Part of my job involves eating lunch. It’s not a major part of my job, but I do it, like, every day.

The mayor of Fort Worth recently delivered her “State of the City” address. Spoilers: The State of Fort Worth is very, very strong.

Frankly, that doesn’t seem newsworthy to me. Every mayor says that. What would have made headlines is if she said, “We gotta get outta here!”

The speech as part of a luncheon at the Convention Center. I was sitting among the other reporters, segregated at a table that was even labeled, “media.” Branded, “media!”

I was next to a reporter from the NBC station. I looked at the jar that sat in front of us as an appetizer.

“What is this?” I screamed at her. “Seeds!?”

She explained that it was keen-wah. I explained to her that I had no idea what she was saying and suggested she made it up. I finally understood when she wrote down, “quinoa.”

And here, I had always thought it was pronounced “cue-noe-ah.”

During her speech, the mayor said Fort Worth is on a pace to become the nation’s 14th biggest city by the 2020 Census, so look out, Indianapolis!

Then I started thinking about the cue-noe-ah again.

“Aw, I like Indianapolis,” I lamented to myself. “At least at St. Elmo’s, they don’t shove cue-noe-ah in front of you. Instead, you get unreasonably spicy shrimp cocktail sauce, and you force it down yer gullet because you’re a man.”

Then this week, I covered a hard-hitting story at IHOP. Tuesday was National Pancake Day, and I appreciate that society is honoring National Pancake Day on the actual date instead of just moving it around to make a three day weekend.

IHOP was giving away a free short stack, then asking for donations to a non-profit. At the IHOPs around the Metroplex, that non-profit was the Shriners, raising money for their hospitals. I asked if a percentage also went to fund tiny cars. They do not. But the Shriners enjoyed the joke. They also asked if I wanted to join them.

“I don’t know,” I said, giving a stack of flapjacks the skunk eye. “I already filled up on cue-noh-ah.”

That last line is a joke. Like I could ever give flapjacks the skunk eye! The mayor of Garland was at this affair, and I had just seen him at a separate event at Garland City Hall that featured, appropriately, a cake shaped like Garland City Hall.

I mentioned to him that I enjoy coming to Garland because there’s always a good spread.

Part of the State of the City included the mayor’s Fort Worth 2025 Vision, which included:

— Growing its reputation as a safe, friendly, active and innovative community.

— Strength in the diversity of its people, its industry and its neighborhoods.

— Strong urban core, a diverse transportation network, whose infrastructure is optimal.