I have such mixed feelings about the possible smoking ban in Dallas clubs. The hullabaloo over the fact that City Council would support a ban strikes many chords on many levels. Personally, I can’t say I would mind if smoking was banned in bars and clubs. But I have lots of friends who opt for filling their lungs with black tar and pollutants who I also have good times with. Talk about a conundrum. I want them to have good times too. And for me, it’s not a health issue, OK, it kind of is, but it’s more sartorial in nature. Seriously, I just hate when my Banana Republic sweater and Gap jeans are all smoky at the end of the day. And I will suffer the cold temperatures just to make sure my jackets don’t get the secondhand odor either. If only Febreze was as good as it claims to be. It’s not, Nimbus.

Michael Hogue weighs in on the issue over at DMN. He makes some good points buuuut, I don’t know what he’s wearing either.

Sorry, guys, but I’m taking the week off. I’ve been slammed with lots of work and homework and by the time I get to ye olde bloggie, I’m zapped.

Unless someone brings me tacos from any of these places, I will simply resume posting next Monday. Until then, let me leave you with a video.

This was my first concert. Now, the video is titled The Jacksons Victory Tour Dallas 1984 but I could swear he says L.A. in it. Meh. It was my first and it was friggin’ phenomenal. The show was at Texas Stadium and the same weekend Van Halen was performing at Reunion Arena. The coolest surprise was when Eddie VH came out to play his solo on MJ’s Beat It. There aren’t superstar concerts like this anymore.

Ahh…good times.

If my soulmate was a truck…it would look a lot like this

I was getting really worried that we, meaning the Dallas Cowboys, were going to lose offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. He’d been approached by both Baltimore and Atlanta with offers of head coach. Says here though that Mr. Garrett is sticking around. And thank goodness. He’s worthy of being head coach but his work with the Cowboys is pretty phenomenal despite last week’s game. I think so anyways. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he’s kind of a cutie.

Well played, Jerry Jones.

Do you remember way back when I mentioned the dumbest contest ever thanks to D Magazine? You had to vote for the ten most beautiful women in Dallas telling the others they weren’t hot enough. It was dumb. Apparently, these are the winners.

Soooo, the Sub-Rosa is working on a book. A book she “can’t talk too much about right now.” She interviewed Frank Campagna(Kettle Art owner and best bar companion ever) and has interviews scheduled with Jeff Liles (eclectic local personality and artist) and Russell Hobbs (owner of The Door) I’m wondering what it possibly could be about?

The Urban Daily wrote up the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and their census project of the homeless population of Dallas which is apparently crucial to their goal of ending “chronic homelessness in Dallas by 2014.” This is an annual census that’s conducted in the last week of January.

I’m fairly blown away by this. Sounds like an intense project. According to the site, the “information is compiled during the census is also used by several interested groups, including non-profit organizations, faith-based groups, media outlets and various departments in Federal, State & local government.”

The project needs volunteers and the volunteers need training. So if your feeling a bit useful, I bet the Alliance would appreciate the help.

---

DATE: Tuesday, January 22, 2008

TIME: 5:30 P.M. – 12:00 A.M. (subject to slight changes if needed, most volunteers are able to leave by 10:30 p.m.)

LOCATION: Dallas City Hall – 1500 Marilla, L1 F North Auditorium (park in City Hall underground parking off Young Street and enter through the GREEN door.)

HOW TO HELP: Volunteers are needed for both the indoor and outdoor census.

Indoor Volunteer Team Member: Conducts the homeless survey in an indoor location, such as an emergency shelter or transitional housing facility. Law enforcement professionals are not assigned to these teams, but a staff contact will be provided for teams who visit these locations and agency staff will be present.

Outdoor Volunteer Team Member: Conducts the survey outdoors in teams of 3. Law enforcement personnel are also assigned to each team for safety reasons.

Training

Training on how to conduct the census will be provided for volunteers on the night of the census. Volunteers will begin signing in from 5:30 – 6:00, and should arrive no later than 5:45 P.M. in order to receive all of the information presented.

Contact Information

Thank you for your interest! In order to volunteer for the Homeless census or to receive more information, please contact Kit Lowrance at Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance:

Phone: 214-978-0002
E-mail: klowrance@unitedwaydallas.org

In her latest column, she rants about porn cruisers at the library with silly comparisons and no real answers. Yawn.

You may not eat your sack lunch inside at the Dallas Public Library, because that would be messy and distracting. If, however, you wish to view an Internet site depicting “merciless scenes of raw brutal domination,” that’s your business.

I think she just described most video games but apparently some sites that are popping up on DMN’s recent investigation head toward such scenes. Thing is, it could be rape or it could be a lion on the hunt. Am I wrong? Language folks. Can we get some clarity here? Thanks.

She goes on to rail about how the investigation boils down to 7.5 percent of viewed material over a 45 minute time frame and that city money is paying for peep shows. OK, probably true but if I’m doing my math right then that equals to about 3 minutes and some seconds. Personally, the whole issue is creepy but I can live with that kind of time frame. Yes, multiply by hours in the operating day and branches but 7.5 percent is not a quarter. So, I’m starting to wonder, is DMN really just on the hunt for their next big breaking issue? I’m not really convinced this is it.

She does get one thing right.

I understand there are no ideal solutions here. Filters aren’t ideal. Requiring librarians to pace around like hall monitors and check on what patrons are viewing isn’t ideal. Reserving a few unfiltered computers for adult users only isn’t ideal. But doing nothing is worse than not ideal.

Sure, librarians can’t be caught up in this. But, um, doesn’t the library have volunteers? Hi. Manpower anyone? It’s simple. If someone gets caught looking at stuff they shouldn’t, revoke their library card, give them a ticket and that’s it. Hey, problem solved.

God, I love it when my soapbox is smaller. And for crying out loud, Floyd, don’t be so cliche and use “for crying out loud.” It’s shows your age. Even if your column pic doesn’t.

I love me some Dallas Public Library. Especially my Oak Lawn branch. I’ve yet to really take advantage of their free wi-fi though or even their computer services, which wouldn’t make sense since I have my own laptop. Besides, free wi-fi is great but I totally need a mocha latte to go with it. What I do love about my branch is their inventory of cds and dvds. They are suprisingly current and hip. Heck, I just ripped…oops…er…I mean, listened to Iron and Wine and the soundtrack to I’m Not There (the everybody as Bob Dylan flick). Plus, I’ve checked out several new movies that I can now erase off my Netflix queue. The DPL rocks!

Says here in Editor and Publisher though that people are totally abusing their computer usage by hitting the porn sites. Now, first of all, those people have some balls to do that in public. Second, it’s like, seriously? You’re at the friggin’ library. You’re gonna look up porn? Eesh.

A Dallas Morning News examination of Internet use during a 45-minute period on December 19th at the city’s central library found that 7.5 percent of Web pages viewed by library visitors contained porn.

Interestingly enough, the article says the American Library Association says its hard to filter because of some constitutionally protected materials and legitimate sites being blocked. Which makes total sense. Myspace was always blocked for me at Panera. Dangit. So what to do? Personally, invest in uber-large monitors so everyone can see what’s going on.

I just really hope that both hands are still on the keyboard while this action is going on.

Thanks to Pegasus News:

Man rapes son after son rapes daughter in Fort Worth

Wait till you read with what. An appropriate “Yikes!” will follow.