Dinosaur Valley State Park

With a beautiful saturday forecast in store (low 70's, sun, no humidity), we decided to get the hell out of Dallas and ventured about an hour and a half southwest of DFW to a place called Dinosaur Valley State Park. Before heading out, we pondered whether to check the park's website to see if we might be disappointed, but figured 'what do we have to lose?'

The biggest surprise regarding our little adventure was how much of a difference in terrain and ecosystems there are just 90 min. from Dallas. By the time we got to the park, you'd have thought that we had ventured to New Mexico or Arizona. There was an overabundance of ugly, short, brush-like vegetation, and one could tell that the weather was probably less humid here than in Dallas on an average day. Oh yea, and there were hills! Not giant hills, but hills nonetheless (hey, we'll take what we can get).

So upon entering the park we immediately searched for the trail head. There was some stuff in the brochure about there being some dinosaur tracks or something like that...but it seemed to be swarmed with young families, so we opted for the trail from the start. We hit the trail, and within 5 minutes of starting our hike, Emily decided she needs to go the bathroom (typical female). Bathroom-break aside, we ended up hiking ~5 miles, and even managed to get some color while doing it. Not the prettiest of hikes in the history of hikes, but for us it was great just to get out of the city and get some fresh air into the lungs.

The highlight of the hike was in the first mile, in which the trail necessitates a river crossing (luckily there were some strategically placed rocks, some sturdier than others, to help us across).

Emily makes her way across the river

The rest of the trail meandered through some wooded areas, mostly a collection of dead trees and shrubbery, half dead trees and shrubbery, and just plain ugly, yet fully alive trees and shrubbery.

Upon leaving the park, we had two good laughs. The first was due to the obvious tourist trap/dinosaur museum that was right outside the exit. With all the young families we saw at the park, we couldn't help but wonder how many parents would be swindled into stopping there after leaving the state park. The second laugh was due to the obvious attempt by the locals to disprove the fossil record with the Creation Evidence Museum less than a mile away. If you dare, click on the link to this museum and read how humans and dinosaurs co-habitated! Such is the reality of life in north Texas. All in all, a decent hike on a beautiful day. Next weekend...the Creation Evidence Museum!

Next weekend's destination

Our Virginia Visit

This post is well past due...Back in mid February (now a month ago) we took a long weekend and headed out to the Charlottesville/D.C./Leesburg area to check out potential places to relocate to (you may recall our relocation poll had Leesburg as one of the options, but did not fair to well in our reader's opinion).

Upon arriving at Dulles airport outside of Washington D.C. (which we want to let everyone out there know is one of the most ghetto airports we have ever been in) we headed in our VW Rabbit rental down south 2.5 hours to the home of the University of Virginia, otherwise known as Charlottesville. While in Charlottesville we ventured down to their pedestrian mall, met with a realtor in the nearby town of Crozet, and drove through most of the neighborhoods that surround the University of Virginia. The reason that Charlottesville was a potential relocation site was due to a number of factors (nearby Shenandoah National Park, mild four season weather, surrounding wineries and outdoor activities, proximity to D.C., 3-4 hrs. from The Outer Banks of North Carolina, and many more).

After spending a day and a half in Charlottesville and getting a good feel of the area, we then began our trip northbound, heading towards Leesburg, a suburb 45 min. northwest of D.C.. But before reaching Leesburg, we stopped for the better part of the day in a relatively small and historic, yet growing town of Culpeper. The reason for the stop was that Chris' residency director had put Chris in contact with a dentist-colleague of his that he had met while serving for the army in Alaska 20 years prior. We figured this would be a good opportunity to find out firsthand what the dental market was like in the northern-Virginia area. The stop was well worth it, as the dentist (unnamed for professional privacy) and his wife spent the entire afternoon and evening taking us around the area, showing us their beautiful office, and basically trying to sell us on moving out to their neck of the woods. All in all this was the highlight of the trip, as we felt that they gave us the most firsthand knowledge we could have possibly received.

The final leg of our trip found us exploring the town of Leesburg, Ashburn, and the surrounding countryside. Of all the areas we saw while in Virginia, this was definitely the place that we felt most comfortable and at home with. The town sports a nice historic downtown area, complete with restaurants, art galleries, and other historic shops/spa-type places. Beyond that there are many older historic homes, and beyond that, there is a huge building bonanza taking place. Leesburg is the county seat of Loudon county and is currently (pre-sub prime fallout) the fastest growing county in the U.S. at a dizzying 30%. While in the area we took time to check out the magnet-status Loudon County Hospital, a potential place for Emily to work, located between Leesburg and Ashburn.

After finishing our time in Leesburg, we headed back to Dulles and headed back to Dallas (we'd like to say we headed home, but somehow that just doesn't feel right). So what did we think of Virginia overall some may ask? We liked it...the question we have yet to answer is whether or not we loved it enough to move there in spite of the fact that we would know absolutely no one. The female half of us seems to like the idea of moving somewhere where we at least know someone. So we will continue to keep all y'all (plural for y'all) in suspense as to where we'll end up...

Click on slide show to view full size photos

Song of the day:

That Dastardly Tiffany

Emily's youngest sister Tiffany (and half our readership) thought so much of our blog that she recently started a blog of her own. The link to her site can be seen on the right hand side of our page, under the appropriately titled heading of "Other Blogs & Links". If you have a chance, take a gander over at her page, as we know all too well how depressing it is to maintain a page that so few people comment on.

Rent or Download?

Last night we had dinner with a couple that we met through Emily's job (they made homemade pineapple and canadian bacon pizza with thick crust and honey - trust us, it was awesome!). They're from the Denver area and honey seems to be a popular crust-dip from that neck of the woods. We were skeptical, but once we tried it, we were asking for seconds (at least Chris was).

After some lemon bars that Emily brought over for desert, we rented their first HD movie on their new Apple TV. For the same price as a Blockbuster rental ($4.99) you can download a full length HD movie in a few minutes sans the drive or looking in the recent returns for the movie you really want to see. We ended up downloading Michael Clayton, and would definitely give it two thumbs up, so if you haven't seen it, its worth renting (or downloading).

The only negative about the Apple TV that we realized at the end of the movie was the inability to access the "special features" option that usually comes bundled with the movie on the DVD. Perhaps Apple will address this in the future. One of the cool things that you can do with the Apple TV though is to watch previews for movies that are coming out soon at the actual theaters. It was at this point, while scrolling through various upcoming titles, that we came across a new Star Trek release (much to Emily's chagrin), which is slated to be released Christmas '08. In keeping with the recent trend to take existing series (i.e. Batman) and make prequals with new cast members (Batman Begins), it appears J.J. Abrams (director of MI:III, Cloverfield) will take the same cue with the original Trek series. Below is the actual trailor.

In other news...Chris is extremely excited by the recent arrival of a Jimmy John's a few blocks away from our apartment complex! Just thought you should all know that.

Song of the day:

Dallas Blizzard '08

When it comes to Dallas weather, one thing is for sure...it's totally unpredictable! Last weekend we had temps in the 80's. Then monday morning, snow storm #1 hits northern Texas and the Dallas burbs. Tuesday, temps are 50-60. Then BAM...Thursday we get hours upon hours of thunderstorms, followed by freezing rain, then snow. Now, let us tell you about our "blizzard".

First is the warning of freezing rain all over the radio and TV stations. Next, all regularly scheduled TV programs are interrupted while they broadcast "BREAKING NEWS" of our impending doom...aka snow. Oh, and did we mention that everything closes, shuts down, and people head to the stores to stock up on dog food and groceries. All of Chris' patients cancelled their appointments. All of this seemed fairly humerous as we have felt lucky this winter to have escaped the onslaught that the rest of the midwest has been experiencing. So to those in Iowa and Chicago, we feel your pain...its just that by mid-next week we should be back in the mid 70's...such is the reality of living in Dallas.

1) Our deck, peppered with "snow" 2) The ghetto...and "snow"


A local Dallasite expresses his angst brought on by "The Blizzard of '08"

Song of the day:

We're not responsible!

Over the past week, Emily has urged me to refrain from posting Obama victory speeches, or for that matter anything pertaining to Obama in an effort to not disenfranchise the readers of our blog (already at slim pickings)...and I have obeyed (somewhat reluctantly).

However...In the last 24 hours, it has become evident yet once again why we have such a strong aversion to the state of Texas. Unfortunately, the spin of the campaign has also trickled into the spin of the blogs. We just want to make sure that those who know us best understand the misguided sentiment expressed by one of our friends. There seems to be the notion that because we are temporarily (a very key word here) residing in Texas, that we somehow share the popular sentiment (or what appears to be a slim marginal sentiment) of the state, which according to last night's Texas primary results indicate that Hillary Clinton is the more appropriate democratic nominee.

We're not sure how this misconception could happen...
1) See here
2) See here
3) See here
4) See here
5) And why not here as well

So if there is any confusion...than let it be known that we do indeed support Obama, in spite of last night's idiotic results, not only in Texas, but even to a greater degree in Ohio. We leave you with an ironic video of Bill Clinton in 2004...enjoy...and Go Obama!

Wedding Crashers: Part Deux

Many of our readers may recall how Emily emphatically insisted that she would not have a drop to drink at our wedding reception. At the time she blamed this on her quite literal tendency to turn bright red after even a few sips of a glass of wine (completely true). If you had been able to see Emily last night at one of her nursing co-workers' weddings though, you may have understood why she chose not to drink.

We headed to this wedding without knowing anyone except for two couples that we have gotten together with once before (the women work with Emily as nurses at Baylor).

1) Jason & Christi 2) Chris and Brandi

We arrived at the reception (which actually sat on a nice overlook over Lake Ray Hubbard) and enjoyed some appetizers and, as Emily would later regret, some wine. We were joined at the table by a middle-aged couple that had a daughter that was a friend of the bride. As it turned out, the husband of the couple was an architect who builds custom eco-homes, and had lived for a large period of his life in Bend, OR. This naturally peeked Chris' interest, and a fun conversation about the outdoors, politics, and Texas ensued.

1) Our table, soon after arriving 2) "Da Nurses" 3) Emily, still beautiful as ever

Dinner, and more drinks followed, and then Emily began to hit her stride on the dance floor, while Chris sat by and enjoyed some wedding cake at the table with the other guys. None of us were sure at what point Emily went from tipsy to drunk, or from drunk to stupidly drunk, but at any case, Emily did end up stupidly, stupidly drunk.

This photo sequence needs no caption...

Ironically the evening ended up with the guys being completely sober, sitting out on the deck overlooking the lake at the end of the evening, while the girls took care of Emily in the bathroom.

The whole evening was kind of random, being at a wedding where we essentially knew neither the guests nor the bride and groom very well, talking to a couple from Oregon, about eco-homes in Texas, and having to have three people to carry Emily up to our apartment at the end of the night.

Aren't you glad that Emily didn't drink at our wedding!

A Baby Announcement!

We have an announcement...no, we're not pregnant...our good friends Bruce & Tina gave birth this morning (well, actually it was just Tina giving birth) to their first child "Nile" (click on his highlighted name to read more and view pics). We wanted to use this forum to wish them our best and look forward to meeting the new edition on our next trip out to Portland.

A Better Grocery Bag

Its usually one of those customary questions one receives when checking out at the local grocery store..."paper or plastic"?

While living in Iowa City, we would always just get the plastic variety, and after unloading our groceries at home, condense all the bags into one single bag, then return it to HyVee for recycling upon our next trip.

After moving to Dallas, and quickly realizing that a similar bag-recycling program was not in order, we figured we'd try to re-use the bags for tasks like transporting lunches, throwing out produce scraps, etc. However we quickly found ourselves inundated with tons of these annoying plastic bags (unable to use them up fast enough), always trying to stuff one more in the bottom cupboard before slamming the door shut to halt the onslaught of the ever-expanding plastic grocery bag mass.

One day we were shopping at Whole Foods when we saw an add for these 80% recycled, strong, re-usable bags, all for the cost of a mere $0.99. (This was much more desirable as compared to the $12 canvas bags). So we decided to kick the plastic bag habit and try storing a couple of these bags in our car trunks, so that they'd be handy come grocery-shopping time.

For the past month we've been using these bags, and have really put them to the load test (i.e. canned goods to the brim) and have yet to have one fail. When checking out at the do-it-yourself automatic lanes, just substitute these bags for the available plastic bags, or just hand them to the baggers at the manual lanes. We've even gone so far as to not put individual produce items in those more annoying clear plastic bags, instead designating one of the 4 reusable bags for just produce.

The purpose of this entry is not to be preachy or come off as though we're complete commune-dwelling hippies, nor that we advocate that you shop at Whole Foods, but rather just to point out an easy adaptation that has worked extremely easily for us (and is less annoying than dealing with plastic bags).

So if you too are tired of slamming the door on the expanding plastic bag mass, or just feel a little guilty by throwing these petroleum-based products in the landfills, then you should really give these a try. If not, you may just be forced to in time...

The Stromboli Debate

Thursday night found both of us apathetic to the idea of doing anything in the kitchen, and with the Democratic debate now in Texas, we figured we'd support Obama by getting our good luck meal...Sal's pizza.

Tonight Chris decided to try something new (a stromboli)...while Emily stuck with the tried and true "Primary Pizza" (aka "The Special"). Chris was much happier with the debate results than he was with his stromboli, while Emily savored her "Special". Chris' disappointment wasn't so much directed at Sal's lack of a tasty artery-clogging cheese, sausage, pepperoni, mushroom wrapped in a giant puff pastry, but more with his preconceived notion that the stromboli might approximate the excellence of the renowned Sam's calzone in Iowa City. His hopes dashed, he still managed to sacrifice himself and finish the stromboli (and Emily's crust from her pizza).

"The Stromboli"

Emily...excited either by her pizza, her wine, or Obama

In any case, it was great to see Obama hold his own against Hillary, putting himself one step closer to clinching the nomination. We just long for the days when Huckabee had Chuck Norris proudly at his side...is it too much to ask for Chuck to endorse McCain? Points we pondered during our acid reflux attack an hour after the debate.

Song of the Day:

Cheesehead Victory

Contrary to what many who may peruse or waste their time on this site may believe, this has not become a blog dedicated exclusively to Barack Obama. Au contrare! There are other things we like to post about on here. That being said, we cannot help but smile tonight over Obama's clear victory in Wiconsin. And though the naysayers said that we were getting our hopes up, they were clearly in error. At any rate, we're happy to go to sleep tonight knowing that we are one step closer to not having to vote for McCain in order to vote against a Hillary presidency. Obama's victory speech (In Texas of all places) can be viewed below (this is starting to seem a bit like Groundhog Day, or the victory rallies in Grant Park of the great 90's Chicago Bulls almost every June).

Trojan Free?

After spending close to $200 to have our computer "professionally quarantined", we learned two important facts:

1) This virus/trojan may not have been eliminated, and
2) We may end up just having to either re-format our system or buy a new computer, neither of which are exciting prospects right now

So for now we're back in action on the net, but this may end up being short-lived, we'll see how things go for the next few weeks.

At any rate, its not all bad news in the Barwacz household, as Obama managed to sweep Hillary yet again. It seems after the resignation of her campaign manager this weekend, and a string of losses, that the momentum may finally be swinging towards Obama. And now there's talk that Texas may be a key deciding state...imagine that! Of course this brings big smiles to our faces.

We're also looking forward to our trip out to Virginia this weekend to check out Charlottesville and some areas southwest of Washington D.C. We'll try to post some pictures and stories upon our return.

We'd love to hear what's going on with some of our readers, so send us some comments, hate mail, whatever.

Song of the day:

Mr. Bean, Babies, and Obama, Oh My!

While our computer is sick (we're working on it) I thought I'd post this video of Mr. Bean going to the dentist...

In other news Bruce & Tina are due to deliver at any time now...we'll link any developments as they happen.

Congrats to Obama for sweeping the primaries this weekend, looks like the Chesapeake primaries will treat him fairly well this tuesday. We'll have some pictures and posts to follow our scouting trip out east in Virginia this weekend.

Our computer is sick!

You may have noticed that we haven't updated our blog site for the past 2 weeks. Why you may ask?...partly because there really hasn't been anything that interesting going on...except for watching the primaries...but also more importantly, we have been ousted from accessing the internet! We pay our bills...so we called Time Warner and asked "what gives?".

As it turns out, someone or something hacked through our WEP-secure (in theory) wireless router, and used our computer to redirect traffic to an identity theft site! Time Warner said that their system detected the virus/spyware and thus prophylactically removed our ability to connect through their network, in an effort to reduce the likelihood of other computers on the network from being infected.

So now we're in the predicament of trying to find a computer service that will somehow clean the virus off our system without having to reformat our system. This whole debacle comes at an untimely juncture as we're looking to book arrangements for our trip next week to Virginia to check out the area and speak with some dentists and look at practices.

So unless a miracle occurs, don't expect any posts in the near-term from us until we can get our computer back in better shape. Of course the other alternative (which Chris strongly advocates) is to just get a new computer (ours is already 5 years ancient). We'll see which option prevails. Until then, we hope that your computing experience will be safer than ours.