monogodo

We're eating for free all day today.

This morning, the CARES team for our loft building had a free breakfast burrito breakfast in the clubhouse. They also had cereal, fruit, muffins, milk, juice & coffee. We each had a couple of burritos and juice before we headed out on a bike ride.

The ride was shorter than I'd have liked (10 miles), because of road repair on our favorite course. We used to like to ride the Katy Trail, but it got old fast. The main issue was the number of other users on the trail. Lots of joggers & walkers & rollerbladers & kids. And almost none of them pay attention to their surroundings. Our pace went from what should have been about 15-20mph average to about 5-7.5mph average because of trying to avoid little kids & dogs & idiots. We decided to check out the area beyond Deep Ellum, and discovered an entrance to Fair Park that is always open (and unmanned), that allows us access to the back streets around the animal barns. We found a 1.25 mile loop that takes us past the DPD horse barn, around a parking lot, past Starplex & the Cotton Bowl, and around the other animal buildings. I can do laps at my pace, and C can do laps at hers. When we're ready to go home, we just reverse direction until we cross paths with the other. Today, however, they were repaving parts of the streets we ride on, so we couldn't do laps, so we just explored Fair Park, then headed home.

We didn't want to stay out too long, anyway, because we had lunch plans. A woman at work gave my coworkers and myself a thank-you gift for completing an order quickly for her. It included Voss bottled water, mini-bottles of Pearl Vodka (one plain, one coconut), a small bottle of Piper-Heidsieck Reims champagne (had to get the name off the foil, since C threw out the bottle), a small box of Fauchon mints, a pound of Kobrick's coffee beans, a coffee mug, and a bottle of tea. She also gave us her card with "good for one free meal" written on the back with her signature, good at any of their restaurants. E, my supervisor, was never going to use his, and learned that I wanted to take C to dinner for our anniversary, so he gave me his. We had the most incredible meal, all of which was free, including tip. It started with a cup of warm chicken broth, followed by a Caesar salad (for her) and a fresh fruit salad (for me). Next were popovers with strawberry butter. Oh. My. God. They were incredible. For our entrees, she had the halibut special, I had the Black Angus hamburger & fries. For dessert, we ordered a caramel souffle and the lemon Angel food cake. We each had half of each. The lunch would have easily cost close to $60 before tip. After we'd finished our dessert, the waiter came over and asked how everything was. We told him it was excellent. He thanked us and wished us a good day. And that was it. No check, nothing to sign (I'd given him the cards before we ordered). We got up and left. I'll have to thank the woman on Monday.

After lunch, we went and checked out the new Dallas Power & Light Flats, and also the Davis Building Lofts. There are some cool loft buildings in downtown (including the one we live in). The DP&L building is finished out rather nicely. No exposed brick or ductwork, polished concrete floors, marble countertops, smooth-surface cooktops, built-in microwaves, side-by-side refridgerator/freezer w/ filtered icemaker/water dispenser, garden tubs, huge walk-in closets, etc., etc. The Davis is more raw. It has the original terrazzo floors, exposed brick, and has a very gritty feel, yet nice. They have pretty much the same ammentities as the DP&L, considering they're owned by the same people.

For dinner tonight, we're going to Chipotle, gonna have a burrito. Gonna be nice with beans and rice. It, too, will be free, because we each bought a burrito from them on 6/21, the Summer Soul-stice. Our receipt from that day can be used for a free burrito between 6/22 and 6/26.

Well, it's now 8pm, I'd better go wake up C so we can go to Chipotle (to have a burrito).