If You Try And Lose

“If you try and lose then it isn’t your fault. But if you don’t try and we lose, then it’s all your fault.”
― Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

Munger & Gaston Streets, Dallas, Texas

Munger & Gaston Streets, Dallas, Texas

I was planning on riding my bicycle down to The Lot to meet Nick for his birthday. At first, I was going to ride the train downtown, then out the Santa Fe Trail, but the people on the train were getting on my last nerve, so I took that as an omen and left the train early, from the underground station at Cityplace. After riding the two extensive escalators to the surface, I had to work my way through East Dallas to the lake. That part of town is a confusing maze of angled streets, and more difficult on a bicycle than a car. You have to avoid some busy streets, some killer hills, and a mistake can put you miles out of your way.

However, I’ve been there a few times recently and was able to find my way without any real problems – with an occasional Googlemaps look on my phone.

I did make a little side trip to the intersection of Gaston & Munger. There’s a sculpture there – on the corner of a redone apartment complex of a man and woman pushing a mirrored sphere. I had seen it before, but never able to stop and get a good look.

My camera was in my pack this time, so I took a quick photo of it. I don’t know anything about its title or sculptor or backstory – but I’ll try to get back and get a better shot.

It’s in an unexpected spot – and looks really cool.

What I learned this week, August 7, 2015

Bikes locked up in front of Parkway, New Orleans, Louisiana

Bikes locked up in front of Parkway, New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Restaurant Bounce, After Katrina


Woman writing in a Moleskine Notebook, Wichita, Kansas

Woman writing in a Moleskine Notebook, Wichita, Kansas

Why Keeping a Daily Journal Could Change Your Life


Magazine Street, New Orleans

Magazine Street, New Orleans

Why Are Bicycle Sales Declining (for the 14th year)?


hamburger

Top 10 Restaurants in Dallas, TX

I don’t know if these are really the “top ten” – it tends to list middle-road sandwich places – but there are some interesting choices here.


British artist Richard Long has given us his ‘Dallas Rag’

I absolutely have to go see this.


The Myth of Big, Bad Gluten


Why Eating Fresh, Just-Caught Fish May Be a Thing of the Past

Actually, this seems like a way to drive the “little guy” out of the marker – who can afford that sort of ultra-freezer?


Wind/Pinball: Two novels

Murakami baby!


One of my favorite things ever is riding in the monthly Dallas Critical Mass ride. It runs from Main Street Garden Park in Downtown Dallas to a different, usually secret, destination – the last Friday of every month. To find out more, check out the Facebook Page.

Here’s a nice video of the last one – which ended up at a party (DJ, ice cream truck, keg, tamales) in the Sheep Barn at Dallas Fair Park.

The month before, June, was epic in that the ride was caught in a massive thunderstorm and we had to take refuge under the overhang of Dallas City Hall.

Here’s a 8X speeded up version of the ride.

And, if you have the patience to sit through it, is the whole thing.

Before and After – Bench

“I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn’t,
So I jumped in and sank.”
― Langston Hughes

I like to ride my bike in the Trinity River Bottoms and take a rest on one of the benches that are spotted along the trail. I took these less than a year ago. You can see the Continental Bridge Park in the background.

My Xootr folding bicycle, Trinity River Bottoms, Dallas, Texas

My Xootr folding bicycle, Trinity River Bottoms, Dallas, Texas

Continental Bridge, Dallas, Texas

Continental Bridge,
Dallas, Texas

Now, the water is rising.

The bench is swallowed by the rising water. Taken from the Continental Bridge Park, Dallas, Texas

The bench is swallowed by the rising water. Taken from the Continental Bridge Park, Dallas, Texas

I see on the radar that there is another giant storm to the Northwest – this area drains into the Trinity. The river isn’t finished going up.

Four Bullets Brewery

Front door to Four Bullets Brewery, Richardson, Texas

Front door to Four Bullets Brewery, Richardson, Texas

For about I year I watched the progress of a new small brewery here in my own town of Richardson. It was established by two experienced home brewers that wanted to take the next step and open up their own establishment. It was called Four Bullets Brewery and has finally had its soft opening, with the official grand opening scheduled in a couple months.

It’s been open on Saturdays from noon to six with the typical tour deal – ten bucks for a glass and three beer tickets. I have been enjoying these craft beer tours for a few years now and really wanted to check out Four Bullets. The last couple weeks were too busy for me but today I was able to make a visit.

The brewery is located in a little industrial area north of downtown, near the Arapaho DART train station. It’s very close to where I live – but there is a railroad track blocking the way, so I rode north past the rail station and doubled back. It was a nice, easy ride, about three and a half miles.

I folded my Xootr Swift and locked it to a sign out in front – I should have ridden around to the back of the building, but I didn’t know.

My bike folded and locked up in front of Four Bullets.

My bike folded and locked up in front of Four Bullets.

The brewery is small – about the size of a generous garage, but it has an extensive open area out back with tables and some games. The crowd grew throughout the time I was there, until they had a very respectable bunch hanging around. A food truck sold barbeque in the back – he had his smoker located upwind and the smell made it impossible to resist.

The crowd grows in the patio in back of the Brewery.

The crowd grows in the patio in back of the Brewery.

I’m not expert on beers – but I enjoyed the three I tried. They all had the complexity and freshness you expect in a small batch craft beer. I especially liked the Oatmeal Stout – excellent and not too heavy, and the Pale Ale – very drinkable with a lot of flavor without being too hoppy. It’ll be interesting to watch Four Bullets as they go along – see if they get more adventurous with their beer varieties.

The City of Richardson looks at this industrial park as a potential little Design District – with the same kind of development – restaurants, galleries, breweries – that Dallas is working on in the area between downtown and the river. A food truck park is slated to open soon. I hope the trend continues – it would be a cool thing.

I will definitely go back, maybe try and organize a bike ride from a DART station through the east side of the city down to the brewery.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Good Review of Four Bullets

Enlist the Confidences Of Madmen

“I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.”
― J.G. Ballard

Bicycle Drag Race, Continental Bridge, Dallas, Texas

Bicycle Drag Race, Continental Bridge, Dallas, Texas

drag_race1

drag_race9

Dallas Skyline from the Continental Bridge Park

Dallas Skyline from the Continental Bridge Park

I Never Feared the Dew

“But I pushed and pulled in vain, the wheels would not turn. It was as though the brakes were jammed, and heaven knows they were not, for my bicycle had no brakes. And suddenly overcome by a great weariness, in spite of the dying day when I always felt most alive, I threw the bicycle back in the bush and lay down on the ground, on the grass, careless of the dew, I never feared the dew.”
― Samuel Beckett, Molloy

Frisco Heritage Village Frisco, Texas

Frisco Heritage Village
Frisco, Texas

Bicycle Tour de Taqueria – Tacos of Oak Cliff

There is nothing better in North Texas than the few spring days when the sun is shining and the day is warm – yet the killer summer heat is still a little off into the future.

Saturday was one of those days and I headed down to the Bishop Arts District for a bicycle ride – a tour of Taquerias in Oak Cliff.

Our first stop was Cool & Hot at 930A E. Eighth St. – Streetview

Hot & Cool Tacqueria Oak Cliff, Texas

Hot & Cool Tacqueria
Oak Cliff, Texas

Bicycles stacked up in front of Hot & Cool

Bicycles stacked up in front of Hot & Cool

Cool & Hot is a converted gas station right off the Interstate – it’s mostly a drive-thru. It’s open 24 hrs a day from Thursday through the weekend – something to remember on a late night trip home.

Then is was on to Taqueria Tiquicheo at 110 S. Marsalis Ave. – Streetview.

Taqueria Tiquicheo

Taqueria Tiquicheo

This was my favorite stop on the tour – more of a sit-down restaurant. The regulars were there for menudo or other specialties – the sweaty bicyclists descended like a cloud of taco-eating locusts.

Taco Selections at Taqueria Tiquicheo

Taco Selections at Taqueria Tiquicheo

All the spots offered pretty much the same traditional selection of Mexican style tacos. This is the sign from Taqueria Tiquicheo. If you think of tacos as hamburger stuffed into crunchy corn shells – well, these aren’t what you are thinking about. Served in foil in soft flour or corn tortillas with a little onion, cilantro, and a lime wedge – along with the house special hot sauces.

The fillings:

Fajita – grilled steak
Tripa – Tripe
Nopales – Cactus (a vegetarian option)
Lengua – beef tongue
Chicharron – fried pork rinds
Pollo – chicken – one person said this was “surprisingly good”
Barbacoa – slow cooked meat, the original sorce of barbecue
Chorizo – chopped sausage

Next was on to Jefferson Boulevard – the main commercial drag through the area. The next Tacqueria was a very small, unlabeled spot with a small dining room.

El Padrino #1. – Streetview

El Padrino #1 on Busy Jefferson Blvd. in Oak Cliff

El Padrino #1 on Busy Jefferson Blvd. in Oak Cliff

Lengua Tacos from El Padrino

Lengua Tacos from El Padrino

These are the Lengua Tacos from El Padrino – I ate them on top of a newspaper stand on the street.

Then we rode off through the residential streets until we reached Los Torres Taqueria, 1322 W. Clarendon Dr. – Streetview

 Los Torres Taqueria

Los Torres Taqueria

This was the most conventional restaurant that we visited, yet still it had that family feel to it.

And that was about all the tacos I could take for one spring afternoon. I split off and rode home – a little overfull and a bit overheated. But it was still a good time.

Much Time Has Passed And Is Passing Faster And Faster Every Day

“I am now 33 years old, and it feels like much time has passed and is passing faster and faster every day. Day to day I have to make all sorts of choices about what is good and important and fun, and then I have to live with the forfeiture of all the other options those choices foreclose. And I’m starting to see how as time gains momentum my choices will narrow and their foreclosures multiply exponentially until I arrive at some point on some branch of all life’s sumptuous branching complexity at which I am finally locked in and stuck on one path and time speeds me through stages of stasis and atrophy and decay until I go down for the third time, all struggle for naught, drowned by time. It is dreadful. But since it’s my own choices that’ll lock me in, it seems unavoidable–if I want to be any kind of grownup, I have to make choices and regret foreclosures and try to live with them.”
― David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments

Bicycle Drag Race, Continental Bridge Park, Dallas, Texas

Bicycle Drag Race, Continental Bridge Park, Dallas, Texas

We Should Meet In Air

“We should meet in another life, we should meet in air, me and you.”
― Sylvia Plath

A Cute Couple on a Tandem Deep Ellum Dallas, Texas

A Cute Couple on a Tandem
Deep Ellum
Dallas, Texas

Ride To Nowhere

We’re on a ride to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin’ that ride to nowhere
We’ll take that ride

I’m feelin’ okay this mornin’
And you know,
We’re on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go
—-Talking Heads

Trinity Skyline Trail (east side) from the Continental Bridge Park Dallas, Texas

Trinity Skyline Trail (east side)
from the Continental Bridge Park
Dallas, Texas

View From the Levee

Trinity Skyline Trail