The Cowtown Chronicles

A good friend of mine brought up an interesting point of view that I hadn’t considered in the Health Care debate.

He said that he opposes massive overhauls to the health care system because he likes the idea of companies and entrepreneurs being motivated by profit to conduct research and take risks, thereby advancing the quality of care in the US.

I didn’t think of it at the time (we had been drinking, of course), but this argument is kind of a false choice. I don’t think there’s any evidence that the amount or quality of health-related research would decline under any of the proposed reforms. As far as I can tell, none of the reforms would turn healthcare into a not-for-profit business.

Forgetting the profit motivation for a moment, I have to wonder about WHY people go into heath-related fields. I’m sure there’s a not insignificant number of folks who do it because they see an opportunity to make a lot of money.

I don’t think that’s the whole story, though. If people were only motivated by money, we wouldn’t have firefighters, a professional military, police officers, elementary or high-school teachers, and a whole bunch of other public-service folks who don’t make squat relative to the education required or risks they face. Humans are hard-wired to look out for each other. Some people manifest this urge more than others. I call it the “hyperactive public service gland.”

I think that if there was still a chance to make a decent living, we wouldn’t see any decline at all in the amount or quality of medical research in this country.

Let’s also look at the focus of this research and WHY the research needs to be done.

An excessive amount of research dollars are spent on diseases that are either preventable (diet-related things like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.) or could be greatly reduced through a healthier lifestyle and environmental fixes, like various cancers. Focus on preventing those problems (which would be REALLY, REALLY cheap to prevent compared to the ongoing costs of trying to fight the problems after they’ve developed), and you’ve freed up all kinds of money that could be spent on research to solve the really hard things like HIV/AIDS and the like.

Once again, if you’re only focusing on the current outcomes when looking for places to reform, you’re missing the big picture and the easiest and cheapest reforms which would make a world of difference.

Thanks to everyone who’s commented and expressed concern about me. I’ll be back soon, I promise.

Ryan Place resident John MacFarlane is coordinating a group trip to the Rahr & Sons Brewery on April 25th for Ryan Place residents. Meet him at triangle park at 12:30, bring your Rahr pint glass (if you have one), and $5.

1959 TCU grad Bob Schieffer will be hosting his annual Symposium, titled: “Obama and the Press: Is the media doing its job?”

Panelists scheduled to attend:

David Brooks, of the New York Times

Gwen Ifill, author of “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” (also moderator and managing editor of PBS’ Washington Week

Andrea Mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News

Mark Shields, nationally syndicated columnist and commentator on PBS’ Newshour with Jim Lehrer

That’s a pretty bad-ass lineup of journalistic luminaries! I wonder if I can get them all into Scat Jazz Lounge after the Symposium? I’ll bet Andrea Mitchell could drink my buddy Steve under the table.

I’ve spent the last 6 hours experiencing the coolness that is Ricki Derek. First at Central Market, then at Scat Jazz Lounge.

Now that I’ve been back to Scat a few times since the first time, I can definitively say that it’s too cool for me. It’s too cool, in fact, for anyone except Ricki, as far as I can tell. It’s nice of him to let the rest of us poor schlubs come and hang out with him.

Seriously — if you like jazz and well made cocktails, and you haven’t been there, you’re dumb. Go. Now.

Dogfish Head Brewery, self-proclaimed home of “off-centered stuff for off-centered people” are hosting a vertical tasting at the Fort Worth (I double-checked this time) Flying Saucer on March 31st.

The tasting will be hosted by Claus Hagelman, Dogfish Head’s national sales director. (No, craft brewing rock-star Sam Calagione will not be there. Sorry to disappoint.)

Hagelman will conduct a vertical tasting, comparing current editions with vintage samples of four Dogfish Head beers. More specifically, they’ll be featuring some of Dogfish’s rarer brews — Fort, Immort Ale, 120 Minute IPA, and Burton Baton.

I’m not a big fan of the WAY over-hopped beers they produce, but Dogfish always makes quality beers. I enjoy most of their seasonal brews, and the really off-the-wall stuff like Midas Touch.

UFO Club members pay $35, regular schmoes will have to cough up $40.

You may have seen my post last Friday about the best places to get some nature in FW. Well, I took my own advice Saturday morning and headed out to Tandy Hills Natural Area to go for a hike and some fresh air.

While we were there, we ran into Don Young and Jenny Conn from the Friends of Tandy Hills, and they introduced me to the crew led by Michelle Villafranca, of the city’s Urban Forestry department. (I met Michelle last year when Jenna volunteered to help our neighborhood tree program get free trees from the city for planting in the easement along the street.)

Michelle described the work they were doing, which is that they’re going through the Natural Area and clearing out invasive and non-native tree species so that the grasses can recover and native plants can have a chance to gain some strength.

Too many of the trees you see when you go out there are invasive species — often something used as an ornamental plant in landscaping that’s escaped and started to reproduce like crazy in our wild areas.

The difference between the last time I was there and how some areas look now is amazing! It may not be immediately obvious, but imagine this area being choked with small trees, all competing for scarce light and also choking out native species. Now there’s room for the grass to grow again!

Hundreds or thousands of years ago, this kind of mechanized labor wouldn’t have been necessary. Lightning strikes and droughts would have burned out small trees before they had a chance to establish themselves, and the grasses that make up the prairie would recover more quickly, keeping things in balance. Since we immediately put out any fires today, even in wilderness areas, those natural processes don’t take place, and areas like this become forever changed. Thanks to Don and his passion, we’re finally starting to see the order of things set right.

Let the arguments begin! Here are my top 5:

5) Buffalo Bros. — S. University near TCU. “New York Style” pizza usually isn’t my favorite, and it continues not to be, but Buffalo Bros. at least has it hot and ready when I want it for lunch. Nothing spectacular, but better than similar offerings from Joe’s Pizza and Pasta.

4) Gianni’s Gourmet Pizza — US 377 in Watauga. Fine, it’s not FW, but it’s damn good pizza. I lived in Haltom City when this joint opened, and it was REALLY good. I’m not generally a wood-fired pizza fan, either, but Gianni’s does it right.

3) Rocco’s Wood Fired Pizza — Camp Bowie West area. See my earlier comments about wood-fired pizza. Not my favorite style, but a great option for grabbing before going to Concerts in the Park or the like. I’ve even taken one to the Rahr Brewery for snacking during a Saturday tour. Rocco’s really is great pizza, just not a style I prefer on a regular basis.

2) Mellow Mushroom — Bluebonnet Circle. Now we’re talking! MM makes pretty much the perfect pizza; great sauce, amazing crust (the two MOST important components), and a wide selection of toppings, etc. They also have a full bar and a good beer selection. Drawbacks: it’s freakin’ SLOW! Don’t go if you’re in a hurry, and if you have plans after dinner, get there WAY early. It’s also damn expensive, otherwise it would be my everyday choice.

1) Perrotti’s Pizza & Pasta — Greene Ave., in the GrandMarc building. I could happily eat here every day. Perrotti’s is my favorite pizza place, EVAR. Perfect crust, great sauce, cheap beer (if you eat in), and it’s affordable! This is always what I’ve thought of when I think of pizza. I’m sure they wouldn’t acknowledge it, but it’s a style I call “Detroit style”. It’s somewhere between NY and Chicago, but not “pan pizza” like you used to get from Pizza Hut. If you can remember that far back, think of when Little Caesar’s was actually GOOD (mid-90’s) — their original crust round pizzas is what I’m getting at with “Detroit style.” My only complaint about Perrotti’s is that they haven’t seemed to figure out what kind of volume they’re going to do from day to day, so they don’t proof their crusts well enough. The end result is that the crust is usually cooked on the bottom, but really doughy on top. Not a big enough deal to keep me from going, though!

My apologies to everyone who showed up at the Fort Worth Saucer expecting a birthday party (like I did). The email I got and dutifully posted about came from the Addison location.

Sorry for any inconvenience. (The Addison location is nice, FWIW.)

I’ve been working hard to get back in touch with my inner outdoorsman — I was a Boy Scout and a Marine, and I’m definitely not afraid of nature, but I have become detached from it due to my sedentary office job and general lack of physical fitness. One of my goals for this year was to spend more time in nature, and these are the places I go to get that done. Where do you go?

Fort Worth enjoys quite a few natural areas close to the heart of all this Urbanity. Here are my favorites:

5) Gateway Park — Home of Fort Woof dog park, a GIANT athletic complex, and several wide open grass and picnic areas with a nice bit of trail along the river. If you haven’t heard, Fort Woof was selected as the #1 dog park in the US in 2006, and it’s only gotten better since then! It has huge areas for the dogs to run around off-leash, segregated by weight so that tiny dogs don’t get knocked around by horse-sized Great Danes. Gateway Park is the home of the FW Rugby Club, with purpose-built rugby pitches for matches and tournaments. Gateway Park also boasts several softball/baseball fields, as well as the aforementioned river trail access and picnic spots.

4) Lake Mineral Wells State Park — A great place for water fun without having to worry about being run over by a speedboat. Also decent rock climbing and camping facilities. Hiking is somewhat limited, but there are trails open to horses and bikes, so at least there’s some variety.

3) The Trinity Trails system — This should be thought of as really the whole area along the river through Fort Worth, where you can ride your bike, run, walk, kayak, canoe, scull, whatever suits your fancy. Many people commute to downtown via the trails from outlying neighborhoods, but even if you’re not commuting, they’re a great place to ride.

2) Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge — Really just for hiking and wildlife spotting, the FWNCR is a truly wild area with several miles of trails and many opportunities to spot deer, bobcats, and countless species of birds. Along the river they’ve even spotted alligators! It’s totally worth a visit, but if you want the full experience, plan on getting there early and spending the whole day. Overnight camping is not allowed. Also: bison!

1) Tandy Hills Natural Area — An often overlooked gem in Fort Worth’s outdoor recreation crown, Tandy Hills is the most urban of any of these areas, with the exception of the Trinity Trails. Tandy Hills is a really nicely preserved bit of the original Grand Prairie that Fort Worth was built upon. Thanks to the efforts of an obsessively dedicated group of folks, Tandy Hills is slowly being restored to its original state, which would have been much less heavily treed than it currently is. My favorite part is the stream that runs through it and down to the Trinity. There’s about a 30-foot elevation difference between the main area of the park and the streambed, and it never fails to be refreshing, even on the hottest of days. This is a particularly good time to visit, since many of the native grasses and wildflowers will be starting to bloom. There are no facilities, so take care of any personal business before you get there.

Bonus spot: Log Cabin Village – Although “technically” not an outdoors activity like hiking or biking, Log Cabin Village is strongly in the outdoors column due to the very nature of the life the pioneers lived. In their day, everyday was an outdoors day, and often a struggle for survival in pretty harsh environment. It’s also important for us to know our history and where we came from/why we’re here, and Log Cabin Village does an excellent job of making our heritage come alive.