Texas Is A Large State With Deserts Pine Forests Houston And The Rio Grande

Yesterday I Googled "Texas" for what reason I no longer remember. Upon Googling "Texas" Google, in addition to the myriad Texas links, came up with the above snapshot of Texas, in which we learn...

Texas is a large state in the southern U.S. with deserts, pine forests and the Rio Grande, a river that forms its border with Mexico. In its biggest city, Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts houses works by well-known Impressionist and Renaissance painters, while Space Center Houston offers interactive displays engineered by NASA. Austin, the capital, is known for its eclectic music scene.

Seems a bit Houston centric, to me. though Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Galveston are mentioned as Destinations. No mention made by Google of Fort Worth. Google must have missed the memo that Fort Worth is a world class city making other towns, far and wide, green with envy.

Seeing what Google did to Texas had me wondering what Google did to my old home state when one Google's "Washington".

Well, we learn that...

Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest with terrain spanning the snow-capped Cascade Mountains to forested islands in Puget Sound. Its largest city, Seattle, is known for its thriving tech industry, vibrant music scene and celebrated coffeehouses. Its landmarks include the futuristic Space Needle and century-old Pike Place Market. Nearby, hiking trails wind through vast rainforest in Olympic National Park.

Well. Google makes my old home state sound a bit more interesting than the state I am currently sitting in, what with snow capped mountains and forested islands, rainforests and coffeehouses.

And a minimum wage over $2 higher than the Texas minimum wage.

Google thinks the Points of Interest in Texas are the San Antonio Riverwalk, the Alamo, the state capitol and a pair of Six Flags theme parks.

While in Washington Google thinks the Points of Interest are Olympic National Park, the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and Mount Rainier and North Cascades National Parks.

With Google's Destinations in Washington being Seattle, Forks, Bainbridge Island and again with the state's national parks.

Leaving out the most interesting national park n Washington, that being Mount St. Helens National Monument.

Bainbridge Island? But no mention of the San Juan Islands? Or Whidbey Island? Eastern Washington is totally ignored. Spokane? Grand Coulee Dam? Lake Chelan? Wenatchee? Yakima? Leavenworth? Apple orchards?

As for Texas. No mention of Big Bend National Park? Or South Padre Island? Or Enchanted Rock? Or Marfa?

Or Fort Worth?

How can Google ignore the most important city in Texas? If not the entire world?

Clearly, Google needs to adjust the algorithms used to determine a state's Destinations and Places of Interest....

Wondering Why There Are No Plans To Build Fort Worth A New Skyscraper

This blogging is a variant of my popular series of bloggings about something I see in a west coast online news source, usually the Seattle Times, that I would not see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The variant is that this particular blogging is about something I regularly see in the Seattle Times which I rarely see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

That being the announcement of some new big construction project.

Seems like hardly a week goes by without reading of some new construction project in downtown Seattle. Pike Place expansion. Residential towers. Mixed use towers. And projects like this skyscraper you see  here.

I've seen no new skyscrapers scrape the sky in Fort Worth since I have been in Texas. I think Dallas has added one or two.

I read yesterday that the Seattle area is currently the fastest growing zone in America, with the economy back in boom mode.

A booming economy would explain all the building projects, I suppose.

But, I thought I've read in the Star-Telegram that Fort Worth is growing fast. I don't think I've read that the local economy is booming though. Is that the reason for the static skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth?

The only semi-tall building I've seen constructed in Fort Worth since I have been in Texas is the Convention Center Hotel. That project did not come about via private enterprise building a hotel to accommodate all the tourists and convention goers flocking to Fort Worth. Due to the paucity of both, no private entity was interested in making that type hotel investment, so the local voters were snookered into helping pay for the hotel.

Since I have been in Texas I have witnessed several large construction projects in downtown Fort Worth.

Such as the Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters. To build that building eminent domain was abused to remove a public housing development. Due to building the Radio Shack Headquarters the big free Tandy parking lots were no longer usable. The world's shortest subway line was closed, making access to downtown Fort Worth no longer the easy thing it was prior to this debacle. The lack of easy parking has greatly reduced the number of times I have visited downtown Fort Worth ever since.

A short distance from the Radio Shack debacle we had the downtown campus of Tarrant County College debacle, a grandiose project, with an interesting design, thwarted in mid construction. In the midst of the Tarrant County College downtown campus boondoggle Radio Shack found it could no longer afford its new corporate headquarters. So, in a deal which made no sense to me, Tarrant County College, which had already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on their mangled downtown campus, then paid a few hundred more million to buy space in the Radio Shack building to use as their downtown campus, in a building which was not designed to be a school.

I tell you, Fort Worth has to be the "Boondoggle Capital  of the Free World".

That should be the town's catchy slogan, not "Where the West  Begins".

Adding to the roll of boondoggles, we have the Pier One Imports Corporate Headquarters. A beautiful building built on the spot where buildings were destroyed by a tornado. I don't remember how long Pier One Imports occupied their new headquarters before they, like Radio Shack, found out they could not afford it. The building was then sold to Chesapeake Energy to use as their satellite corporate headquarters from whence they ran their shadow Fort Worth city government during the reign of gas industry lackey, Mike Moncrief.

I don't know who owns the former Pier One Imports building now that Chesapeake Energy has taken the Walk of Shame out of Fort Worth.

If Fort Worth's economy is doing as well as the Star-Telegram propaganda-izes, how come we don't see more evidence of such?

We have America's Biggest Boondoggle currently stalled in slow motion, taking four years to build three little simple bridges from the mainland to an imaginary island, but not much else, except for an extensive music festival schedule taking place in, and beside, the Trinity River, a river which other parts of America would call the Trinity Slough, with no one thinking it a good idea to use as an inner tubing venue.

I'm sure some local would point to the West 7th area as evidence of Fort Worth's booming economy. Well, what I have seen in that area is extremely poor planning, with the area turning into a flooded lake when too much rain falls. The sidewalks are too narrow on West 7th, creating a canyon like effect that is not pleasant.

There is a lot of highway construction underway. Is that a sign of a booming local economy? Or one more sign of bad planning? The I-35 drive north from downtown Fort Worth has turned into an extremely unpleasant experience, particularly when you get past I-820.

I know there has been some effort to have some sort of train transit running from downtown Fort Worth to Grapevine, and, I think, the north entry to D/FW International. But, that project seems to be a lot of talk and little action.

If Fort Worth ever does actually have itself a booming economy do you think maybe sidewalks could be added to more of the city's streets? And maybe get rid of all the outhouses in all the parks and install modern restroom facilities with running water to replace the outhouses?

We have all recently witnessed how fast the South can change when properly motivated. Could not the Fort Worth outhouses go as quickly as the Confederate flag? We can only hope....

Apparently Texas Is The Best State In America In Which To Make A Living

A couple days ago Spencer Jack's dad sent me a link to a website's webpage about the Best States to Make a Living where I learned that Texas is currently the best place in America to make a living, with my previous home zone, Washington, the second best place to make a living.

That's a screen cap from the best place to make a living webpage you see above. Apparently last year Washington was the best place to make a living, with Texas the second best place to make a living. I could not glean from reading the article if Texas moved to number one due to Washington doing worse, or Texas doing better, or a combo of each.

Washington has a much higher average income than Texas at $52,540, with the Texas average income being $45,330. From my own observation the cost of living is higher in Washington than Texas. Gas is more expensive in Washington. As is housing. But, public transportation is cheaper and more plentiful. Apples are also cheaper in Washington than Texas, along with a lot of other fresh produce, some of which grows wild and free for the picking.

I digress.

You can click the link to read by what criteria these conclusions were reached.

The Worst States to Make a Living are also listed, with Hawaii being the worst and with the state I was born in, Oregon, being the second worst.

Oregon has no sales tax. But does have a state income tax.

Washington and Texas have no state income tax. Both raise money via the sales tax method.

Oregon can be a bit eccentric. When the rest of America went to the self serve method of filling ones tank, Oregon preserved the jobs of professional gas pumpers by making self serve gas pumping illegal, with gas pumped only by trained professionals. I do not know if Oregon still bans self serve gas pumping. It's been a few years since I had a tank filled in Oregon.

Another Alligator Not Caught In Downtown Fort Worth

Yesterday I blogged about the capture of the 10 foot long blind alligator which had been terrorizing downtown Fort Worth ever since it was flushed in to town by last month's flooding.

In that blogging I opined that this was something one would never see in the Seattle Times, a reversal of my popular series of bloggings about things I read in west coast online news sources which I would never read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Well.

This morning I found a blog comment from Steve A which sort of contradicts what I'd opined about not seeing such a thing as an alligator capture in an article in the Seattle Times about an alligator terrorizing the Seattle zone on one of the town's lakes  or saltwater beaches.

Steve A's comment....

Steve A has left a new comment on your post "Downtown Fort Worth's Blind Alligator Pulled From Trinity River So Rockin' The River Can Resume":

Hmm, they caught an alligator last year in Ocean Shores - http://northcoastnews.com/news/police-nab-alligator-ocean-shores-blvd.html 

_________________________________

There are some major differences in the two alligator incidents.

The Ocean Shores alligator was a woman's pet, kept in a kid's swimming pool in her apartment. The woman had had this unusual pet for years. Someone tipped off the police, a warrant was issued, but then someone tipped off the Alligator Woman, who then tried to escape with her alligator, just as police arrived to find the gator in the backseat of the woman's vehicle, thwarting the attempted escape.

The alligator was then taken to a nature preserve. I am guessing it was a different nature preserve than the one Fort Worth's downtown alligator was taken to....

Downtown Fort Worth's Blind Alligator Pulled From Trinity River So Rockin' The River Can Resume

Today I am reversing my popular series of bloggings about something I read in a west coast news source, online, usually the Seattle Times, that I would never read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

That which you see here was screen capped from this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram and is something  I don't think you'd ever see in the Seattle Times getting wrangled out of Puget Sound or any of the lakes in the Seattle zone.

The big alligator which has been terrorizing downtown Fort Worth, like Godzilla terrorizing Tokyo, has been captured and removed to a new home, presumably the bayous of the Fort Worth Nature Center & Wildlife Refuge which is located between Lake Worth and Lake Eagle Mountain.

In the caption below the photo of the captured gator we learn the 10 foot long monster was blind. How was this determined I can not help but wonder?

Did the alligator go blind from too many years of exposure to the water of the Trinity River? Or is it blind from one of the usual old age blinding maladies, such as cataracts or macular degeneration?

Speaking of going blind from too much exposure to the water of the Trinity River.

Now that the alligator has been removed from America's  Biggest Boondoggle's party zone did Thursday's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Float take place?

I Googled Rockin' the River to see if I could find out if an alligator free float took place yesterday, to no avail.

But, I did find something else appalling. That being that America's Biggest Boondoggle has gotten itself yet one more domain name and has had yet one more website made touting one of its many parties.

The new domain with a new website is rockintheriverfw.com. Apparently The Boondoggle's other website devoted to its imaginary island and imaginary pavilion, pantherislandpavilion.com did not suffice for propaganda spewing purposes.

Back a decade and a half ago, before America's Biggest Boondoggle turned into one, did anyone think that all this time later all we would basically see produced was a tacky music venue where the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision encourages people to float in the Trinity River and three simple little bridges being built over dry land, taking four years to build, to connect the mainland to an imaginary island?

Oh, and the world's premiere wakeboard lake. I am likely forgetting a product or two.

If the TRWD had hired an actual qualified project engineer as the Executive Director of what, at the time of the hiring, was called the Trinity Uptown Project (I think that is what it was called, it gets hard to remember all the names The Boondoggle  has gone by over the years), instead of hiring a local congresswoman's son to motivate her to seek federal money for the project, do you think we would be seeing people floating in the Trinity River at Rockin' the River and Sunday Funday events?

Do you think the old Tandy Subway's service shed would have been turned into a beer hall called The Shack?

If a real project engineer had been hired would we, all these many years later, be seeing the proposed project actually coming to some sort of fruition?

And another thing. How much of the people's money is America's Biggest Boondoggle spending on all these websites it is making to promote its various shenanigans?

There really needs to be some sort of adult oversight of Kay Granger's son. Don't you think the mountain of evidence makes that sort of obvious?

Mount Rainier Has Lost Its Glaciers With The Skagit River Drying Up While B.C. Burns

I saw that which you see here yesterday on Facebook via Sister Chris. I was puzzled as to what mountain this was, with the comments being made making me think it was Mount Rainier, which I did not think possible, what with Mount Rainier always covered in the icy white of multiple glaciers.

I was then informed that this is indeed the current status of Mount Rainier.

The only Washington volcano I have ever seen minus its perpetual white glacier cover is Mount Saint Helens. And that was due to that volcano erupting and melting its frozen cover.

Way back in December of 2000 I drove from Texas back to Washington. The route north was Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, then home. This was a big mistake. Hazardous icy driving in Kansas, Wyoming, Utah and especially Oregon, where I skidded out of control at one point.

So, when it was time to head back to Texas I decided to head south via I-5, where the only possible bad snow zone would be Southern Oregon and Northern California. Turned out, due to that period's drought, there was no treacherous snow driving.

What was memorable on that drive south was the condition of Mount Shasta. It was looking like Mount Rainier looks now. Stripped of most of its icy white cover. I'd driven by Mount Shasta dozens of times. It was shocking to see it looking naked.

In one of the Facebook comments replying to my bum puzzlement about this being Mount Rainier, Spencer Jack's dad had this to tell me....

Durango Jones, you would be shocked to see the little creek formally known as the Skagit River.

I need photo documentation of the current state of the Skagit River. Spencer Jack, if you are reading this could you drive your dad down to the river and take a few pictures?

I have read multiple first hand accounts of the smoke that has wafted over Washington, on both sides of the mountains. Something like 70 wildfires are blazing up in British Columbia. The smoke is so thick that it caused the temperature on both sides of the mountains to drop.

Below is a screen cap regarding the B.C. fires from a couple days ago.

I don't remember where I got the above, but wherever it was people were commenting who obviously did not live in Washington where one is used to British Columbia being referred to as B.C., because more than one person said that upon first glance they thought how could wildfires from 70 B.C. be burning now, or something like that....

On FOX News Betsy Price Is A Former Bull Leading Fort Worth

I saw that which you see here on FOX News online, widely believed by very few to be the world's most reliable news source.

I don't really rely on FOX News for news, I find entertainment value in FOX News, what with the news on FOX often seeming to present some sort of alternative universe from the one most people live in.

Yesterday on FOX News online I saw an article titled How Fort Worth's Bike Riding Mayor Steers the City.

That is a screen cap from the article you see here, with the lady in yellow being Fort Worth's hugely popular populist mayor, Betsy Price.

A woman of the people. Got a problem? Take it to Betsy Price. Gas drillers causing your property to flood? Take it to Betsy Price. Being evicted by a criminal landlord? Take it to Betsy Price.

You get the drift? Got a problem? Take it to Betsy Price.

This FOX News article seems to be a puff piece bordering on propaganda, almost like some sort of advertisement paid for by the committee to have Betsy Price made a saint.

One would think that, except for one thing. The article refers to Betsy Price as the lead steer leading the Fort Worth herd. If you do not know what a steer is I screen capped a definition for your enlightenment....

So, FOX News thinks our dear leader is a castrated bull? Can that possibly be true? Does FOX News know something that is not commonly known in Fort Worth? Or does FOX News owe our dear leader an apology?

You can read the article in its entirety by going to FOX News and reading How Fort Worth's Riding Mayor Steers the City.

Below you can read the part of the article which says Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price is a castrated bull....

Texans know every herd follows a lead steer.

On several days throughout the year, you can see a herd in the old cow town of Fort Worth, Texas, a city of approximately 800,000 people, following its lead steer.  The surprise, however, is that this herd is on bicycles and its lead steer is their mayor, Betsy Price.

Talking To My Mom While Visiting The Nguyens & Ducs In Fort Worth's Mount Olivet Cemetery

This morning at 9 I had to be at this place called Inwesco in one of Fort Worth's industrial blight zones. This particular blight zone is in the Sylvania Avenue / N.E. 28th Street area.

Just to the south of this particular industrial zone is the Mount Olivet Cemetery. I have heard mention made of this cemetery, but had not previously had reason to make a visit.

So, when I left Inwesco I entered the Mount Olivet Cemetery and had myself a walk around.

This is a very well kept burial ground. I have been to many a burial ground. My Grandma Jones, that being my dad's mom, liked to wander around cemeteries. I remember Mom and Dad bringing Grandma over to Ellensburg whilst I was going to Central Washington University. We took Grandma to the Roslyn Cemetery, which now that I am typing that and thinking about it, that cemetery is a long ways from Ellensburg, particularly if Mom and Dad and Grandma had just driven over the mountains to Ellensburg for the day. But I know it was a one day deal.

I digress.

The Roslyn Cemetery is this sprawling deal, on multiple hills. It is divided into something like 30 different burial grounds. Very segregated. For example, separate areas for Chinese, Mexican, African-Americans, Croatians, Germans, Serbians, Irish, Canadians and I forget what else. The various burial plots are maintained to various levels. Some of the headstones are elaborate, including photos somehow embedded in glass. Epic epitaphs on a lot of the headstones. Some telling a sad story. One of the burial grounds was the final resting place for those who died in one of America's worst coal mining disasters.

I have been to some interesting burial grounds in Texas. The cemetery next to Pioneer Plaza, in Dallas, comes to mind. Interesting headstones with interesting epitaphs, graves dating back to way before the War of Northern Aggression and the biggest Confederate memorial statue I have seen.

Mount Olivet Cemetery was nice, but it seemed sort of new. There must be an older cemetery in Fort Worth with graves dating back much further than I saw today, with old style headstones and epic epitaphs.

I did find the gravesites and elaborate monuments of several people of Vietnamese descent to be interesting. One of them had embedded photos, way bigger than what I have seen in Rosyln.

That is that of which I speak you see here.

The picture you see at the top was taken whilst I sat on a bench set in polished marble, talking to my mom. While talking to mom I looked up at the area where I'd seen headstones for people of Vietnamese ancestry, with names like Pham, Nguyen and Duc, to see that family of Ducs you see above, paying their respects.

By that pond you see in the background was a sign warning burial ground visitors not to fish or swim in the pond. I imagine without that sign there was a serious problem with a lot of unwanted fishermen and swimmers....

Spencer Jack Is In Friday Harbor Safe From Collapsing Washington Ice Caves

Incoming email this morning from Spencer Jack and his dad. That is Spencer you are looking at here, getting ready to board the Yakima Ferry to float to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

At my current location there are no islands in need of a ferry boat to gain access. Fort Worth has an imaginary island it calls Panther Island, which requires no boat, or even a bridge, to access. All you need to do is walk onto the imaginary island over dry land.

Yes, the stereotype cliche is true, as stereotype cliches often are. The South is a bit eccentric, what with imaginary islands and happy hour inner tube floats with alligators in a polluted river.

I digress.

Back to this morning's email from Spencer Jack and his dad.

Subject line: Spencer Jack in Friday Harbor Safe from Collapsing Ice Caves

Spencer Jack insisted on a ferry ride today with hundreds of other tourists to Friday Harbor. We sailed west to a small town known as Friday Harbor located on San Juan Island. Did some shopping, after enjoying pan-fried oysters and salads for lunch.

With drinks. Shopping today we found our FUD's 49th August 11th birthday present. I'm sure he will enjoy such, as I think most history buffs would. It is just fitting of FUD. And when FNSJ and I come to visit FUD in DFW soon, we will enjoy this present with him. Spencer loves games. I suppose we need to ship to him this package unless he is planning a trip the PNW which for the first time in 5 days did not reach the 90 degree mark. Shipping may be standard, and not the overnight express when one ships perishable seafood. I suppose if we ship this package early enough, it should arrive before FUD starts his 'golden years.'  And way ahead of our late summer arrival.

Did our FUD ever visit those ice caves? I'm kind of lost as to where they located.   I suppose I could look such up, but I'm almost certain that FUD will reply with an answer when I wake.

Yes, FNJ, I have visited the Ice Caves a couple times. Once with your cousins, FNC and FNJ3 (Favorite Nephew Christopher and Favorite Nephew Jeremy).

That is Jeremy behind Christopher as we made our way to the Ice Caves. This visit occurred in Winter, when it is relatively safe to go inside, but still a bit scary. It was very careless for anyone to ignore the warning signs in Summer, particularly when it is HOT.

I have a photo album with more pictures of the Ice Caves, with FNC and FNJ3 inside. They are old-fashioned hard copy prints. Maybe I'll get around to scanning them later today.

UPDATE: Later is now. Go to my Washington blog to see photos of Chris and Jeremy inside the Big Four Ice Caves.

My last time to the Ice Caves was during the late Spring thaw. I led Spencer Jack's Great Aunt Michele and a group of kids she was the coach or counselor for. I can't remember what the exact deal was. We hiked the trail in til we could view the Ice Caves, which were not yet formed. The attraction was to sit on giant boulders at a safe distance and watch huge chunks of ice break free of the steep cliff above the Ice Caves come crashing down making a noisy cascade of ice.

I think the last time I was on the Mountain Loop Highway, in the vicinity of the Ice Caves, was with Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey, aka FNJ2. We were driving the Mountain Loop Highway, where in the Monte Christo ghost town zone I had Joey get his bike out and coast, at high speed, down the hill, whilst I followed in the pickup.

On my Washington website there is an entry in my webpage about the Cascade Mountains which mentions the Ice Caves. Below is the text, which should give Spencer Jack and his dad a good idea of how to find the Ice Caves.

Below is the aforementioned text, note the foreboding warning at the end...

Ice Caves
There is a road called the Mountain Loop Highway that goes from Darrington to Granite Falls. This road is in the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. It is the way to Glacier Peak which is one of the 5 volcanoes in Washington, and the least known and most difficult to get to. The Mountain Loop Highway is very close to the lowlands of Puget Sound and is easy to get to and closer than going up to the ski areas on Stevens or Snoqualmie Pass in search of snow to play on. There are many attractions on the Mountain Loop Highway, Mount Pilchuck, Granite Falls (the actual falls, not the town),  Monte Christo, an old mining town which is now a ghost town and a major mountain biking and hiking destination in summer and a cross country skiing destination in winter. But the most unique thing on the Mountain Loop Highway may be the Ice Caves which form every year as the winter's accumulation of snow that has slid off the mountain forms caves as water erodes the ice away. The Ice Caves are about a mile hike from the Highway. There are warning signs. 'Enter the Ice Caves at your own Risk', 'Ice Caves Dangerous on Warm Days'. People have died in the Ice Caves. 

I suspect I will soon be seeing photo documentation of a Spencer Jack Mountain Loop Highway trip. I wonder how much of the Monte Christo ghost town remains? As a kid that was a fun place to explore.

Hood County Issues Cowboy's Wedding License After Federal Lawsuit Filed

A couple weeks ago one would not thought possible we'd be seeing in Texas that which we've been seeing.

SCOTUS makes a ruling and pretty much universally, across America, the new law of the land prevails, causing rapid change, sort of like a revolution.

Except for a few holdouts here and there, like a county or two in Texas. And I think now, even those holdout county clerks are either doing their job or have resigned.

The Attorney General of Texas, currently in serious legal trouble which could send him to a life sentence in the slammer, made a fool of himself over religious rights or some such nonsense pertaining to county clerks doing there job.

One of the county clerk overbearing religious types was in Hood County. Name K.D. Lang. Or maybe Katie Lang. Ms. Lang managed to embarrass Hood County, Texas and much of America with her bone-headed statements regarding doing her job and the SCOTUS ruling.

I do not know if Ms. Lang decided to do her job without further nonsense, or if she resigned, or if she was fired.

What I do know is last week the pair of cowboys you see above, Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton, left Brokeback Mountain to ride into Granbury to get themselves hitched, only to find Ms. Lang refusing to issue the pair a license to marry.

The cowboys then filed a federal lawsuit against Hood County, with the result being Hood County then issued the license they sought.

I do not know if the wedding has already taken place, or if it will take place at a future date with a big shindig on the Hood County Courthouse Square.

Granbury puts on some of the best festivals I have ever seen. Like Granbury's 4th of July Parade and General Granbury's Birthday.

I assume that the General's birthday party still takes place. I had a mighty fine time my one and only time going to the General's birthday party....