Yup, Tom and I met our friend Ann in New Orleans and had a real vacation. Sure it was only 4 days long but I didn't work, I didn't open any work e-mail and I didn't even talk work. You know I didn't even realize I could do that. But I could and it was great. The following is a total "promo" for all of the folks who made the trip so great (well except for Tom and Ann of course).

So thanks to the Cornstalk (our room was the one in the upper left), Preservation Hall (I got to shimmy with the bandleader), Oscar (for the cool (and cheap) jewelry), and pretty much every restaurant in New Orleans for the food.

And of course I can't forget NOLA Rising for the all you can eat hog roast and crawfish boil to raise money to "encourage and help artists and residents to publicly display works of art for the purpose of rebuilding and restoring the human spirit." (although it does turn out that you (or perhaps that is only me) can eat too many crawfish).

Thank you New Orleans- it was great to see you doing so well. I loved that there is now fresh local produce in the French Market and there are more local artists and artisans and at least a little fewer imports from China. So anyone who has some free time and money should consider spending both in New Orleans.

PS I've loved New Orleans for a long time and it's not like I don't know about the oil spill and the slow progress in the ninth ward and the ongoing issues of the schools (and the levees) but sometimes you just have to celebrate the good things.