This and that

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal makes the Hollywood scene tonight with his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Since the writer's strike is over, perhaps he will be able to get someone to write some zingers for him. Lately, the governor has had a busy time playing host to President Bush and Republican nominee apparent John McCain. It will be good to see him out from underneath other politicians' shadows and standing (or sitting as it were) on his own. Jindal follows several highly visible governors including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mike Foster.
I've got less than two days of the JCC's "Biggest Loser " contest left and now that Passover is over I can start to enjoy (and I use that term loosely) items like rice cakes again. My weight is now down to 172 pounds from my starting weight of 187. Also, my blood pressure is down to 120/70 from the starting point of 120/80. In short, I feel great and my midsection has shrunk appreciably. The benefit of the work in the gym can readily be seen in my arms and legs, which each have more definition. The only sad part of my experience is that my trainer's last day with me and the program is this Wednesday. After that I am on my own or I need to consider having more sessions with him.
Congratulations to the New Orleans Hornets who are one game away from advancing to the second round of the NBA playoffs after they dispatched the Dallas Mavericks last night, 97-84. They have advanced further than any other New Orleans NBA franchise. I know that Clevelanders love King James, but Chris Paul has proven to be superhuman, coming into his own and leading the Hornets throughout this season to the delight of local fans. Some may recall that some of the biggest NBA records at the time in the late 1970s were registered in the Superdome and took place when the Jazz was still a New Orleans team and Pete Maravich was the local star. After the Jazz left in 1979, this city which had previously hosted an ABA franchise, the New Orleans Buccaneers, went without a professional basketball franchise until four years ago when owner George Shinn moved the team to New Orleans from North Carolina, a move that still smarts for the Tarheels.
A Microsoft event takes place in Baton Rouge tomorrow. The experts there will show the latest permutations of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio and SQL Server. I am looking forward to it and I'll give you a report on how the event turns out.