And the winner is.....

For once I'm actually looking forward to this year's Super Bowl.  You may agree or disagree with my methodology, but to a large extent I base my enthusiasm on the cities represented, and I really like both Seattle and Denver.  Of all the cities represented by NFL teams, these two rate right near/at the top of my list.

I'm not really a fan of the city of Denver proper, but I like that it's the jumping off point for the Colorado Rockies.  I'd live there in a heartbeat, or at least in one of their western suburbs.  And come on, really....who doesn't like Peyton Manning?

And Seattle....Wow! What a beautiful city.  Everything is so green there.  For the record it doesn't rain that much there by volume (the same amount as Dallas), but it just drizzles often, giving it it's reputation.  And all the islands and water and bridges, it's just SOOOO different from anything I see daily in north Texas.  And it's within a couple of hours drive of mountains, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are we witnessing the collapse of internet commerce?  This morning the news reported that 80M Yahoo accounts have been hacked, which also means those in your contact list have been violated, too.  This time they think everything was picked clean....account #'s, passwords (pin #'s ?), etc.  

The good news for me is that, since I have trouble remembering all my passwords, I can just call the Hacker Hotline and anyone there should be able to tell me all my passwords and which accounts they match up with.  That's convenient!  ;)

Does anyone but me have second thoughts about buying things online and giving up my personal financial data?  And I do all my banking and bill paying online, too.  Am I playing with fire?

DAMN YOU BILL GATES!  (He's my go-to scapegoat in all high-tech crash-and-burn scenarios.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh yeah.  And the winner is......Denver!  :)

Happy weekend everyone.

S

Thinking outside the box

Want to put your town on the map?  Don't have the funds to build a new Disney theme park or a NASCAR race track?  Not to worry.  Just follow the lead of Deer Trail, Colorado.  This small town (550 ppl) east of Denver will vote October 8 on whether to issue permits to hunt drones.

The idea started out as one man's symbolic protest against a "surveillance society", but quickly morphed into a plan (?) for the town to pull in tourism....and revenue.

"What do you want to do for a summer vacation this year, dear?  Take the kids to Disney World again?  Maybe the beach?  Or how about we leave the little urchins with your mom and just the two of us take a cruise?"

"Oh, I dunno, Earl.  I'm tired of the 'same 'ol thing'.  I was kinda thinking we could go to Deer Trail, CO, just east of Denver, and plink us some drones."

If the voters approve, the town would issue drone hunting licenses for $25, good for one year.  "They'll sell like hot-cakes.  It could be a huge moneymaker for the town", according to resident Phillip Steel who drafted the ordinance.  

The town would also offer a $100 bounty for shooters who brought in downed-drone debris.  Never mind that the only guns "hunters" would be allowed to use would be shotguns, making hitting the high-flying drones (30,000') a "long shot".  *Pardon the pun.*

And just FYI....gubment drones can be fitted out with ordinance that enables them to shoot back.  That ought to add to the "thrill of the hunt".  ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Big changes for fans who attend NFL games this year....they will no longer be able to bring into the stadiums backpacks, fanny packs, small coolers, seat cushions, even women's purses will be banned, all in the name of security.  

On our local (Dallas) news this morning they asked whether these new rules "would deter you from going to see a Cowboy's game?"  Responders to the poll said "yes" by a 71-19 margin, the other 10% asking "why would I want to go see the Cowboys?"

That personally wouldn't deter me.  The fact that Jerry Jones would also be "in the House"....THAT would deter me.

Three cheers for Friday!  :)

S

One down, two to go

Summer in Texas is a miserable, disgusting time of the year.  Anyone who disagrees has been out in it too long.  When you open the door first thing in the morning to step out to get the newspaper, for example, and you're immediately hit by a blast of air so hot and muggy your glasses fog up, it makes you want to just crank down the A/C and go back to bed.

This climate change thing has blindsided a lot of people this year.  Blizzards when they weren't supposed to, heat waves where we weren't supposed to, floods, freak sand storms....what's next?  But oddly enough, Dallas has so far had a fairly palatable summer.  We've had a few 100 degree days, but we've also had a few days that never even climbed into the 90's. 

This morning before 7 I took Luke the Wonderdog out for a long walk.  My weather app said the temp was 74 degrees, but a pretty stiff breeze made it feel like it was in the 60's.  And if the weatherguessers are to be believed, this will be one of those sub-90 degree days.  SWEET!

I'm not foolish enough to expect August and September to be like our July was, but at least I only have two more months of misery to endure before October relief arrives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I like lists.  Not "To Do" lists, but lists of fun things.  Like today on Yahoo news, for example, it had a list of the 10 coolest summer cities (we're talking temperatures), and also the 10 hottest.  

Two of the top 10 coolest are among my personal favorite cities, too:  Seattle and Denver.  Seattle because of its uniqueness and Denver because it's just a short drive (by Texas standards) to the mountains.  THE mountains.  THE ROCKY mountains.  I love THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.  *insert little tiny heart shape symbol here*

My new address when I win the lottery

No surprise, 4 of the top 10 hottest summer cities were in Texas, Dallas being #3.  What's that old saying?...."I've got a spot in heaven guaranteed 'cause I've already done my time in hell."

Carry on and stay cool.

S

"Fun and frivolity in beautiful....

....Dallas"?  No, this isn't an April Fool's promotion.  April is no where near that foolish.  What brought this to mind was an ad I saw on TV this morning inviting people to vacation in Denver.

Denver?  My experience with Denver is it's where the plane lands and you pick up your rent-a-car before you head west to the mountains. Of course there are a few things of interest to see and some fine steakhouses there, but that would make for a mighty short vacation.  Am I missing something?

Dallas, on the other hand, is making a more believable pitch in their "Come to Dallas" TV spots.  Screw seeing the sights and having fun.  Leave your cameras and flip-flops at home.  Our C of C and their PR machine are inviting business people to visit Dallas and make money.  That's pretty much it.  Come here, wheel and deal, pack your suitcases with fresh Dallas cash, and go home.  

Sure, you can drop off the kids at Six Flags and some of your winnings at Needless Markup...er...Neiman Marcus, take a picture at the Kennedy assassination site and see The House In the Field from the opening scene of Dallas.  Oh, and drive by The House That Jerry Built (the "house" being Cowboy Stadium, and the "Jerry" being Jerry Jones.)  Just be advised to NOT mention his name in anything but a demeaning tone or you'll likely be pounded into the ground, Jerry being that unpopular here.

Nope, Dallas is where you make money.  That's what we do.  You wanna make a lot of money, you come to Dallas.  You wanna have fun, you fly into Denver, rent a car, and drive west.

Now, get to work.  Go smear black shoe polish all over the black toilet seats in the office rest room.  Have some fun...it's April Fools Day.  Just don't do that in Dallas.  We're too busy doin' deals.    ;)

S

The End is Near-ish

So how is this "End of the World" thing gonna happen?  If I understand it correctly, the Mayans in their infinite wisdom have it figured tomorrow is "the day".  "Turn out the lights, the party's over".  It sounds rather silly to me, but then again, who knows?

If it turns out to be true I'd hate for my last meal to be a grilled cheese sandwich.  And I wouldn't want to spend my last day on earth rotating the tires on my car.  And why ruin my last day by balancing my checkbook or going grocery shopping?  To the contrary, I'm thinking about blowing all I have and then some on something really decadent.  Maybe I could drive my new Maserati to III Forks for a juicy, medium rare steak.

Do I dare chance it?  What if the Mayans were wrong?  I can't afford a new freakin' Maserati!

OK....OK....I'VE GOT IT!  We should be able to see this end of the world thing coming, right?  Wouldn't it start over in the western Pacific at the International Date Line?  Then it would work it's way around the world one time zone at a time.  Yeah, that's it.  By the time "the end" made it to Hawaii I would be behind the wheel of my new dream car.  By the time the lights went out in LA I'd be savoring my last bite of steak.  

As things got quiet in Denver I'd be assembling the kids and grand kidlettes in order to watch them open their Christmas presents.  Then we'd be off to the airport (no need for luggage....security should be a breeze!) where my private (rented) jet would be waiting to take us to maybe Paris....no....MONACO!  Wonder if we'd have time for a stopover in Switzerland?  I've never been there and it sounds pretty cool.

Hmmm....maybe I should have been accepting all those credit card offers I get every day in the mail that I've been pre-approved for.  We could've had one epic "Going Out With a Bang!" party.  Oh well, too late to worry about it now.

We could wind down the day in Singapore.  (Is that east or west of the IDL?  I'd better research it.)  Then we could sit and rest a while and thank God for all He's done for us and tell Him again what a great Boss he's been to us all.

Yep, I think I'll take today off work.  I have some shopping to do.  (But I'll keep the receipts just in case.)  *wink*

S

VERY encouraging signs....with EDIT

In my daily drives around town I've begun to pay attention to what's going on around me as opposed to just trying to get from Point A to Point B.   Here's what I've noticed just within 1 1/2 miles of my home:

Everywhere I looked I saw construction.  LOTS of it!  New apartments, retail, a hotel, and more than a few new office buildings.  Yes, I know Dallas and Houston and Austin and Texas in general are doing well, but I suspect if you paid attention when driving around Atlanta or Chicago or Boston or Denver you'd see something similar.

Either our economy is turning the corner as I write this *fingers crossed* or it's close at hand and these forward-looking companies are getting the jump on their competition.  

So, does Obama get credit for this?  Who knows.  I'm of the opinion the President can sit in the Oval Office late at night eating Cheetos and watching porn and he'll still get the credit for or the blame for whatever happens, whether he deserves it or not.  In most cases whatever a president does, for better or worse, isn't obvious until years later.  

You can credit Obama or the Easter Bunny or Batman for this light at the end of the tunnel, I don't care.  I'm just glad to see these encouraging signs.

S

EDIT....from USA Today:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Existing home sales jumped 7.8% in August to the highest level in more than two years, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

In an earlier report, U.S. builders started work on more homes in August, driven by the fastest pace of single-family home construction in more than two years.

Bazinga!

Craig's List came through for me again.  Yesterday evening I delivered to the new owner a beautiful framed signed/numbered print that used to hang over our fireplace, but for the past 2+ years has been leaning against the wall in our spare bedroom collecting dust.  We're slowly-but-surely disposing of stuff that we don't use so that when the day comes that we can move, hopefully to Colorado, moving will be a breeze and we can comfortably fit into a smaller, less expensive abode.  Read:  more money for fun activities/travels.  Fortunately I/we don't have much sentimental attachment to our "stuff", so letting it go isn't that difficult.


Speaking of Colorado, I see the first snow of the season has arrived in Denver.  That same storm will be arriving here in north Texas today, except in the form of 50 degree temps and rain.  I'm ready....let 'er rip.  Things here will be back to 70 and sunny by the weekend.  :)


In the news I see the too-big-to-fail European banks got a rude awakening.  They're being forced to write off half the value of the loans they made to Greece.  Looks like their greed bit 'em in the butt.  Whatever happened to prudent lending?  They should have known better.


Did you see where two members of the Italian Parliament got into a fistfight while "debating" the necessity of raising the retirement age to 67?  One accused the other's wife of retiring with a full pension at the ripe old age of 39, saying that's what's wrong with the system now.  Thirty nine?   Mama Mia!


S