Things That I Have Seen and Heard This Past Week and a lesson of Persistence

While the title is accurate, some of the things have been on Media. Not, stepping on anyone's toes, those things were just my interpretation of what I observed or heard in person and observed. 

"Don't be a trendy Wendy"

"Smiley face fan in your hand"

"We got enough rain to wet the dust"

"Saw a lady on TV with a rolled up Yoga mat big enough to carpet a hallway"

And of course, the late John Madden was also a prankster. He would sit in the press box and toss peanuts out the window to the seats below and all the time watching on his monitor, the reaction of the fans that the peanuts fell upon. 

One of his famous quotes was: "The road to easy street goes through the sewer." RIP John!!

On the business side of things: 

DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) begins a realignment of bus and train schedules, routes on Monday, January 24. The old route numbers will no longer the served. The new route numbers will need to be relearned as habit. It's going to be a mess. DART is doing their part the first week by offering totally free rides all week. 

I have been paying attention to the hoodies that have been over hung on old bus stop signs with the notice of discontinued service under the old numbers and with the new numbers posted. The problem for me was that unless the bus stopped at one of those signs, you could not see the new numbers always. 

Going on the DART site was some help and some of the old routes had new schedules printed, but not all had the new schedules out on the buses. Sometimes, I had to take new schedule just to look at the map. Hopefully, I will be able to learn what routes I have been riding long before more good weather comes our way. Day before yesterday, I rode my regular bus toward Downtown Garland, getting off several miles before and walking the mile down to the main thoroughfare south of where I was. I needed to walk more anyway to aid my rehabilitation in my one leg. As it turned out, I got a couple of unusual shots and the amazing thing is that I had oftentimes wondered what bus went down the particular street before getting off for the walk mentioned above, and low and behold, I ended up on that bus by mistake. It took me to Parker Road from Far East Dallas to far East Plano and the Parker Road Rail station. That would have been fine had not had the rail service been suspended due to an accident at the tracks. I rode the 350 from Parker Road back to the Addison transit center then back to my rail station via the bus and then after the stop hit the last 8 minutes or so on home. What a day!! LOL .

This spring should be interesting. Since 1983 pretty much more or less, the trees here have buds on them by the first of March. Oh! I'm hoping this year continues the trend more than ever. 1983 was the first time I had a re recurrence of a nerve problem in my leg. Initially, I had fallen down an elevator shaft right out of college. Had not had a problem until after my 5th surgery 18 month's ago. Slowly I am making progress and have even walked short distances without my cane. Still, at my age, I get around as well as most 50 years younger. I'm lucky and blessed in that department.

The past three years I have experienced a delivery problem with FedEx. No one could figure it out as to what had gone wrong. FedEx started an investigation. I have spoke with tons of Customer Service people and executives. Experience many hours of frustration with the IVR ( really its artificial intelligence that can't get its act together.) Since I do not drive (although I could) since my car was totaled a year ago June, I have ordered my prescriptions from my drugstore to be delivered. It got so bad, the drug chain even started having my Rx's filled at their fulfillment center in Chandler, Arizona and shipped to me from there. The problems actually got worse still. The store manager ended up delivering my prescriptions to me personally. 

I got an email that my Rx's were due for refill. I did as instructed by their website and placed my order. I know the routine. So after a couple of hours I go back online to see if the refills had been moved as they usually do. Instead, the order wasn't even showing up. I waited for another day and checked it again. Nothing but I had received an email thanking me for placing the order. Good, I am thinking. Then, I went back on line the third time only to find a message that it takes two hours before the transaction shows up some times and to check back later.. Now, I am into the fourth time checking. The message was still there after a thank you email for filling with them. Now, I know something is wrong so I called the store. After going through the artificial operator and "just so you know" message I was finally transferred to the pharmacy. After 40 seconds of the worse music ever, the phone was answered and then hung up. That was repeated three times. Finally, I got the pharmacy and  she hung up saying she could not help me (she was the original cause of the problem in the first place). I called the store manager, going through the mess once again including the "just so you know" and bad music and the like of such things. I got the new store manager. I had met her once before and she remembered me likewise.She finally got me a tracking number for the order. I checked my bank and the payment had been processed. To be fair, I have eliminated two bouts of conversations much like the ones above  to save time. 

Moving on now to entering the tracking number with FedEx to see the status. It was already showing that the shipping label had already been transmitted to FedEx at the 4 o'clock hour that day. Meanwhile, a day later, nothing. The package had not been picked up by FedEx. Then, when I fill out the online form on FedEx's site to receive SMS text on status, An old email address that I have not used for sometime kept appearing. I had changed that email out several years ago.That meant, that the messages were going elsewhere. Then that problem escalated. 

The final straw was to call a number FedEx had provided last year if the situation became more critical. It had, I did. and got a real live human being who was very nice.Very helpful. She solved the age old problem of more than three years, now, in less than 4 minutes. As of this writing, the package is out for delivery using one of FedEx's 4 different branches----FedEx Ground. Ironically, I knew that FedEx had these 4 cats as I have watched the past 3 years as the Union Pacific Railroad Trains travel through Truckee,California with miles of containers after containers double and single stacked and sometimes close out the super long trains with pigs (shipping semi trailers on a flat bed rail car tandem) where I see the FedEx Greens, Orange, Ground semi's on pigs day after day after day. 

 I have long believed that persistence pays off. Never give up the fight. You will find on this blog's right hand column several noted people who wrote about that very thing from Douglas onward. I learned that at 14 with a very large paper route that took in the entire town. My Dad would help me on Sundays or if the weather was bad, but other than that,
I was on my own. For a 14 year old kid, the money I made at that age was well into the three figures monthly. If someone wanted their paper put between the storm door and the front door you didn't have a problem collecting at the end of the month. If you failed to listen to your customers instructions, it was persistence in motion to collect. That paper bill was due like any other bill. It taught me a lot at an early age and had a reinforcement of that principal earlier with my grandfather who made me pay him the 5-cents for a Hershey Bar at his store. 

 

                                                                                             

  Air traffic for Drones!!

     If Texas Does Succeed From the Union. I vote for this as the new       

New scene on a new traffic signal control box between the sidewalk and curb that cuts down on the glare from the sun on a signal box that looks like a new dime.

Pull Up A Chair and Sit A Spell, I've got another story to tell.

 The best day of the week to be outside and spend a fair amount of time with my doctor. But, that was not the beginning, nor the end of this tale. It turned out to be the worse day that I have had riding the bus. Looking through the telescope of the rest of the day, pictures were excellent. But back to this tale. 

The night prior to my trip, I had spent on the computer planning the trip out so that I would have more time for photography than waiting for a bus or train. Armed with that information I went to bed and had a wonderful night of sleep. When I awoke, I hit the shower, dressed and checked my backpack to make sure it was in order, drank a cup of coffee and had an English Muffin but I grabbed the heavy coat. The temps were  in the upper 30s° F but were headed for the mid 60's. I took the garbage out and walked to the bus stop. I was a bit early by half and hour but I didn't want to miss this bus as the rest of the day relied on it. Not to be. First, the bus was 6 minutes late. Second, the driver, already being that late, flew past my stop as if he had a big teeth dog on his rear end. This was unbelievable. I have been noticing the running of red lights, had breaking and turns for a while, but that goes with the territory from time to time. This was not the time. If I had missed my doctors appointment, I would be charged as a no-show. Plus, it was darn chilly. With phone still in hand, I dialed DART for me and was glad to let the others throughout the system that had been flat out ignored to save the driver from getting a report because of his lateness ride on my back. It's one of those things that just compounds and compounds until someone puts a stop to it. (pardon that pun). 

Now, I pondered what to do next, take one of the next available buses that puts me farther from where I needed to be to catch my 360 to the doctors.Or, just cool the jets a minute and wait to see it the next would be on time ,or if I would have to wait the entire hour to get back on schedule. So, I waited. Along came the bus on the half-hour. I boarded, and  the very next stop the driver was flying through the intersection and slammed on the air breaks missing the bus shelter the length of the bus. But, he did pick up his passenger, not like his route fore runner that left me standing at my stop.

Now, catching the 360 would put me at the hospital and my doctor's office on time. Not by much, but on time. I had built in to that schedule my lunch at the taco place in the hospital atrium. I had previously enjoyed a great lunch there and I had planned that to be the same for my trip yesterday. I had also planned to walk down onto the White Rock Creek Trail both before and after my appointment for a discovery mission on spring buds. 

On seeing the doctor, the report was not as good as I had hoped.  While the past surgeries had been successful, because of the nature of them, My doctor had called in consultants into the OR rather than bringing me out of my deep sleep to ask permission for other procedures. That was the nature of the appointment yesterday. The complications and the complexity of the surgeries have not responded  totally as hoped for and the doctor after my exam and discussion, placed a call to the doctor that had been consulted during my operations. They are of two different specialties and work very well together. 

The second doctor called my doctor back and when he had described the situation to the doctor, the second doctor will set up an appointment and have me come there for a second follow up. They are going to work out a plan to put me back in perfect harmony again. So, upon leaving the doctor, I walked across the street, down the embankment to the trail and got my camera out. I needed to defog my brain at that point. After getting my near hour of shooting, I packed my camera and walked back up the embankment and crossed the street again to my stop. Along came my bus. I boarded, took my favorite seat and enjoyed the ride to the train station where I would catch my 463 bus home.

Pulling into the 360 stop position at the train station, down at the far end was my 463 waiting. I can't run, but I can walk pretty darn fast. Just when I was near 5 or 6 feet from the end of the bus, the driver closed the door and jack rabbited out on the side street. I had been waving to him, yelled a couple of "Hey" but by DART's on rules, once the bus leaves the stop they cannot take on passengers. I understand  that, but as I have seen before and saw again later that same day, drivers can pull the circle and come back around and pick up a passenger(s) from a late arriving bus or train. But, of course, this dude used that rule to his own advantage. That was the wrong button to push. Again with my phone in my hand, I did not hesitate to punch that speed dial for DART. And, yes, I filled another complaint on the 463 staff of drivers. DART can sort it out. They have cameras on the buses and at the rail stations and, that was the second time for the 463 this day (yesterday).

My pass that I had purchased before leaving the house was what DART calls their Mid Day pass. It cost more than the reduced Senior Rate for a Morning Pass or an Afternoon Pass. I usually take the Afternoon Pass because it runs from noon until 3 am the following day. The morning runs from 3 am through noon. So, I had to take the Mid day from 9:30 until 2:30 pass. My doctor's appointment was for 1:30 and any way I looked at it, I would need to buy a Senior Rate Afternoon Pass but that's okay too. I had expected that. So, the 571 pulls in and it goes to the Downtown Garland Rail and Transit Center. I could take a leisure ride there and catch the 463 coming back this way. A little father, A little longer, A little more money. But I felt good about that  for some reason, I was meant to be on that 571 that day. Then I looked at my digital ticket that had 20 minutes left and seemed to be stuck on 20 minutes. So, pulling out of the station, I noticed immediately, the movement had been slowed. It just felt better. It just felt right. I was interested at that point to observe this driver and along this route. Nothing that I had been experiencing on the 463 since the Schedule Changes on October 19th was on this route. Interesting, I thought. Not, Interesting. Something else was up. We finally get to the rail and transit center and low and behold, there sat the 463. I pull up my ticket and it says 20 minutes. I got off the 571 walked across the platform and stepped onto the 463. In some thought about the 20 minutes, even though I had paid more for the ticket than my Senior rate, this ticket was taking into account the problems created by the two 463 drivers during the day.

When the 463 pulled out of the station, there was no jerking, whirling or any of that. And, something else, the route to the old Baylor Scott and White Hospital and The new VA clinic and the Behavioral Unit that still functions, had been eliminated. I had seen a note on the web site but didn't read it because I wasn't going that way. But now the know why I did go that way, don't we? Now, not only is the situation interesting, but it is curiously much more interesting. Actually, the third bus, 360 prior to the 463 runaway, the enjoyable 571 and now the 463 again acting like a mature pup that would rather lay on the porch with his head in his paws than run and jump because he could. The entire trip was like the 571 and most noticeably to me if not others. Maybe the phone calls had done their job. I hope that someone else was helped during the day because of my experience. That's the point.

Publish Via Remote: TEXrail Cars Are Here

Basically, I'm a geek when it comes to trains and planes. Put me at a rail station or an air field and I can zone in happiness all day long. Put me in an area where rail and planes mix and I am in geek heaven. Like the friendly Welcome! at Walgreen's, I got my Welcome! with a view of the new TEXrail cars built by Stadler of Switzerland. It is Stadler's first American order for a model outside the GTW product line. The cars are being built in Salt Lake City under the Buy American Agreement.

The 27-mile commuter rail owned by "the T" in Ft. Worth, will service Tarrant County and Terminal B at DFW. DART, the Dallas light rail, has been arriving at Terminal A for three years already. Unlike light rail, the Stadler cars are DMU's or Diesel Multiple Units and will be WI-FI ready when they begin service sometime in November, 2018. They are standard guage at 4 feet 8 and one-half inches or 1435 mm metric. They also have crash bumpers for better safety in event they are in a crash.

The video presentation on the TEXrail site explains how the two muni-operated systems will interchange with each other allowing passengers from Ft. Worth to ride the DART light rail to downtown Dallas. With so much international traffic at DFW and more to come, the customers are used to having rail service to the central business districts. With DFW being a joint venture between the two cities already, the separate rail systems  bring a unity of rail transport to the Metroplex. The Cotton Belt that DART will bring by 2022 will connect the northern sections of Dallas and Tarrant Counties from Plano to Ft. Worth. Least we forget the TRE that runs from the T&P in Ft. Worth to Dallas' Union Station many times a day and the A-Train from Frankfort Station on DARTS Green line to Denton, is also part of that same unified rail commuter system.

The rail road is very much a part of history in this part of Texas. It is only natural to have a lot of support for the railroads. With the future construction of the Bullet Train from Houston to Dallas/Ft. Worth growing closer and closer, the further transportation of  riders on a modern rail system coupled with a wold-class international airport, brings even more reasons to live in this great part of the US as yet another link is under construction. These cars are part of that link known as the TEXrail.Welcome,Aboard!!

DMU's

Service November,2018

New Platforms at Grapevine Station for TEXrail. The Vintage Railroad Train in Grapevine, is also running special trips for the holidays

Welcome Back To Dallas Streetcar

It has been some 60 years give-or-take since street cars were part of the urban and interurban network. Sure, the old green trolley car called the "M Line" still makes its way through Uptown to  City Place, but that is more historic and nostalgia than anything else. True, it was and still is a street car but not like the 21st century ones run in eastern Europe and Scandinavian countries. But on Monday, April 13, 2015, Dallas, came back from the past to the future!

While the first part of the line is from outside Union Station at the beginning of the Houston Street Viaduct, it runs over the viaduct making four stops, the last two of which are at Zang Triangle and Colorado Boulevard at Methodist Hospital in Oak Cliff.  DART says that it will be expanded into the Bishop Arts District.  I was hoping that it would go there originally, since there is limited or no parking to speak of in the district anyway. The other extension is slated to be around the corner from its  Union Station terminus to the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center and the connected  Omni Hotel.

Never-the-less, it is just good to see the streetcar line back in operations. Good job, DART.

How sweet it is! Coming into the Zang Triangle stop on its way up the hill .

John Carpenter's Little Ranch Packed!

John Carpenter had a little ranch that he called Las Colinas. Saturday that former ranch was covered with people from one end to another. The Irving Convention Center was hosting a walk for poverty. I got caught up in  the traffic for that and waited 27-minutes for the marchers to pass.  Then when the last of the marchers had passed and the street was opened up for traffic, it was soon to be discovered that Irving police had blocked off my usual entry into the Lake Carolyn venue for the National Red Bull Flugtag.

 I had spent 40-minutes already in bumper-to-bumper traffic on LBJ 635 as a result of a Monte Carlo facing east bound in the west bound lanes with its front and rear wheels and axels ripped off the car's frame. A young girl in Daisy Duke attire was leaning up against a barrier wall inside a circle of Dallas Police Cars that had encircled at least three lanes of traffic blocking off the accident and its passenger on the barrier wall.

 So, after a couple of trips in circles on the service roads and Las Colinas Blvd., I drove the car into the entry to the Grand Trevino, paid my 5-bucks for the day, grabbed my camera bag and water jug and headed out for about a 10-block walk. There were several photographers at the media tent and a young girl who was clueless was trying to tell us that our cameras would not be allowed inside. After about 30-minutes of discussion, she had worn down everyone but myself and one other photographer. It's funny that this whole image thing has just gone wild with everyone with a camera phone in their pocket or purse, even some of those now have packs that can accommodate changeable lens like a DSLR camera. What's even more amazing is that there is now a phone camera that has 43 pixs. That's more than some DSLR's. It's amazing.After that, I didn't even bother picking up my wrist band until about an hour before I was ready to leave.

People were curb-to-curb, wall-to-wall,elbow-to-elbow. The lines at the food trucks stretched across the roadways that normally are used to walk to and fro. I've never been able to understand why people don't bend the lines at an angle so as not to block the roadways but that would take my friend, Patrick, the anthropologist at U Mass , some research time to figure out. And Patrick, while you are at it, can you tell me why the people in lines then get mad at the people trying to get up and down the street when they have to cut through the lines just to get from point A to B?

At first, I was going to ride the Orange Line out, but then I remembered that the People Movers didn't work on the weekends and I figured what's the use. Walking was a major distance thing at this event. If you were an observer in the "beach" area and had to make a trip to the port-a-potties, good luck.The walk was more than a little jaunt. It's more like the 'red trail" for the experienced hiker. As I am walking back to the Grand T where my car had stayed in cool shade, I discovered that the People Movers were, indeed, working and from the Orange Line station, I could have used the PM to cover that entire distance. I sat in my car in the parking garage in line for 18-minutes just to exit. The Orange Line gets my vote from here on out. Dart was running three full cars on the Orange Line,too! Dressed in Flugtag blue vinal wrap!

All-in-all, it turned out pretty well. Now, I just have to rest up for the re-birth of Big Tex and the opening of the State Fair on Friday! At least I can have a corny dog and a coke while I'm resting inline.

This was one of the small lines

Anyone gives you any trouble tell 'em Sue said it was okay!.Sue with the yellow glasses? No, I'm not Sue.

It Ain't Gonna Fly! No Way!

It Has Become A Cliche.....

From the lower walk looking upward

Free Wheelin by LaPaso

The lawn amphitheater.

The City of Dallas has three sculptures in the park. These signs from the Office of Cultural Affairs identifies the work and the artist. 

From the bridge at the Lake Highland Dart Station looking south. The walk connects both sections. The visible bridge is Walnut Hill Lane

A Dart Rail Train can be seen in the background. Next stop: White Rock Lake Station. 

But it's true in this case. "if you build it, they will come."












About three years ago,maybe four, the bulldozers arrived and started tearing down a large apartment complex that had been built sometime in the late 60's or early 70's. Then the heavy equipment arrived and started digging down and down and down along a creek that  ran through the property. Slowly,the site was transformed into an amazing walkway along the creek with high stone walls, beautifully crafted steel ornamental fence work, lights,water fountains, drinking fountains, benches,overlooks,a split-level lake with individual fountains and a rock-boulder dam separating the two.

There are two stairways that take you upward to a  more grade level-street level that is also landscaped with fountains, and  a lawn amphitheater.

Least anyone forget, this is a residential and retail development. What has made this so different is that the park setting was created first, then allowed to sit and settle before the first builders showed up.  But, as was said in a movie filmed in an Iowa corn field: "If you build it, they will come." These are a few shots of the new Lake Highland Center.

Next Stop: Terminal A DFW International

Today, as a strong cold front was passing overhead, but before the temperatures dropped the 40 degrees the weather boys were advertising, I boarded the Red/Orange Line at the Central/LBJ station in North Dallas and headed to the new Belt Line Station that opened December 3rd. This summer saw the orange line open from Bachman Lake to the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. Now, another 4 miles of extension is added  and reaches a critical mass area.

On December 03, the North Lake Station Opened at Cottonwood. Golfers would recognize the area as the Four Seasons Resort. And...the Belt Line Station, while Westward sounds rather conservative, the actual surprise,grand trump, what ever adjective one would use, that makes this different for the largest light rail system in the whole of the United States, is  this: it's sitting on airport property at DFW International. That's inside the fence. That's different rules and regulation for building. But, it's the final leg that will end at Terminal A at DFW in December 2014 with the last extension. There are few airports in this nation that have  a direct rail link into a terminal. That means that in 2014, you will be able to deplane,get your luggage, use the airport system to transport you to terminal A from any terminal  and ride to downtown Ft. Worth,Denton,Dallas,Garland,Rowlett, and Plano, or get off in Addison or Carrollton and take a cab to those area hotels. The details will come forth, most likely as the time nears the completion date, but the point being made here is that the connections from DFW International to area cities in the metroplex will be most unique for  transportation connections. That's a big deal.

It took just over an hour each way.

The New Belt Line Station on DFW Property.Overnight parking,
750 car lot.

Belt Line Name Placard

Westward to Terminal A at DFW.Note that the tracks are laid but the overhead power lines need to be placed, but 24 months is not a long time to wait for this transportation  link.