ssullivan

Yes I know, and trust me I never stay any place gross. And the idea of a not so clean mattress doesn't bother me at all. There's several layers of a mattress pad and sheets between me and the mattress.

I'm really not sure at this point. Needed a new car but bought one last week (wouldn't have gotten it for Christmas anyway). I am wanting new furniture, so I might ask for money toward that.

Macy's has repeatedly indicated that the downtown store will not be closed. Foley's has maintained for years that the store is profitable. I see no reason why Macy's would be closing the downtown store at this point.

I think higher than average prices in NYC is not a sign that Virgin is uncompetitive in their pricing. I think that's more a case of the high cost of just opening and maintaining a store in NYC. Everything costs more there. I imagine if you went in Best Buy in NYC you'd see similar prices.

I don't think the demolition of the building at that intersection has anything to do with the light rail construction. I was told by someone with HISD two years ago that the plan was to demolish that old school building. That was long before Metro created any plan that would put light rail down that segment of Richmond.

I usually don't notice a reporter is gone until I see him/her on the local news in another city. Then it's like a light bulb comes on and I realize I haven't seen that person on the news back home in ages. That happened earlier this year in Philadelphia with Nydia Han - I had not missed her at all until I saw her on the news one night up there. Speaking of Philly news, until just a couple of years ago (about 2001/2) their ABC affiliate's newscast was straight out of the 1970s. The music, the set, everything. They were still doing weather reports using a big map on a board with magnetic graphics for storms and fronts and temperature stuck to it. They still have the funky 70s music but at least have modernized the studio and graphics. The first time I ever saw Philly's "Action News" about 1998 I was shocked because it was a good 15-20 years outdated. It was definitely not something you'd expect to see in a major US city. Even small town television stations were more modern than that show was in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Well these days I don't do a lot of grocery shopping because it's just not worth it when you're home only two or three nights a week. But back in the days when I had the time to cook most nights I bought a lot of raw ingredients and tried to focus on organics and healthier items as much as possible. So that's probably why I didn't see much price difference, because I wasn't shopping based on price as much as I was on quality. I used to also be a big coupon shopper, and with a Randall's card and double and triple coupons, prices on the everyday advertised items (the ones where stores try to undercut each other and compete on price) aren't so bad at Randall's. I also shopped a lot at the Westchase/Royal Oaks HEB after it opened when I lived in Westchase. I refused to go in the nasty HEB Pantry it replaced, and I don't shop in Wal-Mart for a variety of other reasons that are apparent if you do a search on this board. But I rarely saw much difference between the cost of my shopping at the Westchase Randall's versus the HEB a mile down the street. Honestly, most stores are going to charge about the same price on 85-90% of their products, because those items aren't considered to be as price sensitive. The other 10-15% of inventory are the items where people compare prices and have a better idea of what something "should" cost. Those are also the items that get heavily advertised. I do miss having a nice HEB in my neighborhood now. They do carry some great products that aren't available elsewhere. And their newer, non-Pantry stores are very nice and well-kept. I do venture out to the Westheimer/Fountainview store on occassion, even though it's a bit of a drive just to buy groceries. Most of my shopping now is at Randall's, Whole Foods, and Central Market -- but as I said, I don't do a lot of grocery shopping these days in Houston since I spend more nights in other cities than I do at home.

The double red lights on the left turn signals actually serve a very practical purpose. At most intersections there is only one left turn signal, which there are at least two signals for thru-traffic and right turns. If the red light on the left turn signal burns out, there needs to be a backup, hence the second red light on those signals. For traffic heading straight and turning right, the backup is the other signal(s) for traffic heading in those directions. I really prefer horizontal signals to vertical. I think it just looks better. Texas is not entirely horizontal though, and there are intersections in the Houston area where vertical signals exist. The signals on Westheimer between Highway 6 and Dairy Ashford are all vertical, and there are others scattered around. In many rural areas of the state vertical signals are more the norm, and in the Beaumont/Pt. Arthur area, there are many signals that are vertical along the freeway frontage roads. The city of Dallas also has quite a few vertical signals.

Yeah I've noticed this too recently. What a shame -- in another year or two Westheimer will be back to the rough ride it was before the repaving was done two years ago. I think the main problem with Westheimer inside the loop is the age of the street and the fact that its base was just not built to handle the traffic the street gets. Probably the only way to permanently fix it would be to totally rip it out and rebuild the base, as was done with the Downtown/Midtown transit streets project. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any such project on the horizon.

There's also the additional parking garage that was built during the construction of the Hilton Americas and GRB expansion. That garage is connected to both buildings by skywalks and was designed to have enough space to accomodate both the hotel and the GRB, as well as overflow for the Toyota Center.

This is good news for Houston. Hopefully they'll go downtown, and not out at the Sugar Land campus or the building on San Felipe.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't get all this stuff about merchandise in Randall's being ridiculously priced. I've never felt like they were overcharging me, and I've never noticed much, if any, difference in my grocery bill when shopping at a Randall's versus HEB. Maybe it's just the stuff I buy.

I think there's also still an Apple Tree on I-45 up around Cypresswood or Louetta. And yes, Safeway never owned Apple Tree. Apple Tree was the group that purchased the Houston area Safeway stores when Safeway pulled out of here the first time.

Thanks Bruce! Good luck to you in your job search. I know it's tough to find something that's a great match, but when it happens, it's a great feeling.

The two Randall's that Safeway remodeled last year into the new concept are really nice stores, but it was too late and too little to recover from the damage that was done in the early days of the Safeway takeover. I do miss the days when Randall's was locally owned, and had great management that did things like making sure all checkout lines were open during the busiest times of day. I think there is a place for a more upscale grocery concept between the discounters that stock nothing more than the basics and the really upscale like Whole Foods and Central Market. Maybe Randall's can recapture this position if Safeway acts quickly to fix some of its problems here and gets the stores that aren't closing remodeled into the new concept VERY quickly. But if they can't pull that off, then count on more Randall's closings, and eventually, the death of the chain.

Actually Bruce I still live in Houston, when I'm home (which isn't much these days). My company is based in the Philadelphia area but I'm a 100% remote employee, meaning I rarely work on site at one of our locations. My official office is my home (you could say that my living room is the Houston branch of SunGard SCT's Banner HR consulting practice) and I work most of the time during the week at client sites. I could choose to live virtually anywhere in the Continental US or Canada that I want but for now I remain a Houstonian. But to be honest I am considering possibly relocating to another area of the country in a year or two. I'm still young, single, and finally have my career in a place where such a move would be more possible than it has been in the past. And you only live once, right?

Yes, it was launched around the first of October. A very welcome addition to their otherwise crappy website indeed!

Yes. They were installed during the MetroRail construction at several intersections along Fannin. Main may also have a couple as well.

Article on the topic in today's New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/national...t.html?emc=eta1

Thanks for posting this west20th. I am forwarding it on to a number of friends and family members.

It's actually been there for a pretty long time. There's also the one in Midtown that Monica Pope started in the parking lot of her T'afia restaurant. It's not nearly as big but has some nice locally grown offerings.

Yeah, only trouble with that is the Bermuda Triangle is nowhere close to being located between Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, California.

Yes, and nmainguy, that scares me too. But if it goes to the point of limiting who you can make your beneficiary in a will or life insurance contract, or who has power of attorney rights, expect a HUGE protest by a lot of people, both gay and straight. Not everyone has a spouse or partner to make a beneficiary; I'm single and I should have the right to leave my property to whomever I choose. So what if I'm gay? Why should that make a difference? If I had a partner, why should I be forced to leave assets to a relative as opposed to him? If it gets to that point, and a law or amendment putting into place that limitation actually passes, then there will be major court challenges filed very quickly, because such a limitation would have very far-reaching effects on all people, regardless of their sexual orientation. It's stuff like this happening in our state government that has me starting to consider whether or not Texas is where I want to continue to make my home, especially now that my career will allow me to live virtually anywhere I want in the continental US or Canada.

I don't know... this is Texas and we amend our state constitution for all kinds of ridiculous reasons. I hate to say it -- I'm usually a pretty optimistic person -- but the chances of this thing not passing, given the political climate in Texas these days, are slim. Too many people are too uninformed on the real issues involved with this amendment for it to be defeated.

That's the million dollar question, and so far, I haven't heard any attorney or other legal professional speak on this issue that didn't raise the same concern. This thing is so poorly written that it could possibly negate some contracts between heterosexuals! This is exactly how the process works in many countries other than our own. You aren't "married" unless you've had a religious ceremony. But you do have some legal recognition that comes not from the ceremony but from filing the proper paperwork with the government to create the legal union.