digression

Jill's been in town for a couple days, crashing my guestroom (she's not couchsurfing), but that's no excuse for not updating my blog, right?

We took the train to watch the Stars lose to the San Jose Sharks 2-4 on Monday night, then (at The Saucer on Friday) got invited to last night's game where they lost to the Phoenix Coyotes 0-5. Jill and Brian watched them lose to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-5 on Wednesday night. So, while Jill was in town, the team was 0-3. Coincidence? I can't think of a more logical correlation!

Melinda bought the tickets (platinum seating!) and her 13-year old daughter was there for comic relief. At least she wasn't texting the entire game, as I saw at a Stars game last year.

Deep Thought: why would you spend $100 to sit in an arena (the American Airlines Center), with the sole purpose of Texting Your Friends the entire game? Couldn't you do that in the parking lot outside and save the money? I'm sure the conversations were something like "Hey, Britney - I'm at the STARS GAME!!!!!!!!!!" I suspect these are mostly Park Cities (or - gasp! Plano) teens who are so self-absorbed that all they can think of is impressing their friends that Mummy and Deddy were stupid enough to spend money to send them to the game (which is probably cheaper than bailing them out of jail after being arrested at an underage party at the home of that SMU lawyer who's on a monthlong vacation in The Canaries). Oops/sorry .. I'm digressing ...

At any rate, I was very proud of Melinda and Carson, who (after buying Stars jerseys and putting them on) started dancing and ended up on the JumboTron, about 2:30 before the game ended (woo hoo). I grabbed this still frame from one of the movies I took, which nearly used up my 2 GB memory card. Pretty amazing that the photos/movies I took in 2 hours could easily fill about three CD-Rs (which turns the "could you email me the pictures?" into a monumental task).

Anyway, tomorrow, Jill's running the DRC Half Marathon so I'll provide Limo Service at 7am. Maybe I'll park my car and Text all my friends: "Hey, Britney - I'm at the MARATHON!!!!!!"

By the Time I Get to Phoenix ...

Paula finally headed back to Phoenix on Friday and was "home" 25 hour later, after spending the night in Las Cruces, NM. Now she has to install all the networking toys (wireless-G; gigabit switch; NAS appliance) that she bought while here. It should be easy, but .. (as Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say:) "there's always somethin".

I recall that the approximate distance between Dallas and El Paso (635 miles) is the same as the number of the Interstate highway which loops around Dallas (I-635). Beta's been asking permission to update her blog so I guess she has something to say about the last couple weeks.

eephus ain't BBQ. but then, what izzit?

Well, Michelle's back in TBA [The Bay Area] after a week here in Big D.

Among other amusements, we hit four (4) different barbecue chains and she rated Sonny Bryan's at the top, followed closely by Spring Creek and Pappa's, with Dickey's a distant fourth (to be fair, we were the last to arrive before closing, and barbeque probably peaks earlier in the day).

We tried using a semi-scientific method, assigning various weights to the meat; sauce; veggies; bread; ambiance; and sundry. Each time, Michelle ordered the pork ribs so as to minimize the remaining variables (the meat was assigned about 50% of the score). Sadly, her bell pepper allergy proved to be a problem, as she spotted it in most of the vegetable offerings (whether it was really there is conjecture). We agreed that Sonny Bryan's had the best bread (fresh, buttered top) and Pappa's the worst (a slice of Wonder Bread wrapped in a bag).

Finally, Michelle's concerned about all the eephus that's here, there and everywhere. Presumably, eephus==bacteria, but I couldn't find anything anywhere which made that correlation. Is it possible this is a term used by her parents when she was a youngun, and she can't shake it from her vocabulary?

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Earlier today, Michelle and I moseyed to downtown Dallas where (after 13+ years here) I finally took in the #1 tourist attraction: The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (a/k/a the building formerly known as the Texas School Book Depository). There's a lot of great video and 1963 artifacts on display; it was well done. Trivia: the "Sixth Floor Museum" now occupies both the sixth and seventh floors of the building. The first floor is used by the Dallas County Commissioners Court (John Wiley Price et al). The second through fifth floors are office space at "411 Elm Street". There's a webcam at The Sniper's Perch on the 6th floor.

After the tour, we moseyed downstairs and watched some antiwar protestors who arrived at The Grassy Knoll in time to be viewed by the commuters leaving for home, and listened to a street vendor hawking newspaper-style photos of the assassination. I wonder if he's ever been inside The Gift Shop to see what he's up against?

Deep Thought: did Texas do away with issuing school books after November, 1963? If so, that could explain why we're 49th (of 50) in education.

(here's a closeup of the plaque on 411 Elm Street; someone's emphasized the word "ALLEGEDLY", since conspiracy theories continue to this day)

The Soylent Greenhouse Effect

Last night, Michelle & I watched Soylent Green (1973) (the documentary starring Charlton Heston and other notables) and were amused (?) to see them talking about global warming, as one of the premises of the film. Of course, they referred to it as The Greenhouse Effect, but the inference was there, nonetheless.

Related: several years ago, I bought a splendid T-shirt from the Soylent Green Biscuit Company; people who see it either get the joke, or don't. Hmm .. even thinking about it makes me hungry for one of those Soylent Green Crackers .. mmm, mmm, good.

Saturday in the park

Michelle swooped into town Friday afternoon*, for a couple days' visit. We're taking in some of the culinary delights, amongst other stuff, which gave me a chance to sample places I haven't visited before (since my 13+ years here in Dallas).

*Just before she arrived, I dropped by St Paul's Hospital to see how Trish-Bob was doing after her surgery. Turns out I was the First Visitor Of The Day - woo hoo! By the way, it turns out that St. Paul's Hospital is unrelated to Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks - whoda thunkit?

One of these is Luby's Cafeteria, a chain with lots of Texas history. Not unexpectedly, we were the youngest ones there at the 6pm dinnertime (by at least 20 years). Notable: a very large analog clock on the wall, so that even the most vision-challenged senior wouldn't have trouble knowing the time. I had baked sole almandine along with some broccoli and other veggies, which wasn't half bad. No complaints.

The next day, we waited 20 minutes (Saturday-noon) to have a late breakfast at Cindi's New York Delicatessen (four locations). I had a veggie omelet which came with real hashbrowns (unlike Deli News) and a short stack-o-pancakes. That was plenty to keep me going until we fed again, around 8pm at Spring Creek Barbecue, where we skillfully dodged The Bread Girl's repeated attempt to fatten us up.


Between feedings, we nosed around Saigon-Taipei market (Garland) and scored a couple dragonfruit, and then Michelle found a coolie hat at Hiep Thai market (Garland) to close out the ensemble.

TWOT

I caught a piece on one of the national news feeds saying that Fantasy Football was good for office morale, "only" requires an hour a day to participate, and that employers should encourage this behavior.

Well, excuse me, but I always thought the workplace was for work and not chewing up company bandwidth (and stockholder profits) on this - or any other Total Waste Of Time (TWOT). Then again, I find the vast majority of workplace conversations to be TWOTs. People seem okay on spending hours talking about their:

• latest real estate/automobile/home appliance purchase
• sports of any kind
• poor child being misunderstood when he ran a red light and got an automated ticket
• you name it -- absolutely zero talk about working with customers.

It must just be me; I don't get it. Sure, these conversations shouldn't be banned, but should be the exception, rather than the rule. If employers only paid for actual work performed, I suspect the 8-hour day would drop to less than two, easily.



Today's the day that Rambo goes back to his home. Here's a photo of him in his new diaper.

Unrelated: Paula and I dined with Jill-Bob at the Bavarian Grill last night (the lamb und Brussel Sprouts were tasty).

resisting temptation

I was nosing around Geoff's blog, and spotted a posting about his new digicam (Nikon 5600). Hmmm .. am I overdue for a new digicam? I wonder how long I can resist the temptation?

The digital camera that I use most often is the Canon, and I haul out the E-10 when a good lens (and lots of settings) is more important than shirt-pocket size and "movie mode". This is my fourth digicam:

1. Sony Mavica FD-90 (acquired May 2000)
2. Olympus C-2100 UZ (May 2001)
3. Olympus E-10 (September 2002)
4. Canon PowerShot S-230 (December 2002)

Paula still has the Sony (I think) and Jill-Bob bought the C-2100.

I still like Digital Photography Review's website the best, in part because of their side-by-side comparison feature. Heck, I thought it'd be entertaining to compare all four of my digicams (sorted by acquisition).

Depending on whether you can tell the difference between a 200dpi and 300dpi image, anything with 3.2 megapixels [MP] or higher will produce a good 8x10 inch print at 200dpi, but you'll need a 7.2 MP camera if you demand 300 dpi precision. Also, if you have a less-than-spectacular zoom lens, and/or tend to crop a lot, the more megapixels the merrier.

I recently printed quite a few 8x10 images, and they all look crisp to me (except for a few where I did some serious zoom-and-cropping) so I suspect I can live with my 3.2 and 4 MP cameras a while longer.

dearth of breakfast: woe is me!

Okay, I'll admit it; I'm a breakfast junkie. So, I'm especially irritated when my favorite breakfast places disappear. At Coit & Campbell (SE), both Charlie D's and Crescent City Beignets have closed, leaving Nikki's Cafe as the only breakfast spot in that area (I don't count Whataburger or Starbucks). Also, Gilbert's NY Deli on Beltline (which had The Freshest Omelets In The World) just vanished.

Now I'm left with opposite ends of the Breakfast Spectrum: La Madeleine French Bakery & Cafe (and their yummy Strawberries Romanoff) versus Bic's Coffee Shop, which redefines the word BeerBiscuits. Hmm. Sadly, you can't find a good Cat Head Biscuit in Dallas, far as I know.

Given Crescent City's departure, I'll have to make my own beignets (one website described them as a cross between a French pastry and a doughnut)! Fortunately there is Cafe Du Monde® Beignet Mix (available at Kroger) which is supposedly best prepared with cottonseed oil! Michelle spotted (Turkey Gold brand) cottonseed oil (from PYCO Industries) at Academy Sports & Outdoors, in the Outdoor Cooking section. Yeah, sure .. I would've thought of going to a sporting goods store for cooking oil, sure!

Good news: Bagelstein's relocation to Coit & Arapaho (NW) has been successful (I've breakfasted there twice since The Big Move from Spring Valley Road), although I wonder if their old customers have found them.

Finally, due to tens of thousands of requests, I posted yesterday's Sundry on Thursday. This should restore calm to the world.

Michelle meets Jack Ben Rabbit

Almost everything you ever wanted to know about The Freeways of the Metroplex is on TexasFreeway.com, but I couldn't find a traffic report there, just static content. How boring! I finally found a live feed on a local TV station's website, thus skillfully weaving Michelle (via her trusty Toyota Prius) out of Dallas and into points west.

I envy Michelle! Today she was exploring - specifically, for Odessa's (unofficial?) mascot: Jack Ben Rabbit. I found some hare-raising online articles from June 2002 and June 2004 - the stories are in the Odessa American Online. Jack Ben Rabbit had been "borrowed" from its original Lincoln Street location a few times, so The Powers That Be moved him permanently to a more secure location (?) at the Ector County ISD's Administration Building. Recently, miniature ("art is in the eye of the beholder") replicas of Jack Ben Rabbit have appeared around Odessa.

Sadly, Beta (the Wonder Dog) is in mourning; her New Best Friend (who concocted Beignet Liver for her, and Electric Green Key Lime Pie for Gene Bob) has left, in search of adventure (described above).

The case of the missing pralines

Our server at Cantina Laredo (in Addison) said they had cabrito last night, so I ordered it. He returned a few minutes later and said it was all gone! Argh! I've never had it before. This weekend is the (31st) annual World Championship Barbeque Goat Cook-off in Brady, TX (a 5½ hour drive).

Michelle was visiting relatives in Louisiana and is transporting goodies to her folks in Los Angeles. One such package was a box of pralines, but .. we neglected to close the door to the guest room while @ dinner. When we returned, a very smirky Beta the Wonder Dog awaited us, with a massive sugar fix. Only a single praline survived. Today, we'll try to find replacements (Central Market? Whole Foods?).

President Flipper

Gotta laugh at the continued incompetence of President Quagmire. Yesterday, He says the War On Terror can't be won, at which point the Democrats immediately began humping his leg. Oops .. Today he recants ("made a boo-boo"), and says the War On Terra can be won. What a flip-flopper!

This reminds me of the time when The Penguin Dick Cheney bashed Senator Kerry for using the word "sensitive" and then President Quagmire used The S Word about 24 hours later. Good thing those two work So Well Together. Oops .. forgot that Team Thing was just a façade .. more CFRP Spin Doctoring. Oops .. that's redundant, isn't it?

Gotta give the CFRP credit: every speech sounds like every other speech (they've become the Masters of Talking Points), so .. if you've heard one Kerry-bashing, you've heard them all. This goes back to the awful days of Ronald Reagan, when he Governed By Sound Bite, as if everyone in America suddenly contracted Attention Deficit Disorder and couldn't think for themselves.

It helps to balance what they say, by what you see with your own eyes. Supposedly the Swift Boat Liars For Bush only spent $2M, versus $42B (!) spent by MoveOn.org .. although the Swift Liars must be getting a great TV rate, since I haven't seen much-if-anything from MoveOn. I must be watching The Wrong Channel again.

The CFRP says the Democrats made themselves out to be something they're not - tough on terrorism (in Boston) and then turn around and made themselves out to be something they're not - moderate (in New York) barely 30 days later. These Radical Rights are trying to make themselves look like Normal Human Beings, when in reality they're being dragged around by their nose rings by the (Fundamentalist) Radical Right death squads of their party. Both parties just reek of slime, although only one party has Made Slime Into An Art Form.

Bizarre web site of the week: JohnKerryIsaDoucheBagButImVotingForHimAnyway (thanks to Michelle for the spot)

I think I'll just watch cartoons for the rest of the week, until New York is returned to the residents. Trivia: Democrats outregister the CFRP 5:1 in New York City.

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I spotted something about BlogOn 2004 in someone's LinkedIn profile, so .. curious me .. I tracked it down. Turns out the event was July 22-23. Oh well ...

narrowly avoided: Heil Schicklgruber!

Adolf Hitler's father was Alois Schicklgruber (the illegitimate son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber; historians are not sure who the father was, although Johann Georg Hiedler is assumed). At age 40, Adolf's father changed his surname to Hitler (also randomly spelled Hittler, Hidler, Hiedler or Huettler).

I've never met anyone with the surname Schicklgruber or Hitler. I do remember a character on the Hill Street Blues TV show (1981-7) .. a narcoleptic stand-up comic named Vic Hitler, who refused to change his surname. His career suffered accordingly.

Note to self: suggest shelving plan to change my first name to Buford, as a means to achieve fame.

Trivia: Adolf Hitler had an adult sister! Paula Hitler (aka Paula Wolf) died in 1960 (single, childless) and is buried in the Bergfriedhof ("Mountain Cemetery") in Berchtesgaden. Three of their siblings died young; Paula and Adolf are the only ones who lived to adulthood. Adolf committed suicide in Berlin in 1945 (it was in all the papers) and is not buried anywhere.

Also, it's possible (never proven) that Adolf Hitler was ¼ Jewish! See page 90 of the OSS Papers: A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler. The Nizkor Project offers fascinating (yet tedious) reading.