Long Live Labor

Any excuse for a three day weekend will suffice.. most of which I spend in Dallas these days, and this past Labor Day Weekend was no exception. I don't know that there's much to see in Dallas by way of sights and attractions, but it seems like anything bordering on such has been exhaused (e.g. Texas State Fair), so we just hang out and relax in the heart of Texas.

Part of the adventure is Ruth continually finding new restaurants to go to and bringing me along. A highlight of this past trip included a trip to Smith and Wollensky, where we went after 9pm for a Pay Your Age three course meal. As we waited for food to arrive, we weren't too fond of the pappadam-like bread and made art out of it instead:



I ended up getting the filet mignon, which was definitely tasty, but not quite as impressive a sight as the prime rib that Ruth ordered:



After polishing off the appetizer and the meat, the best part of the dinner was yet to come! I got a massive piece of chocolate cake. When the waiter dropped it off, he asked if I was planning on finishing it, mentioning that the only person he's seen do it was like a 350 lb dude. Giving up almost 200 lbs and always up for a challenge, I pounded through about half of it before slowing down considerably and throwing in the towel.



Ruth wisely opted for the root beer float, which we also couldn't finish because they gave so much ice cream which resulted in an endless supply of foam whenever just a bit of root beer was added. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable and Ruth kept making the picture look the straw was up her nose, so here it is:



Another routine outing is a trip to the mall so Ruth can help make sure my wardrobe stays up to date and I come home with a few new pieces of clothing. They had some exhibition at the mall where they used canned food products to make art pieces. I think maybe it had something to do with trying to get people to donate food, but I didn't really bother to find out. The sculptures that were created were certainly impressive. My favorite was Oscar the Grouch and Ruth trying to look grouchier than him...



Finally, we did something a little different this time around and stopped by SMU for the women's volleyball game as Daniel's sister Jenny is on the team and got us in on the guest list. It was a little comical as streams of visitors were headed to the football stadium (I think for a high school football game) while we crossed the throngs to join a sparse gathering of volleyball fans. Even without a beloved SLR, managed to get some decent photos.. what fine form serving!



After taking a bunch of photos while the team was on our side, it finally occurred to me after the first game was over that I should have waited until they switched sides to I could get pictures of them from the front... hehe



SMU was definitely a nice looking campus, with grand brick buildings everywhere, so we naturally had to take a couple pics. Don't see too much architecture like that out in California!!



This Picasa web albums integration is pretty sweet.. couple more pictures at the full Labor Day album