We're Storming in North Texas Today

A couple hours ago WeatherBug went off with a warning of incoming. Then the radio said a powerful storm was advancing on the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex from the north. And was moving fast. At that point in time the sky was mostly clear with little wind.

A couple minutes later, though it was totally calm, the power went out. And stayed out for quite awhile. By the time the power came back on, the storm was here. Cloudy and very windy. But the power stayed on.

The best part of this storm is it had been hot, as in it'd gotten to 90 this morning. By the time I sat outside on the balcony, enjoying the wind and taking the above picture, the temperature had dropped to goose bump producing temps, as in the low 70s. Brrrr.

There is supposed to be fresh incoming, later this afternoon, with falling wet stuff. It's nice having the A/C off for a bit.

And that's your weather report for the day from North Texas. Meanwhile, up in Tacoma, at this point in time, it is cloudy and 56. That is Super Brrrrr!

ABC's The Bachelorette 4 & Me

Go here for this morning's blogging about last night's Bachelorette final episode.

Last night I was tired and in a foul mood. I needed mindless, stupid, escapist television to put my mood in a better place. So, I decided, no matter how boring or appalling I found it, I was going to watch an entire episode of The Bachelorette.

I did not know, at the time, this was a 2 hour commitment, with the first hour called "DeAnna Tells All." I didn't want to know all. I don't remember much of that hour. My mind must have wandered. I do remember they went to Vail, Colorado to visit the only married couple to result from one of these shows. The husband part of this pair did not seem a happy fellow. And the skin all around his eyes was an odd shade of blue. I don't think it was eye shadow. His name is Ryan, the wife's name is Trista. I've seen this pair on TV before.

And then the second hour began. There are 6 potential husbands remaining. In this episode she must get rid of 2 and then next week take the other 4 to their hometowns to meet their friends and family. Most of the conversation on the show revolved around DeAnna's overarching concern regarding those visits.

The show started with the Outhouse boys being let out and with everyone taken to Palm Springs for a week of heavy dating.

I read someone describe this DeAnna person as having the personality of a gnat. I get what they mean now. If, of all the video footage they must have filmed, if what they show is the best they had to work with, well, that's just sad.

I've seldom listened to so many stilted conversations. She's so earnest about her search for a husband. It's a process, we hear again and again. That takes 4 weeks. You develop a lifelong relationship, in 4 weeks, with cameras recording your meetings with your potential mate.

One of the ones she booted she first took on a ride up the Palm Springs Tramway. They had dinner outside in the cold and a lot of stilted conversation where he, whatever his name was, professed his growing feelings for her, now that they've finally been alone. Except for the camera crew.

She took another guy on a very weird date. I remember his name. Jeremy. A very boring lawyer from Dallas, who claims to work til 10pm every night, yet still finds time to hit the gym, what appeared to be excessively, as he looked like a skinny Schwarzenegger. Is a guy who works til 10pm each night, and then hits the gym, good husband material?

So, for her date with musclebound Jeremy, DeAnna drove him, in a vintage car, to the late Frank Sinatra's house where much hilarity ensued as they badly karaoked a Frank Sinatra song. Their conversation was painful to listen to. This girl does not have the slightest bit of wit to her. And then, suddenly, they were in robes. Apparently, their swimming suits had been smuggled in. And so they swam in Frank's pool. Jeremy was a tad funny when he apologized to Sinatra for the singing and other desecrations of Frank's house.

At one point, DeAnna stuck the boys in helicopters, with one weird guy named Twille, I think, getting what they call "one on one time" with DeAnna. Unfortunately Twille has a motion sickness problem, so DeAnna spent most of the flight worrying that Twille was "gonna puke on me." He didn't. But when they landed he couldn't figure out how to open the door.

The reason for the copter ride was to get out to the desert to participate in one of DeAnna's favorite things. Riding an ATV. She was a real wild woman at it. She was not impressed with how wussy some of the guys were, but was impressed with how masterful a short, professional snowboarder was, named, I think, Jesse. She was not impressed with what a weeny Twille was on the ATVs. So, he got the boot.

Regarding Jesse, later, now slightly smitten with him due to his ATV riding skills, back at the house, sitting at a table, looking longingly into Jesse's eyes, DeAnna desperately wanted him to kiss her. He didn't. She lamented about this later. DeAnna's seems to have no problem with doing a lot of smooching, sometimes quite ardently. During the period while they were all in the yard and she got no smooch from Jesse, she did do smooching with each of the other guys, I think. The ones who weren't currently doing the smooching could see this going on. Very romantic to watch your future wife being busy with other guys. That session ended with DeAnna and Graham embracing tightly in a hammock, to the chagrin of the other boys.

And then there's this guy from Kirkland, WA, that's a suburb of Seattle. He seems like a nice guy. But he's got a 3 year old kid. I figured his wife must have died. But, no, it was a divorce. He doesn't have sole custody. Isn't that a redflag in dating world? Young divorced guy, with kid?

And then there is the guy the other guys seem to think is her favorite. His name is Graham. I read in Survivor Sucks that he has claimed to be celibate. In previews his own mother told DeAnna that Graham has never had a relationship last longer than 4 weeks. It appeared from the previews that this leads to a lot of crying and claims of betrayal. I assumed this was directed at Graham. Graham is an interesting name. It makes me think cracker.

For the booting the 6 guys arrived and were quite perplexed, because usually DeAnna is there to greet them, while a cocktail party takes place where each guy can once more make his case to stay and declare his undying love that he's found. In 3 weeks. But, DeAnna did not want to put them through this living hell, because she had made up her mind, so there was no use prolonging the agony. What a sweet, sensitive girl. The guys seemed more upset, though, that they weren't getting their usual cocktail party. And the bootees did not seem all that upset at leaving this trainwreck.

Anyway, I made it through 2 hours of this, with very little channel chasing. Now that I've seen the whole appalling thing it is more bizarre to me than ever. What sort of fool thinks this is the way to find a mate? With tv cameras running. In 4 weeks.

I'll admit the show had some amusing moments. Though I think they were all unintentional. Like the bootees were all more interested in hugging the other guys and saying fond farewells to them than they were in saying goodbye to the one who had rejected them. The host of this show is funny too, in that he seems to take it all very serious, almost like it is all part of some weird religion and he's running the church service.

I won't be watching again. Unless I'm in a very foul mood.

Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision

Yesterday, in a blogging suggesting Fort Worth build a Rotating Tower, I mentioned that a current, slow-going project, known as the Trinity River Vision was a likely boondoggle.

Mr. Anonymous commented on the blogging and the reference to "boondoggle" with this:

"The TRV is crucial to the city's future. It's no boondoggle, and it's far more than what you're describing. It will serve as a critically important tool to give new residents an alternative to the idiotic suburban sprawl that cripples our wonderful city."

From Wikipedia, defining Boondoggle---"Boondoggle has come to refer to a government or corporate project involving large numbers of people and usually, heavy expenditure, where at some point the key operators have realized that the project is never going to work, but are reluctant to bring this to the attention of their superiors. Generally there is an aspect of "going through the motions"—for example, continuing research and development—as long as funds are available to keep paying the researchers' and executives' salaries. The situation can be allowed to continue for what seem like unreasonably long periods, as senior management are often reluctant to admit that they allowed a failed project to go on for so long. In many cases, the actual device itself may eventually work, but not well enough to ever recoup its development costs."

Note, I did not say the TRV project was a Boondoggle, I said it would likely become one. Now, why do I think this project may become a Boondoggle? Well. The proposed area is an industrial wasteland. I remember when Tacoma wanted to remove an old industrial plant from the waterfront called Asarco, it became one of the biggest Superfund pollution cleanups ever. I suspect when the bulldozers begin to do their thing and testing of the soil is done, bad things are going to be found.

Another reason I think this is a likely Boondoggle is originally the plan did not call for a flood diversion channel. That was added on so as to justify getting Federal money for the project. The Trinity River flooded badly at some point in the 1950s. After that, dam-like dikes were built to stop that sort of flood from happening again. Now those dam-like dikes are to be taken down due to the diversion channel supposedly being able to handle an epic flood.

Another reason I think this may turn out to be yet one more Fort Worth Boondoggle is I've seen so many since I've been here. The Sante Fe Rail Market Boondoggle where city planners claimed an extremely lame food court type thing was the first public market in Texas and was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place and markets in Europe. Instead it was a Boondoggle.

The Lancaster Avenue Redevelopment Boondoggle. Years ago a section of Interstate 30, that hovered above Lancaster Avenue, was removed, revealing a very run down section of highway, just south of another Fort Worth Boondoggle, that being the Convention Center, where few Conventions take place, and where a city-subsidized hotel is under construction which will likely turn into yet one more Boondoggle, when it fails to cause an increase in Convention bookings.

After the freeway came down the plans were to quickly fix up Lancaster Avenue, with landscaping. But for years it remained a heavily weeded eyesore. In the past year there has been some improvement. But there are still none of the promised restaurants or flurry of other development, except for converting an old building into lofts.

The whole Cabela's deal is sort of a Fort Worth Boondoggle.

The city of Fort Worth taking over the failed Mercado in the Stockyards zone is pretty much a Boondoggle.

So, it's no mystery to me why I think this Trinity River Vision may turn out to be yet one more Boondoggle. Mr. Anonymous said the vision is far more than I described. Yes, I failed to mention that part of the Visioneer's claims is that this will spur residential development, restaurants and other entertainment venues. Sort of the same stuff I read about what would happen with Lancaster Avenue and the Sante Fe Rail Market.

One good thing has been added to the Trinity River Vision, that being sprawling the project all the way to Gateway Park and restoring wetlands.

Now, I really hope the Trinity River Vision does not turn out to be a Boondoggle, I really do. But when you don't put such a thing to a vote of your citizens, when the person in charge of the project is the son of the Congresswoman who represents Fort Worth (this is what is known as nepotism), when you add bogus elements (an unneeded diversion channel), when there are great unknowns (a potential massive Superfund pollution cleanup), you've got a recipe for total Boondoggle.

Or so it would seem to me.

Fort Worth's Rotating Tower

One of beautiful Fort Worth's identity problems stems from the fact that nothing in Fort Worth creates an iconic image that the rest of the nation or world sees and instantly knows it's Fort Worth. No Golden Gate Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Hollywood Sign, Reunion Tower, Riverwalk, Space Needle, Washington Monument, Eiffel Tower, you get the idea.

Fort Worth currently has this likely boondoggle called the Trinity River Vision that copied a bigger vision in Dallas that the citizens of Dallas got to vote on, but which was rammed through in Fort Worth by the Ruling Junta, without the good citizens of Fort Worth getting to vote on the destruction of the historic confluence of the West and Clear Forks of the Trinity River.

The Trinity River Vision is an un-needed diversion channel, a lake and some canals, ala San Antonio's Riverwalk and Oklahoma City's Bricktown. Trumpeted by the Ruling Junta's mouthpiece, known as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, to turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South. Without mountains. Or oceans. A Vancouver of the South, with a canal and a lake. This was the same mouthpiece which trumpeted the party line that Cabela's would be the #1 Tourist Attraction in Texas. Til a month later when one opened by Austin.

So, I'm thinking if Fort Worth is trying to make something cool that might make someone somewhere see an image of it and instantly know it's Fort Worth, well, something tall is the way to go.

This month, in that zone of over the top architecture known as Dubai, a new tower will begin construction. So far the only name I've seen attached to it is The Rotating Tower.

The Rotatating Tower is 59 floors tall. Each of the 59 floors will be able to rotate independently. In between the floors, wind turbines will generate enough power to provide the electrical needs for 10 other towers, in addition to meeting all the Rotating Tower's power needs. There will be 48 wind turbines and solar panels on the roof.

I'm thinking scrap that silly Trinity River Vision and go for something that's not been done in Texas or America before. Fort Worth has plenty of sun, with lots of wind. It's a little weak on stunning views from the windows of those rotating floors, but it's not that weak. I remember the view from the Reata, before a tornado destroyed it, was quite scenic, especially at sunset.

Below is video of Dubai's soon to be Rotating Tower.

Speed Humping in Texas

I've intended to take a picture of one of these signs for a long time. And today I finally remembered. In other locales, where I've lived, there have been lumps placed across the road with the purpose being to slow cars down.

Usually the lumps are called bumps. As in Speed Bumps. But in Fort Worth a Speed Bump is known as a Speed Hump.

I don't know why that amuses me. But it does.

This particular Speed Hump sign is near Oakland Lake Park in east Fort Worth.

National Strategic Fat Reserve

Last week I suggested that Americans fight rising food prices by cutting back on what they eat and burning up some of the calories stored by over 63% of Americans in the collective National Strategic Fat Preserve.

A couple days ago I was at Wal-Mart and was being freshly amazed at how many people, mostly female, stuff themselves into clothes that are much too small for their swollen selves. I don't know how they get some of those jeans and shorts onto their bodies. It would seem those tight tops and bottoms would be very uncomfortable.

But to me it's the aesthetics that are the main issue. Don't these people have mirrors? I've really grown weary of seeing way too many people who look like they are about to explode, with their clothes straining to keep them from doing so.

So, yesterday as I drove away from my abode I saw a group of 6 women dressed very attractively and colorful in loose fitting native type garb. They looked really good. This got me to thinking why is this not the style that plus-sized American women universally adopt? It would seem to be way more comfortable, cooler in hot weather, aesthetically pleasing and just all and all would make going to Wal-Mart a visually more pleasing experience.

The Japanese Government has grown concerned that Japan is getting too fat. An April 1 Government edict requires companies to regularly measure the waists of employees aged 40 to 74 as they diet and exercise their excess weight away.

Toshido Okada has written a Japanese best selling diet book called "Sayonara Mr. Fatty." The book is based on his experience of losing 110 pounds and no longer being a Mr. Fatty.

The percentage of overweight Japanese is way lower than the percentage of overweight Americans. We lead the world in our level of stored fat. By far. The number one thing that surprises Europeans, upon their first visit to America, is the huge number of what they call "Balloon People." They see way less "Balloon People" when they visit the West Coast. Way more when they visit the South. Way way more.

Below, a video called "Fat Americans."

It's Cooler in Washington

Biking the Trinity Trail today from Gateway Park to the Stockyards I came upon a section of the trail that had little inspirational messages chalked onto the pavement. Blurbs like "Love, Live, Learn" or "Encourage the Person Next to You."

This must have been for some race or walk charity type thing. When the trail went by a church I came to the last of the messages, that being that "You Made It!"

Only one of the chalked messages seemed out of whack, though it made perfectly good sense to me, that being the one you see in the photo, "It's cooler in Washington." I don't know what meaning of the word cooler the writer is intending. Either would be right. I suspect in this case cooler is likely a temperature comment.

Barnett Shale Drilling at the Fort Worth Stockyards

Last Sunday I blogged about biking the Trinity Trail past the Fort Worth Stockyards and being surprised to see a Barnett Shale Gas Drilling Rig so close to both the Trinity Trail and the Fort Worth Stockyards.

I've recovered from last week's sunburn, so today I decided to ride the Trinity Trail again and take my camera along.

That is the old Armor-Swift meat packing plant in the background. I call this the Stockyards Ruins. The FOX TV show, Prison Break, uses it as a prison set in Panama.

The official name of the Stockyards is Fort Worth Stockyards National Historical District. I wonder if this is the only National Historical District in America with a gas drilling rig?

Happy Father's Day

It's been over 2 years since I've seen my dad. And that was only during a 4 hour layover in Phoenix. I've not spent Christmas with my parental units since the year 2000, in Yuma. That was fun. That's Yuma in the photo. Me, mom and dad. I'm hoping to get to see Ma & Pa this summer up in Washington.

The older I get the more I realize how lucky I had it in the parental unit department. Most of what is good about my nature I got from my dad. I've never seen my dad get mad or lose his temper. I learned my style of driving from watching my dad. I am unflappable when driving. No matter where I'm driving, even notorious places, like Los Angeles, I'm always totally relaxed.

I never knew, when I was a kid, that not every family got to go on fun vacations. Usually the day school got out we'd take off on vacation. This is where I learned to like a long road trip. Me and my, at the time, 3 siblings, would beg to go to Disneyland, we wanted to see California really bad. When I was a 7th grader we took a week long trip to Oregon and Idaho. We were told if we behaved the next year we'd go to Yellowstone.

We behaved, so the next year we got to go to Yellowstone. We were told if we behaved on the Yellowstone trip the next year we'd go to California and Disneyland. We behaved.

So, when I was 13 we took our first trip to California. This remains the funnest trip I ever remember. Like I said, my dad is unflappable. We were barely 20 miles into our trip to California when something broke on the trailer. It was the trailer hitch. It'd cracked. The safety chain saved the trailer. Dad took apart the hitch. We drove into Everett. Dad found a welder to fix the break. We drove back to the trailer, dad put the hitch back together and we were back on our way. My mom and dad made this type thing totally non-stressful, like it was just part of the adventure.

In the LA zone we stayed at San Clemente State Park. Us kids were so antsy to get to the beach. We all had our little duties to do when we set up camp. We got those done quickly and found our way to the beach. We'd only been in the cold Pacific of the Washington coast. We'd not experienced warm salt water before. Or body surfing.

Disneyland was the best thing I ever remember doing as a kid.

We crammed in so much into our time in the LA zone, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Knotts Berry Farm. My dad only had 9 days off work. When it came time to head back north, mom and dad could tell us kids were sad. We made it as far as Ventura and pulled into a rest area. Mom and dad figured out they had enough money to take us to Universal Studios. And so we stayed in the LA zone one more day.

We had so much fun that we went to CA again the next year. I did not know it at the time, but that was to be my last family vacation. This is getting to me thinking back on this. That year my dad worked an extra job to save up enough so that he could take an extra week off. That year we did Tijuana and San Diego.

On our second trip to LA, our station wagon had a mechanical problem while we were in Hollywood to watch the Lawrence Welk Show get taped. We also watched The Dating Game. We were stuck in Hollywood for about 6 hours getting the car fixed. It was so much fun. My 2 older siblings and me took off exploring.

A mere 8 years later I was once more stuck in Hollywood, in the middle of the night. The clutch had gone out on my 65 Mustang after getting out of Paramount Studios about midnight after watching a taping of LaVerne and Shirley. We pushed the car to a Chevron station. And slept in the car til it opened. They were able to fix it.

My baby sister was born when I was 17, 3 years after my last family vacation. She never got to experience what it was like to be stuck in a car for thousands of miles with 3 siblings. And mom and dad.

The trips to California when I was 13 and 14 so imprinted happy memories on me that starting when I was about 20, for years, I'd go down there every year. The last time was Christmas of 1994. I remember once staying at San Clemente State Park, sometime in the 1980s, sitting on a picnic table, looking out at the Pacific and remembering back to when I was there when I was 13, with mom and dad and my brother and sisters. It made me feel sad. And alone. Sort of how I'm feeling right now.

Obama Sock Monkey

Just a couple days ago the use of the phrase "Obama's baby mama" was causing extreme umbrage and accusations of racism. And now a NAACP rep by the name of Jeanetta Williams is saying a Sock Monkey is "pure racism at its extreme."

The Sock Monkey in question is supposed to look like Barack Obama. It's made by a company in Utah. They have a website, TheSockObama.com. But if you try to go there you likely can't because when I tried I got a bandwidth exceeded message.

The Sock Monkey company has issued a sort of apology saying they "are saddened that some individuals have chosen to misinterpret our plush toy." They claim total innocence regarding any racist element being behind their motive for making the Obama Sock Monkey. They simply were sitting around and made the "affectionate observation of a charming association between a candidate and a toy we had when we were little."

The Sock Monkey people go on to say, "This is only our introductory plush toy. If we choose to move forward with a Republican candidate, we’ll begin with an elongated and slightly lumpy, fuzzy Idaho potato. Had a different Democratic candidate won the nomination, we were prepared to move forward with the cutest, fluffiest 12″ chestnut and golden-haired squirrel, with a short Farrah-like do in a brown pantsuit and call her Squirellary."

I'm thinking King George would be a good candidate for being a Sock Monkey. He certainly looks more like a monkey than Barack Obama does.

Below is a video about the Obama Sock Monkey from a Utah TV News Show.