Friday, April 27, 2007
Outbound Conference Call
One of the best ways to reach your family members and friends all over the country thins holiday season is to make an outbound conference call. Making an outbound conference call is a lot cheaper and less time consuming than calling each person one by one. Note that if you belong to a big family and you have lots of friends all over the country, it could take you forever to get to the bottom of list so it is better to call them together through an outbound conference call.
The good thing about doing an outbound conference call to specific group of family members and friends is that your family members and friends could also greet each other during the call. Having some people converged on the phone or online could be a lot of fun so try to set for an outbound conference call as soon as you can. Do not leave your outbound conference call at the last minute because you may not get through easily anymore. Note that the holiday season creates very heavy traffic online and on the phones so be sure to set your outbound conference call well ahead of time before the rush hour sets in.
Placing Your Outbound Conference Call
Placing your outbound conference call is very easy. If you are already a member of an online conference call company, you can just log in and make that call. However, if you are not yet a member of any online conference call companies, you can go online and search for a good conference call company. Choose one of those reputable communications company so that you will not have much trouble getting a good connection.
The fees for conference call vary depending on the company. There are companies that will charge minimal fees while there are those who will offer you their services for free. However, if you want to get a fast connection, you better go for those companies that ask for minimal fees. Note that those companies that are offering their services for free would be too crowded this Holiday season that you may not really get through at all.
Now, before you make your outbound conference call, be sure to inform your friends and family members in advance that you will be calling a thins certain time and date so that they will be around when you do make the call. Note that everyone will be very busy over the holidays that if you really want to talk to some people online, you better tell them well in advance about your call.
The good thing about doing an outbound conference call to specific group of family members and friends is that your family members and friends could also greet each other during the call. Having some people converged on the phone or online could be a lot of fun so try to set for an outbound conference call as soon as you can. Do not leave your outbound conference call at the last minute because you may not get through easily anymore. Note that the holiday season creates very heavy traffic online and on the phones so be sure to set your outbound conference call well ahead of time before the rush hour sets in.
Placing Your Outbound Conference Call
Placing your outbound conference call is very easy. If you are already a member of an online conference call company, you can just log in and make that call. However, if you are not yet a member of any online conference call companies, you can go online and search for a good conference call company. Choose one of those reputable communications company so that you will not have much trouble getting a good connection.
The fees for conference call vary depending on the company. There are companies that will charge minimal fees while there are those who will offer you their services for free. However, if you want to get a fast connection, you better go for those companies that ask for minimal fees. Note that those companies that are offering their services for free would be too crowded this Holiday season that you may not really get through at all.
Now, before you make your outbound conference call, be sure to inform your friends and family members in advance that you will be calling a thins certain time and date so that they will be around when you do make the call. Note that everyone will be very busy over the holidays that if you really want to talk to some people online, you better tell them well in advance about your call.
Labels: Call, Calling Cards, Phone
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Yoink!
Desperate for something to put on here today, I'm stealing Brittney's idea and compiling a list of my own. With the exception of six weeks in Europe and juants here and there elsewhere, I've lived my entire life in the mid-west/mid-south/texas*.
So here we go. 10 things I love and hate about the South.
Love:
1). The Food: I try to eat fairly healthy nowadays, and I very rarely eat red meat at all anymore, but there's something very healing about a meal comprised of solely fried or drenched in butter ingredients. Slap me up some fried chicken, fried okra, mashed potatoes, jalepeno cornbread, and some fresh iced tea and I can be a happy camper. Toss in a bowl of red bean and rice or gumbo, some of the best Mexican food $2.50 can buy and fresh vegetables from local farms and you're hard up to go hungry around here.
2). The latinos: Since the border between the States and Mexico is pretty much the Red River (and moving north) nowadays, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the immigrant and first-generation latinos. But once you step back to enjoy the music, the culture and heritage, the language, and (oh yes) the food, you'll find a fascinating landscape of interesting items to satiate your diversity itch.
3) Farmer Bob and Farmer Jim: I volley back and forth on this one quite a bit, but there's definitely something very intriguing about the classic good old boy hard-working honest farmer stereotype. I'm probably the polar opposite of this class of people, but that's allright, I get along with them just fine, so long as we don't discuss politics. The best part about this is that they aren't even really farmers anymore. With the plight of the traditional family farm and ranch being overrun by giant corporations, they've had to learn to diversify, and diversify they have. One of the greatest examples of the good old boy was my barber back in Tulsa. Yup, a hair-stylist.
4) The music: There's something holistically cleansing about a great blues quartet live, or a gospel choir. The evolution of Southern music from slave-songs to campfire tunes in the Old West to Mississippi Delta blues to rockabilly and classic country to modern day incarnations like psychobilly has left some great music in the wake.
5) The storms: My dad's favorite pasttime is to sit on the back porch with the AM Radio on the weather station, a beer in hand, and watching a massive storm roll in. I've never seen thunderstorms hit with the frequency and intensity as they do where the Gulf Stream hits the Pacific Stream and high-pressure systems hit low-pressure systems and nature roars out an unmerciful downpour of noise on all below. Absolutely fascinating.
6: The Stars: No, not the hockey team (although I do like them well enough). But even living in the middle of a city with more than 2 million people in a metroplex with over 4 million, I can drive for about twenty to thirty minutes on a clear night and see damn near every star in the sky. I used to do this all the time when I was at Baylor, since I could find a field where I couldn't see any lights in about 10 minutes. Very relaxing.
7) The Nature: Trees, animals, campgrounds, rivers, lakes, hiking, all within a less than three hour drive pretty much no matter where you are.
8) Families: Coming from an extremely small family that wasn't very spread out, it was easy for us to get together for various functions. But there's something absolutely amazing about the family reunions of 150+ people that get together every year to catch up on life and spend time together, reliving traditions and passing on stories and advice.
9) The Laid-back pace of life: Again, something that I just notice as for the most part I'm a pretty quick paced guy. But even in the big city, it's rare to find someone rushing about trying to get stuff done for no reason other than that's the thing to do. Most people will take time out to genuinely inquire about your life, and they all have great memories.
10) The manners: This goes along pretty well with number nine, but people in this area are just more polite. You get many more thank-yous and please-s and Ma'am-s and sir-s than other places I've been. And it's not just people working the check-out register or the waiter at Chili's. It's a widespread, even level-playing field.
10 Things I Hate About the South.
1) The Conservatism - Not a shocker, but it gets really old and grating. Racism for the most part has been taken out of the public eye, and glaring examples are few and far between, but being a liberal in the South means, for the most part, that your vote will never count. Frustrating.
2) The trucks - Everywhere, it's duallies and Escalades and F350 Deisels and hopped up Yukons, sitting in three parking spaces marked "Compact Cars Only" and swerving at 90 miles an hour up I-35. Hate it.
3) The Dallas Fucking Cowboys - ...And football in general. The fervor around here, even during poor seasons is nauseating. And it's only going to get worse as Jerry Jones begins to grease up the fans and politicians so he can get public funding for a new stadium.
4) Big hair, big tits, and jeans with no back pockets - Enough said.
5) Drawls - I love accents of all kinds except for the one that I hear the most. There are people in my building that made Jim Varney sound like Tony Blair.
6) Suburban Sprawl - Yeah, it's all over, but I'd wager that some of the suburbs here in Dallas can compete with the biggest and best of them as far as chain restaurant after chain restaurant and households where keeping up appearances is priority number one. And suburban rebels? Forget about it. There's a reason that Plano became the heroin capital of the states in the late 90's.
7) Dashboard Patriotism - It's been hashed over and over again (here and everywhere else). It's not getting any better.
8) The Rednecks - The good old boys' dopplegangers, the rednecks can be some of the most infuriating people in the world. Loud, brash, irreverent, rude, and violent, they don't necessarily have to live in a trailer and unironically wear a trucker hat. They come in all shapes and sizes and can be the most close-minded people you'll ever meet.
9) The near lack of culture - Most every city, even the large ones, will have only one major museum, one natural history museum, one zoo, and, if you're lucky, only one modern museum. A couple of token art-house/ independent movie theaters, and some very small play houses and that's about your options. It's really bad for the high school kids, because little diversion leads to lots of mischeif.
10) The distance between cities and the lack of alternative ways to get there - I got spoiled big time by the trains in Europe and I'm really pining for a similar system here. Please. Soon.
*I get the feeling though that everthing that's not bordering the Pacific Ocean or that wasn't affected by the blackout, plus the D.C. area, is considered 'the South' to most everyone that does live in those areas.
So here we go. 10 things I love and hate about the South.
Love:
1). The Food: I try to eat fairly healthy nowadays, and I very rarely eat red meat at all anymore, but there's something very healing about a meal comprised of solely fried or drenched in butter ingredients. Slap me up some fried chicken, fried okra, mashed potatoes, jalepeno cornbread, and some fresh iced tea and I can be a happy camper. Toss in a bowl of red bean and rice or gumbo, some of the best Mexican food $2.50 can buy and fresh vegetables from local farms and you're hard up to go hungry around here.
2). The latinos: Since the border between the States and Mexico is pretty much the Red River (and moving north) nowadays, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the immigrant and first-generation latinos. But once you step back to enjoy the music, the culture and heritage, the language, and (oh yes) the food, you'll find a fascinating landscape of interesting items to satiate your diversity itch.
3) Farmer Bob and Farmer Jim: I volley back and forth on this one quite a bit, but there's definitely something very intriguing about the classic good old boy hard-working honest farmer stereotype. I'm probably the polar opposite of this class of people, but that's allright, I get along with them just fine, so long as we don't discuss politics. The best part about this is that they aren't even really farmers anymore. With the plight of the traditional family farm and ranch being overrun by giant corporations, they've had to learn to diversify, and diversify they have. One of the greatest examples of the good old boy was my barber back in Tulsa. Yup, a hair-stylist.
4) The music: There's something holistically cleansing about a great blues quartet live, or a gospel choir. The evolution of Southern music from slave-songs to campfire tunes in the Old West to Mississippi Delta blues to rockabilly and classic country to modern day incarnations like psychobilly has left some great music in the wake.
5) The storms: My dad's favorite pasttime is to sit on the back porch with the AM Radio on the weather station, a beer in hand, and watching a massive storm roll in. I've never seen thunderstorms hit with the frequency and intensity as they do where the Gulf Stream hits the Pacific Stream and high-pressure systems hit low-pressure systems and nature roars out an unmerciful downpour of noise on all below. Absolutely fascinating.
6: The Stars: No, not the hockey team (although I do like them well enough). But even living in the middle of a city with more than 2 million people in a metroplex with over 4 million, I can drive for about twenty to thirty minutes on a clear night and see damn near every star in the sky. I used to do this all the time when I was at Baylor, since I could find a field where I couldn't see any lights in about 10 minutes. Very relaxing.
7) The Nature: Trees, animals, campgrounds, rivers, lakes, hiking, all within a less than three hour drive pretty much no matter where you are.
8) Families: Coming from an extremely small family that wasn't very spread out, it was easy for us to get together for various functions. But there's something absolutely amazing about the family reunions of 150+ people that get together every year to catch up on life and spend time together, reliving traditions and passing on stories and advice.
9) The Laid-back pace of life: Again, something that I just notice as for the most part I'm a pretty quick paced guy. But even in the big city, it's rare to find someone rushing about trying to get stuff done for no reason other than that's the thing to do. Most people will take time out to genuinely inquire about your life, and they all have great memories.
10) The manners: This goes along pretty well with number nine, but people in this area are just more polite. You get many more thank-yous and please-s and Ma'am-s and sir-s than other places I've been. And it's not just people working the check-out register or the waiter at Chili's. It's a widespread, even level-playing field.
10 Things I Hate About the South.
1) The Conservatism - Not a shocker, but it gets really old and grating. Racism for the most part has been taken out of the public eye, and glaring examples are few and far between, but being a liberal in the South means, for the most part, that your vote will never count. Frustrating.
2) The trucks - Everywhere, it's duallies and Escalades and F350 Deisels and hopped up Yukons, sitting in three parking spaces marked "Compact Cars Only" and swerving at 90 miles an hour up I-35. Hate it.
3) The Dallas Fucking Cowboys - ...And football in general. The fervor around here, even during poor seasons is nauseating. And it's only going to get worse as Jerry Jones begins to grease up the fans and politicians so he can get public funding for a new stadium.
4) Big hair, big tits, and jeans with no back pockets - Enough said.
5) Drawls - I love accents of all kinds except for the one that I hear the most. There are people in my building that made Jim Varney sound like Tony Blair.
6) Suburban Sprawl - Yeah, it's all over, but I'd wager that some of the suburbs here in Dallas can compete with the biggest and best of them as far as chain restaurant after chain restaurant and households where keeping up appearances is priority number one. And suburban rebels? Forget about it. There's a reason that Plano became the heroin capital of the states in the late 90's.
7) Dashboard Patriotism - It's been hashed over and over again (here and everywhere else). It's not getting any better.
8) The Rednecks - The good old boys' dopplegangers, the rednecks can be some of the most infuriating people in the world. Loud, brash, irreverent, rude, and violent, they don't necessarily have to live in a trailer and unironically wear a trucker hat. They come in all shapes and sizes and can be the most close-minded people you'll ever meet.
9) The near lack of culture - Most every city, even the large ones, will have only one major museum, one natural history museum, one zoo, and, if you're lucky, only one modern museum. A couple of token art-house/ independent movie theaters, and some very small play houses and that's about your options. It's really bad for the high school kids, because little diversion leads to lots of mischeif.
10) The distance between cities and the lack of alternative ways to get there - I got spoiled big time by the trains in Europe and I'm really pining for a similar system here. Please. Soon.
*I get the feeling though that everthing that's not bordering the Pacific Ocean or that wasn't affected by the blackout, plus the D.C. area, is considered 'the South' to most everyone that does live in those areas.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Political Pictures?
Subhankar Banerjee is a nature photographer. He had gone up to the notorious A.N.W.R. and taken some pictures. Then, the Smithsonian offered him a major exhibition in its grand rotunda. However, the exhibit was shortly relocated to an out-of-the-way gallery and the captions, which had already been approved, were stripped from the photos.
The rationale, according to Smithsonian staffer Lawrence Small, was that the captions "Contained statements that might have been constued as advocacy for a particular position on ANWR". Yeah, captions like "Muskox herd on foothills along the Hulahula River; Romanzof Mountains in the background" and "Polar bear approaches whale bones from the previous years' hunt on frozen Bernard Harbor in early June".
Anyways, the photographs are gorgeous, and you can find them here in a slide-show format on the Sierra Club website. Banerjee's personal site can be found here and it includes many more beautiful pictures.
The rationale, according to Smithsonian staffer Lawrence Small, was that the captions "Contained statements that might have been constued as advocacy for a particular position on ANWR". Yeah, captions like "Muskox herd on foothills along the Hulahula River; Romanzof Mountains in the background" and "Polar bear approaches whale bones from the previous years' hunt on frozen Bernard Harbor in early June".
Anyways, the photographs are gorgeous, and you can find them here in a slide-show format on the Sierra Club website. Banerjee's personal site can be found here and it includes many more beautiful pictures.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
AT&T Conference Call
Working in a foreign country during the holiday season can be very lonely and stressful. While your family and friends maybe having such a grand time at home, you can find yourself feeling really homesick and alone in a foreign country. Although you may have made some new friends at work, nothing could really replace the presence of family members during the holiday season.
To help you cope with loneliness and homesickness this holiday season, ask your family and friends all over the globe for an AT&T conference call. The good thing about the AT&T conference call is that you get to talk to money people at the same time. Even if you your friends and family members are scattered all over the globe, you can converge together using the AT&T conference call services.
How To Set Up An AT&T Conference Call
Setting up an AT&T conference call is very easy. All you need to do is register either online or through the toll free number o the company. . The good thing about the AT&T conference call service is that you do not need to make prior reservations with the company before you can make the call. As long as you are sure that the people whom you would like to talk to are available at a certain time of the day, you can just simply call the AT&T operator and request for a teleconference. Give to the operator the numbers of the people whom you would like to include in the AT&T conference call. Set the time and date for the call so that everyone could be present when you do make the call.
You can provide your friends and relatives with password, which they can give to the operator when they answer the phone. The good thing about providing your family members and friends with a password to join the AT&T conference call is that you can ensure that no outsiders will be able to join and listen to your conversation.
Once you already contacted the AT&T operator to place your AT&T conference call to your friends and family members all over the world, all you need to do now is to wait for a few minutes for your family and friends to answer your call. The operator will announce the name of each person who will join the AT&T conference call so that you will all know who just came in even before they say hello.
To help you cope with loneliness and homesickness this holiday season, ask your family and friends all over the globe for an AT&T conference call. The good thing about the AT&T conference call is that you get to talk to money people at the same time. Even if you your friends and family members are scattered all over the globe, you can converge together using the AT&T conference call services.
How To Set Up An AT&T Conference Call
Setting up an AT&T conference call is very easy. All you need to do is register either online or through the toll free number o the company. . The good thing about the AT&T conference call service is that you do not need to make prior reservations with the company before you can make the call. As long as you are sure that the people whom you would like to talk to are available at a certain time of the day, you can just simply call the AT&T operator and request for a teleconference. Give to the operator the numbers of the people whom you would like to include in the AT&T conference call. Set the time and date for the call so that everyone could be present when you do make the call.
You can provide your friends and relatives with password, which they can give to the operator when they answer the phone. The good thing about providing your family members and friends with a password to join the AT&T conference call is that you can ensure that no outsiders will be able to join and listen to your conversation.
Once you already contacted the AT&T operator to place your AT&T conference call to your friends and family members all over the world, all you need to do now is to wait for a few minutes for your family and friends to answer your call. The operator will announce the name of each person who will join the AT&T conference call so that you will all know who just came in even before they say hello.
Labels: Call, Calling Cards, Phone
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Hit and Run
I've been reading the Amazon reviews for the new Simpsons: Hit and Run game. I believe it's available on both PS2 and Xbox. From what I've read so far, they've made some vast improvements over Simpsons Road Rage.
I'm not a huge gamer, so I took the good with the bad on Road Rage. The graphics are poor and the game play is extremely repetitive. Little Easter Eggs like having Apu dressed as Santa when you play the game on Christmas Day were nice, but it isn't a game I've invested a lot of time in, although I still do play it occasionally.
The reviews I've read of Hit and Run (which is more of a GTA kind of game) are pretty promising. Apparently the graphics are much improved, and the interface is a lot more diverse and not so simplified. I haven't played the game yet, so many of the positives and negatives are lost on me.
However, one of the frequent negatives does stand out. Many people say that the missions are repetitive, only increasing in difficulty. I wonder what games these people play and why they would even chance a game such as this. Looking at the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games that I love so much, there is a lot of repetition. Many of the missions on each level are the same but with increasing difficulty. Fine by me, I keep playing. Any sports video game is going to be that way. Even a lot of GTA Vice City was repetitious. Chase down this person, whack them with a golf club. Chase down that person, whack them with a chainsaw. Later, Rinse, Repeat.
If that's the biggest qualm that a lot of these people have about this game, then I'm feeling pretty positive with it. Granted, those that have bought it already are either gaming freaks or Simpsons nuts, or a combination of the two, so they're going to be both the most critical and the most fanatical. Myself being one of those that is a sucker for most things Simspons related, I know that it's a foregone conclusion that I'll get this game and waste many an hour on it. Between this and Tony Hawk UnderGround looks like me and my PS2 will become quite good friends this winter.
I'm not a huge gamer, so I took the good with the bad on Road Rage. The graphics are poor and the game play is extremely repetitive. Little Easter Eggs like having Apu dressed as Santa when you play the game on Christmas Day were nice, but it isn't a game I've invested a lot of time in, although I still do play it occasionally.
The reviews I've read of Hit and Run (which is more of a GTA kind of game) are pretty promising. Apparently the graphics are much improved, and the interface is a lot more diverse and not so simplified. I haven't played the game yet, so many of the positives and negatives are lost on me.
However, one of the frequent negatives does stand out. Many people say that the missions are repetitive, only increasing in difficulty. I wonder what games these people play and why they would even chance a game such as this. Looking at the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games that I love so much, there is a lot of repetition. Many of the missions on each level are the same but with increasing difficulty. Fine by me, I keep playing. Any sports video game is going to be that way. Even a lot of GTA Vice City was repetitious. Chase down this person, whack them with a golf club. Chase down that person, whack them with a chainsaw. Later, Rinse, Repeat.
If that's the biggest qualm that a lot of these people have about this game, then I'm feeling pretty positive with it. Granted, those that have bought it already are either gaming freaks or Simpsons nuts, or a combination of the two, so they're going to be both the most critical and the most fanatical. Myself being one of those that is a sucker for most things Simspons related, I know that it's a foregone conclusion that I'll get this game and waste many an hour on it. Between this and Tony Hawk UnderGround looks like me and my PS2 will become quite good friends this winter.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Conviction
Ovulation tests Pregnancy tests
A British man has been convicted of infecting two women with HIV.
In a landmark ruling, an HIV carrier was today found guilty of causing "biological" grievous bodily harm after he infected two lovers with the Aids virus.
Mohammed Dica, 38, conned his first victim into having unprotected sex by claiming he had had a vasectomy, and then persuaded a mother-of-two to sleep with him by declaring his love for her.
Dica's conviction is the first successful prosecution in England and Wales for sexually transmitting Aids, and the first for 137 years for infecting someone else with a sexually transmitted disease.
The father of three from Mitcham, Surrey, did not give evidence, but when interviewed he told police both women had known of his condition before going to bed with him.
The jury - made up equally of men and women - convicted Dica of two charges of causing "biological" grievous bodily harm at Inner London Crown Court in central London. Judge Nicholas Philpot refused a defense application for bail.
"If I had to sentence him today there is no doubt he would be going to prison and for a long time," he said.
This is a monumental precedent. I wonder if it will ever happen in the States. More likely, I wonder when it will happen, and the ensuing march to the Supreme Court (you know it will happen) will be something to watch.
Loosely related, the Vatican is lying to people in HIV-heavy countries, saying that condoms don't prohibit the spread of AIDS.
The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which HIV can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk.
The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to HIV.
A senior Vatican spokesman backs the claims about permeable condoms, despite assurances by the World Health Organization that they are untrue.
This is enraging. The WHO and many other organizations are fighting a very tough uphill battle trying to stem the flood that is the spread of HIV in Africa and Latin America. To have the leading authority on religion for much of those regions blatantly lying to the populous and putting them at further risk is unconscionable.
Drug tests Alcohol tests
A British man has been convicted of infecting two women with HIV.
In a landmark ruling, an HIV carrier was today found guilty of causing "biological" grievous bodily harm after he infected two lovers with the Aids virus.
Mohammed Dica, 38, conned his first victim into having unprotected sex by claiming he had had a vasectomy, and then persuaded a mother-of-two to sleep with him by declaring his love for her.
Dica's conviction is the first successful prosecution in England and Wales for sexually transmitting Aids, and the first for 137 years for infecting someone else with a sexually transmitted disease.
The father of three from Mitcham, Surrey, did not give evidence, but when interviewed he told police both women had known of his condition before going to bed with him.
The jury - made up equally of men and women - convicted Dica of two charges of causing "biological" grievous bodily harm at Inner London Crown Court in central London. Judge Nicholas Philpot refused a defense application for bail.
"If I had to sentence him today there is no doubt he would be going to prison and for a long time," he said.
This is a monumental precedent. I wonder if it will ever happen in the States. More likely, I wonder when it will happen, and the ensuing march to the Supreme Court (you know it will happen) will be something to watch.
Loosely related, the Vatican is lying to people in HIV-heavy countries, saying that condoms don't prohibit the spread of AIDS.
The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which HIV can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk.
The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to HIV.
A senior Vatican spokesman backs the claims about permeable condoms, despite assurances by the World Health Organization that they are untrue.
This is enraging. The WHO and many other organizations are fighting a very tough uphill battle trying to stem the flood that is the spread of HIV in Africa and Latin America. To have the leading authority on religion for much of those regions blatantly lying to the populous and putting them at further risk is unconscionable.
Drug tests Alcohol tests
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The Spirit of St. Louis
I'd been to St. Louis twice before. The first was with some very good high school friends the summer after graduation as a last hurrah before we all left to various colleges. The excuse was to see Phish at the Riverport Ampitheatre, a band I have never enjoyed and who did little for me live. I didn't get to see much of St. Louis on that trip though, since the Riverport is not really in St. Louis and we were only there for about 30 hours total.
The second time was about a year later with my testing the waters after some wierd stuff family. It was a good trip, but, as most vacations with my parents are, we stayed on the beaten path, seeing the things we were supposed to see and eating the things we were supposed to eat. It was a lot of fun, but it didn't really allow me to see what makes St. Louis be St. Louis.
This time, going with Denise, who has a spirit for the less known and the funky, I got to see much of St. Louis that I hadn't seen before. Sure, we did stuff like the Arch and spent 20 minutes at Union Station and went to their wonderful free Zoo (probably the best I've seen, and at least ten times as nice as the shithole that is the Dallas Zoo).
But this time I got to go to places like the Hill, the traditional old Italian neighborhood of St. Louis with its Green, White, and Red fireplugs and amazing toasted ravioli. I also went to the Loop, the area close to Washington University, where I got to do some shopping at Vintage Vinyl and peruse imported goods shops with Fair Trade Coffee available. I got to bum around left bank books for a bit, sipping on a bottle of Fitz's Root Beer. And we did a lot of off-highway driving, passing mile after mile of old brick townhouses, crammed close together and in various states of condition.
We also ate some amazing food, going to a nice little tapas place, an awesome little Brazilian restaurant that was in a converted home (permitting us to see the inside of one of the brick townhouses too), and ate at Chuck Berry's Restaurant. The Shlafly Tap Room allowed me to have a few of the best microbrews I've ever had with a couple of kindred spirits (and I brought a six-pack home). I even got to go out to a college bar by the SLU campus that had a ten dollar cover for all you could manage to get from the bartender well-drinks for a couple of hours.
It was a much needed vacation and a very fun one. It's the first time I've gotten to explore a new city in over two years, which, combined with the reading of some fictional travel-novels, has completely made me miss my days of leaving the country pretty much once a year and discovering new stuff.
I'm hopefully going to D.C. this Spring (I've now got a place to crash out there) and from there on, who knows. With Denise moving to Houston at the beginning of the year, New Orleans is a short jaunt away. One of the things about St. L that really stuck out is that it's an old city (as far as U.S. standards, and definitely as far as Mid-West standards). That just makes it so much more appealing. I'd love to go back sometime to catch some of the stuff that I missed, but for now I'll enjoy trying to burn my good times into my permanent memory drive and lament being back under flourescent lights in my cubicle cell.
The second time was about a year later with my testing the waters after some wierd stuff family. It was a good trip, but, as most vacations with my parents are, we stayed on the beaten path, seeing the things we were supposed to see and eating the things we were supposed to eat. It was a lot of fun, but it didn't really allow me to see what makes St. Louis be St. Louis.
This time, going with Denise, who has a spirit for the less known and the funky, I got to see much of St. Louis that I hadn't seen before. Sure, we did stuff like the Arch and spent 20 minutes at Union Station and went to their wonderful free Zoo (probably the best I've seen, and at least ten times as nice as the shithole that is the Dallas Zoo).
But this time I got to go to places like the Hill, the traditional old Italian neighborhood of St. Louis with its Green, White, and Red fireplugs and amazing toasted ravioli. I also went to the Loop, the area close to Washington University, where I got to do some shopping at Vintage Vinyl and peruse imported goods shops with Fair Trade Coffee available. I got to bum around left bank books for a bit, sipping on a bottle of Fitz's Root Beer. And we did a lot of off-highway driving, passing mile after mile of old brick townhouses, crammed close together and in various states of condition.
We also ate some amazing food, going to a nice little tapas place, an awesome little Brazilian restaurant that was in a converted home (permitting us to see the inside of one of the brick townhouses too), and ate at Chuck Berry's Restaurant. The Shlafly Tap Room allowed me to have a few of the best microbrews I've ever had with a couple of kindred spirits (and I brought a six-pack home). I even got to go out to a college bar by the SLU campus that had a ten dollar cover for all you could manage to get from the bartender well-drinks for a couple of hours.
It was a much needed vacation and a very fun one. It's the first time I've gotten to explore a new city in over two years, which, combined with the reading of some fictional travel-novels, has completely made me miss my days of leaving the country pretty much once a year and discovering new stuff.
I'm hopefully going to D.C. this Spring (I've now got a place to crash out there) and from there on, who knows. With Denise moving to Houston at the beginning of the year, New Orleans is a short jaunt away. One of the things about St. L that really stuck out is that it's an old city (as far as U.S. standards, and definitely as far as Mid-West standards). That just makes it so much more appealing. I'd love to go back sometime to catch some of the stuff that I missed, but for now I'll enjoy trying to burn my good times into my permanent memory drive and lament being back under flourescent lights in my cubicle cell.
