Doohickie

BABBLE Ride, October 17

2009-10-18T21:47:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, the newly formed and loosely associated group known as BABBLE had its first ride. BABBLE is Bicycle Authors, Bloggers, Boldfaced Liars and Exaggerators. It was formed by a number of bloggers who write about cycling in the Fort Worth and Dallas areas. We thought it would be cool to get together and take a little ride, have a little lunch, and make up a funny name for ourselves.

We met at the Texas & Pacific Rail Station Park & Ride lot at the south end of downtown Fort Worth. There are about a half dozen of us, so we weren't expecting much of a turnout. Word got out on some other local blogs and message boards, though, and we ended up with lots of unexpected riders- almost 20 of us!

Chris of Pondero blog ponders the collection of bikes.

This is Frankenbike, the creation of Steve A of DFW Point-to-Point. This bike is far uglier in person than than I would have believed from the pictures I've seen. ;-)

Chris's Homer Hilson, on the other hand, is gorgeous.

Mounting up!

This is Rose; her propulsion was provided by her dad, chimericslashes.

Artsy bike picture.

Another one.

Finally we begin.

A motley group.

First stop: Panther City Bicycles.

Refreshments available include Fort Worth-brewed Rahr beer on tap.

Onward we go.

Oops! That was a quick light!

Another stop for the BABBLE posse...

...at Colonel's Bicycles near TCU.

BABBLErs gawking around in Colonel's

Riding near Colonial Country Club.

Getting on the Trinity River Trail at Overton Creek.

We got off the river trail at Trinity Park.

Cutting through the industrial area that leads to...

...La Familia for lunch!

Wish you were here, R A N T W I C K!

The enchiladas were excellent!

A great time was had by all! BABBLE founders include Chandra (Green Commotion, bright yellow shirt), Steve A (DFW Point-to-Point, blue shirt), Myles (Rat Trap Press, red shirt), me- Paul H (Doohickie, next to Myles), then next to me Chris (Pondero) and Reed (ChipSeal). I regret to say I'm not too good with names, so several of our new friends will have to remain nameless for now. Maybe on the next ride I'll be better with names. I also regret that I missed the rest of the ride; I had to get home for another appointment and left the group after eating lunch. I took more pictures of the ride; you can see them here.

If you want to see what happened next, check out some these accounts of the ride:

DFW Point-to-Point
Rat Trap Press
Pondero
Fixed Dallas Twitter
Onespeed Dallas Twitter
fixedminusdicks Twitter Pics
Suburban Assault

The Theme from Shaft

2009-10-12T22:04:00.003-05:00

(Caution: slightly not-safe for work language)

...as played by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Wow. What kind of encore could you follow that up with? Maybe... this:

Tour de Dallas

2009-10-07T21:52:00.003-05:00

So this past Friday, some friends and I rode the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) from Fort Worth to Dallas, then we rode our bikes around White Rock Lake and the surrounding area before heading back to downtown Dallas for lunch and taking the train back home.

My riding buddies planned to board the TRE in downtown Fort Worth, but I had to drop my car off for some maintenance, so I rode the my bike from the dealership to the TRE station at Richland Hills.

For $7.50, you get a day's worth of unlimited transportation on The T (Fort Worth's bus system), the TRE, and DART Buses and Light Rail.

Not being sure how long I would be at the dealer, and not knowing how long it would take me to get to the station and how crowded it would be, I got there pretty early. It gave me a chance to look around. There were real bikes of real commuters locked up!

After almost an hour of waiting, my train arrived.

I found my riding buddies on the train.

We got off at Union Station in Dallas,

which is in the shadow of Reunion Tower.

From there we took the DART Blue Line toward Garland. It was a tighter fit on the light rail, but we still got our bikes on board. Three of the four bikes fit in the area where two cars coupled together.

Finally.... freedom! We got off at the White Rock Lack station and rode over to the lake.

It only took a few minutes to get to the lake.

The weather was PERFECT.

White Rock Lake is surrounded by some of the most gorgeous homes you'll see. We detoured off into the surrounding neighborhood a bit.

This one was ostentatiously called Mount Vernon.

Some other homes in the area. Nice....

We saw this house from both sides. It was freakin' huge!

A brief break...

And we left the lake to follow the White Rock Creek Trail.

(Insert horse's ass joke here ;-)

Once the horse's handler realized I was trying to take a picture, she got it to pose all pretty.

Further up the trail, crossing under Walnut Hill Lane.

We finally stopped and turned around. We were getting hungry.

We rode almost all the way to I-635 at the northern limits of Dallas.

Then it was back to the Blue Line to downtown Dallas. Unlike my riding mates, I didn't get all lycra-ed out.

We ate lunch at Dick's Last Resort. I was too hungry to take pictures. The we rode around in little downtown, taking in the sites like the American Airlines Center where the Mavericks and Stars play.

And just some general wandering, trying to find Union Station again.

And finally, the train ride home.

By my estimate, I did about 45 miles on the bike that day. It was a great day.

Solo Breakfast Ride

2009-09-22T23:54:00.005-05:00

I have a great work schedule in that I get every other Friday off. Occasionally I spend some or all of that off-Friday on my bike. This past Friday, I was inspired by Rat Trap Press to check out Benito's on Magnolia in Fort Worth.

Approaching Benito's, coming north on Fairmount.

Fairmount is one of the older residential neighborhoods in Fort Worth. It's best described as "spotty". It's a historic district, so as the homes are fixed up, they are kept true to the flavor of the neighborhood, and there are some truly beautiful homes. But there are also some eyesores that need to be leveled. Anyway, once I got closer to Benito's,

I found out that they don't open until 11 am on weekdays! So I made my way back to 8th Avenue and Park Place.

Because on my way through there earlier I noted that Esperanza's was open.

So I stopped in.

There was no place to lock my Raleigh DL-1 up, so I just left The Old Gentleman out front and grabbed a table near the window.

Looking around the place...

...it looked a little upscale. Luckily they have daily breakfast and lunch specials.

Being Friday, I ordered the "Huevos a la mexicana". For a little price you get a big breakfast!

The food was excellent. I'm not a big fan of hot, spicy food. The eggs had a nice bite to them, but weren't too hot. While I was there, I looked around at the other customers. The place was frequented by a combination of white gringos like myself, and mexicanos, many of them appeared to be workmen who I would think would know where to get the best Mexican food. This restaurant is in a neighborhood boundary area kind of like Filigree describes on her Lovely Bicycle! blog. But here, there wasn't such a stark line between the neighborhoods; there was a little more mixing and transition.

Within a block or two of Esperanza's are several other interesting looking eateries, including the generically named Joe's Italian Restaurant,

Chadra Mezza Grill (next to Herringbone Home Furnishings), serving Lebanese and Italian food,

and the Old Neighborhood Grill

East of 8th Avenue is Fairmount which I described earlier. If you go west down Park Place, you come into Berkeley Place, another older neighborhood. This one is extremely well kept, though, featuring tree-lined streets,

a "vintage" school (Lily B. Clayton Elementary),

and some very nice, well-preserved homes.

I did 23 miles on my Raleigh 3-speed, a nice workout, considering the bike weighs about 50 pounds. Then again, after that breakfast, I needed some exercise. ;- )

The West Side

2009-09-07T15:34:00.005-05:00

I took a nice bicycle tour of Fort Worth's west side today. I rode up to the Ridgmar Mall area at the western end of what most people consider the west side, then traveled east to downtown. I didn't take a lot of pictures. Kevin Buchanan at FortWorthology.com does a much better job than me anyway. (I'll link to his posts when we get to something he's discussed.)

Anyway, the first order of business is that I met Miles, an acquaintance from BikeForums, who had driven in to Fort Worth from Cleburne to play some golf over at Z. Boaz, a municipal course. I caught him between the front nine and back nine; he proudly showed me his Raleigh Suberbe which was in his truck in the parking lot.

From there I headed east along the south side of I-30, then swung up through the Cultural District. The construction on the new science museum is nearing completion but the site is still a mess.

I picked up Camp Bowie Boulevard and headed east to the big intersection where it crosses University, Bailey and 7th Street, and proceeded toward downtown on 7th. On the north side of 7th, Montgomery Plaza (built in an old Montgomery Wards warehouse) is open for business, which spurred other development on the south side of the street, creating a new urban living and shopping district between the Cultural District and downtown, including the West 7th and SoSeven.

I rode over the Trinity River on 7th and I was in downtown. I stopped for a snack

at Myles's (no, not the same person as Miles above) favorite Starbucks. After taking that pic I decided to sit outside and found an additional level of security for my bike, courtesy of another Starbucks customer.

The dog barked some, but mostly at the guy who threw a cigarette butt on the pavement when there was a trash can (with an ashtray) not five feet away from where the butt landed. :( I wasn't going to let that ruin my day though.

I got out of downtown the same way I entered, on 7th Street, but then picked up the Trinity River Trail on the west side of the river. I got off at the trailhead between University and Rogers, which will soon be reconstructed to make the crossings under the bridges less steep and improve sight lines to make things safer. I rode through the TCU area (avoiding Rogers hill due to my bad back), then picked up Trail Lake Drive, and my usual route back home, stopping off, as I frequently do, at City Cyclist on the way back.

Badda boom, badda bing, thirty-six miles. Except for taking it easy on the hills, my sore back is not getting in the way of riding at all.

20090907 Labor Day

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Barbeque in a Bottle

2009-09-02T21:18:00.006-05:00

Imagine digging into a plate of Angelo's barbeque brisket and washing it down with a swig of Shiner Bock. Mmmm.... the meaty goodness of brisket and the malty snap of the beer.

But if you can't get out to a good barbeque joint, what can you do? Simple: Pick up a six-pack of Shiner Smokehaus beer. The flavor sensations will be exactly the same, even though the barbeque is missing. I guess it's kind of a novelty brew: A beer that tastes like barbeque. But... it works.

I don't know how you brew "mesquite smoked" beer, but the good folks at Spoetzl Brewery figured it out. It takes you out to a barbeque picnic even if you're hangin' out in your BarcaLounger. Add a bunch of nostalgic labeling, and this beer is a winner.

We'll Meet Again

2009-08-31T21:39:00.004-05:00

Quick question: What's the hottest album on the British charts, coming out of nowhere to get up to Number 20? And who is the oldest singer ever to have an album on the British charts?

The answer is Vera Lynn- We'll Meet Again. Read more here. If watching this video doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you have a heart of stone.

A Ride After Work

2009-08-18T23:17:00.002-05:00

After work this evening, I took a little ride. Mrs. Doohickie and I, along with our pastor, went out to a neighboring church that's trying to build itself up; they are seeking advice on how to do so and so we are serving on their advisory committee (sounds official, but it more of a meeting of friends and future friends to try to grow a little church).

The church is not too far from where I work, only 4 miles, so I rode my bike over there after work and met the others there. I packed both a lunch and a dinner today (if you can call a tuna sandwich dinner) and decided to ride over to the church before eating it. I stopped at an elementary school across the street and ate at a little table near the entrance.

We had our meeting, then it was time to ride home. At this point it was nearly dusk. I retraced my route until I got to the river, and decided to follow it for a while. I took some pics along the way. On the one hand I want to apologize for the crappy cell phone pics; on the other, the blur of the slow shutter does kind of capture the motion of the bike (yes, I take pics on the move). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. You can see how the sun was steadily setting as I rode.

This last one was taken at the low water crossing at Overton Creek. The river is rather wide at this point; almost lake-like.

I took more pictures after that, but it was too dark for my cell phone to get any decent pictures. Shortly after that I was off the trail and back on the streets. I turned on my headlight and tail lights and enjoyed a very peaceful ride home in the increasing darkness. Dusk is one of my favorite times to ride. The excitement of the day is over; it is peaceful. The heat of the day is dissipating. Hurrying just doesn't seem right; better to ride slow and savor it.

Here is my route for the day, from home to work, to the church, then along the river before heading for home. Altogether about 25 miles.

Commute & Evening Ride

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

25 Years and Counting

2009-08-11T02:00:00.007-05:00

Who knew that such a cutie could fall for me?

25 years ago today we said, "I do." I still find it hard to believe PennyCandy agreed to share her life with me, but I'm sure glad she did.

We've had our ups and our downs, but it's been more ups. She's been a great mother to our two sons. I'm proud of how she finished her degree and became a teacher, and as a lead teacher at her school she's helping other teachers improve their craft. I really admire her for all she does.

But even more importantly, I love her. I love hearing about her day- her triumphs and her frustrations. I love her faith in God and in humanity. I love how much she's overcome to reach her accomplishments. I love the way her blue eyes sparkle when she shares a secret with me, and the way her touch can relax me. Without her, my life would be wretched; with her, it is complete.

I've loved spending the last 25 years with her. Happy anniversary, honey, and I hope we have many, many more!

The Summer of Eternal Houseguests Continues!

2009-08-01T17:32:00.004-05:00

We're in the middle of our third time (or is fourth?) time of having an out-of-town family member stay with us. This time it's Penny Candy's niece, NP Diva. On Wednesday the whole crowd of us went downtown for dinner and a movie to celebrate Penny Candy's birthday. We started with dinner Uno's Pizza.

Yeah, it was Uno's Pizza, but I'm the only one that actually ordered the Chicago-style pizza.

Mmmmm.....dig in!

After dinner we went over to the AMC Palace theatre and got our tickets.

This is an almost-formal portrait of NP Diva at the base of the DR Horton Tower across the theater.

We had some time to kill before the movie so while my sons went into Barnes & Noble to look around, the rest of us checked out the local scenery outdoors. There was outdoor music on the patio at 8.0.

Penny Candy ran into someone she knows from work.

People-watching in Fort Worth- the mr. had on cowboy duds and his mrs. had a Muslim headscarf.

Artsy-fartsy pics of Fort Worth architecture- looking straight up at the DR Horton Tower

The foreground here is the DR Horton Tower and in the distance its near-twin, the Wells Fargo Tower.

A contrast in styles- the very old Haltom's Jewelers and the DR Horton Tower.

One of the restored gems of Sundance Square housing several restaurants including Razoo's.

I forgot to take a picture of the Chisholm Trail trail mural on the other side. This building has radio studios in it (including one with a big picture window that looks outside on ground level.

The building behind it is simply "The Tower". It was razed by a tornado in 2000 but now has some of the most exclusive condos in the city.

Before the tornado it was the Banc One building. After the tornado, they built a new Banc One building (to the right of The Tower) going from a glass tower to a new-built art deco style building.

Finally it was time to go into the theater.

After the previews we took in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was a good flick.

We've had a lot of fun this summer. Having guests to entertain means we get to enjoy our city in a way we don't usually do anymore, and we begin to remember all the things we love about Fort Worth.

Introducing The Mixte Gallery

2009-07-31T21:54:00.000-05:00

I've started a new appreciation blog for mixte-frame bicycles called The Mixte Gallery.

If you want your mixte featured on The Mixte Gallery, please go over to the link above. There is a link to submit your mixte on the site.

The Eagle Has Landed

2009-07-18T09:43:00.006-05:00

40 years ago, the Apollo 11 astronauts were on their way to the first ever landing of a manned spacecraft on the moon.

Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.

Quote and Apollo 11 mission insignia via Wikipedia

You can relive the historic landing by listening to the radio transmissions of the Apollo 11 astronauts here at NASA.gov. There is a good timeline here so you can know when the good stuff is being played back.

Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface
via NASA

For additional Apollo 11 features at NASA, click here. I have to admit that when watching the video on that page, when Neil Armstrong states, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." I still get a chill up my spine. Awesome stuff.

But.... I'm only 46!

2009-07-17T20:40:00.002-05:00

I experienced a rite of passage this evening. I got home from work, and Mrs. Doohickie was watching What Not To Wear on TV. One of their big sponsors right now is Long John Silver's and they actually had some food that didn't look half bad, so I ran over and picked some up.

So the clerk rang me up and the amount seemed a little low. I checked the receipt...

...and for the first time in my life, someone gave me a senior discount!

I'm not quite sure what to think about this. After a little checking, I found that Long John Silver's gives a senior discount to people over the age of 55. Ouch... do I look that old? Well, to some 20-year-old working at Long John's, I guess so!

When WORLDS COLLIDE!

2009-07-11T20:55:00.005-05:00

So I went on the weekly breakfast ride with my bicycle club this morning.

There was the usual bike club crowd.

But hey! Who's this?

Why it's none other than HeidiTri's, aka Mrs. Doohickie's sister, and therefore my sister-in-law.

She traveled down from upstate New York to visit us here in Texas along with her daughter. If you read her blog, you know the "Tri's" part of her blog name is for triathlons. While she was here, she was happy to join us on the breakfast ride to get a few miles in while she's away from home. On one of my vintage bikes, of course (a 1981 Fuji mixte).

She did very well in the Texas heat (it got up over 100 degrees today). We only had to stop once to cool off... at City Cyclist, of course! Heidi was very impressed with their selection of recumbent bikes.

So it was a little strange to have someone from one of my worlds to be inserted into another of my worlds, but everyone seemed to have a good time.

July Fourth Eve

2009-07-06T22:54:00.007-05:00

Getting a little caught up here. The last several years in our church we've had a talent/variety show that lies somewhere between A Prairie Home Companion and The Gong Show the Friday prior to Independence Day. I apologize in advance for the crappy cell phone pictures.

Mrs. Doohickie was the MC. She was there early but forgot her watch, so she asked me to bring it. I arrived on my bicycle just as the show was beginning and rode right up the center aisle of the sanctuary to take her watch to her, delivery boy style (including gratuitous ringing of the bell on my bike).

While I was putting my bike away, I missed the first act: a fifth grader playing Ode to Joy. On a penny whistle. With his nose. I could hear him out in the hall; he was actually pretty good.

The next act was one of the youth playing slap guitar, whatever that is. It sounded pretty awesome.

A little later the "house band" played. It is a four-piece combo that started at our church and actually plays some outside venues. They did a mix of original and cover songs. A very good country band.

Then... the highlight of the show for me. My son played a piece by Mozart... as Mozart.

A great-great-grandmother from the congregation did a poetry reading: She read the original 1885 poem Little Orphant Annie. It is a strange little poem, and she made it even stranger with her rendition (which was good).

The next combo could have been an act on A Prairie Home Companion. They were a quartet on violin, guitar and two recorders that played several European folk songs. Very sweet.

Next was one of the ladies from the church who played keyboards and sang. I think she was singing it straight up, but it came out very lounge-lizard style. My thought was.... Ew.

Mozart was not impressed.

But as we were leaving, several people complimented her on her performance, which, I guess, is why they call it a variety show... there's something for everyone.

July 4

2009-07-05T23:08:00.002-05:00

So we went to Concerts in the Garden on July 4. Rather than post pictures, I decided to just put one animated image out there to give a feel for what we saw. The stage is in the first (lighter) pictures.... it didn't seem that far off in real life. The fireworks were pretty awesome. The majority of them were set off during Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever."

Vacation Teaser

2009-07-05T17:58:00.004-05:00

This is for HeidiTri's who happens to be Mrs. Doohickie's sister and who is coming from New York State to visit us in Texas this week. I heard she was packing her bicycle helmet "just in case."

It's not too clean, but I just finished a mechanical tuneup of a 1981 Fuji Royale I picked up a couple months ago. The wheels were badly out of round, so I swapped out the wheels from my old Nishiki Olympic 12. I'll tell ya what, Hei.... I wish this bike was big enough for me to ride. With just a little TLC, it rides very nicely indeed.

The catalog weight for this bike is 27 lb., but I don't think it weighs that much.

If you're up for it, you can do the Saturday breakfast ride with me, and Mrs. Doohickie and Mack can meet us at the restaurant. It should be a nice little jaunt.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T02:00:00.000-05:00

by the time you read this, I may be on a breakfast ride on July 4. The bike I'm riding will be festooned thus:

Have a safe & happy Fourth of July!

Even More Improbable Physics

2009-06-30T18:58:00.000-05:00

The Rowdy Teen And His Well-Behaved Basketball

via Atom Eyes at Metachat

The Main Event

2009-06-28T15:11:00.002-05:00

A little late, but what the heck....

So our youngest graduated from high school this month. It was crazy trying to get to the end of the semester and get everything done in time for our out of town visitors- my mom (Nana) and Mrs. Doohickie's parents (Grandma and Grandpa).

When the big day came, my son was ready to go. Here he is with Nana in the background as we were leaving.

Considering the class of '09 was 500 strong, they were pretty efficient with keeping things moving along.

Once everyone was seated, they sang the national anthem.

The anthem was sung by the senior choir members including our son. He's the tall guy in the back row.

After the speeches they started the production line to recognize the graduates. They didn't actually get their diplomas at graduation; this whole thing was just for show.

Mrs. Doohickie was impressed with the metal our son got...

...until she read it. I think it said, "The wisest man in all of Oz" ;- )

Time for the family portraits: Me, the graduate, Mrs. Doohickie and my older son

The graduate with Grandpa and Grandma

And a picture with Nana

One chapter closes and another begins. This past week, he went to freshman orientation at Texas Wesleyan University where he'll be going in the fall.

This News Just In:

2009-06-26T17:06:00.001-05:00

Abe Vigoda is alive

(I thought you might want to know.)

Space Invaders!

2009-06-24T18:50:00.000-05:00

Somehow, this is not what I pictured when I played the game.

Maybe I should have.

Fourth Months of Art School Boiled Down to Two Minutes

2009-06-20T16:39:00.003-05:00

The Making of Deadline is pretty cool too.

via richat at Metachat

More Demonstrations of Improbable Physics

2009-06-15T23:12:00.001-05:00

The Well-Behaved Gymnast:

The First of the Lasts

2009-06-13T22:19:00.003-05:00

It's been a hectic month that has seen many "lasts" of my parenting career.

My youngest son graduated from high school in June. Leading up to that were several events that we would be doing for the last time. I didn't get pictures of all of them, but here are pics from the first of the lasts.

The event was his last choir banquet. He joined choir as a sophomore so we really didn't get as involved as we did with band, but the choir banquet was always a nice event. The last two years it was held at a country club; this year it was held in a fairly recently renovated hall near downtown call the Marquis on Magnolia. Here is a closeup of him that night; I have to preface the pic by pointing out that these are CCPPs (crappy cell phone pictures).

The hall itself was interesting in that it had two seating areas on either side of a grand spiral staircase that came up in the middle of the room. This pic was taken from our table, looking across the staircase to the other end of the hall.

While we were there, a strong storm raged outside. A tree got blown over onto someone's car in the parking lot.

We had a pretty good dinner- Italian. The program included giving out several awards. One thing they do that is kind of unique is they have "senior wills" where the graduating seniors pass a piece of themselves, a bit of advice or whatever, on to the underclassmen. Our son passed on the perseverance & fortitude needed to do both band and choir, since he was in both. (They often conflict with each other and each is a sizable time commitment.)

That was the first of several lasts. There was the last choir concert, the last band concert, and the last band banquet. The band banquet was bittersweet for me because we'd been pretty involved with band, for eight years with both of our sons, we and knew several of the other band parents well, but that tie has been cut.