To be honest, I forgot about updating GFTS until Maven Mom call this afternoon and asked about it. I’m not sure why she called me about reading my blog since she could inquire about my well-being over the phone. However, it’s nice to hear from my readers, even if that reader is under parental obligations.

Thursday, I left the District for a work trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Aside from finally learning how to spell the name, I was excited to visit a new state. My great-great-grandparents homesteaded near ABQ, so I’ve always wanted to visit.

While sitting in DCA on Thursday, I heard the final boarding call for a flight to Chattanooga. A wave of homesickness washed over me. There’s something odd about Chatt. Once you live there, nothing else quite compares. The city should publish a disclaimer that the longer you’re away, the more you miss it.

My flight finally landed in ABQ late Thursday night. When I opened the curtains to my hotel room on Friday morning, I was greeted by the beautiful Sandia Mountains against a bright blue sky. Immediately, I longed to have my watercolors to paint the mountains. It’s been years since I was inspired to paint something, and watercolors are perfect for capturing the West.

I finished up the work part of my trip late Friday afternoon, so I took off for the mountains. The Sandia Tram was highly recommended, and I managed to ride the world’s longest tram right at sunset. It was amazingly gorgeous. Sadly, my camera takes horrible night shots.

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Purple will never be as pretty as my beloved UT orange, but Geaux Tigers! Tonight I’m thrilled that the university where I first called home won the 2008 National Championship! If it were UT, the parties would be starting right now. Since it’s LSU, fans have been partying since yesterday morning. If I close my eyes, I can almost imagine that I’m drinking a Hurricane at Pat O’Briens.

Ironically, one of the reasons the parents encouraged me to go to UT were that the Vols played better football. We got that one wrong. Thank goodness I didn’t choose my college based on school colors or football.

When will the rest of the country learn that you can’t touch the awesomeness of SEC football? It’s not really football in other conferences.

Now we enter the bleak period of the year with no college football. Sadness until next August. Basketball is just a weak distraction.

Congrats to Maven Mom, McGuvyer Dad and the rest of the LSU contingent in GFTS family. The Vols will return one day.

One of the highlights of being home this weekend was watching the UT game with McGuyver Dad just like we did when I lived in-state. What a game! After sitting through four overtime periods, I’m fairly certain that God is a Vol fan. ATL here we come!

Now the difficult family rivalry emerges. GFTS is the black sheep of the family who opted to attend UT over LSU. This is the ONLY time that Maven Mom takes a passing interest in football, and McGuyver Dad is faced with the difficult decision of which team to support. But as Maven Mom put it today, “The only thing UT got from your father and I was tuition money.”

I wish we could go to the game in Atlanta. I’d even sit in the LSU section. The atmosphere would be more entertaining there. Drunk Cajuns are always funny, and the food would be good. They would probably even have jambalaya.

GEAUX VOLS!!!

UPDATE 11:20 p.m. Jindal WINS!!! Absolutely love this graphic at RedState.

The bad news is that LSU is down by 7 at the beginning of the 3rd.

Also love how NOLA.com has the game score above the election results. Football is life.

The polls are now closed in Louisiana, and all eyes are on Bobby Jindal.

Is it possible for someone with common sense to be elected in that state? We can only pray.

The Times-Picayune captures a problem of running an election in the South:

One concern among Republicans is the Louisiana State University football game against Auburn at Tiger Stadium, with a kickoff at 8 p.m. The Republican National Committee has been sponsoring ads to encourage Tiger fans to get to the polls before starting their tailgate and game-day activities.

Are here federal laws against drinking in line at the polls? If so, Republican Tigers are in trouble. LSU/Auburn is a big game. All those forwards about consulting a football schedule before choosing a date for your wedding are true in the SEC.

If Jindal wins, is it a victory for conservatives or a sign that Louisianians want someone with leadership abilities? It will be decades before the state gets over Katrina. Normally, you would think that the person offering leadership during the disaster would be a shoo-in, but New Orleans re-elected Nagin to the Chocolate City. He was one of the few officials out doing something rather than ringing their hands (Blanco), crying (Aaron Broussard) or blaming FEMA (everyone else). He’s dedicated to the Pelican State. Louisianans should appreciate that.

Redstate give me hope. 633,000 doors were knocked by homeschoolers. Why aren’t we reaching out to homeschoolers more often?

BTW, given the Vols poor performance tonight, my orange is quietly being replaced by purple and gold for the remainder of the season. Geaux Tigers!

Oddly enough, it’s the 2nd anniversary of Katrina, and I watched  All the King’s Men last night.

One thing is for sure, Huey P. Long was corrupt as hell, but he would have been a much better leader than Blanco through this diaster.

What’s left to say about Katrina? The post that I wrote two years ago still captures my shock.  New Orleans reflects decades centuries of corrupt leadership, briberies, and a growing reliance on the government. It’s amazing to see how parts of the Gulf with strong communities have rebuilt, but the Big Easy is still recovering.

My grandparents used to live near a levee in Metarie. One Thanksgiving, I remember my grandfather explaining the levee system to me. They were proud that it was based on an 18th century project and fervently believed that the levees could never break. They joked that the SuperDome was the only thing built above sea level in the city.

A few months after Katrina, we were having lunch with my grandmother, and she reminesced about Hurricane Camille. While they were similar hurricanes, the results weren’t comparable. Within a few weeks, New Orleans was back to normal. Communities banded together and sorted out the mess. They didn’t wait on the mayor, the governor or FEMA. Neighbors looked after each other, picked up trash, and rebuilt homes.

Katrina did have an interesting effect on news. It was one of the first times that blogs were used for primary news. Some of the brave bloggers who stayed in the city where the only ones relaying news to the outside world. They were much more helpful than Shepard Smith or Geraldo holding babies and crying over Bourbon Street.

A blog at Politico this week ran a story on Louisiana politics. Could we be lucky enough to get rid of the Landrieu family in politics?

Over the weekend, Maven Mom pulled out a Cajun cookbook that I’ve never seen. She claims to have owned this authentic collection of traditional South Louisiana recipes for more than a decade since she saw my aunt’s copy. I’m not sure that I believe her, but it’s probably for the best. Aside from having at least 500 variations of gumbo and jambalaya, it features treasures like black bird jambalaya that requires 30 black birds to prepare, squirrel gumbo and my favorite–armadillo sauce piquante. There must be an art to preparing armadillo because the book devotes and entire page to it.

To Prepare Armadillo for Cooking from Louisiana Lagniappe.

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Maven Mom and McGuyver Dad are spending the weekend in the always classy Gatlinburg with friends. Because it’s likely to rain all weekend, Mom called to see if I remembered how to play bourre’.

Bourre’, for you non-Cajun folks, is the French version of poker. According to my grandfather, many drunken duels were fought over shady hands of bourre’ in the bars of South Louisiana. Thus, in true Cajun form, he and my grandmother taught all the grandkids to play.

Now that my grandfather is gone, it’s funny to think that some of my favorite memories are of us gambling together as a family. Not all Cajun stereotypes are true. Just the ones that involve, drinking, partying and eating…

There’s one universal truth in the South: all events, joyful or sad, are accompanied by food. Someone at the airport gave me a Moonpie to welcome me back to the Scenic City, and we’ve been eating ever since. My grandparent’s church had an incredible spread after the funeral with the best chicken salad that I’ve ever eaten (90% of the table had some type of fried food). Since it’s almost Mardi Gras, someone even made a king cake in the shape of my grandfather’s name. The pounds that I escaped gaining over Christmas caught up with me. I’m looking forward to returning to the land of the health-conscious food police.

The funeral went as well as most funerals can go. My 10-year-old godson and cousin, John Edward, served as an alter boy and his sister, Catherine, wrote a poem dedicated to my grandfather that she read during Mass. I don’t know how she managed to read it. We were all crying.

It was really good to see my family. Most of my cousins were there, and it has been years since I’ve seen some of them. We’ve all grown up so much. It’s crazy to think that the oldest one is turning 30 this year! One thing that amazes me is how much we all look alike. Despite different genetics, and the fact that I’m the spitting image of Mom from the South’s side of the family, there’s just something about all of us that shows we’re related. It’s not always present in extended families, but it seems to be on both sides of mine. Maybe it’s a Cajun thing. They are a rather inbred ethnic group.

My great aunt and uncle (my grandmother’s brother and his wife) also drove up from New Orleans. Every time I see them, I’m reminded of what the parentals from the South will be like in about 30 years. They’re a spunky pair who travel all over the world and are just really fun to be around. They brought pictures of their recent adventures, and gave Mom from the South some new destinations for her vacation planning agenda.

Family events are also very interesting because of religious differences. McGuyver Dad’s family is fervently Catholic. Mom and Dad are fervently Protestant, and I’m fervently Calvinist. It’s an interesting situation that can be uncomfortable at times, and we’re faced with the conundrum of being polite and respectful and demanding respect for our beliefs. Politeness generally wins since manners are placed above everything else on Mom’s side of the family, but it has prompted some interesting discussions on the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. However, seeing that it’s an issue that has caused bloodshed and theological debates for hundreds of years, I doubt we’re going to solve anything.

Last night, instead of vegging out to the Superbowl, we went to Lookout Mountain Pres. and heard Joe Novenson preach. How I miss Joe’s preaching! Chattanooga is so blessed to have him. He spoke on brokenness in your relationship with God. Since that seems to be the 2007 theme, it was really great to hear. We’re 36 days into this new year, and God has shaken the very foundations of my faith. I’m starting to get scared at what He’s going to do next. Every time I think I understand where God is going, something else happens (like losing your grandfather). However, it’s always exciting to grow in the Lord, and I’m appreciating this process. As Joe said, God is breaking the support system that I’ve created and replacing it with His. It’s painful at times, but always, always good.