CSOM

No - separate businesses.  Two Shell will be vacated and Pennzoil Place has been vacated.  One Shell Plaza was recently renovated and nearly all CBD staff have been consolidated there.

Shell just completed two 12-story budings in the Energy Corridor. Would they be relocating employees there?

Agree very few, if any stops between downtown to downtown. I would compare it to the Eurostar between London and Paris. There is one stop on either side of the chunnel (Dover UK, Calais FR) and they are building another just for the station near Olympic park. Plus there are non-stop options as well. Only a few trains a day stop at the alternate stations.

If I were designing I'd have maybe a stop for The Woodlands, and possibly Huntsville, and only stop there maybe twice a day, while the rest run non-stop. If you want to add other options to DFW, have a direct line connection/continuation either into FW or up to Frisco/Plano at slower speeds, but the main terminus being city center Dallas.

Coming in extremely late to this conversation, but check out the DLR in London that has many elevated lines/platforms and is still being expanded, the most recent opening just this year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docklands_Light_Railway

When rolling your Rs your tongue should be pressed on the sides against the bottom of your top molars on both sided and the tip just touching the palate just above your front teeth. When you roll your Rs the tip of your tongue will automatically vibrate and give you the RRRR sound. As it starts to vibrate you can manipulate the tip to give you a more pronounced roll.

joe

I have the same problem with lockmat - I just tried that too and mine sounded like hissing as well. My tongue didn't really vibrate at all. If anyone else has any other thoughts, I'd love to learn that as well.

Thanks everyone for the replies!

So far this is still a work in progress so still doing research.

CSOM, you input was plentiful and very helpful. We think at this point we may do a flight from Nice to Berlin to save time and money. We're doing 5 cities in two weeks, so time is important but so is budget, as always.

Will update on what we end up doing, sorry for the lack of reply on my part, been busy, sick and haven't had time to think about this.

No worries - glad I could help. Just be careful on the checked baggage piece though. We carried on to Nice on Saturday no problems, but coming back on Tuesday they told us they were too big and we had to check them - 44 Euro in total for 2 bags (ouch!). In Nice, it's bus 98 to/from the airport - it's 4 euro per person and you can pay on the bus. Train station is kind of far away from the old town or the beach, but it's maybe a 25 minute walk if you're up for it. Let me know if you need other suggestions.

Where are you getting your information? With one or more of the rail passes that you will purchase before leaving the U.S., you should have no trouble getting from place to place.

Have you looked at the Rick Steves books? They are designed for those of us who take care of our own transportation and lodging in Europe instead of being herded around on a tour.

Ditto that - Rick is great and we swear by his books when travelling Europe.

I live in London right now, so I'll be glad to help a Haifer where I can.

What do you have arranged so far? How restrictive is your budget?

If you fly into London, likely Heathrow or Gatwick. Both have express trains into central London and both have regular trains. The express is twice the cost for half the time - so it depends how rushed you are.

The Eurostar is the train to Paris from London and we just took it a few weeks ago. Really easy, 2 hour trip. If you book far enough in advance you can get pretty reasonable rates, as long as it's not a holiday weekend or something. It leaves from St Pancras international (Kings Cross/St Pancras on the underground map). Just remember that it is like airport security on that trip (passport control, x-ray, etc.) so plan to be there about 45 minutes before your train leaves. That means that if you aren't staying in Central London, and you have a train leaving between 6 - 8am it can be a bit difficult to get to the station. Just build that into your plan. www.journeyplanner.org is pretty easy to get guidance on how to get around in London.

The Eurostar then drops you off in Paris at Gare Du Nord, in the North of Paris, and their metro is very efficient too, to get to where you need to go to. The Paris Metro has a journey planner as well, but I can't find an english link, so if you can't navigate the web page in French, it could be a bit more tricky.

I'm not going to be too much help from there, but you should checkout to see if a Eurorail pass is best for you or not. You can google it and start to get some suggestions on where/how to buy tickets in advance.

One thing to keep in mind, while you can get some dirt cheap tickets, you may still pay $100 or more to get between some cities and some of those trips aren't short (5 hours Paris to Nice). Train is nice and pretty convinient, but a budget airline (if you don't have checked luggage - which I would recommend to avoid) may be a cheaper option on occassion. I just googled and saw $150 for a 1 way trip to Nice, but I'm paying less than that this weekend for a round-trip flight with EasyJet to Nice from London. And it can save a few hours.

Feel free to PM me if you need/want suggestions for London, Paris or Nice. I'd be glad to help.

Edit: 1 other thing - if you don't have a Bank of America checking account, it may be worth opening up an account just to put your spending money in there. They have the best exhange program with international banks. You can use a Barclay's ATM in UK and a BNP Paribas ATM in France to get cash, and they don't charge you any fees for the transaction.

I love the one-way streets in Midtown. It is a lot easier not having to look left and right everywhere you go (when driving or walking). I sure hope they never make it two-ways.

You should ALWAYS look both ways. Cars may only come from one direction, but pedestrians come from both ways, as do vagrants on bicycles.

I'm an owner/resident in the area and I'm totally confused as to what you are talking about. I hate to be so blunt, but I have not encountered any of the things you mention (and I routinely jog around the Baldwin Square area). Plus, the items you list as examples of a "declining spiral" are normal for any neighborhood... especially one in the middle of everything.

A "dog barking" from an open window? Are you kidding me?!? That happens everywhere... just go politely ask the owner if they could close the window if it is really bothering you. Remember, we've had some nice weather lately... and people tend to open the windows when it feels nice outside.

Cigarette butts thrown from a patio/broken glass? Yes, it was probably from a party. You are living in one of the hottest places in town. Ask the owner to please clean it up (or talk with the homeowner's association about it if it's a recurring problem).

Broken gates/fences... go to the HOA meeting and tell them. I don't have any around me.

I'm sorry, but your post really angered me because I love our area and am not ashamed to say that I love it more than West U, Montrose, and the Heights. The HOA is only as effective as we make it. If you see a problem, attend the meetings and report it to them. Don't expect them to find everything that needs to be fixed. However, you need to keep in mind that some of the things you are talking about cannot be enforced by the HOA (and are normal to any neighborhood).

Out of curiousity, what areas are in a "declining spiral"?

I'm kinda of the side of this guy. I've been a midtown resident since 03, in Baldwin Square since 06. Overall, I haven't experienced any of what you've said. My biggest pet peeves are the neighbors that don't pick up after their dog and leave their front gate wide open and unlocked. Other than that, it's great. Yes, the number plates were stolen, yes I had a neighbor have their grill stolen, and yes I had a friend (who left his GPS out) get his car broken into, but those minor crimes happen living in any inner city. Not that it's right, but if those are the only things I can come up with in how many years, I'm not seeing a problem.

The only people I ever encounter yelling and screaming are the people from the shelter at Crawford & Tuam. I wish that place would be torn down, but no one asked for my opinion.

I do agree the HOA leaves a little to be desired. I wish they would take care of the parking issues, the dog poo issues, and the open/broken gates as well, rather than focusing their letters on how early my garbage went out the night before trash day.

If anything, I would argue that our neighborhood is getting better...

- More projects/construction are slated to start once the economy picks up (like the Collective at Baldwin Park)

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that one.

A. Its their buildings and they can do as they please

B. Energy conservation is not "tacky" or "a load of crap"

THIS

Does anyone know what the purpose of the construction on Dallas street is? For a few blocks in downtown, starting at about the Hyatt, past the Courtyard/Humble Apts and to (or through?) Houston Pavillions, the right lane has been torn up/removed, and a partial lane has been put in place, with alternating black & white colored surface, and small barrier bumps (similar to the light rail, but much lower so they appear able to be driven over). The new "lane" doesn't go through to the next block as there is a hard stop where the sidewalk/curb has been expanded out to fill up the rest of the lane before the light.

The only thing I can think of is that it is in someway a method to have a bus "lane" but not blocking up the right hand lane for those turning right? But if this is the case, wouldn't it create more congestion with buses having to "exit" and re-enter the through lanes constantly?

Anyway with any insights? (sorry, I don't have any pictures)

Ok, I'll be the contrarian.

Sell the house. If you lived overseas would you buy rental property in Houston so you'd have a house when you moved here in 2 or 3 years?

Eliminate some risk and buy something when you get back.

flipper

We considered it, but we've only owned the house for 2 years, and there are about 10 other townhouses for sale within a 3 block radius... we'd lose our pants in the deal. Also, we are guaranteed to move back to Houston and there will be little, if any assistance upon repatriation if we sell our house, as they expect that we keep it and build that into the relocation plan. We'd have to immediately try to rent and then buy after that... we'd rather keep what we already have.

Same here. I'm using a company called Clark McDowell & Kic on Kirby and it worked out fine. 800-522-2781.

Great! Thank you.

We are going to be moving out of Houston for the next 2 years, but are keeping our house as we will be back in 2010/2011. That being said, we have had trouble getting any interest through word of mouth, and likely will be looking for a rental property management company to handle it while we are gone, list it, collect rent, handle minor maintenance issues, and the like.

Does anyone have any views, recommendations, comments or other smart remarks that we should know about going into this? Any names of companies to go with, or stay away from, would be most appreciated.

Oh - to answer the questions, if necessary:

Midtown

We will be overseas, so difficult to take care of rent, etc. on our own.

Yeah, I did a couple of online forms this morning but haven't heard back from either of them. I also tried calling and either no one answers, or it just goes to voicemail. Even my adjuster is playing some of these games. I'm not sure I have enough damage to cover my deductible, but I'm certainly going to check to see

Could you PM the one that you got through to?

Same issues I'm having - anyone else having any luck in Houston recently?

I'm watching TWC from Chicago (supposed vacation next week... I hope). Just talked to my neighbor about 20 minutes ago, and east Midtown (think 59/Elgin) is without power. My neighbors set off my house alarm looking for their extra house key since all they had outside was their garage door opener.

Good luck to all. Stay safe.

Oh, and Gooch - good luck with the liver.

Here is video of one of Houston Media's finest and brightest

http://www.khou.com/video/topstories-index.html?nvid=281935

To hell with KHOU... around 4pm yesterday they reported that Hobby was closing at 6:30 - No one at Southwest or Hobby knew anything about the report or where they got their data. I didn't fly out until about 9pm. (not evacuating, was scheduled to leave for vacation Friday night... but at least I'm dry where I am)

Jumping in late to this thread, but still wanted to add my 2 cents...

My poisition on this whole thing is this: I am sick of the electoral system in use here in the US. Now that being said, let me explain my reasoning.

What I am seeing more and more is that none of this is about what is right for the country, but preserving this self-serving 2 party system which seems to me to be pretty outdated. In a world as large and complex as ours, there are almost always more than 2 ways to go, but we don't get that choice. These conventions are nothing more than a waste of money as they are simply giant pep-rally's that are preaching to the choir. There was no more substance in Joe Biden's speach than Sarah Palin's speach. There is no real discussion about the issues, hardly even a position.

My opinion is that we should cut this down to it's basic format. Who is the most appropriate person to be in this poisition? I want to hear a candidate once really tell me why I should vote for them, not why I shouldn't vote for the other candidate. All too often it comes down to buzzwords that will rile up the people to think and believe all the same way. Changing one's mind is considered weak and has to be avoided... apparently we need to come to concrete decisions at birth and we can never change our minds after reasearch and further growth and examination as a person.

If I were running, I would throw out all the buzzwords, right up front, and then never use them again. You know the list. Abortion. Gun Control. Religion. Death Penalty. etc. In what appears to me, 95% of the country is on one side or the other on issues like this, and rarely if ever, do they change their minds. People vote based on these issues ("Palin's pro-life, I'm voting for her") when in reality these are minor problems in our world that will not be addressed by a President anyway.

I would advocate stripping down the polish on these things and I would challenge the opposing candidate(s) to a real debate. Travel the country, meet in arenas, churches, synogauges, mosques, schools, parks, work places, VFW halls, Union halls, etc. and have a real debate, on real questions, not those scripted by NBC and provided to the candidate 2 days in advance so their speach writer can tell them their response.

There needs to be real discussion on the issues, not just positioning based on rhetoric. No one individual knows the perfect plan to deal with Social Security, Health Care, Foreign Policy, Tax Policy, Education, Poverty, Infrastructure, and the myriad of other issues that are really central to what our government should be for. But we want our candidate to know how to "solve" all of these issues and have the right answer during their campaign, before they even get into the job. Heck, what I'm more interested in, is who their cabinet would be. Who would they appoint? Tell me that and I'll tell you if I'll vote for them.

The candidates who want to talk about real issues, in real time, and have real opinions (people like Ron Paul or the late Paul Wellstone) are often discarded by most people as wacko's or nutjobs, and would never get a chance to promote real change, because they are dangerous to the party's that support them.

So after all that, where does that leave me? I know this much - I've voted Republican historically but I really still don't know who I will vote for, and I'm not sure it's either of these candidates yet. So, vote CSOM in 2012 or 2016 or 2020, or whenever I get around to running for office.

CSOM Gal and I (with CSOM Doggie) and our neighbors are planning on going camping sometime this fall (October?). We are looking for something mostly quiet (i.e. no loud keggers), with some utilities (i.e. public bathroom/shower?), and would prefer areas with some water, whether for canoeing, swimming, laying on rafts, letting doggie swim, etc. If I could cycle (road or mountain) while I'm there, that's a plus. Last requirement is not too far away (within 2-3 hour drive?) since it would just be a weekend trip with tents.

Anyone know of anything meeting that description? I'm thinking Bastrop or Buescher (sp?) state parks, but not sure I'd get in the water there... anyone else?

Thanks

Yeah, I always thought it was a weird name since it is WEST of downtown, not north.

Up(per) to me, denotes something above, not west, of a destination.

North isn't really up - only on a map the way we usually hold them. You can look at a map upside down, still see the same area, but then South is up...

http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/

More confusing would be why is midtown not between downtown and uptown?

We have a 3 story townhouse in midtown that is in some serious need of gutter cleaning. I would do it myself if it were a rach style, or possibly even a 2 story house, but for 3 stories and fumbling with a 40-foot ladder, I'm looking to hire someone.

The best quote I've gotten is $250, which seems a bit steep. Anybody have another contractors they can suggest?

Nobody asked my opinion on the design

But... why don't they put 2 lanes together, side by side, along the curb, and then put the 4 lanes of traffic just shifted over. That way rather than down the middle, it's off to a side, similar to Fannin near Herman Park... Seems like it would be easier for traffic flow to me.

Bellaire drive up recycling center takes most of this too, including paperboard.

If you ever need a list, to to http://earth911.org and they can tell you the closest place to recycle your stuff.

I will NEVER recycle as long as they keep running that insipid recycling commercial on the radio, the one with a theme song straight out of some kiddie show. Every time I hear The Wiggles or whomever sing that abominable sissy jingle I'm forced to:

1) Slap the radio's off button

2) Roll down the window and toss out any litter I can find as an act of civil disobedience.

Extreme cheese and syrup = massive backlash of hate

If that wasn't sarcasm, then you sir are as asshat.

We went to Post Oak Grill Express this weekend on Saturday night (Yes we parked in the new surface lot even though there were plenty of on-street spots...). Food was very good, pricing was exceptional for a nice dinner spot in Midtown. However, it was DEAD. There was one big party group, like 15 people, one table of 4 and us, at 8pm on a Saturday night. Speaking to the staff, they said they are doing well on the lunch crowds, and have altered their menu accordingly. There are a lot of sandwiches and the like, but I had the KC Steak, CSOM Gal had the Flounder, and we were pleased with the meal and our service, and got out of there for well under $100 including drinks and desert.

If you want to see more places like this in Midtown, I would encourage you to put a little money where your mouth is and support these kinds of places.

I appreciate what the downtown effort is... There are many cities where you can go miles without catching a red if you get in the right flow of traffic, because of the sequenced lights. I never understood the all at once concept that I'd seen nowhere but Hosuton.

I do agree though that something with Midtown is really off. I avoid McGowen at all costs. Gray/Webster or Elgin, though they can have their issues, usually are much better than McGowen, where you are destined to stop 5 times between 59/288 & Louisiana, where on Gray I can make it usually without a stop except for the occassional light rail.