New Orleans: It's like 80 degrees outside and the Convention Center is fucking freezing. OF COURSE.

I tried Cochon Butcher for lunch yesterday -- cool vibe to the place, but I only had 40 minutes for lunch, so grabbed a quick small plate. It was a blue crab fried rice dish that was delish, and reminded me a lot of kimchi fried rice, which I make a lot at home. I need to try some of their sandwiches.

I was super beat at the end of the day so elected to dine in the restaurant in the hotel I'm staying at, a French-Caribbean type place called Compere Lapin. It was EXCELLENT if pricey. I'm still thinking about the crispy dirty rice arancini I had for appetizer. Yummmm. Followed by goat curry and a fun deconstructed coconut rum cake with ice cream.

Lunch today was served by the convention center folks for a special symposium and was certainly cut above the usual conference fare I'm used to up north. Ratatouille and catfish and a berry tart! I look forward to eating my way around the city for the rest of the stay.

Something that strikes me as kinda weird is that I feel so reluctant to say I'm for Hillary in the election. Some of that is probably because my in-laws hate her (from the right) and my wife dislikes her (from the left). But even then, it's like being an atheist, I don't really want to let people know if I don't know them well enough. I kinda wonder why I feel like that.

Thanks for the reassurances, folks. We'll see what the new GI has to say once the biopsies come back.

Started making the dietary changes today and while the no chocolate is disappointing I think the no coffee/caffeine is going to kill me. (Having to get chicken instead of a burger for lunch was also sad-making.)

Food pills. Science still failing us on that, smoothies.

Many times I can't have what I want to eat, and don't want what I have to eat. When I really can't deal, throwing everything in a blender and sucking it down with a straw so I don't have to taste it gets me through the sads and don'wannas. And then I pull up my socks and get on with it. But the sads and don'wannas are real, and sometimes you just need to not have to deal. So, smoothies.

This I actually have seen—more than one minor pro hockey player delaying their return home to Canada so they could get medical care under their US doctors. May have been something about familiarity with the team's doctors though.

Probably a combo of that and their treatment being low-pri so they'd have to wait for it.

Not to mention that, even at minors salaries, they can afford to pay for their US care (assuming its not offset by the club, making it more affordable) out of pocket as needed.

Gud, given that I'm part of a closed HRC supporter group that has swelled to over 10K, you are far from alone. There has been an extraordinary amount of vitriol aimed at her and her supporters from all sides. Lots of yard signs vandalized or stolen. Road rage incidents. And of course, the usual doxxing and death threats that women get online for expressing an opinion of any kind.

So I'm catching up and thinking "this new person has really hit the ground running, sensible, insightful. Volans? Volans ... Oh."

Never mind.

I finally made myself call DirecTV to downgrade my package (I would have done it ages ago if they had let me do it online the way the automated system advised me to when I called in, of course) because that is way too much money for channels I'm not watching and now I have someone coming to my house next Saturday to upgrade my equipment, Which I have been putting off for forever because people coming to my house, I'd really rather not, you know? Hopefully 10 days will be enough to tidy up sufficiently and get used to the idea...

I kinda wonder why I feel like that.

Because some of the anti-Hilary people are really scary? And you don't know which ones until they scare you?

Good luck with the pitch/patent, Hec!

Many times I can't have what I want to eat, and don't want what I have to eat. When I really can't deal, throwing everything in a blender and sucking it down with a straw so I don't have to taste it gets me through the sads and don'wannas. And then I pull up my socks and get on with it. But the sads and don'wannas are real, and sometimes you just need to not have to deal. So, smoothies.

I've still got options, just less than I had before and so I'm dwelling on the can't. I know I'm more fortunate than a lot of people with even more restricted diets, it's just going to be an adjustment period. (This no caffeine thing sucks, though.)

I finally made myself call DirecTV to downgrade my package (I would have done it ages ago if they had let me do it online the way the automated system advised me to when I called in, of course) because that is way too much money for channels I'm not watching and now I have someone coming to my house next Saturday to upgrade my equipment, Which I have been putting off for forever because people coming to my house, I'd really rather not, you know? Hopefully 10 days will be enough to tidy up sufficiently and get used to the idea...

I've been saying for over a year that I really need to downgrade our cable package because it's ridiculously expensive for what we get out of it, but because it requires talking to actual people on the phone I keep putting it off.

I was super beat at the end of the day so elected to dine in the restaurant in the hotel I'm staying at, a French-Caribbean type place called Compere Lapin. It was EXCELLENT if pricey. I'm still thinking about the crispy dirty rice arancini I had for appetizer. Yummmm. Followed by goat curry and a fun deconstructed coconut rum cake with ice cream.

Ahhh! I didn't know you were at the No. 77! Compere Lapin is one of the best new restaurants in the city. Why didn't I recommend it earlier? Huge blind spot. Eating there is definitely winning the New Orleans cuisine game, even if it is in a hotel!