It's springtime, and that means . . .

Baseball. . . the great game.

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At some point, every spring, when the heat rises to a certain level, and the smell of a freshly mown lawn blows my way, I think of baseball. That warm weather game of hope and skill and strategy and luck and endurance.

The game of failure.

The slow moving game interrupted with excitement -- like life itself.

I think of beer and hot dogs and mustard and peanuts. Of Col'beer here, Cooolers, and Hotdaaaawwgs, as the concessionaires used to say.

I think of the sound of a wood bat cracking a leather-skinned ball and seeing that connection before hearing it. I think of handsome Johnny Callison, Cookie Rojas, Tony Taylor, Richie Ashburn, Pete Incaviglia, Nolan Ryan, and "Julio-Julio" being sung-out from the stands. And Charlie Hough catching a smoke between innings back when an older pitcher could do such things.

I think of the red-capped Phillies, and Connie Mack stadium. I think of Willie Mays, the Say-Hey kid, and basket catches.

When summer hits, and the air is still, I'll hear a distant radio and a baritone-voiced announcer calling the game, and I will think of the nights at the ballpark with my family watching the Texas Rangers. And Pony League games, and hitting ground balls to the boys in the front yard, and . . .

Well, there's just no end to the good baseball memories.

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Texas Ranger's first game is Friday, April 1. Fort Worth Cats first game is Monday, May 9. Due to popular demand, Kincaid's is back selling hamburgers at the Cats' games this year.

First posted 2009. Revised.

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Have it your way ... somewhere else

Daniel Barry for The New York Times  

Want It Your Way? Purist Chefs Won't Have It.

That's the title of a New York Times article that goes on to explain why some chefs and restaurants in New York don't accommodate every customer demand -- and why they don't care who doesn't like it.

Think, Seinfeld's soup nazi episode applied to everything from bagels to coffee.

I kind of get this. You have to respect a guy who make's that kind of commitment to his craft and the product.

At one coffee shop in New York you can not get an espresso in a paper cup. At my favorite coffee shop back east they say, only half- jokingly, "the coffee is first, the customer second." If a restaurant owner is willing to give up a sale, it's his risk, his loss. His business.

Anyway, it's an interesting article on food industry attitudes.

The New York Times article is short and worth reading. HERE

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DFW gets a mention in Time Magazine's, 10 Ideas That Will Change the World

I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for lists.

So when I saw the link for Time Magazines, 10 Ideas That Will Change the World, I bit. The list is a kind of upbeat take on current trends, and each of the ten is written by a specialist in his field. There are the expected items, such as, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Case for Optimism, and the unexpected, Why Afghanistan is Far from Hopeless. And the predictable, such as, Twitter and Facebook are changing the way we live.

One hopeful item was that the US deficit can be resolved without ruining all of our lives. It may be a little too optimistic, but in general, I agree.

Beijing Capital International

DFW received a good report in the item, Think of Your Airport as a City but Nicer. The author had attended a weekend conference at DFW and he and the other conferencees never left the Airport area. Airports today not only have hotels, but malls, golf courses (DFW) and the usual assortment of restaurant and bars. And jobs: there 400,000 jobs in a 5 mile radius around DFW.

In the same article, the Dallas-Fort Worth area was recognized as the fastest growing metro area in the USA. Current population: 6 million.

One other world changing prediction: your job is going to China or India, and, also, your paycheck will be coming from a company based in one of those two countries. China and India are growing at breakneck speeds with no slow-down in sight. China is more widely known for its growth but many futurists expect India to surpass China. India's population will surpass China's at current rates of growth. China's population growth is controlled by the Orwellian one-child per couple policy.

Time Magazine's, 10 Ideas That Will Change the World. Link here.

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Why Buon Giorno is busy.

Have you been to Buon Giorno, lately? They're busy -- all the time -- and I am glad to see it.

1. They have really good coffee.
2. The pastries are fresh and very good. 
3. The counter staff are friendly and welcoming without being annoying.

That's it. That's all I have.

I hope the formula is profitable for the owners, ultimately, it needs to be. I hope it's here for a long while.

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A Review of Kiplinger's 24 Best Travel Sites

I'm not going to list all of Kiplinger's 24 but I will say that's it's a good list for those of us who, on occasion, buy a airplane ticket, rent a car, or stay in a hotel -- and there were a few sites I hadn't heard of before. If you'd rather jump to the Kiplinger piece, see their link at the bottom of post.

My comments on their list:

1. Air travel: Kayak is the consolidator's consolidator. It not only searches Sabre lists it searches the travel sites like Orbitz and Expedia. I have never used them but it looked easy to use and comprehensive. Personally, I go to the American Airlines site first then to the consolidator sites.

2. Bing. I like the Bing site for airline ticket comparisons. Their "price predictor" may or may not be accurate but it is pretty cool. Actually, I like the Bing site for several searches.

3. For lodging, Kiplinger lists Hotels.com as their number one site because of ease of use and bargain offers. Next for them is Priceline which I have used, but I have also been put in the room next to the generators more than once when I did. I most often use Tripadvisor. It is the most visited site so it has the most reviews. Reading reviews is always risky because some people complain about everything and some reviews are obviously written by the proprietor's brother-in-law, but you can get an overall impression.

General observation on hotels/motels -- newer is almost always better.

4. Vacation Rental by Owner, not on their list, but my sister uses them for larger family trips and has had great accommodations for a reasonable price. Kiplinger suggests trying HomeAway.com

5. Also, not on the list but an idea that I love is the couch or room for a night concept. There's a bunch of these now, one of them is Air Bed and Breakfast which allows you to "rent nightly from real people in 9,440 cities in 173 countries."

6. Car Rentals. Kiplinger suggests Hotwire, but all of the travel sites pull from the major rental companies and I haven't seen any difference in prices between them. I find Enterprise to be the most service-minded and reasonably priced.

As I have said many times on this blog, air travel today is more pain than pleasure but airlines are giving us what we want -- low fares. Some airlines are better than others, but when the big airlines test more room and more service against low price, low price wins. And the airlines can't help it if we are all treated like a potential terrorist threat. That being said, today, I drive if I can, I dislike air travel that much.

I liked the list of 24 sites. Please comment. I'm curious what you do for travel reservations.

Kiplinger's 24 Best Travel sites. Link Here

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Saviano's. Sundance Square, Fort Worth.

I've made two visits to the new Saviano's at Sundance Square in the last few weeks. They took the old Zippy's and Sammy's locations and combined them into one restaurant.

I liked what they did to the space from a renovation point of view, it's nothing extravagant, but it's clean and appropriate for a middle-tier, sit-down, pizza restaurant.

Saviano's serves a medium crust, medium-cheese, Neopolitan-style pizza. Kind of a cross between New York style and the Neopolitan style of Il Cane Rosso. I didn't dislike the pizza, but on neither occasion was it served piping, out-of-oven hot. Maybe a minor complaint, but it is something that makes the pizza less than perfect. Besides that, I liked it.

I'm going to try some of their pasta dishes next time we are in Sundance -- but for our "go-to" pizza place, I remain in search mode.

Saviano's has two locations, one in Sundance Square, Fort Worth, and one in Euless.

Saviano's website: Link here.

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Ash Wednesday, T.S. Eliot

Ash Wednesday. / T.S. Eliot

Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

Because I do not hope to know
The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is
nothing again
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To read the rest of the poem go here: tseliot
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From Wikipedia: "Ash Wednesday" (sometimes "Ash-Wednesday") is the first long poem written by T. S. Eliot after his 1927 conversion to Anglicanism. Published in 1930 (see 1930 in poetry), this poem deals with the struggle that ensues when one who has lacked faith in the past strives to move towards God.

Sometimes referred to as Eliot's "conversion poem", Ash-Wednesday, with a base of Dante's Purgatorio, is richly but ambiguously allusive and deals with the aspiration to move from spiritual barrenness to hope for human salvation. The style is different from his poetry which predates his conversion. Ash-Wednesday and the poems that followed had a more casual, melodic, and contemplative method. Wikipedia

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In-N-Out Burger according to D Magazine.

Before long North Texas will have its first In-N-Out Burger.

In-N-Out triple cheeseburger and fries

A couple weeks ago, D Magazine ran a piece worth reading for In-N-Out enthusiasts and for hamburger lovers in general (thanks, Travis for the link).

Writer, Nancy Luna, covered the food industry in Southern California and she provides some interesting history of the fast-food business.

For instance, In-N-Out took a different path than the other hamburger enterprises that got their start in Southern California. McDonald's being the biggest. They don't franchise, they're still privately held, and the burgers are still made to order from fresh ingredients. That kind of commitment to controlled growth builds a strong customer base.

From the D Magazine article,

It’s the kind of loyalty that Burger King and McDonald’s will never have. While most fast-food chains live and die by limited-time menu creations, discounting, and coupons, In-N-Out never resorts to those gimmicks. Other than combo meals, the most expensive single item sold on the menu is $3.05. It sells burgers, fries, sodas, and shakes. Nothing else. No onion rings. No salads. No chicken sandwiches. Not even a hot dog. The most recent change to the menu, made a decade ago, was the addition of lemonade. 

The Double-Double (two patties, two slices of American cheese) remains the chain’s most popular item. But it’s rare to find any two customers who order the same meal. . . burgers with names such as Animal Style, Protein Style, Flying Dutchman, 3x3, and 4x4 are celebrated underground requests never seen on the menu.  

Nancy Luna, D Magazine, February 23, 2011. For the complete article in D Magazine go here.

I have never been to an In-N-Out, enthusiasts speak very highly of their fresh beef, never frozen hamburger, and I can't wait to try one.

In our area, Fort Worth will get an In-N-Out Burger on 7th, and Hurst, on Airport Freeway.

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