ULToday

For those of you who made the trip, hope you had fun outside the game. I tried to talk to as many of your fans as I could, welcome them to Lafayette, tell them what to do after the game. If you made the drive back last night, my condolences. I've been to UNT on more than one occasion where we got our butts whooped. I stay with my brother for the games, and my sister-in-law is a UNT alum. She and I have a running bet, if UL wins, she buys coffee. If UNT wins, I have to give the dog 'fat belly rubs'. I know, it's not an equitable bet, but she set the terms. Anyway, the dog has done better than Starbucks has. http://ultoday.com/node/4557

For the Festival, you can park in the Oil Center (the business area just to the SE of Girard Park, look at Google Maps), or possibly on the Campus, we have a couple of parking garages not far from Girard Park. For the game, you can park in the Research Park, which is across the street from Cajun Field. They park people in the grassy areas, it's free. If you go out that night in the Downtown, Blue Moon has its own parking area behind Bordens on Johnston St. For the rest of the Downtown, you can park just about anywhere (but it will be crowded because of Festivals) and there's a parking garage on W. Vermilion between Jefferson & Polk. If you just want to park once, maybe the old Lourdes Medical campus? It's empty now, and about a half mile from everything.

Press Release: http://ultoday.com/node/4515

Just got in the eMail for the Blue Moon lineup this week: http://bluemoonpresents.com/calendar.html?filter=FESTIVAL+ACADIENS+ET+CREOLE+OFFICIAL+HONKY+TONK&filter_type=type&start=30

No stages downtown, alas, but the Festival will continue Sunday if you're up for leaving a little later that day. UL, Girard Park, and the Downtown are all close enough to walk; you could actually walk from the Festivals to the football game if you have about 40 minutes (I live by the University, once walked to the Cajundome, it was a very nice evening.) The Downtown is tiny, you can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes, but lots of bars & restaurants. Just walk up and down Jefferson Street. Funkiest/coolest nightclubs are the Blue Moon Saloon; Artmosphere; and Grant Street (if open). Don's is the original Cajun restaurant, but it's not my first recommendation. Bonnie Bell's isn't open most weekends, but that is outstanding food. The food at the Filling Station is pretty good, one of the best burgers I've had. Pamplona is the tapas bar, not bad. Athena is Mediterranean, I don't think they serve booze, but if I remember they'll let you go next door for wine or beer. Couple of Sushi bars, Tsunami & Bonsai, both good, a bit pricey. Also, check out Carpe Diem, the gelato bar. Lady who owns it is from Italy, excellent stuff. Be careful wandering too far off the beaten path Downtown, we had a rash of muggings in the past, although Lafayette's a pretty safe town. We'll take the kids down at night for ArtWalk and stroll around. As long as there are other people around, you're fine. And when you're at the Festivals, walk over to Cypress Lake on the UL campus, it's maybe 5 minutes away. Just gorgeous. Oh, and Friday evenings we have Downtown Alive http://www.downtownlafayette.org/ which is an extension of the Festivals: http://www.festivalsacadiens.com/music.html

Well, I spent about 30 years trying to figure out why Lafayette was different from Lake Charles, from Baton Rouge (went to LSU for a semester), New Orleans, just about everywhere I've lived or visited. Tolerance is the key. For those of you with a philosophical bent: http://ultoday.com/node/770 UNT was an interesting mix... lot of cool, laid back people, but a small minority who were, well, 'different'. They left me with some irritating memories. Human nature being what it is, I have to remind myself of all the great people I met, because just a few jerks tend to distract our memories.

I didn't graduate. I'm an MD, but I always wanted to be a band director (still do, in fact). After my 2nd year at Tulane Med School, I was pretty unhappy with all of it, withdrew, went to UNT for music. Turns out I'm tone deaf (not really, it's a long story). So I studied art for a year, went back to Tulane & finished. I grew up in Sulphur (outside Lake Charles), went to UL undergrad. For some of us, even those like my wife and myself who have lived all over and travelled the world, there's just no place like Lafayette. It all depends on your priorities; if what you really value are warm, informal, laid back people who love their families and friends, and who are very tolerant, places like Acadiana (the region around Lafayette) are very, very rare. In fact, it may be unique.

For those of you who are planning to come in this weekend, we're holding Festivals Acadiens & Creoles, in Girard Park adjacent to the UL campus: http://www.festivalsacadiens.com/ If you can swing it, it's worth taking off Friday to get there Friday night. People come in from all over the country, and even the world, to make this one. It's one of the two biggest festivals we have down here (and the region has like 60 festivals a year). The other one is Festival International in the Spring. We have a reputation for 'partying' down here, but truth be told, it's what we do all year long. We drink (but not excessively), dance, listen to music, and we always have the kids in tow. So it's a family outing, very tame. Bring your kids, they'll have a blast. Continental flies directly from DFW & LFT, but the drive is about 6 hours from Dallas. I-49 from Shreveport to Lafayette has a moratorium for signs, so it's a very pretty drive. I went to UNT in the '80's, and my brother and his family live in Allen, so I get up there a lot. Not a bad drive at all. We tailgate under the Eauque (oak) by Bertrand, we feed and water our guests very well, come over, all are welcome. If you want to know more, post on RaginPagin.com. Finally, here are the national rankings for the week: http://ultoday.com/node/4485 Come down, I promise you that you'll have a good time. Well, except for the football game, where we'll try to ruin your day. You will try to do the same thing to us, of course...

Congrats on the win, come see us at the Eauque (oak) out by the road next week. We give our guests better food and drink than anyone. Here's the recap for the week: http://ultoday.com/node/4483

http://ultoday.com/node/4432

http://ultoday.com/node/4427

You guys will be happy to know UNT starts off the recap: http://ultoday.com/node/4367