Crumpled Nothings!

First, before you read this post, watch this 4 minute video:



Now tell me, isn't that something? Seems to me that Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex will be the next hotspot destination city to visit. With the (fast) developments of the two projects I am going to mention in a few lines, it looks like DFW joins the likes of other family-tourist cities like Hollywood CA, Aspen CO and Orlando FL. This is a great thing for the city as nearby attractions spike property values exponentially for those who own commercial or residential properties in the area. Of course, the downside seems to be high costs on almost all consumer goods, retail stores, etc. Taxes also come into play. But these things may look minuscule to fellow Dallasites, as they hope to reap the benefits of booming businesses and more dollar rotation in the city's economy in the long term because of these projects.

Project 1: Bearfire Resorts, Fort Worth, Texas

The video you saw above (and if you didn't, then watch it first) is the HUGE development of Jacobson Group. This resort will boast a man-made mountain so big that it will be ranked among the world's largest buildings. The concept of building a glacier filled ski resort in the heart of a hot Texas city like Fort Worth is bold. The ski slopes will be spread over an area of 650,000 square feet. The resort will include a 600-room hotel, a convention center, a world-class spa, will be surrounded by Alpine trees, will boast an outdoor ski and snow-board mountain that will have ski-runs, chair lifts, toboggans, snow-tubing, ski-caves, outdoor concert venue and the opportunity for ice-rock climbing.



"Bearfire’s year-round winter theme will be made possible due to a virtual ski surface technology called Snowflex created by Brian Thomas of Briton Engineering in the U.K. and currently used successfully at more than 30 locations in Europe. When complete, Bearfire Resort will be six times larger than any existing Snowflex facility in the world. " - [www.bearfireresorts.com]

"The Village at Bearfire" is a collective bunch of lodge type buildings that will have superb shopping stores, ski and snow-board rentals. Commercial space is also available.

There is also a restaurant that sits on the middle of the mountain allowing you to get a view of the Fort Worth city skyline from the snowy mountain making you feel you are in a different city altogether. That is just amazing.

The project is scheduled to complete in Fall 2009. Read more on Bearfire Resorts. Trust me, its worth more than a lookie-loo.

Project 2: Adriatica at Stonebridge Ranch, McKinney, Texas

This is another great project. The BEST part about this development is that it is being built less than a 5 minute drive from where I live. Let me illustrate in the map below:



Jeffory Blackard, President of the Blackard Group that is the key driving force to build this site has the following to say: "All too often people plan their homes and businesses in a vacuum, with little thought given about how to truly integrate work, play and community...Until now...My team has worked to bring the holistic view of community commonly found in the towns and villages of Croatia to America."

A few years ago, I had seen a documentary on the Travel channel which had a special on Croatia...it looked like such a beautiful place to be at. There were these small town villages, on mountain regions with breath-taking waterfalls falling from them. It was just amazing. So today, when I see that this development has begun and the key goal is to make it feel like "bringing the towns and villages of Croatia to America", I think that is a super coincidence gone right.

Adriatica's website isn't well designed really. One read gives you the basic idea of what they are trying to accomplish, but they haven't really organized the content very well. Adriatica seems to be more of a place where one can enjoy sunset walks, ethnic shopping and dining venues. Adriatica will aslo have 297 lofts by the villages and the harbor as well as residential villas that start from the 400s to more than $1m. Of course, everything will make you forget that you are in McKinney, Texas - where ranches and pasture fields fill the land. Allow me to give you a look in pictures to what Adriatica will try to accomplish. [The source of the following pictures is from the Adriatica website.]






I didn't find a completion date on the website, but I assume it would be in the midst of 2009. Click on Adriatica at Stonebridge Ranch to read more.

Part 2 of this post will be details on Victory Park.

Its been quiet here for quite a while, hasn't it? I just haven't had the time to sit down and jot down thoughts and things that have brought some change around here at Sachinville. As you can see, the blog template has been redesigned. I did away with the 3-column template, and went with a simple 2-column template instead. You may have also noticed the increase in the size of the banner image..I mean, images! Yes, every time you refresh the page, you get a random picture. These are snaps that have been taken mostly from my trips. Pictures of Chicago and New York's skyline and streets, things I have done, places I have eaten, etc. There's about 33 random pictures out there. How "refresh"-ing is that? ;)

Work has really kept me on my toes lately and I haven't even had the chance to write that I got myself a new set of wheels. New as in Pre-Owned, or...or Used! Well, its new to me though. The short story goes like this - I was driving home from work in that beat up Taurus of mine which had just gotten a new pulley under the hood since the old one just decided to come-off (don't think...just go with it). As I get home and am about to park the car, smoke starts coming out from the engine, and I think to myself why that would be? I just filled coolant in the car a day ago (Oh yeah, I ahd coolant problems too). I get out of the car and pop the hood and let the car sit for about 30 minutes, after which I open the radiator cap, and there is still a little smoke coming out, but not much. I was about to close the cap, and right about then is when I saw the coolant rushing out of the pan straight out the opening...I jump 2 steps back and watched the coolant just shoot right up like molten lava from a volcano....I mean this shot up really high...it touched the hood...and kept pouring everywhere, in the engine, on the street...it was just embarrassing. Get this: the coolant was brown in color...it was green just a day ago when I filled it. I mean WTF is that?!

So that's when I decided I am NOT going to keep this car anymore. I just couldn't. This piece of junk with a black hood, radiator problems, overheating issues, dented rear bumper, dented trunk, broken light fixture from the accident a few weeks ago...and it was sitting at 104k miles. Everyone knows that anything over a 100k mark is the end of a Ford...end of any American vehicle really.

Now I had been talking to a dealer that was willing to trade it in, and while that offer was still good, I filled the coolant tank with water and drove to the dealer. I had my heart set on a nice black Honda Accord with beige leather interior, dual climate control, butt-warmers for both driver and passenger, sunroof, tinted windows, alloy wheels, beautiful wood trim and a REALLY slick Navigation system that responds to your voice. It was just so NICE. After some negotiating, I didn't want to put an extra 3k for a Nav system, so I settled with an Accord EXACTLY like it without a NAV device. I figured I can always get that factory installed later or maybe get the Garmin Nuvi 660 that I have been talking about. But above all, I am so glad to be driving an Accord now. Its just perfect. Its just what I needed for reliability and finally I got it. The other cool thing is that this car is XM radio equipped and I get 3 months free, which is great coz they have a couple of comedy channels that I listen to which are 15 minute excerpts of different comedians while they were performing on stage. I probably got this at a VERY good time because one of the channels is doing a 'Comedians-of-Canada' month, and because of that I get to listen to Russell Peters sometimes. Loving it!

My birthday just passed by on the 23rd. I didn't have any plans really, so after Seher had her baby shower that evening, I hung out with a few friends. I got a lot of people from family and friends that called to wish me and Facebook was filled with wishes as well. To everyone, thank you! What did I get? Well, read last paragraph :)

Movies that I have watched - Knocked Up (really funny), Evan Almighty (wait for DVD).
Upcoming movies that I will not miss - Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers.

That's all I have to cover. BTW, Its been raining like hell here all week. Even right now, there's a HUGE Gray-Black cloud hanging over us and its pouring sheets of rain..what's up with the weather I wonder? Oh well - this is Texas!

I wanted to share this piece with everyone. I have been listening to this wonderful composition called "Bombay" by Ottmar Liebert for a couple of years now. Its from the one of his albums "Leaning into the night". When you want to just sit back and chill and detox from the daily runs in your life, or want to feel not 'rushed' during traffic back home from a hard day's work, then listen to this piece:

Please allow atleast a minute to load after you press play

Related: Also see Clair De Lune by Claude DeBussy

This subject has been pending for a week now and I am sure I know a few waiting to hear or read my take on Chicago. My car stuff and work keeps getting in the way of taking the time out to write about it. But now that I have some free time, allow me to put in words what I saw and felt about the Windy City.

I walked out of the airport after my flight had landed and walked to the baggage claim area. The belt had not started moving yet which meant that I had some time to kill. I picked up Tazo Iced Tea from the Starbucks kiosk and stepped out of the airport to get some fresh air. I watched a line of cars waiting to pick up arriving passengers. The mood of being in another city that I had never been in before was kicking in. Subconsciously, and as habit had taken control, I lit one up and just looked at the traffic go by. Tams and Pari were on their way to pick me up. After I got done with a cancer-stick, I went back in right on time to pick up my bag from the belt at baggage claim, and then stepped out again waiting for Tams and Pari. The EL train passed by, cars kept on honking, traffic policemen were blowing their whistles. The sounds of being in a city - LOVE IT!

Pari and Tams picked me up. We tossed the bag in the car, drove to the airport's terminal parking and parked the car there. We took the train to the city, which was about a 40 minute ride. It was too dark too see much of anything outside as the train kept moving on its tracks. Plus I was catching up with Paresh and Tams. We arrived in the city and walked to our hotel. There was hardly anyone on the streets, and I realized the next day was a business day. We got in the room and Paresh started throwing options as where to go the next day. There was so much to do and he had a lot planned, and planned well. We decided to chill and walk on Michigan Ave aka Magnificent Mile.

The Tremont, where we stayed had a LOT of perks. First and foremost, there was a Starbucks right outside the hotel. This turned out to be more important than its location, which was half a block away from Michigan Avenue right by John Hancock tower. I guess it was even more important than the reasonable price we paid for the hotel, and not to mention a good view of the buildings across from the hotel, which was an old church with a beautiful historical architecture. So you see, a convenient Starbucks location weighs more than the other options. Well, I soon realized, that there was a Starbucks on every corner of the city, which meant that the location of the hotel and view took precedence. Let's move on.

Friday, Day 1:

We got ready, picked up our chai's and croissants from Starbucks, and started to make our way toward Michigan Avenue. Tams told Paresh that he shouldn't brief me on the city's history and that he should let me find out on my own. I was totally fine with that. I like to learn the history of different cities, especially of those that I visit.
On our way, I saw a very old building that looked like a mini-castle. It was odd seeing it surrounded by all the tall buildings around it. The skyscrapers looked much newer than this one. Turns out it was the Old Water Tower, built in 1869 using big limestone blocks. After closing in on the tower, I saw a sign that said that this building had survived the Great Fire of 1871. I look to Tams "There was a fire?". She had filled me in, but only told me that Chicago had almost entirely burned down in 1871, hence 'The Great Fire'. But she also asked me to wait till I find out exactly HOW it had burnt. Now there was a mystery involved in my trip. Something both Pari and Tams knew, and the Chicagoans around me knew, and I didn't...yet!

We kept walking down Michigan avenue and stopping in almost every other store looking around, sometimes bought an item or two. We started taking random pictures of all the buildings around us. There was so much detail in the construction of these buildings, it was unbelievable. I'd have to say that my favorite structures would have to be The Wrigley Building and the Tribune Tower. What's fascinating about the Tribune Tower is that the design was a result of an international competition held in 1922 for "the most beautiful office building in the world." This was the reason there was a surge in building unique buildings and skyscrapers back in the 1920s era (which I now know is Tams favorite historical time). The design for the Tribune Tower, crowned with flying buttresses was derived from the design of the French Cathedral of Rouen. Another really amazing feature of this building was that it had stones and rocks from other famous buildings and structures in the world mounted on its walls. A marble slab of Taj Mahal was fixed on a slab of the Tribune; along with a rock of The Great Wall of China, a stone from the White House and many others. Of course, then I saw the halfway complete Trump Tower which I heard about on his very first Apprentice show a few years back, and now I got to actually see the building under construction. This will be one tall building.






There were a lot of people out and the day was perfect. It wasn't rainy, it wasn't cold, the sun was out and the temperature must have been in the mid 70s. Beautiful day. We walked past the Chicago river. Of course, that was the perfect place for tourist-y photo ops. We took a lot of pictures there almost every time we passed it.

When we were almost done walking up and down Michigan Avenue, we went back to the hotel for a quick change-over, and took a CTA bus to Navy Pier. We stopped in for a bite and then strolled down the pier, listening to the sounds of seagulls calling, looking at the various boats and huge yachts docked steady, while an A cappella group was singing to the tunes of Justin Timberlake's "My Love" (although I would have preferred some jazz instead). The crowd on the pier was a good mix of tourists and native Chicagoans just having a good time.





We took an architecture tour boat ride that started at the Navy Pier and went through the Chicago River. I really recommend this tour for those who are visiting Chicago, especially those who are visiting for the first time. Our guide had a LOT of knowledge about the history of all the buildings by the river. Here's a fact that I learned from her: Did you know that almost all buildings in Chicago (including the hotel that we stayed at) do not have a 13th floor? It could be a building with 20, 30, 60 or 90 floors, but a 13th floor just does not exist? It goes from 12 to 14. They are superstitious about this. I don't know why? The fire, maybe.
More facts: The Merchandise Mart building is so huge (and it truly is), that it has its own zip code. Look up 60654. Sears Tower also has its own zip code (got that from Pari).

We then went up the John Hancock Tower observation deck. To be able to see the entire city of Chicago, and not just that, but to be able to see a glimpse of Michigan and Indiana as well was simply amazing. The views were breath-taking. We didn't have a long wait to go up the tower at all. Infact, here's a city travel tip for my readers - If you are visiting Chicago and feel like going up the Sears Tower, then be prepared for a long wait. It is always better to go to the second tallest tower, like John Hancock and still get the same views, better rates, hardly any wait time, and plus you get to see Sears Tower in your view too which makes for a GREAT picture opportunity. That's exactly what we did in New York City too. Instead of waiting in a 4 hour line to go up the Empire State Building, we went to Top of the Rock, which was the Rockefeller Center Tower and the views of the city including the Empire State Building was just spectacular.





For dinner, I wanted to taste the oh-so-heard-about Chicago pizza. We headed over to Gino's East Pizza. This was a few blocks from the hotel. We walked about 10 minutes maybe. There was a HUGE line, so we sat at the bar. I think we ordered the 5-cheese pizza. It should have been called the "heart attack". We had to wait for it for about 45 minutes after we placed the order. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait. I mean really, I haven't tasted pizza so good. Dallas' own Fireside Pies is dust compared to this. The crust of this pizza was just right. Not too thick, not too thin. Not too hard, not too soft, and it was brick-oven baked. It was perfect.

The night wasn't over yet. There was one more thing to do. Ghirardelli's Ice Cream shop. I think it was around midnight or so and the place was full. Pari and Tams got a sundae, while I slurped on my Chocolate Ice Cream in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. Heaven.



Saturday, Day 2:

Cloudy and rainy day. But first things first, I had to get my haircut. So I walked over to the nearest barber shop and got cleaned up. After it was done and time to pay, I opened up my wallet to pull my card, but I didn't have it on me. I always keep the card in the wallet. What the hell? I thought I left it at the hotel, but why would I take it out at the hotel. It should have been in the wallet. I thought I must have left it at Gino's since that's where I last used it. Tams called them and they couldn't find it then. In the meantime, Paresh came to the rescue. The good thing is I still had my ATM card to use. I would hate being on a vacation on a holiday weekend with no access to my own dough. Anyhoos, I called and canceled the card after I knew I wasn't going to find it. Yes, I made sure there weren't any other charges I wasn't aware of.

I go back to the hotel, and we all head out. We walked toward Chicago River @ Michigan Ave, then stopped at a few souvenir stores along the way. We caught a cab and headed to The Field Museum. We met Sue, or what's left of her anyway (the largest known specimen of a T. Rex). This was one huge museum. We did a tour of the dinosaur fossils, new discoveries, and extinct species. We then walked to the Egyptian section (that's what I am calling it); looked at a copy of the Book of the Dead, mummifications, tombs, etc. It took us a good few hours in the museum. We ate at the McD's there and then stepped out. Crap. That's when it started to rain. So being desis as we are, we started walking and getting wet. We were soaking till we got to the nearest bus-stop, and were gathered there with a crowd taking shelter under the canopy. We didn't know if a bus was coming or not. Well, I guess we didn't want to wait longer...which seemed to be the case through-out the trip. Cabs are so convenient. We left the bus-stop and walked toward the main street, drenched in the rain that kept pouring. We took a cab back to the hotel to get ready for the evening.

The plan was to go to Vermilion Restaurant. Now Paresh and Tams had been here before for their anniversary and they talked highly of the place. Once I got there I couldn't agree more. This was an upscale and trendy restaurant with a simple but very elegant design. It had a brick wall that was painted silver-bronze. The walls had gray-scale glamour framed posters of some of the amazing photography by Farrokh Chothia. Red drapes hung from the ceiling and a dim lighting gave the room a warm cozy feel. With white walls around, there was a sectioned off circular wall which was painted in red. This section served as a private booth for a party of 4 or more. This section also completes the definition of the word 'vermilion' by design.

The food was superbly tasteful, and different. It was like nothing I ever tasted before. Unfortunately I can't remember the names of what I ate and I couldn't find a menu online to remind me. Maybe Tams can tell you. The food was soooo goooooood!






After dinner, we wanted to end the night with a fun place to hang out at. We found this hookah spot. OMG what a perfect find! This place was called "Nar Hookah" and as soon as we get off the cab, we can hear the very familiar Arabic music tunes that we are so accustomed to being from Dubai. We enter the door and we are immediately greeted by the host who seats us while a 3-man band is performing. The singer, who we got to sit down and talk to later, really knew how to charge up the crowd. You see, most of the folks there didn't know what he was singing. Quite frankly, there were some songs that we didn't know either, but the music just did it for all of us. We got the table right next to the band, so it was loud, but good - because if you put an Arabic band next to Paresh with his tongue-yelling, Tams with her belly dancing, and me with my fast-paced-arab-style-hand-clapping, the result is just an explosion of energy that you'd never seen before. The singer LOVED it that Paresh was there to charge up the crowd, and like on cue, whenever he walked up to Paresh and held the mic up to him, Paresh knew EXACTLY what to do. Just yell like the Arabs do. That was so cool. He brought us up to dance, which brought in other folks to get on the floor as well.





A place that had an empty dance floor when we first walked in was suddenly FULL with people enjoying the beats and rhythms of the drummer, and the voice of the singer. You can say that we brought the party to Nar Hookah. We also puffed our lungs out on the hookahs. We were dancing on the floor. We requested songs that the singer did not know of, although he tried. And when he didn't know the words to 'Naari Naari', he would come up to Tamanna for help. Yup, she sang too. That wasn't even the end of it. Then came Alexandria, the belly dancer. And she can really belly dance and was so damn flexible. She did her thing for a while, got some girls to dance with her. She got Tams to dance with her, I danced with her..it was great. We got to sit down and talk to Joseph (the singer, and I don't remember or know what his real name is). This place was a great find. We really rocked the house.



Sunday, Day 3:

We get up and start making our way down Michigan Avenue. By this time I knew some of the streets already and I was starting to get visions of living in Chicago. We stopped at Corner Bakery for lunch. We were sitting out in the patio watching the world go by. Then, we made our way to Millennium Park. There was an orchestra playing at the park, or I think they were rehearsing for that evening. Now at the park, there is a restaurant that has outdoor patio seating. This outdoor seating area is actually an ice rink that is used in the summer as patio space for the restaurant and in winter, well, an ice-rink. The design of Millennium Park is outstanding. Per Wiki, "...Millennium Park has become the one of the most fashionable residential addresses in the city...60602 was named by Forbes as the hottest zipcode in the country with upscale buildings such as The Heritage at Millennium Park (130 N. Garland) leading the way for other buildings such as Waterview Tower, The Legacy and Momo. The median sale price for residential real estate was $710,000 in 2005 according to Forbes."

At the park we stroll over to this aluminum sculpture called 'Cloud Gate' that is nicknamed "The Bean". It looks exactly like an over-sized gigantic aluminum bean which was built by Anish Kapoor. This sculpture has been a back-drop in many movies, including Jennifer Aniston's and Vince Vaughn's 'The Break-Up' (Wiki).
We take a break from all the walking around and sit at the Promenade - a place with a pool of water for people to just relax, take off their shoes and wet their feet in the water. We have been walking so much in the past couple of days, that this felt really relaxing.



We decided to go to Shedd Aquarium. Paresh mentioned that it would be a good photo op since you can see the city skyline. It was a sunny day and I was game. As we were walking toward the aquarium, there was one place we did want to make a stop at and take pictures. This is for you Priti D. We found these tall headless statues on the park. These were exactly the same ones we had seen in Princeton University, NJ. Since Priti D was with us at that time, we wanted to take a few pictures of these, so she could remember the fun times we had in New York/New Jersey.

Above: Pari, Tams and me in ChicagoBelow: Priti D and Tams in Princeton, NJ

We get to Shedd Aquarium which was closing in an hour and the lines were too long to get in. We did get some good pictures of the skyline while we were there and also the Great Lake of Michigan as well. We thought that since the weather was really cooperative, it wouldn't be a bad idea to go atop the Sears Tower observation deck. We caught a cab and requested the desi driver to head to the tower. Now, this was one desi driver who didn't really care who was sitting in his cab, but he had some bollywood oldies blaring out loud. I think it was some Mukesh song, but man, you guys had to be with us. It just made us laugh like hell. Paresh got this on video too. It was priceless.

The line at the Sears tower was really long, so we thought we'd just do something else instead. It was a warm day, and Baskin Robbins caught Paresh's eye, and the very thought of ice-cream made me drool. So we enter the shop and what do you know, a desi aunty was behind the counter taking our orders. I always get the usual chocolate ice-cream, and Paresh got a pint of something I can't remember. What was funny though was this: Tams looked at a poster of the Reese's peanut butter shake and requested the lady behind the counter for, well, a "peanut butter" shake. The lady took her order and started making the shake. When she was done, she placed the shake on the counter, which didn't look like what Tams had seen on the poster. Now here's the thing. This desi aunty was one tough woman. She had the city attitude which was normal there and when she talked or was taking our orders, it felt like daggers being thrown at us. To this woman, Tamanna says something like "Is this the same Reese's peanut butter shake?" pointing to the poster on the wall that had initially caught her eye. The lady looks at her and says "You wanted Reese's?". "Yes" says Tams. Then we saw one of the most funniest eye-rolls we had ever seen. The lady just gives Tams this eye-roll and walks away starting to make the new Reese's peanut-butter shake that she had ordered. Tams was left there stunned. It was classic. Plus we saw a desi uncle trying to come on to her while we were there and she just yelled at him and kicked him out of the store. Yeah! Innit something?

After satisfying our taste buds, we walk out of the store and noticed that the line at Sears tower wasn't long anymore. So we thought we'd give it another shot and eventually, about an hour later we were at the observatory deck on the top of the tower. The view was beautiful. This is where I found out how the city had almost burned down. Read Great Fire of 1871. We got some excellent shots of the city from here. Most of these images are Paresh and Tams work and they are awesome.




We took a cab back to the hotel, rested up a little bit. And then in the evening decided to go to California Pizza Kitchen for some grub, after which we thought it would be splendid to go for some drinks at Signature Room at the 95th. This was on the top of Hancock tower with a beautiful view of the city with its lights shining bright. There was a wait to get up there, but it was worth it. Pina Coladas, martinis and a moist tiramisu to split, with such a beautiful view of the city was the perfect way to bring this trip to an end. It was marvelous.


Monday, Departure Day:

Woke up, and a feeling of sadness came over me somewhat. I didn't want it to end yet. I wanted to stay back in the city for a while. But of course, I knew I had to attend to the rut in Dallas that I didn't even think about during my entire stay in Chicago. We check out and take the train back to the airport where we parted. What a bummer that was.

Now my take on Chicago. I LOVED it. It is a beautiful city. It was a toned down New York, but for the better. The city has its own charm and it can't be compared to another. It is unique in its own way. It is definitely pretty and the history of the city makes you really appreciate being there and seeing it all. My heart still lies in New York City, but if I randomly had the chance to visit Chicago again or maybe even live there, I would jump and take it in a heartbeat. I absolutely loved it. Pari/Tams, Good trip. KK, I really loved the city you love. I see what you see in it now. You should have been there with us. Priti D, We really missed you a lot. We should all come back here again.

What comes next? Well, as Paresh mentioned that this has officially become a tradition where we get together every Memorial Weekend, regardless of if we do meet in between. Next year we are thinking of either San Diego or Alaska. I have always wanted to see different places that I had never been to before and now it seems like my traveling years have started. I love this tradition. Let's keep it going guys, and everyone that wants to have a good time is welcome. The more, the merrier.