Articles for August, 2008
Neighborhood Tree Kills Car Dead
This afternoon, while lazing away my Sunday, I was briefly jolted out of my reverie by a loud noise. I assumed it was a nearby car wreck or, since we live near the train tracks, the normal sound of trains starting and stopping and doing other train-like things. When my wife came home not long after, I found out what actually made the sound: one of the giant, old trees in our neighborhood had fallen over, from the roots, coming to a hard stop on the car parked in the drive of the house next door. Can you guess what kind of car it used to be?
It could have been much worse. The owners of the now-totaled car were just about to leave the house and take their boat to the lake. Two more photos after the jump.
Dallas “Does” St. Paul: The GOP Send-Off
(Pictured: delegate Donald Huffhines and Mary Catherine holding t-shirts that DC Comics might have something to say about)
So the send-off party was less party and more like a steering committee session at a Lutheran church, but there was a buzz there beyond the sugar high from some pretty darn good homemade chocolate chip cookies.
About a dozen people, including the three delegates and three alternates from the 32nd District, got together Friday afternoon at Congressman Pete Sessions’ office on Greenville Avenue across from the Arby’s in preparation for leaving for St. Paul. They weren’t just feeling beef and cheese. No, it was red meat. These people were excited. No one was talking much about McCain. They were talking about Sarah Palin. (The person that reserved that URL is JENE-YUS.)
Hey, Adam and Eric, June Is Here
The game isn’t over, gents, but in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, SMU is losing to Rice — Rice — by a score of 20-49.
Pony up indeed.
David Johnson Quits Marketplace
What? This makes me sad. Driving home just now, I heard David Johnson’s last report for the NPR show Marketplace. “Our man in Dallas” has contributed wit and wisdom to the show for 19 years. I, for one, will miss him.
More N.O. Evacuees Headed For Dallas
The SPCA of Texas says its locations in Dallas and McKinney have stopped accepting animals. Reason: The shelters are gearing up to accommodate hundreds of “evacuees” from the Louisiana SPCA in New Orleans. Guess this Gustav may turn out to be the real thing after all.
Dallas Does Denver: A Coda
Sitting at in the parking lot at the Olive Garden in Amarillo, Texas, listening to the end of the Obama speech from Invesco Field, scarfing stale bread and bland spaghetti, Lavin checked her voicemail. It was one of the folks she’d been pestering all week. “Hey, where are you guys? I got you delegate passes to the Obama speech tonight. You’re in.”
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
OK, other than the fact that it’s underexposed. The answer: DART is apparently buying advertisements on trucks that don’t do much but drive around and clog up our streets. That’s not a very smart thing for a rapid-transit group to do. Or is it? (”Gee, if I just took a DART train, I wouldn’t be stuck behind this big truck advertising DART right now.”)
Charges Dropped on Star-Telegram Columnist Dave Lieber
You remember Dave Lieber. He’s the guy who was arrested on child abandonment charges. Absolutely ridiculous. Anyway, he learned a couple hours ago that all charges have been dropped. Good on the Watauga.
Garland Charity Nets $300+ Grand in Pick ‘Em Up Truck Sale
If you ever wondered how much one of these things costs, here’s something to chew on: The Garland-based People Against Drugs charity sold its rights to the No. 7 NASCAR truck (shown left) for more than $300 grand to another race team about a year ago, according to a spokesman at Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office. (more…)
Jerry Lewis Telethon To Be (Mercifully?) Short
What’s a Labor Day weekend without Jerry Lewis and his “kids” raising money with a painful-to-watch, never-ending TV telethon? This Monday, for the second year in a row, KXAS-TV (Channel 5) will broadcast an abridged version of the MDA extravaganza. They’ll sign on with the telethon at 5 a.m. that day, then cut away for a golf tourney at 1 p.m. before coming back for the final hour around 5. They’ve got to run the golf–network’s orders–and figure nobody watches the all-night portion anyway (Jerry actually kicks the thing off from Vegas on Sunday evening). Promised on the bill this year: comedian Bob Zany (huh?) and singer Billy Gilman (ditto). Charo’s not appearing, but you can always hope for one of Jerry’s cringe-worthy gaffes.
Friday Foodie Fun: Omnivore’s Hundred
I challenge Gordon Keith to beat me on this. Ever heard of the Omnivore’s Hundred? You have now. Go, all of you. Take it. I. dare. you.
Friday Fun: Fantastic Contraption
Happy Friday, one and all. Today’s Friday Fun game is called Fantastic Contraption. I haven’t delved (dolve?) into it too much, but I hear it’s quite addicting. Mostly I hear that because it’s from www.addictinggames.com. It’s sort of a puzzle-type game that takes some figuring out. But I think it will serve its purpose as a time-wasting diversion on the Friday of a holiday weekend. Get to work.
Leading Off (8/29/08)
1. The Cowboys won their last pre-season game. But they lost receiver Sam Hurd for an indeterminate period of time. At this point, I think Jerry has to follow the plan Tim and I came up with: sign Usain Bolt. He’s a free agent, right?
2. Two city employees were hurt when a crane fell on a pump station near the Trinity River. That’s the third crane accident in the last few months. Fourth, if you count the speeding ticket I got in HP yesterday when I didn’t realize I was in a school zone.
3. That part of the southern end of the Tollway that’s been really confusing for months is now less so.
North Dallas Does Denver: Live Blog From a Couch
Since Eric won’t cover the convention, I will. Here’s a summary of Obama’s speech: “Change, change, changey, changerson-change, ch-ch-change. PF Change! And Eight Is Enough.”
Seriously. He made a reference to the sitcom.
Oy.
Briefing: They Killed Quick for THIS?
The DMN’s Briefing launched this week. I’ve avoided it till now. Zac just sat down on my couch and read aloud to me the work of one of the circular’s columnists, Tyra Damm. Here’s what she fired up today. This is a parody, right? It has to be. Because there’s no way the DMN brass thinks that throwing this stuff in the yards of non-subscribers is going to do anything other than turn people off of reading the paper.
Unless, again, it’s a parody. In which case, it’s pretty brilliant. Sign me up.
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