Craig and I arrived in NOLA on Thursday. I lost my watch for about 10 minutes at baggage claim. I considered it emblematic of our arrival in the South, but then I found it. And it's a good thing because we're staying with the Unitarians at the UUSC volunteer center at FUUNO (First Unitarian-Universalist Church of New Orleans, dig the carefully constructed acronym). I love UUs, and I am one, but God help you if you don't know the time: we are Scheduled! I love it, it really meshes with my 'protestant work ethic' (i.e. the more I work, the less terrible a person I am).
It's Mardi Gras season here, so I've been dodging parades. There was one called the Barkus, and it's a puppy parade. People dress up their dogs, dress up like their dogs, and pay fifty bucks a pop to march with their dogs in the parade. We worked a seven hour shift handing out free boxes of Altria brand dog biscuits; we made pyramids of them and forced them into the hands of passerby. Today we're going to learn how to install flooring here at the volunteer center. We're still working on a place to live next week because this place closes for Mardi Gras. Craig is happy: he sleeps 10 hours a day. I am happy too: I like the people I meet and they like me.
