mardis gras

it bewilders me how christmas can offend so many people yet the whole Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras thing slips under the radar
I do not mind
I
do not mind either
I do not mind Ramadan
I do not mind Rosh Hashanah

I don't mind any Hindi holidays even if I can not pronounce them

I do not mind the religious holidays from religions I am not familiar with
I do not mind the religious holidays from religions I have never heard of

it amuses me that people get all bent out of shape over Christmas

in the same way that people started changing the names of things like freedom fries, freedom toast, and freedom kissing... okay no one tried to call it freedom kissing
but you recall the absurdity well...
Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day". It is the final day of Carnival (English:IPA: /kaɹnɨvəl/ and Romance languages:IPA: /karnival/). It is a celebration that is held just before the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Lent. The feast should not be confused with the Polish Fat Thursday. from Wikipedia
there is more to this holiday that excessive underage drinking, full frontal nudity for the price of some beads, and the Girls Gone Wild box set yet, people do not know enough to be offended it does not surprise me
the definition does not make mention of what Lent is....
this is the fast for forty days...
okay... I hardly know myself...

and me....
am I giving up anything for lent?
no
but... I should give some stuff up for me, for my family, and for my future

it was a year ago that Red Bean closed in Mount Pleasant (dcist)
not making it to Fat Tuesday.... which was a sad end for a bar that wanted to give DC some of that New Orleans flavor

the very memorable Adventures of Frank as told by the Washington Post
a Post Update from late 2005
a great GWADZILLA ARCHIVE chock full of stuff including a race report and a photo of me in a cheerleader's outfit

gwadzilla archive from two years ago


seems that Frank Connel has landed on his feet
Frank Connell is happy to be back in New Orleans
as much as he loves DC... he loves New Orleans
in addition to cooking at
Frank is starting up his cooking column in the Old Town Crier
and
Frank is finsihing up a cook book
clearly a man with many hats
like a rubber ball he rebounds pretty well

today/monday a man at work brought in some Mardi Gras beads
it really brightened the mood of the day
I think it increased productivity
I know it made me feel more positive at work
or was that the post work ride that makes me feel that way?