The Governor

Everyday is a new day filled with at least one first, and today wasn't an exception to the rule. I found out this morning that Governor Bobby Jindal would be in town this afternoon and that he was going to be speaking at LSUA. My grandfather asked me if I wanted to go with him and I decided that I would. The event was in a small conference room and there were less than 100 people in attendance, but it was a unique situation for me. I went with my grandfather on my dad's side of the family, but I managed to sit between both of my grandfathers. I can't say that I have ever had that happen before, and especially not in that setting. One grandfather was there as an elected city official and the other one was there as an appointed state official. It was really neat to hear Mr. Charlie Weems recognize each of the special members in the audience including my grandfather who is on the Board of Regents, but not my other grandfather who is on the local city council. The grandfather who was not recognized by Mr. Weems was absolutely fine with not being recognized, but the first words out of the governor's mouth were that we would also like to welcome Councilman Silver. It was really fun for me to be able to experience such an occasion, and I would have to say that is probably something that is very unique to my family. Both of my grandfathers have served and chaired many of the same boards, and, in fact, have worked on several projects and boards together over the years. I feel very lucky to have both of them as grandfathers. Each has a very interesting personality and other character traits that make them very unique individuals, and I appreciate that about each of them. I also can't even begin to say what the two of them have done for me over the years. I will say the event with the two of them there made it very special. Now back to what made the event special for most people--the governor. He came to announce two capital outlay projects in the works after the first two special sessions and the first regular session. The first is almost a 10 million dollar project for a building at LSUA, and the second is a close to 30 million dollar project for a center to be used for natural disasters or man made disasters. I was very impressed with his ability to speak. He only looked down at his notes when discussing figures and actual names of the buildings. In other words, only when the information was very easy to confuse because he mentioned over ten locations of projects and the amount of each for the Central Louisiana area. Overall, the experience was very unique and entertaining. By the way, I also met the new chancellor of LSUA.