Posts about Dallas, Texas – the best city in the world!
I arrived at the Dallas airport pretty early this morning, and went up to check my bag.
And then shade ensued:
Delta check-in lady: “Ticket and I.D. please.”
Me: “Here you go.”
Check-in lady: “Hah!”
Me: “Pardon?”
Check-in lady: “If you saw someone that looked like you, would you think that they are your age?”
Me: “Are you saying that I look old?”
Check-in lady: “Yep. Just like that.”
Well dandy.
The temperature is perfect – about 60 to 70 degrees every day.
iLume Park’s large dog park in Dallas, Texas.
Gunter at Ilume Park’s small dog park.
Perry Heights neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, in February.
The Harwood District of downtown Dallas, Texas
Thomson Reuters is flying me back to Minnesota for an awards dinner and training.
It’s going to be cold as hell, but I get to see some of my friends and my company is putting me up in the Mall of America hotel, so things could be worse.
That doesn’t mean that I won’t miss the warmth…
I always thought my mother was dramatic about hating the cold (she still lives in Miami) but now I fully understand.
Brr.
I made it to Dallas Mardi Gras, and it was hilarious!
Oak Cliff Mardi Gras 2016
Oak Cliff Mardi Gras 2016
Oak Cliff Mardi Gras 2016
Oak Cliff Mardi Gras 2016
It may take me a while to see a particular movie, but I inevitably do. (With the exception of Frozen, which I am boycotting.)
A few months ago, a friend recommended Tangerine to me, and I finally got around to watching it.
It’s sad and hilarious.
It’s Friday night and instead of sipping on a cocktail at happy hour, I am sifting through tax regulations.
My volunteer gig for this spring is with the Dallas Community Tax Centers – a non-profit which provides free tax preparation services to low and moderate income individuals.
I worked with a similar VITA program in Minneapolis.
Taking advanced tax law classes at night after work was very draining. It made me rethink my perennial flirtation with getting a second degree.
The conversation about hiring security guards was one of the strangest things about last month’s epic apartment building meeting.
“I can give you a daily happy hour, or I can give you security guards,” the building president said. “But I am warning you, armed security guards are going to change the vibe around here.”
She was right.
Now I routinely run into packs of 2 to 4 security guards when I leave my building. Most of the security guards just glare at residents without saying anything, so it is highly awkward.
Some friends from Minnesota were recently in town to experience the fabulousness that is Dallas. We are at one of the boutiques in the gayborhood when I receive a call from my bank.
Bank: “Hello, were you shopping at a Walmart in Frisco, Texas, recently?”
Me: “Um…no.”
Bank: “…well your debit card was!”
Apparently someone got a hold of my debit card information, created a fake card, and went on a shopping spree at Walmart.
My bank kicked off a refund and issued a new card, but my checking account was locked for the rest of the weekend.
That totally cramped my style.
It is a reoccurring mistake – I see a German restaurant and get nostalgic for my grandmother’s cooking. So I waltz into the restaurant, get offended by the prices and cheesy decorations, and inevitably leave bitterly disappointed.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of German restaurants in America are Bavarian, (and I am from Rheinland.) It is like going to an “American Restaurant” in another country and finding out that it is Toby Keith’s or Hard Rock Café.
My mother and I recently went to Biergarten in Downtown Dallas.
It was a mess.
In addition to the joy of seeing family, and an excuse to do touristy things, visits from my mother also have very practical benefits – like preventing my apartment from burning down.
When my mother was in town, she noticed a very odd smell coming from my laundry closet.
“You know it’s not supposed to have a burning smell when you dry clothes, right?” she said. “There’s not supposed to be lint everywhere either.”
The busiest part of my winter is always after the holiday season ends – my clients are ready to start ambitious projects, we have an all-team meeting in Minnesota this coming February, and tax season is rearing its ugly head.
I’m volunteering with a community tax center again this year. That means that I am joining a hoard of accountants to provide free tax services to low-and-moderate income individuals in the Dallas area.
Apparently the mass tenant exodus, police drama, and middle-of-the-night fire alarms culminated in the building manager being fired.
The iLume Park management company then called a “member meeting” of all of the residents to announce the changes and clear the air.
It was a shit show.
The meeting was led by the management company president / general counsel (who coincidentally reminds me a lot of Donna Shalala). She gave a short speech about how things are going to change and a brief overview of her plans.
She also pointed out that the most recent 3 a.m. fire alarm was due to some drunkards who set off the hour-long alarm by hopping a fence and intentionally tampering with the fire equipment.
My mother and I visited the Aquarium when she as in town because the weather was crappy and it was an indoor thing to do. The biggest surprise about the Dallas World Aquarium is that it’s not just fish – it’s actually a zoo, and very tropical.
Jungle waterfall at the Dallas World Aquarium.
A Panther at the Dallas World Aquarium
Pink Flamingos at the Dallas World Aquarium
Owls at the Dallas World Aquarium.
Fish at the Dallas World Aquarium
I had a fabulous time going out with my neighbors the day before. We went to Dish, BJ’s, and Pegasus bar, among other places.
Shots at Pegasus Bar in Dallas, Texas
I spent my day working while eyeing loops of the Dubai hotel fire on CBS News. I then gave my apartment the deep clean which I should have done before my mother came to town for the holidays.
I celebrated last New Year’s Eve in Minnesota and now I am ending the year as an official Texan.
2015 was wonderful, but exhausting.
James Sanna and Aaron Kraemer getting married in Boston.
A bloody Mary and the New Yorker Magazine at the Washington DC airport.
Alyssa Edwards at the Dallas Gay Pride iLume block party.
Dancers at the iLume block party.
A dramatically lit mansion in Highland Park.
I’ve alternatively described my apartment building as a dog-friendly residential hotel, Melrose Place, and an adult dorm.
In true dorm fashion, my neighbors occasionally trigger the fire alarm in the middle of the night. This happened today at 3 a.m.
There are leaves on the ground, but the temperature still hits the low 70s almost every day.
Although it is not quite tropical Christmas experience that I had in Miami, it is still way more pleasant than Minnesota. At least I can still trot around in shorts!
Life has been very full lately with work, sprawling dog walks, dates, holiday parties, and marathons of The Good Wife.
My cup runneth over again.
Elaborate Christmas decorations in Highland Park, Dallas.
Gunter’s leather doggy jacket.
My building is modeled after a hotel, so we have breakfast and happy hour in the lobby. It’s one of the reasons why it can feel like Melrose Place at times and also why it is so easy to stay on top of what’s going on.
The dogs and I are walking in Perry Heights, which is a tiny historical neighborhood immediately behind my apartment building.
Perry Heights has some pretty single-family homes and it is a great place to walk dogs because the area is removed from all of the gay bars on Cedar Springs road. This cute residential area is also very poorly lit at night – the few street lights that exist are dim and often covered by huge trees.
The darkness of Perry Heights makes it really hard to pick up after my dogs without using the flashlight application my phone. However, the darkness it made it really easy to notice a car slowly creeping towards us with its lights dimmed.
She’s a Labradoodle (Labrador + Poodle mix) and about four months old.
I’ve contemplated getting a second dog ever since moving to Texas because I left Hugo back in Minnesota.
There a ton of dogs in my building, but Günter was still getting increasingly withdrawn at home.
Fall hasn’t quite arrived in Dallas yet – everything is still green and the temperature is way too hot to wear anything but shorts.
However, it is not as if I’m really spending a significant amount of time enjoying the weather – I’m inside working for most of the weekdays, and my weekends are spent freelancing inside neighborhood cafes because it is too hot to sit outside.
Freelancing at OakLawn Coffee
A random I.T. problem knocked out my company’s web applications and email systems for most of the morning, but instead of enjoying the weather at the pool, I took some time to page through this blog.