Reflections From Dallas, TX
02. Jun, 2008 
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This is just a bit of a personal off-topic rant about my travels today.
It was just a little over a month ago that I was in Dallas for WordCamp Dallas. It was my first real trip to Dallas (besides going to the Ft. Worth zoo), and I had a blast.
The trip today, however, was more for business.
Knowing that Dallas is a maze, I went to BestBuy late yesterday and bought myself a Garmin 200W. I had hopes it would come in handy in Dallas, and boy did it ever!
The first order of business was visiting a home establishment in Grand Prairie, Texas. After we were done with that, the work for the day was done.
I mentioned to my co-worker that there’s a great Tex-Mex place called La Hacienda Ranch that you can only find in Dallas.
After traveling through torturous rush-hour traffic, we finally located it (using the trusty GPS) on Preston Rd. The name sounded really familiar, but I let it slip by me.
After La Hacienda (which was great, by the way), my co-worker wanted to find a sports store. The trusty GPS took us to a place called Dick’s Sporting Goods, which was still on Preston Rd.
Déjà vu swept over me. The sporting goods store was located in a giant mall, which looked very familiar. It finally dawned on me that I was in the very location where the WordCamp Dallas attendees had their first meet-up (at Dave and Busters).
I looked over at my co-worker and said, “Wow, I never thought in a million years I’d be back in Frisco, Texas.”
It was WordCamp Dallas all over again for me.
As a sidenote (I think everything in this post is a sidenote), the La Hacienda had a nice feature that I think should be done more often.
In their restroom is a switch above the sink. The note more-or-less states, “La Hacienda Ranch is committed to a clean restroom. If this restroom needs attention, please flick the switch to the right.”
When I read this, I thought, “Wow, what a great and non-embarassing way to bring attention to a problem.” If only every restroom had such a feature! I was looking for one in my hotel room, but I sadly couldn’t find one.
Anyways, I head back from Dallas tomorrow and back home to humid Alabama. I just wanted to share a quick note with the readers. I hope all is well out there in the blogosphere.
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Hey, I had no idea GPS maps include also shops. I’m strongly considering to get one before I go on vacation, but I haven’t fully made up my mind yet. Pointing to shops and restaurants is certainly a plus, but it can easily translate into a minus in my pockets
Hey Ron,
sad that I’m not there anymore, would be great to see you again. Hope you will have a business trip to Europe soon
@Simonne,
Yup, shops and even traffic reports, at least here in the US. It was a real time saver.
@Alex,
Yeah, me too. It was a busy trip, so unfortunately not a lot of time for play this time
Try 2 months! (End of March)
@Charles,
Wow, you’re right. Two months it is.
So I guess you’re having a great time at WordCamp Dallas. How I wish I could find time to have a trip also.
Ronald,
I have been in the market for a new GPS for months now, but I am having trouble deciding which unit to buy. Why did you decide on the Garmin 200W?
@Washington,
I bought the 200W because it was cheap, portable, and still had the voice directions. It has a bicycle mode, car mode, and pedestrian mode. I’m rather stoked about it.
I learned yesterday that TomTom has an iPhone app that will work with the new iPhone 3G. I’ll probably test that out as well when I pick up an iPhone on July 11.