Bourbon Street

My favorite thing about Margaritaville was the bathroom. Everything was painted including the trash cans.

A 200 some year old bar on Bourbon street. It looked like something right out of Disneyland or Knotts Berry Farm. We saw it on the Saturday we came in, and finally visited on Friday. Inside there was a man playing on the piano with dim lighting, old wooden furniture, and drunk guys with baritone voices singing. It really seemed to be straight out of a movie...

A friend of ours was complaining that she hadn't heard much "good" music on bourbon street. She finally heard something she liked, but the man stopped playing once we got close. I suggested she tip him to get him to play for her, but she was too shy, so finally another friend tipped him and he played her a long song. Here she is watching:

Electronic Theater

The Siggraph 2000 graphics conference had a few things which I found interesting, such as a color 3D printer and a detailed description of the making of the movie "Dinosaurs." The best thing about the conference was the electronic theater. There was a video of a 3d anatomy model, fully animated with bones, muscles, circulatory system and more, all separateable and realistic. There ims are from inside the theater, which was a piece of craftsmanship itself.

On Thursday, a friend and I took a ride on a river boat and perused some local shops. Although most shops were very generic with the same standard masks and cheap necklaces, we did find a few things of interest...

Thursday night some friends and I went to a conference reception held at the aquarium. They actually had good food! It was the first food that I'd had that I'd really liked since I'd arrived, I've decided that I am not a fan of "southern" cooking. At the aquarium we saw among other things, giant sea turtles, sea dragons and a bald eagle and owls being rehabilitated. My favorite thing at the aquarium was the otters. I'd never realized how animated and playful those creatures are. If I had an infinite amount of money I would definitely get a couple for pets.

This is a huge aquarium tank which people can walk around from both sides. The diver in the background is holding up a board on which he is writing funny notes to people walking by on the other side.

On Friday I rode in a limousine with the megacorp group to a highly recommended hole in the wall restaurant forty minutes out of town. We drove past miles of swamp land while the limo driver told me amusing stories. It was a beautiful contrast to see the network of freeways rising out of the water surrounded with lush trees and no other civilization for miles. The food did turn out to be quite good.