skwatra

Previously someone had posted city snapshots of racial/ethnic maps. Here is an interactive version that is really neat to play with (contains income driven maps as well):

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

but there is no Walmart in the Philippines!

True, I think those of us who live in the area learn to live with the panhandlers. What I fear, is that people who come to midtown to spend money and enjoy themselves in the new developments and aren't familiar with or knowledgeable about inner city landscape get hassled and don't want to come back. I have certainly seen it happen while sipping a beer at Komodo and while it is somewhat humorous to watch, it's not what I want people's image of midtown to be. I don't think anyone really enjoys being asked for money while they're eating dinner on the patio at Blackfinn, Cyclone's, etc.

We'll see what happens. Anything is better than empty/rundown lots though.

I used to live in Clear Lake, and knew when i was coming downtown (or midtown on rare occasions, as there wasn't as many places to visit back then) that I would have to deal with stuff like that. Luckily I have never run in to a situation that was anything more than annoying. But you're right, a lot of people don't realize that this comes with the territory, and one bad experience could deter someone from coming back to midtown.

Hopefully IM won't bring more in, the people that work there are excited about having their distribution close by (yes I am a little bias having a friend that works there) and making their operations for taking food to homebound seniors more efficient. Technically the only people that come to their building are refugees that are here legally through the State Dept, and are there by appointment.

The type of people these places tend to attract. Take a drive on Gray just west of 59. Most of the facilities are nice enough, but sometimes it's like piloting your car through a slalom course to avoid the bums wandering around.

I guess we'll see.

I don't think Gray and 59 is a fair comparison. I drove by there every day for a year (my wife worked on Brazos and Crawford) and rarely saw anyone. of course with the shelter and kitchen there people probably gather later in the evening, but IM doesn't have any programs like that.

They are building on an empty lot, and adding conference space. If you're thinking this will be like SEARCH, it is not.

I can confirm that the other block is for the food distribution site for Meals on Wheels. Their current site is far away and very run down, and they wanted it to be close and in better shape for multiple reasons.

I don't see a bunch of vagrants around their current location on Montrose. People can't go there for freebies unless they are having an event. they are a mobile soup kitchen if anything, i don't see a concern. As long as they are keeping a building occupied and up to date, i don't see what people are complaining about.

i walk from Taft down W Gray to midtown every other weekend or so, sometimes pretty late. I usually see other people about close to each end but there is definitely a void in the middle.

I'm glad Carnegie is going up to add some lighting to this stretch. Now we just need some of those empty lots to fill up with restaurants/bars or retail.

It is Shaw's moving across the street to a new building for sure, but I don't have any other details.

I used to live right there, honestly never walked in to Shaw's now saw any traffic going in and out (walked by it daily), I thought it was a pawn shop. guess they are doing ok.

where's Building A? Not that Valentine is that big, but just wondering if this was up closer to Dallas, or down near Gray.

i bought $5 seats 30 minutes before game time against STL a few weeks back, no issues.

Not running in Austin apparently. City won't let them have the stop.

Where did you hear this? They are still selling tix to Austin right now ($1 seats next friday AM which i randomly searched) and show the stop on the edge of campus north of downtown.

Saw a bus yesterday on Clay picking people up but don't know the destination...

I didn't hint that the person who filmed was guilty. Don't know where you got that from.

i was replying to infinite_jim, sorry I wasn't clear

i think you missed the point. the poster of the video is probably under investigation because he may have some connection to the crime, posting the video boasting. no one said the video taper was guilty.

visiting family.

No, but I hear they have chocolate mousse.

Top Secret reference, nice. Its been a while...

its a comfy efficient bus with wifi that is supposed to go from downtown to downtown, point to point. the big deal is that i booked for $1 to go from Houston to Dallas, which would be $36 on Greyhound or $128 on Amtrak, or $40 of gas in my car (not including wear and tear).

do they have pan de chocolat?

obviously this wasn't Megabus's preference, though they didn't do the proper coordination before announcing the stops.

here is the email I got regarding the dallas stop:

Please be advised that the megabus.com pick-up and drop off location for Dallas, TX has moved. The new pick-up/drop-off point will be located at Dallas/Fort Worth at 710 Davis Street in Grand Prairie.

The new stop is at the Coach USA Bus Facility. There are pick-up and drop-off facilities at the facility, but no parking is available on site.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience that may be caused as a result of the change. Megabus.com’s arrival/departure location will not be on Elm Street between N. Olive St and S. Pearl St. in downtown Dallas – as the company announced in May – because the required facility changes at the downtown location will not be completed by June 19; the company plans to add a bus stop in downtown Dallas soon. In the interim we will operate from the Coach USA Dallas/Fort Worth Terminal at Grand Prairie. Further information on the stop location can be obtained by visiting megabus.com and by clicking on the 'Bus Stops' tab.

the Houston stops changed as well. They got rid of Eastwood transit and changed the Downtown location.

email from Megabus (this one did not offer a free refund):

Megabus.com's Houston arrival and departure location will now be on the NE corner of the intersection of Clay St. and Travis St. The new location offers nearby customer parking as well as access to local transit.

Passengers booked from Austin to both Katy and Houston North West are unaffected by this change.

Megabus.com's arrival/departure location will not be at the Eastwood Transit Center at 4400 Gulf Freeway or on Polk Street., near the intersection of Travis in downtown Houston.- as the company announced in May. Those stop locations were not compatible with the Houston METRO schedules.

well that's annoying. I have a trip booked there in early July, and was planning on coordinating with one cousin that lives downtown to pick us up, otherwise either get someone from Carrolton where we're staying to pick us up (or we'd take DART up that direction). They haven't notified me at all yet...

coming home is like a game each day, trying to figure out what lane on w gray and bagby will be closed.

but they seem to be doing an efficient job, it'll be worth it.

I've taken Megabus several times between NYC and Boston. Depending on departure times (rush hour), we were not always on time but it was never too bad. Wifi was not consistent early on, but recently I've had good service. The service overall was really good, busses are nice, clean bathrooms, overall good clientale, etc.

From what I can figure out, their pricing model acts like SW (or like SW used to, not always true any more). The earlier you book, the higher the chances are you will find a $1 deal. As those sell out, the prices go up, but still reasonable.

I will definitely use this for trips to NOLA and Austin. Maybe even for Dallas depending on who I'm visiting and if I need a car there. Though not sure I would want to park my car across from the Eastwood Transit center for a weekend, but I could always take a Metro bus to get there.

Overall very excited about this, especially for trips to NOLA where I don't want to have my car there (plus the obvious mileage/gas savings).

schedule of events:

http://asiasociety.org/files/uploads/248files/schedule-time%283%29.pdf

i have a friend performing so I'll be there Sunday. Water Garden looks cool, can't wait to see it up close.

From the linked article:

Tennis courts are also provided on the top deck of the parking garage.

Though i'm not going to complain about a parking garage over a surface lot that would be double the size, given we were thinking of purchasing a home around there, I was worried about impacts to the view. But a tennis court would be interesting if done right. Anyone heard about these plans? That article is from August 2011...

good stuff, looks like you're getting the hang of it.

i am by no means an expert, i spent a lot of times reading different reviews on lenses (which give tips and examples) and tutorials. unfortunately i can't find my favorite ones, but I'll search more later.

simple answer to your question is no, you can compensate with the shutter speed. though you'll have issues if there is motion. If you have a DSLR, I would just go play around with it. I have a similar lens and love trying out different things at night. The Tolerance sculptures on allen parkway and montrose are a pretty good setting lit up at night, and you can go to the bridge and get good downtown shots as well.

you should have different modes that allow you to change the Aperture (Av or something like that), Exposure (Tv) and full time manual. If you set your aperture in Av, you can let the camera pick the right shutter speed and take a mental note (push the shutter button halfway and it should tell you the settings if you want to quickly step through things, or click away and you can look at display in review mode, or the exif data later). You can go to Tv and play with shutter speeds and see what Aperture stops it sets. After playing with that, you'll get an idea of the possibilities (this is the camera making decisions based on the amount of light, etc). Then as you get used to those settings you can start playing with fill time manual and adjusting both settings yourself. You'll probably get in to situations where the camera won't let you shoot (mine the setting in question will blink) because there's not enough light or it can't focus.

Bibas? dont you guys mean, "one's a meal", now theo's?

Bibas place is a sham.

To make sure I have this straight. Bibas is opening a place downtown. Same owner's as the newly named Bibas Kitbar on West Gray.

Theo's formerly One's a Meal on Westheimer used to be at the West Gray Bibas location, but is no longer affiliated with Bibas.