February. The shortest month. The variable month. The depths of winter. The time for what has become my annual pilgrimage to New Orleans. Last time I was here I was down strictly for pleasure and had a great time. This time, work brought me down to NOLA.
Ah, the joys of working for a big company! Reuters sent me to New Orleans with one other person from the Hauppauge office and two from the office in Oak Brook, Illinois. We represented Reuters at the Mardi Gras Career fair, a joint effort of Tulane, Loyola, and various other New Orleans universities. I first found Reuters through this event, so going back and being on the other side of the booth seemed fitting.
Reuters put us up in the Royal Sonesta, smack in the middle of the French Quarter. Very nice. After settling into the hotel and briefly making contact with some friends, I ventured out to dinner on my own (Sue, who I had come down with, was a tad under the weather). Nothing special, just a po boy and some Abita. The next morning Sue and I met in the lobby and had breakfast at the hotel. We then met up with the two Oak Brook folks, and I led them towards the street car. Silly me, I thought we'd do the street car once (because everyone really should do it at least once), and then taxi it to and from the job fair. Little did I know that we'd spend half an hour in the infernal machine each time we wanted to go uptown or back down!.
The first day of the fair was on Loyola's campus. All in all, it was a lot of fun. During breaks in the action I wandered around, picking up trinkets and give-aways from other companies and visiting some friends who were in town with other companies. But most of the time we were pretty busy answering questions and conducting filter interviews with students. We only had a limited number of slots for interviews the next day, so we tried to get as much as we could from candidates then and there.
After cleaning up the booth, the four of us went to a little buffet reception for the recruiters. It was nice to get a bit of food and drink (more Abita), and we picked up some nice t-shirts. But we wanted more. So we got back onto the street car and... took naps. After resting up we went out for dinner and hit the Quarter. I was playing tour guide, so we did the predictable Pat O'Brian's. We also hit a few other clubs that I used to go to when I was a student. Oddly, I don't remember any names, but they always have pretty good music for a drink minimum. Towards the wee hours, we went to bed.
Well, I'm getting tired of writing this up, so I'll try and quicken the pace. Interviews were at Tulane, and went pretty well. This was my first time conducting an interview like this -- one that could determine if someone got a job or not. I think I learned a few things, both about raw interview technique and myself, that day. At some point I gave the Reuters folk a quick tour of campus, pulling out some tricks from my days as a student tour guide. When the interviews were over, I went by the admissions office. My sister Alissa is a junior in high school, and the CD of New Orleans music that Tulane promised to send could make or break her opinion of the place. They said it would be mailed in a few weeks. She got it a month or so later, and I think it's a winner. Anyway, at this point my job with Reuters was over.
Friday night and Saturday were for friends. Joanna Pleeter picked me up at the hotel and we went to Shabbat services at Hillel, where Jill Hirsch was leading services. She was a frosh when I was a senior and president of Hillel myself. So it was nice to see her leading services. Plus, her whole family was in town and they go to the same congregation as my parents. Also at services were Michelle and Carolyn, who dazzled everyone with her knowledge of the ten commandments.
After services we met up with hordes of people for dinner: the four of us, Scottie, Pam, Alywin, and Dawn. Great dinner (I had turtle soup!), which we followed up with a trip to the quarter. They humored me by going to the Tropical Isle, but when it came time to hit the Gold Mine, we old folks were plumb tuckered out. So we all went to bed!
The next day Jo and I went swimming in the hotel pool, and then met Debbi Charles and her newborn son for lunch at Figaros. One great thing about being in New Orleans: I could wear shorts all the time! I loved it. After lunch, some of us went downtown to the river walk, where Mich, Ca, and I bought lots of fudge, met Alywin and his fiance Erika, and then ate most of the fudge.
That night I went out to dinner with Debbie. This was a very bittersweet time. We had the most pleasant time together that we've had in a long time, but we also finally broke up. I say finally because things had been rocky and up in the air ever since I left Tulane and went to Edinburgh, two and a half years earlier. Our romance was clearly over, but we had been through quite a lot. I might have to write more about this later.
That night a few folks came back to Carolyn's, and we drank and chatted for a few hours. Then 'twas bed time. The next day I had lunch with Ca at La Madeline's, and then she whisked me off to the airport. The flight back was full of delays and difficulties, but I eventually made it. All in all, another good trip to New Orleans!.