Richardson is Playing the Wrong Game

I have been frustrated lately by the direction that development/redevelopment in Richardson is headed. For example, see "Main Street/Central Expressway Study" for my criticism of redevelopment plans for old downtown Richardson; see "The Last, Best Hope for Richardson" for my criticism of development plans for the land around the PGBT DART station; and see "In Southwest Richardson, It's Always Friday" for my criticism of the planned restaurant row in the West Spring Valley corridor.

After the jump, I finger the common source of these frustrations.

West Side Story at PHS

West Side Story at Pearce High School: Everyone loves the songs, but it's the dancing that really sets this musical apart. Huge Pearce cast nails it.

More photos after the jump.

OTBR: The Charleston City Market

Latitude: N 32° 46.878
Longitude: W 079° 55.674
A child on a road trip with his family 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".

S2L77: Swayambhunath Monkey Temple

Kathmandu, Nepal
February 21-27, 1977

I lined up an overland bus tour to London. The easy way out but a relief to me.

I spent today trying to finalize overland plans. Visas have me worried a lot. I walked to the Indian Embassy only to discover I had forgotten to bring passport photos.

I picked up my Indian visa, went to the Pakistan Embassy (no visa needed). I went to the casino to pick up some greenbacks needed for an Afghan visa (US$7 cash, no travelers checks accepted, no pounds, no rupees, everyone must pay with US cash). At the casino, I changed a traveler's check into US cash and left with that plus gambling winnings of 43 Indian rupees besides. Free drinks, too!

I spent time in the American library reading current US magazines.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 02 21 Nepal

I said goodbye to Kathmandu with a visit to Swayambhunath, an ancient religious complex atop a hill a short walk from Kathmandu's Durbar Square. The site affords solitude and an expansive view of Kathmandu Valley. Yeah, I know, the string of flags make the stupa look a little like a grand opening of a gas station in Appleton, Wisconsin, but forget that. The monkeys remind you where you really are.

More photos after the jump.

Brain Farts

Texas Gov. Rick Perry aired a radio ad in California trying to lure California businesses to Texas. California Gov. Jerry Brown dismissed Perry's radio appeal as "barely a brain fart."

Coincidentally, Texas state Representative Stefani Carter filed a bill in the Texas legislature to make Texas a little more like, you guessed it, California.

After the jump, Carter's own brain fart.