too.
The weather got suddenly nice here. It got sunny and dry, and, dare I say it, cool last night. Humberto is supposed to start dumping some rain late tomorrow and Friday, but then it should clear out for what looks to be a nice (if not busy) weekend.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Kenny Simpson
Since Kelly did it, I will to. Here is the Simpsonized version of me. Another lenghty post to come either today or tomorrow about what I've been up to in Oxford:
Saturday, September 08, 2007
What's up pt. 2
I'm sitting here just short of 9am having slept in until 8am. I'm sitting on my porch/deck/patio/whatever you want to call it with a cup of tea (English Breakfast), watching the rain fall gently. It is letting up now, but it was a bit heavier at 8am. (Not a torrential downpour, mind you). This ought to make the Grove look nice today, then again, if the stories about it being covered in tents is true, it might still be dry. The field at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium is fake grass, so it will just be slippery like recycled tires are. Certainly the humidity should be on the rise now, making for a very muggy game day here in Oxford.
Hattiesburg was a nice town. It is a town of about 45,000 with a university (Southern Miss) of about 16,000 students. In other words, Southern Miss and Hattiesburg have the same proportion of population and students as does Tuscaloosa and UA. Similarly, Hattiesburg has a city just across a river (the Leaf River) like Northport, and is proportionally about the same size as Northport. The town is called Petal, which is where I was doing my land use surveys down there.
They were less frustrating than they were in Yazoo City, probably because I had more experience in doing them. What I dislike most is the fact that we are currently doing these on paper maps which are rather large (imagine having several dozen maps the size of state maps sitting in your lap and marking on them with a red pen). I'm going to push for a more automated way of doing them. We have a portable computer with GPS capabilities which in theory it wouldn't be impossible to set up a system to scan the maps, and rectify them to an existing spatial database of the study area. In fact, it might be rather easy once the system is figured out since with PLSS exists in both mediums easily giving me the three or more points I need to rectify. (I'm sorry I bored you with that last tirade). Maybe once this new planner (with GIS experience) gets on staff here the week after next--Sept. 17th--that will be more of a possibility that either of us can do it.
I got back to Oxford after being in Hattiesburg and spent two days entering the data into the computer for Yazoo City, setting up Petal to a point at which I could feasibly do it, and of course doing a few things Mike had me working on before the land use survey. I left straight from work on Friday to Tuscaloosa forgetting to complete my timesheet for the day (not a big deal) and leaving my laptop at work. I realized this about five miles out of town so I turned back across Hwy. 6 and made a detour back to pick it up and then the trek back to Tuscaloosa.
Tuscaloosa was fun, I really do miss it. I went to campus during the game (while Paul and Tim went to the game itself). We parked out on JWP with hundreds of other cars parked along River Road Park and JWP. It was warm, but for a Sept. 1st game, it could have been A LOT worse...especially given the then recently passed heatwave. I watched the game at The Ferg. It was nice watching it there. It has all the benefits of watching it at home (AC, clean restrooms nearby) but some of the beneifts of watching it with 92,137 of your closest friends (the dining room near the Starbucks was full of people in crimson and white). Bama won 52-6. The "D" was a tad suspect at times, but it was the first game of the season, and we actually played with some "O", the last time we scored that many points was...well...against the same team (W. Carolina) back in 2004...but they didn't score on us (consider, though, that was the beginnings of the 2005 "D").
More later, including my trip back to Hattiesburg on short notice, the hopeful end to my AC saga, and my summary of tailgating on the Grove (I've been invitied...now to find parking...fortunately, Oxford is a small town and Ole Miss is a large University, so if I find a spot, I won't be too terribly far from the University), and perhaps a summary of the UA/Vandy game which kicks off here in just over an hour.
Hattiesburg was a nice town. It is a town of about 45,000 with a university (Southern Miss) of about 16,000 students. In other words, Southern Miss and Hattiesburg have the same proportion of population and students as does Tuscaloosa and UA. Similarly, Hattiesburg has a city just across a river (the Leaf River) like Northport, and is proportionally about the same size as Northport. The town is called Petal, which is where I was doing my land use surveys down there.
They were less frustrating than they were in Yazoo City, probably because I had more experience in doing them. What I dislike most is the fact that we are currently doing these on paper maps which are rather large (imagine having several dozen maps the size of state maps sitting in your lap and marking on them with a red pen). I'm going to push for a more automated way of doing them. We have a portable computer with GPS capabilities which in theory it wouldn't be impossible to set up a system to scan the maps, and rectify them to an existing spatial database of the study area. In fact, it might be rather easy once the system is figured out since with PLSS exists in both mediums easily giving me the three or more points I need to rectify. (I'm sorry I bored you with that last tirade). Maybe once this new planner (with GIS experience) gets on staff here the week after next--Sept. 17th--that will be more of a possibility that either of us can do it.
I got back to Oxford after being in Hattiesburg and spent two days entering the data into the computer for Yazoo City, setting up Petal to a point at which I could feasibly do it, and of course doing a few things Mike had me working on before the land use survey. I left straight from work on Friday to Tuscaloosa forgetting to complete my timesheet for the day (not a big deal) and leaving my laptop at work. I realized this about five miles out of town so I turned back across Hwy. 6 and made a detour back to pick it up and then the trek back to Tuscaloosa.
Tuscaloosa was fun, I really do miss it. I went to campus during the game (while Paul and Tim went to the game itself). We parked out on JWP with hundreds of other cars parked along River Road Park and JWP. It was warm, but for a Sept. 1st game, it could have been A LOT worse...especially given the then recently passed heatwave. I watched the game at The Ferg. It was nice watching it there. It has all the benefits of watching it at home (AC, clean restrooms nearby) but some of the beneifts of watching it with 92,137 of your closest friends (the dining room near the Starbucks was full of people in crimson and white). Bama won 52-6. The "D" was a tad suspect at times, but it was the first game of the season, and we actually played with some "O", the last time we scored that many points was...well...against the same team (W. Carolina) back in 2004...but they didn't score on us (consider, though, that was the beginnings of the 2005 "D").
More later, including my trip back to Hattiesburg on short notice, the hopeful end to my AC saga, and my summary of tailgating on the Grove (I've been invitied...now to find parking...fortunately, Oxford is a small town and Ole Miss is a large University, so if I find a spot, I won't be too terribly far from the University), and perhaps a summary of the UA/Vandy game which kicks off here in just over an hour.
Friday, September 07, 2007
What's up pt. 1
Once again, I must apologize for not posting in a while. I do not lead an interesting life like Kerry. I have traveled 1000+ miles around Mississippi over the past two weeks, not to mention two separate trips back to Tuscaloosa, but that's about as interesting as it gets.
I went back to Tuscaloosa two weeks ago for a friend's (Martin Wagner) ordination as an assistant pastor at Faith Prez in Birmingham. This is where Liz Smith (whatever her last name is now) goes with her husband, among a few others that I know. This was the first of my friends to be ordained in the PCA. In the future, Will Joseph, JC Tomberlin, Blake Johnson, and Kevin Corley will each have an MDiv. and presumably will be ordained in some reformed denomination (not necessarily the PCA...which is probably most likely in JC's case...he might go Reformed Baptist if he settles on being a pastor). I stayed in Tuscaloosa and left that Monday morning bright and early for some land use surveys throughout Mississippi. First in Yazoo City, the "Gateway to the Delta", then in Hattiesburg, home of the University of Southern Mississippi (which, incidentally, has a PhD program in Geography).
Yazoo City was very much a Delta town (to compare it, it was very much like a Black Belt town). It was by and large a dilapidated city that has a lot of potential, but can't seem to get over that hump. It's no Eutaw or Camden, but it's not exactly, well, Chicago. The governor of Mississippi is from Yazoo City (Haley Barbour). There's a Haley Barbour Blvd. in Yazoo City. They did have a decent Best Western motel and Mexican restaurant. My favorite part about Yazoo City was the sudden drop off to the Delta, which is by and large a very flat and fertile region of the country. The east side of Yazoo City, I'll define by US49 (or Jerry Clower Blvd), seems to divide rolling hills, windy roads, and such to just flat. You can see vast flatness from parts of town, and until the state of Mississippi reconfigured a particular intersection in town, I'm told one could drive over a bridge and all of a sudden see the Delta when cresting the bridge. The Delta also is known for its music, specifically Blues ("Delta" blues), as well as jazz and rock & roll. There are numerous Blues festivals throughout the Delta region. Morgan Freeman (an Academy Award winning actor) lives in the Delta most of the time (in Charleston, MS), and owns and operates a blues club in Clarksdale named Ground Zero Blues Club.
Given my interest in music, I should get out there at some time and see what Delta Blues is all about. But I digress...
Yazoo City took two days to complete, amazingly, and it was frustrating because it was something I was sort of thrown in to with no experience and just a few minutes of "training" on what to do. I did have the entire Bay St. Louis office helping me (one person), and she had done it before, so I just sort of had to lean on her experience a lot. It got less frustrating I suppose, with time.
More later...I'm going to catch something on TV now. Coming up...the (supposed) end to my A/C saga.
I went back to Tuscaloosa two weeks ago for a friend's (Martin Wagner) ordination as an assistant pastor at Faith Prez in Birmingham. This is where Liz Smith (whatever her last name is now) goes with her husband, among a few others that I know. This was the first of my friends to be ordained in the PCA. In the future, Will Joseph, JC Tomberlin, Blake Johnson, and Kevin Corley will each have an MDiv. and presumably will be ordained in some reformed denomination (not necessarily the PCA...which is probably most likely in JC's case...he might go Reformed Baptist if he settles on being a pastor). I stayed in Tuscaloosa and left that Monday morning bright and early for some land use surveys throughout Mississippi. First in Yazoo City, the "Gateway to the Delta", then in Hattiesburg, home of the University of Southern Mississippi (which, incidentally, has a PhD program in Geography).
Yazoo City was very much a Delta town (to compare it, it was very much like a Black Belt town). It was by and large a dilapidated city that has a lot of potential, but can't seem to get over that hump. It's no Eutaw or Camden, but it's not exactly, well, Chicago. The governor of Mississippi is from Yazoo City (Haley Barbour). There's a Haley Barbour Blvd. in Yazoo City. They did have a decent Best Western motel and Mexican restaurant. My favorite part about Yazoo City was the sudden drop off to the Delta, which is by and large a very flat and fertile region of the country. The east side of Yazoo City, I'll define by US49 (or Jerry Clower Blvd), seems to divide rolling hills, windy roads, and such to just flat. You can see vast flatness from parts of town, and until the state of Mississippi reconfigured a particular intersection in town, I'm told one could drive over a bridge and all of a sudden see the Delta when cresting the bridge. The Delta also is known for its music, specifically Blues ("Delta" blues), as well as jazz and rock & roll. There are numerous Blues festivals throughout the Delta region. Morgan Freeman (an Academy Award winning actor) lives in the Delta most of the time (in Charleston, MS), and owns and operates a blues club in Clarksdale named Ground Zero Blues Club.
Given my interest in music, I should get out there at some time and see what Delta Blues is all about. But I digress...
Yazoo City took two days to complete, amazingly, and it was frustrating because it was something I was sort of thrown in to with no experience and just a few minutes of "training" on what to do. I did have the entire Bay St. Louis office helping me (one person), and she had done it before, so I just sort of had to lean on her experience a lot. It got less frustrating I suppose, with time.
More later...I'm going to catch something on TV now. Coming up...the (supposed) end to my A/C saga.
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