Things Come Apart

If you are looking for a really nice coffee table book (Hang on, Do people buy coffee table books any more? Do people have coffee tables?)

Anyhoo. If you are looking for a great book to pass around at your next social gathering, or just own and look at from time to time, then I suggest Things Come Apart by Todd McLellan.

The book shows a collection of consumer items that have been lovingly dismantled and photographed, even down to each nut, bolt, washer and individual component. The standard of photography is amazing and it really brings home just how complex things really are these days. Well worth a look.

Heading Home

Today we had to head home, which meant experiencing “The Miracle of Flight”. For me this means spending a few hours crammed behind a bloke who insisted on reclining his seat, even though I had mentioned to him hat my legs don’t have a joint in them that would make this possible. As we got on the plane one of the more alert stewardesses made the observation that “This plane wasn’t built for someone as tall as you”. Indeed. But then complaining about the seating arrangements when you are flying back from somewhere as nice as New Orleans seems a bit churlish.

A local chap reckons that the best times to visit the city are spring and autumn, when the heat is a bit less intense. That may be true. But I’d be happy to go back there next week if I got the chance. Great place.

My First Tomato Festival

I don’t know much about tomatoes. Mostly red, different sizes, used in bolognaise and on pizza, some discussion over whether or not they are a fruit. Oh, and in New Orleans they have a festival for them. It was a bit warm, but you could always cool down with a Bloody Mary drink. We took a wander through the French Market and I took a whole bunch of photographs.

Including this one. We have to head home tomorrow, which is rather sad as I’m just about getting the hang of “The Big Easy”.

Day off in New Orleans

If you are going to have a day off, I can recommend New Orleans as a great place to do it. First we went off to Audobon Zoo, which has to be one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to. We expected to spend a few hours there, but we ended up finding a day’s worth of stuff to keep us busy. There were all the usual zoo favourites (pictures of which will filter onto the blog over time I’m sure) along with some local specialities.

There’s an alligator lurking in this picture somewhere, I suggest that until you know where, you should rule out any swimming.

In the evening we went on a riverboat cruise which was rather splendid. There is something extremely civilised about sitting drinking a cool beer while they move the scenery past you and tell you all about it. The Mississippi is a very busy river, with oil, sugar and all sorts of other things moving up and down in huge ships. 

Today we also had a rather good sunset as well.

Last Teched 2013 Show Day

This is the Windows Phone part of the exhibition, where I’ve been spending a few hours each day. The conference ends today, I’ll miss the smell of brand new carpet.

In the evening we went up to the Mercedes Benz Superdome for the TechEd 2013 attendee party. Lots of other folks went too. Fortunately this is a Very Big Place.

There was good food, good music and, most important of all, free beer.