Here's a rant about Dallas. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to bitch, but here goes... Living in Dallas sucks big hairy balls. Especially in the summer. It's too damn hot to do anything. This last month was a record high in temperatures. If I want to enjoy going outside I have to do it at sunrise or sunset. Last week I was excited that the highs would drop ten degrees- from 100 to 90. It’s so hot nobody wants to be outside. We went from damn hot to real hot. And since no one is outside, everyone is either sitting in a car (read: SUV tank) with the AC cranked or hiding indoors with the AC cranked. And nothing is free here. I’m talking about things-to-do kind of free. We don’t have street performers or a nice park to wander around in or long streets of shops and cafes or anything fun worth looking at. No bays or mountains or rivers or beaches or forests or anything remotely interesting other than malls. And even those aren’t worth going to because they all have the same damn stores with the same crap for sale. You can’t go hiking or biking. There’s no place to walk to and no one knows how to drive with cyclists on the streets. The only place that gets interesting is Deep Ellum at night. Six blocks of shops, clubs, bars and restaurants uphold the evening entertainment for the entire city, and some of Fort Worth! Fort Worth at least has a nice downtown to wander around. Our downtown in Dallas is pitiful! Homeless people everywhere, no shops open after dark and only a handful of restaurants. The tourists go to the West End, which would be cooler to visit if there were more than just chain restaurants. Sure there’s historical sites and a few museums. But what does this town offer for those who have already been to the museum and seen the landmarks? We don’t have local coffee shops with old sofas and good music. We don’t have breweries. We barely have pubs. The daytime culture in Dallas is nil. People work then go home and stay home. A few get out to dance or play pool or listen to music at night, but other than that, Dallas as a community is nonexistent. Recap: it’s too hot to enjoy stuff in the day because I don’t want to go shopping just to be entertained and there’s not enough to do at night except eat, drink or dance. I can’t wait for the temperature to go down next week. I really can’t wait to move to a town that has pedestrians, local shops, things to do and interesting places to be. I’m convinced that if Dallas had more pedestrians, the town would be a little bit more hip. It would force people to be interactive and make being outside worthwhile.