The personal bloggers won the day this time with a variety of entries …. Kristen writes a post about expectations and realities and wrapping up her 9 year career in school PR. Writing of this caliber doesn’t usually appear on a blog … Kevin reflects on the girl who got away in a post called “ten years ago this weekend” … Emily sleeps with three remotes in her bed … Vee explains that yes, Virginia is her real name …

Surviving the Summer in Style:

Frugal in Fort Worth has a nice calendar of frugal events for this weekend …Kevin at Forthworthology has a list of things to do this weekend that lean more toward the clubbing angle and also notes that La Nouvelle Vague Film Festival runs through Sunday … Vee has given up Blockbuster for Redbox and she tells you how … and Francis has given us top ten activities to try during a heat wave

Arts and Culture

Lauren at Blue Eye Brown Eye visited the Nasher Sculpture Center, and she also filled me in that the name of her blog comes from the two different eyes of her dog … Roy Rivera has some interesting potraits up at his site, including a very young baseball slugger …. Dallas Photoworks is showing off an image that was commissioned by A-W Distributors for their official postcard of the new $1billion Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas …. Austin notes that the Cattle Raiser’s Museum is moving from Sundance Square to the Museum District next to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame … and that the Ringling Brothers Circus is in town through Sunday …

Politics

East Fort Worth dentist Dr. Kenneth Pruitt has an ax to grind with Blue Cross Blue Shield, our local health insurance monopoly … Austin has a quick report on the Fort Worth Neighborhood awards for this year; apparently Ryan Place was the winner …

Social Media

It’s hard to change your relationship status on FaceBook, reflects Suzette (at least I think that’s her name) … as she goes from “single” to “in a relationship” she’ll probably have to give up a couple of her admirers ….

Let’s Not Forget Food

Francis has been to KFC for their new grilled chicken… and he says it was good, very good.  He did not use the words finger-lickin but you’ll get the point … Fort Worth Hole in the Wall visits the Tokyo Café … you’ll need to wade through the part about  football and the Aggie’s sketchy prospects but then yes, there is a review of the sushi and dumplings in there …

And finally, a parting image from Technology:

Dave at The Ranch offers us an image of the Worlds Largest Ipod.

Fortworthology writes about Urbanism and a recent visit to Portland … unfortunately despite many good open spaces in Portland, and many fountains, they apparently have gone in for the bright red modern art in the middle of the plaza look …

Kevin of 5ksandcabernets will make a try for the Boston marathon … Dave at Dallas Photoworks has done some interpretive photos of the Botanic Garden …  Richie Escovedo tells communicators and the rest of us “never let go of  your effectiveness.” Eleiva sees the movie Night at the Museum and calls it “a plain action movie in which the most fun is brought to you by the joy of just, well, fighting.” Then she takes a second big swing at the Big Art Issues and discusses whether cultural artifacts should be removed from their historic homes.

The Amon Carter blog is showing a group of Edwardian-era photos by Gertrude Käsebier … finally, an exhibit about Cynthia Ann and Quanah Parker will be held at UTA May 8 to June 30.

The Amon Carter Blog has some interesting daguerreotypes from the Mexican-American war posted, and a new web portal will be matching donations to the museum if donations are made throught the site on May 20, 2009 … Food and Fort Worth clips from the Fort Worth Business Press on the Kimbell’s new Michelangelo painting, then goes to report on a customer satisfaction survey of fast food. Talk about high-low …Dave at DallasPhotoworks has been kicking around Santa Fe, photographing traditional Indian basket art.

Eva-Marie at Extra Credit Blog reports that Fort Worth High School principals support the current policy of not allowing high school seniors to walk for graduation if they have not passed the TAKS tests required.

Richie Escovedo has put a discourse online about social media tools vs. the social web, and what that all means for PR people.

Fort Worth Can Do seems to be suggesting that the earthquake felt over the weekend might be related to gas drilling. Fortworthology is apparently serious about being on hiatus, until, they say, May 22. It’s better than just disappearing, but not completely reassuring after the sign-off by West and Clear last week. 

Rob (follow him on twitter — @coffeetalkee) reviews the Kaloric Aqua 10-cup coffeemaker … and Log Cabin Village Blog features a podcast on how to make a bucket the old fashioned way. Julie at Silversmyth posts a story about Lampwork beads. Look for a three part series from her this week on organizing your jewelery box, and next week, a our first blog giveaway featuring one of her creations.

Julie at SilverSmyth is holding a jewlery party … Casa Mañana Children’s  Playhouse Presents “A Year With Frog and Toad” Through May 17 … Fort Worth Hole in the Wall gets chicken bones in a cassarole at Michaels … Rob at How to Make Coffee talks about what drives him to frequent the coffee shops and no, it’s not just Java, it’s community … Eva-Marie has details on schools reopening after swine flu quarantine at the Extra Credit Blog and Austin at Fort Worth Real Estate blog writes that a recent study suggested as many as 17% of DFW residents may be “upside down” on their mortgages, or owe more than their properties are worth. National average? 30%.

Not a great balance of good news to bad news overall.  But, as they say, life goes on, in Fort Worth as elsewhere, and I can’t complain, though sometimes I still do.

Richie Escovedo’s got a good post regarding using images from Twitpic and other online sharing sources, both the good and the bad. Rob Angeles at How to Make Coffee’s got a really cool post on the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. Pete Wann is offering his photographs for sale at SmugMug.

Tha reminds me of my old friend Wendy Pandolfo. She’s a great freelance photog for journalistic purposes,  portraits and weddings.

And as long as we’re talking photos, we can’t forget David at Dallas Photoworks — thanks again for the masthead pic for this site. Last reported on a  road trip, passing through Las Vegas. Some people have all the fun.

We have been noted at www.eightoneseven.com — our first discussion in that forum was generated by TCU College Girl’s complaint about priority parking for hybrids at TCU — see the thread at eight one seven.

At West and Clear, Pete Wann takes down a hand-wringing piece at the Chicago Sun Times, reprinted at the Star-Telegram, which dares to declare “It’s not that easy being green.” Pete comes back strong and strikes a blog-blow for environmentalism when he says, “yes it is!”  And he tells you why.

Meanwhile Kevin at Fortworthology has an interesting post on the Heritage Park/Halperin archives, in which the landscape architect’s sketches are loaded online for you to see what he was thinking when he planned the site. This could be very relevant especially since the public workshop on repairing the site will be held this weekend, May 8th and 9th.Call the City if you want to attend.

If you’re interested in how Swine Flu shutdowns are happening in the region, check out the Extra Credit Blog where Eva-Marie has been hard at work, documenting cases and closings.

Austin at Fort Worth Real Estate scans a recent article which says, in effect, don’t expect your house values to come booming back tomorrow. And even though Fort Worth is less affected than most parts of the country, over the long run, we could lose housing value, especially in the remote suburbs.

Finally, Julie at Silversmyth is working on some new designs for Mother’s Day.