Gene becomes a blogger (Newbie 101)

I've been doing web stuff for several years (I'm webmaster at a very large internal site at work), but this is my first attempt to do a blog. Why? Because I noticed the [BlogThis!] logo in the Google 2.0 toolbar and decided to give it a whirl. Please bear with me as I learn what works, and what does not, here in Blogville.

This week was mandated vacation week at work. Hey, at least we still have work.

Today was Independence Day, and I stayed home most of the day, doing lots of nothing. Normally, I'd waddle over to the Elementary School and take pictures of the neighbors at the annual neighborhood parade (for posting on the neighborhood website), but I just wasn't in the mood (plus, after doing that 2 years, there's not a lot of new stuff to see). This is the 10th Annual Parade. Wow.

Sometime around 21:30, I heard fireworks not too far away, but because of my 13 monster trees, I couldn't tell where. Maybe Breckinridge Park (I think that's the name) in Richardson. Yesterday was Addison's annual Kaboom Town but I wasn't in the mood for crowds so didn't go to that, either. Some patriot, huh?

I was amused to see the multi-page ad for fireworks in Wednesday's Dallas Morning News. Fireworks are illegal in Dallas County, but that doesn't mean the local newspaper won't happily tell you where to buy them (just over the county line). Gotta wonder if (in the aftermath of 9/11) the Dallas County Sheriff will be handing out leaflets at the fireworks stand.

On Thursday (pre-blog), I removed the blades on my Honda self-propelled lawnmower and took them to Richardson Saw & Lawnmower for sharpening. After one look at them, the experts said I'd be much better off with new blades, but .. they don't carry Honda. So, they sent me up(1) Central Expressway to the place I bought the mower in 1996: Plano Power Equipment. Now, $25 later I have a pair of blades and they're installed on my mower. I really feel like I'm on the cutting edge. Woo hoo.

(1) in Texas, "up" means north

Earlier in the day, I went to see Convicting the Friedmans which is a documentary about what happened to this dysfunctional family in Great Neck, NY starting in 1988.

Earlier in the week (Tuesday) I went to the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) for the first time. They're listed on the Texas Association of Museums web site, among other places. The DMA was easy to find .. just south of that no-name freeway between US-75 and I-35E. Big place (350,000 square feet). Parking was $5 but the huge museum was a freebie. Well, okay, I helped pay for it with my property and/or sales taxes.

On Wednesday, I went to the Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery near Turtle Creek, to see their Mondo Cane exhibit (no relation to the 1963 movie), and had a hula burger and fried zucchini at Hunky's (not my usual hangout .. hey, I wanted to see what it was like). Hunky's hamburgers is across the street from JR's (a well known gay bar) and down the street from Sue Ellens (an equally well known lesbian bar). And no, I have no been a patron of either one! :) Both bars take their names from characters in the 1978-1991 TV show Dallas, filmed at nearby Southfork Ranch (the 2nd most popular tourist destination in Dallas, behind the Sixth Floor Museum)

I have a Wüsthof knife set, but with several empty slots. With which knives shall I fill it? Maybe ... Wüsthof 7 in. Santoku Knife (Food Network)