EUROPEANIZE!

This was very cool - the first annual "San Fermin in Nueva Orleans" a mock running of the bulls in the French Quarter. Brilliant. The Big Easy Rollergirls acted as bulls on rollerskates, and a pretty decent group of runners showed up to participate. It started at 8:00 a.m., so I missed the begining, but I caught up with them when the crowd made a turn on Royal from Toulouse. Everyone seemed to just be laughing their asses off. I think this wil become a big deal and definitely worth waking up early for. Not to mention the fun white with red 'kerchief outfits. The metal bull was also the dj/music/boom box getup.

Earlier this month I went on a very short trip over to Austin. I rented a car and hit the road with a stack of This American Life cds. I had heard that Austin was very different from the rest of Texas, and was actually very cool. I found this to be true with lots of things going on around town such as the old Paramount Theater downtown playing Breakfast at Tiffany's, lots of thrift stores, the giant, amazing original Whole Foods, lots of scooter shops, a public springs/pool, etc. These were my two most European experiences: Being the "overflow" person in the hostel and getting the bed on the floor in the t.v. room. (It really wasn't that bad) and stopping in Houston at Mecca

The yahoo group, "scootneworleans" have organized themselves and are riding on Sundays. Whoever shows up at NOMA at 4:00 pm - or I think it's CC's on Esplanade now - is welcome to ride around for a while and usually end up at some restaurant. This is from the first ride that ended at Angeli. I think its a fun idea, but like a veterinarian allergic to cats, all those two stroke vintage bikes put out a nasty exhaust that gives me a headache. I'l start going more if the modern "cleaner" bikes outnumber the stinky ones. This is the opposite of what most of the hardcore scooter dudes think, they snort up that blue smoke like its cocaine.