Tag: Arlington

  • ODDS and ENDS: Super Bowl, Minimalist Cities, and Gig Work

    Hey, the Super Bowl is here… whoopie… I really don’t care that much this year. I’ll watch, but it will be a “hate-watch” as I despise the Philadelphia Eagles. Besides being the Dallas Cowboys arch rival, their fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus. Yes, that’s real, and I can’t respect a fan base that hates on Santa. Which means, I guess I want to see Kansas City win. Either way, it’s just a “happening” kind of event for me. We’ll make queso and watch the commercials. The kid and the wife want to see Rihanna, so the marketing plan for that aspect was successful.

    Turns out the second worst city in America to be a minimalist in is my hometown of Arlington, TX. From what I read, air pollution, reliance on cars, and the lack of bike paths make it awful for minimalists, which sadly, I can attest to when it comes to Arlington. But in the City’s defense, it is still the largest city in America without a form of mass transit. Oh, and Salt Lake City is the best place for minimalists. Go figure…

    I started looking for a job this month. Not sure what to expect and there is no pressure, but I need to find something in the next couple of months. The wife suggested that I look into gig work. I’m open to this idea, but is there gig work that doesn’t involve delivering things; such as people, food or packages? Just wondering.

  • Summer Vacation

    I have started planning for Summer. Vacations, and interactions, and all that other stuff.

    When I was a kid, Summer just meant sleeping in and watching tv all day. I grew up in Texas, and the Summers last from May to October. I’m not kidding when I say that. It can be very normal for the average high in October to be in the 80’s. My memory is that when Halloween rolled around, that was about the point when it started to feel Fall-like, which means that it got up to the 70’s in the day.

    With it being so hot, we stayed inside often, but that’s not to say that we didn’t go outside and sweat our asses off. The kid who had the pool in the neighborhood became everyone’s best friend June through August. But, being inside, I remember hearing the hum of the central air clicking on, and that low rumbling sound, like white noise, creating an audio-scape that would lull me off into a nap, as there was nothing better to do.

    The other thing I remember about Summers growing up, was that the season created odd friendships in the neighborhood. My close friends always had some place to be; a vacation, or visiting family out of state, or for the kids of divorce, spending the whole summer with their other parent. Those of us left in the subdivision became friends out of necessity. I remember hanging out the jock kids, or bullies, or even girls, the people who I would normally not mix with became rapt conspirators in Summer. But inevitably, when the school year started up again, we’d all go back to our groups, and resume the cliques we existed in.

    With my kid, and planning trips and whatnot, I wonder how she will come to view the Summer of her youth? Here in NYC, it is rather short, of only two months, making a total of ten weeks. If what I have planned happens, we will be out of the City for four weeks, leaving six weeks, which I feel the need to fill with some sort of activity. It’s like, I cannot let the kid be bored. Though when I think back on it, boredom was what Summer vacation from school was.