sarahiki

As for playlists, the itunes store has a fabulous new gizmo called "genius." You pick one of your favorite songs from your library, press a button, and it makes a playlist from the rest of your music. They are really good! My genius playlists are my best ones.

Technically, yes. You can apply for an in-district transfer, or you can apply to a magnet school. However, the good schools are highly sought-after, so you are unlikely to get a spot.

I don't care who they are and what their story is: no man should approach me when I'm alone with my kids. And if they do, that's what I tell them, in no uncertain terms. They are not getting the time of day from me. Don't take chances.

I hate that section of 45. I get on there sometimes from UH and it never fails to be exciting.

thanks everyone...

I've heard that Sugar Land schools are excellent, and I've heard good things about a lot of different subdivisions in Sugar Land. I'm hoping someone can help me narrow my search a bit by telling me: 1. What are the BEST elementary schools (and high schools, for future reference) in Sugar Land? 2. In terms of access to freeways, and mature trees, are First Colony and New Territory my best choices? Are there others that are close to freeways (and as close to Houston as possible) that also have mature trees? thanks for any advice/suggestions.

I think Cafe Artiste is closed now.

I think they also own that industrial building on the corner of Richmond and Mandell; used to belong to the power company, I believe? The white building with the ugly fence around it. It will improve that block of Richmond tremendously if/when they do something with that property.

I am distressed to hear this, since that is a regular route for me. A bike path would be great but I'm not optimistic. Thanks for letting us know... and everyone keep posting if you learn anything new about this.

I actually heard a pretty good explanation of why "we" (include yourself in that or not, I don't care) are obsessed with celebrities. It was an argument based on our evolution. Basically, the modern human brain evolved in the Upper Paleolithic, AKA the ice age. Small bands of humans, moving around, hunting, gathering, making art on cave walls. Your "community" was small; we are social animals, we care about what the people in our community think and feel. It's how we keep our communities intact. Fast forward to today. The internet/media has created an environment in which people you don't know, and will never know, seem nevertheless familiar to us. We know what they eat and don't eat, with whom they are having sex, and if they are pregnant or in jail or whatever. To our ice age brains, they feel like part of our community. They are mentally processed AS IF they were friends/family. So we almost can't help caring about them.

You can pay between $3.50 and $4.00/loaf for whole wheat sandwich bread at the grocery store. I think that's expensive. It's almost half that at Costco. I heart Costco.

I'm so glad I'm not on this list. But isn't the most obvious, the most hated, person missing? Hated by millions, around the world: Dick Cheney

Disagree. From what I've seen, some of the magnet schools are as good as, or better than, some of the Vanguard schools. However, all of the good schools, magnet or magnet-Vanguard, are very tough to get into, so your point is somewhat valid.

Might there be problems keeping a wood counter clean/germ free? I'm thinking of our wooden cutting boards... how if you cut avocados or strawberries, a stain stays on it, for example. I guess you can seal them? A friend who is a metal-worker made hammered copper counters for his kitchen. I have no idea whether that is functional or not. But if you're thinking of copper and want something different....

Tall, skinny houses. Good in a latte; not so good in a house.

Can someone explain to me what the appeal of this place is? I heard it was "amazing" so I took my kids and another family to the one in Galveston. After waiting an hour for a table among swarms of people and the shlock in the gift shop, we were finally seated... I must say, what I remember are the wait, the crowds, and the noise, not the food. I have no idea what we ate or whether it was good. I was scarred. Is it always crowded? Why do people like it?

that is the best observation made yet in this thread.

Pretentiousness, and caring about how a place looks, do not equate. For example, Vermont. People there care a LOT about how it looks. They are also about the most unpretentious people you could meet. I'm not saying we should be like Vermont, so don't start telling me what's wrong with Vermont (I won't hear you anyway; I love it). I'm just pointing out that it's illogical to equate caring about the appearance of a city with pretentiousness.

To which ones do you refer?

I have no expectation that you will abandon your position. And my point about where the most support lies has to do with what direction the city is going, and what measures City Council is likely to take, not with what direction an online debate is going. You, personally, may not want admiration for Houston from outsiders, but perception of Houston, and its ability to attract tourists, DOES matter economically. This is my point.

Yes, this is where the debate is. I think Houston generally operates on the principles you espouse... free speech, and freedom of commercial endeavors. Certainly it can be argued that Houston has benefitted, economically, from a generally unregulated atmosphere. But the downside is described above: an ugly city that is not admired or respected by the rest of the country/world, and as a result of the ugliness also does not attract the tourism or business that it should. I would argue that while free speech and expression are great, when they detract from the majority's sense of what is nice to live around, and from the majority's bottom line (by repelling tourists and big events like Olympics etc), they should be regulated. We do this all the time in other arenas. So, it's a matter of which side has more support. I think we may, as a city, be moving toward more regulations and more beautification. I hope so.

This is what I was afraid we'd get in terms of mayoral candidates. Anyway, I didn't mean to threadjack this into a political discussion; I do think it's worth talking about HOW to make changes like the ones proposed above, regarding signage etc., happen.

I agree that some tile looks kind of cold for a living room, but I remember looking at an Ashton Woods house where they used large tiles, laid diagonally, and the tiles were a pretty, warm color. It was really lovely. It extended even through the master bedroom, and it really sold me on the possibility of tile. You might try living with it for a little while before committing to a big demo.

Why are you giving me a job? I'm not advocating for him. If you want to know, you go listen.