Whence the Thundering in Downtown?

All morning long, we’ve been hearing an intermittent thundering noise from high atop the St. Paul Place tower here in downtown. Anyone have a clue?

Update: Great. So I’m sitting here asking co-workers if anyone else can hear the thunder and if they have any idea what it might be. Krista sits 5 feet to my right. She’s very attentive. She clearly heard my wonderings. And yet she let me put up this post, then wander over to the other side of our building and make what I thought was a pretty cool discovery. Yes, the Baptists are laying waste to their parking garage. Yes, I’m the last one to figure this out.

That said, I cannot overstate how disappointed Zac was when he saw the crane and its wrecking ball. “It’s not even a wrecking ball,” he said, staring down at the scene from our 21st-floor window. “It’s a parallelogram or something. That sucks. And he just drops it on the building? You’re supposed to swing a wrecking ball. This is boring. Man.” And so on.

Next question: what the hourly rate of the guy who drops the wrecking parallelogram?

Dallas to Change Up Panhandling Ordinance

True story: One day, I was sitting at a light near Northwest Highway and the Tollway, when a panhandler in the median walked toward my car. My normal tactic (not making eye contact) wasn’t going to work, and as luck would have it, I was on the phone anyway.  And, to my misfortune, it was a nice day, and I had been enjoying it by having the window down.

The man approached, and since he was unhindered by a piece of glass, he asked me for money. I told him I didn’t have cash. He told me I was excrementing him. I assured him that I was indeed not excrementing him, that I didn’t carry cash. He then screamed, “BUT YOU HAVE IPHONE MONEY!”

And then the light changed before I could point out that expenditure was also an electronic transaction. Politely, of course.

But this leads me to the Dallas City Council’s current proposed retooling of a rarely enforced panhandling ordinance, to outlaw it for sure in areas the city deems tourist or economic destinations – Uptown, areas of downtown, Deep Ellum, and Victory, for example.

James Ragland breaks it down, adding that yes, it kind of makes the city look cold – despite it’s work to reduce the homeless population through programs like the Bridge that offer all kinds of services, including the opportunity for transitional housing. But he adds, “But the truth is that Big D can’t afford to sit back on its heels and allow panhandlers to get too big of a foothold in downtown either.”

At this, I wonder: What’s the definition of too big of a foothold?

Leading Off (12/8/10)

1. Here’s the thing: I love Christmas. I love everything about the season. I’m pretty much in heaven right now with parties and plays and tree lightings. However, I think this list is stupid. The entire thing just bothers me. And if that makes me a Grinch, well, then, so be it.

2. Imagine this: you took a couple law classes, but found out it wasn’t really your thing. Then you realized that you could go around and just represent clients anyway. So, for nine years, you’re putting people in jail and helping with divorces. Then, one day, you show up to court a wee bit intoxicated. Suddenly, you’ve lost your clients, you’ve lost your apartment, and you’re now in jail. Eh, well, at least you can defend yourself.

3. There was a short time where I hopped on the bandwagon and cheered on the Rangers in the World Series. I watched more baseball in that short time than my entire life. And I actually, kind of, almost enjoyed it. I also learned a few things: for one, there are baseball fans here in Dallas (and they were very welcoming to us bandwagoners). So for you fans, I give you this: a link to Evan Grant’s analysis of trades. Or you could just read his last line, which is: “The Yankees will end up with Lee. The Rangers will use the money saved to add a better hitting option such as Carl Crawford or Paul Konerko.”
That doesn’t mean anything to me, but I’m sure you fans want to know.