Chicago, America’s Biggest Small Town

Being from Muncie, once labeled “Little Chicago” for the mobsters that would hang out there in the 1920s and 1830s due to it’s proximity to the “City of Big Shoulders” yet also because of its distance from it, I would visit the “Windy City” from time to time during the warmer months. It wasn’t until 1988, long after moving to Texas, that I experienced the winter months there.

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Somehow

This song was played frequently on the Miami Smooth Jazz radio station that I often listened to on assignment there in 1994. When I was flying home to Dallas one weekend toward the end of the project, the station’s DJ was sitting next to me on the plane with her husband en-route to Las Vegas for a few days of vacation. It was Friday the 13th and sure enough we all had a scare on approach to DFW. It turns out that we flew right through seven twisters (unknown to us at the time) that did a great deal of damage to the suburb of Lancaster. The pilot told me after landing that it was the worst turmoil he’d ever experienced.

The next week back in Miami, I flipped on the radio to hear the DJ describing her enjoyable and relaxing getaway but that she was glad to be back at work.

Steve D.

Quetzalcōatl’s Revenge – Cancun, Nov. 1984

I had not even finished my first year at my first professional position out of College when I was being recruited by a large financial organization downtown. At the interview, I thanked them for their interest but informed them that I wished to remain loyal to my current employer for at least the remainder of my first year for the following reasons;

  1. as a courtesy,
  2. to get my vacation which accrued at the rate of 1 week per year.
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Antics South of the Border – Cozumel, July 1987

Upon completion of the City of Dallas Water Utilities project, practically the entire team booked their vacations to the Carribean island of Cozumel just off the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, much to the dismay of our Managing Partner, James Wilburn. We didn’t all travel together as we alternated groups in and out over a 2 to 3 week period, but we were all there together at one particular time. We were able to book the whole second floor of the “Hotel Lopez” on the old town square San Miguel de Cozumel.

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“City of Light” September, 1983


It was the summer of 1983 and major changes were underway. Having just wrapped up my College experience (condensing my 4 year program into 6), I was leaving my steady job of 4 years, finally moving forward with my 2-year-old plans of moving to Dallas and was taking a real vacation to Paris, France! The impending jet lag did not scare me one bit, after all, I was used to being up all hours of the night and day working, studying and of course partying. Amazingly, the bars closed at 3:00 am and looking back, I really don’t know how I was able to do it. Oh well, looking forward not rearward.

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