Sunday Story…Dateline Dallas

Since my announcement that I was moving to Dallas, Texas back in July I have not been writing my Sunday Stories. There was just way too much to do to get here…moving my residence after 25 years in the same community, moving Relentless Martial Arts to a new, larger facility, creating a team of committed and dedicated volunteers to keep that business open, and then showing up here in Dallas.
I am in Dallas now. I got here the weekend before Labor Day so this marks about 2 months and things are settled enough for me to start getting more consistent in writing these stories again.

Dallas is an interesting place.
I have never lived in a large city like this; I spent a month in NYC once and 3 months in Austin TX and I did live in San Jose for a brief bit and the SF bay area, but on the outskirts. After 25 years in the small town of Fernley, this is a very unusual place for me to be. And large it is…there are about 8 million people in the greater metroplex area and 1.2 million in Dallas proper (isn’t Google grand!). It also covers a large geographical area. It has all the problems a city of this size has…traffic issues, difficult to navigate at times, hard to get the down low on things, and lots of people. In addition, it has all the benefits you would expect as well…tons of things to do, restaurant and shop venues of every stripe and many diverse and interesting people. Dallas has lots of extremely large churches and a huge number of universities.

The People
The people here have been great in my experience. They are relaxed in general and very helpful when a stranger asks questions about their city and what is out there. My experience is that people are polite and courteous. Until they get behind the wheel of their car. Then all bets are off. However, let’s be honest…is that any different where you live? I found people here to be accepting and interested in the how and why people come here. In the neighborhood where our studio is located, there are lots of cosmetic dentists, plastic surgeons, gyms, laser hair removal places, spas, and massage therapists. There is a theme here that people care about their appearance. They are also very concerned about their children’s educations. Both charter and private schools (run by all those churches) abound and one of the first questions people ask is where someone went to school (high school, but often elementary as well) and how was it? Perhaps I am meeting people who, predominately, grew up here in Dallas and in many cases whose children are attending the same schools they did.

The Weather
I got here in August and it was hot and humid...over 100 degrees a number of times and humidity in the triple digits as well. I didn’t think it was oppressive but I can get where that might not be for everyone. Some folks keep the air conditioning on frigid. This fall has been very pleasant…about 80 degrees during the day and 50/60 degrees overnight with an acceptable level of humidity. Just to my taste. It rains from time to time and when it does, it pours. Raindrops the size of softballs and coming hard and fast like a staccato guitar solo. Then it stops. Good weather so far, in my opinion.

The Odyssey…CrossFit and Martial Arts
I will touch on this more in coming stories but suffice it to say we are open and teaching classes. We had some glitches and challenges that delayed our opening by about 3 weeks but those were easily overcome with patience and perseverance (OK, easily might be a bit of an exaggeration). We have a number of great athletes joining us every day for CrossFit and the Martial Arts end of things is quickly ramping up. We have a great facility to work in and the community at Preston Center Dance has been wonderful to work with. I am excited to see what the next few months bring.

Overall
I like Dallas, I am enjoying the people, the environment, and yes, even the challenges living in a big city brings. I even enjoy my small fourth floor apartment with a great view of the downtown Dallas skyline. Granted, I have only been here for 60 days, but so far so good!

More next week!

Namaste
John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com