Texas

Dallas

Switching to Cash

February 1, 2016

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.

Continue Reading

Dallas / Restaurants

The Fake German Restaurant

January 7, 2016

I dread going to German restaurants.

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.

German cuisine is highly regional.

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.

Continue Reading

Oak Lawn

How My Mother Saved My Apartment Building

January 6, 2016

Visits from mom are great.

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.”

Continue Reading

Life / Oak Lawn / Tax

Still Festive

January 5, 2016

The holidays are over, but the lights are still up.

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.

Continue Reading

Fort Worth

The Fort Worth Stockyards

January 4, 2016

Visiting the Stockyards is one of the touristy things to do in the DFW area.

So when my mom was in town over the holidays, we made the journey across the Metroplex and got to experience some Texas realness.

The Fort Worth Stockyards area is a fun historic district with steakhouses, tourist shops, and a rodeo. The prices aren’t bad, although I don’t know if the drive is worth making the trip again.

It’s something you have to do once though, if only for the food.

And the pictures.

H3 Ranch near the Fort Worth, Texas, Stockyards

Finchers White Front Western Store

The Fort Worth Coliseum (a Rodeo)

The Fort Worth Rodeo Coliseum by the Stockyards

Leddy’s Boots & Saddlery in Fort Worth near the Stockyards

Texas Flag by the Fort Worth Stockyards

Continue Reading

Oak Lawn

The Come to Jesus Meeting

January 3, 2016

My neighbors and I just had one of the most awkward meetings ever.

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.

Then came tirade time.

Continue Reading

Dallas

Dallas World Aquarium

January 2, 2016

I finally made it to the Dallas World Aquarium!

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

Continue Reading

Life / Oak Lawn

A Quiet New Year’s Eve

January 1, 2016

I was in bed well before midnight on New Year’s Eve.

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

After partying it up on December 30th, I decided to decline the New Year’s Eve invites.

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.

Continue Reading

Dallas / dogs / LGBT / Life / memories / Minneapolis-St. Paul / Thomson Reuters

From Minnesota to Texas: 2015 in Review

December 31, 2015

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.

Continue Reading

dogs / Oak Lawn

Night Party

December 22, 2015

We all walked the dogs at 3 a.m.

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.

Continue Reading

Dallas / dogs / Life / Oak Lawn

Becoming Texan

December 21, 2015

It’s Christmas time in Dallas.

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.

Continue Reading

Oak Lawn

New Neighbors

November 30, 2015

I typically find out about the departures during happy hour.

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.

Continue Reading

Oak Lawn

The Oak Lawn Crime Wave

November 6, 2015

It’s around 7 p.m. and already pitch black in Dallas.

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.

Continue Reading

Dallas / dogs

Meet Ingrid

October 28, 2015

So there’s a new member of the Jansen household – Ingrid.

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.

Continue Reading

Dallas / Life / memories

Endless Summer

October 19, 2015

It’s strange to see Facebook pictures of my friends wearing coats.

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.

Continue Reading

Oak Lawn / Thomson Reuters

Things that Happen on the Dog walk

October 6, 2015

I can tell something is wrong when I arrive at Starbucks.

It is 5:15 a.m., and I am typically one of the first people at the café. (It is the first stop on the morning dog walk.)

Aside from the normal collection of doctors and nurses, there is a strange, short man standing by the half-and-half. He’s mumbling and shaking.

I look over to the barista, who is glaring at the man, who is apparently high.

Continue Reading

Dallas

My Favorite Dallas TV Shows

September 28, 2015

I’ve discovered Dallas TV shows.

Apparently there was a boom of filming here about 3 years ago, which makes me wonder whether I moved to Dallas after it was a fad.

Am I late to the party?

Is Dallas no longer a thing?

There is something endlessly fascinating about seeing your city on TV.

I had this experience while living in Miami, but not so much in Minneapolis. (When was the last major Minneapolis TV show? Mary Tyler Moore? Rehab Addict?)

The film version of Miami is exaggerated and ridiculous.

A consistent error is that movies and TV shows tend to compress all of South Florida into one miniature city. Characters will often go from South Beach to Palm Beach within minutes, despite the 75 mile gap in real life. Also, traffic doesn’t appear to exist on the TV version of Miami. This often makes the shows too distracting to watch.

One thing that filmmakers get right about Miami is the collection of bizarre characters. You can’t make that shit up.

Continue Reading

LGBT / Oak Lawn

Dallas Pride 2015

September 21, 2015

Dallas Pride was this weekend and things were interesting.

All the typical things happened –  there were drag queens, ridiculous outfits, sloppy messes, and brawling lesbians.

Unlike Minneapolis gay pride or Chicago gay pride, I got to experience this parade as a resident. My building is right in the heart of the metroplex’s gay district, so I didn’t have any of the typical logistics to worry about.

My building also threw a block party for residents with a drag stage and open bar. My neighbors and I spent most of our time watching from our gated-off VIP section on the parade route.

Dancing at the iLume Block Party at Dallas Pride.

Shots from Strangers

In addition to the open bar, there were also these guys from a local HIV resource center walking around handing out jello shots. I think they overestimated the number of party attendees, so they ended up giving 10+ shots to each person.

Continue Reading

Dallas

Exploring Downtown Dallas

September 14, 2015

I finally made it to downtown Dallas this weekend.

I kept getting told by my neighbors that I have only been to the outskirts of downtown, so I decided to finally make the trek on Saturday morning’s dog walk.

It’s a cool place.

A building just off of Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas

A fountain near Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas.

Continue Reading

Dallas / Life

Why I’m not buying a condo in Dallas (yet)

September 10, 2015

My morning dog walks are lined with scaffolding.

New condos, townhouses, and apartment buildings are springing up throughout my neighborhood. The vast majority of these are insanely expensive luxury developments.

Rents are also jumping, despite the glut of cookie-cutter buildings.

Cookie-cutter town homes in the Oak Lawn neighborhood of Dallas. They start in the “low 400s”

Perhaps new arrivals like myself are out-pacing the building crews.

Continue Reading