Daily Minutiae

• Coffee : Coffee People -- Wake Up Call

Busy day. No biking or poker.

One Day Later

One day after the torrential rains, and the White Rock trail/lake looks much, much better. Major kudos (or "props" as the kids say these days) go to the Dallas Park Department (yay BAMF). The tree that just yesterday blocked my progress had been chopped up like so much wood that needed chopping.




Lawther, just north of NW Highway, is now dry.


And the bridge that was covered in water that came up to my knees the day before, now is just a few inches deep (mark).

Picture of the Day

It's the middle of the day and these lazy bastards are just laying around. Is it any wonder that we're losing on the world market??

Teachers 2007

I'm sure O'Reilly would have something to say about this. I mean, think of the children.

Gay?

Me and Peach at the Blarney Stone. Pose courtesy of Kris Shaw.

Drinking Dallas: Swan Court

So the obvious question is what I am doing in a bar that only the very old frequent. Well, back in the day -- 10 years ago, when i first was hired at Nortel -- we worked in the building that houses Swan Court. Many was the time that our meetings either started or ended up there -- but usually both. So, since my services at Nortel were no longer required, I thought one final visit to Swan Court would be nice. So, how was it?? Despite the abundance of the ultra geriatric, the place isn't that bad. It surprised me with Red Hook ESB and Broken Halo IPA on tap. For that alone I give this place a pass. It also had the usual suspects of bottled beer and a bar staff that knows how to mix up any drink. While waiting for my ex-co-workers, I had my obligatory crab cakes (hey, I love crab cakes). They were very nice with huge lumps of whole crab on a spicy aioli. Overall I give this place a solid B+. I'm not sure I would ever go there for any reason other than nostalgia. But with a nice beer-on-tap selection and some solid crab cakes, you could do worse.

2435 North Central ExpresswaySuite 102, Richardson, Texas 75080

Daily Minutiae

• Coffee : Green Mountain Coffee's Dark Magic
• Poker : - $85 -- never got any cards. The 2 times I made a big hand i ended up splitting the pot. Stupid game.
• Bike: 16 miles -- very windy. Yes, I'm a ().

White Rock after the Rains

I took my usual ride up the White Rock Creek Trail and around the lake today. Here are some pictures chronicling how this latest deluge has affected the creek and the lake.


Lawther just north of NW Highway


The water came up to my knees as i crossed this bridge.


The other side of the bridge.


A giant tree has fallen onto the trail.




The other side of the tree.


A swollen White Rock Creek.


The tennis courts at Fair Oaks.


Underneath LBJ. That's Anderson Bonner in the background.


Another creek picture.


The Forest bridge.


Debris along the lake shore.


Random geese.












Your tax dollars at work. 11" of rain this month, but we still need to water, I guess.


A map of the trail.

Strange but Sad but True

The obligatory list of whacky links.

• The sous-chef is also a mohel.
• My letter writting campaign worked.

Daily Minutiae

• Coffee of the day: Timothy's Rainforest Espresso – Thick, Sweet, Luxurious.
• Bike Ride: 29 miles
• Poker - $15
  

Picture of the Day

This is at the spillway at White Rock Lake. It's been raining so much the spillway looks like Niagra Falls.

The Freebird Challenge

Day one and I've nearly run out of things to do. So after picking up some groceries at Central Market, I decided, since Freebirds is right around the corner, to grab a burrito. I'm a fan of the Chipotle burrito. But I hadn't had a Freebirds in a while. So I thought I'd give it another chance. The verdict: it's ok. Chipotle is better. There are more choices at Freebirds, but Chipotle wins on the basics: better meat, better guac, much better rice.

Daily Minutiae

• Miles Biked: 16.3 – it started raining hard so I wimped out and headed home.
  
• Coffee of the day: Coffee People's Jet Fuel – my last 2 k-cups of this flavor.
  
• Poker: +$151
  
• NetFlix Receiving: Beating Blackjack (for my next Vegas visit) and Battlestar Galactica Season 2 Disc 1 – with no new episodes until November and much time to kill, I thought I would go back thru and watch them all again.

An so it begins....

Today is the first day of the rest of my summer. My patience has finally paid off and I am officially laid off from Nortel. I was presented with a substantial package (giggle) this afternoon and ordered to not work for the rest of the year. The only downside of the greatest day of 2007 is that they no longer have Fransziskaner on tap at the Libertine. I'll probably never return.