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NOLA violence hits home
October 14, 2008I discovered a wonderful little bakery near my house a few weeks ago, and it's become my go-to study spot, mainly because coffee refills are free, the tables are big, and they have the most delicious scones ever. (It's called the Laurel Street Bakery, and I wrote about it in my recent blog titled, "Newspapers are dead?")
Lots of times at the bakery, if it's not the breakfast or lunch rush, it'll just be me and one employee in there. I love the peace and quiet and the smell of stuff baking. Feels a lot like home, in fact.
Today, I got out of class at 11:15 a.m. and headed to the bakery in my car. The streets were blocked off all around it, police cars parked everywhere. Turns out someone tried rob the bakery this morning at gunpoint and there was a shootout inside. Luckily, no one was hurt, except one of the suspects was shot.
The employees, I don't know how they must feel right now. I don't know their names yet, but the three girls that work the counter are always so nice. There's the one in grad school, the other one that's trying to get some poetry published and the other gal that has the really cute dog that she brings to the bakery every once in a while.
When I moved to this city in August, I was aware that it was a big city known for its violence. But most of the time, it's not right down the street at my favorite bakery.
Here's the article from the local newspaper:
Suspect in botched Uptown robbery shot by officer
by Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune
Tuesday October 14, 2008, 1:03 PM
A 16-year-old boy was wounded and his alleged partner arrested following a botched robbery attempt this morning inside an Uptown bakery.
The two would-be robbers entered the Laurel Street Bakery in the 5400 block of Laurel Street around 11 a.m. and flashed a handgun at employees, New Orleans Police Officer Janssen Valencia said.
An officer with the state probation and parole division happened to be inside the bakery, and one took aim at the suspect and fired, shooting him the abdomen, police said.
Police said the probation and parole officer fired shortly after the suspect pointed his gun at him.
The two suspects fled the scene, police said. The wounded suspect, a 16-year-old boy, was transported to a local hospital. Police did not release his condition.
The other suspect fled in a white sport-utility vehicle and was apprehended minutes after the robbery attempt, several blocks away at the intersection of Tchoupitoulas and State streets, police said.
The identities of the suspects and the officer who fired his weapon have not been released. No money or property was taken in the robbery attempt.
Police said additional details will be provided later, as the investigation continues. A police spokesman hinted that the wounded suspect may be responsible for three recent robberies in the Uptown area. Those investigations remain open, however, and no one has been booked yet.
Posted by Lara Richards at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Gassed up
October 9, 2008Today, I had to go fill up with gas.
What's so notable about that, you may be wondering.
Well, I hadn't filled up with gas in five weeks.
you say, nuh-uh??
And I say, uh-huh!!
One great thing about being in school is that I have little time to do anything else. And, since I walk to campus every day, there are actually days when I don't drive at all. (I know. As a born-n-bred Texas, I never thought I would ever type those words.)
It sure is a major change from when I'd fill up twice a week after driving from Henrietta to Wichita Falls for work during the week and then out to our farm in Paducah for the weekends while living in Texas.
Posted by Lara Richards at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Live and learn
October 7, 2008I remember all those times when my boss or one of the IT guys at the paper would come by and lecture me about how bad it was that I ate at my desk. Glancing down at my keyboard revealed a cornucopia of crumbs and remnants of whatever I'd eaten, back when I was a TRN-er. Used to, I'd just laugh.
Well, I'm not laughing now. I've learned my lesson. I've only had my new laptop for around two months and it's completely gooey and gross, like some kid with jam hands has been manhandling it. There's schmutz on the keys and the cursor pad feels like someone rubbed a lollipop on it for a solid week.
I tried to clean it up, with spit of course, but it just keeps getting stickier. Argh!
Posted by Lara Richards at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Two more reasons to love NOLA
As if I needed more reasons to love my new home, New Orleans, here are two more:
Yahoo! Real Estate, in an article titled, "Going Solo in the USA" said New Orleans is the fifth-ranked city when it comes to percentage of single people.
Fifth! And we're behind some pretty cool and hip cities -- San Francisco, Detroit, New York and Boston. Here's the list. (Sorry for the smushed table, but I just cut and pasted it in.)
The Top Ten "Solo Cities:"
Rank Metro % Single
1 San Francisco, CA 44.7
2 Detroit, MI 44
3 New York, NY 39.8
4 Boston, MA 39.2
5 New Orleans, LA 39.1
6 Los Angeles, CA 37.7
7 Fort Lauderdale, FL 37.2
8 Las Vegas, NV 37
9 Miami, FL 36.9
10 Albuquerque, NM 36.8
And, if that wasn't enough, real live celebrities are in town right now as I type this. Yesterday, there were photos of Brad Pitt riding his bike down one of the local streets. Today, there's pix of Angelina Jolie walking the kids around the French Quarter.
See:
http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,20231348,00.html
It ain't that bad living the Big Easy life, I guess
Posted by Lara Richards at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Speaking of newspapers . . .
October 5, 2008There's an alternative weekly newspaper/tabloid down here called "The New Orleans Levee."
Its motto: We don't hold anything back.
Makes me laugh every time I see it.
Posted by Lara Richards at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Newspapers are dead?
Anyone who thinks newspapers are dead wasn't at the Laurel Street Bakery with me this morning.
There was almost a mutiny because, apparently, something happened with the printer/distributor of the New York Times in Houston, and so there are no NYTs in the city.
At least 10 different people came in to buy the Times at the coffee shop, and every time, the employees had to explain that there were none available.
This one guy was completely disgusted, "No New York Times in New Orleans?"
I told him he could simply read it online, which is what I do every day. He looked at me like I had just told him to eat his boogers.
Apparently, people down here -- or at least on the block where the bakery is -- can't get enough of the Sunday Times.
Posted by Lara Richards at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Cat explosion
What happens when you have a litter of kittens and don't get them fixed?
Well, pretty soon, you have three litters of kittens. It's a cat-splosion on the farm these days.
About six months ago, we were down to just three cats: Blackie, Lady Bird and Other Cat (aka O.C.) And then Lady Bird had a little of five kittens -- the cutest kittens I think I've ever seen, and I'm NOT a cat person.
I gave them beautiful and appropriate names of course. The adventurous one, well, he became Indiana Jones. The one with a thick crazy mane was Wild Thang and the one who's fur was unbelievably thick became Fuzzy. Then there was L.C. -- which stands for Last Cat -- because she was always the last cat to show up for feeding time. And then, the last cat I named, mainly because I was tired of trying to come up with names, was Cinco.
I told my Paw then and there that we needed to get someone fixed. Of course, my thought was to get the tomcat Blackie fixed, but Pop argued for the girls. It was a stand-off, and so we did nothing.
About two months ago, five more kittens showed up, courtesy of Other Cat. And I hate to break it to the previous quartet, but THESE were now the cutest set of kittens I'd ever seen.
(Sadly, after having named five kittens already, I was kind of short on names.)
I called the adventurous one -- the one that actually got in a fight with our big Lab -- James Bond. The little orange/yellow one became Sunshine. And the two little ones that I couldn't tell apart became Nola (for New Orleans, Louisiana, my new hometown) and Lola.
And then there was the fat cat. This one, a light tan, was twice as big as the others. Me and Paw named it Big Sandy, which I pointed out to Pop was definitely a girl's name.
What if Big Sandy turned out to be a boy?
He pointed out that boys can be named Sandy, too."Sandy Kofax?" he said.
Now, two months later, that cat is still twice as big as everyone else. And definitely a boy.
And so, Big Sandy Kofax he is.
**
That was the tally when I left to come to New Orleans for school. Since then, Pop's informed me that Lady Bird is pregnant again.
I guess I know what I'll be doing at Christmas break -- naming kittens.
Posted by Lara Richards at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Cowboy wisdom
October 4, 2008Working cattle always results in lots of choice stories from the cowboys, most of them unprintable of course.
But I do have a few tidbits of cowboy wisdom/humor from last time I was hanging around teh gang that I thought I'd pass along. These focused on women, what else?
**
That girl has summer teeth.
Some are going this way, some are going that way.
**
That girl has a butter face.
Everything about her is pretty, but her face.
Posted by Lara Richards at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Ummm, cowboys
Ummm, cowboys.
It's been about 6 weeks since I've seen a real, live cowboy, and I've gotta say, that's too long.
I don't need to explain the allure of cowboys to any of y'all, so we can just take it as fact that this group of man simply gets my motor running.
And this thirst for cowboy has driven me to take a somewhat illogical step. I've arranged to fly home to Texas in November to help out when we work cattle. True, my dad can take care of everything himself. After all, they'll be lots of cowboys there.
Ummm, cowboys. (And yes, if you're wondering, I AM saying this phrase in the same way that Homer Simpson says, "Ummm, donuts.")
I think my true motivation for going to Texas is obvious.
Yes, law professors, I'm skipping class to go get a brief taste of cowboy.
It's just that the men I encounter nowadays, or at least 99 percent of the guys in law school, are as far from cowboy as you can get. My neighbor, who is a 3rd-year law student, wore plaid loafers to class the other day. And there's way too many boys strutting around in chinos in colors like Nantucket Red and Morning Dew Yellow.
Men wearing yellow pants? Get outta town.
But it's here. In law school ALL around me.
And so, in about four weeks, I'm flying home to work cattle.
And -- most importantly -- get a good up close and personal dose of the best man that mankind has to offer.
Ummm, cowboys.
Posted by Lara Richards at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
