Dufrene's Domain

Republicrats/Democans…what’s the point?

dufrene — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:41:53 +0000

You tell me to think independently, which is what I’m doing. I’m not part of the flock, which pisses you all off. It’s dependent people that vote liberal. That’s how liberals want us to be. It’s amazing how for 8 years you people could tear the administration apart and it was OK. And now, we give the same types of criticism to Obama, and you can’t take it. I’m not the one that needs to shut up…it’s your turn to shut up and take it. I have my beliefs, and I WILL express them. For too long, conservative white Christians have been suppressed and not taken seriously. I, for one, will stand up for my beliefs, regardless of political party. So, keep being sheep. Keep getting your “news” from liberal media that DOES NOT tell you the actual news. We’ll talk in four years.

Gustav….frustration….

dufrene — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:43:41 +0000

So I’m sitting here in Commerce, TX, as I have been since Saturday afternoon, in evacuation from our newly occupied residence in Galliano, LA. I’ve been diligently watching The Weather Channeland flipping back and forth between all the major news channels (CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS, etc…) trying to figure out what has been going on in Lafourche Parish due to Gustav. I’ve scoured the internet searching for any updated information regarding wind damage/flooding that may have happened in our area. I thought the Lafourche Parish government website would shed some light on the happening, but of course not. Thank you parish president, Charlotte Randolph, and your staff for keeping it’s constituents abreast of any devastation in our region. (I hope the sarcasm was sensed). I’ve managed to hear from my mom, who heard from her friends thatstayed in Galliano on their houseboat, that there has been substantial structural damage in our area, including schools and our local grocery (which lost its roof). The earthen levee which stands roughly one mile from my childhood home, as well as my grandfather’s home, has apparently not been able to withstand the water and has broken.

Another HUGE part of my frustration deals with those aforementioned national news channels. This is a two-part frustration.

First – As soon as the hurricane was downgraded to a category 2, just before landfall, the sheer disappointment was obvious from these blood-sucking, anything-for-a-story “reporters” that would have been happier to report on a life-threatening, category 5, responsible for thousands of deaths, than a mild hurricane in which lives were spared. How ultimately selfish, perverted, and indicative of our culture of death, for these overpaid, self-serving, selective reporters to almost root for the storm to strengthen before landfall. I’m convinced that if they possessed the power, they would have strengthened the storm themselves just for a better story. How pathetic!

Second – New Orleans, as unfortunate as Katrina was to that city, was not then, and has not been for Gustav, the hardest hit area. The Mississippi Gulf Coast was Katrina’s hardest hit area, as far as total devastation is concerned. Wind and rain was not what caused damage in New Orleans…that would be storm surge. I cannot express my disgust with a CNN reporter who, today, September 1, 2008, was attempting to explain a map of the levees in New Orleans and how they would soon be breached due to storm surge. Anyone who knows 2+2 can figure out what storm surge is all about. If you are on the east side of the storm, surge comes from the south. The reason Metairie flooded for Katrina is due to the surge coming from the north (Lake Pontchartrain) because the storm was to the east, New Orleans to it’s west. I will make this plain and clear… GUSTAV DOES NOT = KATRINA. They are different types of storm which cannot be compared. Instead of focusing on the areas which face the most widespread devastation (i.e. Terrebonne Parish, Lafourche Parish, St. Mary Parish), New Orleans gets all of the attention. I honestly can not figure out why.

I won’t even get on the topic of all those “people” complaing about waiting in line to get on an assisted evacuation bus…

Bahamas and Tings

dufrene — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:01:00 +0000

Well, I don’t know if it’s because I’m pacing myself on my new blog to prevent burnout or if it’s because we just returned from our cruise to the Bahamas, but here I am updating much later than my previous entry.

So yea, we went to the Bahamas. I surprised Katie with the idea of a cruise as her birthday present. It originated as a cruise from Mobile, AL visiting Progresso (Merida) and Cozumel. It changed to Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas leaving from Port Canaveral, FL.

It was a 4-nighter. First day was in Freeport…pretty crappy, but we spent the day at the beach at an all-inclusive resort. It was far-from-fancy, but we had access to unlimited food, drinks, and beachy activities. I took advantage of the activities and did a little snorkeling off the beach.

Our next day was in Nassau. Nassau was much more enjoyable than Freeport, much more attractive and sight-seer-friendly. We ventured to the famous Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. It is absolutely amazing…a veritable compound of hotel rooms, casinos, beaches, aquariums, restaurants, shops, etc… all themed around the concept of the “Lost City of Atlantis”. Quite a remarkable experience.

My next adventure was my Dolphin Encounter. I had always wanted to swim with those lovable sea-mammals. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this excursion, but I did purchase a 5×7 of a dolphin kissing my cheek and the $58 DVD of my entire experience.

The true adventure of our trip was not the cruise or any excursion we went on, but the 13 hour drive to Port Canaveral. Not so bad on the way, but far from enjoyable after our 4-day-little-sleep cruise. But, for our first cruise, aside from the tacky early 90s decor and cheese-ball shows, it was a blast and I’m sure we’ll cruise again.

And now…one of my favorite parts of the cruise…

THE TOWEL ANIMALS!

Car update

dufrene — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:56:22 +0000

Well, not surprising, but when I called this afternoon to check on the status of our car (keep in mind that I was told yesterday that it would be ready today after lunch), I was told it was going to be ready tomorrow. I’ve taken two days off of work and have been away from my wife for almost two days for something to be fixed that was not the fault of Katie or I. Needless to say, I was furious on the phone and was not hesitant in expressing my fury to the female on the other end of the line at the collision center. I immediately called Samir, our salesman who has taken superb care of us from day one, to see if he could do anything on his end. He, in his slightly indistinguishable middle eastern accent said the following (paraphrased)…”You call collision center, tell them you miss two days work already, you want to go back to Lafayette. Tell them you are pissed off. I do what I can. I talk to my general manager.” He obviously was nowhere near the collision center as I was admonishing the employee there via telephone, because otherwise, he would have known that I let them know I was “pissed off”. So, I am still waiting here at my parents’ in fabulous Sorrento, LA, not sure the plan. I have lost lots of trust over the months in people getting things done. I don’t want to become jaded and not expect great things from people, but it is nearing impossible to do so.

Grrr…

Beginnings, New Car

dufrene — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:50:24 +0000

I’ve attempted this blog experience in the past, but with little discipline to actually post regularly, I failed miserably at it multiple times. Here is my new attempt using wordpress.com. Thank you, Lorien, for having a beautiful blog which inspired me to give this another shot.

Currently, I am sitting in my parents’ living room watching Peter Grimes on PBS, bored out of my mind waiting to head back to New Orleans. In true Tarantino style, I’ll go back to the beginning of the plot now. Katie and I recently bought a Prius in a (thus far) successful attempt to save on gas. Since the Prius is such a high-demand vehicle, which is also NOT mass produced, they are very difficult to come across just sitting at a dealership waiting to be bought. We finally located one at the eighth dealership in south Louisiana that I called, Lakeside Toyota in NOLA. We bought it on a rainy Saturday a few weeks ago.

Due to the rain, we failed to inspect the car as throughly as we should have. Katie noticed, on the Monday following, a chip/nick/dent/scuff combo on the piece below the doors on the driver’s side. I called our salesman who convinced his manager that it was probably from taking the car off of the truck when they first got it in. Needless to say, we were pretty upset, but they are fixing it for free. I finally brought it back to New Orleans to get it fixed yesterday, but it won’t be ready until today after lunch. Luckily, my parents don’t live too far and my dad was able to pick me up after I had a nice lunch with Dave, who I hadn’t seen since the wedding. So, although a hassle to bring the car to New Orleans, I was able to get a nice four-day weekend, taking yesterday and today off to get this done, and I was able to have a great visit with Dave and with my parents.

PETER GRIMES!!!!!!