Tacky, overpriced souvenir stores

Here in New Orleans for Alma's convention thingy. We got in just before that British terror plot was uncovered, so while the trip out was a breeze, the trip back might be a tad different. Fortunately Alma has a bag we can check, but I have a decent-sized carry-on bag that, hopefully, will not pose a significant problem.

In the meantime, we still have two whole days in the Crescent City. Today I did the following things:

1. Slept until about 11. Tried to sleep longer and actually couldn't. 11 hours is probably enough.

2. Walked around the neighborhood here. Alma's cell phone charger broke on the way down, and since I didn't bring mine, I figured we needed to make sure that at least one phone could be guaranteed to work the entire time. So I looked up the directions to Radio Shack and walked over. They were in the process of remodeling but they did have the right part. On the way back I stopped into a mini-mart to look for regional pop or candy, but I was surprisingly disappointed, which has to be about the first time that's ever happened. The best I could do was Sour Nerds, which are apparently new, but I'm guessing they're going to show up in more places soon enough. There was also "Very Berry Nerds Rope," but I didn't bother with that. The Sour Nerds are okay, but they're only marginally more tart than regular Nerds, really. Kind of pointless, I guess. On the bright side, I got a pretty good feel for the streets around here so I'll be able to walk around later if I want, not that there's much to see within reasonable walking distance. Let me clarify that: reasonable walking distance considering the heat and humidity. It's in the high 80s but with the sun and humidity it pushes easily into "feeling like" the high 90s (today, I think, was "89 but feels like 98"). Blech. Though really, the worst part is when you go into an air-conditioned store and the moisture all condenses on your head. The people at Wendy's probably thought I was the sweatiest guy on the planet.

3. I went down to the hotel gift shop to see if they had a travel size shaving cream, since I hadn't brought mine and I only wanted a small amount. The mini-mart hadn't had any as small as I'd wanted. The gift shop did, but it cost - get ready! - $5.99 for a 2.25-oz tube. They also had a 6.25-oz can for the same price, but since I didn't need the big one it didn't really make sense. I'm just astonished that they had the balls to charge that much for the small one, even if it was a hotel gift ship. [Ed: That's gift shop, of course, but Alma is funny.] One small tube of shaving cream and a bottle of root beer? $8.80. It makes the $10-for-24-hours-of-in-room-internet-access seem like a steal.

4. Alma and I went on a "ghosts and spirits" walking tour of the French Quarter, which really means "a walking tour of the French Quarter, except that the guide only says something every four blocks and then it's only about notable historic murders." But it was nice to walk around the French Quarter and see the architecture and stuff, even if we did get devoured by mosquitoes and I spent a significant portion of the walk scratching.

5. Ate dinner in the hotel restaurant. Not bad at all, and my steak cost five bucks less than the menu said.

6. Went in the pool and hot tub.

And that's it. More later, maybe.