My friend told me Halloween night at Prestonwood (Baptist Church) previous years, but we never went because my husband feels it’s important to go around our own neighborhood even though not many kids (almost none) go around Trick or Treatin’ around here. She said there are rides and games and it’s really fun for kids. We’re likely going to go for other reasons, but you can check out the website for more info here.

There’s also a site that lists things to do for Halloween around Dallas.

It’s kind of sad because Halloween seem to be so different from what I remember when I was a kid. We use to be able to go out (by ourselves) and just have fun. Now everything has changed and it’s all so scary (not in the Halloween sense) and parents go with the kids and also goes to other neighborhood intead of their own.

So it seem that there’s some confusion as to what voting Yes and No would mean for Trinity and the Toll Road. To make it simple here is something I found that makes it more clear. Look at the signs “NO means you want a toll road in our park!” and “Keep their toll road OUT of our park VOTE YES!”

Of course, some people want a nice park without the exhaust around them, but others argue that traffic is so bad, it needs the Toll Road. Read for yourself, here are some opinions from DMN and articles as well. I’m all for nature, everything is turning into buildings and roads, it’s really rare to have a quiet place to relax without reminder of the busy hectic life. Then again, if I had to travel a lot in that direction I’m sure I may have a different take - solution: just build the Toll Road further from it.

I can see how the confusion started. The website votenosavethetrinity.com and all the signs that says “vote no, save the trinity”. Some people will think it’s to save the trinity river and not have the Toll Road, but really it’s saying save the Trinity River Project which include the building of the Toll Road. Will it mean that the project will go ka-put if this doesn’t go through? I do think they should create a nice place there, but anyway - you can see videos of what’s plan for the Trinity River Project on the website and there’s also this 3d rendering. Here is the typical scare tactic from the website: “You realize that, if the toll road is pulled out of the park, Dallas taxpayers will be saddled with millions of dollars in new taxes to pay for and build a different reliever route … a process that will take decades (all while gridlock fills our air with pollutants and Dallas grows by hundreds of thousands more residents).”

More Taxes? Dallas property tax is already insanely high, what other tax wil we need to pay (not having income tax for Texas is a bit of a joke since we are being taxed left and right) - let’s drop the whole thing and lower property tax first.

Anyhow, voting (Proposition 1) is on November 6th, 2007, but early voting is underway for registerd voters in the City of Dallas.

I say call Andres Duany and see what he thinks.

UPDATE: Trinity River Result. Majority of Dallas wants a tollway through it. Looks like it’s all about the concrete and car culture.

Ready or not, the pumpkins are already at the Dallas Arboretum. Starting now until October 31th, the Arboretum will have daily activities and also weekend activities. We’ve been there before and kids really enjoy the Pumpkin patch and Hay Maze. I like seeing pumpkins because it does mean Autumn is around the corner and hopefully we won’t have the heat and mosquitos anymore:

DAILY ACTIVITIES

Tom Thumb Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin House
Hay Bale Maze
Hay Rides ($3 per person/ per ride)*
Piano Music on the Pergola
*10:30am - 3:30pm (weather permitting)

EVERY WEEKEND

Costume Parade - 1pm
Pumpkin Decorating Demonstrations - Noon, 2pm and 4pm
Face-painting - Saturdays: 11am - 4pm; Sundays: Noon - 4pm
Crafts - Saturdays: 11am - 4pm; Sundays: Noon - 4pm
Performances on the Martin Rutchik Concert Stage: Noon - 4pm

Check out the Dallas Arboretum Website for more information.

This is the first year I actually got to be there at the Plano Balloon Festival. The first time we went, I think we either missed the lift off time or parking was far. The second time we went, we parked somewhere around this empty lot in a neighborhood and saw the balloon go over us. We were not the only ones doing that, there were lots of other people doing the same thing. This year, we time it so we can see the parachutes and off course was late for that (though we still saw it from the parking lot) and we made it right on time and saw the balloons lift off from the field.

I must say, it’s so much better being there. You see the scale of the whole festival, of how many people there were. This was Friday, so I’m sure Saturday would have had more people. I didn’t think I was going to be that excited about balloons lifting off, but I guess when you have kids, you get excited with them!

Here are some pictures:

The above is  the view from the slope if you park at the Collin County College. It doesn’t look like there were a lot of people from this view, but there were people down at the field to the left all around and all along this slope.

Yeah, it’s funny how Hooter has to be everywhere. This was like a family/kids thing and Hooter was there. The funny thing was this boy probably 4-5 was next to us and said oh look at the orange balloon, it’s got eyes on it!

This was during the lift off on Friday night 6:30pm

This was down next to the field and there were a lot of vendors with food from Dickey BBQ to corn dogs. There was also a section that was very kids friendly with lots of kids thing to do.

This was the energizer bunny taking a nap face down before the night light up.

This was before the light up again and the energizer bunny is starting to wake up…slowly…very slowly.

Energizer bunny is up and will keep going and going and going…

Right before the 8pm light up, most of the balloons were up.

This was a little after 8pm when they have the light up. They count down and then all the balloon light up with their flame. If you blink too long, you will miss it. But don’t worry because they will do another count down…and another…and another. I don’t know how many they do because after the 3rd time, we had to leave since it was past the kids bedtime.

What’s a festival without Corn Dogs!!!??

Actually I guess he’s the star and some professional dancer (Kym Johnson) will be dancing with him. It’s a little surprising I suppose. Kym Johnson was put with Jerry Springer and Joey Fatone in the past seasons, so I don’t know what that means. I don’t watch the show consistently, only maybe once or twice a season. The last time I watched it was only because Apollo Ono was on it…and he actually won.

I wonder if Mark Cuban knows that they kinda wear funky tight clothing! Our grandma (a great grandma) said “He’s done well in the past with everything else…he’s such a nut, he just might do ok!” I guess we’ll see…

Dancing With the Stars will premier on Monday, September 24th 8/7 c on ABC.

Meanwhile, you can also check out his view on Politics.

UPDATE: You can read about Mark Cuban’s experience on Dancing With the Stars and vote for him.

So I was checking the stats and the thing that people click on the most in terms of external sites is the Dallas Metropolis Forum. Which make me think of a couple of reasons for this.

One is that we are living more an more in a virtual way, most things we do is online. For me, almost everything is online. This is a advantage and disadvantage with technology. Being online more mean less face to face interaction with people. At times my husband and I joke around since we email or instant message each other for something even if we are in the same house. Anyway, because of this decrease in interaction, more and more people are looking for some kind of interaction online. Forums offer this constant feedback and ways to be connected with others and it can make you feel like you are involved or somehow in a “community”. It’s great that they exists, but it’s sad that we have to look to virtual friends instead of the interaction we use to have with friends back in the days. It’s better than nothing of course and some regional forums are useful since you “might” actually find real face to face interaction with people you meet in these forums.

The other reason for the popularity of forums, at least for Dallas Forums, is that more and more people are interested in knowing more about Dallas. After visiting one of the Dallas related forums, I realized how many people are asking about Dallas because they are relocating here or are thinking or moving here. To my surprise (or maybe not too surprising) is the amount of people from California in these forums. So my hope is that more and more people will move here from California and bring all the good food, culture and weather (or lack of). Then I can convince my family and friends to move here and I’ll be all set and happy.