Rail Adventure

Last week Joan and I took a day off and decided to have an adventure on the Dallas rail system (DART). We drove to LBJ and Central Expressway and caught the redline downtown. It was very nice and easy to use. The trip was $1.50 each way.

We road down to the Cityplace station. From there we caught the free McKinney Street Car trolley. The street car runs down to the arts district. We visited to the Nasher and Dallas Museum of Art. It was a great experience. After the museums we jumped back on the trolley, then train and drove home.

It was a great day!

LBJ Train Station

Cityplace Station is deep underground

McKinney Street Trolley

Outdoor sculpture at the Nasher

CONCERT > GRADUATION > BASEBALL > STORM

Four exciting nights in a row!

Concert - Les Claypool and Matisyahu at the Palladium - Sunday


Graduation - Georgie's High School Graduation - Monday


Baseball - Rangers vs. Tronto - Tuesday


Storm - High winds, rain and lightning beat up the fence and took out power- Wednesday



Wonder what is happening tonight!

Graduation for Georgie!

Our youngest daughter, Georgie, graduated from Marcus high school today!! I'm so proud of her. Way to go! The class of 2009 is off into the world!

The Good Ol Days

I just celebrated 15 years at the mother company. After ceremonies I was talking with a fellow co-worker and before I knew we were both in "back in the gold old days" conversation.
"We used to have to work hard, kids today don't have that anymore"
"We used to accomplish stuff as a team together, not its scattered all of the world"
"We used to put a quality product and make our customers happy"

blah, blah, blah, you know how that one goes. I'm sure when I started working right out of school the old timers looked at me and then thought the good ole days too.

Times definitely have changed. And in 15 years at one company it has change tremendously. And certainly in 15 years I've changed a lot. I was 30 then and life was a whole lot different. But I am glad to still have the work and wonder what the next 15 years will be like.

Bird Dog?

The Graduate


LSU Class of 2009 - "The Katrina Class"

Proud Dad Shout Out

Daughter #2 will graduate from LSU this month Cum Laude!! And she did this in 4 years!!

I'm very proud of her!

And the icing on the cake is yesterday she found out she was accepted into the LSU Veterinary School! This is very difficult to get into.

I'm doubly very proud of her!

Congratulations Amanda.

Red Box

At Walgreen's on 407 and Morris is our red box. They are here or there but that is the one we go to. And here lately every time we go there is a line at the red box! So this is becoming the community gathering spot. While you stand in line you chit chat about movies and such with people you've never met before.

If you don't know about the red box check it out. This is a great service. The red box is a refrigerator size box outside of a store. It holds DVDs that you can rent for $1 a night! Somebody took the itunes idea to DVD rental and its perfect. You can find your movie by browsing at the red box or pre-reserving on-line. Then just return it by 9pm the next day.

Easy, affordable and you get involved with our community! Who needs blockbuster or net flicks?

End of an Era



Ten years ago my son was born. This made the kid count 5. The transportation of 7 people total takes a big vehicle! The Astro van we had was already crowded so with the new arrival it was time to just go all the way. We bought a full size van in Sept 99. It was well worth the money and served us well. She was named the 'blues clues' van for a while. We have logged many road trips and adventures with it.

But now we are down to only 1 kid that can't drive. Three of the kids have moved out and the fourth is on her way out this summer. And the blues clues van was starting to show her age with repair bills. It was just time after 10 years of faithful service.

The replacement was a snazy little Nissan Versa (with spoiler).

Spring time in Texas

The official indicator that the Texas spring is here would be the appearance of bluebonnets. Its prime season and they are everywhere.

Dead Tour

The Grateful Dead is back on tour starting tomorrow. Its been 5 years since the last outing. The tribes are all geared up and the first meeting is fittingly on on Easter Sunday in Greensboro, North Carolina. The tour runs through the summer. Wish I could be there but no luck for me this time. Hope all the happy hippy peeps enjoy the family and spread the love!!

And always remember the music and Jerry.

Opening Day 2009!

The daughter and I headed out to opening day on Monday at the Ballpark. We went with our friends Dave and Becky. It was a very chilly day and the wind kept blowing!

It was all fun though.
I got to hang out with Amanda all day!
It finally warmed up once we got into the sun.
And the Rangers hammered the Indians 9-1!
Love opening day... Baseball is back.

Race Weekend

Once again its NASCAR weekend. The sea of RVs never fails to amaze me. Last weekend they started piling in. Everyday driving to work I see them come like ants. By Friday the city is complete. You have to admire their passion...

So this weekend we will stay far away from the track and all things west.

Ramblings

This weekend we had a cold snap roll through. It dipped down into the 30s again and Saturday remained cold until later in the afternoon. Since the overnight lows were near freezing Joan brought the chickens in. They should be able to handle it but since they are still young we figured better not risk it.

Unfortunately the golf club March outing was also on Saturday. As diehards we pressed on. It was the most brutal golf outing I've ever had. Needless to say the scores were high!

And today I was driving to the parents house. This is about 1ish on a Sunday afternoon. I had to stop at Walgreen's and then figured I would head west on 407 and out. Big mistake. The 2499 and 407 intersection has become such a traffic nightmare that traffic was backed up to Bridlewood. Needless to say it was faster to turn around, head back to Morriss and back to Waketon to get out. This traffic is really ridiculous...

This coming weekend in the annual NASCAR event at Texas Motor Speedway. So we shall be avoiding heading west at all costs on the weekend. As we drove by it today the RVs are already piling up out there.

Need to finish the taxes up this week. So far its looking like I need to send Uncle Sam some more. But I need to give it the scrub down.

In two weeks the LSU kids are home for spring break! It will be good to see them.

And April 6 is opening day. We have tickets already in hand and it is sold out. I hope the weather is nice to us.

Chick-chick-chickens!

They are getting big! Joan is building the coup and its coming along nicely. They have been enjoying running around the backyard and are ready to move out there.

Favorite Places

Can my bucket list have places on it I have already been? One of my favorite places to be is at a music festival with my wife. Especially jazzfest in New Orleans. Its something we started doing pretty soon after we got together. Here was one of our first, the Memphis Blues Festival in 1994. At that little 'porch' stage Joan is standing in front of was unknown artists. The guyplaying was handing out tapes and playing blues for anyone who would listen. His name is Keb Mo'...!


And this was from our first jazzfest in 1995. That is Coco Robicheaux, Louisiana blues and medicine man! He was pretty crazy. That was a great trip and so much fun. We have not returned since Katrina but we will be back.



So put that on the bucket list, jazzfest with Joan as many times as possible before I die!

Happy Birthday Katie!

I can't believe your 25! Seems like yesterday you were Daddies little girl and the only kid!

I'm so proud of you and hope you have the greatest birthday ever!

LSU wins the SEC

LSU beat Kentucky in a down to the wire nail bitter. With that victory LSU claims the regular season championship outright!

Geaux Tigers!!

No. 18 LSU clinches share of SEC crown!

LSU finished last in the west only a year ago. Now with 12 straight SEC wins and 9 wins in a row LSU is dominating. One more victory and they will win the conference outright! A great way to celebrate the 100th year of LSU basketball.

Geaux Tigers!