Archive for the ‘dallas’ Tag
I’ve collected a large amount of miscellaneous information over the years and have saved only a small percentage of it. I only keep things that are interesting to me and a little unusual. Many of you may have seen the following information in the past in one form or another but many have not. Since it’s a lazy day here in Maine I’m sending this along for your amusement and also because of my inability to motivate myself this morning. These facts are truly strange and go well beyond the level of coincidence. Read on and enjoy some gruesome American history.
- Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
- John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
- Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860.
- John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960.
- The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contains seven letters.
- Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
- Both wives lost children while living in the White House.
- Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
- Both Presidents were shot in the head.
- Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy.
- Kennedy’s secretary was named Lincoln.
- Both were assassinated by Southerners.
- Both successors were named Johnson.
- Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
- Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
- John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
- Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
- Both assassins were known by their three names.
- Both names were composed of 15 letters.
- Lincoln was shot at the theater named Ford.
- Kennedy was shot in a car called Lincoln.
- Booth ran from a theater and was caught in a warehouse.
- Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.
- Booth and Oswald were both assassinated before their trials.
And here’s the kicker
- A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
- A week before Kennedy was shot, he was in Marilyn Monroe.
THAT LUCKY BASTARD
Like this:
Like Loading...
I figure by now most of you are tired of hearing about my Texas trip and I understand completely. While I understand I still have one more day from the that trip I need to tell you about. It was my final day in Dallas before my ill fated flight home.
The day started with an omelet cooked superbly by my nephew and was filled to the brim with diced jalapenos. If that doesn’t get your heart started then there’s something very wrong with you. We then took a cruise in my nephew Mustang. It’s a car he’s spent a great deal of time and money getting as perfect as possible. It is one beautiful machine and it rode like a dream and was as fast as lightning.

While cruising around the metroplex we did a little people watching and ran into a mobile Texas furniture store parked in a mall parking lot. We saw a number of these vehicles during my short visit and it fascinated me. It’s definitely not something I’m used to seeing here in Maine.

We eventually arrived at the Texas Land and Cattle restaurant and I was really looking forward to another excellent meal. I wasn’t disappointed.


As you would expect the interior was all Texas all of the time. These two wall decorations and this saddle display were very cool and brought home the western ambiance in a big way.



The meal was a piece of soft and tender smoked sirloin with jalapeño sauce. The asparagus was cooked perfectly and was almost as tender as the sirloin.
We finished the meal and made our way home because I always need my beauty sleep before I go a-flying. I wasn’t really looking forward to my flight even though I’ve flown hundreds of times. I just hate flying and airplanes in general. That’s one of the reasons I liked skydiving so much. I’d rather jump out of a plane than depend on an unknown pilot to get me down safely.
This last photo was taken at Reagan National airport in DC at 3:00 am the next morning, where I was sleeping on the floor of the terminal. It’s the ceiling of the terminal from that perspective. I couldn’t sleep so a snapped a few pictures.


UNITED AIRLINES SUCKS
Like this:
Like Loading...
I’ve been a lover of good Mexican food for years and after meeting my better-half (a good old down home Texas girl) and traveling to Texas on a number of occasions I was hooked. During my recent trip to Dallas I was taken to this Mexican restaurant by my nephew who assured me I would be getting authentic Mexican fish tacos. I was excited for the meal and as we arrived I could hardly wait.
True to his word the fish taco’s were to die for. We ate two huge plates of tacos, chili beans, and rice. They drizzled an outrageous jalapeño cream sauce over the tacos that was so damn good it makes me hungry just thinking about it. Four gigantic peach margaritas later and we were destroyed. We slowly and safely made our way home and sat for hours because we just couldn’t move.


They also supplied us with chips and salsa which was good but the Verde sauce was the best. It was not quite a salsa and not quite a sauce. It also wasn’t quite hot enough for me so I decided upon my return to Maine to create a version of my own.
My better-half and I made a visit to a local South of the Border restaurant after my return to fulfill my ongoing taco obsession. It only made me want to create that Verde sauce even more. I thought about it on the way home that night and the next morning I was off to do some early food shopping.
I found the tomatillos, jalapeños, and pickled green chilies to which I added a few spices, some onions, a little jalapeno vinegar and cooked it all until soft. I threw it into a blender and liquefied it for five minutes and OMG. My eyes began watering as soon as I took the lid off of the blender.




Later that day the better-half made a pan of enchiladas over which I sprinkled a cautious amount of the hottest thing I’ve ever created. It was mean, nasty, smoking hot, and freaking delicious.

I was able to can almost a dozen jars of this sauce and it will definitely be used sparingly and as often as possible. I’m already planning the next batch so I can turn down the heat a little to make it palatable for all those so-called lovers of hot food who I’m pretty sure wouldn’t be able to handle this sauce.

“The Finished Product”
Like this:
Like Loading...

I love passing along information that will possibly help some of you travelers out there in making your vacation or long weekend trips worth doing. I’ve just spent the Memorial Day weekend in Dallas and it was one of the best holidays ever. There always seems to be a few bothersome issues when traveling which tend to gripe my ass and that’s the topic for today’s discussion.
I really only have one travelers tip for you based on my recent travels. Never fly the freaking friendly skies of United because believe me they’re not that damn friendly. United Airlines sucks and I intend to spell out the entire nightmare they put me and a few hundred of my fellow travelers through on Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday night, Wednesday’s wee hours of the morning and into Wednesday afternoon.
My trip began perfectly with a flight to O’Hare in Chicago last Friday, on time and no problems to complain about. I was filled with holiday cheer and was having good thoughts about the entire world and everyone in it. That lasted approximately two and a half hours until the United Airlines curse began. I was due to land at Dallas/Fort-Worth at 11:15 pm and my ride was waiting patiently for me. Honest, he really had nothing better to do than to waste his time waiting for United to get their act together. Finally after some typical airline BS I arrived in Dallas late. Being the forgiving soul that I am I cursed quietly under my breath and just let it go. I really do hate to be forced into any situation being controlled by any airlines but since it’s one of those times when they have you by the cojones , you’re screwed.
My holiday weekend was terrific with barbecues, tacos, and smoked steak headlining the menus. Unfortunately the fun had to end and as we drove to the airport for my return home I began to have premonitions of the coming disaster. As we flew out of Dallas a storm front arrived and eventually extended all the way to Dulles in Washington making for a really bumpy ride. We landed just ahead of the front and I had only thirty minutes to make my connection for the second leg of my journey to Maine because we arrived a little late.

United in their indisputable logic required me to run like O.J. Simpson across the terminal, jump into a shuttle bus to reach another terminal where I arrived out of breath and barely made the flight. All of us cattle herded ourselves into a small version of the Boeing 707 that held approximately a hundred idiots like me. Starting out the steward had difficulty making his safety announcements because his microphone appeared to have a loose wire of some sort. It was screeching from the feedback so loud no-one could understand him. Then the pilot announced a fan equipment failure and a half hour delay. That delay caused us to miss our take off window before the storms hit and we then had to sit through a wall of thunderstorms trapping us on the tarmac. Two hot and sweaty hours later the pilot tells us the flight has been cancelled because of other maintenance issues.
We were directed back to the terminal into the supposedly capable hands of the oxymoronic "Customer Service" crew. They herded us into a line of almost two hundred other people and offered only three Customer Service agents to handle all of our problems. As we waited endlessly in that line they announced we should call 1-800-UNITED1 for additional ticketing help.

To make a long story short the morons had me on hold for one hour before I got to talk to a human being who then told me there were no flights to Portland until Thursday with very few seats available on them. He then passed me along to another so called expert who put me on hold again. My phone ran out of power at that point and I was forced to stand around for another hour in that line to get help from their three overwrought agents. I felt bad for them but unfortunately this nightmare was about me. Also during that time my luggage, a small carryon that I had been forced to bag check in Dallas, had been sent into the black hole that is the United baggage claim system and disappeared.
Their first recommendation when I reached an agent was that I upgrade to a first-class ticket for an additional $226.00 and they could get me on a flight to Boston within the hour. Then I could rent a car and drive the rest of the way to Maine at my expense of course. I won’t repeat exactly what I said because it was extremely rude and crude. Lets just say that agent immediately understood I wasn’t interested.
I’d like to take a moment here to thank the lovely and friendly blonde lady from Yarmouth, Maine whose name I never got. She was sweet and calm and kept me from erupting into a full blown maniacal rant while we stood in that line. As I promised her, I have nothing but nice things to say about her. I told her about this blog and she was worried I might say something derogatory.
I strong armed that United agents into finding me a flight on another carrier, US Airways, but I had to shuttle across Washington DC to Reagan National Airport ($30.00 for a fifteen minute ride) and arrived there at midnight. I should also tell you that United refused any compensation to any of the travelers even though most were forced to get motel rooms that averaged $150.00 a night (I wasn’t one of them to be sure). They claimed the cancellations were totally due to the weather and never mentioned any of the maintenance issues we’d been told about by our pilot. Maintenance issues require them to compensate travelers so I wasn’t all that surprised when they didn’t hesitate to screw us all. A bunch of lying, uncaring, arrogant assholes to categorize them as nicely as possible.

I have to tell you that I had a lovely night sleeping on the floor of the terminal at Reagan National airport with eighty of my now closest friends who also refused to be coerced into paying out of pocket for motel rooms. I finally flew home to Portland today with US Airways and arrived at three o’clock this afternoon. Along with all of the other BS, I lost my Kindle Reader as I was scurrying around trying to get home. I hadn’t had a decent meal for thirty hours and I had the pungent aroma of a disgusting farm animal or so I was told by my better-half when she picked me up.
Thanks for nothing United Airlines. May you and your entire operation rot in hell. You’ll never see me again.
Like this:
Like Loading...