SecondTour

Kohl's is going in. Walmart is staying where it is. Not sure about Luby's or Randall's yet.

Along those lines; Depending on which TV station you follow, the voter turnout was very low - around 14 %. Parker won with 53% of that. That's 7.4%. If only 7% of the city even cared enough to bother voting for her, the number of people who might tune into the inauguration would almost certainly be too low to justify any sort of significant coverage.

Good riddance. I stopped listening about a year ago. Just couldn't get past his constant "yeah, she's hot...she's a babe...she's a cougar...his wife is hot...hey, remember the mom in (insert movie or TV show from the 80s)...etc, etc, etc. Wexler is every bit as juvenile. For the record, I like a beautiful woman as much as the next guy, but the frat boy humor and 30-minute diversions into which player has the hottest wife or which female sports reporters are hot were beyond tiresome. Felt like I was losing IQ points after every drive home. May have to give 610 a listen this week.

State has nothing to do with it. As has been pointed out twice already, certain cities - not states - are synonymous with certain types of media. If someone is going to have a good chance of making it big in theater, their best bet is New York City - not all of New York state. Film; Los Angeles- not all of California. Television; Los Angeles or New York City - not all of California & New York state. Opera; San Francisco or New York City - not all of California, or New York state. Also, you're dealing with (in a positive way for the various types of media) many decades of media-specific infrastrucure. Media corporations\organizations and their industry support are not going to move or substancially expand away from the well-oiled machines that those cities are. There is no reason to. In fact, there are many reasons not to. Houston is medicine, oil, & space exploration. We have a very respected world presence. It just happens not to be as recognized to the masses who aren't directly involved because it's not media or pop culture-driven.

She must have married later. When I watched her about ten years ago, she was Tonya Simpson. I don't remember what, or if, they said her last name was on Oprah last week.

On Oprah yesterday, the show was about 3 chefs moving in with 3 families for a few days who couldn't cook, were wasting money, food, etc on delivery & frozen. The families were scattered around the country. Tyler Florence spent a few days living with a family of 5 in Texas. They never talked to the husband really, it was all the mom and three girls and Tyler teaching them how to shop & cook for a family. The mom was the former channel 2 traffic woman - Tonya Simpson.

Tonight Pudge Rodriguez set the record for the most games ever caught in the history of major league baseball. He did it on the road while the Astros were playing his former team, the Rangers. When he stepped up to the plate for his first at-bat tonight, the fans gave him a standing ovation. They did the same thing the night before when he hit a home run against his former team. I thought that was an outstanding show of respect & appreciation for his years there, as well as his accomplishment in setting the record. Well done, Rangers fans.

Tradition seems like a very strange word to use for banning something. Maybe "decades-old rule" or "long time policy", etc. But Tradition? That sounds like it's something everyone looks forward to or is proud of - "Hey everybody, it's time for our 47th annual banning of food".

+1 to that. Very interesting read.

I hope the Astros do get involved and find a home for some of the Buffaloes memorabilia. It would be nice if there were a Houston Baseball History building or section of Minute Maid. Houston has a rich enough baseball history to warrant preservation of those types of things.

That is an incorrect statement.

So, what did you think of Rigoletto? I mean aside from the naked woman in the first act.

Man, I saw a ton of movies there when I was kid, in the 70s. Great movie experiences and a ton of fond memories. Everything was so grand compared to theaters of today.

Man, the thing is full to the top every other week - and that's with me breaking down all the boxes and packaging and arranging them so they don't waste space in the big container. I also rinse all plastic food containers and metal cans. I have to say, there's a strong showing on pick-up days in my neighborhood. Hope it makes a difference.

I'm with 20th on this one.

I'm leaning toward that section myself. After all my test-sitting at Fan Fest, I decided I really liked the view from there. More game - no giant scoreboard. I actually kind of stumbled onto it at the last game of 2008. Me and a buddy went to the Amigos restaurant (FiveSeven now) to raise a glass to the season. We sat out on their porch area and I loved the baseball-centric view.

Hats off to how the US handled the Somali pirates. Unlike Korea, Germany, Denmark, or Spain - no lengthy negations & no ransom payments - we'll kill the pirates and take our people & ship back. In spite of the Somalis taking tough in the aftermath, they will think twice before attacking a US ship again.

Well done. I love that view of the stadium. Are your seats Bull Pen Boxes or Mezzanine?

Yeah, looks like it, but I'm still looking forward to every damn minute of it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get a pizza ready for the oven - Hampton takes the hill in just over an hour.

In the spirit of the 2009 Astros season, I thought I'd offer up my story. Baseball is the only sport I follow. It's a passion. Non-nerds, you've been warned. Part 1 For many years I followed the Yankees very closely. As a former New York City resident, I was able to follow them on XM Radio & the Extra Innings cable package after I left NYC. I live in Houston now for the second time in my life. I saw probably 120 Yankees games a year (cable), listened to the ones that were blacked-out (XM), and attended a few on visits back to NYC every year. But a funny thing happened on the way to the office. This past off-season I found myself feeling disconnected emotionally from them. It started with the way they treated Pettitte. He's been a huge part of them making it to 6 World Series during his time there, but they very nearly discarded him. Then came the Sabathia deal. I just couldn't get behind the vulgar spending for C.C. Then, after Burnett & Texiera were added, I felt like an outsider. The spending was obscene, particularly considering the economy. They also doubled ticket prices at a time when half the country can barely make ends meet. I felt removed from their values. The Yankees have always had that "best team money can buy" label, but they also built from their farm system. Outsiders or casual fans seldom saw the team closely enough to realize the pennant-winning teams had been their home-built teams - Jeter, Pettitte, Williams, etc. The free agents got the headlines and the haters let them become the focus. But this past off-season, I felt they had become a team that openly sent the message that they'll just purchase championships now and moved away completely from building teams. I not only didn't agree with it, I felt myself bothered by it. Part 2 I grew up in Houston (60s & 70s), so my first exposure to the game as a child was the Astros. I fell in love with the game through the Astros. I spent many a night in the Dome and followed the team closely through the years. Cedeno, Morgan, The Toy Cannon, Dierker, Cruuuuz, Niekro, J.R, Nolan - I was there for it all. I always followed them through the box scores in the newspaper after I moved away (pre-cable & internet). Part 3 Since I've been back, I've certainly gone to plenty of Astros games and followed them somewhat. However, after I disconnected from the Yankees I found myself drawn back to the team that first moved me all those years ago. It wasn't a conscious decision at all - it just happened over the course of a few months. Truth is, it had been happening for years. I listened to every Astros Spring Training game this year and I've already been to Minute Maid twice this year. I put away my Yankees shirts & caps and I canceled the Extra Innings package. I bought a few new Astros shirts and two new Caps. On my desk at work, the Yankees cap that has always been displayed has now been replaced with an Astros cap. Next to it is a Milo bobble-head. I went to Fan Fest last weekend at Minute Maid and test-sat in several sections of the stadium to see where I want to buy season tickets. For the most part,I had the empty stadium to myself - Fan Fest was taking place in the concourses. I tried out about ten different sections - field, mezzanine, upper deck, etc, I was all over the place for about an hour. As I looked out at the empty stadium and the resting field, I took several minutes each time and pictured the game taking place. I've returned to the team of my childhood - and I feel clean because of it. It's good to be home.

Hooooly Toledo, Jimmy D, that one was a tape measure job. I'm gonna give it a gold star.

If Bush Sr. hadn

Don't forget "Murder at the World Series". Yeah, I was in the crowd scenes, wearing my orange Astros cap.