Got back from my extremely short trip to New Orleans last night. Ooowee, that was a fun trip!
I was down there for a SunGard conference. The bank for which I work uses a couple of their software products. If you’ve never been “treated” by a vendor, man, are you missing out. This was my first vendor experience. All I know is that I want more!
I arrived on Tuesday afternoon; the plan was to run down St. Charles Avenue upon arrival, but I got there too late and had to go to a conference. I attended about ten hours’ worth of conferences and only two hours applied to me. After Tuesday’s meeting, I went for a quick 30 minute run on the hotel treadmill and then headed over to the cocktail hour. My co-workers weren’t around so I mingled. Met some nice people from Germany, Switzerland, Israel and places all over the U.S. Typical questions included: “What company do you represent?” “Which SunGard products do you use?” “First time in the Big Easy?” My co-workers finally showed up and we had a few drinks together. At 7:30 we were told to follow signs outside and around the corner to the House of Blues, our dinner venue. The HoB was so cool. I’ve been to the ones in Atlanta and Vegas, so I knew what to expect, but the N’awlins one is huge! My co-workers and I got to hear the opening band for a few minutes, get some food (pasta jambalaya, cornbread, gumbo - el yummo), and suck back a Hurricane before the boss herded us out so we could hit Bourbon Street.
Bourbon Street was as I imagined it… Kinda dirty (I’ve seen worse, though), full of bars, restaurants and tourist shops. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to sit and listen to music. Kinda got force-marched through the Quarter by my co-worker. I did get to stop long enough to buy a frozen Long Island Iced Tea and get a Tarot reading, just for fun. We didn’t get back to the hotel 'til 2:00 AM!
The large volumes of liquor and small amount of sleep combined to put a HURT on me on Wednesday. I don’t know how I made it through the day without passing out or throwing up. The meetings were SO BORING! I watched the clock all day long. It was worth it: Wednesday night’s dinner spot was the St. Louis Hotel’s gorgeous courtyard. We had incredible appetizers, fantastic entrees and for dessert: Bananas Foster. Once again, my co-worker force-marched us through the Quarter; however, this was a shorter trip. I was in bed and asleep by 10:00 PM.
Thursday morning I woke up early and finally went for a run down St. Charles Avenue. Holy humidity, Batman! I was sweatin’ up a storm after five minutes. The pretty part of St. Charles Avenue is past Lee Circle, about a mile away from the hotel. When I got there, I ran on the grass between the streetcar tracks and looked at all the amazing old buildings. For some reason, I started getting shin splints! So I ended up walking and running on the way back. It was totally worth it. I would have been so mad at myself for not doing that run.
Yesterday’s morning conference went by incredibly quickly because 1) I wasn’t hungover and 2) It actually pertained to my job! We broke at 11:00 AM and all of us headed over to the Cafe du Monde. Our group of eight sat under the green-and-white striped awning, drank cafe au lait and ate baignets… Finally I felt that I was having a genuine New Orleans experience. At about noon, I went back to the hotel and packed up. Then I decided that I needed one last authentic N.O. meal before catching my plane. I chose Crawfish Etouffee - D R O O L - C’est magnifique!
I’m going back someday, come what may, with El Hubbo.