French Quarter

Here are some sights from my quick walk around the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans this evening.

Jackson Square

My favorite time to visit Jackson Square is right at sunset. Most likely the square will be filled with people, music, art, and joy.

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas – Aquarium

Nov20

One day I will learn how to take photos of sharks…

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas – Parakeet Pointe

Nov20

The parakeets at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas are curious and friendly. They were all interested in my jacket pocket and they wanted to climb up to my shoulder to have a look around. What fun they were!

Crowdsourcing

Nov12

The conference I went to last week got me thinking a little bit about crowdsourcing. By a Merriam Webster definition found in a Wikipedia article, “crowdsourcing is the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.”

One of my favorite speakers at the conference was Jessica Jackley . Back in 2005, she founded a company called Kiva, which is a “non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty.”

The concept is a bit hard to understand at first, so if you have time, check out this YouTube video of Jessica’s Ted Talk in 2010.

I was amazed by her story as well as her ability to share her passion for helping others. To be honest, I am not sure if this will inspire me to be a better person or to use the Kiva website to help out someone in need, but I thought I would share the information with you so you can make your own decision.

Boardwalk

Nov6

I had an event in downtown Austin again today, so afterwards I went for a long walk on the relatively new Boardwalk Trail . These photos are mostly from the East side of the trail (East of I-35). As you can tell, it is still cloudy and a bit rainy in Austin.

I Love Indigo

Nov5

This art exhibit at the library caught me by surprise. The artist is Debra King-Isaacs and she is based in Round Rock. She uses “vintage materials salvaged from old homes, farms and ranches across Texas.” Check it out!

Round Rock Public Library

Nov5

It has been raining here all day, so I decided to go to the Round Rock Public Library to read and chill. There is this cool mural that I have always liked.

Kingdom

Nov2

To celebrate Daylight Saving Time and the concept of “fall back”, I had a late night at Kingdom Nightclub in Austin. This is one of my favorite places to check out DJs and EDM music. The club is relatively small, but the sound system and light show are great.

Fan Fest II