Jared Christensen
Design, Music, & Sundries

At long last, The Christensen Wagon Train has pulled into Plano, Texas. It was a 7-hour drive beset by torrential rain, plenty of rain-induced traffic jams and a discomfort that can only be experience by driving a U-Haul truck 300 miles. To say that we are happy to finally be here would be an understatement.

Plano is not at all the Desolate Land of Tumbleweeds I had feared it would be upon my first visit. During my second visit to Plano with Jessica, we were fortunate enough to find many beautiful and engaging places throughout the city, not the least of which is our new neighborhood.

Downtown Plano is a charming area. 15th Street is the primary road into downtown, playing host to a number of antique shops, an art gallery, the DART rail station, and Haggard Park. Our building sits only a block away from all these things and is host to its own growing collection of restaurants and salons. We are enjoying our apartment, which sits above a Zen-like courtyard filled with bamboo, small fountains, and hammocks.

We are still getting settled in, unpacking, and waiting for those shysters at SBC to send us our DSL setup kit. As soon as the dust settles, I hope to become a bit more verbose and consistent when it comes to site content.

Check out my Flickr account for more photos of Plano and Dallas.

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Comments

Josh Dura » 1 June 2005 #

Welcome to Texas, Jared. Really looking forward to seeing you at the Refresh meetings, etc. Let me know if you want someone to show you around the area. I have lived here for 25 years :)

Josh Dura » 1 June 2005 #

Er, not welcome to Texas, welcome to Dallas :D

Abel Rios » 1 June 2005 #

Doh! Josh is a dork…shows how much he’ll be showing you around. :D

So ummm…I need some sugar!

Andrew Kaufmann » 1 June 2005 #

Welcome to Dallas, Jared! I’m another guy that’s been here 26 years—holler if you need anything.

What is Refresh? Is that a local gathering of some sort? Is there a webpage to learn more to see if I can crash it?

Jared Christensen » 1 June 2005 #

Thanks for the welcome, dudes. We’ll have to get together soon. Shoot, Abel can just walk to my place. ;)

Andrew: Refresh Dallas is an design community in its infant stage. A website is on the way, but check the Refresh Google Group for more immediate info and meeting times.

Andrew Kaufmann » 1 June 2005 #

Jared—thanks for the tip! Just signed up…

Brian » 1 June 2005 #

How come I have to find out about Refresh from the new guy?? The logo discussions are great and the logo itself (whichever one it ends up being) looks great. I applied to join the group, is it open to everyone?

Welcome to the neighborhood Jared. Me and the fiance love Plano, though we’ve been here for about a year and I never even knew Plano had a downtown. The apartment looks nice, though not very pet-friendly. We were thinking about moving from our current apartment (on Preston just north of Bush) to something closer to 75 for her to be closer to the work, but everything we looked at was either outrageously priced or “grass-challenged.” Seems like everything we’d be interested would be even further north than we are now. It’s certainly not a cheap area to live (especially compared to SA.)

Abel Rios » 1 June 2005 #

Thanks for the welcome, dudes. We’ll have to get together soon. Shoot, Abel can just walk to my place. ;)

No joke. I can just DART to it as well. Glad you’re enjoying the ‘brighter’ side of Plano. Sandra and I love it here, and we’re glad you and Jessica found a cozy place.

action » 2 June 2005 #

“Downtown” Plano has definitely been changing for the better over the last few years. Those apartments around there are pretty cool.

If you like Mexican food, there is a good restaurant down there called Tino’s Too. Good salsa and good prices.

Josh Dura » 2 June 2005 #

If you like Mexican food, there is a good restaurant down there called Tino’s Too. Good salsa and good prices.

No way, the BEST place in downtown plano is Aparicios on 18th and the tracks. They have some Craaaaaazy Nachos. Just ask Abel. Although, Tinos is pretty good too.

Abel Rios » 2 June 2005 #

Yeah, those nachos are pretty Craaaaazy. Stacked high with fajita (chicken or beef) and covered with goodness. Beware those who try to eat this plate alone. That’s about the only dish I like there though. My favorite restaurant in Plano has got to be Abuelo’s right down the street off of 75. If you like it spicy, Abuelo’s delivers.

action » 2 June 2005 #

Never been to Aparicios, so can’t really comment on that. I definitely like the freshness of the salsa at Tino’s though. Abuelo’s is definitely good. Posado’s(sp?) is good too. Pappasito’s isn’t too far away either.

chuck » 2 June 2005 #

welcome to the area, Jared …

that Haggard Park is great … my wife and I used to go there when we were dating (long ago in high school) ... now we take our kids there … Plano’s a great place. I’m sure you’ll like it … looking forward to meeting you at the next Refresh meeting.

take care.

Nathan Smith » 2 June 2005 #

Having grown up a military brat, I have to say there’s nothing quite like finally arriving at the new home. Congrats on the new Bright Creative job. I’m looking forward to the verbose and consistent content. Write us up some nice TXP tutorials. :)

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