The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

The Brother and I checked out The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza when we were in Dallas. It was walking distance from our hotel and it's something everyone should check out at least once. If you go, be sure to do the audio tour. It's really well done and they don't charge any extra for it (entry is $18).

You are literally on the sixth floor of the former Texas School Book Depository Building (now the Dallas County Administration Building). The corner where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots that killed President John F. Kennedy is sectioned off by plexiglass walls, but the rest of the floor is home to the museum.

Despite the horrific history of the place, the museum is really well done and I'm glad I went. In addition to providing a history of the Kennedy presidency leading up to the assassination, as well as the aftermath, the museum has some amazing artifacts. Check it out:

It was supposed to be a charmed period for America. You know, Camelot:

Hmmm, sounds kinda familiar:

An invitation to the luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart. The presidential caravan was on its way when Oswald changed history:

The President and First Lady making their way through Dallas:

And then:

That's the window:

The view from the sixth floor:

Some of the artifacts:

This is the actual place setting that was awaiting the President at the Trade Mart:

That iconic photo:

The aftermath:

A model showing the trajectory of the shots fired:

On the street below (Elm Street), there are X's on the pavement where Oswald's bullets hit:

On the far right is our hotel (The Hyatt Regency Dallas) and Reunion Tower from out in front of the museum:

Because I was traveling, I skipped the bookstore part of the gift shop because I knew I would run wild. I already had four books from Bouchercon and was concerned about getting everything in the suitcase. Unfortunately, the Sixth Floor Museum gift shop is not online, but I was told it will be in the near future. I'm looking forward to that.

RIP Hollywood Boulevard Superman

I reviewed Confessions of a Superhero on my old blog and one of the things I marveled over was that Christopher Dennis, who portrayed Superman on Hollywood Boulevard, showed off his Man of Steel memorabilia collection that he valued at close to $100,000 that packed his apparently security-free Hollywood apartment. In addition to Dennis's personal quirks - he claimed to be the son of Oscar and Tony Award-winning actress Sandy Dennis, whose family denied that she ever had a child - it made me wonder how long it would be before someone located the building (which the film showed repeatedly as an establishing shot) and rob him of his collection.

I don't know if that ever happened, but today comes the news that Dennis - described as homeless - has been found dead in the San Fernando Valley. He was 52 years old.

In the documentary Dennis took his Superman persona very seriously, both on and off the boulevard. The film also documented his marriage, although I haven't seen any mention of his wife in coverage of his death. This article from Variety says he was living out of a motor home at some point. I do wonder what happened to his Superman memorabilia. When I saw the movie, I figured that if the Hollywood Boulevard gig went south, he could sell off his collectibles and live off of that. Apparently I was wrong.

RIP Superman/Christopher.

When in Dallas, be sure to visit the beautiful Hyatt Regency Hotel. And enjoy the view!

Now that I'm home I have a boatload of heavy-duty apartment cleaning to get to, so I'm going to start off with a brief Dallas trip post. More to follow including visits to a couple of really great museums.

I really liked our hotel, which is in the Downtown Dallas area. Turns out Dallas, like L.A., is really spread out. Their airport alone is like visiting a small city. Navigating LAX is a piece of cake compared to DFW. I wouldn't be surprised if it has its own zip code.

I haven't had a chance to really sort my pictures from the trip, but here are a few to give you an idea of how much I loved this place, especially the view from my room.

My first attempt at getting a pic of the view ended up with a nice reverse shot of the room:

Tuesday and Wednesday were stormy. At one point the top of this building disappeared into the mist:

The building with the nightly light show turned out to be the Omni Hotel. Union Station is also right across the way. Local commuter rail, Amtrak and cargo trains all go through there:

Thursday morning groggy voice:

The Brother actually went out sightseeing in this weather. After that it went up into the 60's with beautiful blue skies for the rest of our trip:

It was in the 80's when we landed at Burbank, which is just wrong for November. Give me Dallas weather!

Our Bouchercon/Dallas home away from home: The Hyatt Regency Hotel. That's Reunion Tower right next door:

The Brother braved Reunion Tower's observation deck. Me and my rabid fear of heights did not. Also, how funny is the Hyatt's sign? "It's good not to be home." And it was.

The Hyatt is huge and the hallways can seem like a labyrinth. This piece of artwork kept us on the right track to and from our rooms. Thank you, big Texas ferris wheel picture!

The hotel also has this cool giant column fountain in the lobby and they had a really neat way of welcoming Bouchercon (this was up for the duration of the conference):

Our final night there, the Omni had this lit up and I have no idea what FF means. Is it a Texas thing?

By early the next morning, the light show had returned:

Sunday morning shortly before leaving. One last beautiful Dallas sunrise:

I know I've been babbling about Dallas non-stop the last few days, but we were just so impressed with the place and I couldn't stop staring out my windows. I wish we could have spent a few more days there. We're already talking about going back next year.

And oh yeah, guess what gas costs in Dallas? How about $2.40-ish per gallon. I paid almost $5 just days before the trip, and that was at the independent cheapie station. And Texas doesn't have state income tax. I couldn't help but think about how much farther my money would go there. Our driver on the way to the hotel told us he and his wife had just moved to the area three months earlier and love it. Keep pushing, Gavin Newsom. It's not like there aren't options.

Gonna miss this view big time. Big D time.

We're sadly departing Dallas and Bouchercon 2019 in just a few hours. This was the view from my hotel room for the past five nights. The picture doesn't do it justice.

In addition to Bouchercon lighting a much needed fire under my writing butt, our hotel and this city were beyond impressive. I fell madly in love with the view from my room and The Brother and I were beyond impressed with Dallas.

For reasons I don't need to get into here, I didn't want to post to the blog or social media while on vacation. I had my reasons for not wanting to advertise that I was out of town. But I had an amazing time and will blog about Bouchercon and Dallas in the upcoming days, with lots of pics of my view and our visits to a couple of mind-boggling local museums.

Oh, and there will be a scorching rant about American Airlines. Something about last minute changes to flight plans they had ten months to warn us about.

But to end on a high note, Dallas blew our minds and we're already talking about coming back next year. And a big thank you to Bouchercon's host hotel, the gorgeous (and ginormous) Hyatt Regency Dallas.

October Words of Wisdom

Once you hit a certain age, you become permanently unimpressed by a lot of stuff. --Unknown

You must listen to your heart and follow it or it will find a million ways to remind you that there is something missing. --Unknown

Without the horse, none of this would be possible. We owe them our lives. They give us so much and ask only for basic kindness in return. I believe that horses and humans have a connection that draws us to each other. I believe, in their own way, they know we need them, and they are pleased to be our partner, whether it be in work or sport. We need to remember never to take advantage of this privilege of working and living with horses for granted. To never lose our appreciation for what they have given us throughout the history of time, and to be sure that their relevance in our society does not fade away. This is our greatest responsibility as equestrians. --McLain Ward

Should you ever find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, smallness, or insecurities, remember things could be worse...You could be them.
--Unknown

In order for you to insult me, I would first have to value your opinion.
--Unknown

When you stop blaming other people for your problems...when you stop procrastinating, bitching and complaining about how unfair life is...it is truly amazing what the fuck you can do with your life! Once you realize no one is coming to save you, you only have two options - you can say "fuck it' and lay there and do nothing OR you can sack it the fuck up and become the badass motherfucker you were meant to be! --David Goggins

The democrat debates are millionaires arguing with other millionaires about how evil millionaires are. --Mike Rowe

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence. --Henry David Thoreau

When my toes are sunk into warm sand and the ocean is lapping my feet, when I breathe in the scent of salt and hear the cry of a seagull, I know that I am returned to a place of restoration. I am home. I can heal here. --Toni Sorensen

You will actually find that if you keep your story tight, with no swerving from the proper path, it will curl up quite naturally at the end, provided you stop when you have finished what you have to say. --Shirley Jackson

If you're gonna be a smartass, first make sure you're smart. Otherwise you're just an ass. --Unknown

Happy Halloween!!!

Hope you all get lots of candy!

To NaNo or not to NaNo

I've been debating whether or not to do NaNo this year, going back and forth like crazy, wondering if it will get me back into writing mode. And I finally decided today that I'm going to do it. I need to do it.

For those of you who have never heard of National Novel Writing Month, it's an online community that in the month of November commits to writing 50,000 words of a novel. That works out to 1,667 words per day in a month that includes Thanksgiving. I've tried it a few times in the past but never made it to 50k.

All that matters is word count - no editing or rewriting, no worrying about how it comes out. Just write. Just get the words down and worry about fixing it later. It's basically a month-long writing sprint.

Here's some NaNo advice and freebies and 30 tips for doing NaNo. These articles are what finally pushed me to go for it.

If you've ever considered trying to write a novel (even if you don't consider yourself a writer) NaNo is a great way to give it a shot.

Recent reading: "Reel Stuff"

Reel Stuff by Don Bruns

I picked this up at a writing conference and Mr. Bruns was kind enough to sign it for me.

He even drew the palm tree! How cute is that? And as for what he wrote to me, I did indeed enjoy the ride.

Private investigator Skip Moore is working security on the set of the TV show Deadline Miami, where Oscar-winning actor Jason Londell is making a guest appearance as a favor to the show's producer, a longtime friend. And to the despair of the episode's director, Londell is insisting on doing his own stunts, in this case jumping off a building. But that stunt turns deadly when without warning, Londell leaps to his death on the pavement below, far from the giant air bag that he was supposed to hit.

Moore, his PI partner James Lessor, and Skip's stunning girlfriend Emily get roped into investigating what increasingly seems like more of a murder than a suicide. As part of the investigation Skip and Em head to from Miami to Hollywood to investigate Londrell's estranged wife/ex-agent, which unexpectedly leads to Em getting booked on a pilot, a development that turns her usually level head when it awakens long-dormant glamorous dreams. Meanwhile, Skip in L.A. and James back in Miami sift through a large, interconnected cast of suspects, trying to figure out the who, how and whys of Jason Londell's shocking death.

Bruns writes short chapters and that, along with his characters and fast pacing, propel the story forward non-stop so well that I finished this in one day. The closer I got to the end, the harder it was to consider putting it down. It was a wild ride.

"Sometimes it's just stupid to do your own stunts." The director let out a long sigh, shaking his head. He looked at me and said, "We've got stunt guys who can do this jump with their eyes closed, so why the hell does this prima donna think he should do it himself? Damned actors. Life would be a lot simpler without them."