dimebag1980

What!? I was just over there a few weeks ago. I work not far from there, but I avoid Bert Kouns and Youree these days as much as possible. Since moving onto psychology as my current obsession, it's become obvious that I am not following development as much as I was. There are two new hotels being built across I-20 from one another in Bossier, though. I pass by them every morning and every evening. One is beside Rusheon Middle School and nearly touching I-20, and the other is on the north side of I-20 by Texas Roadhouse, Rockin Rodeo, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, etc. I was over on Fluornoy-Lucas Road a while back and am amazed at how much it has changed. They are in the process of moving utilities so they can widen it to 5 lanes, and Live Oak is undergoing a major expansion project. The widening of the road was necessary, though, since the Terry Bradshaw Freeway (I REFUSE the word "Passway") now terminates there rather than at Bert Kouns. And in Bossier, it looks like land acquisition will begin soon along Swan Lake Road between Shed Road and Highway 80 for that 5-laning project. It will be 5-laned from Highway 80 to I-220 for now, and then afterward it will be widened all the way north where it will meet up with a new extension of Crouch Road and eventually will terminate at Cypress Lake. By the way, anyone been to the Boardwalk lately? Is that hotel still NOT built? I never go down there anymore but around Christmas time when I was down there I was yet again disappointed. Perhaps the coming music village to be built north of Bass Pro will entice them to finish the thing and to re-visit their initial plan to attach a 10-12 story hotel to Bass Pro like they have in Grapevine, Texas!

Believe it or not, they have finally started design work for an extension of I-220 into the east reservation of Barksdale! I never thought I would see this happen, but with the National Cyber Research Park being built right off I-220 on Highway 80 and their link to the Air Force Cyber Ops program, it looks like the loop extension onto the base is finally going to be a reality. Just WHEN it will be built has yet to be determined, I believe, but Jindal did include the funding for that extension. So one of these days when I-69 finally gets started, it should be able to tie in as originally planned. As for the snow, yeah that sucks. Looks like we won't get any of the mix they mentioned for here either. Chi-Town is one cold place, but damn... never hit 40 degrees this month!? Ugh... lol

Wow! Lookin REAL good, Baton Rouge!

By the way Richy, get this... official word from the National Weather Service is, what we saw coming down from the sky wasn't actually "snow". It was the frozen fog I mentioned. I thought the frozen fog was just what froze to the surface, not what was falling, but I was wrong. Which makes sense, because the only thing showing on the radar at the time was fog and because it was heaviest over downtown Shreveport, which is also where the fog is always the most dense! How crazy is that!? lol

Oh believe me it was still a pain. When traffic is stopped on I-20 and I have to get off, I'm too far past the I-220 bypass to go that way. I then have to take Old Minden Road and get back on I-20 down at the Red River bridge. It adds about 10-15 minutes to my drive but it beats sitting for an hour. There really is no better way to go, because all the bridges from Bossier into Shreveport are backed up at that hour. There's really no good way around it unless you happen to be in Haughton or on the north side of the city when you hear about traffic backups. If I would listen to the radio more often I could probably avoid most of the problems by taking I-220 from Haughton. But I-220 backs up really badly as well. And I know to you guys in gridlocked Baton Rouge my traffic worries are probably nothing since they only tend to happen around rush hour, but I still wish there was another freeway. For instance if they would finish the loop on the south and east sides I could bypass Shreveport and Bossier proper altogether and just go from Haughton straight into southeast Shreveport. THAT would be nice. But the snow was quite nice. And the police chase was interesting but scary. I've been caught up in the middle of 3 police chases over the past 5 years and it's equally scary each time.

We got a nice little surprise this morning: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/200...ONTPAGECAROUSEL We were supposed to just have some freezing fog making the morning commute a little treacherous, but we actually ended up with a light dusting of snow. When I left my house I thought it was just frost on the ground, but I later realized it was actually snow. I had to get off I-20 (as I've had to do EVERY day this week) due to traffic backups, and as I drove toward downtown the snow was coming down at a nice rate. It was so nice to see! I-20 wasn't moving in either direction through Shreveport or Bossier due to accidents. The freezing fog did ice over the bridges, and the sand trucks couldn't make it up there due to all the accidents. What a mess! Literally every day this week I have had to get off I-20 and go around due to accidents tying traffic up. On Tuesday I got caught up in the middle of a police chase. A convicted murderer from Bossier had broken out of prison, stolen an SUV down in Morgan City, and was on his way to his mother's house in Bossier when the police finally caught him. I was driving along and probably 20 Shreveport police cars flew past me as they chased that SUV into Bossier. The snow has just been another thing in an already crazy week. I'm still glad we dodged the big ice storm the other day.

I honestly don't know what today's high was, but I know I could see my breath all day. It seems to have never warmed up though I think it probably got into the 40s.

81 degrees!? I thought it was warm here in the mid-70s yesterday morning! What a difference a couple hours can make, though. I left my office yesterday at 9:45am to take my wife to the hospital for a procedure. It was soo nice and warm outside. Even at 1:30pm it was still in the mid-70s. But by 3:00pm, it was already in the 40s! It had dropped about 30 degrees in a couple of hours. Never did get that ice, though. But I got pictures from friends and coworkers in NW Arkansas showing the mess they got up there. My boss' home in the NW Arkansas area is still without power, but lucky for him, he's down here visiting this week.

I think Northern Illinois was expecting to sell 9,000-10,000 tickets. The thing about Tech is, most of its current students, as well as alumni, live not an hour away, but right here in Shreveport-Bossier. But if Northern Illinois sold all their ticket allotment, then our 10,000+ hotel rooms should be booked solid.

You know, I realize the city of Shreveport tries so hard to roll out the red carpet for the visiting Indy Bowl teams, but I REALLY hate the motorcades. I'm sure other cities do this... I'm certain, actually, because I've seen similar motorcades in Dallas. But today traffic was already bad enough thanks to Christmas shopping, and then I thought I was having to stop for a funeral procession. NO... I was stopping for a fricking Northern Illinois motorcade on 70th Street going toward the Youree Drive shopping area. Really? Come on now... I wanted to blow through the motorcade, because to be honest I don't think they should be shutting down streets to drive charter buses through with college athletes on them. After the Shreveport police blocked off the streets, a state trooper came down 70th Street at probably 60-70 mph. The speed limit on 70th is 35 or 45, though I can't recall which. It was all I could do to not roll down my window and give them the finger as they blocked off the streets. I just didn't feel like tangling with the law. And while I see giving a bunch of power-hungry city cops and state troopers the bird as exercising my freedom of expression, I know they wouldn't see it from my perspective. This additional, completely unexpected and unnecessary traffic tie-up caused me to be even later getting back to the office from lunch, but I tried to make up for lost time by driving 70 mph down 70th. After all, the cops are supposed to lead by example, and that state trooper's example told me that it was okay to drive 70 mph down that street. To hell with 'em. I'm assuming some of the football fans are already in town as well, because I had some last-minute Christmas shopping to do on Youree Drive and I am just now getting home. I literally stopped into only TWO stores: Best Buy and Walgreens. And I guess I'm just having a bad evening, because I feel really beotchy right now. So sorry if I sound that way... I just really don't see the need for the motorcades, as if the President was riding through town. Hell, to be honest, Dick Cheney was in town a few weeks ago and HIS motorcade wasn't as extravagant as this one. And that is no lie!

79!? holy crap! lol Yeah my Weather Bug on my computer says it's currently 46 degrees. This is why I'm sick! lol Nope, no ice storm, thankfully. Though some snowflakes would have been nice, at the very least.

Congrats! Wish I could say I have been a big part of that, but not for the past year or so. Yeah I've been wondering this lately, myself. Hope all's well, Nate. Probably just busy with life.

Ugh and we're expecting ice overnight and into the morning. Looks like there's a good chance I'll be going in late to work. I don't need that after having taken part of today off sick. I'd much rather have a few inches of snow like you guys got if it's going to screw up road travel!

Oh man Johnny Rockets is a cool experience, I hope it does happen. It's a stainless-steel diner, the waiters wear the old paper hats, they have a soda fountain, and every table has a little jukebox that runs on nickels!

Oh man I'm jealous now. We were supposed to get a Johnny Rockets about 7 years ago... it was one of the first tenants announced for Louisiana Boardwalk. And then... nothing. Suddenly they were gone, saying they wanted to build elsewhere in our area, which they never did. Johnny Rockets, in my opinion, is much better than Fuddruckers. From the diner atmosphere to the food. The little jukeboxes on the tables.... yum! I ate at a Johnny Rockets in Houston and loved it. I decided to try it after I'd heard we were supposed to get one. One of my friends ate at one in San Francisco as well and he really loved it, and he's a definite diner-food connoisseur! So Richy, are the plans still on track for this location? I see nothing about Louisiana on their website, but if they build it I will definitely eat there the next time I'm passing through Baton Rouge.

No, Haughton has stagnated. No new subdivisions are being built anywhere in Shreveport-Bossier, to my knowledge, besides Villaggio, which actually started construction before the economy tanked. And if the Big 3 don't get help soon, Shreveport-Bossier is likely to see a repeat of the 80s economic bust. If our GM plant closes, there will be THOUSANDS of people jobless at once. Not only from GM, but from all their support companies and suppliers, which employ thousands more people on top of GM's number. Add that to the fact that oil and gas exploration is slowing down big-time, despite the Haynesville Shale discovery. It's simply not financially feasible for these companies to be drilling at the capacity they should be, with the price of oil being so low right now. I mean, it's good for the consumer but not for the employees of the drilling companies. I paid $1.35/gallon tonight in south Bossier. That's nuts! I wish we had a little pocket park as well. The neighborhood I grew up in as a kid was a bad neighborhood, but we had two major parks with ballfields AND a nice little pocket park in the middle. Where I live now, the nearest park is over 5 miles away. No kidding.

Absolutely amazing. And nice subdivision you live in there, Richy. Is that a city trash can or recycle bin? Our trash services are contracted out by the city, but the company owns the cans as well. They're ugly brown things with the company logo on them. I like those trash cans you guys have there. I know that sounds dumb, but I notice details like that. Now only if we can get them to expand the recycling out here where I live. No fair you can only participate in curbside recycling if you live inside the Shreveport city limits. Sorry to get off the topic. Back to the snow... fricking awesome! Reminds me of my visits to Illinois over the past few years. Very unlike Louisiana.

You LUCKY, LUCKY, LUCKY sons of ... Someone please post some photos of all that snow that got dumped on you down there!!! I woke up this morning and looked out, and was quite surprised and disappointed to see that it was just wet out... no white to be seen, anywhere. Ugh.

Dude the Weather Channel said just now that someone from Houston on toward Mississippi could end up with 1 foot of snow by tomorrow. HOLY CRAP! Of course the snow accumulation line is south of us, but not by much. But it goes right through Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Man I'm gonna be so jealous if there's a foot of snow in central or south Louisiana and we get nothing! lol Usually it stays north of us, so I usually don't have to worry about it snowing south of here if it's not snowing here. This is odd. By the way, when I was in Dallas Saturday, it was COLD AS HECK in downtown between all those buildings. We stood out there for hours waiting for the parade and it was freeeezing. But by afternoon, it was extremely warm and comfortable. Gotta love this weather in the south!

Yeah even up here it was ugly. Haughton got blanketed with golf ball-sized hail, and then a suspected tornado hit just east of there at the Bossier/Webster Parish line and did damage in and around Dixie Inn. We have ice just west of us today, and they are forecasting some sleet today and "snow showers" for tonight, but as usual I do have my doubts. The air is always SO dry around here during the Winter time but SOOO humid during the Summer. One day last week I was going to lunch and there were snow flurries in the air. That was cool to see, but it lasted literally only a few minutes.

Ugh. Dallas and Houston are my favorite Texas cities, I hate to see it coming to this. But I have a friend who owned a Chinese restaurant in Arlington. He chose the wrong time to kick it off, because shortly after he opened, companies in Dallas began laying people off. Months later, he's out of business. Damn shame. I'll be in Dallas on Saturday for the Christmas parade. I hope the mood isn't cruddy with people being worried about their jobs. But I can understand... today we had basically nothing to do at work, and this has become the norm over the past 2 months. We always go through periods like this, but in nearly a decade with this company, this is by far the slowest - and scariest - it's ever been. Plus I made a very large, costly mistake today and all I could think to myself was, "what a fine time to expose yourself as a weak link!!"

Not a silly question, I understand how that goes. They just said "Todd Graves, a multi-millionaire from Baton Rouge, Louisiana." Raising Cane's got talked about a bit, which is positive for Baton Rouge, having a successful fast-food chain based there. According to Todd Graves, he's worth $60 million!! I told my wife, as much as I love Cane's, I don't think I want to keep spending my money to make him more wealthy. lol Above all, I was in Cane's this weekend and they had just raised their prices that day (Saturday). A Caniac is now inching close to $10! Ouch. But I know the national economy is crap right now, so I can't blame them for raising their prices... they're just following the necessary trend at the moment. But he seems like a genuinely nice, down-to-Earth guy, so I was glad to see him taking part in the show. The guy before him was far more wealthy and only gave out a total of $125,000 as opposed to Todd's whopping $300,000!

That too! lol I love this view, Richy. Downtown BR is looking nice.