Logo Celebrates Birthday: M Line, New Track

The M Line Trolley alongside the new Richards Group Building in Uptown. Wow! That was a perfect location for the architecture!

Our Logo is already celebrating its 8th Birthday.

If you haven't ridden the M Line Trolley in a while or you haven't been paying attention to the construction of new rails in the pavement on the south side of Woodall Rodgers Expressway, be sure to check it out. You can now ride from City Place Uptown Station downtown and go to either side of Klyde Warren Park. The new track goes within a block of DART's stations on Pacific.

Flipping/Turning and Airport

The Dallas airports were flipped today landing south to north because of the strong north wind. Caught this Southwest flight coming in low over Deep Ellum and downtown landing runways 31 R and L rather than 13 R/L. The sunlight was perfect on the reading racks at the Klyde Warren Deck Park.

Outdoor Reading Material at the Klyde Warren Deck Park

Racks are made available by DMN and the Belo Foundation.

The flip approach landing runways 31 R/L rather than 13 R/L

Five Days to Cram Everything into 2012

that you wanted to get done.  Right now, the way it looks, I ain't gonna get it all done! That's being a bit hard on myself, I suppose. The other side of that coin is the fact that 2013 is a full year that lies ahead. It would seem that a whole year is open and had plenty of room. However, one lesson in life is that in a twinkling of an eye, a split second, a hot minute, bam! and it all can change on space smaller than a dime. So, there are no guarantees that the full year ahead will be there. Taking each day as it arrives, one-by-one, has become my  rule of norm.

It absolutely amazes me that in this day of i-phones and apps and technology linked to everything that people continue to board airplanes en mass. With a major winter storm advertised, they complain that they had to sit on the tarmac for three hours albeit waiting to be de-iced before leaving or waiting for a nest, once the plane lands because all the nest are filled with planes waiting to be de-iced. Do you see the vicious circle here?

 Why have the technology if you are not going to listen to what it is telling you? Or is it listening to what it's telling you as long as it is what you wanna hear?  Just today, I heard a reporter using the line: "Do the math." What? Don't you have an app for that?  You see, that's the problem with technology. As fast as you upload a new app, the phone changes and since that was an app you didn't use much on the old phone, you pass on up-loading the new one so when you need it again........yup! you guessed it.....you don't have that app. I'm seeing a new blame target here. Blame it on the app. Of course, you could have made the whole trip less stressful in the first place. You could have stayed home. And for those of you that actually did that........ you can blame it on Netflex's burp at the wrong time.

 Go see the family when the weathermen aren't advertising a major winter storm from coast to coast!  Use that i-phone and actually call the folks.There's  still that  possibility that there will be 2014 when everything is normal. My how time flies!

One of the four Nutcrackers at Hunt Oil

The tree at Klyde Warren Deck Park

 

M line Expanded for Klyde Warren Deck Park

Gourmet Food Trucks Line Up for the Lunch Crowd

A Great Dane  headed for the Dog Park at Klyde Warren Deck Park

The new Klyde Warren Deck Park has more features to come. The McKinney Avenue Trolley is extending it's tracks to serve several more blocks  from it's current terminus. I like to take the trolley from City Place down to the park. It's a 40-minute trip but it's enjoyable and relaxing. Taking the Red line or Blue Line to City Place then boarding the trolley gets you a step from the trolley to the deck park. The 2013 and 2014 expansion of the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority's tracks will connect to Dart's downtown Pearl St. station. That makes for another giant feather in this parks hat!http://www.mata.org/map.shtml

The other development is the current construction near the new Pavilion that is being constructed is a Bistro-type restaurant on the west bound service road of the park.With the popularity already displayed with the new park. just imagine a Friday evening after work with a rock band on the stage and people having dinner at the Bistro and others getting gourmet sandwiches from the food trucks, sitting at the tables on the open lawn areas or along Jane's Lane.

 

Winding Down to Thanksgiving, Is That Possible?

A checker board on the backside of the games librarian. All you need is a valid driver's license to check out a board.

The burnt orange colors are refreshing to see.

The other question that weighed in today is this: Do the dogs like the astro turf in the new Klyde Warren Deck Park? The answers may surprise you. Yes, it is possible to wind down to Thanksgiving and yes, the dogs love the astro turf and  for those of you that are going to be trying to figure out how the rest of this post fits in to the title post, well, it's one of those things that you have to wind down  for to see the connection.

Last year I decided that it was time to break that cycle of running to Walmart for everything because they were the cheapest. Were they, really?  Doing some research and really watching  where I was  spending the most and what I was getting for the money spent, I had an amazing shock. Walmart isn't that cheap overall.
I found that I was being drawn in for items like trash bags and paper products. The rest of the items were way more than I was paying at Kroger's or other places.

Well, it's been a year now and I have not set foot inside a Walmart. I've eaten more healthy, I have lost the weight that I was slowly adding  that required me to buy new cloths because I was getting bigger month by month. Now, I fit back in the cloths that I haven't worn for ages, my blood pressure has dropped  to a very healthy level where it remains. I don't feel as stressed at the check out lines as I did at a Walmart and generally I am a much happier person today that a year ago. Most of all, my lab work has don't a complete flip for the better.

Before I began the experiment, someone had made mention to me that they too, had broken the Walmart Cycle. At the time, I didn't really fully understand what that person had meant. Well, today, I may not fully understand  all the workings of what has happened, but even the commercials on Television don't captivate me now as they once did. I actually laugh about the "bring your receipt and compare" see how much you saved. Actually, when I had done that to check Walmart  in the beginning to see where my spending was going.....Walmart was getting the larger percentage of my money Today, I find the savings to be greater grocery wise at Kroger's and  a few other places that I shop.

So, as we wind down for Thanksgiving, The insanity of Black Friday and Blue Wednesday and Green Tuesday don't get me stressed out any more.. I'm actually happier since I broke the Walmart Cycle. Let's put that under Red Thursday since Black Friday seems to be taken. Have a good holiday and I'll keep the  trips to Walmart at zero for another year!

The Awesome Success of..........

the Klyde Warren Deck Park that is the new 5-acre park built over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway that had cut off Uptown from Downtown for years has now united the two parts of the city with success. The park was packed with people playing checkers, using putting greens, playing table tennis, using chess tables, throwing footballs,baseballs, spreading blankets for picnicking on the common areas, and doing a whole lot of eating from the many gourmet food trucks lined up on the downtown side People walking their pets, were everywhere and there was a birthday party happening,too. I was shocked to see that many people downtown in a park and it not being a parade or march or something political or civic.

Klyde Warren Deck Park

The key image of what a united Uptown and Downtown looks like.
Looking North into Uptown from the downtown side of the Klyde Warren Deck Park.

 

The bottom line is that it is safe to project that the new park is already a major success for Dallas. If today's crowd is any indication of what is to come from here on out.......just wait until the pavilion  is ready and the bands and performers begin to take the stage.

Jane's Lane in the Klyde Warren Deck Park.