Lowbrow

Trophy, You are correct. I bought the place for 2 people but I find that I am now 4 people (got married). It took some deciding to choose whether to keep my place or hers and hers won out due to size. I still went ahead with the upgrades since I had already done the floors by the time this decision was made. Originally, the thought was to rent it out but if I relocate out of the state for work then I dont want the headache of that.

I redid the floors, all new SS kitchen appliances, some hardware (door knobs, mirrors, some lighting etc), tore out a bad closet and rebuilt it, had the outside planters redone, and all new paint. I reseated the toilets since removing the tile in the bathrooms. The cabinetry is original as well as faucets and shower. The people in 4004 are great. I too was torn between new construction and a place with charm like this and obviously came to like the neighborhood and character over the first time owner feel.

Your pulling my leg right? You know I'm biased since you are most likely talking about my condo. Hehe, my wife will get a kick out of this.

I did stained throughout except for the kitchen I left original tile. I used Minds in Motion. They were great. HAR Link with pictures

I heard something on NPR this morning about one of the airports in Houston giving away houses for a dollar. But I can't find a link to the story.

Last I heard the "ridership" on the Hardy was underwhelming. Has that changed?

It is amazing how many people associate the price trends of "Barrels of Crude" to "Price per Gallon at the pump". The two have alot less to do with each other than most think. Only about 40% of the cost of gas is attributed to the cost of crude. The other 60% is driven by refining capacity (probably the biggest culprit), taxes, station owners and transportation (something of a catch-22). Considering that the demand for fuel is outpacing our ability to refine it you can see why refining capacity becomes the weak link. We havent built a new refinery in 30 years, while we have definately increased our consumption.

If I did it would be purely for the novelty. If it is too theme parkish I am probably going to hate it.

Kahn's would have been my suggestion. I used to get the Reuben there and get two meals out of it.

This is interesting: Shell partners with CHOREN in the world

Well, those numbers are a little old. If you look at the most recent statements: BP 316B Exxon 295B Walmart 291B So, not too bad.

LOL I wouldnt. Exxon has more cash on hand than any other o&g company and probably only 3rd or 4th of any company in the world. That is alot of net.

Actually BP's revenue this year is 15-20 billion higher that ExxonMobil.

I still think that OPEC over estimates their reserves. They have never made ALL the numbers public. They stated once that they were sure that new technology (fuel cells) would someday make their remaining oil in the ground useless. I think that was all PR on their side since we will continue to need long hydrocarbons for use in most chemical and plastics manufacturing. I also take exception to the idea that Mobil WAS one of the two largest oil companies. Mobil was closer to 5th or 6th before the merger. The current ranking goes something like BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ENI (thought I'd throw that in there for my friends there). If you were just rating them on reserves, I think ExxonMobil, Shell, BP.. etc.

This offends me. I actually like most of the impacts seen from the rising cost of fuel. More interest in alternative fuels/hybrid technology (I know 3 people that just bought Prius'), new mpg standards for future vehicles, potential to upgrade existing archaic petrochemical industries (cleaner and more efficient), and fewer people clogging up 2222 on weekends if I want to take a spin.

Well, I see that that site says the Redstone company bought the Houstonian out of bankruptcy in 1992. So maybe her "good *business* practise" cost her. <smirk>

That is my understanding as well, Trophy. I'm (kind of) a member at the houstonian (the Augusta YMCA is just too convienent) and the people that work for her are pretty loyal. When the energy sector went south and the fitness industy in Houston was hit hard, she was the only outfit to not lay off workers. She just worked in the red for a bit until the money came back. Good practice in my book.

Very nice. Priced out but I definately appreciate it.

I personally would like to see a smaller tunnel used near downtown along I45. I've never been a fan of the elevated. It works, I just dont like it. I also think the reason this would never go through is directly tied into H-town's 3rd comment above. The commerce. I hate that stretch of I 45 north of downtown but I think that those businesses will have enough sway to keep anything like this from ever happening.

Update: I believe the Cliffwood house has come down another 10k for those interested. If it had one more bedroom, I'd be a bit more interested.

St. Joseph's has quite the history in respect to births in Houston. They have a alumni club of people born there and it is quite extensive. We were just talking about this at my work the other day and 4 of the 10 people in the room were born there and considering that was all the natives in the room I think that is saying something.

I find it mildly amusing that I can get hassled downtown for taking a picture of a building or bridge... yet I can now pull it up off of the web. Perhaps after an act of terrorism the government will request all the IPs of the people that pulled up that set of shots.

I was playing with that last week and noticed they had lots of the commercial roads in Houston but still lack alot of the residential. Do you think they have a truck driving around taking the pics?

Calhoun Rd.