Pieces of Richmond in Dallas

Brought to you via an editing house called Reel FX.

A pretty cool place just outside of downtown Dallas, the inside of which reminded me more of a swank NYC club featured in Sex and the City.

Went there today to edit some silly grocery store ads. The abandoned warehouses and brick road being swallowed by concrete made me feel like if I closed my eyes, I would open them to find BDubs and Tuesday night wings before me.

Alas - the only thing I saw was a rising storm, threatening my Tuesday afternoon.

Google key words and my Daddy.

Is anyone else annoyed that Google peruses your emails and then posts "relevant" links up and down and side to side on the remaining space of your screen? Sometimes, it's ok. But other times (like when I type an address in my email and it says "find out who lives at 1313 E. Main Street") it's just annoying.

Another instance of annoyance happened yesterday. And I don't think it was annoyance so much as it was humor. When opening an email from my dad, I happened to catch a glimpse of the lower, right hand side links. To my amusement, Google had successfully "key-worded" my dad's signature at the end of his email, "Daddy" (upper left corner), and turned it into 4 or 5 links to wanna-be, thug-life, gangsta rappers (lower right corner).

Thanks, Google. That's just what I'm looking for when conversing with my 56 year old father. A rapper.

My weekend, brought to you by A/V aids:

Mr. James

Clara and The Baby Daddy (my bro)

Clara ordering a Guinness

The Boy and the Babe

Me and the Babe

Those sunglasses are hot on you

But, they're hotter on me...

Weekend Cont'd

The Dark Side of Computing

Over the past 5 years, I've learned a lot of Apple tricks. For example, Apple + Shift + 4 - a convenient way to snag a screen shot (and an equally sly way to save copyrighted material, like ads that adcritic doesn't want you to own.)

Of all the tricks I've learned so far, this is by far the coolest. I just found out about it last week and was slightly disappointed I hadn't known it for the entirety of my Mac-Loving life.

The trick: ctrl+option+apple+8.

My muse?

Laughing Babies.

All I want for Christmas...

Baby teeth - out. Big teeth - in.

Not. Cool.

I guess this is a good idea / way to tell people your crap-ass site is broke. But it kind of pissed me off. "Sorry - our site sucks, but here's some of our favorite stuff." No, Google Video. No.

I hate you.

BABY (comes) BACK

The drought is over. My brother and sister-in-law are in town for a college friends' wedding. They're staying with the Boy and I. Ordinarily this would be a huge downer - transporting family all over town while having to comply to their every request doesn't generally strike my happy chord. The bonus that makes everything alright? They brought a baby.

Bed for one, or two?



In baby sign language, panting = doggy.

Teaching a young dog new tricks.

He hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. But he's on to something.

Too Carbonated.

Richards is filled with nice people. People who would go out of their way to help you, to show you a good time, or to warn you about bad soda. Came across this post-it on the 13th floor soda machine and it made me laugh.

It also made me think about negative advertising. Will anyone dare buy a diet Dr. Pepper from this machine again? Will the 3 slots of diet Dr. Pepper remain on reserve for all eternity? My guess is no, but it will be interesting to see how long the note lasts. Something tells me a wary Dr. Pepper machine-stocker will dispose of the post-it with grace.

I'd be interested in buying one just to see what "too much carbonation" tastes like.

(Treston, were you behind this?)

Boom.

Fear not fellow AdCenterans. All is well here at The Richards Group in Dallas. Downtown Dallas is a different story. Above is a view of Downtown from the 12 floor agency window. Smoke billows from buildings on the right. More info.

The one good thing about Tay-Has (Texas)?

A Mexican Market.

Behold, Northerners! Behold! Miller Chill - a crisply refreshing beer with a hint of lime and a dash of salt. The distribution seems to be limited to the Lone Star, but perhaps, one day, the Chelada Style will make its way North.

I don't tend to enjoy the Mexican slums around my humble home, but this beer reminds me of the old saying - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Call me Juan.

***I have been informed that the Chill has found its northern roots. Damn. But you can still call me Juan.

Celestial Joy - Fries with no salt!

After some investigative research, I've discovered you can indeed obtain fries with no salt. Now, before you get too excited, this theory has only been tested at the Chic-fil-a on Greenville, Dallas, TX. Question other establishments at your own risk.

Do I like Coke or Pepsi? Advertising, what do you think?

A pretty awesome t-shirt that makes me feel good about what I do. To buy it, go here.

I'll take a side of Dallas with extra salt.

Ok, ok. I know I just posted 5 minutes ago. But I also just ate lunch 5 minutes ago and it warranted comment.

Today I dined at one of my favorite food establishments named after a 7 year old girl: Wendy's. Her spicey chicken sandwhich (hold the mayo) is killer. However, they seemed to have confused my order for that of someone with a sodium deficiency.

Each of my fries seemed to have been individually hand-coated with enough salt to satiate the seas. Then I recalled an instance where a #2 (not that #2) from Chic-fil-a came with an equally salt-drenched side of fries. That’s when it occurred to me – perhaps this is a Texass thing.

I’m fairly certain that my sodium intake has exponentially increased since my arrival in the Big D. And suffice it to say, it will keep rising. You can’t ask for fries with no salt, can you? I’ll try it and write back.

Oh yea, I have a blog...

As I sit here in the glorious city of Dallas with little else to do besides watch streaming cars on I-75, I figured it would be an opportune time to update le blog. (and I’m tired of Slate H. Donaldson’s pissing and moaning.)

So far, I hope you’ve had time to take a walk around the place, get acquainted with my ADD entries, and most importantly, my niece. Unfortunately since I’ve absconded to the likes of Texas, I have no new AV feeds of the little maggot. But she’s alive and well.

As for work, it’s work. I’ve been primarily assigned to 2 accounts. One is Giant Eagle – a grocery store chain found primarily in the North East. (haha – the ironies. Trader Joe’s anyone?) And the second is the most exciting client in the world – a financial company founded in Tucson, AZ, First Magnus. Actually, they have been the most entertaining client. An unlikely source.

But it hasn’t been all grocery store and finance. I’ve gotten a chance to work on Fruit of the Loom (plus size bras, no less), Auntie Anne’s pretzels, and an intern project for Patron. I’ve also been working on side projects for my book.

In other news, I’ve been to an FC Dallas soccer game with Treston and Boy, a Rangers baseball game with Boy (didn't see the 600th Home Run), drove to Austin one weekend, got a puppy, and saw Ratatouille. All in all, it’s been a pretty busy summer.

In the interest of keeping this “Grand Re-Opening” post short enough to be bearable, I’ll end here. But there is definitely more to come…