I've had gremlins running through my cables the past three weeks. It took a lot of work but one was caught and the mess was put back together. Then, while I was resting after that ordeal, there was another trigger that pointed to yet another one. I tell you, those little gremlins can run at light speed. But, dang it, caught another one and in only three days. I have that second mess put back together. The surprisingly little gremlin war even allowed me to get my backup order for groceries ordered in before Christmas, since the last order day is tomorrow up to mid afternoon.
As if that wasn't enough, however, we have had three days in a row of beautiful clear blue skies and mid 70°F. I headed to the bus stop, grabbed the Red Line South and got off at the next stop. I had been wanting to check out this one spot at the end of the off ramp from LBJ 635-E at TI Blvd. It's a T-type stop and if you race to catch the light you can't stop. The cement barrier walls with the bright yellow paint and arrowheads at each end of the black bar, will. Reading the signs you know to turn left or turn right, but don't go straight. To date, Tex Dot has replaced the barrier no less than 10 times since the ramp opened.Yep, there is already patched concrete and new bolts in place. Ready for the next car that wants to butt heads with the barrier wall again. The guardrails looked like twisted spaghetti after the first two or three times, hence the cement barriers like those in the medians separating lanes etc.,etc.
From there, I could not decide to walk to the next station south like I have been doing, or walk home and explore the repairs from the F-3 tornado just over a year ago. Much is still not repaired in some spots. The Presbyterian Church that lost its beautiful steeple only has a stub left and that is so sad-looking, architecturally speaking. I just kept walking and looking for shots. Still, there were worthwhile shots.
My walk was just shy of 5 miles again. But it will be another week before that 70ish temps returns. A cold front is moving past tonight. We have dropped from 74 and will bottom out at about 30ish tonight. It was delightful out, but the wind was the problem. 30-40 MPH. I can tolerate a little cold. I can tolerate a bit of wind, but put the cold and the wind together and I'm done.
The Silver Line that will run the new European electric diesels across the old Cotton Belt tracks from Shiloh Road in Garland to Ft. Worth. broke ground this week with the first piling in the ground complete. And with Elon Musk now a Texas resident officially, the Bullet Train from Houston to Dallas should have an interesting person watching from his drilling company. It is testing its own. Looking to lay track in his tube devise.
It is getting exciting finally as more and more trains are coming on line to the present three and soon to be four trains that are covering 5 counties in North Central Texas---the place to be. Not that weird place that wants to stay weird south of us. They have West by Southwest once a year. We have Deep Ellum every night of the year for nearly 100 years to the tunes of Blind Lemon and others including the Greatful Dead that recorded one of his songs that makes reference to Dallas and Deep Ellum. Not to mention up start bands and the jazz scene, too.
We also got a look at the helicopter taxis that was to have been Uber's magic hat trick, but they have recently sold the company that was to run the show to another company that almost immediately showed off the animated design. It's a typical helicopter with little stubbed wings and a lot of cool stuff. I'd ride one. It's hard to know what a ride would cost at the moment,but I'm thinking that it would be something close to a ride in the City (New York City). We might be able to put a pair of silver spurs on those in the executive suites and get the price down somewhat. You never know. Know what I mean Vern? Oh, you know what I mean. Vern, knows what I mean. This is Texas after all Y'all.
And to close out the exciting future with more exciting future news, Texas is getting a space academy to train pilots that will take commercial paying passengers into space. It's on a 14-acre site south of here--- and that weird place.
I'm so excited I'm getting out one of my first digital cameras and looking at the lenses.I'm thinking that I'll trade those lens in and up grade my newer digital camera body. Gee, if I can continue to walk 5 and keep loosing weight and feeling even more young than I feel, then I can keep up to those old reporters I once hung out with don't you see?
So many exciting things going on, I almost forgot to mention that Oracle is coming to Texas with their headquarters.Texas, sorry they picked that weird place, but they will soon learn that 35E will get them here in about a 4 hour drive. If the bullet train gets finished in two years, they can be here in about 45 minutes.
This sign picture that follows is just a few yards from TI's (Texas Instrument) south campus. The north campus is behind the photographer going the other way. The train station is just a few yards going toward the north campus. That is a bit more than 3/4 mile of plant. And the station where I got off is adjacent to TI property in every direction. The buses serve both plants as shuttles.
Well, I just hope every one has (or can make) the best of this Christmas season. The first one million have been vaccinated already in the first week.
