This past Saturday, Breen and Sarah got hitched. It was a great ceremony and it was a special privilege to see them and their family and a few of our mutual friends like Rodney and Laura. Sarah was a beautiful bride. She and Danny looked very happy together, and we wish them the best. I need to remember to send them photos.
Hopefully, we will make it out to the West Coast for a visit. The whole experience made me realize how important it is to appreciate good friends. True friendship is a rare and needs replenishment. When we met for drinks Thursday night, I realized that we had not seen them for two years, yet it seemed like no time had passed at all.
May 8th, 2006
Yesterday I rode my bike for about 4.5 hours around downtown Dallas. From my apartment, down to the American Airlines Center and then down to Dealey Plaza, the Farmers’ Market, and back through Deep Ellum and Uptown. I have no idea how far I went, but I got an amazing farmer tan/sunburn. Highlights:
- JFK conspiracy guys arguing in the shade of Dealey Plaza. The assassination is alive and well in Dallas. It feels weird to stand on the ground where he was murdered. One weird thing, the door to the former Schoolbook Depository says “No smoking, No Firearms, No photography”. Why no photos?
- Wish I had a camera: A row of bums sleeping in the shade of an old office building.
- Wish I had a camera: The frozen in time ruins of the Dallas Grand Hotel. Built in 1955 as the Statler-Hilton, closed circa 2001. Looking through the dusty windows opening onto the empty Sunday street, I saw piles of old blueprints and 1970’s mod furniture.
- Stopping to interlope among the post-Mass crowd at the Cathedral downtown. Hundreds of hispanic families, a sea of brown skin, and families stopping to buy snacks from the five umbrella-ed carts lining the nearby street. I had a cherry raspa and a hotdog, but the most popular dish was a styrofoam cup filled with corn, topped with mayonnaise, squeezable butter, dry parmesan-type cheese, and chili pepper. It looked pretty nasty.
May 2nd, 2006