This is the grave of Marie Laveau, New Orleans' infamous Voodoo Queen.       

     Yes, I even took a picture of a puddle in the road.  This is my favorite photo of the day.        

I decided (grudingly!) to take the pics in one of Hawk's 50 First Date's locations on the grid - The Big Easy - Because I'm a sucker for N'awlins theme and just love all things that have to do with the city/history/culture.

The skin is Nomine Female Fawn Glitter Black (L$100!!! right now!) The dress is the Nomine Relic Dress... though not sure it's still available for sale I've had it since I was but a wee n00b. The setting is a small courtyard-bar place I found on the sim nestled between some buildings. Made me think of Pat O'brien's and Hurricanes... kinda.

This skin is Nomine Light Rosy Tan Punk in latte swirls (though you can't see the eye makeup detail in this pic) and that doesn't really matter because you can't get this skin anymore!! The dress is the OMFG dress and, again, had it forever... not sure it's still available :P The hair is CS Bloodrayne... omg remember Bloodrayne? Everyone and their mother had to have it!! The picture is of me looking for the Bourbon Orleans hotel - corner of Bourbon and Orleans - that I can't find :(

Skin: Nomine Fawn Skittlez Glossy Pink (another of the L$100 skins!) The place? Ahhhh Cafe du Monde... beignets and coffee au lait.  I think I spelled that all ok :P Been there! Yes I have! Even have the souvenir mug to prove it!

Anyhow, visit Nomine and load up on your favorite L$100 skins before they're gone!

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Improve your ability to market and sell your products by managing customer information.

Stay connected - whether you are in the office or on the road, easily connect, communicate and network with people and information.

Contact Onsite Computer and you can save your business 25% whether you buy or purchase Microsoft software. Ask your Onsite representative how Microsoft Financing makes good sense for as little as $50/month. Call Onsite today - 504-469-6991.

If you're searching for New Orleans computer service or repair of your Microsoft based system or network, then call the Microsoft specialists at 504-469-6991. Onsite Computer Services, Inc. in New Orleans

You may also be interested in Onsite Computer's Blog.

This New Orleans On-Site Computer Service post was provided by Eli Lucas. Eli can be reached at eli@onsitenola.com. Onsite Computer serves the Microsoft computing needs of small businesses throughout the Greater New Orleans area including Uptown, Lakeview, Broadmoor, Mid-City, Metairie, Jefferson, Kenner, Westbank, French Quarter, and the Warehouse District. Please visit our website for New Orleans Computer Service.

 The Big Easy Offer rocks. Essentially, it is a rewards and subsidy program attached to Microsoft products that you are probably already buying today.  Here's how it works:

1. Purchase. Get your reward when you make a qualifying purchase between February 1 and June 27, 2008.
2. Redeem. After purchase, you can redeem the Big Easy Offer on this site until July 31, 2008.
3. Spend. Microsoft will then send you a subsidy check made out to the partner of your choice, which you can spend on additional services and products. Checks must be used within 90 days of the issue date.

If you're a reseller, this is what your customers will see if they go to their version of "The Big Easy offer" portal: http://www.microsoftincentives.com/bigeasy/ (if you're a small or medium-sized business, click on the link and find out how to redeem beaucoup cash from your Microsoft purchases).

Go here to check out the terms and conditions (no worries, the T&C for "The Big Easy Promo" is more about giving you great and thorough information than fine print). One of the first things you're likely to see in the T&C is a list of eligible licenses, for example:

The following licenses are considered "Eligible Licenses" for this promotion:

• Open Business License (L Only)
• Open Government License (L Only)
• Open Business License and Software Assurance (L&SA)
• Open Government License and Software Assurance (L&SA)
• Open Value License and Software Assurance (L&SA)
• Open Value Subscription
• Original Equipment Manufacturer ("OEM") License purchased (Purchasing software preloaded on a PC or server) with the SKUs set forth in Schedule B.
• OEM License purchased (purchasing software preloaded on a PC or server) from one of the partners identified in Schedule C.
• Open Value Software Assurance if purchased with an OEM License as described immediately above. Software Assurance must be purchased within ninety days of the L purchase.
• OEM Windows Server Reseller Option Kit ("ROK")
• OEM 2007 Office Medialess License Kit ("MLK")

Eligible Licenses must be genuine licenses sold in the United States and intended for use in the United States and must be purchased from a Registered, Certified or Gold partner that is a member of the Microsoft Partner Program partners in order to qualify for partner subsidy dollars ("Authorized Selling Partners").

Further down the T&C, you can look up exactly what types of incentives you can expect from each type of license. Here are some examples for Office:

 Min: 5 Licenses. Max: 200 Licenses.

 Min: 5 Licenses. Max: 200 Licenses.

See how simple it is?  Small and Mid-Sized businesses and resellers, if you are not taking advantage of this offer, you are seriously missing out on free $$$.  1 month of this left, and it goes "bye-bye". 

If you're a small to mid-sized business and this is still confusing, call your Microsoft reseller.  If you're a reseller and this is still confusing, please contact your SYNNEX rep (800.456.4822) or give one of our Software Account Managers a call.  (Your best bet here will be Willie Cash at xt. 4547.)

Viva Microsoft!

As most people know, things are not so easy in New Orleans these days. The City, State and Federal leaders of the area spent an awful lot of time pointing their fingers at each other (in a way that reminds me of the story of Nero laughing and playing his fiddle as the city of Rome burned all around him) and not nearly enough time protecting the city.

My first experience with New Orleans was about 10 or so years ago. Like most people that had never been there, I was completely unprepared for what I would experience once I got to New Orleans. Having grown up in South Florida, I thought I understood what a party town was. Well, New Orleans brings party town to a whole new level. From the 24 hours bars and clubs, to the legality of walking down the street with an alcoholic drink in your hand, this is a city that know how to party. I fell in love with it almost right away and always look for any excuse to go over there for a few days (it is only about an 8 hour drive from where I live).

My first time in New Orleans (or NOLA for short), I stayed at the Ambassador Hotel on Decatur street, just outside of the Quarter. I have since stayed at the Sheraton on Canal Street, the Hotel Monteleone in the quarter, and a few other places that I would just as soon forget. The Monteleone was by far the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at in the area, though I did love the Ambassador a lot (my local friends tell me that the Ambassador is not what it used to be – I will have to find out for myself).

I was in town for Southern Decadence in 2006. For those of you not familiar with that festival, it is probably best described as a gay Mardi Gras. Up until Hurricane Katrina, it was one of the largest festivals in town. Katrina hit 1 week before the 2005 Southern Decadence Festival, so that one was pretty much wiped out. The Festival I went to was the first one they held after the hurricane. While the attendance was much smaller, the city was still vibrant and festive. Sure, there were signs everywhere of what had happened (there still are, and it is now nearly 3 years since Katrina). But we were able to enjoy ourselves. There were open stores and restaurants. There were tons of people. And it was a lot like the New Orleans of old.

The French Quarter and the Garden District were not hit like some of the other areas of town. My partner and I toured through the Lower Ninth Ward and saw where house after house was either gone or gutted to its studs because all of the dry wall was rotten. We saw the workers who were there, living in the same squalid conditions (no electricity – living in tents or trailers, stifling heat, community food banks, etc.), giving of themselves to help bring back the area.

On my last trip to New Orleans (which was right after this past Mardi Gras), my partner and I decided to take a drive east from New Orleans to see how things were going on the Mississippi coast. We drove to just east of Biloxi on the Interstate, then took the highway along the beach (US 90) back to Louisiana. What we saw cannot easily be described. This looks like an area that time forgot. You can see lot after lot that has only a foundation left on it. This was once a prime area of real estate. We saw this kind of devastation all along the coast of Mississippi. It made me both sad and mad to see that it could have made such little progress in 2½ years. So many people concentrate on New Orleans, and what happened there was devastating. But it was even more devastating in Bay St Louis and Biloxi and Gulfport, and all the other small towns along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Let's hope that they start to recover there as well!

So enough about sad things. What about the good things. New Orleans is of course known for its food. There are so many great restaurants in the city. Great chefs abound as well – such as Chef Paul Prudhomme (K Paul) or Emeril Lagasse (Nola and Emeril's). Also, while it is tacky and dirty and all that, Bourbon Street is still a lot of fun. I love walking down that street and watching all of the people – usually drunk, doing things that they would never do at home, but suddenly, here in the French Quarter, they are different people. Las Vegas has the saying, "what happens here, stays here." I think that might be more appropriate for New Orleans.

Before the hurricane, I had the pleasure of going to the Audubon Zoo. I am a big fan of zoos, and this is a great one. I enjoyed the setting, getting there by boat from the Aquarium and the collection of animals. I have some great pictures of a raccoon that was relaxing on the hood of an old car, just having a relaxing time. I hear that the zoo is open again, though I have not had the opportunity to return since Hurricane Katrina. Hopefully, on a subsequent visit, I will be able to go back.

One of my favorites when I go to New Orleans is the local oysters. I go to the Crescent City Brewhouse on Decatur street, or the Acme Oyster House on Iberville in the Quarter. Mmm Mmm good. I also love to go to Cafe du Monde and have the beignets. It doesn't matter what time of day (or night) you go. They are always a treat.

While I am in town, the Bourbon St Pub on St Anne and Bourbon Street is probably my favorite bar. Downstairs is a video bar and upstairs is a dance bar. It is a lot of fun, generally packed with people most days of the week, and the bartenders are also very nice. They also play very good dance music videos, one of the reasons I really enjoy going there.

Another highlight of New Orleans is the Lafayette Cemetery. Since the city is at sea level, there is water right below the ground, making it hard to bury people. So the tombs are built above ground, with elaborate monuments around them. It is truly a sight to see. I have seen other cemeteries that are like this, but this is the largest scale I have seen in the US.

For those that have not been to New Orleans, or have not gone back since the storm, you should go. The city (in fact the whole area) needs our support. It is not something that, in my opinion, should be allowed to disappear. New Orleans is a great treasure that deserves our attention. So is the Mississippi Gulf coast.

To see some of my pictures of New Orleans, click here.

Microsoft's Eric Ligman (above) gave a pretty in-depth presentation on OVS and the Big Easy promotion this afternoon. Honestly, Eric shared way too much information to fit in a blog post (I can't type that fast, sorry) so we will post the entire presentation on the Microsoft Sherpa blog next week.  Until then, here are some quick little images of some of his more informative slides:

Again, if you can't read these slides very well, no worries: We'll post the actual presentation/slides next week. Until then, feel free to visit www.microsoftincentives.com/bigeasy for more details on the big Easy promotion.

Do you remember it?   It was Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals and they beat Phoenix.

Since then, the Mavs lost 3 road games in Miami and lost in the NBA Finals.

They lost 3 games in Oakland last year to the Warriors and last night lost their second straight road playoff game in New Orleans. 

That's 0 for 8. 

Former Dallas Morning News TV critic, Ed Bark, is hot and nails the club on his blog.

Tickets available at both Flying M locations and ticketweb. com (w/online fee). For a sampling of their music, go to
www.the-invasion.com or www.myspace.com/theinvasionspace

For more info, visit www.congratulationsforever.com or myspace

First Course
Louisiana Jumbo Lump Crap, Gulf Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Baby Arugula, Grilled Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Salsa, 100-Year-Old Balsamic Vinegar and Sweet Corn Emulsion.

Second Course
Spring Asparagus Puree with First of the Season Morel Mushroom Custard, Louisiana Jumbo Lump Crab and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Third Course
Canadian Lobster Risotto with Maitake and Hedgehog Mushrooms, English Peas, Local Scallions and White Truffle Oil

Fourth Course
Wild Porcini-Crusted Veal Tenderloin and Caramelized Wild Burgundy Escargots with Fingerling Potato Confit, Baby Heirloom Vegetables and Calvados Veal Reduction

Fifth Course
Chocolate Cake with Hot Buttered Pink Lemonade

By Kim Bedwell

En un mercado donde los productos buscan ser cada vez más pequeños y compactos, como los teléfonos móviles, algunas personas tienen dificultades para digitar en esas diminutas teclas y ver en esas mini-pantallas, especialmente personas de la tercera edad con dificultades para ver y escuchar ó incluso tal vez alguien con dedos más gruesos de lo normal. Para ellos llegó Big Easy2, un móvil de grandes proporciones que fué presentado en Hannover en la pasada feria CeBIT 2008.

Como características ópticas resaltan sus grandes teclas de 11x15 mm y una gran tecla de contestar o recibir de 25x15 mm separadas a una distancia razonable y que además son iluminadas y audibles al espichar. Su pantalla LED monocromática muestra grandes números de 46x26 mm, suficientes como para ver claramente los números. También cuenta con unas características audibles "mejoradas" como su gran sistema de altavoz ubicado en la parte trasera y con volumen ajustable, incluso en versión fuerte. Tiene un motor para generar una fuerte vibración y llamar rápidamente la atención. Todo lo necesario para ser completamente accesible por todas las personas.

Tiene funciones de S.O.S. por medio de tres teclas programables principales justo debajo de la pantalla, pensadas como acceso rápido o marcación directa en situaciones de emergencia a centros médicos o momentos que se requieran primeros auxilios, incluso sus nueve teclas también se pueden programar en modo marcación rápida o directa. Las teclas de ON y OFF se presentan en botones separados y en diferente color. Viene incluso con un cordón para ser colgado alrededor del cuello.

Como datos técnicos resaltan su gran tamaño de 6,8 x 17,9 x 2,3 centímetros. Pesa 194 gramos y genera una baja radiación SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) para la zona de la cabeza por la posición de su antena. Su batería le proporciona largo tiempo de funcionamiento, aproximadamente 5 días en stad-by y 5 horas en tiempo de conversación. Fabricado en Alemania

Vía: Big-Easy / Vía: Fitage

February 5, 1995 was a Sunday. I remember it well because it was the day I returned from Mardi Gras that year. I’d gone to Mardi Gras with my boyfriend at the time, Christian, who I’d met the week after New Years at a club in Memphis. Christian and I moved to Memphis together and shared a dorm room in July later that year. We broke up less than two months into the summer semester.

But what a trying time for a new relationship, going to Mardi Gras together after only being a couple for one month. To get us there, Christian talked one of his Memphis friends, Sean, a Wiccan, into going with us who then talked one of his straight girl friends into going. She agreed to let us take her car. The girl, whose name I can’t remember, got drunk in the back seat with Christian, who I’d already discovered was quite the drinker, on the long drive down Highway 55 that Friday before Fat Tuesday.

So Sean drove most of the way. I was in the passenger’s seat, and besides the obnoxious drunks in the back who eventually passed out from too much vodka, all I can remember about that long drive down the state of Mississippi is Suzanne Vega’s song, Tom’s Diner, playing on the radio.

We checked into our hotel and then decided to hit Bourbon Street. I was 19 years old then, so it’s funny to look back now and say that the bars there, like Bourbon Street Pub and Oz, were unlike any other bars I’d experienced, then and now. I had barely been out of the closet a year, so it was like an 8 year old going to Disney World for the first time. Unfortunately, Christian became separated from the group. After drinking too much and dancing not enough, Sean, the girl, and I returned to the hotel without him.

Christian called us from the Bourbon Pub early the next morning while we were still sleeping. He had no money for a cab and wanted me to come get him so he could come back to the hotel and sleep. I told him he’d have to wait. After several more hours of sleep and several phone calls from Christian, I got in a cab around noon. Sean and the girl wanted to sleep a bit more, but agreed to meet me at the Pub around 3ish. Because cab fare was so expensive, I put Christian in the cab and sent him to the hotel while I stayed on Bourbon Street.

At 19 being alone on the streets in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, even in broad daylight, was a bit scary. There was so much to see and so little time to take it all in before I had to meet up with my friends again. I didn’t go far from our meeting place, rambling in and out of a few gift shops. All I really remember from that time alone is two men approaching me right on the street and asking if I wanted to buy pot. I declined and quickly crossed the road.

When I returned to Bourbon Pub, Sean and the girl were already sitting there waiting for me. They’d actually come out early to enjoy the not-so-crowded streets, and even stopped at a place and had their faces painted. Because of the high price of everything, we decided to stay put and ducked into the Bourbon Pub to mingle with the growing crowd. Getting upstairs to the balconies was free at that time of the day, so we enjoyed drinking, dancing, and watching the bead tossing from above the streets.

The girl set her eyes on some guy down in the streets and ran downstairs into the street to pay him a kiss and collect her beads. Little did she know, they were now charging a $20 cover charge to come back upstairs. She didn’t want to pay that, so it was just me and Sean there because we weren’t ready to go downstairs yet. Eventually we got bored and decided to venture down to look for her and explore the neighboring bars. The girl was no where to be found.

I remember Sean and I holding hands to avoid getting lost in the growing crowd. At one point, we were walking up Bourbon Street in front of some straight clubs and the people were so packed out front that I actually felt myself being lifted up off the ground because people were smashed up against me so tightly. Everyone was crowding in front to get a look at something going on atop one of the balconies, but we were buried so deep in the crowd it was impossible to look up and see. Sean and I had had enough, and so we returned to the hotel to check on Christian, and we hoped the girl had found her way there too.

Christian was awake, hungry and sober, and ready to hit the streets again. The girl was not there. To save money on drinks, the three of us hit the hotel bar on the top floor and got sloppy drunk. Then, it was back to Bourbon Street. The details of that night are hazy in my memory, but I do remember us returning to the hotel that night and finding the girl already asleep in bed.

The events of Saturday are also pretty much a blur to me now. I can recall faces of people I met in the bars, only because of pictures I snapped with my camera. I can recall being in places, but don’t necessarily remember it being on that Saturday or not. Even the beads I collected that weekend are only proof to me that I was there. I do not know who or where they came from specifically.

I do remember the girl had picked up another local (a bi male prostitute) sometime on Saturday and he joined our caravan as we wandered the streets and clubs of the Big Easy. I don’t remember his name, but I can vividly remember what he looked like, the black pants he wore and the brown and black plaid shirt, his spikey hair, his oily skin. He stayed with us, long after the girl became lost in the streets again. He even returned to our hotel room with us, with intentions to rob us I was almost sure.

As we slept, Christian and I in one bed and Sean and the male prostitute in the other, the door to our hotel room creaked open in the middle of the night. I just knew it was the male prostitute sneaking out with our wallets but it was actually the girl attempting to sneak in and grab her things. She was going to leave without us! A huge argument broke out between her and Sean. Slaps were made! Things were thrown! I locked myself in the bathroom. Sean kicked the girl out.

Here I was locked in a New Orleans hotel bathroom with little money left, with a broke drunk boyfriend I’d known only a month, his Wiccan friend who’d have to pay to get us home, and a male prostitute we’d known less than 24 hours. We tried to get some sleep. A hotel employee knocked on the door to talk to Sean. Sean refused to let the girl back into the room. He did let her come in and get her things, but that was it. Unbeknownst to the girl, she left her car keys in the room.

Early that Sunday morning, Sean sat cross-legged in a chair and chanted. Christian and the prostitute smoke cigarettes and shared stories about their tattoos. The boy wanted a tattoo of comedy and tragedy masks on his chest, one mask on each pec surrounded by the words, "Laugh now. Cry later." I had not given much thought to doing either. Instead, I sat quiet, just wanting to get back to Tennessee. We would go by train, which was the cheapest route but the longest. I called my Mom, then I called work and told them I wouldn’t be in that night. I somehow think we were stranded there another day. I honestly can't remember if it was three days or four. There are still other hazy memories from that trip that I can't place in order.

On his credit card, Sean bought four Amtrak train tickets for us and paid for the cab to get us to the station. When we left the hotel, the girl’s car was still sitting in the parking lot. Sean took the keys with him. I have no idea why the prostitute was going to come back to Memphis with us, but he did. Sean bought us dinner on the train. It was actually some of the best food I’d ever eaten. Two years later I’d take the train to New Orleans and back again with a friend, but this time it was not during Mardi Gras.

It was approaching midnight when the train pulled into downtown Memphis. Another cab got us back to the dorms where Sean lived. Christian and I drove back to my home in silence. We were too tired to talk, too exhausted to fight about it. I still lived at home with mom and hour and a half north of Memphis, but that's another story. The prostitute ended up staying about a week with Sean, enjoying the city and “earning” the cost of his train ticket. When Christian and I broke up, I learned that during the first night of leaving him in the bars, he’d earned his alcohol in much the same way. That explained why his underwear was missing when I went to pick him up that morning.

Little did he know, I let someone kiss me on the dance floor upstairs in Bourbon Pub one night. He was a young guy with curly hair and little perfect teeth. I remember he said he was a character at Disney World, and there with a bunch of other friends who were all characters too. I felt bad about the kiss, quickly looking around to see if anyone, Sean perhaps, had seen what had happened. But no one had seen it. I snapped a picture of me with that guy. I think back on that kiss now, and I seriously doubt that guy remembers it, but I do. It was just a kiss, but it said, "it was okay."

After I was living in Memphis on my own, long after the reckless affair with Christian had ended, I ran into Sean a couple of times on the dance floor. And I even ran into that girl who left us stranded once. She was dining in a restaurant with a boy— a brother or date perhaps— and a set of parents, maybe his or hers. When I got up to leave, we exchanged glances. I waved, a shy twiddle of the fingers, and she looked away. I’d often wondered how she got home. Above all else, I was glad to see she’d made it.

Like I said, two years later I returned to the Big Easy with a friend. We went for a four day weekend getaway in September, specifically at a time when absolutely nothing was going on down there. We wanted to enjoy a non-touristy side of New Orleans, away from the boob showing and bead tossing flare. We both read the same book on the long slow train ride so we could discuss it together. We sat in the viewing car. We dined on that wonderful train food I remembered having at the expense of Sean.

In New Orleans, we shared a room. We shopped. We got our fortunes told. We danced. We drank. She got laid. We shopped, danced, and drank some more. Then, we got back on the train and came home. It was a nice pleasurable and chaos-free weekend, unlike my Mardi Gras escapade. To this day, I still have a box full of beads from both of those trips, all mixed together like a bunch of memories. Unlike those plastic beads though, some of those memories are good and some bad. But not a single one of them are regrets.

The New Orleans I know from both of those trips is obviously much different now since Hurricane Katrina. I think of it sometimes and wonder just how much it’s changed. I know I’ve changed since then. Haven’t we all? I’m older now, and wiser, and only dream of the days of unplanned road trips of yesterday. Too much of my life has all been planned out since then, so maybe I’ll get back there one day. Back to New Orleans. Hell, even back to Memphis. I haven’t been there either in years. Back to the way things were seems so far away.

Unplanned.

When me and laura get together for just 8hrs, so imagine what we are gonna get ourselves into in 3 days!!! Me and my wonderful friend Laura are taking a mini vacation to the Big Easy for 3 days! YEP THREE WHOLE DAYS! We are super excited to say the least. We are literally counting down the hours until we are on the road "Thelma and Louise" style! We are going down there to induldge Laura's teenie bopper fantasy of meeting Taylor Hanson! Crazy i know but its gonna be a blast, we have reservations at a super nice Hotel. No kids and NO HUSBANDS! Sounds like heaven, right?!

7:30pm Friday 22 February 2008

Prologue: I've actually been to Dogpatch Saloon. I found it quite charming. Only trouble was the company. ("Our drinks are stiffer than your date's dick" was printed on the coaster, and that coaster wasn't kidding!) A brand-new Barfly -- Big Easy -- is coming all the way from Santa Cruz and will finally be able to attend an Official Visit, so the company factor is guaranteed to be 100% improved over the last time I was there. And Dogpatch Saloon seemed to me then to be the sort of place that doesn't change much, so it's bound to be as appealing a place to drink as it was before. Please do come join me and Big Easy for a drink or so (that is, if you are reasonably certain of your status as "good company") at Dogpatch Saloon, won't you?

Afterword: As I mentioned, I had been to Dogpatch Saloon before, so its rustic charm was no surprise to me on my Official Visit. In fact, I was relieved that the place was precisely as I remembered it, despite being crowded with at least ten times the number of customers as the last time I was there. Even the bartender was the same. If I had forgotten his face (which I had not, at least not completely), then his name would have been enough to remind me that he was behind the bar that other time, too (hi, Goody!).

Big Easy was not there yet, so I had some (/lots of) time to scope out the joint. Dogpatch Saloon is brightly lit (not blindingly so, but there are no dim spots in which to hide a bad hair day, or, say, circles under the eyes from partying pretty much all week long, if one's friends are to be believed about their version of a certain merry-making timeline that I still think sounds a little far-fetched, even for me). I've never had trouble parking there (a major plus). The coasters didn't have witty -- and uncannily accurate -- double entendres printed on them on my reunion with Dogpatch Saloon and Goody, but I did get a chance to count the 5 tv's, 4 ceiling fans, 3 semi-taxidermied pheasants on the wall near the optimistically named "kitchen', 2 old-timey cash registers, and 1 pool table -- squeezed in between the barstools and the booths on the opposite wall so tightly that players need to rearrange people at the bar fairly frequently. And you know what? The vibe in Dogpatch Saloon is so mellow that nobody minds this. Not even The Hostess, as she waited -- and waited, and waited -- for Big Easy to show up (and if that isn't high praise, I don't know what is...)

Dogpatch Saloon is quite evidently frequented by a preponderance of so-called regulars. Which is to say that The Hostess was more than a little, shall we say, conspicuous -- especially given my unaccompanied state. Fortunately, I have found that whipping out the Official Notebook and gazing around purposefully and pausing to take notes almost always leads to a new acquaintance (or so), conversations with whom can easily tide me over until a 'Fly buzzes in. For example, just as I was noting the existence of a raised bit of floor with a piano jammed onto it that could -- perhaps -- be deemed a stage, a regular named Rick (aka: Rugrat) decided to introduce himself -- and a large part of the back of the bar -- to me, in the course of inquiring what I was writing..."about our Bar, right?"

I don't think that any of them believed why I was really there and what I was actually doing, despite the business cards (with the possible exception of Cliff, who subsequently warned us about the dubious status of Oxygen Bar in the Mission). But everyone -- including Gene, the "mayor of Dogpatch" -- was very friendly, in a way that I didn't feel like I was quite so conspicuously unaccompanied any longer. This being, ipso facto, the sign of a very good Bar...

As I began to seriously contemplate sampling the free pretzels (which really couldn't have hurt me, given that I was easily 4 days into a debilitating and lingering mysterious illness that would plague me for weeks), Big Easy, at long last, tapped me on the shoulder. It turned out that he had brought along a surprise: the fabulous Dottie P.! So I had double my anticipated long-lost liaison, which was even more than twice as much fun as I thought I would have at Dogpatch Saloon that night (don't bother trying to do the math -- the Fun Factor is a variable that exists in four dimensions and cannot be calculated, except during Official Visits, and after at least two strong drinks). Big Easy and Dottie P. even got to be in the Official Photo since, after all, I had been there long enough to figure out who to trust with my camera for the duration of one shot. Even though we were all understandably disappointed that the Official Visit ended as soon as it did (although I personally had at least 3 scotch & sodas, all told), I made sure to sign Free Drink coupons for Big Easy and Dottie P., the better to keep them from being long-lost to me again.

Suffice to say, Dogpatch Saloon is a fine place to have a drink (or so). If I lived in the neighborhood, I'd most likely be one of the so-called regulars. Alas, I live elsewhere. But I will certainly keep Dogpatch Saloon in mind when(if)ever I'm in the vicinity. Dogpatch Saloon is the kind of Bar one can probably rely on (for a while, at least, as long as the forces of gentrification can be kept at bay) to be a reliable place to have a good drink, for a fair price, in the company of some friendly folks (and if one doesn't wander in there with someone the coasters might be making fun of in the first place that night, so much the better!).

Bathroom Biography:
One for each. Perfectly serviceable. But I used up the last of the toilet tissue. Believe it or not, I think Dogpatch Saloon got extra points when I pointed this out to Goody and he hastily grabbed a roll out of the mens' room and asked me to personally re-stock the ladies'. I tell you, the vibe is so mellow at Dogpatch Saloon, not only did I not mind at all, I was happy to help out. Go figure. Better yet, go to Dogpatch Saloon and check it all out for yourself.