OTBR: Off The Blue Roads

Latitude: 38.405° N
Longitude: 91.083° W

From GD101

There's a story I like about a family on a car trip. A child asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

An Eastside Christmas

Berkner Jazz Band

From 2009 12 Eastside Christmas

The Christmas season opened on a suitably frigid evening Thursday with the ceremonial tree lighting ceremony at Richardson's Eastside mixed-use development on Campbell Rd at Central Expressway. The Berkner High School Jazz Band braved the weather to entertain the crowd.

I hesitate to say anything negative during the Christmas season, but as much as I like Eastside, their Christmas tree is a little underwhelming. The silver lining to this was that, having missed the actual big lighting event in favor of ducking into Twisted Root to get warm and enjoy a good burger, when I later saw the sparsely lighted tree, it removed some of the guilt I felt for ducking out. (I did see a certain high-ranking city official walking through Twisted Root, but I won't say he missed the flipping of the switch, too. More likely, he did the honors.) All in all, a good way to begin a great time of year.

Photos of the event can be seen here.

Fighting City Hall ... in Court

Earlier this week, I blogged about Richardson being at the crossroads, dialog or pitchforks. Will a constructive dialog between the city council and the public be nurtured or will it suffocate in an increasingly poisonous attitude by uncompromising critics? After the jump, a lawsuit that's a bad sign for which direction the city is headed.

Obama Hates Cute Kids ... and Christmas

No, not really. But that's the rap he's getting for the timing of his address to the nation Tuesday night to announce plans for a troop buildup in Afghanistan. After the jump, the case for why Obama hates cute kids ... and Christmas.

Richardson at the Crossroads: Dialog or Pitchforks?

What are the hot-button issues in Richardson city government? After the jump, two viewpoints.