HOT Bothered Hiking & Whining In Texas

It is not 3 yet and we've hit 104. I went swimming this morning after the sun had arrived. The air was warmer than the pool, which makes the pool pleasant.

My hiking compulsion and broken bike had me on the Tandy Hills for the third day in a row. Two different Cheryl's, Cheryl V. and Cheryl P. asked me today about my compulsive hiking. What is it about Cheryl's that causes them to ask such questions?

The picture I took yesterday of beautiful downtown Fort Worth's Freeway Mixmaster and the Omni Convention Center, which I consider to be sort of architectural malpractice with its odd balconies sticking out from its sides, did not turn out too well.

When you zoom the camera past optical zoom to digital it's best to have it on a tripod. Yesterday I was real shaky, I think due to having just heard Tootsie Tonasket's harrowing story about a rattlesnake nearly killing her before she murdered the sweet, innocent, harmless reptile. Today I was not shaking, I was able to hold the camera steady and so got a better picture, it being one where you can see the goofy balconies. I've got actual closeup pictures of those balconies somewhere on this computer, but it's too HOT to go looking for pictures right now.

It was 99 when I left here for some natural sauna. I weighed 172 when I left. I drank four 18 ounce bottles of water, between weighing myself and getting back here and weighing myself again, to find I then weighed 170. My math skills are really bad, but I think I lost over 6 pounds of water.

After hiking I went to the Beach Street Wal-Mart where I saw an unusually large number of unusually large people, including the lady who checked me out. She was not so large that she no longer has a neck, like one of the most obese people I've seen, but she was so large that I would think it must be very difficult to do 8 hours of being a check-out person. I almost felt sorry for her.

In the Wal-Mart parking lot I saw something I have very rarely seen in Texas. A vehicle with Washington license plates. This caught my eye as soon as I exited my vehicle. It's pretty much mostly Texas plates you see here. It ain't exactly a tourist zone. Occasionally I'll see an Oklahoma plate or Arkansas or Louisiana or New Mexico. Even Kansas once in awhile. But rarely from further away.

When I first read of the Texas tourist statistics I did not see how the numbers could be right, because I see so few out of state cars. Then I found out that in Texas if you travel more than 30 miles to do something, you're considered a visiting tourist. If I were driving around in the Seattle zone right now at least half the vehicles would be having out of state or country plates.

I have been in parts of Texas that do seem to draw some out of state visitors. When I was at the LBJ National Historic Park, in Johnson City, I saw 3 vehicles with Washington plates. The first I'd seen in Texas. Each time I'm back in Washington I've seen Texas plates. Or read of some Texan doing some noteworthy antic, like accidentally driving into the bus/light rail tunnel that runs under downtown Seattle.

I think putting up signs like "DO NOT ENTER" is very presumptuous, making the assumption that everyone can read. Washington can be so snooty sometimes, assuming that just because most everyone up there graduates from high school with the ability to read, they should not assume that this is a universal situation. Because it isn't.

In 2004 I was in Tacoma, being driven back to where I was staying, by the then deputy mayor, in his Prius. So many Prius up there, so few Pick-ups. Anyway, he stopped to let me out and noticed a Pick-up with a Texas plate. He made some remark that I found very offputting. I'd been in Texas long enough to take slight umbrage at some remarks.

Texas Train Troubles, Strange Fruit, Wal-Mart & Obesity

That's an annoying very slow train that slowed my return home after walking around Oakland Lake and going to the Beach Street Wal-Mart. Which would make this the Beach Street railroad crossing.

A lot of trains run through this D/FW Metroplex zone. This one had people, myself included, u-turning to an alternative route. A lot of cities and towns have over or under passes to deal with trains, with little towns and rural areas being the only places where a train crossing can stop traffic. In Arlington there is not a single crossing that is not blocked when a train runs through town. Since this has always been the norm, people here think this is just the way the world works.

Wal-Mart was a zoo today. People are such sheep. 4th of July. There was a line of 3 at the shortest self-checkout. The girl ahead of me had only two items, cat food cans, and a humongous rumpus (can't use the "B" word). When she went to pay she was 2 pennies short. She asked me if I had 2 pennies. I did not. She asked others. They did not. I was getting out my debit card to pay the 2 pennies when a nice lady gave the big rumped girl 2 pennies.

Speaking of big rumps. Today whilst walking around Oakland Lake Park, at 96 degrees, and feeling fine due to a chilling breeze, a new obesity theory occured to me. The most obese person I have ever personally known is about 5 foot 4 and, I would guess, about 600 pounds. Unlike most obese persons, this one was not sedentary. She actually was quite active. Going up and down stairs, walking, doing all sorts of physical activity.

A 600 pound person who is active is constantly doing heavy duty exercise. I can't imagine walking around Oakland Lake carrying 400 pounds in weights. I could not do it. But some obese people do. They develop an incredible musculature to haul all that heft. So, under all that blubber there is a very strong person.

I don't think you could be obese in a hot climate, like it is here, if you lived without benefit of modern conveniences, like air-conditioning. Your body's metabolism would rebel in the heat, stifling your appetite, wanting to burn off the overheating layer of fat. Just like a body's metabolism would try to get a skinny person to put on more fat in a cold climate.

So, if my theory is correct, back before A/C, I'm guessing Mississippi was not the fattest state in the nation. Nor was Texas as fat as it is now. I'm guessing New York, Washington, Colorado and Alaska were way fatter than the states of the south. It is air-conditioning that has made people fat. In this climate in Texas most of the fat people do not go outside, their bodies do not know they live in a HOT climate, so their metabolism allows them to lard on the lard.

This Obesity Theory of mine could be tested by moving 10 morbidly obese people to this climate, keeping their indoor thermostats no cooler than 82 and having them outdoors for at least 2 hours, daily, in the HEAT. I'm guessing the pounds would melt away.

That sure is what happened to me. If I remember right I was about 200 pounds overweight when I moved here. I'm 178 now. It melted off effortlessly.

I did see 2 interesting things at Oakland Lake Park today. One was this weird looking fruit like thing growing in a tree. What is it? Anyone know? The other was very ironic. Just as I was musing about obese people, and HEAT, a large, but not obese, woman came jogging, slowly towards me. I was impressed. I would not jog in 96 degrees. Walk fast, yes, jog no.

So, that's been my day before the 4th of July in Texas, swimming after the sun came up, weird fruit at Oakland Lake Park. an overly busy Wal-Mart, train troubles and an Obesity Treatment.

Texas Heat Wave Sprouts on Target

That's a look at my current state of weather, via WeatherBug, from about 10 minutes ago. As you can see we are nearing 90 with the high today getting to 95.

I have not turned on the A/C in here. Yet. I did run the A/C in my vehicle when I drove up to Southlake at noon.

Swimming, this morning, was very pleasant.

I fixed the flat tire on my bike before the torrid temps arrived. But, I don't know if I'm ready, yet, to venture out and ride the newly tubed bike in this heat. That and I've got other stuff to do.

In Southlake I went to Sprouts Farmers Market, like I usually do on Wednesday, pathetic repetitive creature of habit that I apparently am. It was extra warm in Sprouts. Maybe due to way too many people being in there.

On the way back here from Sprouts I dropped in on the Super Target that sits with its back to the Super Wal-Mart where I first got a gallon of milk that was supposed to cost $1.98 but for which I was charged the outrageous price of $2.00. Looking at my blog stats, I can now see I am not alone. Others are looking for the reason why Wal-Mart is being odd with their milk price.

The reason I went to Super Target was to return a vegetable oil sprayer that did not work. At Super Target you walk into what at noon appeared to be a practically empty store where the employees out number the few customers. Unlike at Super Wal-Mart, at Super Target you walk up to Customer Service and you are instantly acknowledged and helped. It took all of 20 seconds to get my money refunded.

I then told the Super Target Customer Service person about my recent experiences with Super Wal-Mart Customer Service and the bizarre milk price scam. She was appalled. I told her I'd blogged about it a couple times. She asked for and wrote down my blog address. Unlike the minimum wage morons that Wal-Mart mans its Customer Service with, this Super Target young lady seemed quite sharp.

Sprouts today was also a good customer service experience. I must have bought at least 30 different items. As always, not a single price mistake. And super fast, efficient, checkout.

So, now does the title of this particular blogging make sense? Texas Heat Wave Sprouts on Target. Makes sense to me.

Wal-Mart Thieving Milk Scam

My one reader may remember last week, or the week before when I said I would not set foot inside that corrupt bastion of bad behavior that calls itself Krogers, due to chronic, over and over again price mistakes that I really think should have some Kroger employee sometime somewhere charged with theft just like Kroger's would with a shoplifter.

I've mentioned before that while Wal-Mart sometimes makes mistakes, with Wal-Mart it can go either way, their favor or mine, unlike Krogers where it is always in their favor. Which is what makes Krogers' pricing mistakes seem like purposeful thievery.

Now back to Wal-Mart. For months now Wal-Mart has been selling milk at $1.98 a gallon. Last week on the way back from Southlake I knew I neeed a gallon, so I stopped at the North Richland Hills Wal-Mart Supercenter, took the 2 mile walk to the back where the milk is, saw the BIG "GALLON MILK $1.98" sign.

Walked the 2 miles back to the self-checkouts. Quickly scanned the milk and it rang up as $2.00. I think to myself, how stupid, but 2 cents was not worth fussing about. That and I was in a hurry.

Now, today I was in Chinatown in Arlington. On the way back from that I went to the Tandoor Indian Restaurant (again) for their lunch buffet. After on the way back here I remembered I needed milk again.

So, I stop at my neighborhood Eastchase Wal-Mart Supercent, run in, well, more accurately I walked quickly in, made the 2 mile journey to the back of the store, saw the $1.98 sign I'm used to see. Grabbed my milk and quickly made the 2 mile trek back to the front of the store.

Scanned the milk and you can see the result in the picture of the receipt above. Again, $2.00

So, almost a week after the first incident, at a different store, and now again today, Wal-Mart got 2 cents more than I thought I was going to be paying them. Now, if Wal-Mart is running this Milk Scam system wide that could add up to a lot of pennies.

I suspect Wal-Mart employs psychologists, just like Microsoft does, to try and figure out how much pain they can inflict before their customers react. The research probably showed something like only 1 in 3,459 customers was even going to notice the mistake and that only 1 in 55,493 of those who do notice would take the time to wait in the Customer Service line to complain. The research probably also showed that something like 1 in 433,356 of those who notice the mistake will blog about it and at that time they'd have to label the blogger a crackpot.

A New Mouse From An Empty Texas Target

I've been having trouble with my mouse. By mouse I mean my computer mouse, not my pet mouse, Moose. Moose is fine.

But my computer mouse had developed an annoying habit of not doing what it should when I clicked. This seemed to be getting increasingly more chronic and was beginning to cause problems that caused errors and accidents.

So, this morning I'd had my fill of my misbehaving mouse. I have 2 easy mouse choices within a short distance, those being a Wal-Mart Supercenter and a Target.

I chose Target. It's easier to return things to Target if the need arises. It was 10 in the morning when I went to Target. There were very few customers, very few cars in the lot. I looked across the freeway to the Wal-Mart and there were a lot of cars in the parking lot. Target has a lot of workers wandering around. I was asked 3 times if I was finding what I was looking for.

I need a T-shirt that says, "NO, I NEED NO HELP. I NATURALLY LOOK PERPETUALLY LOST."

I don't understand how Target stays in business. It is always so quiet. I've never been in a busy Target. The Super Targets seem even more ghostownish. The first Super Target I visited was in Logan, Utah. I couldn't believe how huge it was. With checkouts all across the front of the store. Now that I've seen many Super Targets, I've never seen on where more than a few of the checkouts are open.

This morning when I went to buy my new mouse there was only one checkout open. Across the street at the Super Wal-Mart there would be about 20 checkouts open, along with the self checkouts. Target has no self checkouts.

When my mom and dad were here I took them to the Montgomery Plaza Super Target in Fort Worth. I forget why my mom wanted a Target. Even though my mom has trouble seeing she said the Fort Worth Super Target was bigger than their Phoenix area ones. Mom said, "I guess what they say is true. Everything is bigger in Texas." But, mom said the Texas Target was just as un-busy as their Phoenix Targets. So, the number of customers wasn't bigger in Texas.

Is Target some sort of tax write off for some bigger corporation? Is that how it keeps going? It's puzzled me for years.

Anyway, that's my day so far, that and I went swimming this morning. It's windy now, but I think I'll go do my doctor prescribed excessive activity thing. Since it is Monday, I think that means I'll be seeing the Tandy Hills in an hour or two.

World's Biggest Butt: Part III---The Hunt In Texas

Sometime ago I was at my nearby Wal-Mart Super Center. As I took a turn onto a different aisle I found myself looking at the biggest butt I'd ever seen. It was astonishing.

So, I blogged about it. I've mentioned before that I'm amazed at how many people from all over the world are looking for information and pictures of the World's Biggest Butt. Every single day.

Look at my FeedJit stats and you'll see what I mean. Sometimes the number is real high, as if there is a meeting of the Big Butts Fan Club and they are all Googling "world's biggest butt" at the same time.

And for some reason my blog is about #3 on the list.

I have developed a new habit of always having my camera with me. I'm having about a 95% rate of not forgetting it. If I come across that astoundingly big butt at Wal-Mart again, I want to be able to photo-document it for all those world-wide who are looking to see such a phenomenon.

I think I've mentioned before that I find the obesity epidemic to be troubling and perplexing. I don't think enough resources are put into finding out why people do this to themselves. Someone commented on one of my bloggings that it is as if the person has put himself into a jail cell made of their own body.

I like that jail cells analogy. So many overstuffed fat cells that your own body imprisons you. It's like being permanently tethered to 300 pounds, or more, of ball and chain.

One thing I have made note of, and found, well, disgusting, is if you are (un)fortunate enough to spend enough time with an obese person to observe their feeding habits, it quickly becomes clear how they end up being heavier each day than the day before.

It is like there are no brakes on the food shoveling. I've seen an obese person order tartar sauce to dip french fries in, and then lick the tartar sauce container dry. When you watch an obese person, during their feeding period, it's clear one of the problems is caused by how they speed up the amount of food they shove in their mouth. It's like feeding a wood chipper, complete with noisy sounds. The mouth is busy chomping, while the hands are getting ready the next deposit into the food disposal.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to Wal-Mart today, both to buy a couple things. And to do some Big Butt Photo Hunting.

Wal-Mart Bingo In Texas

Like I've previously mentioned, Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, sends me a lot of funny stuff.

This morning, among the funny stuff, was a Wal-Mart Bingo Card that you can print up and take with you the next time you visit your neighborhood Wal-Mart.

At my local Wal-Mart I have seen or smelled most of the things on Alma's bingo card.

There is a thing or two that I think should be on the Wal-Mart Bingo Card.

Like, shockingly huge butt. Pants hanging below underwear. Items missing from shelves. (My Super Wal-Mart has been without Parmesan Cheese for weeks now) Garish, ghoulish looking make up on an elderly lady.

Anyway, I'm sure this Wal-Mart Bingo Card is in bad taste and likely will offend someone somewhere. Likely an obese person with a rat tail hair style, who uses a Wal-Mart scooter while wearing a rebel flag t-shirt with blood on it, not big enough to cover the tramp tattoo on her lower back, missing teeth and a limb, while reeking of unbearably bad body odor.

World's Biggest Butt At Wal-Mart Supercenter

I just finished blogging about Snowzilla up in Alaska. The giant Snowman put me in mind of something I saw yesterday, that being Christmas Eve Eve, at my local neighborhood Wal-Mart Supercenter.

The store was packed with so many unseemly looking characters it was like being on some sort of set for a science fiction movie. So many of the people seemed like caricatures. Some looking like they were trying out to be the poster person for White Trash of America.

One was a throwback to the 60s. Long hair, beard, tie-dyed shirt, looked dirty, a stereotypical Hippie. The only thing of this century about him was he was ranting into a cell phone.

Yesterday's Wal-Mart anthropological expedition saw the biggest concentration of Texas Big Hair that I've seen in a long long time. Texas Big Hair is often coupled with really bad, heavily done makeup that looks like you'd need a trowel to scrape it off.

One old lady looked like Bette Davis in her last years. Painted on eyebrows, garish makeup, Grand Canyonesque wrinkles, unnatural looking brown hair that must have been a wig.

But the thing I saw yesterday that will forever linger in the dark recesses of my mind, that being the location where things get stored that I wish I'd never seen, was what was the Biggest Butt I have ever seen in my long long life. This may have been the Biggest Butt in the World.

This Big Butt defies description. But I will try. The Big Butt was on a short woman, maybe 5 foot 2. I turned a corner and came face to butt to it. I'm sure my jaw dropped.

The Big Butt stuck way way out, like several feet from the woman's back. As the woman walked the Big Butt did this strange motion of bouncing up and down. Slowly. This created the illusion that her legs were very short.

I really do not understand how this Big Butted woman was able to walk. It appeared as if the weight of that humongous Big Butt should pull her backwards.

Looking at that Big Butt raised all sorts of questions. Like how did she get those stretchy looking pants on? How did she get in a car? That Big Butt was so Big you'd need a hole in the ceiling for your head. It'd be like sitting on a 5 foot tall cushion. It had to be a convertible. But it was so cold yesterday. Then again, with all that insulative adipose tissue it's likely impossible to get cold.

The Big Butt woman was with a man. A classic Jack Spratt. Skinny little guy. He was pushing the cart. If they'd not been moving so slow I would have kept them under surveillance til they left the store, so I could see how the Big Butt could get in a car.

Why does one let oneself get in this type condition? It's one of the more perplexing questions (for me) of our times. Almost as perplexing as where the hell did those billions of bailout dollars go? See, I've got my priorities in proper order. The economy comes first. Then Big Butts.

I need a real small spy type camera so I can photo-document it when I see something like the World's Biggest Butt. In the meantime, I may go to Wal-Mart again today. It's actually highly entertaining, in an Anthropological Expedition sort of way.

Gas Hits New Low In Fort Worth So I Went Shopping

I've had me a Sunday and it's barely 2:06pm. I got up early, went swimming for a short duration at 8 this morning.

At 11:30 or thereabouts I was in the Tandy Hills zone and saw that gas at the Tandy Hills Gas Station had fallen to $1.44.

Phone call. I've gotta go. Will be back in a bit and continue with this fascinating missive.

Okay, I'm back. It's about a half hour after I had to attend to an "emergency." Like I was saying, gas was $1.44. So I got myself some. And then, as my one reader may remember, when I get gas I call my Mom in Phoenix. No one answered, so I left a message, which was, "$1.44, got to freezing last night, went swimming anyway, talk to you later..."

After I got gas and called my Mom I headed north to Southlake to go to Sprouts Farmers Market. It was the busiest I've ever seen Sprouts. I keep looking for signs of the 2nd Great Depression, but I can find none. I must look harder. I got all sorts of goodies at Sprouts, black grapes, ground buffalo, white cheddar, I forget what all, but it was more than one trip to haul it all in here.

On the way back here I stopped at the North Richland Hills Wal-Mart Supercenter on Davis Boulevard. It's a nice Wal-Mart. Not like my not so nice local Wal-Mart Supercenter. Wal-Mart was super busy. Wal-Mart may be Great Depression proof.

So, that's my Sunday so far, coming up on 3pm. Miss Puerto Rico called a bit ago. She wants me to come over for a libation. Maybe I will, maybe I won't.

Nice temps have returned so I've temporarily returned to wearing shorts. I like it when that happens.

Wal-Mart's Bad Flag Etiquette

I was at the Eastchase Super Wal-Mart today in East Fort Worth to witness another badly abused American flag on display here in Texas. The previous incident was at my nearby U.S. Post Office.

I took several photos of the Wal-Mart flag. When I got back to my vehicle a strange thing happened. A large woman in a large car drove up to me, rolled down her window and started yelling at me, asking why I was taking pictures of her. It was oddly reminiscent of a YouTube video I posted some time back. The large woman in the large car ended her diatribe by taking a photo of me. It was all very unsettling.

Back to the bad Wal-Mart flag. This is what I found when Googling about Flag Etiquette...

"If the edges become tattered through wear, the flag should be repaired or replaced. When a flag is so tattered that can no longer serve as a symbol of the United States, it should be destroyed in a dignified manner, preferably by burning. The American Legion and other organizations regularly conduct dignified flag-burning ceremonies, often on Flag Day, June 14."

Now, I'm not some sort of fanatic about flags. I don't care one way or the other is someone wears a flag pin. But if you're gonna fly the flag it seems really tacky to me to fly one that is all torn up, blowing tattered in the wind, as if it'd been pummelled in a war zone. Wal-Mart should be ashamed. About this bad flag thing too.

Wal-Mart Not Doing Well

Several months ago I recollect blogging about Wal-Mart, with the title being "Wal-Mart Sucks." I don't remember what it was at the time that had me thinking that.

But I do remember what it is that has me thinking that lately.

A couple years ago I read Thomas Friedman's The Earth is Flat. The book is pretty much all about globalization and the new world economy. Friedman uses what he portrays as the wonder that is Wal-Mart as being a good example.

Friedman basically said something like when a bag of popcorn gets sold at any random Wal-Mart that information is sent along the supply line instantly, so that Wal-Mart can closely control its inventory.

Well. Yesterday I visited one of my nearby Wal-Marts because I wanted popcorn, among a few other things. Wal-Mart was out of the popcorn I wanted. This is not the first time. Lately I've noticed many shelves in Wal-Mart having missing items. A few weeks ago there were no large cans of tomato sauce. That was at the Dallas Cowboy Super Wal-Mart. That Wal-Mart was also out of the popcorn I wanted that day.

My closest Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. They are small grocery store type Wal-Marts. The self checkouts are often not working. Lately the store has been a mess with shelves missing a lot of items. A few days ago I was in there and the canned vegetable area looked like half the cans were missing. Most of the grocery carts have wobbly wheel issues.

And then today, the Wal-Mart visit that prompted this particularly blogging incident. I'd been hiking at Tandy Hills Park. That is close to what is known as the Beach Street Super Wal-Mart. It's a nice looking one. I was only getting a few things. I wanted a Texas Sweet Onion. The Super Wal-Mart had none. So I got a White Onion instead. I wanted to get 93/7 turkey burger to make spaghetti sauce tomorrow. They were out of it and only had 2 packages of the breakfast sausage version and 4 of the higher fat 85/15 version. So, 2 of the 5 items that I wanted, Wal-Mart did not have in stock. But I was able to get the popcorn that I wanted yesterday.

I know what you're thinking. As in quit going to Wal-Mart.

Well, it ain't like I've got a lot of good choices here. The grocery store situation here in North Texas is not what you people in other parts of the country, particularly the west coast, are used to.

I like Sprouts, but the closest one is 20 miles away. Central Market and Whole Foods are good, but also too far from here.

I've got an Albertsons across the street. In Washington Albertsons was at the bottom rung of the grocery store ladder. Here it's seen as a good grocery store. Also within walking distance is a Krogers. I've had more price errors, always in Kroger's favor, than any store I've ever been in. I've had incidents where I'm only getting 5 items and 2 of them will scan with an incorrect price.

Wal-Mart rarely has price mistakes and its usually cheaper than I expected. Maybe that's why I go to Wal-Mart. Just last week I bought apricot jam thinking it was $1.68 and it rung up at $1.18.

Etcetera

North Texas has been through a hellacious storm today. Golf Ball size hail pummeled parts of the D/FW Metroplex. Areas that were spared the huge hail got hit with heavy rain and really really loud thunder. As far as I know, right now, no tornadoes were spawned.

So, during the storm I took off to go to Wal-Mart. I needed gas. But the gas station's credit card readers were not functioning, likely a casuality of the lightning. So, I drove on to Wal-Mart on an empty tank. I did my standard call to my mom whenever I get gas, or attempt to get gas. My mom kept me entertained in the Wal-Mart parking lot while I waited for the rain to let up. After what seemed hours, but was likely only minutes, I decided I would need to use my umbrella to get through the downpour and inside Wal-Mart.

I finished with my Wal-Mart foraging and made it back to my vehicle, almost dry. I then decided to call my sister in Phoenix. She lives about 5 miles from my mom and dad. When my sister answered the phone I'd forgotten why I called her. So, we chatted purposelessly while I headed back here. And then my vehicle did that stalling thing that indicates it wants gas. I'd forgotten I'd not gotten gas. I got my sister off the phone and limped into a Shell station. Where I hit the wrong button and got Plus gas at $2.98 a gallon. So, I got a gallon and stopped the hemorrhaging.

We've lost power several times during today's bad weather. The internet connection is off and on. I've got no energy to try and find any sort of pic that might illustrate the horror of today. Let us all just imagine one big oversized lightning bolt crashing down and making a really really loud noise and call it a day.

My Mind Has Gone Blank

I feared, actually knew, this day would come where my resolve to write something in this Blog each and every day would come up against my ever more strained brain pan's ever diminishing number of ideas and thoughts.

This morning it had crossed my mind to tell you about the World's Most Unique McDonald's. It's in Dallas. But then I thought, "McDonald's?", I'm thinking of going from talking about something elevated like the Super Bowl and politics to being a shill for the World's Most Unique McDonald's? I was somehow going to tie McDonald's to Wal-Mart by mentioning Lulu's rather irrational and situational aversion to both.

Situational aversion due to incidents like the last time I was up in Tacoma and heading back to Sea-Tac to fly back here, I was hungry, so I drove up to the drive-thru of the Tacoma Chihuly Glass McDonald's, it is also unique, but not as unique as the Dallas McDonald's. I ordered a couple things off the dollar menu and then heard Lulu sort of mutter, at low volume, "can I have a fish sandwich?". I said, sure, but I thought you can't eat anything from McDonald's? She just glared at me with that how dare you try and hold me accountable for my contradictions type look. She wolfed down her fish sandwich as if it had been something she had been craving for years. About a year after this incident I called Lulu during a time I knew she was preparing for a show in the Tacoma Dome. When she answered I heard the tell tale sound of the McDonald's drive-thru squawk box. Apparently Lulu had discovered she liked some sort of McDonald's wrap with which I was unfamiliar.

Regarding Wal-Mart Lulu is not nearly as contradictory as she is with McDonald's. Likely due to the fact that there are no Wal-Marts in Tacoma. When she lived in Gig Harbor, that's the first town you come to when you cross the Narrows Suspension Bridge to the Olympic Peninsula, Lulu participated in protest marches demanding that Wal-Mart not be allowed to build in Gig Harbor. However, a Wal-Mart has now opened in the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood. Lulu went there yesterday, ostensibily taking her son there, while she waited in the car. I have seen with my own eyes Lulu going into a Wal-Mart in Ontario, Oregon. Ironically, when she got what she needed from the Oregon Wal-Mart (a replacement headlight) we all walked across the street to a McDonald's where Lulu had a McRib Sandwich. And pronounced it dry and inedible. But she ate the whole thing. And a chocolate shake. And fries.

Maybe by tomorrow I'll have something to Blog about. Like maybe I'll detail the reality of who pays the most taxes. And who doesn't. The truth pretty much contradicts the democrats current soak the rich by raising their taxes mantra. But that's for another day. Today is all about McDonald's & Wal-Mart. And Lulu.

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.