I wanna go back ...

... to the island,
where the shrimpboats tie up to the pilin'.
Give me oysters and beer,
for dinner every day of the year,
and I'll be fine.

So, we made it back from Key West Sunday morning, 7 a.m. It's a 22.5 hour drive, half of which is just Florida. Dave said that the drive from the southernmost point of the U.S. to Pensacola, which is the westernmost point of Florida was "surreal." I said it was boring. Honestly, I slept from Shreveport to East Texas.

If you were wondering, yes, there are photos, almost 100 of them. Check them out on Flickr.

Here's a taste:

Our Top-Down Future

No, I'm not talking about convertibles here, but about a method of organization that is entrenched in American culture: top-down management. I can't really think of a branch of government or an economically successful organization that doesn't use a top-down form of organization, where the final word rests in a board of directors and a CEO, with the board being a kind of mirage of stockholder autonomy in a bought-and-sold-by-the-share market. Many people may own a publicly traded company, but in truth only one person really controls it.

Same with our government. In the press you see the president take the heat, World-Bank chief Wolfowitz get an ouster over bad management practices and House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi getting sound bites left and right, telling conservatives "Whoa there!" but posing no solutions to our problems. All this makes our government look like a circus ruled by apes -- entertaining, but going nowhere.

So, in this system, where power is veritably concentrated and corrupted, nothing really changes except vacuous, self-serving laws. Most change that happens on a large scale is engineered by demographic shifts and market changes that are almost independent. These changes are large-scale differences in mentality, the mentality of citizen consumers.

So, lately people in my neck of the woods have been all atwitter over immigration problems, a problem so entrenched in society that our government has no real answers to. At least, answers that have any real hope of working. One side says, "Build a fence!" but fences can be climbed over and tunneled under. Another says, "Deport them all!" but splitting families of legal-born citizens from their illegal immigrant parents creates a burden of orphans and wards of the state, and they knew this when they had children here. "Penalize companies that hire them!" cries someone else, but when companies have to increase wages to attract another labor pool, this will cut into profits and thus, prices for goods and services will increase.

So, all of these top-down, federally mandated answers seem a little silly when you think about it. Though, how do we solve the cultural, societal and economic woes that are wrecking American culture without causing more damage than good? I think the answer lies in the proposed solutions. If the strategy leaves much to be desired, then the strategy is lacking. Change strategies.

Something happened last week in North Texas. A small community called Farmers Branch, very close to Dallas, approved an ordinance that would restrict illegal immigrants from renting apartment in the area. All apartment managers would have to verify that the lessors in the complex were legal citizens.

This seems fundamental enough -- community tires of negative impact of illegal immigrants and decides to prohibit them from living in some areas, thus reducing the resident population of illegal immigrants. But this doesn't keep illegals from living in rented houses, or keep them from working in the area, or keep them from having a market impact. It just says that they can't live in apartments in Farmers Branch.

This is an examptle of democracy, or the opposite of top-down managment, or even more liberally, Populism. People that voted wanted a change, they formulated a very calculated rule to have a specific impact on property owned in the area, a protracted attempt at immigration reform. It passed.

Too bad we'll probably never know whether or not it would have worked.

Too bad that today, Federal Judge Sam Lindsay overturned the ordinance, saying that immigration is a federal issue, an issue that should be solved on the Congressional level, which happens to be cluttered with top-down, power hungry sycophants.

Too bad our social experiment of democracy isn't what our democratically elected leaders want.

Blogging on holiday

So, Matt blogged while he was on vacation in the Pitts. I don't know if I'll have access to a computer while I'm away, so I don't know if I'll be on here for a week! I really want to post updates and piccies, but we'll see what happens. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the hurricane season is staved while I am on a rather tiny island.

Otherwise, the weather is here, wish you were beautiful!

XOXOXO

Center of the Universe indeed

We were supposed to crash at a friend's house in San Antonio on Friday, but because plans with them fell through we stayed in Dallas and left for the Texas Hill Country on Saturday after Yoga class. The drive was bumpy; I-35 is the worst interstate highway by far, worse than I-45 only due to it's condition because there's plenty to look at from the road.

When we arrived at our friend's digs, we unloaded and headed out for a beer or two (or three) at a wonderful, mystical joint emblazoned with a bold sign toutint "HILLS & DALE'S -- CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE!"

We walked in from the overcast afternoon to a sparsely lit ice house with a concrete floor. The spartan main room was decorated with plank picnic tables and a billiards area in back. But the main attraction was covering the side of a main wall: AN ENORMOUS BEER REFRIGERATOR!

The wallside cooler was stocked to the gills with any and every kind of imported beer and malt you could crave. They even had St. Peters and our favorite Oatmeal Stout!

I started off with my pint of Guiness and then had a couple of bottles of St. Peters and one of Sam Smith. I was so full of fuzzies that I barely ate dinner! From there we went to Floore's Country Store, Dave's favorite music hall. We listened to Jay Farrar and Son Volt play, had a frozen margarita (or two) and headed back, where I crashed and burned!

The next morning we washed off the previous night, had biscuits and country muffins and washed it down with copious carafes of coffee, black. Well, I washed it down with black coffee, but Dave has to have frou-frou in his cuppa joe, you know what I'm saying, sugar cream and all that! We swapped cds to upload to iPods, gushed about our vacation and then we were a gonner!

Hours later we were back in Dallas again, with laundry to do and loose ends to tie up. I love weekend trips but the reality of the work week is a bummer, especially before an all too short vacation in the American Caribbean!

Making my vote count

Today is the final day for early voting in the May 12 election. Because I'll be on the beach May 12, I need to vote today.

Earlier this workday we were running down predictions on what the Sunday headlines would read the day after. My wager:

Dallas Mayoral runoff between Don Hill and Tom Leppert; Farmers Branch passes immigrant rental ordinance; Prop 1 passes by a mile

Any other Dallasites out there wanna take a shot at 'er?

I could go on, and on, and on...

Food is the one thing that I can easily talk about for hours. I'm in love with the stuff. Really, any kind of cooking method, any kind of recipe, ingredient, flavoring or hardware -- I'll gab to the person closest and most interested. Which is why I was likely stunned this morning when I sat down next to what looked like a punky, disenfranchised gal. I chose her because I had inadvertently left my iPod at home (in my godforsaken gym bag!)and she appeared to be the least likely person to bother me on my downtown-bound train ride. I was wrong.

I quickly fell into the seat next to said punky girl, unzipped my case and unsheathed my dog-eared copy of Family Circle, which I subscribe to mostly for the recipes and home tips. As I was leafing to the back to scope out the recipes, Punky queried, "Do you cook?" Flabberghasted by the sound coming from Punky's direction, I slowly turned my face to hers and said "HUH?"

Yes, I love to cook, Punky. She then asked me a whole bunch of questions like, what do I like to cook most, am I married, does my husband appreciate my cooking (to which I registered a resounding "Of course!") and did I learn to cook from my mom (yes and no; I learned a few key things from mom, like how to follow the directions on the box and that to make fluffy scrambled eggs you add water, not milk, but I did not develop my passion for cooking until much later). It was a very pleasant conversation, and to think I would have completely missed it had I remembered my iPod, which is still lodged in my godforsaken gym bag!

We parted ways and she said that she appreciated the tips on flavoring rice and using a slow cooker, and that she was thinking about moving to Austin, mostly for the nicer political climate and environmentally savvy politics. Yeah, I'd move to Austin, too, Punky, but then I'd miss out on experiences like our little chat.

It's a good thing when it's gone

So, I've lost another pound. I just might look decent in a bikini this vacation after all! The downside? I've become a food Nazi. I've been counting calories like Scrooge McDuck appraises his pool of cash. I've been limiting my intake to 1,200 to 1,500 calories daily, 500 to 800 below what is needed to maintain, and I've started running 2.5 miles daily with a healthy regimen of yoga and weights.

I'd almost given up on my goal, which I made in January. The scale was stuck at 150 lbs. and for three months there was seemingly nothing I could do to get it to budge! I was working with a personal trainer to get my cardio routine together and do exercises to tone the hail damaged areas of my mushy physique. All that was left was diet. I abhor dieting. I just love food, and depriving myself of food that I love seemed awful. I didn't think I was going to be able to do this.

But, I then became addicted to Hungry Girl, which is a great resource for fast, easy and healthy substitutions for the stuff that I love. And I really cannot say enough about how important getting enough fiber is to losing weight. You've gotta eat whole grains, raw veggies and suppliment when necessary with psyllium husk powder.

So, hopefully I'll have some brilliant photos when I come back from vacation! Keep your fingers crossed!

Weekend bliss, Vacation angst

A weekend among family is always welcome. They're so much fun to be around; my dad is a really unique individual. He loves his daughters, and he loves sharing his life with others. He could talk baseball with Dave, show off his new pistol grips, talk about his trips to the deer lease or go on and on about small block Chevys. And he cares about whatever you bring to the table. Morning debates around a high-fiber breakfast, fresh coffee and blue jays are the best.

It seems though, that I can never make enough time to visit. I'm always eager to get back "home" and reluctant to leave. We have dinner and conversation, watch baseball and hang out, and then all of the sudden they're waving good bye in the driveway as Dave almost backs into one of the nefarious trees that come out of nowhere (I've collided with my fair share of them). Before that, Jessica, Brent, Sara and Kara were drawing figures in the dingy accumulation on my car's hood, and Fitzgerald was relegated to the guest room upstairs because he just couldn't get along with a 100-lb. black lab, an overly playful Jack Russell terrier and Ginger (Zoe), the mutt with a heart of gold.

One thing that I noticed about my family is their love of food in large quantities. My mom opened a container of oatmeal raisin cookies on Sunday around lunch time; they were gone shortly thereafter. The cookies were 140 calories each! That's insane! With some of them eating two, I could see how throwing caution into the wind like they do could be consequential to their midsection. Although I didn't partake, I felt strangely guilty that I didn't grab the carton of cookies and slam dunk them into the waste bin! It's for their own good!!!

So, it's become obvious that although I've been working pretty darn hard to lose the weight before we vacation in Key West, I'm still about 8 to 10 lbs. short of my goal. That sucks, because I was looking forward to finally having pictures that I love to plaster all over our home. "This is a shot of me and Dave sunning on a lovely pier on the island. Don't I look fabulous?" Instead, it'll be more like, "Here's Dave and ... What is this? How did a manatee manage to get into ... Oh wait... That's me! This is where I was in my bikini and didn't lose all that fat I said I was going to... yeah, one too many trips to my parents' house!"

And to top it all off, I can't figure out what to do for Dave's birthday. It'll be while were at Key West. I wanted to plan a super-secret special day trip for him, but I can't figure anything out. There's no baseball in the area, he's already been to the island. All I can think of is hitting a nice restaurant for a romantic dinner and giving him a fabulous gift, which also still escapes me! And 35 is kind of a milestone, so I want to do something memorable (although, we will be on Key West, what's not memorable about that!?). Maybe I can have the kitchen at the Bed and Breakfast we're staying at make him a birthday cake that I can surprise him with on the morning of his birthday... And then have something crazy planned, like I dunno, horseback riding or something... GIMME SOME IDEAS, FOLKS!!!

Also, what do you get a guy that has everything baseball, that he'll absolutely flip for, and won't totally kill my budget!!! ARGH!

So it goes...

Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.

-Kurt Vonnegut

News has just reached my desk that the world's most revered Humanist, Kurt Vonnegut, has died. His fatalistic, morally quixotic and dubiously contrived works, including his most famous novel Slaughterhouse Five, earned him the fame that eluded him early in life.

I remember during our trip to San Francisco, we made a few stops at City Lights Books, a Beat Generation mainstay with poetry and philosophy from every continent a large contingent on its shelves. Vonnegut was the only thing that quenched my literary appetite, and I left City Lights with a new copy of Slaugherhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions. If you haven't read these Vonnegut classics, you're missing out.

Vonnegut was a man that wrote in such a way that compelled you to at least try to understand ideas that would normally be repulsive. His style was dictated by his early years as a hard-news journalist, a reporter at a Chicago newspaper's city desk. That style made his novels easy to read, easy to follow and easily consumed by readers that may not be so adept with philosophy. He's told stories of near-death tea parties with modern icons and has attracted a diverse yet critical following with tales of planets far away and people near and dear.

Vonnegut died due to brain injuries from a fall several weeks ago.

Get green, make green

Sheryl Crow and Laurie David (wife of Larry David, creator of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm) just rode into the sunset in their biodiesel-powered tour bus to start the "Stop Global Warming College Tour." Kicking the tour off at Southern Methodist University, the soon-to-be-home of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and think tank, i.e. they Anti-Kyoto Monument of Environmental Ennui, may have been a less-than-optimal choice for the sassy duo.

As Crow and David made the media rounds yesterday, people in my line of work started debating just what they could accomplish by handing out energy-efficient light bulbs, doing a slide show and singing a couple new-folk songs. The debate then evolved to a global scale: These two harbingers of the global climate change end-times are trying to motivate Americans to do something for our planet at the grassroots. What if America really started, as a means of necessity, to make our country more ecologically friendly? What if we started to take coal-burning power plants offline and constructed new and more environmentally feasible energy sources? What would that kind of large scale investment (investments with dubious or unknown rates of return are calculated as losses) do to our economy? What if China and India don't follow suit, and for every one coal-fired power plant that we take down, they construct two more?

I kind of stopped listening when somebody asked if we would be willing to bomb China to stop them from polluting. That's a new concept to me: hurting the world to save it? That's like a coyote chewing its arm off to escape a trap, right?

But then I began to think, why are such ecological improvements necessarily a loss? Why would new construction and taking down older polluting plants be economically harmful? Why must ecological improvement and economic growth be mutually exclusive? It seems a bit specious to me.

Look at San Francisco, Calif., or Seattle, Wash., or Portland, Ore., or Madison, Wisc., or even Austin! These cities are striving towards sustainability; abating environmental impact to the point which the environmental gains negate human impact. All of these cities are not only environmentally friendly, but are also economic powerhouses. The investment in their infrastructure to make the cities cleaner, safer and more ecologically integrated has made them attractive, boosting land values and making them sought-after locations for creative-types and progressive firms.

Dallas could do this, too. We could be come the next green-living outpost. Too bad we've got business leaders and council members that would cut their noses off to spite their faces. They'd rather have toll roads running through our greenspace and intruding upon what was supposed to be our own verson of Golden Gate Park... It's too bad that we won't have a dense urban core, afforable multi-family highrises or a downtown peppered with well-manicured parks and recreational facilities. It's too bad that companies come to Dallas looking for a steal, and then they really do, they steal from the communities' investment in infrastructure, developing reinvestment zones that take tax revenue from the city for new bells and whistles for their towers of babel.

What will get us there? What will make us as beautiful and preserved as San Francisco? As ecologically sound as Eugene, Ore. or Seattle? Progressive leadership -- a commodity that we sorely lack.

To make Dallas whole

I fell hard into my uncomfortable chair at work, the recoil of the hydraulic lift making my bean soup slosh gently. The warm bowl in my lap and my cool caesar salad on my desk, I thought about how I hadn't blogged in such a long while. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, mostly while baking bread and doing yoga at the gym. I've been wondering if I really had anything to say at all.

Sure I'd read something that would make my blood boil, but how on earth do you really speak out about anything if your job is the proverbial cat with your tongue? So, I've decided that I'll get back to the nitty gritty of Dallas, what's wrong, what's right and what we should do about our myriad problems.

If you're ever in Dallas and want to have a pleasant trip, do not talk about race, ever. That's like pulling a lion's tail, especially if you're white. It would make what Don Imus is coming back from look trivial. So, it's astonishing that in our Legislature, two lawmakers are asking that the state formally apologize for slavery. Note, they're not from Dallas, but Houston also has a history of racial tension.

So, it's really peculiar that so many racially charged issues are on the floor in the Texas House. On March 21, David Swinford effectively killed a bill from Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, that would disallow the removal of any memorial plaques or statues from state property without the approval of the Legislature, including several Confederate memorials at the University of Texas that have recently drawn fire.

Not that I agree with slaveholding, Southern, belly-up aristocracy, but history is history, even the ugly parts. Will an apology do any good at resolving centuries of ingrained racial dischord? Not really, but if it makes Texas and it's pussilanimous Legislature feel better, then sure, go ahead and apologize for slavery.

But instead of just an apology, a third-rate collection of words officially saying "Gee, we're real sorry about the whole indentured servitude thing, forgive?" How about we do something that will really change the tides of race relations and its associated poverty, something that will wash away the geographical dividing lines that still segregate. Why don't we do something meaningful instead of asking a bunch of completely oblivious white dudes to say "I'm sorry" for something their ancestors did?

With the money the Texas House has wasted debating an apology for slavery we could have gotten started with programs keeping black kids in school, providing their parents with opportunities to start over, to break the cycle of poverty, to end their relegation to Dallas' "Southern Sector" and to dissolve fifedoms of racial inequity through combined community investment.

Nah, that'd make way too much sense.

Four cups to shake the cobwebs

For the past few nights I've been so restless, and I haven't been able to sleep. I'd toss and turn and roll over again and again, but nothing could keep me comfortable enough to make me go to sleep and stay that way. Not even my dashing husband and his loyal mutt!

But last night was different. I skipped cardio at the gym and did Marj's Iyengar yoga class only. We did lots of backbends and a few twists, no inversion, but Savasana, some Pranayama and some chanting. I came home though, to only panic about dinner. I couldn't figure out what to make! It was the end of the week, and pickings were slim. There were a few sprigs of cilantro, some silken tofu, whole wheat tortillas... I got the genius idea to make enchiladas! But, wait... I've never made enchiladas before...

So, I created a whole new animal: The Enchilada Lasagna! Layers of whole wheat tortillas separated a spicy mixture of sauteed onions, red peppers and celery in a tomato and green chile base, with a middle layer of chicken and corn, all laden with a thick, creamy cilantro/tomato/tofu sauce! Baked for 30 minutes and served with long grain and wild rice with black beans... Tasty!

Satisfied, I cleaned up after dinner and retired. My creativity was spent, I had no mental energy left. I crawled into bed and minutes later I was in a peaceful, uninterrupted slumber, only to be stopped by the annoying soliliquy of my alarm clock.

Now, Friday morning with so much junk to do at the office because three key staffers are out today, I'm having to down cup after cup of hot fresh java to get the gears turning in my cranium!

Tonight we're going to Benihana for my brother-in-law Marcus' birthday. Tomorrow, we look for houses, and tomorrow night, Kara is coming to town! YAY!!!

Hope I can blog again soon, with pictures!

Stuff I luv!

I know you're all dying to know what I think about the new Trinity River Project plans for a toll road inside the river's corridor, but until I see a few key pieces of evidence, you'll just have to wait. In the mean time, I'm going to share just a few products that I've grown to absolutely adore!

1) Aveda Blue Oil: This pepperminty oil comes in a roll-on vial that easily and weightlessly smooths on skin in areas that you feel tense or need relaxing. It's cooling and warming, with a divine scent and gentle tingle. A little bit on achy muscles before bed is a recipe for relaxation!










2) Aveeno Skin brightening Daily scrub: Gentle little beads in a creamy oatmeal-infused base exfoliate gently to reduce the size of pores. It's easy on dry, irritated skin and won't clog pores. Admission: I have occasional hormonal acne around my mouth and chin, but using this regularly keeps my face clearer without using harsh chemicals.













3) Aveda Hand Relief: This was a real skin saver this dry Dallas winter. Smooth on just a little of this rich, creamy lotion with an awesome scent and it almost instantly heals hardened little mitts!












4) Bath and Body Works Black Rasberry Vanilla: You've just got to smell it. Oh-so-sweet!

I loaf you!

One of my coworkers just complimented my sandwich, and that wasn't a euphemism for a body part, she really was telling me that my lunch looked tasty -- my deli sliced turkey and ham sandwich with sprouts, tomato, red onion, dijon mustard and red cabbage between two slices of fresh, home-made whole wheat bread.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

There's something alluring in home-made goodies. All the hands-on labor that went into it, nothing automated, just a few beautiful, many-flawed things. No cellophane, no preservatives, no barcodes or labels. Just a firm yet squishy, dense loaf of good-for-you stone ground wheat.

It's the same with the coffee we buy from the roasters down the street, or the herb garden I'm planting in my back yard. It's like the scarves I made my family for Christmas last year, the curtains I sewed for our living room. All of these things are beautiful if only because they were loved bit by bit.

That's a lot of what's missing these days. We pollute so much, but it's because we're pressed for time, we'd rather have our mass-produced "gourmet" coffee than the delicious espresso from the roaster down the street that's only open Monday through Saturday, 7 A.M. to 6 P.M., but while you're there, check out their local produce cooler for a few fresh veggies.

This all comes down to planning, believe it or not. We live in cities and towns that are approved and built by a small swath of representatives and commissions. These people, supposedly operating in the city's best interest, award contracts and city development changes to people who want to make money off of the citizens in return for a service. The low-income developer wants a zoning change of residential, single-family areas to multi-family areas to make more dense groups of people closer to an existing retail intersection and near a proposed mass transit hub. This is an example of good planning.

More often is the case though, that the zoning change will go to the developer paying off more council members or commission representatives. Such is the case in Dallas, where you can't get needed mass transit to relive congested highways because people in Southern Dallas swear up and down that they've been neglected for so long that mass transit is the only way to relieve their economic and developmental poverty. Not so, I say, since I notice that most people who ride the light-rail lines through downtown get off at Union Station in droves before the lines make the leap into South Dallas. Why? because there's nothing there worth riding towards.

First, build it, then transit will come. But we have a culture of poor planning in Dallas. The area it self is shaped like a hand giving the bird -- much of Dallas itself that is populated by the rich and the influential sits at the North, whereas poverty-stricken South Dallas has few if any wealthy or influential groups, neighborhoods or business.

Putting transit in place and the hoping that business will follow is a very bad idea. First you need good infrastructure from the city -- the two slices of fresh, home-made whole wheat -- then you build it with the meat, the families -- to be topped off by the array of goodies, like the sprouts, cabbage, tomato and onion; flavors that will mix and meld and make the whole sandwich, the city, the neighborhood, that much better.

If you can't stand the heat...

... turn the bleedin' oven off!

For the first time since October, it was actually warm in my kitchen. Dave and I have officially survived this house for one year. *Scattered Applause* I know, it's hard to believe, especially since the place is a seive and has no central air. We're thinking of buying a house, and if we do, I'm going to go mad with a caulking gun. We're going to re-insulate everything and make the sucker totally energy efficient. The only thing I'm concerned about is that if we move to a house out of our current neighborhood, we have to change gyms. And we might have to reconfigure our commutes. Two very undesirable situations. I like our commute, I like my gym, I like my yoga classes... Harrumph...

But, back to the kitchen. Saturday, after early yoga, a little inspired shopping and pulling weeds and tending my garden, I developed a vegetarian gumbo recipe! I call it, "Joanna's vegetarian post-modern gumbo" for it's use of white wine, vegetarian sausage, whole okra, bits of Boca crumbles, a white roux, (made it myself, thankyouverymuch!) halved new potatoes with long strips sweet onions, whole garlic cloves and sauteed red peppers. All that stewed up with cayenne pepper, gumbo file and cumin with a bay leaf and some sage. It was served over a bed of herbed brown rice. YUMMY!

Not to be outdone, Sunday was quite the clip with a thorough home yoga practice and a run through the neighborhood with Fitzgerald. I hung out with Dave for a bit, trying my salmon dip on for size again (could have only been better with walnuts and some fresh parmesan), went to the market to pick up a few things, and then I got to baking:

First, from-scratch basil tomato pizza with marinated tofu


Then a loaf of whole wheat bread (it actually turned out!!!)


And from-scratch key lime pie


That was my first attempt (successful!!!) at making meringue, which is the golden and white topping on the key lime pie. That little knob to the left is a key lime, and must've squeezed God knows how many of the suckers to make the darn pie. Totally labor intensive, but well worth the effort.

I hope you folks are salivating, I'll show you what it looks like from the inside tonight! The gorgeous thing is setting firmly in our fridge, awaiting our own just desserts!

Lobstera: Queen of the shellfish

Sunburned? Me? Actually, my archnemesis, Shrimp Boat Captain, dipped me halfway into a pot of boiling brine before my army of crustaceans was able to rescue me. That's why my arms and neck are a punchy shade of crimson.

All right. Fine. I went golfing, and idiot that I am, I forgot to put on sunscreen. Conditions were perfect for a less than average 18-holes and a skin searing. Had fun though.







Jessica's wedding was this past weekend, and it was neat getting all gussied up with my sisters. I ran around, hammed it up and acted like a complete ass. Worth it. Totally. This whole weekend really reminded me why I treasure my family like I do. They just get me, you know? Like we speak our own language when we're together, so many memories tangled up that one word or phrase can make them flood an entire room with laughter.

Thursday night, when we arrived at my parents house, we had wine (3 bottles) and cheese with roasted chicken. I was so spoiled this past weekend with great food and wine. I'll be punishing myself this week for all that gastronomic sin. Like my sunburn isn't punishment enough, right?

Hopefully I'll have pictures from my sister Sara to post here later. In the mean time, take a look at that crazy backswing!!!

Deluded enough to work?

It's been a long time since I've blogged about Dallas, the armpit of the South. Come March 12, the filing deadline for mayoral candidates in Dallas, we'll either have a bevy of would-be exercisors in futility, or just a few annointed business-class mouthpieces. Just a few weeks ago, 21 local nutjobs announced that they had campaign treasurers, a precursor to announcing candidacy. Most, if not all (I'm not going to bother with the specifics) have now announced. Most of these half-wits have not qualified for the ballot, which requires about 475 signatures (reasonable, if you ask me) from registered voters.

So, since so many people tossed their hat into the ring initially, why all the foot-dragging to make it official? Heck, why even bother with running for mayor? I mean, the position has almost no power, we're a weak-mayor/city manager city with 14 districts/wards that hardly see eye to eye. Dallas has no single person that can make the executive decisions that Dallas needs, no one to be ultimately accountible, no one to open doors and close windows, no one to make sure that what's in Dallas' best interest is held higher than what is in one council members' interest. Dallas has no Rudy Giuliani, no person to clean up the streets because we need it. In fact, if someone even aspired to do this, a councilmember would be threatened with that kind of power and sabotage the only way to turn this dying city around.

About a month ago, two of the annointed candidates were discovered to be members of the racially exclusive Dallas Country Club. In fact, one of them left the Anglo upper-crust because a black man was recently refused membership (something to do with his previous affilitations with progressive black and racially oriented action groups). The other annointee? Still a member, but mostly because he doesn't sit on the board that choses those who gain membership to the club. The other annointee, did.

In other mayorally pertinent developments, Don Hill, current southern sector City Council member who will be ousted due to term limits, is running for mayor. Good for him, except for the fact that he is currently under investigation by the FBI for possibly being on an unscrupulous developer's take. Not only that, but it wasn't too long ago that Don Hill was driving a BMW that he had "earned the right" to drive. How does an elected municipal officer "earn" the right to drive a BMW that doesn't belong to him? Was it provided by a campaign contributor? If so, that's a big electoral no-no. Actually, the owner of the BMW, Sheila Farrington, was a business associate of the unscrupulous developer, and Mr. Hill's girlfriend, for whom he would later divorce his wife and then turn around and marry once the ink dried.

That's a great example of what Dallas is up against when it comes to politics. Who's to blame? Where, or to whom do we look to find and solve the problems that plague our city politics, and in turn plague our city?

The problem is not a who or where, it's the way our city is organized; it's our single-member districts that have created sectors and viceroys with no inherent leader to unite them. Yeah, there's a mayor, but what's a mayor's purpose if they are equal to the council? They are employees with executive titles. It's the office that so many people are willing to run for on platforms of change and equality yet they should know after two strong mayor referendums that it just ain't gonna happen. Dallas doesn't get a strong mayor, a system that actually has a chance of working because the other 14 council members don't want to relinquish any power, even for the greater good. This results in an absolute lack of accountability; there is no final word, only a recumbent blame game, where fingers are pointed and accusations are thrown like proverbial bombs among the racially and socially segregated wards, the fifedoms of Dallas.

Once when I first moved here and knew little about the history of Dallas, I thought how cool it would be to start a unity campaign, how neat it would be to actually have ALL of Dallas come together and try to get things done. I was riddled with idealism, I thought that it was possible, but now I know better. You see, southern sector city council members will continue to chase the illusion that if they have control over their districts, then everything will be okay. Well, everything is definately not okay. It's not okay in Oak Cliff, it's not okay in Southern Dallas, it's not okay anywhere south of the Trinity. People are still moving out in droves, crime, murder, burglary, gangs and poverty still choke Dallas in areas that are historically neglected or newly inundated with the poor. Fair Park is a detritus strewn shadow of its former greatness. Pleasant Grove is anything but. What will it take for Dallas to leave ward politics to the past?

Why the hell would you want to run for mayor in Dallas knowing all this?

Driving ambition

It was my first road trip in my new car. Last week there was so much anticipation surrounding that Friday afternoon departure that when I left Dallas in such miserable weather, the sky half dark and my windshield wipers sweeping the drops from my view, I was let down, very disappointed. When I had visualized the windows down, sunshades on, hair blowing in the wind with my favorite rock tunes blaring, rain and bumper-to-bumper traffic seemed like the shaft.

And then, when I got to Conroe, everyone was just hanging out at home and no one wanted to go out! Sara and Brent rented a movie, Kara was at Mom and Dad's and Jessica came by to get her eyebrows waxed. I got a little much-needed waxing, too. But, with all that disappointment, the evening turned out to be great comic relief with several detours down Memory Lane.

We were digging through boxes of ancient photographs for Jessica's slideshow at her wedding reception. I was a freakin' cute baby. I should scan some of those shots, cuz damn! Cute baby! Right here! You know, I think my parents really did dote on me much more than any of their other children. I don't necessarily think this was because I was "the baby." Maybe it was because I was quiet and occupied all of the time. I had a rampant imagination. I could sit out in the sun for hours and play in the dirt, completely amused. I'm still kind of like that. I love the simple things. I'm still very salt-of-the-earth, but I no longer wash rocks in my mouth.

On Saturday, we shopped 'til we dropped at Target, getting a couple of things that Jessica had registered for, like a four-slice toaster. You could fit half a loaf in the sucker. Who needs that much toast and can't wait for a two-slice toaster to do the job, eh? and isn't it a waste of energy if you just want one or two slices, but you have to fire up the whole job? Bonus: There was a lingere sale and I got 4 new bras for $16! Yay for boob harnesses!

At Jessica's wedding shower, the very reason I was in town for the weekend, I couldn't shake the feeling that I just didn't belong there. I couldn't really summon the proper enthusiasm for the event, so I made myself comic relief, exhibiting apropos excitement to the nth degree. Shouts of joy, oooohs and ahhhhs, all that crap. I felt like Meg Ryan in the famous restaurant scene of When Harry Met Sally. Funny though that I ran into Erica's mother, Bettye, there. I had no clue that she'd be at the shower. In fact, I think everyone on the face of the planet knew that she'd be there, except me. I asked her how Erica was, bad idea because I should have known that she wouldn't have anything nice to say. Everyone joked that she was still in college to get her "MRS" degree. Trying to avoid people, I gorged on the fruit and pastry buffet and washed it down with some piss-poor coffee and tea. Horrid tea. Lukewarm tea with no cream. Ugh.

My mother and I left the shower, both of us feeling that we'd never get back that hour wasted.

We got home and I got dressed down to do some yoga and have some dinner before the evening began. We saw a special on Barbecue on Food Network. I remember seeing some really good stuff, and then I said, "You know, I've never had ribs before." My mother immediately got up and said that she was going to go get dinner. Dad and I hung out cleaning his rifle when mom returned toting a big brown paper sack, which could only mean one thing: McKenzie's Barbecue. McKenzie's is like a Conroe tradition, and it is THE BEST BARBECUE. Honest. You'll never taste better. In fact, if you ever traipse through Conroe, or Texas or Houston for that matter, you better stop at McKenzies.

Their ribs were awesome, even despite my complete lack of reference. So tender, the flesh was easily tugged from the tidily trimmed bones. I could only eat three and I was reeling. It was like crack, despite my complete lack of reference.

I went over to Phillip and Megan's house. There I met Kara, Mel, Sara, Brent, etc. etc. We played Wii. Dear God, that was so fun. I'd consider getting a Wii just for the incredibly fun parties you could throw. Everyone gets throwed while playing video games! Yay!





We all slept over Saturday night and woke to stale booze breath and a few siblings munching on fast-food breakfast. I did not indulge (no fast food in over 2 years!) and instead opted for a protein bar. I made the trip back to my parents house, changed clothes and went shopping with my mom. We had the BEST time. Seriously. We went to the Apple store in the mall and I got a car adapter for my iPod! Now I can play my iPod through my car stereo! YAY!!! I got some new iPod headphones for Dave, just like he asked, and then we went to HEB to scout the bulk sections and crazy produce. You'd be surprised at the larger selection that the HEB we went to had compared to the Whole Foods in my neighborhood or even the Central Market in my old neighborhood. We totally raided the bulk area, the olive bar, and the produce section. And we picked up all kinds of cool Italian sodas. Yum!

But just as soon as I got there, I had to go. I strapped myself in and pulled away from my parents' house slowly, waving at my mom out the window of the car that will help me visit my family much more often, which is great, because there's nothing quite like them.

Rain, rain, go away...

I promised myself that since I wouldn't be able to go to the gym this weekend that I'd atleast take a run around the neighborhood in the morning. I got up at 8.30 and put my running shoes on and let my parents know I was going to take a quick run around the place. Just my luck though, it was raining a steady drizzle. Not to be intimidated, I trudged around about halfway through the 'hood when I thought my brachial tube was just about to collapse. In Dallas, the air is much drier, and it doesn't really rain so much. This was definately new for me, running in the rain, so I wasn't ready for what it would do to my lungs. I walked around for a bit and then got back into my rhythm, and found that after my rest it was much easier to make a go at several inclines. Truth be told, if it rains during the Turkey Trot, the 5k I'm running in November, I'm screwed. I don't think my little ol' lungs could take it.

I came back inside and dried off, and then my dad said that he had a nice bottle of 18 year old Glenlivet, so we had a tipple before coffee and breakfast. It definately made my morning a little more loose. I had forgotten how easy my relationship with my dad is. We see eye-to-eye on lots of things, but on others, I prefer to just nod and smile. These precious moments aren't worth wasting on arguments.

I have to get my bridesmaid dress altered this afternoon, and we have to go shopping for Jessica's wedding shower, which is this afternoon as well. blah.

Signing off, from the Piney Woods,

-Your intrepid, but soggy correspondent.

Over the highway to the piney woods

Well, I'm leaving work early (I swear to God this is a first!) to head out to Houston to visit my family! I'm packing my running shoes and my yoga mat, so we'll see what happens. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!