Snow in Dallas

We woke up to the view of snow this morning. Unfortunately I didn't think of taking a picture, perhaps because snow isn't that uncommon to me. To the Texans who made it to the office, it was quite a special thing. Apparently they only have snow every two years or so, and we just happened to get here when it occurred.

Training is getting constantly more challenging, and with the complexity and configurability of the system, it's no wonder we need four weeks to cover everything. Even though we've all got new laptops, and in theory could bring it back with us to the hotel, I haven't done so yet. I've got my trusty mac, and until we get the system and database configured locally on the laptops, I really haven't any need for it. Hopefully we'll have it up and running locally by tomorrow, so it's possible to play around with the system e.g. during the weekend.

I haven't made any plans for the weekend yet, but might go to Uptown which is apparently a shopping area. There are hardly any stores in downtown, besides fast food joints and other lunch places, so it must exist elsewhere. Everything seems to close around 18:00, when most offices will be nearly empty as well, leaving downtown scarily empty and frankly a bit spooky. I did manage to find a supermarket though, so I've finally been able to prepare some food on my own. Given the fact that my room hasn't any oven, hotplates or even cutlery dinner tonight was some simple salad wraps. It was still nice to have something fresh and simple, while at the same time know which ingredients have actually been used.

The trip to the supermarket went ok, but I didn't exactly feel safe in some areas I passed through. I'm glad I got there fairly early (around 18:15) as there were still a bit of life left in the city. A few people were walking their dogs while others were on their way home, but my guess is that the same area is completely drained from life at this hour. The supermarket is about a 15 min walk away, but from the map I've got, it seems I need to travel further away from the hotel to find other types of stores. Uptown is accessed via an old tram which begins it's route about 10 min from the hotel, and I guess it'll take about 5-10 min for it to get to the first part of uptown. Another option is to go to a huge mall op north, possibly the largest mall in Texas, which can be reached by a DART train/tram with a station very close by. It could be interesting to see what's there, and from the description we've got, it's a place where you can easily spend a whole day - should you want to do that :) I'm just imagining a busy shopping mall, on a Saturday where everyone is off work (already sounds like a nightmare to me) filled to the brim with huge Texans and loads of shopping bags...come to think of it, I'm no longer sure I'll go :)

This reminds me of the stereotype questions, and the thing about the size of the Texans and their cars aren't far off. Most Texans would be considered large by European standards, but naturally it varies. There are some skinny people, muscular strongly build people and the obviously obese. The same goes for their cars. Pickups and SUVs seem very popular, and they take a regular sized sedan like the Volvo C70 as a "small car" since it seems a bit of a waste for one person to commute in an SUV. Come to think of it, it's not the same with the cars as it is with the people. I've seen really skinny Texans, but I haven't seen any small cars yet - not even sports cars...

I'll try and remember to bring the camera to work tomorrow, so I can show you a few pictures of Dallas from the 22nd floor :)