Siblings & Lulu

My dear ol' friend Lulu, the Dumpster Diva of Tacoma, has no siblings. But, Lulu is not your stereotypical only child, in that she does not, always, insist on being the center of attention. And Lulu does not make a big deal over her birthday, which has been the case with every other only child I've known. And Lulu plays very well with others.

Lulu doesn't understand the concept of having siblings. None of her aunts or uncles reproduced, so Lulu has no cousins either. Sometimes I get the idea that Lulu is a bit jealous that I've got a brother and 3 sisters. Well, not so much over the brother. He was a classmate of Lulu's. Other times Lulu thinks she's blessed not to have brothers or sisters.

That's my baby sister, Michele, in the photo, standing in front of a strange looking blonde haired lady holding a pair of salmon. I took this photo, but I don't remember where it was taken.

The last time I was in Tacoma, Lulu came over for dinner at Michele's. I did the cooking. Lulu brought blackberry pie. Lulu was amused to watch my little sister, the lawyer, out argue me over some little point about something.

If I remember correctly I'd been told not to mention a certain subject (an insect invasion).

But, I'd been asked a question in which that insect invasion seemed to be able to be mentioned without somehow violating the prohibition I was under. But, apparently my thinking was flawed, which my little sister pointed out with some legalese.

I think my defense had been something along the lines of it was she who introduced a subject, about which I could not talk, unless I mentioned the insect invasion. Yeah, that's it. Michele brought up me talking at length to a stranger who knocked on her door to whom I ended up mentioning the insect invasion. He'd known the previous owners, so I asked if he knew if they had insect invasions.

Anyway, I've not seen my little sister in over 2 years. I've not seen any of my relatives, actually, in over 2 years. I suspect I will be seeing several of them in 3 weeks or so.

My Texas Favorites

Someone I will call anonymous made note of the fact that I seem to find a lot to whine about regarding Texas. Anonymous was curious if there is anything I like that I've seen in Texas.

Without putting a lot of thought into it, here goes with my list of my favorite things I've seen in Texas. Now, keep in mind, Texas is a huge state and there are large areas of the state I've not seen.

In no particular order.

Galveston. I liked everything about Galveston, Moody Gardens, the beach, the town itself, the smell of saltwater, the restaurants.

San Marcos. I loved the way the river ran through the town with its crystal clear water burbling from an underground spring. Aquarena Springs is pretty much the clearest water I recollect ever seeing. And the long shut down amusement park with its rides still in place, but covered with vegetation, was very eerie and interesting to walk through. San Marcos is a university town. It reminds me very much of Bellingham in Washington.

San Antonio. The Riverwalk is nice. San Antonio has a new look, shiny and clean. Reminds me of Seattle.

Fort Worth Stockyards. I always enjoy going to the Stockyards. As do visitors from up north.

Fair Park in Dallas. Great place to roller blade. I like the art deco buildings.

Granbury. A very scenic small Texas town that puts on the best festivals and parades. The Granbury 4th of July Parade is the best parade I've ever watched.

Dinosaur Valley State Park. Great hiking and mountain biking. And there are dinosaur remains. Well, dinosaur paw prints. Not exactly remains.

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. This is near Dinosaur Valley. I think driving through Fossil Rim is the most fun I've had in Texas. I know it's the most I've laughed. Who knew zebras could be so funny?

Enchanted Rock State Park. Reminds me of Utah. It's a great, scenic hike to the top of the rock. Lots of people.

White Rock Lake in Dallas. It's like a bigger version of Green Lake in Seattle, but with fewer people hiking, biking and blading. And you can't swim in White Rock Lake. Why? I don't know. It's fun to bike the trail all around the lake.

Canton First Mondays. I'd been to flea market, craft show type things before, but nothing like what takes place in Canton each month. It's huge. As in enormous.

Waco. I like Waco's Cameron Park. Great mountain biking. Waco is a cool looking town with a river running through it with a suspension bridge built by the same guy who built the Brooklyn Bridge.

Lake Grapevine. Great parks, great mountain biking. And I used to like to swim there til I was attacked by a rampaging turtle.

River Legacy Park in Arlington. This may be the best park in the D/FW Metroplex. Miles of paved trails. Miles of mountain bike trails. Lots of people. Lots of wildlife, from snakes to bobcats to armadilloes to fireflies.

Tandy Hills Park in Fort Worth. My favorite place to hike, by far. It's Texas before civilization arrived, hilly native prairie with the most wildflowers I've seen.

The Parker County Peach Festival. I've been to this twice. Enjoyed it both times. Weatherford is another cool looking small Texas town with a courthouse square. Like Granbury and Waxahachie.

The State Fair of Texas. It can be exhausting. But fun. It's in Dallas at Fair Park.

The Dallas Farmers Market. Visitors from the Pacific Northwest never fail to say the Dallas Farmers Market reminds them of Pike Place in Seattle. It is very similar. But no flying fish, multiple restaurants, waterfront hillclimb or multiple levels. But a lot of really good fruits and vegetables, and more, in a colorful setting.

Seattle Weather Babies

This past weekend broke temperature records in the Puget Sound zone of the Pacific Northwest.

In the photo you're looking at heat escapers at Brackett's Landing Park, by the Edmonds Ferry Dock, north of Seattle.

The temps got into the low 90s. In the Puget Sound region 3 days in a row with temps in the high 70s to low 90s is considered a major heat wave. Heat waves there rarely last longer than 3 days due to the heat causing cooler air and fog to roll in from the Pacific.

A former Los Angeles native, now Seattleite, is quoted in today's Seattle P-I, saying "People in Seattle seem to wilt after it gets above 75."

That is so true. I've only been up there during the summer one time since I've been acclimated to the Texas Heat, that being the summer of 2004. It was mid-July. The temperature was 78. I was cold, real cold. But the locals were in full whine mode about the blistering heat. Five days later I was at my sister's in Kent. That's a Seattle suburb. The temps that day were predicted to possibly break 100 for the first time in, west of the Cascades, Washington history. It only got to 99. Few people have air-conditioning on the west side of the mountains. It was miserable.

So, this weekend, on Saturday, the temperature, as measured at Sea-Tac Airport, tied the 1995 record at 91 degrees.

The weather service issued a heat advisory cautioning the elderly and children to drink a lot of water and avoid doing anything outdoors.

Meanwhile, in Texas, we've had a cold front blow in, with the low last night being 68 and the high today expected to only get to 95.

We are not weather babies in Texas.

Back Ache In Texas

Years ago, every once in awhile, I'd put my back out. This has only happened once since I moved to Texas. Til today. The previous Texas back ache was caused by leaning forward to pull a lever while driving a riding lawnmower.

Today's Texas back ache is computer related. As in one of my computers refused to come on. It'd light up for a second or two and then go back to sleep.

I figured putting in a new power supply was the best bet. I'd not operated on computer innards in a couple years. I was easily able to disconnect all the connections. Except for the big one that powers the motherboard. It would not come loose.

I should have put the computer on a table, rather than kneel over it on the floor. At some point, when I was tugging on that last connector, my lower back started to hurt.

By the time I got the new power supply installed I was not easily able to get vertical, could not stand up straight.

So, the new power supply fixed the computer. Now I had to try and fix me. I laid on the floor til I got my back stabilized enough that I could walk. Put on a swimming suit and went to the pool. I figured swimming would be a good thing for a back ache.

And it was. I swam for about an hour. Got out of the pool. No pain. I laid down on a lounge chair and called my big sister. Big mistake. By the time that half hour talk was over and I went to stand up, I couldn't. The pain is excruciating and causes me to let out these yelps of pain.

So, I got back in the pool. At first I was only able to use my arms. I'd sorta become like FDR at Warm Springs. I could swim, with no use of my legs. But leg function quickly returned. After about 20 more minutes of swimming I got out and stayed vertical.

Then I decided going on a walk would be more good therapy. So, I went to Oakland Lake Park. Got there, got out of my vehicle and once more I could not get vertical and I was back letting out those yelps of pain.

I forced myself as vertical as possible and tried to walk. Gradually my walking function returned. By the end of walking at Oakland Lake Park I was pain free.

Driving back here my vehicle began to sputter. Gas gauge low. I got to a gas station and somehow managed to not notice I pulled up to a diesel pump. I'd already swiped the credit card through the reader when I realized I did not want diesel. Got that canceled and got to another pump. I then realized I'd gotten vertical with no problem.

I got the gas pumped and got back here and got out of my vehicle with no problem staying vertical. I have had no yelping in pain episodes since.

So, I'm hoping this is a very short-live back ache incident and not a multi-month one like my other Texas back ache. I'm under enough stress right now, I don't need to add a chronic back ache to the mix.

Barnett Shale Chesapeake Energy Overdose

I think I've mentioned before that I've never before been witness to a propaganda campaign of the scope underway here in North Texas, brought to us courtesy of the good folks at Chesapeake Energy.

It seems a day does not go by without me seeing Tommy Lee Jones' age worn craggy face shilling for Chesapeake Energy and Barnett Shale on my TV. And on billboards. And in the newspaper.

In this morning's Sunday Fort Worth Star-Telegram we were treated to yet one more full page Tommy Lee Jones Chesapeake Energy ad. This ad has Tommy saying "Texans can live with industry. We always have."

Huh?

Tommy goes on to say, "We've been living with the Fort Worth Stockyards for a long time. If we weren't able to live with the stockyards there wouldn't be a Fort Worth."

Huh, again?

The rest of the ad is not Tommy's words, just basic Chesapeake Energy propaganda. Like, "Short-term costs include some increase in traffic, noise and water use." And, "because prosperity tends to spread throughout a community...the Barnett Shale will put money into every level of our society."

The ad forgot to mention some of the other short-term costs, like dust clouds that clog air filters, bright lights, trees removed, yards dug up for pipelines, that sort of stuff.

I can sure see one way Chesapeake is giving back to the community. All the propaganda must cost a lot. In addition to the full page ads, Chesapeake has plastered its message on park benches, buses, billboards, TV, radio and I recently learned Chesapeake published a thick magazine called The Barnett Shale, The Official Magazine of Thriving on the Shale, 72 pages on thick stock paper, 30 articles telling you everything you need to know about the wonders that Chesapeake is bringing to North Texas.

What I don't get is if drilling for gas in an urban zone, laying pipelines through people's yards, cutting down people's trees, covering cars with dust, making a lot of noise, keeping people awake at night, drying up water supplies, while polluting other water supplies and occasionally blowing up is so good for us, why do we need to be subjected to all this propaganda? Wouldn't we just intuitively know that the Barnett Shale is just about the best thing that ever happened.

Southwest Airlines Targets Fat People

Heavy duty participants in the National Strategic Fat Preserve, be warned, if you fly Southwest Airlines and if you appear unable to fit in a seat with the armrests down, you will likely be told that you need to buy an extra ticket if you want to fly.

Some people seem to think this is some form of discrimination.

What I think is I find airplane seats uncomfortable enough. I'd be miserable stuck next to someone for 4 hours who was oozing into my space, who made it difficult to get to the aisle en route to the restroom facility.

Why should a little person like me, a mere 172 pounds of me, pay the same as a person weighing 400 pounds? It takes way less airplane fuel to haul me 4000 miles than it takes to haul a 400 pounder. Why should I subsidize the airfare of a hugely obese person? How is it fair for a hugely obese person to fly for the same price as me?

I'm thinking the only fair thing would be to make all airfares based on poundage. Your personal weight plus whatever luggage you're dragging with you times a fixed amount per pound per mile.

For instance, if Southwest Airlines charged .0005087 per pound per mile, at 172 pounds, flying a roundtrip of 4000 miles it would cost me about $350. While the 400 pounder would pay $813.92.

Doesn't it makes good sense that your airfare be based on your share of the fuel consumed to haul your heft through the sky? And what a great incentive for some of our biggest fat banks to start drawing down on the National Strategic Fat Preserve.

Flying Geico Gekko

Today I was enjoying the peace and quiet, except for the cicada symphony, hiking at Tandy Hills Park, when a thumping, unnatural sound started growing louder.

I looked up to see a giant Geico Gekko flying above me, being pulled by an airplane. The banner said "Big Savings."

At least once a week I see an auto dealer named Huggins flying a banner for hours. This usually causes me to wonder why Huggins thinks this is a good way to market cars. It seems like this type eye pollution would be banned due to it being a bit of a distraction when you're driving.

At least I get the point of the flying Geico Gekko. Because it is true. You do save. I switched to Geico a couple months ago. I was paying Allstate $125 a month to insure 2 vehicles. With Geico it is only $33 a month. You hear bad stuff about Allstate. I've never heard a bad thing about Geico.

And see how effectively the flying Geico Gekko ad worked for them today? It caused me to blog about it and say nice things about Geico. For free.

Fat Matt Damon: Good Will Plumping

A couple days ago, when I mentioned that Matt Damon was doing his part in contributing to the National Strategic Fat Preserve, one of my acquaintances commented that I was being mean about fat people. That if I was fat I'd be more sensitive about the subject because I'd know how hard it is to lose weight.

I feel this person totally missed the point of what I was saying, that being that Americans have stored up this huge food bank on their bodies that gives us an advantage over all the other nations, except for Australia, which is even fatter than America.

With food prices skyrocketing all over the globe, Americans can now draw down on our collective fat bank, saving money, and driving down food prices as demand for food drops.

Now, my acquaintance, who thought I was being mean, has worked very hard to store food. I believe she is now about 300 pounds overweight. It takes about 2,500 calories above ones daily maintenance need, to gain 1 pound. 2,500 calories is about 4 McDonald's Big Macs. That means my acquaintance is contributing, what amounts to 1,200 Big Macs, as her part of the National Strategic Fat Preserve. That's impressive.

Now, regarding my acquaintance saying I'd be more sensitive regarding fat people if I'd ever been one and had to ever lose weight.

Well. In February of 2004 I had to fly up to Seattle and was locked in a room with all the chocolate I could eat for 10 days. When I was out of the chocolate room I was taken to buffets, burger joints and all you can eat cod at Anthony's Homeport. On the way back to Texas I spent 10 hours in Phoenix where I was forced to eat at an Applebee's Happy Hour and then drug to an In and Out for 2 of the best hamburgers I've ever had.

By the time I got on the plane I was a bloated mess. I didn't make it back here til 4 in the morning. When I woke up that day and saw my bloated self in the mirror I was appalled. When I got on the scale I was even more appalled. That scale said I weighed 217 pounds. 12 more pounds than when I'd left 11 days before.

It is now June 28, 2008, 4 years after I weighed 217. Today I weigh 172. That is a 45 pound weight loss. So, don't go telling me I don't know how hard it is to lose weight. It's real easy. You just eat less, eat good stuff and exercise. It took me about 2 months, after my 217 high, to get under 200. After that it's just slowly melted off.

I do feel a bit guilty about this, because I am contributing absolutely nothing to the National Strategic Fat Preserve. And I don't intend to.

Men's Health: Seattle Green / Fort Worth Fossil Fool

The current issue of Men's Health ranks American cities by how green they are, car-wise. Seattle came in #1. Arlington, Texas came in last place of the 100 city's ranked. Fort Worth is barely ahead of Arlington at #95. San Antonio is #94. The best in Texas is Lubbock at #32. Corpus Christi does pretty good at #34. Austin is #42. While Dallas is #67.

Meanwhile, up in the Pacific Northwest, in addition to Seattle being #1, Spokane is #8, Portland is #3, San Francisco is #9.

The rankings are determined by scores given in 7 categories.

"Fossil Fools" ranks the Biggest Gas-Guzzlers. Arlington is the #1 Gas Guzzler. Fort Worth is the #6 Gas Guzzling Fossil Fool.

"Fuel Wasted" ranks the least amount of extra fuel consumed due to stop and go traffic. Spokane is #1 on this list. Corpus Christi is # 3.

"Transit" ranks the greatest number of people using public transportation daily. No Texas or Pacific Northwest city shows up in the Top 10. San Francisco is #4,

"Ozone" ranks the lowest number of high ozone days. Portland ranks #2, Spokane is #4, Boise is #9.

"Pollution" ranks lowest daily particle pollution. Lubbock is #3, Corpus Christi is #4.

"Gas Consumed" ranks fewest gallons of gas consumed yearly. All but 2 of the cities on this list are in California. Which seems odd. Californians drive everywhere. The other 2 cities on this list are in New York, Buffalo and Rochester.

"Mileage" ranks fewest household miles driven yearly. No Texas or Pacific Northwest city shows up in the Top 10 on this list. Miami is #1.

"Greenest Drivers" is the over all score after combining all the categories to determine which cities are the most environmentally conscious. Like I already said, Seattle is #1. The rest of the Top 10 has Burlington, VT #2, Portland #3, Madison, WI #4, Fargo, ND #5, Rochester #6, Minneapolis #7, Spokane #8, San Francisco #9 and Norfolk, VA #10.

My conclusion from this? Well, Men's Health penchant for doing these type ranking things always seems a bit goofy to me.

I'll tell you this. I have driven in Seattle, Spokane, Portland and San Francisco. While each has many attributes that outshine anything in Texas, driving is not one of them.

Driving in Seattle is a nightmare. When I go back up there I feel like I've been spoiled by the ease of driving in Texas. Here if there is a traffic jam it is easy to get off the freeway and continue on surface streets. That option doesn't much work up in Seattle.

And it's not just Seattle, it's the whole I-5 corridor from Olympia to north of Everett. Just this morning Lulu told me it took her 2 hours to get 20 miles to Lacey. Lacey is between Tacoma and Olympia. The roads may be in much better shape up there, but driving on them is not in the best of shape. So, I don't know what in the world Men's Health was thinking, somehow ending up with Seattle having the Greenest Drivers.

Then again, I just remembered, when I am up there it is quite noticeable how much more prevalent small cars are than here, and how many fewer pickups and SUVs are on the road. I don't recollect ever seeing a Hummer up there. Having a Hummer in the Northwest would be like asking for some sort of social ostracism.

Obama and Clinton Unity

In a display of unity, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama met in Unity, New Hampshire today. Hillary urged her supporters to support Obama.

The former rivals spent hours together today. Their motorcades arrived at the same time at the airport in Washington. When they met up, they kissed each other, and then boarded a chartered plane. On the plane they sat next to each other, chatting all the way to New Hampshire, where they shared an hour long bus ride to Unity.

Hillary is in oodles of campaign debt, owing all sorts of money to all sorts of people. Everything from catereers to plane charterers.

Obama has offered to help Hillary pay down her debt. He has asked his big money supporters to send some money her way. At the same time Hillary is asking her money machine to give money to Obama. Obama even went so far as to write Hillary a personal check for $2,300.

Somehow this doesn't quite make sense to me.

On another note, regarding this newfound unity in Unity. Hillary and Barack color coordinated their outfits today. Hillary wore a light blue pant suit. Barack's tie matched the color of Hillary's pant suit. How did they manage that?