Bus to Dallas

Hi everybody,

We arrived in Dallas yesterday evening after a 15-hour drive. There wasn't nearly as much to see on this ride, aside from green grass, cows, hay bales, and oil wells. Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas all have small oil wells dotting the pastures along the highways.

After we checked into wonderful Hotel Palomar, eight of us grabbed taxis to a churrascaria joint (Brazilian steakhouse) called Fogo De Chao. Fogo is a high-level chain, like Ruth's Chris. But at Fogo de Chao, there are 15 different cuts of meat constantly cooking on a rotisserie. The servers carry these cuts around the restaurant on spit rods, with a knife and tin to catch the juices. Each diner has a round two-sided card at their setting: green on one side ("please give me more"), and red on the other ("gimme a minute, before I explode.") They come around and say "top sirloin?" or "bottom sirloin," or "parmigiano-crusted pork loin?" etc. And after you say,"yes, please, medium rare if you've got it," you assist the cutter with a little pair of tongs that's next to your silverware. There was lamb chops, filet mignon, ribeye, garlic marinated something or other.... it was all very good. We had these brazilian drinks too, I forget the name of them. They're sort of like a mojito, made with some rum-like liquor. After a few rounds of those, we switched to tawny port. Then back to the hotel bar to meet up with another dozen Conan people for more drinks. I behaved myself, and had one final glass of tawny port out on the patio, next to the fireplace. What a life.

My hotel room came with my own personal goldfish. I've named him "Sushi."

Well, we have today off too, so I'm going to find something to do with my afternoon.