Super Bowl XLV

In case you didn't know, Super Bowl Ex El Vee or El minus Ex plus Vee or Forty-five or 45 is coming to Dallas—well Arlington which is a suburb of Dallas—to be played in Jerry Jones' dome castle! You can see it in my simple pictures from my point-and-shoot here.

It is about a week away and I've read/heard/seen lots of promotions for things going on in Dallas and Fort Worth every day/night until the day of. I'm sure there will be more the day of.

On the radio this morning, I heard that the Dallas Convention Center is having some big event where "you can meet NFL superstars!" What they failed to mention is that as long as they were former Dallas Cowboys. I don't know if there are more but the names they mentioned were Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson, "Moose" Johnston, and Troy Aikman.

Now, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't mind meeting these NFL superstars. As a kid, I watched Dorsett and Pearson. As an early-to-mid-twenties adult, I watched Johnston and Aikman. I've never been a huge football fan. I'm knowledgeable on the sport and watched it with my Dad and friends but who wouldn't want to meet these guys? I'm sure it'll cost an arm and leg but obviously there will be people who can easily pay for it and those that are willing to sell their children to do it.

I guess that's about all I got on that. I just thought it was funny how they say "NFL Superstars" and then followed up with only listing former Cowboys players.

Fort Worth Museum of Science & History

The wife and I took a day off Tuesday from work and allowed the kids to "skip" school for...educational reasons, of course. We decided to visit the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History which we haven't been to in some time. The last time we were went, there was a lot of construction going on around the exhibit we were there to see: The Star Wars Exhibit. That was back in July of 2007...a long damn time!

Anyway, the museum looks a whole lot different than it did then because of the Star Wars exhibit is gone and they have remodeled the entire place (which is why there was so much construction back in 2007). They've improved many things but I won't go into detail. They also now charge for parking which is a bit of a bummer. I think that because the exhibits aren't really that interesting to adults, and some kids of various ages, that free parking should be an incentive or selling point for people to visit! Just my thought.

So, we visited the many exhibits and attended "Under the Sea" in the Omni Theatre. The exhibits were something like "Lost Egypt," "Cow Raisers," and a couple of others. They were somewhat interesting but they weren't enough to maintain long-term interest or future revisits.

I must say that the Omni Theatre movie was lame. I remember seeing The Ring of Fire, the Great Barrier Reef and maybe a couple of others but the Omni movies of today just don't cut the muster. The whole point of the Omni Theatre when it first came out when I was a kid was to give people the feeling like they were in the movie like 3D always wanted to be. Now the movies are shot in an environment but you really don't feel like you are part of it like before. I think the perception of Imax/Omni is overrated these days.

On the other hand, they did have this 4D experience ride that was done actually quite well. I've been in/on a lot of 3D rides and they have sucked at the 3D experience. I must say that this movie/ride was exactly what I expected a 3D/4D experience to be. The animals, debris, stars, and all kinds of stuff popped out at you like you could grab it right in front of you. They did add some physical aspects to it like a rumbling chair and the occasional spritz of water because it was about Earth and it went under water a few times. I also know that this was a good viewing experience because I didn't get a headache from participating. Usually I do because the graphics and such are so crappy that my eyes automatically try to adjust to the defects. The movie/ride was fairly shot, like 15 mins max, but it is well worth it. Also, the first picture below was shot inside the tunnel to the entrance for this exhibit. I think you are supposed to feel like you are under the water with the sea life and the spongy flooring they used to represent the sea bed.

To make things more enjoyable (don't get me wrong, the time was a blast with the family but I think the costs and what I got out of it are not equal or fair but what can you do and what ever really is), I took pictures of things that "appealed" to me.

So, in that context, here are a couple of things of "interest" I'd like to share...

I'm not sure what these are but they look like deformed penises!

The toy for every girl (or boy) and it's so big you can share with a few of your friends.

Trip to the Ft Worth Museum of Science and History

Tyranosaurus Rex

One of the stages of birth

Metal turle

Star Wars Exhibit

The family and I went to the Star Wars exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and Natural History. It was pretty cool although I think it could have been a lot better since it is STAR WARS. I think what made it worth it though was that it WAS Star Wars.

Here are a few pics:

Fort Worth Water Gardens

Went on a trip to see the Fort Worth Water Gardens with the family. It's been a while since I've seen this place. I'd probably say sometime around 1989 was the last time I was here. The nice thing about it is the kids feel like they've seen one of the coolest things in the world and it's cheap entertainment for them.