And now... Here they come...

There's an old saying that it's better to be lucky than good. Today I must be very lucky.

In a not so random act of planning I managed to score a free trip back to the native land - Texas, Dallas specifically. I flew in on Saturday night arriving at around 8:30. Since the thing that keeps me up most nights is the house in Las Colinas that I'm still trying to sell (send me a message if you want to see it), it was also my first stop. I didn't go to my hotel; I didn't go get food although I was very hungry. Nope, I went to check on my house and ask it to please find a buyer soon. Like this weekend soon. It didn't answer. My house is kind of snobby like that sometimes. But it's beautiful on the inside, which is where it counts if you listen to people talk about ugly people.

So after hanging out at the house for a while staring at the outside - I couldn't go in since I no longer have keys - I finally went to the hotel and checked in. I'm staying at the Westin Hotel at the Dallas Galleria, a hotel that I've always been sort of curious about. Think about it for a sec. It's a hotel in a mall. It's like it was designed specifically so people could come spend vast amounts of money and pump up the Dallas economy. The room itself is very nice. I think my room is about the same size as my living room and kitchen in Seattle, maybe a little bigger. After checking in I went on the hunt for food. Everything in the mall was closed or closing, so it was up to fast food to save me. One of the places I've missed since moving is Whataburger, so of course that was what I went hunting for. What followed was a half-hour quest through some old haunts to find that most perfect of burgers.

Hunger sated I went back to the hotel and attempted to get comfortable for my stay. Sadly, I'm on west coast time still, and probably will be until just before I go home, which will screw up my first couple of days back there. Wonderful. So I didn't fall asleep until 3:00am, which is a typical time for me since I'm usually up until 1:00ish at home. Then I had to get up at 7:00am to do some work. That's really just not fair. First, it's the weekend. Second, that only gave me four hours of sleep. Third, the one Starbucks in the mall wasn't open yet. I could go on complaining, but I'm just not into it. Without going into any details, the work I did today was a chaotic fiasco. I blame jetlag.

After finishing off my totally frustrating four hours of work, I headed back to my room thinking about what I was going to do about lunch. My normal business travel modus operandi when I'm not actually traveling with co-workers is to basically not eat. I'm hungry enough to do it, but I think I just don't really want to eat alone. You'd think that would help me lose some weight, but it doesn't. Since I'm inclined to not eat alone, I had to come up with a plan so that I had someone to eat with. So I called one of my local friends and had the following approximate conversation:

Me: Hey man, had lunch yet?
Amigo: Not... yet.
Me: You want to go get some lunch with me?
Amigo: Well, I was just about to go to a Stars game.
Me: Oh, well...
Amigo: I have an extra ticket you can have if you want to come.
Me: I'm at the Westin Galleria. It's right at the Galleria mall. I'll set off some fireworks so that you can find me. You know where I am, right? Do you need the address? Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.

See, I thought I'd seen my last Stars game already. I thought my chances to see the Stars in the AAC were gone and I probably wouldn't be back for them again. If I saw them anywhere it would be in the nearest NHL city to Seattle, which is Vancouver. So I'm thinking about two things: I get to see some hockey and I get to eat arena food. Sweet!

Now, my buddy didn't skimp when it came to purchasing his tickets. He wanted something good, and that's what he got. Great seats about midway up the arena on the front row of the second level just behind and little to the right of the home goal. See the following bit of awesomeness:



What an incredibly good game. My beloved Stars whipped Anaheim's ass 5-2. Stars led 1-0 at the beginning of the third period, and some beautiful plays brought it up to 4-2 when the Ducks' coach said "Your goalie, you will not need him." Hey, thanks coach. That was a nice little empty netter you gave us. Thanks for helping the team pad their stats a little. I told mi amigo at the beginning of the period that while I loved the idea of a shut-out, I'd never seen a shoot-out live before since they changed the rules a couple of years ago. I haven't actually been to a game in three years I think. I went a little nuts while I was there and bought myself a pull-over Stars jacket and a puck. My lifelong ambition is to see an NHL game in every arena and collect a puck to mark my experience. I'm now 2-0 when buying a puck at the game.

I had a great time. I can't believe I was so lucky in my timing. Had I called five minutes later it would have been too late and I'd have had to come up with a backup plan, which would most likely have been to skip lunch and watch TV instead. I did bring some great TV with me - Stargate - but I'm much happier with going to see some hockey than I would have been watching dvds.

Walking, Biking, or Driving

There's a great divide in the city of Seattle. Two of them actually. I imagine it's the same thing in other cities that have a large percentage of people living and working downtown, like New York City. There are basically three types of people downtown on an average work day: drivers, walkers, and bikers.

If you're annoyed that I'm going to talk about walking around town, I've got no problem with you postponing your reading of this post for a while. By all means, do your thing. I'll wait until you're ready again.

Group 1: the Drivers

Drivers, I think, are held in the least respect by the other two groups. I say respect, because there is a serious drive, no pun intended, around here to protect the environment. They are not, however, the most hated. Back to that in a minute.

Drivers clog up the roads. You see them out there blocking lanes of crossing traffic because they think they should get to go anyway. They have to have the police direct traffic because left to their own designs they'll cause nasty gridlock. The worst thing about them is that they have no problem laying on their horns to express their displeasure with the guy in front of them. They do it with their windows up nicely isolated from the majority of the sound without thinking about the walkers right next to them. Then they get pissed when they're told to stop honking. By the way, it's technically illegal around here to blow your horn unless it's an emergency. And by emergency, I don't mean the jackass in front of you isn't moving fast enough.

If they were really serious about reducing traffic downtown, they'd take a look at what they do in London. If you drive in the city centre of London, you pay a toll. Now that I'm not driving, I'm all for that.

I'm going to include the buses in this group. They're just as bad. The passengers aren't, but the bus drivers are. Do not make the mistake of being in the bus lane or stopped to drop someone off very quickly anywhere near the bus stop. The bus drivers have no problem honking at you, and they're not particularly considerate of the poor people naked to their noise either.

Group 2: the Walkers

The walkers are awesome. They are the best people in town. I'm not saying that because I'm one of them. I think there are all sorts of other reasons. Walkers don't clog up the roads. We only add the carbon dioxide produced by our breath to the atmosphere. We're getting some exercise going wherever it is that we're going. In generally, we just totally rock.

Group 3: the Bikers

You might think that Walkers and Bikers are naturally allied against the Drivers, but you would be wrong. Bikers are the least liked people on the road, or the sidewalk, or wherever the hell else they decide to go. I swear when I was a kid one of the things they taught us was that a bike is just like a car and subject to the same rules of the road as any other vehicle. I don't think the bikers around here got the same lesson. If they don't like something on the road, they just hop up onto the sidewalk. They do what they want and and damn everyone else. Then, if they're doing something stupid on the road and almost get squashed, do they own up and take responsibility for their idiocy? Not normally. They will get up in the face of the car that almost turned them into road-kill chew them up one side and down the other. I don't know of anyone in the Walk or Drive groups that likes the Bikers. The worst part is that they can get away with it, since biking is heavily promoted as alternative transportation.

Bikers, you are vehicles, not pedestrians. Follow the rules of the road, and stay on the road. Stay off my sidewalk, I'm walking here.

Walk Like You Drive

This will likely mean nothing to those of you whose primary mode of transportation is not your feet, but feel free to keep reading anyway. As someone coming from a "drive everywhere, all the time" culture who is now living in a "minimize your carbon footprint" culture, I think I have an interesting perspective on one similarity, of a sort, between the two.

In Dallas, I drove everywhere. If I needed to go to the store, I got in the car and went. If I needed to go check the mail, which was a block away, I either waited until I needed to go somewhere else to go get it, or I drove. And I think I was a damn good driver, although I suspect that members of law enforcement would not see it the same way. I drove fast and I had a slashing style. I was the Emmitt Smith of the highways. I don't think I was reckless, but if I needed to pass you, dammit, you were going to get passed. I fit my sporty little Acura through spaces at 80mph that would give little old ladies heart failure. I fondly remember the days of my mother with her foot pressed firmly on her imaginary chicken brake and a death grip on the "oh shit" handle. I don't mind saying that I hit 90 just about every day on my way home from work, and I loved it.

So then I did the unthinkable. I sold my car and moved to a town where 95% of my travel is done by foot. I could take my girlfriend's car, but my apartment is actually closer to work than any reasonably priced parking garage. So, I walk. And I've been doing this walking thing long enough now that I've noticed something. I walk like I used to drive. I walk fast, I cut in and out of crowds. When the light changes at the crosswalks, I'm usually the first one moving, and if I'm not I pass the first mover within a couple of feet. I totally kick ass at this walking thing.

I don't think it's just me either. The people I see ambling along on the sidewalk look like people that would be doing the same thing on the road. And I feel generally the same way about them! They mosey along in what I would consider the left lane of the sidewalk. They're oblivious to people trying to get around them. The ones that aren't oblivious speed up when you try to pass them. There are some that tailgate, which is really disturbing. It's surprising how little people differ between the car and the foot.

Food, Folks, and Fun

I'm such a bum. I haven't updated this thing since, what, April or May. But what do I have to write about? I don't travel for work anymore, so it's not like I have three weeks of adventuring around in a foreign country to talk about.

Speaking of travel, I do have a small trip planned later this month. I'm going back to Dallas for work. I'll tell you right now that I plan on gaining at least five pounds in the three or four days I'm back there. I'm hitting up all of my old favorites. I'm going to gorge myself on Tex-Mex because what they call Tex-Mex here is something that should be punishable by death, or at least a really long prison term. I'm going to have some Tin Star burger tacos. I'm going to go nuts on chips and queso. I'm totally throwing down a whataburger or two. I've lost ten pounds since moving to Seattle, but I'm getting it all back as soon as I get there.

Now, Seattle. I'm starting to notice the same people on my daily walk to and from work. My dad says I live like a yankee now that I never drive. I feel like I should be offended by that, but I'm really not. Anyway, I've started naming these people I see. I suppose I could find out their real names and their stories, but I'm trying to get somewhere and I don't have the time to stop.

First up is Seattle-police-are-communist-guy. He stands at the corner of Pike and 6th Ave every morning, holding his sign and trying to spread the word that Seattle police are communist to the motorists trapped at the light. At least I think that's what he's doing. His accent is so thick that I can't understand a word he says other than his favorite phrase, and that's because someone else translated his muddled words for me. I really think he needs to work on his message. A little help from someone familiar with marketing could help him get his message across better. He's got signage, which is a good start, but he's trying to say way too much with it. I can't get a good read of it, since I don't want to be seen to be reading it and thus invite a conversation, but I'm pretty sure it does mention the Seattle police. However, it also mentions the Pope and sin. I'm not sure how it all fits together.

Next is perhaps my favorite of the Seattle street scene: the Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaal Chaaaaaaaaaaaange guy. Real Change, for those who don't know, is the magazine sold by some people on the street. I don't really think this is an effective way to sell it, but one of the other guys that sells it always says that it's "the homeless newspaper." Not, I think, the best sales technique, but I have to think he's basically right. Back to RC-guy. He's awesome at it. I don't actually know how many papers he sells each day, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was their best salesperson. He doesn't just put it out there and say "buy my magazine" or guilt you into buying with "just trying to get enough for some dinner." No, RC-guy tries to sell you the magazine. He's not playing on sympathy, he's not just begging but trying to give you something in return. He's selling you something. I buy from him every once in a while because I feel like he deserves something for all his hard work. Even better, I don't think he speaks English. He's definitely Hispanic, that much I'm sure of. So, he's doing a killer job selling but he only has two words in his arsenal: Real and Change. I think some of the homeless in Dallas had the same or a similar magazine. They could take lessons from RC-guy.

There are others out there. I could go on for hours about Disheveled-soldier guy, Spare-change-for-food guy, or Tall-hooded-sloucher guy. I'll get around to them some other time.

Do anything fun for New Year's Eve? Lisa and I went to see a Sonics game and we both had a great time. I got to watch some sports, eat some arena food (hot dog, pretzel, etc) and drink some beer. That was only the third pro-basketball I've ever been to. The Sonics are going to be out of here no later than 2009. The owner wants to move them to Oklahoma City of all places. He has to be from there because there's no other reason to move anything to Oklahoma City. It sucks. I think I could actually become a basketball fan if I could go to a few more games. I think going to lots of things is easier when you live downtown. I've gone to the symphony a couple of times. I've been to a Mariners game and a Sonics game. Next football season I'm going to try to go to a Seahawks game. Hopefully they'll play the Cowboys early in the season and I can snag some tickets to see my boys whip up on the hawks. After that damn house of mine sells I'm going to try to take a trip up to Vancouver to catch a Canucks game. Don't they also have a CFL team? That might be good to try too.