A Place I’ve Never Been
Before I do anything else, let me breathe a sigh of relief for New Orleans. I’ve never seen the Big Easy with my own eyes, but it’s high on the list of places I want to get to, for the food, the music and the ghost stories. Hopefully, my tourist dollars will do some good when I finally get out there. I’m delighted to see that spirits in New Orleans are as high as they are. Thank God the evacuated have a city to return to.

A Place I’ve Just Returned To
Been gone awhile. Drove up to Indianapolis the week before last for work and have been playing catch-up since I returned. While I was there, I was wondering if maybe not being a metroblog city hints at something larger about Indianapolis, something old-fashioned or low-tech. Although the city center, where I was, is a combination of the oldest and most modernized regions of the city, from the city’s namesake Monument Circle to the new-ish RCA Dome, Indianapolis has always a vaguely ’80s vibe to me. The music in the clubs I went to certainly reinforced that feeling.

Anyway, if Indianapolis were to get itself a metroblogging crew, I’d certainly check in now and again to see how the Circle City was doing. Since the White River turned out not to be any good for shipping, the city lost the contest to become automotive factory capital of the US, and the Ohio River canal plan went bankrupt the city might be ready for some other means to interface with the rest of the nation. I’d like to be better prepared to visit Indy next year.

A New Place For Me
Had the birthday this weekend. Many surprises, etc. and so forth made it an unusually good birthday. (Normally I’m not much of a birthday person.) A great deal of the day’s success is due to my lovely and talented wife and the folks who flew out to visit from Chicago, like Marty, who’s a lax poster over at the Chicago metroblog.

Many props are also due to the stellar folks over at Sampan, over on Howell Mill Road, who’s Dimsum Delirium (40+ menu items) would’ve been delicious fun even if we hadn’t gotten a private room, a lot of thoughtful attention, serenaded in Chinese, a hug and a tour of the joint’s swanky modern full-on restaurant. As far as decor goes, though I dig the the broken-down brick wall in the café a whole lot, the giant sliding wooden doors in the restaurant might be my favorite feature. Anyway, the food was great and the service was much appreciated. If (when!) you go, be sure to try the salt-and-pepper calamari, even if it is a little more pan and a little less Asian. I’ll definitely be going back to that place.