Memos and Mirth

blog theory / Life

5 Blogs That I Actually Read

April 20, 2016

I have a cyclical love-hate relationship with blogs and social media networks in general.

Here are the phases:

Discovery: Gorging on great content and conversation, meeting new people. All is good.
Silence: People get busy, fall silent.
Spam: Bots and “brands” flow into the network and clutter my feeds with crap.
Despair: I feel like the social network (and some blogs) have become an echo chamber of low-quality content
Rediscovery: I find new blogs, start new conversations, and the cycle begins again.

I am currently in stage 5: rediscovery.

Here are the blogs (new and old) that I am excited about currently.

The Jenny Journey

Jennifer is actually one of my neighbors! When I am not bumping into her at the Cedar Springs Tap House brunch, I’m keeping up with her excellent travel photography.

I recommend:

Machiavelli and Marketing

April 19, 2016

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli is one of my favorite books. I re-read it constantly.

This Italian political treatise is about 500 years old, but contains a lot of insights into human behavior that translate well into modern life, particularly politics and marketing.

I recently thought of my favorite passage from The Prince during an awful client meltdown.

This situation will be familiar to many of my digital marketing friends:

The client previously had significant engagement on their blog and social media.
Organic visibility fell off now that Facebook and other social networks started pushing paid ads.
The client doesn’t want to spend money on social media advertising, and blames your firm for supposedly providing subpar content.
A competitor comes out of the bushes, and makes unrealistic promises of organic reach and other snake oil remedies.
Client is now pissed.

When dealing with a client who refuses to accept digital marketing changes, I think about Machiavelli’s warning to leaders who face resistance to change:

Life / music / Oak Lawn / TV

Weekends with Yonce

April 18, 2016

This weekend was delightfully quiet.

We spent our time chowing down on Gardein and watching TV.

This is what 29 looks like.

One of the best things about the new apartment is that we have HBO Go, which means that I finally got an opportunity to watch the Beyonce On The Run Tour special.

The timing for my Beyonce binge was perfect because she’s apparently going to release a new video album/TV special/whatever-the-hell soon:

I am so excited.

This must be how diehard Apple fans feel when a new product is about to be launched.

However, the brooding preview video looks like the silly clips that preceded Rihanna’s ANTI album.

Life / Miami

I recently came across this hilarious sorority recruitment video from my alma mater:

The video is pretty epic – and says a lot about the Miami fantasy – yachts, multi-million dollar condos, hanging out with your closest 30 friends on the beach.

Of course all of the girls are also in great shape, and there’s even a black and a Latin girl “for diversity.”

There are a few shots on the actual University of Miami campus, the message is very clear: rich girl’s vacation.

Home Decor / Oak Lawn

New Digs

April 13, 2016

I am finally done moving!

Moving is always more time consuming and painful than I expect. Between scrubbing grout and an embarrassing number of Home Depot trips, I am exhausted.

And yet I survived, somehow.

Scrubbing the grout at my old apartment while moving out.

I was highly paranoid about getting charged move-out costs since my last building nailed me with a $1,000 bill. This time everything would be scrubbed, bleached, steamed, polished, and photographed.

So I spent the entire weekend cleaning, including shampooing the bedroom carpet. (I rented a Rug Doctor from the Kroger across the street. Super cheap, and easy to do. I highly recommend it.)

On Monday, I marched downstairs to schedule my move-out walk-through with the building manager. He was in the middle of dealing with the police and had to reschedule for that afternoon. Apparently two apartments were broken into over the weekend.

Oak Lawn

Moving Day 1

April 7, 2016

The barista at the nearby Starbucks is super chatty.

She’s this nice slightly older woman, and she is usually in the middle of an oddball conversation when I walk into the store.

We had a bit of an awkward conversation the other day –

Barista: “So is that your partner outside?”
Me: “Yep!”
Barista: “Do you live together?”
Me: “Not yet, but he’s moving in next week.”
Barista: “You guys sure move fast. Is it because you can get gay married now?”
Me: “I think it has more to do with leases being up.”

memories / Oak Lawn

The Move

April 6, 2016

I am transferring to a bigger apartment tomorrow and the packing process is well underway.

The worst part about moving is that you are confronted with all of your choices – the dirt, the dog hair, the bad purchasing decisions.

Moving this time around is still a hassle, but not so terrible as moving from Minnesota to Texas. This is mostly because I already ditched most of my belongings, so there isn’t a ton of extra crap to throw out.

Plus, this time I’m moving 90 feet instead of 900 miles.

Dallas / dogs

Puppachinos

April 5, 2016

Aka, “Why my dogs love Starbucks”

One morning I noticed a woman exit Starbucks and give her yippy dog a small cup of whip cream.

Apparently this is a “secret menu item” called a “Puppucino.” Some Starbucks locations insist that you use that cheesy name when ordering, but most baristas just look at me crazy when I ask for one.

So it’s a thing, sort of.

Gunter and Ingrid at Turtle Creek Park with Puppuccinos.

art / Dallas

The Graffiti Under The Bridge

April 4, 2016

Going Hiking in Dallas

We ran into some interesting graffiti while hiking through the Trinity River Park.

The Trinity River wraps around downtown Dallas and is more like a glorified creek that covers a massive flood plain anytime it rains.

There are also plans to develop the flood plain into one of the world’s largest parks, but right now most parts are just unsafe urban wild land.

The portion of the park closest to downtown is safer because it is not wooded, but rather a massive open field with the river/creek running through it. That is where we walked the dogs recently and came across some pretty interesting street art.

Here are the pics!

Street art of air balloons under the Trinity River bridge

Graffiti under the Trinity River Bridge

Graffiti that borrows characters from Super Mario

art / Dallas Design District

Playboy Dallas

April 3, 2016

There’s a Playboy Sign in the Design District

We recently explored the Dallas Design District and ran across a massive Playboy Bunny sign.

This Richard Phillips creation was funded by the magazine and originally installed in Marfa, Texas. The town and Departmenrt of Transportation viewed it as an advertisement and ordered it hauled away.

The 40-foot statue reappeared in 2014 on Riverfront Boulevard in the Design District. Apparently Dallas is less opposed to advertisements than our artsy West Texas counterparts.

LGBT / Life / Oak Lawn

5 Rules of Gay Brunch

April 2, 2016

Some people go to church – others get mimosas.

Bottomless mimosa brunch is a time-honored gay tradition.

You pull yourself out of bed, slap on some sunglasses, and sashay to the local bar-restaurant for day drinking.

Over the years, I’ve learned that there are 5 cardinal rules for surviving a mimosa brunch.

Brunch at British Beverage Company in Dallas, Texas. They have a mimosa bar that allows you to choose your own garnishes and juices.

Dallas / LGBT / Oak Lawn

Best Spring Ever: Dallas Edition

April 1, 2016

What a Spring

We had a little bit of everything this spring – Real Housewives, dog parades, cocktail competitions, Irish parades, celebrity drag queens, puppy drama, bingo, wine, hockey, cocktails, manure stench, more cocktails, a male pageant, and much, much more.

Here are some of my favorite shots of the spring:

The dogs by Trinity River Bridge

A man blasting music from a segway on the Katy Trail

Gunter the chihuahua chowing down in front of Starbucks (we always get them whip creme)

TV

Billions on Showtime

March 31, 2016

The free preview worked.

Hulu recently had a free preview campaign for its Showtime add-on.

That is where I stumbled across Billions, the new Showtime series about a cat-and-mouse game between a hedge fund manager and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Long story short: I loved the first episode, bought the Showtime add-on, and look forward to Billions every week.

This show has everything.

Seriously – it’s like combining Wolf of Wall Street with an episode of Law & Order.

blog theory / Law

How Facebook Killed the Personal Blog

March 30, 2016

Laptop and iced coffee at a cafe by Startup Stock Photos via StockSnap

A recent WordPress theme update forced me to do a massive manual update of the 2,000+ posts on this blog.

Although layout and coding changes always threaten to mangle the appearance of my old posts, the bulk of the content remains, thankfully.

My semi-annual dive into my archives was sobering, with all of the usual angst regarding whether my best years are behind me.

I also noticed that many of the blogs that I used to read have gone silent or disappeared altogether.

I’m not going to rewrite Frank Chimero’s seminal Homesteading Blog, but I will state the obvious – personal blogs, particular law blogs, tend to have a very short lifespan.

There are always the usual concerns about a potential employer (or opposing counsel) finding your blog, but there is something else at work here – Facebook.

Oak Lawn

The Leasing Game

March 29, 2016

A view of downtown Dallas from Reunion Tower

Transferring apartments is proving to be more difficult than I expected.

After several tries, we finally got the correct lease from my apartment building.

The next step is transferring utilities, such as electricity. (Texas forces you to pick your own power company, which I still think is strange.)

I now have to find a new energy provider, because I just got fired by my current energy company.

This was the phone call earlier today:

Me: “Hi. I’m moving to a new unit in the same building and would like to transfer my energy plan.”

Energy company: “Is this it a new part of the building?”

Me: “…no…”

Energy company: “We can’t find it in the system, so we are canceling your plan since we can’t provide service to your new unit.”

Me: “So you’re telling me that you can provide service to my current unit, but not to an apartment 50 feet away in the same building?”

Energy company: “Yep. That’s right. Nice knowing you. Toodles!“

dogs / Oak Lawn

A Very Dallas Easter

March 28, 2016

Easter in Lee Park and Pooch Parade in Dallas

My mom came to town this weekend for a business meeting, so we showed her how Dallas does Easter.

We had Easter brunch at Quesa MX, which is a Mexican restaurant on Cedar Springs.

I recently became re-interested in Quesa after they hosted a happy hour at iLume – the new manager said that he overhauled the menu and promised that the food was better.

We also passed Quesa on Saturday afternoon and realized that they still did bottomless mimosa brunch.

The way we could tell is because there was a guy on the patio laying in his own vomit.

His friend looked so upset…

Quesa was considerably calmer on Sunday, and the food was surprisingly good. I think Quesa will be a nice alternative to Mattito’s and Cedar Springs Tap House, which both get incredibly packed.

After brunch, we grabbed the dogs and went to the Easter dog parade near Turtle Creek.

It was quite the production.

The crowd at Easter in Lee Park / Dallas Pooch Parade.

Guys with matching outfits and bunny ears at Easter in Lee Park

A guy with a matching dog at the 2016 Easter Pooch Parade in Dallas.

A pink poodle at the Dallas Easter Pooch Parade.

Spectators taking a selfie during the Easter Parade – is that Dustin in the background?!

Picnics at Lee Park near Arlington Hall

Dallas

Khrushchyovka, Texas

March 26, 2016

So about those new buildings…

DFW is only second to Houston as the fastest growing city in the United States.

The hoard of people moving to Dallas spurred a huge construction boom, and cranes are all over the city.

A new apartment project near the American Airlines Arena.

A new apartment building project in the Dallas design district built in the “One Plus Five” style.

Construction in the Victory Park / Harwood neighborhood of Dallas

All Things New

Apartment buildings are growing like weeds around the gayborhood and many of my neighbors think anything past 3-years is an “old building.”

But there is something strange about the style of the new apartment buildings in Dallas – they look like something straight out of soviet Russia. (We were beginning to see these in Minnesota as well.)

music

What’s Playing

March 25, 2016

My Favorite Songs of the Moment

I recently played music at a friend’s birthday party and I was shocked that no one recognized the majority of my songs.

For example, no one had heard of Sam Lao, who is the hottest artist in Dallas right now. I was horrified!

Growing up, music was a more communal experience. You knew what was on the radio and MTV. That was pretty much it.

Although we will always recognize the new songs from Beyonce or Rihanna, I don’t think we share enough music with each other. So, in the interest of oversharing, here are my top 10 songs of the moment.

Here’s the full list:

Pineapple – Sam Lao
Fake Love – Blende
I’m in Control (Magician Remix) – Aluna George feat. Popcaan
Fade – Malaa
Palco – Gilberto Gil
Stronger (Moony Remix) – Amy Winehouse
Be Right There – Diplo & Sleepy Tom
No One Understands – Midnight Club
That Other Girl – Sevdaliza
Slip Away – Niko The Kid

Interior Design

Home Office Dreams

March 24, 2016

I am moving to a bigger apartment in just two weeks.

Well, I am supposed to move into a new apartment in two weeks. The apartment transfer process is unexpectedly painful and we still do not have a proper lease for the new unit.

Assuming that I can eventually get a new lease for the apartment, I will have to figure out how to set up my home office. This means spending an inordinate amount of time lusting over designer home offices and coveting furniture that I will never be able to squeeze into my bedroom.

A boy can dream, right?

Let’s go down this rabbit hole with my current inspiration board.

First, there are the insanely expensive home-office options over at Restoration Hardware et. al.

Restoration Hardware is a fantasy for me. It’s beautiful, aspirational, and utterly out of my budget.

This doesn’t mean I won’t gawk anyway…

A beautiful Restoration Hardware desk, but with way more space than I’ll have in my new apartment.

Loving the tall skinny lights on this desk. It looks kind of low though.

I love the pictures behind this Restoration Hardware desk. The chair is also similar to my current one.

For those who never get tired of looking at themselves, this Restoration Hardware desk has a massive mirror in front of it.

I love the oversized suitcase look of this desk. The collars in the case are slightly creepy.

Oak Lawn

Gay Bingo!

March 23, 2016

I made it to my second gay bingo event at S4 this weekend.

Gay bingo at Station 4 is a fabulous event. It is basically a Texas-sized version of Minneapolis bar bingo.

Gay bingo events in Minneapolis and Dallas both support local HIV/AIDS resource centers, but the experience is dramatically different. In Minneapolis, bingo is informal, occasionally violent, and very frequent – you can play up to 4 times per week.

However in Dallas, bingo is a once-per-month extravaganza.