Saddam Punked By Texan

If you don't have Google Earth on your computer, you really should. It's free. Just Google "Google Earth" and download it.

Tonight I felt like doing some traveling so I went to Baghdad via Google Earth. I wanted to explore around town to see how it is looking. Well, Baghdad is looking pretty good. I saw no bombed out buildings.

It is fairly easy to find the Green Zone. Just follow the Tigris or Euphrates River as it winds through town. When you see an awful lot of blue dots you are likely in the Green Zone. The Blue dots indicate pictures. Or information.

There are many pictures of Saddam's former palaces. They were bombed early on. They appear to have been restored. You can check out the new U.S. Embassy. All over Baghdad there is interesting architecture.

Including several impressive bridges, including at least one suspension bridge.

In the Green Zone I did see something that was just a tad embarrassing to me, me being a Texan, with very thin skin, thus easily embarrassed.

A Texan had graffitied a poster of Saddam and put the Lone Star Flag over Saddam's face, writing, "Iraq Good. US Good. Saddam Donkey."

Eventually I tired of Iraq and Baghdad and decided to go to Iran to check out Tehran. I saw no Texas graffiti in Tehran. Or Lone Star Flags. But I did see a lot of impressive freeways and very cool buildings. I saw no Ayatollahs or nuclear bombs under construction. But I didn't look very hard.

Beautiful Downtown Fort Worth, Zorro's Buffet & Getting Hot

I'm having me a day. I've been up since a bit past 3 this morning. I slept well, woke well-rested and have been busy all day and am not tired. Why, I do not know.

I started in on a new project today, the details of which I don't want to talk about right now, except for the fact of starting a new project.

I blogged earlier today about my disdain for what I see as the bad design of the new Fort Worth Convention Center Omni Hotel. Little did I know, when I blogged about it, that I'd be up close to it again a few hours later.

I went hiking at the Tandy Hills today about noon. It was 29 degrees out when I got up this morning. It was almost 60 when I left for Tandy Hills Park. I wore long pants and a t-shirt. I was overdressed. I couldn't do anything about the long pants, unless I wanted another Naked Hiking episode, but the t-shirt had to go. I'd just photo documented hiking shirtless on Christmas and did not feel compelled to do so again 4 days later.

Hiking at the Tandy Hills today made me extra hungry. It's a short distance from the Tandy Hills to Zorro's Buffet. Today is Steak & Shrimp Day at Zorro's. But, along with several types of steak and shrimp, all my favorites from Mexican Day were there too. Plus some new good stuff, like Eggplant Salad.

The route to Zorro's from Tandy Hills is via Lancaster Avenue. You go under the downtown Fort Worth Mixmaster and take a left on to Interstate 35 and head south for a few miles, to Seminary Drive. Driving under the Fort Worth Mixmaster you can not help but admire what an incredible feat of highway engineering it is. Even if it took them over 12 years to build. It is almost like a giant sculpture.

And through that sculpture you can see the new Omni Hotel standing above the Sheraton Hotel with the Omni's goofy balconies clearly on display.

The picture at the top is the view west from a high point in the Tandy Hills, looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. In the picture you can see 4 of what look like skyscrapers. The skyscraper on the left is the new Omni Hotel. It really doesn't scrape to high into the sky. Nothing in downtown Fort Worth scrapes too high into the sky.

It is 73 right now, coming up on 5. I've got all the windows open. I don't recollect being able to have the windows open so much in December before. Maybe this Global Warming thing isn't a hoax.

Fort Worth Convention Center Omni Hotel's Bad Design

On the left, that's an artist's rendering of the new Fort Worth Convention Center Hotel. The new hotel is almost ready to open. The reality only bears a resemblance to the drawing.

I first saw the new Omni Hotel, up close, this past Thanksgiving. The building had puzzled me from a distance, due to what looked like a lot of scaffolding on the sides of the building.

Up close, I saw that the scaffolding was actually huge open air balconies, protruding from the sides of the building. I think there is a good reason I've never seen such a thing on a tall building.

Because it's a bad idea, both aesthetically and practically.

I predict it is only a matter of time before something bad happens on one of those balconies. Something blows off and kills someone at ground level. Or a person falls to their death.

Ironically, the new Omni Hotel overlooks the Fort Worth Water Gardens, where a few years ago the bad design of one of the pools caused 4 people to drown. My own pool is currently closed due to Fort Worth's over reaction to that easily avoided tragedy.

The balconies, that look like scaffolding, add a very odd-looking element to this building. I've not read or heard anyone else having an opinion about it. I don't think I can be the only one who thinks it looks real goofy.

The hotel came about after a lot of wrangling. No hotel builder felt the economics of Fort Worth's Convention Center warranted investing in a hotel. But, eventually, after a variety of tax breaks were offered, to the tune of about $50 million, and after it was agreed that Omni could sell condos in the upper part of the hotel, the deal was struck.

So, in addition to about 600 hotel rooms, there are 97 condos in the new Omni Hotel.

And now this very odd looking hotel is due to open. It will be interesting to see how people are going to react to seeing this hotel up close.

Below is some verbiage I found on a website touting the new Fort Worth Convention Center Omni Hotel. It's this type propaganda, rather than facts, that causes things to go a bit awry here at times.

"The 34-story, 604-room luxury hotel will boast a unique structural design and style that draw upon Fort Worth's strong cultural roots and bold Texas pride to create an unforgettable atmosphere. With artwork adorning the hotel walls, the unique life-as-gallery display will be part of the finishing touch to this new piece of Fort Worth magnificence. "

Oy.

Above on the right is an up close look at the "balconies." Maybe they are what will create the "unforgettable atmosphere" referenced above...

Behind the Barnett Shale

Very good info from Don Young......

Starting Sunday in the Denton Record Chronicle:

"Editor's Note: Behind the Shale, is a five-part series exploring urban gas drilling and one Argyle-area neighborhood's struggle against it."

Denton is a mid-sized university town just north of Fort Worth. (Argyle is a nearby small town.) Gas drilling started in the Denton area about two years before Fort Worth. The DRC has been has been at the forefront in reporting on the many dangers associated with natural gas drilling. They were the first to report on the presence of NORM in drilling wastes. The next four parts of this series should equally as educational.

Click here to read the first part of the five-part series....

Below is an excerpt from the Denton Record Chronicle article...

Jennifer Cole stepped across the parched ground of a North Texas autumn, past her dirt-caked backyard swimming pool, inching closer to a roaring machine. She watched it force its way through the earth, pushing dirt from side to side in waves like an ocean’s tide. Day by day, the bulldozer was remaking the lot behind her home on Britt Drive near Argyle, changing a sloped meadow dotted with oak trees and cattle into a flat and lifeless expanse. She shivered when she thought about what would fill the void.

Since the dirt-moving process began, dust clouds became so thick that her boys couldn’t make sense of them. “Mom, look! A sandstorm,” one said. Her sons didn’t understand why she wouldn’t let them use the pool or play outside after school. She looked down at the pool where a layer of grime clung to the bottom like black frosting, then back to the rolling bulldozer on the other side of the barbed-wire fence.

Cole didn’t know that what was happening behind that fence would consume the next three years of her life. She did know what the bulldozer meant, though. A gas rig was coming. It was Dec. 4, 2005 — a Sunday.

“Sunday,” she said above the roar, “is no day of rest.”

Sunday Sunny Texas Roller Blading at Quanah Parker Park

Tootsie Tonasket got me on the phone while I was on my way to Quanah Parker Park to roll on wheels. Tootsie had a lot of Tonasket Soap Opera to discuss. Tonasket is the Washington equivalent of Peyton Place.

Tonasket still has not exited being in a deep freeze, but at least they are above zero, which is a better spot to be than they were in last week.

Meanwhile, here in Texas, it is nearing 60, this fine Sunday afternoon. With the return of solid blue sky. My case of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) has pretty much gone away. For now.

I've got a pork roast in the oven that I got yesterday at Sprouts. I've no idea if I cooked it right. I probably should have consulted someone. I found a lot of broccoli in the fridge that looked like it needed to be cooked. And so I did. And then put an awful lot of cheese on the broccoli. And then there are sweet spuds roasting in the oven along with some weird skinny spuds that Miss Puerto Rico gave me.

If it sounds like I'm trying to put on weight, you probably guessed correctly. I need to eat more.

I also need to get a new camera. I broke the battery cover of my current camera last week. My temporary solution has been a Totally Texas one. Duct Tape. But, that's getting old.

I've narrowed down my choices to a Canon Powershot SD 880 or 890. Or an Olympus 1050 SW. The Olympus one would be a cool one to have because it can go 10 feet underwater and survive a 5 foot drop and sub-freezing temperatures. But it's optical zoom is only 3X. The Canon 890's optical zoom is 5X. That would be good. The Canon 880 is 4x. But it has Digic 4, where the 890 is Digic 3. Digic 4 apparently is a good thing.

I hate shopping.

My Out Of Control Cingular AT & T Text Messaging

I hadn't bothered to look at my cell bill til this morning.

Before I get to that, I have to tell you I don't send text messages. I have gotten a text message or two. But I've never sent one. I don't know how to send one. I don't want to know how to send one.

So, when I looked at the bill I saw there were $3.05 in toll charges. What fresh hell is this, I wondered? Then I found the Toll Call Detail section of the bill. For Text Messages.

As you can see in the above scanned version of that part of the bill, on October 30, from 12:41pm until 1:10pm, the bill is alleging I sent or received 15 text messages. One of them International. Several were to the same number, some within the same minute, to the same number.

During the entire billing period it is only during this 29 minute time frame that text message tolls occur.

Clearly, something is wrong.

And then there's the Green Thing. Last month a new charge showed up on my bill, that being $1.79 for the "Mailed Bill Option." This was the first I'd heard of the "Mailed Bill Option." Supposedly there'd been messages telling customers to switch to electronic billing or they'd be charged to have a hard copy mailed to them.

So, I switched it to electronic bill pay, last month. But the bill still came via hard copy and still with the $1.79, "Mailed Bill Option," added on.

Another thing, my one longtime reader may remember that I go hiking regularly at the Tandy Hills. Unless it is raining, which it rarely is, I go there every Thursday, from around noon til past 1. The day those 15 text messages occurred was a Thursday, during the time frame where I would have been at the Tandy Hills. Apparently text messaging like a possessed teenager.

Gas Price Falls and the Texas Wind Blows

I started the day with a heavy rain and tornado warning. By noon I was having lunch at Costco. After that I went to the Horseshoe Trails on Lake Grapevine to go on an 8 mile walk. My hiking boots do not make good walking shoes. I'm assuming that's why my feet hurt.

As you can see in the picture, Lake Grapevine is running a bit low. I don't remember the last time I saw this dock floating. This is the exact location where a snapping turtle disguised as a water moccasin tried to kill me in July of 2002. At that point in time the dock was floating.

I would have gone swimming in Lake Grapevine, today, if the dock were floating. And if it weren't so windy. It was so windy you had to lean into it at times to keep moving. As you can see, in the picture, I was having to hold my hat on at the lake's edge due to the wind being so much stronger there.

For the most part the leaves have totally left the trees, particularly the oaks have now been totally denuded of their foliage. I think the bare oak trees are very spectacular works of Mother Nature.

I don't know why the Grapevine Parks people have added street signs to the Horseshoe Trails intersections.

After walking way too many miles in way too strong wind, I went to Sprouts Farmers Market for my weekly stocking up on good stuff.

And then heading back here, south on Davis Boulevard, I think still in Southlake, I came upon a QT with the lowest gas price yet. On the way north, to Lake Grapevine, I saw a QT in Hurst with what was then the lowest I'd seen, at $1.31. But then the QT in Southlake broke that at $1.29. 20 bucks got over 16 gallons.

This is the lowest gas has been since 2001. I remember driving back here, from Washington, the week before 9/11. Gas had been $1.19 in Amarillo on the way north. A month later it was $1.42. More than what I paid today.

At this rate I'm expecting gas to go under 1 buck soon. Of course, like I always do when I get gas, I called my Mom in Phoenix. She's been ailing since before Christmas. She's still ailing. And still determined to head here on January 6.

Negative Fat Female Barber

Like I've said before, Alma, the Port Aransas Night Club Singer, sends me a lot of funny stuff. Like this one this morning....It struck me as amusing due to me having been acquainted with an extremely fat negative type person who sounds a lot like the extremely fat barber in this story....

This is something to think about when negative people are doing their best to rain on your parade. So, remember this story the next time someone, who knows nothing, and cares less, tries to make your life miserable.

I was at my extremely fat barber's, getting my hair cut for a trip to Rome. I mentioned the trip to my extremely fat barber, who responded; "Rome? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?"

"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"

"Continental?" exclaimed my extremely fat barber." That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome?"

"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on the Tiber River called Teste."

"Don't go any further! I know that place. Everybody thinks its gonna be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump, the worst hotel in the city! The rooms are small, the service is surly, and they're overpriced. So, whatcha' doing when you get there?"

"We're going to go to see the Vatican and we hope to see the Pope."

"That's rich," laughed my extremely fat barber. "You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."

A month later, returned from Rome, I went to get another haircut. My extremely fat barber asked me about my trip to Rome.

"It was wonderful," I said, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was overbooked, so they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a beautiful 21-year-old stewardess who waited on me hand and foot. And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"

"Well," muttered my extremely fat barber, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."

"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me."

"Oh, really! What'd he say?"

He said, "Where'd you get that horrible haircut?"

Recording Breaking Texas Temperatures & Tornadoes

We hit 83 degrees yesterday, breaking the temperature record here in Fort Worth. Overnight, a cold front blew in, chilling us down to a bit under 60, Saturday morning, at 10. With heavy rain, at times. That's my view of this morning's biggest downpour in the photo. The rain overwhelmed the gutters.

Earlier this morning the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Watch Warning for North Texas. So far I've heard no Tornado Sirens.

Much of the rest of the country is covered by snow. The Puget Sound zone is in thaw mode now, with the avalanche danger extremely high. Elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest, specifically, Portland, had record breaking snow reaching almost 2 feet. Rain is more the norm for Portland in winter.

As far as I know, Snowzilla still stands in Anchorage. While in Seattle, it appears that a Seattle Snowzilla has grown in front of the Space Needle.

If it had remained balmy, my intention today was to go swimming in Lake Grapevine. Last week Lake Grapevine was being crystal clear. When that lake is not crystal clear I will not get into it, due to some of the things that lurk underwater. Like garfish and snapping turtles. I was attacked, in July of 2002, by a mad snapping turtle in Lake Grapevine. I think it was the closest I've ever come to a heart attack. I thought it was a water moccasin when the head popped up in front of me. It was only after I'd safely reached shore that I saw that it was a snapping turtle that was terrorizing me.

With this inclement weather I may have to somewhat alter my Saturday walking plans. Currently I intend to go to Southlake Costco for my regular Saturday lunch of free samples, then go walking at one of the Lake Grapevine parks, then go to Sprouts Farmers Market. These plans could be drastically altered should tornadoes make an appearance.

Day After Xmas With Texas Blowing Hard

All day long, this day after Christmas, it has been blowing hard, real hard. Windiest since the fringes of Hurricane Ike nicked Fort Worth, way back in September.

That is the view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony at about 3 this afternoon. You can't tell it from the picture, but the trees are swaying heavily in the wind.

And litter is flowing freely. It's a mess of flying plastic bags out there. Somehow the "Don't Mess With Texas" plan has escaped the notice of way too many.

Meanwhile, Miss Puerto Rico is monitoring the storm on her computer while watching Grey's Anatomy.

Grey's Anatomy sure makes Seattle look nice. Not that that is difficult to do.

I wonder why no TV shows are ever set in Fort Worth? Maybe once the Trinity River Vision becomes clear Fort Worth will be deemed a worthy backdrop for a TV series.

I wouldn't want to be betting on that prospect, though.