So I keep noticing random things that are different in Texas/the south. Some of them are more obvious, like brand names. Best Foods mayonnaise is called Hellmans, Safeway is called Tom Thumb. Sonic, a fast food joint that's a fringe/niche place at best in the northwest is literally on every corner down here. There's an unreal concentration of fast food in general. Fast food places/Waffle Houses and donut shops are concentrated about as densely as coffee shops/stands/kiosks in downtown Portland.
But it's the more subtle things that catch my attention. Usually when I'm driving, hence why I forget to write them down. Down here road construction is done by "Work Convoys." More interesting, I think many of these convoys are private businesses contracted to maintain certain stretches of the highway.
Life flight is called Care Flight down here. I keep seeing signs advertising to "sign up" for care flight. I'm not sure if that means they won't come and get you unless you have signed up, but it seems like another example of privatizing things we're used to just getting in the northwest. It makes me wonder if the services are better or worse with this system.
In the grocery store brand names aren't the only difference. Maybe the high number of donut shops is to blame but the typical grocery store bakery has a slim selection of donuts. Most stores have Krispy Kreme donuts for sale (I have resisted thus far). Bottled water is called bottle water and I seem to recall seeing both Ketchup and Catsup.
That's all I can think of at the moment, though I'm sure there are more things that are slipping my mind.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Grab Bag
Lest I forget to keep the information flowing I suppose it's time to add another update. The days are starting to stack end to end like train cars. Each one is sunny and hot. Some are windy others are calm and humid. I get up, head to work come home and either golf or hit the treadmill.
As a result I don't usually eat dinner until 8 or so, which means I keep it light. LOTS of fruit. Which is good, since the watermelons down here are like 30% bigger than any we get in the northwest. Not EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas (apples for example, coffee shops, the sweater section of stores etc.) but the watermelons do seem to be on the large side.
I've also discovered why short-sleeved dress shirts exist. When temperatures flirt with triple-digits on a regular basis they become a fact of life. Very glad that the dress shirt and tie or sports jacket is not required here as it was at NPUC.
It's been nice to enjoy the pool as well. Although I kinda overdid it the first time I was out there so I've been trying to be extra careful to make sure I don't peel.
Let's see... anything else to report? I didn't get the French Bulldog I applied for from the rescue. Probably a good thing. A dog is a pretty hefty expense up front. Even if I get a free puppy out of a box I have to pay a $250 pet deposit at my apartment. It might be better to get more settled in before I go that route, even thought that might be less fun.
I think that's about it for now. We'll see if anything else develops.
As a result I don't usually eat dinner until 8 or so, which means I keep it light. LOTS of fruit. Which is good, since the watermelons down here are like 30% bigger than any we get in the northwest. Not EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas (apples for example, coffee shops, the sweater section of stores etc.) but the watermelons do seem to be on the large side.
I've also discovered why short-sleeved dress shirts exist. When temperatures flirt with triple-digits on a regular basis they become a fact of life. Very glad that the dress shirt and tie or sports jacket is not required here as it was at NPUC.
It's been nice to enjoy the pool as well. Although I kinda overdid it the first time I was out there so I've been trying to be extra careful to make sure I don't peel.
Let's see... anything else to report? I didn't get the French Bulldog I applied for from the rescue. Probably a good thing. A dog is a pretty hefty expense up front. Even if I get a free puppy out of a box I have to pay a $250 pet deposit at my apartment. It might be better to get more settled in before I go that route, even thought that might be less fun.
I think that's about it for now. We'll see if anything else develops.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Weekend
At long last, a very long and photo-heavy update of all sorts of things.
I don't even really remember what I did on Friday. I think I just relaxed around the homestead. I had grand ambitions to get up really early and golf before it was hot/crowded, but I couldn't drag myself out of bed in time. So I indulged in air conditioning, did my usual grocery run, got my car washed and sipped some iced coffee.
Oh yah! Right before sundown I drove out to downtown Cleburne. I had seen it a while before and it looked like a pretty cool place to shoot some pictures. Turns out I was right since I saw like 3 photo studios and 2 senior portrait shoots in a 3 block radius. It kinda reminded me of Oshkosh, WI and a few other midwest towns I stumbled through. It's always amazing how much older things are than what I'm used to. Plus I think the climate down here just ages things really hard:
Random aside: It's kinda funny but I've really been enjoying fried egg sandwiches lately. I think I had maybe had 2 in my life before I moved down here,and over the last month or so I've had at least one a week. It's a good breakfast, a light lunch or a solid breakfast for dinner option. Same with breakfast burritos, but those are more substantial.
On Sabbath I went to church and then decided to finally get out to the pool. It was packed and I felt very hairy and pale. Turns out my self-consciousness was a good thing since I was actually hairy and PINK. Aloe baths here I come. After some time inside I decided to go run on the treadmill. I thought I was just 3 miles away from reaching the next level on Nike+ (155 miles total) so I decided to do a 5k. I know the exercise room is colder than it is outside but I was sweating buckets by the time I got done. And it turned out I needed like 3.9 miles to reach the green level. What a mean trick!
I was determined to seize the day today so I took a Tylenol PM at 8pm and was in bed by 9:30. I set three different alarms, starting at 7am and still didn't managed to get up until 9:30. Boo! The last time I checked the poll the Farmers Market was in the lead so that was my plan for today. If I had known what it was all about I would not have bought any produce on Friday. Onward we go:
It's not as much arts and crafts as it is just four buildings of solid produce.
Fresh produce...
Fresh local produce...
Fresh colorful local produce...
Fresh juicy colorful local produce...
Disgusting gag-reflex-inducing local produce lol
I thought this was the greatest find of the day... and then I found the $1 cantaloupes!
I didn't find out until I actually parked that each of the buildings is a big covered parking lot with stands all around the outside. It's a pretty slick setup, but it looked like a zoo getting in and out. (avoids going into a tangential commentary on Texas drivers...)
And even though nobody voted for it I decided to visit the JFK Memorial, since it was like a mile from the Farmers Market. I didn't go to the museum, or buy any of the conspiracy newspapers that like 50 guys there were selling. I did find it funny that people seemed more interested in the grassy knoll than the book depository.
The spot
The trees may have been shorter back then, but it honestly doesn't look like a very difficult shot for a decent marksman
The grassy knoll
A very cool old building nearby.
So when I got done wandering around Downtown Dallas (in the upper 90's) I decided it would be a good idea to run 2 miles on the treadmill. THEN I decided it would be a good idea to play 9 holes of golf (walking). After all that the pool could barely bring me back. We're only in the second week of June and the water is already almost too warm to be refreshing. As of right now I have eaten 1/3 of a 18-20 pound watermelon, two oranges and washed it down with a half a gallon of water.
Carpe Diem
As always, more photos on Flickr (click on any of the pictures to go there) if you haven't already been overloaded. :P
I don't even really remember what I did on Friday. I think I just relaxed around the homestead. I had grand ambitions to get up really early and golf before it was hot/crowded, but I couldn't drag myself out of bed in time. So I indulged in air conditioning, did my usual grocery run, got my car washed and sipped some iced coffee.
Oh yah! Right before sundown I drove out to downtown Cleburne. I had seen it a while before and it looked like a pretty cool place to shoot some pictures. Turns out I was right since I saw like 3 photo studios and 2 senior portrait shoots in a 3 block radius. It kinda reminded me of Oshkosh, WI and a few other midwest towns I stumbled through. It's always amazing how much older things are than what I'm used to. Plus I think the climate down here just ages things really hard:
Random aside: It's kinda funny but I've really been enjoying fried egg sandwiches lately. I think I had maybe had 2 in my life before I moved down here,and over the last month or so I've had at least one a week. It's a good breakfast, a light lunch or a solid breakfast for dinner option. Same with breakfast burritos, but those are more substantial.
On Sabbath I went to church and then decided to finally get out to the pool. It was packed and I felt very hairy and pale. Turns out my self-consciousness was a good thing since I was actually hairy and PINK. Aloe baths here I come. After some time inside I decided to go run on the treadmill. I thought I was just 3 miles away from reaching the next level on Nike+ (155 miles total) so I decided to do a 5k. I know the exercise room is colder than it is outside but I was sweating buckets by the time I got done. And it turned out I needed like 3.9 miles to reach the green level. What a mean trick!
I was determined to seize the day today so I took a Tylenol PM at 8pm and was in bed by 9:30. I set three different alarms, starting at 7am and still didn't managed to get up until 9:30. Boo! The last time I checked the poll the Farmers Market was in the lead so that was my plan for today. If I had known what it was all about I would not have bought any produce on Friday. Onward we go:
It's not as much arts and crafts as it is just four buildings of solid produce.
Fresh produce...
Fresh local produce...
Fresh colorful local produce...
Fresh juicy colorful local produce...
Disgusting gag-reflex-inducing local produce lol
I thought this was the greatest find of the day... and then I found the $1 cantaloupes!
I didn't find out until I actually parked that each of the buildings is a big covered parking lot with stands all around the outside. It's a pretty slick setup, but it looked like a zoo getting in and out. (avoids going into a tangential commentary on Texas drivers...)
And even though nobody voted for it I decided to visit the JFK Memorial, since it was like a mile from the Farmers Market. I didn't go to the museum, or buy any of the conspiracy newspapers that like 50 guys there were selling. I did find it funny that people seemed more interested in the grassy knoll than the book depository.
The spot
The trees may have been shorter back then, but it honestly doesn't look like a very difficult shot for a decent marksman
The grassy knoll
A very cool old building nearby.
So when I got done wandering around Downtown Dallas (in the upper 90's) I decided it would be a good idea to run 2 miles on the treadmill. THEN I decided it would be a good idea to play 9 holes of golf (walking). After all that the pool could barely bring me back. We're only in the second week of June and the water is already almost too warm to be refreshing. As of right now I have eaten 1/3 of a 18-20 pound watermelon, two oranges and washed it down with a half a gallon of water.
Carpe Diem
As always, more photos on Flickr (click on any of the pictures to go there) if you haven't already been overloaded. :P
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
On Tour
A weekend is nearly upon me. It's going to be a hot one, but I'm determined to get out and do something active. That's where you come in. I'm inviting you to get touristy with me this weekend. What DFW attraction shall we hit up?
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