In Vitro Fertilization, Facebook & Getting Torn In Two

I get sent a publication called Website Magazine each month. I think it comes from Google, but I'm not sure. The magazine is full of what I guess is useful information, much of which I don't understand all that well.

This month there is an article that says it is useful to interconnect your blogs and websites with Facebook and Twitter. I sort of understood the reasoning.

So, I logged in to Facebook and made what they call a "badge" to stick on my blog. You had the option to edit the badge. I did so, removing Name, Email and Status. The name was redundant because the HTML put it above the badge, it didn't need to be repeated.

But no matter how many times I tried I could not get Facebook to remove Name, Email and Status. I could see the code was greatly altered, but nothing changed.

I decided this meant I really don't need the Facebook badge on my blog.

My Eyes on Texas website was not showing up on my stats this morning. When I checked to make sure all was well the first ad I saw was for In Vitro Fertilization in Dallas. Most of the ads always have something to do with Texas or the Metroplex. But In Vitro Fertilization? This perplexed me.

Cheryl sent me a video this morning that also perplexed me. A magician in a park somehow created the illusion that two women pulled a third in half, with the upper half looking horrified as she pushed herself away with her arms. Anyone seen this who can explain it?

Facebooking Natural Mixmaster Eminent Domain Stadium Abuse

I keep forgetting I need to get my bike wheel fixed til I'm in the mood for something aerobic. Maybe I should make a note somewhere. I think I mentioned being up around 4, dipping skinny in the pool around 5, by noon I needed to get out of here.

So, it was back to my ol' standby, the Tandy Hills Natural Area. It was not quite 100 degrees. A bit of a breeze made it a fine hiking temperature.

Usually I take a picture looking west from the summit of Tandy Mountain. Today's picture is looking west from the west end of the natural area. We are looking at the new, what I consider to be hideous, Omni Convention Center Hotel, with it's weird looking gigantic balconies that stick out from the sides, like scaffolding.

In front of the Omni, that mass of ribbons of concrete is what is known as the Fort Worth Mixmaster. It is where I-30, I-35 West and I-287 all join together in one big bunch of flyovers and overpasses. This thing took something like 12 years to build. And cost something like $180 million.

I remember the first time I heard the Mixmaster cost mentioned, as if it was a lot of money, I was quite perplexed. Everything is supposed to be bigger in Texas. I remember the final section of I-90, up in Seattle, across Lake Washington and Mercer Island, cost something like $5 billion. They are replacing a floating bridge and removing a waterfront viaduct up there to the tune of billions. In little ol' Washington, a state with a population smaller than this D/FW Metroplex with its $180 million Mixmasters.

Then again, here in Texas we have a giant, futuristic spaceship inspired football stadium that cost $1.1 billion. Which got built very fast, paid for, in part, by one small Texas town, that being Arlington, while up in Washington, the Seahawks want a new football stadium and the entire state votes on it.

And absolutely no one, not a single person, lost their home so Seattle could have a new football stadium and baseball park. How many were displaced by the eminent domain abuses that occurred in Arlington to build a football stadium and baseball park? In Seattle you have way, way less open space than this D/FW Metroplex zone has, there you are bounded in by water and mountains, yet no one lost their home to a sports stadium. Meanwhile in Texas, well, I tend to harp.

It's perplexing. And maybe just a tad shameful. The Texas thing, I mean, not my harping, my harping is not shameful, it's helpful.

So, that's been my day, up early, hiking hot and spending more time on Facebook than I've spent previously. Why? I am not quite sure.

Early Sunday Morning Swimming & Twittering

As you can see it was well before the dawn of a new Sunday that I was out and about and wet. I got up way too early this morning. As in before 4.

Twitter continues to perplex me. This morning I read an article about how Twitter has zoomed to being a powerful tool that has altered how information is shared.

This morning I installed a Twitter add-on called Twitter Local. This lets me see, in real-time, what people are Twittering within a certain distance of a location. As in I have Twitter Local set to within 15 miles of 76124, that being my zip code.

What I'm seeing is a surprising number of disturbing people within 15 miles of me, busily typing nonsense, to whom or for whom, I don't know. This being the Buckle of the Bible Belt, and Sunday, there is a lot of religious Twittering.

As in....

Read a few bible stories to my son at bedtime. He asked if he could sleep with it...1st thing this morning he wanted to read more. :)

And...

Come spend some time with Me, let us fellowship together. I love you.

And...

off to worship w Venture Community in Denton - first service! Exciting when God is doing a new thing . . . be encouraged.

And...

Send a prayer out for me, work on Sundays so can't make. I listen to church on the radio every Sunday. Know it's not the same.

But then there are some non-religious Twitterings, as in...

Just when you think you grilled a phenomenal meal last night, you're awakened by the screaming jalapenos knock-knocking on your chamber door.

And this one...

don't think that Men in Relationship or Married Men should be at Strip Clubs. Just my personal opinion. LOL

Well, that is more than enough of that. Interesting that the Buckle of the Bible Belt has the world's highest per capita number of strip clubs, while my old home state of Washington, with the nation's lowest % of churchgoers, has very very very few strip clubs. And none of the sleazy Texas sort.

After typing the above I thought it'd be interesting to see what's being Twittered within 15 miles of my 98233 location in Washington.

Well. There is not a single word of religious Twittering going on within 15 miles of my old zone. I'm seeing way more polysyllabic words and complete sentences than I am in my current zone of occupation. The closest thing to a spelling error is Angie used "u" for "you." One Twitterer got back at 3 am from watching 2 movies at a drive-in. Where is there still a drive-in up there? The 2 I remember have been gone for years.

Okay, time to do something constructive now.

The Tandy Hills Are Not A Sanctioned National Naturist Day Location

Everyone disappointed me on going to Wildwood Naturist Resort today to be part of the national effort to break the world record for most people skinnydipping at one time.

I don't know, and it had not occurred to me to wonder, what country currently holds the coveted skinnydipping record? Russia? Sweden? An African country? Canada?

After Jammin Mole jammed my last hope that someone was going to go to Decatur with me, I took my sad, sorry, lonely self to the Tandy Hills Natural Area. I was there before the 2 in the afternoon national take off your clothes time, so I kept mine on.

But, now that it is a minute before 2, I am participating in spirit, if not in person. Sadly I won't be counted by the Guinness people. I am not at a sanctioned location.

There are few things sadder than a kite killed by a tree, particularly if it is one of those fancy, complicated kites. A big tree in the Tandy Hills had captured a nice one today, as you can see in the first picture.

For weeks now there have been these fragile looking, but obviously not, purple wildflowers that continue to look fresh and new, in spite of the daily assault of HOT and no water.

Don Young gave me some good anti-cockroach advice today. I need to get me some Geckos. I thought I had some in here already. But I'm not all that savvy with my lizard identifying. Or I can find non-pesticide treatments at Marshall Grain. I know where that is.

Jammin Is Flying In To Go To Wildwood Naturist Resort With Me

As you can see, I was in the pool way after the sun came up this morning, with there being so much sun that sunglasses were required.

My Wildwood date bailed on participating in today's attempt to break an important world record. Jammin Mole is trying to make it here in time, as a last minute replacement.

My coffee was cockroach-free this morning. That always starts the day on a good note.

I will likely end up participating in today's event, but in a non-sanctioned location, like my usual Saturday hike to the top of Tandy Mountain.

Speaking of breaking records, my Google ads made the most $ ever yesterday. I've no idea why. It was spread all over the place. The Parker County Peach Festival was yesterday, so that accounted for some of it, I guess.

I just got a message from Jammin Mole:

"It just so happens that I have Midland Oil Tycoon friend with a private jet...just spoke with him, he said no problem, he can have me there by 1:45PM...once I arrive how do I contact you?"

1:45 would be too late. Maybe it would work if he could fly Jammin to the Decatur airport. I may be going to Wildwood Naturist Resort after all...

United Breaks Guitars

I was sent a not quite ready for prime time new blog to inspect. Today's blogging, in the new blog, had an amusing YouTube video that is only 3 days old and going viral. I thought I'd help do my little part in contributing to the virality.

I love how there are so many ways, anymore, to smack back when something or someone does you wrong. Like when WaMu melted down and messed up my account for a week. Or when Wal-Mart had the gall to overcharge me for milk over and over again by two cents. Or when someone in Tacoma turns into a toxic Jabba the Hut.

Apparently United Airlines claims that the guitar was not packed in a proper guitar case. That had it been, it would not have done the guitar any harm when the luggage loaders tossed it around in full view of passengers and the guitar's owner.

And, how did United Airlines know what type case the guitar was in? After the complaint was made did they send an inspector to look at the case? I know someone who had a similar experience, only with American Airlines. That was over lost luggage. She never got any compensation. Just a run around.

Avoiding Hot Texas Sun By Walking Under Oak Trees At Village Creek

After a way too long flusterating morning I had to get out of here and away from anything with a non-human memory.

We are under a Level Orange Air Pollution Alert here, advised to avoid the air as much as you can.

I accept it as fact that there is some air pollution out there, but it has never remotely reached the level I've experienced in years past in the Los Angeles zone, where it'd cause my eyes to sting. The air pollution here does not cause a disturbing distant haze, like it can in the Puget Sound zone, when you look north towards Vancouver, or south towards Seattle.

With the health warnings in mind I decided to go to a shady spot and walk under the green protection of giant oak trees, so I went to Village Creek Natural Historical Area. I saw 3 other humans, all on bikes. No snakes, armadillos, panthers, tarantulas or alligators.

The only wildlife that I was aware of today, at Village Creek, I was unable to see, but I could hear them. Those noisy cicadas doing their mating chants.

One of the humans on a bike, it being one of those recumbent bikes, startled me bad, coming up behind me. I jumped, he said, sorry.

There was very little water running in Village Creek, a sad sign of the drought we are having here. The pond with the overlook deck, where water moccasins and turtles live peacefully together, is pretty much dried up. I've never seen it like this.

When I got back to my current location there was a message from Jammin Mole. She seems to think I need to get the exterminator back in here, if I'm getting cockroaches in my morning coffee. Cockroaches in my morning coffee are the least of my worries. That sort of stimulating moment is just a welcome diversion from a less stimulating reality.

Remember, tomorrow at 2 in the afternoon we go for the Skinny Dip World Record.

Another Quake Strikes Cleburne

I don't think I've mentioned the last couple Cleburne quakes. When something unusual starts seeming like the same old thing, over and over again, it tends to start to seem less noteworthy. But it shouldn't. All these earthquakes, where previously the ground did not shake, is disturbing.

This morning's 2.0 ground cracker shook about 27 miles south of Fort Worth, a bit before 7 this morning.

Last week, up near where I lived in Washington, there was a 3 or 4 point quake. I am almost absolutely certain the Washington earthquake was not caused by Barnett Shale gas drilling.

The Dallas Cowboys have banned drilling under their new $1 billion plus stadium because the thing weighs 805 million pounds. Earthquakes could do all sorts of bad things to the stadium. Or it could sink into a giant sinkhole, like they have in Wink.

So, Don Young raised a very interesting point. How much do all the buildings in downtown Fort Worth weigh? Drilling is taking place under downtown Fort Worth. People live and work in downtown Fort Worth. If drilling is too dangerous for a seldom used football stadium, should not an equally cautious policy be in place to protect downtown Fort Worth and those who live and work there?

It's perplexing.

Befuddled In Texas By Oklahoma Casinos

So far today, this second Friday of this year's July, things have not gone well. Up to the point where I tried to go up to Oklahoma to a couple casinos, those being the WinStar World Casino and the Riverwind Casino, I was having me a good day.

I was in the pool early, the water about the same temperature as the air. I just remembered, the bad Friday started off bad way before the pool. I must have temporarily blocked the trauma from my memory.

I got up, made coffee and about 5 minutes later was sitting in front of the computer monitor. I took a sip of coffee and something other than coffee floated into my mouth. I spit it out. I could not find whatever it was. My worst case scenario is it was a cockroach. But I found no evidence.

So, a couple hours after possibly having a cockroach in my mouth, I decided to make some webpages about Oklahoma casinos. I make these things for purely non-altruistic reasons. Usually I whip them out, slap ads on them and am done with it. But it was one screw up after another. Like the Riverwind Casino. A couple weeks ago I'd made a webpage about Riverbend in Oklahoma. I kept changing Riverwind to Riverbend. You would think this is no big deal, but after you've slapped the wrong name on multiple pages, it is a big deal.

And then, somehow I put the Riverwind info on the WinStar page, and vice versa. That also sounds like no big deal, but trust me, it was very befuddling.

I made a map for the Riverwind one. After it had uploaded I saw I'd turned it into Riverbend. This involved re-doing the map in a photo program. Sounds like no big deal, and it did only take about a minute, but it's just the making the same mistake over and over again thing is annoying. Very annoying.

I have not been up to the WinStar since its name change from plain ol' WinStar to WinStar World Casino. I knew they had expanded the thing, but I had no idea it is now the world's 5th biggest casino. I really have trouble believing that. I have been in some pretty big casinos.

I'd not been in the WinStar since several years ago when Chris, then living in Ada, met me there to go to the buffet. At that point in time the WinStar building was a tent-like building. It looked very cheap. Now it looks like real buildings. And is huge. Themed, with 6 of the 10 casino plazas making like you are in a foreign city. You can walk from Vienna to Rome to Madrid to Paris, then cross the channel to London, before you take a long flight to Beijing.

The new WinStar sounds sorta fun. But I know I'd be disappointed and regret it later. I always am and I always do. Usually. I think maybe I'll go hike the Tandy Hills and see if that improves me foul mood.

The WinStar is not far from my location. About an hour and a half drive, a mile across the Red River and the Oklahoma border. Below is a video that takes you on a virtual tour of the WinStar World Casino. Who wants to meet me there for lunch?

Megan Jones Guest Blogger: Texas Toll Road Debate

A few weeks ago Megan Jones, no relation, emailed me asking if I ever had Guest Bloggers or accepted contributions, or something like that.

Megan gave me some examples of her blogging and her website, which is about nursing colleges. I really did not see a connection between this Blog and Megan, but I replied, telling her that she seemed to be very medical advice oriented, while my Blog is all over the place, sometimes about my day in Texas, or something else in Texas. Or elsewhere. Or just about me being annoyed about something. Or someone.

I told Megan she could send me a sample blogging that she thought fit in with my blog. I got that sample blogging this morning. She is writing about something I've paid no attention to. Or know anything about. That being a debate here in Texas over toll roads.

Anyway, below is the Megan Jones Guest Blogging in its entirety....

Toll Road Debate

Recently, toll roads have become a big deal for legislation for Texas lawmakers, as a special session has been called in order to re-authorize the ability for the Texas Department of Transportation and regional mobility authorities to partner with private companies to build and operate toll roads. Toll roads are remarkable inventions that serve to cost us more money as taxpayers while still allowing us to get stuck in traffic. The only way to avoid such traffic is to purchase a toll tag which simply allows you to pay for the toll via credit card, rather than millions of quarters. However, toll roads have served their purpose in allowing us to get to certain places around large cities without directly traveling through the city and thereby encountering more unneeded traffic.

This new bill would in effect afford protection to Texans while allowing an important financing tool for roads, which is desperately needed in these economic times. One project in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is classified as a comprehensive development agreement though does not involve a private company. In order to finance this endeavor, a tolled segment is included although it is backed by public revenue, not bonds. The toll revenue will therefore support several other projects as well as support upkeep on the road. Toll roads are tricky piece of legislation to pass because of the limited use which they get across the state. Smaller towns and areas are not faced with a continuous usage of the roads, which are typically placed in larger cities like Houston and Austin. These tolls are a god-send for the citizens of the area and allow them to navigate around the city at an easier pace then they would have otherwise.

This bill has gained a lot of press recently because it is one of the most hotly contested issues in the state, as many funds are needed to finance increasing road projects. Incorporating public and private companies into one sphere to complete these projects seems to be the most logical conclusion, although many lawmakers are skeptical over the ability to attract private businesses to invest. With the economy on a seemingly downturned spiral, it becomes important to question whether or not companies will be willing to invest in such a major project when they have their own finances to worry about. Texas is one state that has fared for the better throughout the recession due to the many revenues that the Gulf Coast brings in, although this has been slowly changing as the economy has not repaired itself as speedily as many national lawmakers would have liked. While toll roads are one way to aid in boosting revenue across the state, many more sessions need to be called in order to counteract the impending economic woes and thereby allow citizens to go on leading their carefree lives.

This post was contributed by Megan Jones, who writes about the nursing colleges. She welcomes your email feedback.