hot? that ain't hot!

One of the advantages of my conversion (years ago) to Celsius: in the summertime, it doesn't seem as hot when "the mercury" never hits 100 degrees.

So, just for Texans, here's a Simplificated Celsius Tempricher Chart:

0	cold
10	chilly
20	comfortable
30	hot
40	damn hot

the local coffee shop

Before there was Starbucks®, the "local coffee shop" usually meant an independent donut shop. In my case, the only nearby "dedicated coffee shops" are in/near office parks and are open 9-5 weekdays. Starbucks changed all that, extending their hours, creating atmosphere, and putting them on every corner -- hence their current saturation problem.

There are nine (9) Starbucks locations within three (3) miles of my home - two are inside grocery stores. Two of the remaining seven are on The List To Be Closed in the next few months, and only one of the seven has a drive-thru. I was mildly surprised by one of the closures .. Preston/Beltline (actually it's closer to Preston/Alexis) which always seemed to be busy - located between a Blockbuster and Wendy's. Granted, there's another Starbucks a hundred yards away, but it's inside a Tom Thumb grocery store and lacks the ambiance (!) of a Real Starbucks.

I waddled over to the 4th-closest Starbucks yesterday (the nearest one with a drive-thru window) to try their new smoothie - er, Vivanno™. There are only two from which to choose: banana-orange-mango or banana-chocolate. I could definitely taste the "whey protein and fiber powder", but it was otherwise unremarkable. Noteworthy: just like Jamba Juice®, you can add extra stuff (in Starbucks' case, that means a shot of espresso; matcha green tea powder; or substitute nonfat milk to shave 20 calories).

Vivanno verdict: it's okay but not sure $4.06 (with tax) for 16 ounces is something I'd go out of the way for. I found McDonald's Iced Coffee more refreshing at less than half the price (also more healthy if you opt for the sugar-free vanilla flavor -- 60 calories). I suspect I should compare it with an offering from the local Jamba Juice (co located with Whole Foods), smoothie-to-smoothie:

16 oz. Vivanno (banana-orange-mango): 250 calories, 16 grams protein, 6 grams fiber, 2 grams fat, 1 fruit serving. (No artificial colors, artificial sweeteners or high fructose corn syrup.)

16 oz. Banana Berry™ (Jamba Juice): 280 calories, 3 grams protein, 3 grams fiber, 1 gram fat, 2 fruit servings. For comparison, add the "whey boost" to get ~16 grams protein and 4 grams fiber.

---

For an apples-to-oranges (er, banana-to-coffee) comparison, here's the info on the McCoffee:

16 oz. McDonald's Iced Coffee: 60 calories, no fiber or protein.

Premium Roast Coffee. Light Cream: Milk, cream, sodium phosphate, sodium polyphosphate, DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium citrate, carrageenan. CONTAINS: MILK. Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup: Water, erythritol, natural (plant source) and artificial flavors, cellulose gum, sucralose, salt, malic acid, potassium sorbate (preservative), acesulfame potassium, caramel color (with sulfites). Ice.

first victim of new Dallas City Council policy?

Just thirty days ago, I predicted it wouldn't be long before someone dies as a result of the recent Dallas City Council vote to tow vehicles if they're uninsured. Today, this article landed on the local paper's website:

A woman died this morning after she drove off the road while fleeing during a traffic stop, Dallas police said. Lillian Volk was pulled over around 3 a.m. in the 18100 block of Preston Road and sped away in a 2003 blue Ford pickup before receiving her ticket, according to police.

The officer did not chase her but found her vehicle about 10 blocks away in the 17000 block of Preston Road where she had driven off the road, struck several trees and flipped over, Dallas police Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse. Ms. Volk was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Dallas County medical examiner's office. A cause of death was not immediately available.

Coincidence? It will be interesting to see if Ms. Volk had insurance, or if this was caused by something else (warrants, blood alcohol, drugs, etc.) Sadly, she's dead so she won't be able to provide her side of the story except via autopsy, or a media reporter who's willing to do some digging.

death sentences handed out by Dallas City Council

Earlier this week, the Dallas City Council handed out am unknown number of death sentences, to begin in January 2009. The most likely victims will be innocent, living in the poor parts of town, but .. they'll all be random and it could happen to anyone.

Okay, so The Council didn't hand out the sentences directly; this is the result of Unforeseen Consequences Legislation. For me, this is a no-brainer but that's probably because I have the audacity to Think Before Voting.

These upcoming death sentences are due to a combination of two laws: one already on the books and the other (apparently) coming in January. It's already well publicized that the Dallas Police [DPD] have a "no chase policy" which forbids them from commencing a chase if it would endanger citizens. Now, add the new 2009 rule which will force the towing of any vehicle being operated without insurance (estimates of 10% come to mind) and the race is on.

What will happen is that the DPD will attempt to pull over someone for a minor traffic violation - broken tail light, for example. The driver, knowing that she has no insurance, will envision her car (the only means of getting to work, grocery, etc) taken away if she is stopped. She also knows (word travels fast) that the DPD won't stop her if she goes into Massive Evasion Mode, so .. she takes off at a high rate of speed. Being new at this Evasive Mode Thing, she hits/kills a pedestrian, or (more commonly) T-bones into a small 4-door sedan and kills the occupants. Thanks to the Dallas City Council, this is exactly what to expect in early 2009.

Sure, in a perfect world I'd like to see everyone insured, too. I think the fairest way is to incorporate minimal insurance (think: Liability) in the price of gasoline. Yes, gas prices will rise slightly, but this will be mitigated by the slight reduction of insurance premiums for the 90% of us who are financially responsible. And it won't subject the rest of us to an out-of-control motorist whose only crime is that she chose to buy food for her family instead of liability insurance.

cabrito? check!

I can now cross another item from my Bucket List: eating cabrito.

Mary was in town this weekend and wanted to check out a museum, so we sauntered over to the Dallas Museum of Art. It turns out that The Nasher is closed on Sunday, and logistics dictated we not try the Kimball or Amon Carter Museums in Fort Worth. While the DMA's featured J.M.W.Turner paintings didn't do much for either of us, the crowd was respectable -- so this must be one of those "beauty in the eye of the beholder" things.

After that, we made a quick stop at Northpark Center for some haute shampoo (something about the 3oz TSA limit was said), followed up by dinner at Javier's Gourmet Mexicano Restaurant, where the waiter explained that "the entire menu is available" .. meaning, to me, that I'd finally get to sample cabrito (seasonally available). Sadly, I wasn't impressed, and can now affirm that goat tacos won't be my usual, henceforth. Maybe this regional delicacy simply lost something in translation as it crossed the border into Téjas. Or maybe it just needed more ketchup.

so many choices ...

I was looking up a local store and it asked for my city. I filled in [Dallas] but left the state blank. It then asked me to be more specific, offering the list below. Hmmm.

I decided to amuse myself and sort these Dallases by population (2000 Census):

Dallas, Texas (1,188,580)
Dallas, Oregon (12,459)
Dallas, Georgia (5,056)
Dallas, North Carolina (3,402)
Dallas, Pennsylvania (2,557)
Dallas, Iowa (1,298)
Dallas, West Virginia (464)
Dallas, Wisconsin (356)
Dallas, South Dakota (144)

Texas Two-Step : a review

Before experiencing the Texas caucus in person (last night), I wasn't so sure about the so-called Texas Two-Step .. where voters gather soon after the polls close and hold a party caucus to allocate 1/3 of the state's delegates.

After last night, I've come to appreciate The Process, and give it a Thumbs Up.

Yes, it was mildly chaotic in my precinct (repeated in thousands of precincts across Texas, so I hear). But, it's The Most Involved I've seen the Democratic party since I moved here in 1993. Long-time poll workers told me it's the most activity they've seen in thirty (30) years of primaries. Yes, it's mostly due to the continued campaigns of Obama-Clinton this late in the race ("only 8 months until the general election!") but it's remarkable to see so many young voters really involved.

Maybe they're finally wising up to the fact that McCain plans to draft them (that means "involuntary" to you newcomers) into his Hundred Year War in Iraq (plus The Iran Expansion) just as soon as he takes office - gotta fulfill that Biblical Prophecy of Armageddon, ya know. Get ready for a steady dose of fear-Fear-FEAR as we approach 4 November 2008.

At any rate .. the caucus proceeded deliberately in my precinct: 123 people packed half of a school cafeteria (the other half occupied by another precinct caucus of similar size) and carefully completed The Caucus Form where we filled out our names and candidate choice. In my precinct, Obama beat Clinton 71-52 and got 9 delegates to her 6. Those delegates will proceed to a County Convention (apparently) on March 29th - a Saturday.

The caucus accomplished several things:

1. it brought everything out into the open - no secret ballot in this step. No hiding under a white sheet.
2. it forced people to get involved in the party process. Many of us would otherwise never see this "level of detail" or even meet our "closet Democrat neighbors" (in a red state like Texas where the GOP has bullied the minorities for years, this is HUGE).
3. it mitigated the nonsense caused by the Texas GOP in the primary (see my blog post of 4 March to understand how the GOP tried to Screw The Democratic Primary). In my precinct, only two (2) Republicans showed up for the Democratic caucus, and they only stayed long enough to sign their names and leave.

After all was said and done, Clinton won the Texas primary (as I predicted on February 9th*) but lost the delegate count. For what I observed, this was both fair and appropriate. Although the Texas Two Step sounded bizarre at first, I'm now a big believer in The Process.

* and YES, I acknowledge that I completely blew the prediction about Huckabee. Even the mouth-foaming Ron Paul supporters (with their Big Signs) didn't have any perceptible impact.

Dallas' darkest day?

In what may go down in history as the darkest day in Dallas history, Southern Methodist University (most famous for a huge football scandal in 1987) announced that construction of the George W. Bush Presidential Liberry will begin on their campus next year, to be completed by 2014.

The site is generally located west of the intersection of US-75 (Central Expressway) and Yale Boulevard.

SMU might as well close its doors now; no self-respecting student could ever attend there again, after this disastrous maldecision.

Obama in Dallas

At least once in my lifetime, I decided I should attend a political rally. Today was the day: Democratic candidate Barack Obama visited Dallas and spoke to a capacity crowd at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

Reunion Arena is where the Dallas Stars and Mavericks used to play, before the American Airlines Center opened. Now, it's relegated to a few weeks a year (concerts).

I took the DART train to Union Station (about a half mile walk from Reunion Arena), arriving at 10:30am -- then later heard that people started arriving at 4:30am, to be at the front of the line. By the time I arrived,the End of The Line was on the fourth floor of the adjoining parking structure. It reminded me of a bad (read: typical) day at Disneyland, where the line to any ride is often 1-2 hours long. And then, when we got to a certain point, the 6-across line turned into a single-file mad dash for the door, several blocks away (by then, there was no security to be seen).

Update (Friday):
Secret Service defends security at Obama rally in Dallas

"Capacity" is listed as somewhere between 16,626-19,000 depending on configuration, so I'm not sure how many people were there .. but I do know the Fire Marshall was turning some people away (there were people on the return train telling of their experience). In front of the stage was a tightly-packed standing section, with the TV cameras elevated behind them. Then there were 22 tables setup for the press (presumably) in front of a large "no man's land" on the arena floor.

Most of us were seated in the arena seats, above the floor. Here's the (zoom lens) view from my seat, so high up that I could touch the ceiling of the arena. At least the JumboTron was working.

Since the NBA was routinely able to seat 17,000 people in Reunion Arena in under an hour (for many years) it's obvious to me this "line around the building and waaaaay into the parking lot" was done to look good to the cameras (TV news helicopters hovering overhead, and still photographers carefully placed to make the crowd look more energized than actual).

e-cycling

Well, I got rid of 1.5 boots (BritSpeak for "trunk") worth of e-waste today. The City of Dallas was sponsoring a Quarterly Recycling Event at a nearby park, so .. I took advantage and got rid of all sorts of circuit boards and cables and .. stuff .. that I will never use again.

Turns out the City had contracted with BCD Electro ("Electronics Recycling – Surplus Electronics – Computer Recycling") to handle all the electronics waste, and -- despite the rain -- they were doing a reasonable amount of "business" when I was there.

I still have 2 CRT monitors that have been sitting in my garage; I'm reluctant to part with them because -- even though they probably have zero value -- they cost hundreds of dollars and still work (they just take up lots of space and use lots of amps).

Now, I simply have to avoid the same mistake - buying stuff that'll ever be obsolete. Where do I start?

got sign?

Tomorrow is Super (Duper) Tuesday, but you'd never know it in Texas. Our primary is March 4th, and I don't recall seeing any political yard signs (except for Ron Paul -- who inspires the crazies), which are the staple of campaigns here. I suspect most campaigns are waiting to see whether they're still viable after tomorrow.

Texas Governor PrettyHair (Rick Perry) endorsed Rudy Giuliani, who promptly dropped out of the race. Ever the opportunist (ala Hillary Clinton), PrettyHair then endorsed John McCain - probably because he's the Lead GOPher at the moment, and Perry's desperate to back a winner, to salvage his own political future.

A few days ago, I had the car radio on and heard a politician whose voice I didn't immediately recognize .. turns out it was Barack Obama, who's as articulate as any human I've known. Odds are that I'll endorse him by the time the Texas (open) primary rolls around, unless I feel the need to seriously mess with anything happening over on the Repugnican side (assuming Mitt Romney hasn't thrown in the towel by then).

Politics aside .. Judy-Bob wandered by yesterday afternoon and wanted to feed with Joe-Bob at Genghis Grill (what's more traditional than Mongolian BBQ during the Super Bowl?) .. but we arrived to find them closed (horrors!!). Plan B became Pei Wei, which was open to only a handful of customers - the staff easily outnumbered the customers. I sampled the Pad Thai which was quite acceptable, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, Miles (and his mom) are here for one more week - they're due to mosey back to Phoenix on Saturday, I think. Since Judy-Bob and Janice-Bob played "Thelma and Louise" last week, taking US-287 to I-40 (en route Albuquerque), Paula's thinking about taking that route home, for a change of pace from the I-20 to I-10 boredom.

Jessica's Fault

Dallas Cowboys (American football) fans have, on average, the same number of brain cells afforded your legendary Big Haired Texas Wummun. Thus, today they're seeking a single source for their frustration at losing in the first round of the playoffs to a team (New York Giants) they'd already beaten twice this year.

That target is Jessica Simpson.

And thus, I am amused. You see, the Star Quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys - Tony Romo - was doing just fine thankyouverymuch until he and Jessica hooked up a few months ago. Then, his performance (onfield) started nose-diving. The local wimmin who would've been happy to Have His Baby weren't as fixated anymore. Now, the season is over and the city (well, not all of us) is in a state of complete, utter shock. We're talking catatonic stupor. I won't be surprised if there's no mail delivery, the stores all close at noon, and people start wearing black armbands until pre-season.

Rumor has is that the TSA folks at DFW airport have been given orders to turn back any plane with Jessica Simpson onboard. Her posters have been removed from the local stores, and parents who named their daughters "Jessica" are queued up -- blocks long -- at the courthouse, seeking NAME CHANGE PETITIONS.

Oh, the humanity.

Tuesday morning update: worth noting that the US Mail delivery was the latest I can ever remember: sometime after sunset, but before 8:30pm when I checked the mailbox "one last time". Coincidence? Not a chance.

cascading ...

Last Friday, Trish-Bob sent me to Benbrook to deliver Rambo to a foster family (long story, don't ask). Naturally, I couldn't leave until 4pm because Justin-Bob -- Tim-Bob's son -- had to go back to Lowe's for more stain (he was supposed to be there 10 days earlier but it turns out solid-core 1-3/8" doors are a special order item).

If I haven't lost you yet, I will ...

While I was waiting for Justin-Bob, I noticed the pop-up message on my PDA saying that it was Daniel-Bob's 50th birthday. Hmmm. I phoned Judy-Bob to inform her of the fact and she suggested we all meet at Ed's Deli on Sunday for a Breakfast Birthday Event [BBE]. Since I'd never been to a BBE before, I agreed (5 of us would eventually be there, including Mark and Joe-Bob).

The nicely-wrapped gift of Faux Spam wasn't the highlight; that honor goes to the plain-white-cover on the Sexaholics Anonymous book (lest I digress)

As I was leaving (did I mention it was Cold & Rainy?) I spotted a pour soul with an EVENT jacket standing in the intersection at Preston/LBJ-635 with a "sandwich sign" saying that Petco was having a G.O.O.B. sale -- not to be confused with a GOOB(er). "Whaaat?" (I shouted to myself as I clamped on the brakes). "Petco's going out of business?" (turns out it's limited to the location at Preston Royal, where the Mean Old Landlord has raised the rent to the point it was unprofitable to remain open .. now Tom Thumb -- owned by Safeway -- will expand into their space starting in January).

I can no longer pass up a CLEARANCE sale (thank you, Judy-Bob), so JACK (Just Another Car) ferried me there post haste. I was checking out the "ALL SALES ARE FINAL" merchandise (did I mention this is where Jill Wazabob found Marvin?) -- I've learned that while the (currently 20%) discounts certainly will increase, the only thing left at The End of the Going Out Of Business sale will be those poor orphan items that Only A Mother Could Love -- I ran into an Australian with dreadlocks, shopping (with his Dallas-originated girlfriend) for one of those multi-level cat houses. I noticed his Aussie accent and asked if he was from Melbourne. "No," he said, "The Great Barrier Reef". Since I didn't know that any humans actually lived in The Reef (I strongly suspect he lived nearby) I asked him if a news report I'd read about the coral being bleached due to Global Warming was true. He said "yes, it's true .. it's still not widespread but the early effects are obvious and it may all be gone in our lifetime - the next 50 years or so".

So there you have it. If Trish-Bob hadn't done The Intervention (again, don't ask) I wouldn't have confirmation from an Aussie-with-dreadlocks that our American excesses WRT power are bleaching/killing the coral halfway across the globe. I silently wondered if Jill - who dived there years ago and met Paul The Divemaster - knew about that Catastrophe In The Making, and the cascade effect it will have.

Now can I go back to reading the prose on my breakfast cereal box?

Messing with Texas

I just turned in a litterer (anonymously, since the website [Don't Mess with Texas : Report A Litterer] didn't ask who I was). I wasn't sure what he threw out - chicken bones, cigarettes, papers .. all I saw was a pile-o-stuff being launched, about 10 feet to my right.

What will happen next - he'll get a postcard saying "someone saw you"? I'll bet he frames those as trophies. (actually, he'll probably just toss them out his window at the next opportunity).

sniff, sniff ...

I've had the A/C off for over a month, and last night I flipped on the heat (thermostat set for 20C in the winter, 26C in the summer). Indeed, there was that unmistakable aroma, as in years past ...

Watching Dallasonians (Dallasites? Dallaseneans?) is entertaining this time of the year, as they pull their Heavy Winter Clothing out of storage when it drops below 20C outside. It seems to affect Our Latino Friends the most, who appear .. well .. paralyzed. I can only image the trauma affecting those who migrated farther north .. like (gasp!) New Hampshah.

Weather watchers (Jill, are you listening?) will be entertained to know that rain is predicted for the 2nd half of this 4-day weekend. And you know what that means, right? Free Car Wash!!!

The South American Loophole

Honestly, if a retailer's not open by 7AM Friday, why bother?

I suppose getting the "weekend only" edition of the local paper entitles me to mid-week holidays, too. So, this morning I waddled out to the front yard to fetch the paper, and quickly noticed that the ads outweighed the news - by a substantial amount. They could have saved their money with me, since the last place I'll be tomorrow is anywhere near a B&M.

As usual, they're outdoing each other to see who can open the earliest on Black Friday. This year, the prize goes to Circuit City, who will open from 9PM-Midnight tonight. Sure, you purists will say "but that's cheating! - it's still Thursday" but I say "Huzzah! for thinking out of the box". As Everybody Knows(tm), 9PM Central Time is midnight in Santiago and Buenos Aires (both are in America, albeit South), so it appears the Circuit Cityfolk are taking advantage of the average Texan's ignorance of geography.

Anyway, according to the ads, here are the opening times for those stores who didn't take advantage of The South American Loophole:

4 AM	JC Penney; Kohl's
5 AM	Best Buy; Circuit City; Fry's; Linens-n-Things; Old Navy; Pepboys; Sam's Club; Sears; Toys-R-Us
5:30 AM	Dick's Sporting Goods; Sports Authority
6 AM	Bed Bath & Beyond; JoAnn Farbics; Macy's; Radio Shack; Target
7 AM	Academy; Burlington Coat Factory; GameStop; OfficeMax; the great indoors; Ulta; World Market

Note that I'm simply ignoring anyone who opens at 8AM - like that's early.

Observation: two sporting goods stores - Dick's and Sports Authority - bucked the even-hour trend and will open at 5:30. Their rival - Academy - doesn't open until 90 minutes later. By then, the shelves at the former will surely be barren, with nothing left but mismatched pairs of Chinese-made tube socks.

---

Everybody Knows is a trademark of the state-run media (Fox "News"); Rush Limbaugh Productions; and the Christian Fascist Republican Party.

next Smart stop: Austin

The Smart Car Roadshow is in Dallas this weekend (Mockingbird Station), so I waddled down to take the car for a quick spin. Sadly, that's about all I got, as they're cranking up to 500 people/day through the five (5) cars they have available for test (four Passion models and one Cabriolet).

First reaction: at $13,590 it's almost like having a disposable car (compared to my normal wheels - a completely unfair comparison). While standing in line, they show you the Crash Test Video which is a must-see, especially here in Texas where F350s and soccer-mom-powered SUVs have a tendency to tailgate with abandon.

The Smart US models have a 33 liter (8.7 gallon) fuel tank, which gives it a 300 mile range, more or less. The engine is a 3-cylinder, 1-liter gasoline powered engine. Don't expect the G-forces to whip your neck off, but for a city car .. I'd buy one. If nothing else, because they're Just So Dern Cute.

what is is?

Last night, Judy-Bob dragged me to a biweekly session of the Dallas Philosopher's Forum which meets at a local IHOP. My last exposure to philosophy was a Philosophy 101 class I took to satisfy a freshman college requirement. I decided not to pursue this field then, and now - 30 years later - I remember why. To document last night's excursion, I made a few notes:

1. IHOP doesn't tolerate meetings well - they had no way to independently turn off music in the meeting room without shutting it down for those who dined in the main room


2. this group has been meeting for many years; they take a summer vacation partly because "it's too hot to meet"


3. $4/meeting or $25/6 months (a $48 value - WOW!!!)


4. tonight ~25 people (including 6 women)


5. The lecturer was a professor from the University of Dallas, whose topic was "Religion and Aesthetics"

   "Both religion and aesthetics follow from the bipolarity of human existence, grounded in the sensory and ontologically referred to the Whole. Religions provide the umbrella of meaning by showing how we fit into the Whole. From ontological distance, we can learn to appreciate sensory surface aesthetically either by itself or as mediating wider meaning. The interplay between the sensory and the space of meaning is where art occurs. We will examine a few specimens of how religion and aesthetics interpenetrate in the work of art."

6. it was a discussion of art, without any visual aids - he had trouble with a photocopier, apparently


7. the microphone had an apparent "speaker filter" which amplified others' voices, but not his


8. the overhead projecter (remember those?) pointed to the ceiling during most of the lecture


9. the speaker read his ~20 page paper, but encountered noticable delays when changing pages. Didn't he number them?


10. Wikipedia has lots of pages on philosophy, according to a pre-lecture discussion we overheard. I confirmed that later - see Wikipedia's philosophy page for example


11. most used word: ontological - 31 times


12. least used word: teleological - zero (I remembered it from my Philosophy 101 class)


13. most unexpected repetition: putative - used 5+ times


14. NeoPlatanism ("the synthesis of Christianity and Platonism into a single system")


15. Unexpected outburst of the evening
    • Speaker:"we are conceived in (something) of animal lust"
    • YEAH!! shouts a woman


16. Philosophers referenced: Martin Heidegger; Jean-Paul Sartre; Augustine; Aristotle; Søren Kierkegaard; Friedrich Nietzsche; Socrates; Aquinas ("a philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition"); Herocles of Ephesus


17. Literary references: Walter Pater ("English essayist and art and literary critic"); William Blake ("an English poet, visionary, painter, and printmaker"); Plato's Republic


18. Stuff it would've been handy to know before the lecture: Apollonian and Dionysian; Byzantine; Pythagoreanism; Galen; The Whore of Babylon


19. Art references: Piet Mondrian; Matthias Grünewald's "The Crucifixion"; LeRoy Neiman


20. Music references: Richard Wagner; Socrates and "the study of harmonics"


21. Speaker's big laugh for the evening: "you can't stop rock and roll" related to the Berlin Wall (this had the crowd rolling on the floor)


22. Q & A
    
    
    • q- "where would you publish this paper?"
      a- (baffled)
    
    
    • q- what do you mean by "heart of hearts?"
      a- "fundamental orientation of self to the whole"
    • discussion of "inate sense of perfection"
    • "notion of a heart" - metaphoric analysis
    • ancient iconoclasts and destruction of religious symbols
    • European cathedrals as a "portal to the divine"
    • observation: philosophers can't do basic math (4/3 v 3/4) or standup comedy
    • visible/intelligible dichotomy

Conclusion: the chicken sandwich at IHOP was edible.

A pleasant experience at the DMV? Really?

<-- Can you spot the DMV in this shopping center?

A few days before my driver's license expired (and this was an "odd" renewal so I couldn't do it online) I called the local(*) Texas Department of Public Safety office and asked, simply "which days are the least busy?" and was told "Wednesday and Thursday". Armed with that information, I proceeded to the DMV at 10am this morning - a Thursday - and saw a line snaking out the door. Not a good sign, I thought. They opened at 7am - I should've come then, I thought - but that would've conflicted with my 8am dentist appointment (another joy in life).

(*)Perhaps doing my homework helped - I determined that the nearest office was [Dallas East] so I Google-Earth'd it and reckoned that I knew the intersection: Northwest/Jupiter. My plan involved not driving downtown to face The Main DMV Office (queue scary music).

So, I whipped out my iPod and proceeded to listen to Yet Another Podcast. However, the line was moving. Quickly. Once inside the door, I could see the signs - in both Spanish and English - advising me not to mean against the walls. As if! It was also entertaining to see the ethnic mix: I was one of only two whiteys in a 15-person line. I soon found myself in front of the Triage Clerk (my term) and I explained that I was there for a renewal. She handed me a number and a 12-question (?) form, and waved me toward a counter. No pens were anywhere to be found, but a Latino gent sensed my plight and let me borrow his. I finished in about 60 seconds and returned his pen - he seemed surprised for two reasons: (1) I returned his pen and (2) I completed the task in less than 10 minutes.

The questions were simple - basically asking if I had any condition that would keep me from getting a renewal - it was very transparent. Once done, I sat down and waited for my number to be called. The paper slip said "WAITING TIME 5min." and it was right, more or less. So much for listening to my podcast - there wouldn't be time! My number soon flashed on The Big Board and I proceeded to the designated clerk, who asked me to (a) read 3 lines of numbers-in-a-box; (b) submit my left+right thumbprint; (c) pay the $24 renewal in cash; (d) sign my name; (e) smile for the photo; and (f) don't let the door hit you on the way out. My license will arrive in 4-6 weeks from Austin TX and meanwhile-hang-onto-this-document-it-shows-you've-renewed.

Fast and easy? Surprisingly (shockingly) YES. The hardest part was just finding the place - it was listed on the DMV's website, but I wasn't expecting a hole-in-the-wall in a strip shopping center. I guess at my next renewal - in 2012, I think - they'll have valet parking.

Mmm .. doughnut !

Although it was a Dark And Stormy Day yesterday, I moseyed about 6 miles south to take in the conversion of a local 7-Eleven to a Kwik-E-Mart. This is proving to be quite a marketing coup, as even the rain couldn't keep the crowd away from the Squishees; Krusty-O cereal; Buzz Cola and (of course!) the pink Sprinklicious doughnuts.

Outside, a local radio station (Mix 102.9) has setup a Simpsons couch complete with the main characters, where you could have your own photo taken, provided you had a camera of your own handy.

Inside, the clerks were wearing green uniforms and one of them had an [Apu] nametag. Sadly, they were completely SOLD OUT of Krusty-O's and Buzz Cola, although Squishees and Pink Doughnuts were still available. But not for long.

Only 12 locations across the country were converted, and apparently only for the month of July (when The Simpsons Movie debuts). I suspect one of their competitors (Circle K, etc) could have come up with this idea first, but they didn't. Kudos, 7-Eleven.