Neither The Mountain Or Space Needle Is Out At My Texas Location

Saw that which you see here, this November 16 afternoon, on Facebook, with the verbiage in the posting saying, "Mountain was out...11/14/23".

In Western Washington Mount Rainier is usually referred to as The Mountain. If you say something like "The Mountain is out, clear and bright today", one knows it is Mount Rainier being referred to, even though Washington has many big mountains, five of which, including Rainier, are volcanoes.

But, what I was most interested in in the photo was the Space Needle. What is going on on top of the Space Needle?

Is a new observation deck being added to the top of the Needle? It costs over 20 bucks to ride the elevator to the top of the Needle. Is there going to be an option to pay a few more bucks to get to climb a ladder totally to the top of the Needle?

I think I would pass on that option.

Fun fact. If you are ever in Seattle and an earthquake is pending, the safest place to be in Seattle is at the top of the Space Needle. The Needle will sway in the quake, in a big one the swaying would be carnival ride worthy. But it will not topple.

The bulk of the weight of the Space Needle structure is a HUGE base of concrete, to which the Needle's steel legs are solidly bonded. 

Supposedly the transit tunnels which go under downtown Seattle are also designed to survive a strong earthquake. I think I'd rather be at the top of the Needle, than underground, if that ground starts quaking...

Space Needle Clarification From FNJ & Spencer Jack With Photo Documentation

A day or two or three ago I blogged that Madame McNutty Needles My Homesick Space Again. 

In that blogging I made mention of the fact that I was unclear regarding the status of the renovated Seattle Space Needle. With me a bit confused about observation decks and glass floors. And what revolves and what does not revolve.

Regarding my confusions I said I would likely be hearing from my relative expert on things like the Seattle Space Needle, Monorail and Ferry Boats. This morning my relative expert, my Favorite Nephew Jason, alleviated me of some of my Needle confusions via an email with a subject line of Needle Clarification, with three photos and clarifying text.

The email from Jason in its entirety, followed by two of the three photos. The first one is the one you see above. 

FUD -- 

SJ and I visited the Needle early last year to walk (or sit on) the new glass floor.

The top of the Needle has two floors. The top floor includes the outside promenade that is familiar.  The only changes to that over the years has been the all inclusive fencing to prevent someone from jumping. The fencing is hardly noticeable and does not block any views.

The lower level of the Needle formerly housed a restaurant.  It was removed and replaced with an inside observation room.  This room hosts the glass floor which is really unnerving to walk on.  Only small parts of this level have the glass floor.  The very outer perimeter of this level does still make an hourly rotational loop.  

And I do think there was a very small cocktail lounge located in there.  SJ and I didn't partake that day, as this visit was in March, and SJ chose to give up hard liquor as a part of his Lent repentance. 

If you'd just come up and visit, it would be much easier to whisk you around to all these fun sights, rather than explaining the changes that have taken place over the last 20 years since your exodus.

Anyway, I have to get Spencer's breakfast ready. Today is his first day of high school. He is attending Lincoln Elementary School this year, right down the street from our town home.

FNJ    

________________

Til Jason informed me of such I did not know the revolving restaurant in the Space Needle was no more. Years ago a second restaurant was added part way up the Needle. The restaurant at the top was notorious for its high prices and spectacular views.

Apparently Mount Vernon High School has too many students so they have taken over one of the oldest buildings in town for the incoming freshman class.

I began my school years in Mount Vernon, attending kindergarten at Roosevelt Grade School. By the time I was in 1st grade we had moved north, to Burlington, where I then attended the Burlington grade school named after a Roosevelt. I think the Mount Vernon one was named after Franklin whilst the Burlington one was named after Teddy. I may have that backwards.
 
Below are the two aforementioned photos... 

I can see the arches of the Pacific Science Center behind Spencer Jack's left shoulder. Which indicates the view behind the boys is slightly to the southwest. That body of water is Elliott Bay. The land on the far side of the bay is West Seattle, where you will find Seattle's version of the Statue of Liberty. 

Here we see Spencer Jack sitting on the Space Needle's glass floor. I don't know if this is one of the revolving locations. 

I really don't get the attraction of glass floors like this. Or those glass pedestrian bridges China seems to have become fond of. Or that glass walkway which cantilevers out over the Grand Canyon.

I have only experienced a location with a glass floor once. And that also was in Seattle. At REI's corporate headquarters, which is not far, maybe a mile, east of the Space Needle. REI's is just a small section of glass floor. Walking over it is not too unnerving, because all you see looking down is the floor below you.

I have a tentative date next summer with Madame McNutty to get loopy at the Space Needle's Loupe Lounge, which, thanks to Jason, we have now learned is located where the restaurant used to be...

Madame McNutty Needles My Homesick Space Again

Madame McNutty posted the above on Facebook yesterday. The McNutty comment accompanying the photo said...

"Beautiful! Seattle is such a fun city to visit with so much to see and do. Don't you think so, Jonesy? I've got to get back to Pike's Place Market next time I'm in Seattle!"

To which I replied...

"The out of control homeless problem is depressing to see, at least it was the last time I was in Seattle in August of 2017. The encampments along the freeway were shocking. But, other than that, downtown Seattle is like a theme park. Pike Place, Seattle Center, Pioneer Square, the Seahawks stadium, the Mariners Ballpark, the Monorail, multiple vertical malls, Chinatown, Uwajimaya, a transit tunnel zipping you from one end of downtown to the other, the waterfront, hop a ferry, ride the giant waterfront wheel. I was shocked at what it costs now to take the elevator up the Space Needle. Something like 27 bucks. It was under 5 the last time I visited the Needle. The changes wrought by Amazon at the north end of downtown are sort of shocking. Multiple skyscrapers and those cool Amazon spheres. The SLUT (South Lake Union Trolley) is a cool looking transit addition. I am looking forward to seeing the Seattle Waterfront without the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and driving through the new tunnel under Seattle. And I like the Independent Republic of Fremont. It's outside of downtown, but still adds to the theme park, and it's got cool relics of the Soviet Union, along with the Fremont Troll under the Aurora Bridge..."

I was wrong about how much it costs now to ride to the observation deck of the Space Needle. It costs more than I thought. An illustrative screen cap from the Space Needle website...

Yikes! And the price goes up during peak visiting hours from 11 AM - 8 PM.

The Space Needle has undergone a big renovation since I last rode to the top. If I remember right the renovation cost more than the original Needle. A blurb from the Seattle City Pass website details some of the Space Needle upgrades which I have not experienced...

Discover unparalleled views of Mt. Rainer to the south, the Cascade range to the East, and the majestic Olympics to the West from two levels, one with an all-glass floor and the other an open-air deck.

Float over Seattle as you sit back on one of the inclined glass benches in the open-air observation deck. Step out onto The Loupe, the world's first revolving glass floor, with Seattle at your feet.

The restaurant part of the Space Needle has always revolved, one time around per hour. But two observation levels is a new thing I did not know about. And one of those revolves, with, if I am understanding it correctly, both with see through glass floors to make acrophobes nervous. 

The new revolving lounge sounds fun. But, I am not understanding the name. Loupe Lounge? The descriptive text describing the Loupe Lounge, which I screen capped above, along with the Space Needle admission info, makes the Loupe Lounge sound fun...

"Orbit a while on the world's first and only revolving glass floor. Rotating between futuristic signature cocktails and twists on the classics, explore a new world of mixology high above Seattle at the Loupe Lounge."

I hazard to guess that those signature cocktails are likely costly, and consuming one or two would likely make one a bit Loopy, hence, maybe, the new version of spelling Loopy to name this lounge?

Exploring deeper into my revolving Space Needle floors confusions I found a couple illustrative photos, which, though illustrative, don't really resolve the revolving glass floor confusion. I expect I will be getting clarification from my relative Space Needle expert, Spencer Jack's primary paternal parental unit.

The above photo looks like how I remember the interior part of the Space Needle, but with the new glass floor. Is this the level with the Loupe Lounge? The windows also look different than I remember. 

In the next photo we step outside to the open air deck, which we can see does not have a glass floor.

The open air deck is sort of how I remember it. Except it looks like a glass wall has been added. I do not remember what the barrier wall used to be, but I know it was not a glass wall.

There had been a slight problem early on with the Space Needle with suicide jumpers. If I remember right that ring of cable you see outside the glass wall was added to make jumping difficult. And now, with a glass wall, pretty much impossible.

Seeing these photos of the view from the top of the Space Needle I'm guessing there are a lot of people who have seen plenty of photos of the Space Needle, iconic image of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, that it is, but have not seen what it looks like when you are the top of the Needle.

Well, now you have.

I wonder what Madame McNutty is going to homesick me with next...

Fort Worth's Amazing "Iconic" T & P Station Skyscraper

I saw that which you see above yesterday in Wednesday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

This an example of the type Star-Telegram "news" I have been eye rolling over ever since I was first exposed to Fort Worth and the town's newspaper of record, with its patented tendency towards hyperbolic nonsense..

Delusional hyperbole that long has had me wondering how such gets past any sort of editor. 

Why does the Star-Telegram, and Fort Worth, have such a fixation on claiming some lame thing in Fort Worth is iconic? Or a signature structure?

For years now we have been told that the Trinity River Vision is building three iconic signature bridges, over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

When those bridges finally began to be somewhat seen it was obvious they were perfectly ordinary little bridges which look like freeway overpasses.

Passing over nothing.

Is the explanation for this type nonsense, spouted by those who refer to something in Fort Worth as being iconic, that they don't know what the word "iconic" means?

Simply Googling "iconic definition" should help the Star-Telegram understand the T & P Station is not iconic. One example among dozens which come up when you Google that simple search term...

"Synonyms for 'iconic': famous, well-known, celebrated, renowned, fabled, legendary, notorious, infamous, illustrious, the one and only, best, better."

Yesterday I asked a non-Texan if they could name for me some iconic things that say "Fort Worth" to them. "No", was the initial answer. And then, "Oh, I know, that sign that says Fort Worth Stockyards".

Well, that doesn't count when the name is right on that which you think is iconic.

Now, what are some iconic things which people do see as iconic representations of a town?

The Eiffel Tower comes to mind, you know that is Paris when you see it.

The Golden Gate Bridge, you know that is San Francisco, among other iconic SF things, like Chinatown, the Cable Cars, Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz.

You see a photo of the Petronas Towers, you know that is Kuala Lumpur.

The Burj Khalifa and Burj Al Arab, you see a photo of one of those and you know it's Dubai.

See the Statue of Liberty, and you know it's an iconic symbol of both New York City and America. New York City has many iconic structures, in the form of skyscrapers and bridges. Oh, and Times Square.

See a photo of the skyline of Dallas, with Reunion Tower, and you are seeing an iconic image known world-wide due to a world-wide hit TV show called Dallas, back in the previous century.

Seattle has a few iconic images which people associate with the town, such as the Space Needle and Pike Place Market. And a big volcano called Rainier south of town.

But Fort Worth? I hate to hurt anyone feelings, but there is absolutely nothing in Fort Worth, other than the Fort Worth Stockyards sign, which is an iconic thing people recognize as being Fort Worth.

So, just stop it Star-Telegram, no more with this ironic use of the iconic word.

And speaking of Seattle and the Space Needle.

Last night I was watching a video on YouTube titled TOP 15 Most Amazing Skyscrapers. I expected to see the usual suspects, some of which I mentioned above, like the Petronas Towers, or those towers in Dubai, and some of the towers in China, like the futuristic ones in Shanghai.

What I did not expect was what I saw when we got to the #3 Most Amazing Skyscraper.

That being that it was the Space Needle which was the 3rd Most Amazing Skyscraper.

The accompanying verbiage described the Space Needle as an iconic structure, which it is. But, skyscraper? The Eiffel Tower was not on this TOP 15 list. I would think the Eiffel Tower would be much more recognized, and iconic, than the Space Needle. And I've never heard either referred to as skyscrapers. Even though both do scrape the sky.

I wonder if one day someone will build something in Fort Worth which will actually become iconic. The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision may become iconic, but not in the way most town's would want to be known, as in an Iconic Boondoggle of Epic Proportions.

You can watch that aforementioned TOP 15 Most Amazing Skyscrapers YouTube video below...

Memorial Day MSU Bike Ride Remembering Seattle's International Fountain With Overpriced Space Needle

This Memorial Day morning I had myself a memorably long bike ride north, taking my rolling wheels first around Sikes Lake, then to the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus, which is currently abandoned.

And then further north, eventually getting lost on Speedway before finding my way to the Circle Trail via Holliday.

At MSU I stopped the bike at the location you see here. A fountain spewing jets of water.

Refreshing on a HOT day, such as is the case today.

The MSU fountain brought to mind my longtime favorite fountain, that being the fountain known as the International Fountain at the Seattle Center. That fountain came into existence at the Seattle World's Fair, which was known as the Century 21 Exposition. The International Fountain is about 100 times bigger than this fountain I got cooled by today at MSU.

Googling International Fountain Seattle Center brought up multiple websites, including a Wikipedia article about the International Fountain, which included some statistics giving one an idea how big this centerpiece of the Seattle World's Fair is...

• 56 "Micro shooters" arrayed as a ring buried in the granite blocks of the fountain floor, on the outer perimeter surrounding the dome. These shoot straight up.
• 77 "Fleur-de-lis" - plate-sized nozzles on the dome, shooting medium-high arcs.
• 4 "Super shooters" - four nozzles on the top of the dome capable of shooting up to 120 feet (37 m) high. Each "super shooter" peak shot uses 66 US gallons (250 l) and is driven by 120 pounds per square inch (830 kPa) of air pressure.
• 137 "Mist nozzles", each with an opening the size of a pinhead to generate fog
• There is an additional ring of floodlights between the "micro shooters" and the dome.

I do not know if the current iteration of the International Fountain still plays music timed to the fountain spouts. Playing dodge the fountain is a popular pastime for kids of all ages on a hot day at the Seattle Center.

Speaking of the Seattle Center. A couple days ago that location came to my mind for another reason.

The Space Needle.

I was reading an article about the newly re-opened re-modeled observation level atop the Space Needle. In the article I read that the elevator ride to the Space Needle observation deck now cost $26. I found that hard to believe, figuring this must be a mistake.

Trust me on this, even with its new glassed over look a visit to the Space Needle observation deck is not worth $26. If I remember right the last time I was at the top of the Space Needle was with Spencer Jack's dad, Jason, and his uncle, Joey. Both were younger than Spencer Jack is now. I don't remember how much it cost to get on the Space Needle elevator at that point in time. But I doubt it was more than a couple bucks. Maybe five at the most.

What does it cost to ride the Seattle Monorail in 2018? Last time I took that short ride I think it was 50 cents each way.

When the giant observation wheel opened on the Seattle waterfront a couple years ago I recollect reading the fee to ride was $13. That seemed reasonable. But, $26 to ride to the top of the Space Needle? That's ridiculous...

No Orcas Seen In Fort Worth's Muddy Trinity River Vision

I guess this would fall into the category of things I see via west coast news sources which I would not expect to see in a Texas news source about something in Texas.

But, what I really thought was that this was a cool picture.

And, yes, of course one would never expect to see an Orca killer whale cruising in Fort Worth's Trinity River.

An alligator, yes, killer whale, no.

I saw this photo yesterday on Facebook, via, I think, Seattle's KOMO TV.

Some commenters commented that this did not look like a recent photo, due to the paucity of tall buildings.

Those commenters are used to seeing the usual view of the Space Needle, from atop Queen  Anne Hill, looking south, with the Space Needle appearing to loom large over the Seattle skyline, with Mount Rainier appearing to hover high further in the background.

The view above is from Elliott Bay, looking east at the Space Needle and the Cascade Mountain foothills in the distance.

The reality is, despite confusing photos indicating otherwise, the Space Needle is shorter than many of the buildings which make up the Seattle skyline, but way taller  than any of the buildings which make up the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Fort  Worth should build itself some sort of signature tower, their own version of that tower in Dallas, the one in San Antonio, that more famous one in Seattle and that even more famous one in Paris.

This might finally give Fort Worth something which might cause people in other locales in the world to  recognize as being located in Fort Worth, something the city currently lacks.

Well, there is that Fort Worth Stockyards sign...

This Morning I Learned The Dallas Skyline Is The Best In The World

No explanation is needed to explain that what you are looking at here is the internationally recognized stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, as seen from the old wagon trail that heads west from the top of Mount Tandy to where the west supposedly began.

This morning whilst listening to The Bert Show on the radio Bert out of the blue said something about some international survey had picked the Dallas skyline as the best in the world.

Bert seemed a bit bum puzzled by this, naming off some other cities one might think would be more recognized, like New York City or Paris. Actually I think Bert only mentioned Paris, because I recollect thinking to myself does Paris have an internationally recognized skyline other than that big tower that towers high above all that surrounds it.

Soon after learning from Bert that Dallas has the world's Best Skyline I Googled "Dallas skyline" to quickly learn that this skyline survey happened a year ago, some joint operation between USA TODAY and something called 10Best picking the Best International Skyline.

If this was a USA TODAY operation would that not tend to skew the results to being American skylines, I thought to myself. Then I clicked the link to the 10Best article about the Best International Skylines to see the entire Top Ten.

1. Dallas
2. Chicago
3. Rio de Janeiro
4. Toronto
5. New York
6. Washington, D.C.
7. St. Louis
8. Hong Kong
9. San Francisco
10. Seattle

What about Tokyo? Vancouver? Sydney? Kuala Lumpur? And no town in Europe has an internationally recognized skyline?

And what about Fort Worth? How can Fort Worth not be on this list? Show a photo of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth to just about anyone in the world and they are going to instantly be able to tell you what town they are looking at, what with its iconic tower and skyscrapers.

From the USA TODAY 10Best article let's look at the skyline photos used for Dallas and Seattle and the accompanying explanatory blurb.

"Dallas became initially identifiable by the opening credits of an infamous '80s TV show," says expert Preston Kissman. "The contemporary Dallas skyline tells a story of big banking, big oil, big money, and the occasional big bust." James Adams add, "Dallas has continued to stay flashy. Controversially, it has done this not with the height or style of its newest architecture, but rather through an internal race to adorn its existing and new icons with colorful interactive lighting that cannot be ignored."  

Where is this view of the skyline of Dallas looking across what looks like a big lake? Or is that the Trinity River? That is not the iconic view of the Dallas skyline as seen on the infamous soap opera's opening credits. You need to shift the view to the left for that, so as to get a more straight on look at the Reunion Tower.

And now the #10 Best International Skyline.

Mt. Rainier appears in the distance, looming behind the cosmopolitan Seattle skyline, giving this city a connection with the outdoors that's as refreshing as a cool breeze," says our expert Preston Kissman.  The Space Needle adds to the list of reasons this USA skyline is beloved and identifiable. 

Visit downtown Dallas and you really do not see much water, certainly not the view you see in the Dallas skyline photo above.

Visit downtown Seattle and you are surrounded by water. Elliot Bay and Puget Sound to the right, in the photo, Lake Union to the left, Lake Washington further to the left. Yet we see no water in this photo of the Seattle skyline. If you visit Seattle you also will not see the Space Needle towering over the skyline like you see above, because the Space Needle does not tower above the skyline. I think you have to be on Queen Anne Hill and use a telephoto lens to create what is known as the Frasier view of downtown Seattle. The structure to the far right of the Space Needle is now known as Key Arena. During the World's Fair it was the Washington State Pavilion.

I think it was likely the Seattle World's Fair that amped up Seattle's world wide recognition. At that point in time, 1962, the Smith Tower and the Space Needle were the tallest structures in town. There were no skyscrapers. A few years after the World's Fair ended what was then known as the Seafirst Tower became Seattle's first modern skyscraper. It looked a bit ridiculous, standing all alone. It was quickly referred to as the Box the Needle came in.

The Seafirst Tower was not alone for long. By the end of the 1960s Seattle had a skyline of skyscrapers.

Maybe Fort Worth could host a World's Fair. Wouldn't that be something? Maybe to celebrate the completion of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, if that much needed economic and flood control development is ever completed.

Then again, a World's Fair does not always bring about earth shaking changes to the town it takes place in. San Antonio had a World's Fair a few years after Seattle's, with the San Antonio World's Fair also featuring a tower with a rotating restaurant, I think, at the top. I don't think many people world-wide recognize the Tower of the Americas and associate it with San Antonio.

Vancouver had the last successful World's Fair in North America, way back in 1986. Vancouver was left with some remarkable structures, one of which is now a cruise ship terminal, but nothing that has become an iconic symbol of Vancouver. Vancouver is on the world's radar though, maybe not so much for its recognized skyline, but for hosting the aforementioned successful World's Fair, that and hosting a successful Winter Olympics.

Maybe Fort Worth could make a bid to host a Winter Olympics, have a successful hosting, and thus gain itself some international recognition. Yes, I can really see that happening. Just like I can really see America's Biggest Boondoggle coming to any sort of fruitful fruition....

President Obama Did Not Visit Fort Worth This Weekend & Utter the Wow Word When He Saw Mount Tandy

A few days ago I mentioned to my mama that the Tacoma adventure poodles, Max, Blue and the newest poodle adventurer, Eddie, had not blogged in weeks, not since a temporary relocation to Chicago of the human adult figures in the poodle domicile.

Well, today Max, Blue and Eddie returned to their blogging duty, with many pictures, including the one above.

When I saw this photo I was a bit confused as to what I first thought to be an impossible view of downtown Seattle. Then I remembered the view from Fraser's window on Queen Anne Hill on the long gone NBC sitcom.

That view somehow makes the Space Needle look like the tallest structure in Seattle, which it is not. And also makes Mount Rainier appear closer than it actually appears from Queen Anne Hill. You'd need to go to Tacoma to see Mount Rainier looking that big.

President Obama put Mount Rainier in the news in the Pacific Northwest the past couple days due to the President being in Seattle, with the Mountain putting in an appearance, which had Obama pointing at it and saying "Wow!"

I wonder if President Obama were to visit Fort Worth if he would point to anything and say "Wow!"?

I don't know where Max, Blue & Eddie were when the above photo was taken. I am almost 100% it was not one of them who took the picture.

The two smallest of the kids in the picture are my nephew Theo on the left, with niece Ruby on the right. That would make big brother nephew David in the middle.

If my calculations are correct, and they usually are not, because math is something which is challenging for me, but, I believe the twins, Theo & Ruby, are about to turn 3 years old. I believe David is 5. Maybe 6.

Time flies.

I believe the twins and David are going to be in Arizona next month for their birthday and to visit both sets of their grandparental units, along with others, but likely not me.

I am not currently scheduled to meet Theo, Ruby & David for another 15 years,  in 2028, which is the year of my next planned return to the Pacific Northwest.

Unless my plans change, which they have a tendency to do....

Hiking On The Tandy Hills Thinking About Rotating On Top Of Fort Worth's Panther Island Tower

That is the Tandy Tower, also known as the Fort Worth Space Needle, soaring hundreds of feet into a clear blue sky on this final Friday of October.

The Tandy Tower sits atop Mount Tandy, due east of the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

No, there is no rotating restaurant atop the Tandy Tower. For that you'll need to drive about 30 miles east, to Dallas, and take an elevator to the top of Reunion Tower.

I have been at the base of Reunion Tower a time or two but never felt an urge to ride to the top. The only other tower of that type I have been to the top of is Seattle's Space Needle.

The elevator ride to the top of the Space Needle is fun. But, I've always thought it did not seem all that high up, at the observation deck level, with all that much better a view than other elevated locations in the Seattle zone.

The observation level of the Seattle Space Needle has an outside walkway which goes all around the Needle. I don't know if there is an outdoor observation area at the top of Reunion Tower.

I wonder, what with its tendency to copy what has been done elsewhere, why the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has not added a tall tower to that clouded vision?

It could be called Panther Island Tower.

Tim Love could have a rotating restaurant at the top, giving diners a moving 360 degree view of the wonder that is Panther Island, along with the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, and the un-needed flood diversion channel and signature bridges which cross it, along with equally stunning views of the Trinity River and the throngs of people who have inner tubing happy hours in that river during the hot days of Summer.

A tall tower could give Fort Worth that iconic type image it currently lacks, that when people see a photo of it, they know it is Fort Worth.

I am sure, now that I have suggested it, J.D. Granger will get right on this Panther Island Tower idea.....

Riding The Seattle Monorail With My Nephew David Reminds Me Of Monorail Rides With David's Cousin

David Not Focused On Driving The Seattle Monorail

I saw on the Blue & Max Adventure Poodle Blog, this morning, that my nephews, David and Theo, and niece, Ruby's, Grandma Janet is visiting them from Colorado.

I met Grandma Janet the last time I was in Tacoma, way back in the Summer of 2008, also known as the Summer Without Sun.

Grandma Janet took David for a fun day of playing in downtown Seattle.

That is David, with Grandma Janet beside him, driving the Seattle Monorail towards the Seattle Center, where David took Grandma Janet to the Top of the Seattle Space Needle.

Seeing David on the Monorail put me in mind of a time long ago when I took David's cousin, Jason, and his brother, Joey, to Seattle.

I recollect the elevator ride up to the Top of the Space Needle. Jason and Joey had not been to the Top of the Space Needle before.

When Jason was a little kid he had two fixations, one was the Washington State Ferry Fleet. The other was the Seattle Monorail.

We got to the Top of the Needle, walked around the observation deck. Jason looked down and saw the Monorail snaking its way to Westlake Center. We'd barely been at the Top of the Needle when Jason asked if we could go ride the Monorail now.

And so we did.

We were barely underway, on the Monorail, when Jason laid down on his seat. I asked, "what are you doing?"

He told me he was taking a rest.

I asked, "But I thought you wanted to ride the Monorail?"

Jason replied, "Oh, I've been on this thing a million times."

Kids.

Jason's kid, Spencer Jack, is going to Disneyland for Christmas. I don't know if Spencer Jack is going to ride the Disneyland Monorail.

I hope Grandma Janet remembers not to violate the strict Blue & Max House Prohibition Against Any Repetitive Noises. The penalty for such a violation ain't pretty.

The Dallas Space Needle At Texas State Fair Park

The Dallas Morning News, this morning, had an interesting article about the State Fair of Texas. Apparently the State Fair of Texas is one of the few state fairs in America that shows a profit and gets no state government subsidy. I suppose it helps the State Fair of Texas make a profit by being the biggest state fair in America.

Another interesting bit of news, in this article, was that in 2011 the fair plans to "launch a 500-foot tower reminiscent of Seattle's Space Needle."

By 2012 the fair hopes to open Summer Place Park, turning the State Fair's midway into an amusement park, with the new needle, called Texas Centennial Tower and a new roller coaster.

I was impressed with Fair Park from the first time I saw it. But perplexed as to why it seemed to be so underutilized most of the time. It is a sprawling complex with several museums and an aquarium, open all year. I used to frequently go roller blading all over the Fair Park grounds, often seeming to have the place to myself.

From the first time I saw Fair Park it reminded me of Seattle Center, without a Space Needle. Seattle Center evolved from the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. Fair Park evolved from the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition.

A DART rail line recently extended to Fair Park. It seems this should make it a much more popular destination.

At the top of Texas Centennial Tower there will be an observation deck. I don't know if there will be a rotating restaurant. At the base of the tower there will be a museum with State Fair and Centennial memorabilia. Seattle's Space Needle also has a museum, almost at its base, called EMP, the Experience Music Project.

I'm guessing Dallas will have a lot more luck building a tower reminiscent of Seattle's Space Needle than Fort Worth had building a public market that was propagandaized as being modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market.

I hope I get to go to the State Fair of Texas this year. My last visit had to be cut short due to a variety of woes. I want some of that Deep Fried Butter.

Microsoft's Bing Launch Flickers

This morning I was looking at my blog stats and saw someone had come to the blog, for the first time, via Microsoft's new search engine called Bing.

I'd not seen Bing, so I clicked on the search string Bing link to see what the person had been searching for in Bing that landed them on my specific blogging about A Big Foot Sasquatch in Georgia.

I think maybe Microsoft should have done some more Bing Tweaking before having last night's Bing Launch Party in Seattle, because the person from Kathleen, Georgia who was searching for info using Bing was looking for "big breasted woman in georgia" when Bing directed the searcher to this blog, which comes up #2 in Bing when looking for a big breasted woman in Georgia.

I was curious how my webpages did in Bing. In Google my webpage about Turner Falls Park in Oklahoma always comes up near the top. In Bing it didn't show up at all.

I was really not liking Bing at all at that point.

Then I looked up some of my other pages that Google does not rank as high as I might like, like Googling for "state fair of texas" usually shows up on the second page. In Bing that page was #4. I'll go see what it is currently on Google. I went 9 pages deep without seeing my State Fair of Texas webpage, then decided to look at the first page again, figuring must have missed it. I had. The fair page is currently #5.

So, I guess, other than what Bing does with Turner Falls Park and Georgian breasts, it does a good enough job, but might not be quite ready for prime time.

From what I read about Bing's Launch Party it would seem it may have been launched prematurely too. The Bing Launch Party took place at Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center. Around 100 Microsoft marketing people were there, plus some press people. The press people were a bit non-plussed, wandering around wondering when the event would start, not realizing it already had.

The lighting of the Space Needle was turned off. Normally the Space Needle glows in the darkness. Instead of a glowing Space Needle a bright bluish point of light took its place. This had people concerned that the Space Needle had burned out. Others thought it was a bright light beam coming from above.

The view in the picture is looking across Elliot Bay from West Seattle. That little white thing just to the right of the blue beam is the over 600 feet tall darkened Space Needle.

Few could see that a blue light spelled out BING in the grass in front of Fisher Pavilion.

Apparently the Microsoft marketing people planned a big event and then forgot to tell people it was going to happen. Then again, apparently the mysterious blue light did get people talking and people like me blogging about it this morning. Those Microsoft people are such crafty little devils.

Any of you reading this who are from Fort Worth who are wondering if that water feature you see in front of the Seattle skyline was the result of a Seattle River Vision, the answer is no. That water feature was provided naturally by Mother Nature, no rivers were altered, no use of eminent domain was abused.

It's Bedtime

It's not even 5pm but I'm feeling like it's bedtime. But I must stay up for 3 more hours to watch the finale of Amazing Race. I could set the VCR to record it but I somehow usually screw that up. So, why am I dead tired? I think it must be because I've been up since about 3am. I woke up then and about 4am I decided if the Sunday paper was here I was going to get up, make coffee and read the paper. And so I did. I'm not sure I can manage to string together words in my current condition.

We'll see.

In the Sunday paper there was a lot of info about the Stephenville UFO. It's been so long ago now but I can see I then blogged about this and posted it at 4:41am. The morning seemed to pass fairly quickly as I did various tasks, most computer related.

About 7am I took the meat off a couple chickens because I'd decided I wanted to make Chicken Tortilla Soup today. That decision sort of determined how the next few hours went. Yesterday I'd decided I wanted to go to Tandy Hills Park today and take a photo of a tower.

That tower being the Fort Worth Space Needle, modeled after towers in Seattle and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This may seem a bit goofy and may not seem to your eyes to look anything like the Seattle Space Needle or that tower in Paris. Fort Worth has a long history of building things modeled after things in other places. The Fort Worth Space Needle is Fort Worth's second major homage to Seattle, the first being a public market in Fort Worth claimed to be modeled after Pike Place in Seattle. You can read all about that here. Another big Fort Worth project that has not quite gotten started yet is called the Trinity River Vision. Basically they want to take a perfectly fine river and turn it into a lake with canals. For awhile they were claiming it would make Fort Worth the Vancouver of the South. Then I think someone from Fort Worth actually went to Vancouver and realized how goofy it was to think turning a river into a lake with some canals would make Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South. Seems more like Fort Worth is trying to copy the success of San Antonio's Riverwalk. Which, I guess, would then make Fort Worth the San Antonio of the North Part of Texas.

So, after I got my pics of the Fort Worth Space Needle (that's the pic at the top) I headed to Arlington to Chinatown to get vegetables for my tortilla soup. The vegetable buying was uneventful. I always enjoy going to the Hong Kong Market. Usually I am the only non-Asian in the store. It always makes me feel very tall when I'm there. It's a very well run store, the clerks are all whizzes, sort of the anti-Wal-Mart. I got giant red peppers today. And some more Chinese Garlic. Among other things.

So, I'm going from making a rude Wal-Mart remark in the above paragraph to now telling you I left the Hong Kong Market and headed to the Super Wal-Mart across from the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. As I headed in that direction I remembered I wanted to take pics of the industrial wasteland that the south side of the stadium will face. I think visitor's at the Super Bowl of 2011 are going to be appalled when they see this. Maybe there are plans to use more eminent domain abuse and clean it all up.

So, Wal-Mart went fast, in and out very quick. Then headed back here to make the tortilla soup. On the way back here I needed gas. When I get gas I call my mom in Phoenix and tell her how much it cost. If I don't make a gas call within a reasonable amount of time my mom calls me and asks why I'm not buying any gas. So, our gas conversation was going fine, but my phone started doing the bloop bloop noise. And then it made an explosion noise. I'd forgotten the short bloops bloops indicated the battery was low. So, I got back here and plugged the phone in and called my mom back to tell her I'd figured out what was causing the bloop bloop.

Then as I was finishing up the tortilla soup I started getting calls. And voice mails. When I finally got around to listening to the messages they were from this former alien heading back to her home country whom I guess I said I'd take to the airport tomorrow and she was getting a bit concerned that I was going to bail on her. I don't like taking her to the airport because she requires a high level of fortification to get on a plane. Well, actually, she requires that for just about anything. She flies out at 9:35am. I'll drop her off 2 hours earlier. She will be drunk. I don't know how she manages to get through security. The last time I provided this service I swore it'd be the last. My issue that time was with the return pickup. Of course, she was a bit tipsy, having been in Miami for 4 hours with her sister. Back at D/FW one of her pieces of luggage turned up missing, this turned into a big brouhaha, much of it in Spanish with Puerto Rican swear words flying about the airport.

Okay. I can not type another word. I'm exhausted. And the Chicken Tortilla Soup wasn't all that great.