The Cowtown Chronicles

If it weren’t for Jenna’s family, Christmas wouldn’t be a big deal around our house. As it is, it’s still not a HUGE deal for us or them. I’m sure it would be different if we had kids of our own, but since we don’t, we get to share in the joy of our nieces and nephews (just the nieces this year) and their glee at their bounteous haul.

As you are no doubt aware, I have um… “issues” with our consumption driven economy. It’s hard to find the joy that we’re supposed to have in Christmas when it all seems to be focused around who gave whom what, or whether so-and-so got a larger number of presents than me/her/him. Stories about retailers gouging desperate parents who feel like their children won’t love them if they don’t get the latest toy demonstrate that the Rockwellian Christmases our mothers drove them selves batty trying to create are long gone.

This will likely sound snarky, but I have to say that the worst part of our weekend was Christmas morning. During the hour while presents were being opened, it really felt like the sort of magical family feeling we’d created together over the last couple of days had given over to the crass materialistic orgy that Christmas has become. Please, don’t get me wrong. I love Jenna and her family (more than my own in some cases), but I think we’re doing our (collective) kids a disservice by letting them focus so much on the material aspects of things.

It’s interesting how people say that Christmas is about family, but how many families do you know that wouldn’t feel like they’d had Christmas if the gift getting aspect were taken out?

That was the only sour note the whole weekend, and I’m probably making it sound a lot worse than it was. I had a great time visiting East Texas, and I can’t wait to go again next year! (If I’m still invited.)

Once again I learn this lesson…

I ordered some business cards for this new thing I’m doing (more about that later) from a place called Overnight Prints (deliberately NOT linked to). I chose them because they had an online business card design system, so I didn’t have to have any artwork to send to have printed.

Ordering was easy, tracking my order was easy, I was even able to change my order before it was printed, and it was all super-easy. The problems started when I actually GOT the cards. Or didn’t, as is the case.

My address is on the UPS label, but the business card on the outside is not the one I ordered, nor were any of the 1000 cards inside the box. They’re for a Speech Pathologist in New York.

So I call up the company that printed the cards and give them the old WTF? They agree to re-print my cards (of course), but they’re not going to do a damn thing about getting them to me in a timely manner. I’m basically getting slow boat shipping from their facility in Kentucky. So, they’re going to fix their mistake, but they’re doing it on THEIR time. Total BS.

So, where is a good LOCAL printer that can have 1000 business cards ready for me in less than a week and is reasonably priced? Any tips?

Technorati Tags: fort worth, local business, shopping

Was a bit of a disappointment. I guess I expected more of a “old computer store” vibe, and what I got was something more along the lines of “we’re trying to be bigger than we are.”

They were definitely not consumer slanted, that’s for sure. Isn’t it unfair to them when someplace doesn’t live up to your uninformed expectations?

Technorati Tags: computer, shopping

As some of you may know, I used to sell MINIs. I’m still friendly with most of the guys over at Moritz, so I go back now and then to say hi and see what’s new.

Well, they had some 2007s on the lot, and a TON of ‘06 convertibles in stock. I drove both the ‘07 Cooper and ‘07 Cooper S. Both very nice.

The new automatic in the Cooper is definitely better than the CVT in the older cars. The sport shift mode is very nice, but not nearly as nice as the Dual-clutch SMG in the VW GTi. (Which I haven’t actually driven, but I did drive it in an Audi A3 a couple of years ago, and it is AWESOME.) The driving position in the ‘07 Cooper is also different than the older cars. Somehow you feel like you’re sitting at a weird angle, but that could have been because I’m so used to the Honda.

The Cooper S is simply incredible. The turbo is totally different than the supercharger was. I don’t care what anybody says, but I noticed some turbo lag. It’s exacerbated by the still slightly-too-tall 1st gear, so you still have to rev it to get it moving. The new gearshift knob was too big. The start/stop button is kind of weird and slightly pretentious. And I wasn’t prepared for the BMW 7-Series style turn signal stalk. It doesn’t stick up like a regular mechanical stalk. You push it up past a certain point for it to blink continuously, otherwise it just blinks enough times to signal a lane change or whatever. Rear visibility seemed less than previous models as well, but that could have been a result of me sitting up straighter, since neither car had a sunroof.

And the best news: Laser Blue (the spiritual successor to Electric Blue) is a really good looking color, I think Jenna will be happy with it as a replacement.

My advice: If you’re in the market, you should consider a MINI. And you should consider buying it from Jarrod Hopper at Moritz MINI in Arlington.

Technorati Tags: 76011, advice, cars, reviews

I’ve got a bike, and you don’t have one… nener nener nener!Thanks so much to Bernie and Jason at Panther City Bicycles for getting my bike assembled on the same day that they received it! Now I’ve got a bike to ride around during my free time over the holidays, if I get any.I’ll post pictures later, probably after Friday or Saturday.

Technorati Tags: bike, celebrate, PCB

This weekend I kept Bernie at Panther City Bicycles late at work on a Sunday night so that I could buy a KHS Urban Express. I hope my cycling experiences are good like a the end of this video, instead of bad like some of the ones in the middle. The giant pileup on that right-hand turn is particularly cringe-inducing.The bike should be here this week, and I’m totally excited! Thanks Bernie and Jason at PCB for making the shopping experiences I’ve had there easy and fun!

Technorati Tags: Bikes

Huh… This blog is two days old and I’m already stretching the geographical limits of my coverage.

I’m not going to say that I don’t want to have the kind of money that can buy this house, but I have to ask the people who built this monster: “What went wrong with your sense of self that made you think that this wasn’t TOO MUCH?”

Yes, yes, you entertained and had corporate parties and fundraisers here, I read that part. But come on… A freakin’ ACRE of covered space with a separate 16,000 square foot house and a 2,000 square foot caretaker’s “cottage?” Couldn’t you have just built a separate building for corporate events and functions and had a reasonably sized home set on all that beautiful land?

Texas, I’m growing to love ya, but we’ve gotta get one thing through your head — bigger is almost NEVER better. (Unless it’s bank accounts and servings of good beer.)

I just got back from Fort Worth Camera Supply ((817) 335-FILM), and I have to say that they made the decision on which camera to buy painless and a lot more personal than the big box stores ever could. It was obvious that the people working there and the customers coming in really knew what they were doing and could help even photography n00bs like me decipher an F-Stop from an Aperture setting.