travelguy_73

How bad is the train noise around there? Isn't that the place where the trains sit across the road all the time and you get stuck coming and going?

The train noise actually isn't bad at all. Looking on Google maps, you would think it would be worse simply due to proximity, but we don't even notice it. The train volume is down considerably from when we bought in late 2007 (not sure why). We have original wood windows, and lots of them, and it isn't a big deal. I know that the intersection is on the list for a quiet zone, but it sounded like it would be a few years before it is implemented (made the priority list, but there are others ahead of it).

AFAIK, the train doesn't sit across the road very often (though I have seen it happen). It oftentimes goes slowly, but they are good about parking it just outside of the crossing gate triggers. There is actually a shortcut behind the former Finger's store that locals take.

Our section of Eastwood also doesn't get the car and pedestrian traffic that the surrounding area gets. I guess having the water department at one end and Cage Elementary at the other end helps greatly.

Didn't we go through this back in the 80's when there was a club on every corner? Too many clubs chasing too few dollars, and the competition with LA fitness, Lifetime, Fit, and Bally's (in bankruptcy) is likely forcing them to cut costs to stay competitive. Large, feature-laden gyms are the trend, and they cost a lot to build and maintain. In order to provide the number of classes and amount of equipment patrons expect, they need to achieve better economies of scale.

Sad story of why the long-time owners (my neighbors) are selling their house, but this house is a real diamond in the rough. Nice layout (3 bedrooms), all hardwoods, and I think it has most of the original features still intact. I haven't been inside yet (waiting for the open house), but this is what my other neighbors have told me. I live on the same block, and the house reminds me of mine when I bought it...just sad and neglected, but with good bones and great neighbors.

I believe there is an addition on the back that should probably come off, and IMO the price should be further discounted to reflect that. We don't have a lot of sales in this part of Eastwood, so I imagine pricing homes is tough for realtors that don't know the area well.

We are really hoping to get a neighbor who wants to invest and improve like many of the rest of us have invested in our properties. The street is an eclectic mix of original single family and multi-family, very much that melting pot we all talk about wanting inside the loop.

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=4182898

I want to get a rain barrel for my back downspout, but it seems silly to buy one online when I'm sure local vendors carry them (cheaper?).

Any help is appreciated.

Home warranty horror stories abound! I have always received them from the seller of a property, but have never, and would never, buy one out-of-pocket. I made a plumbing claim on my old house, and had to have their contracted plumber out multiple times to fix a relatively simple bathtub faucet leak. Same with AC work. This truly is a you-get-what-you-pay-for industry.

I have friends who used Budget Blinds (the west location), Ronnie McKeever, for their Bellaire and Garden Oaks homes (they actually used him for plantation shutters). They are quite pleased.

I wonder how much these things cost?

It's the new standard plate. It was supposed to have been out already, but slow auto sales have created a backlog in "old" plates.

I wonder if the state wanted to make the plates either "love 'em or hate 'em" to boost speciatly plate sales?

You can get into parts of Westbury and Post Oak Manor for $170k, and the homes will be reasonably updated (or dated, but livable). Other than that area, I agree that the pickings are very slim for places that won't require a lot of cash to fix them up, or aren't in sketchy sections.

I always thought they were the perfect trees to signify that you were entering a coastal county. Then again, I am about to plant several in my back yard, so perhaps I am a bit partial to palms.

IMO, it is the shape of the palms that is the issue. On the other freeways, there is a nice combination of trees that (if allowed to mature) will form a dense wall between the freeway and feeder road. The palms, however, are narrow and upright. That's a plus if you want to line a boulevard and can't have tree branches or roots in the way, but they fail to buffer much of anything. Their upright growth also requires just as much mowing and weedeating as a highway sign, which goes against TXDoT's stated goals of reducing thier freeway maintenance. Supplementing the palms with more understory plantings would make everything better, but I have a feeling TXDoT considers Gulf Freeway finished until it is widened.

Fliiper, what method does the painter use to paint the cabinets? Since they are job-built, it seems like it will be tough to get a clean finish since the worksite is "contaminated" with dust and such.

Love the finishes so far!

I dont think the idea was that they would relocate in the US...

the article I read mentioned that they sell just 20,000 units less in China than they do in the US... only 26% of their revenue comes from the US market...

the idea of relocation would be for them to move to an emerging or growing market... probably China.

Talk about the worst move they could possibly make. China already loves GM cars, so moving there would likely not get them much of anything. However, they have a tenuous hold on the US market share they still have, and much of that comes from a Buy America sentiment they can't afford to lose. It is pretty much guaranteed that if they relocated their major US operations outside of this country, they would lost that market share (with no offsetting gain anywhere else).

The more laws that pass via the legislature (the "voice of the people") and not the courts, and the more marriages opponents and the apathetic see that the sky doesn't fall, the easier it will be on the rest of the states to pass.

They "don't fit" with their surroundings... but if you compare them to some of the other mismatch around the city, these townhomes are a miniscule offense at best.

BTW... can some PLEASE draw a map of the East End??? Everyday, I get more and more confused about the neighborhoods here... What all encomasses GREATER Eastwood? Where does Eastwood end and Woodleigh begin? How can you tell when you've left Broadmoor and crossed into the 2nd Ward? And WHAT is that neighborhood on the other side of Jackson Middle School (between Polk, Dumble and Harrisburg)? I am so confused living here!

I believe Sidney St is the dividing line between Woodleigh and Eastwood. Otherwise, I'm not totally sure about the rest.

I wonder if such an outcry was made against mods in the 50s and 60s being built alongside traditional style homes from the 20s-40s in Riverside?

Are there major scale differences between the traditional homes in Riverside versus the mods? I think they are probably a little larger, but close enough in size that the residents were likely titilated by the extreme difference in style, but the scale wasn't a factor. IMO, the mods in Riverside compliment the traditional homes because they highlight each others differences, and you see each with a fresher perspective, without one looking like it is going to "eat the other," which is what I think of when I see a home out of scale with its neighbors. I wonder if the residents' felt that way or if they couldn't get past what we see now as "normal."

I just noticed that the elevator at the Neiman's side of the Galleria ice rink is hydraulic (it is glass-enclosed and interesting to watch, though painfully slow). Funny, I never noticed until today, and then read this thread!

How active have the owners been in the process? Are they out there everyday, or just sort of letting you run with it?

Just got this from HBJ: Expo Motorcars to begin selling Spyker

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...mp;ana=e_du_pub

Sorry, but I'm calling bogus on this. There was an "unintended acceleration" scandal about Audis back in the 1980s or so. There were breathless news reports just like this one, but eventually it just turned out to be uncoordinated drivers. History repeating itself..

Oh this brings back memories. I vividly recall my parents bringing home a shiny new 86 Audi 5000S from the dealer in San Antonio just one day before the 60 Minutes episode ran. The car depreciated like a rock after that. Loved that car too!

What is the City Safety option?

Below 20mph, it will bring the XC60 to a full stop if necessary to avoid hitting a vehicle in front of it (whether that vehicle is stopped or moving at a slower speed, but in the same direction).

I was intrigued by the Passat CC until I read this review: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/review-vo...agen-passat-cc/. Still, I think the CC at least looks great.

Ooh, thanks for the link. I am always looking for new car sites for my Bloglines feed.

I dropped our XC70 off at Star for a checkup yesterday and had a chance to drive the new XC60. It's a very nice crossover, and I hope it does well. Fast, luxurious interior (though the materials still aren't as nice as what VW and Audi use), and I love the City Safety option, though I don't know when I would use it. The City Safety camera is actually in the windshield, so here's hoping it doesn't have to be replaced!

This, the Passat CC, and the MB C350 are on my short list for next year.

They are actually in Woodleigh. Still, you are correct that they are out of place, and I have a feeling that these would have been a challenge to sell even before the market cratered.

Also there are thermal films that go on glass. Never put thermal film on insulated glass, by the way.

Are you talking about the 3M films? We have 29 or 30 windows , 10 of which face east or west. We have cellular shades on them, which provide some insulation, but do you think the film would actually work? It's not cheap to have installed, but a lot cheaper than new windows!

Now if you would have asked us about LAST Sunday, I would have said that we spent a few hours riding the Columbia Tap bike trail from Eastwood to Hermann Park, with a nice detour through Riverside Terrace. Now that they finally finished the all of the connections between the trail and the streets, it is a real pleasure to ride on. And the section through third ward is like a time warp with all of the boarded up shotgun houses.

Next weekend is JazzFest in NO!

We met some good friends from Cypress at Discovery Green for lunch and an afternoon of watching their two girls (2 and 4) running around the park. They absolutely loved it, you would have thought they had never seen a park before. We hung out with some cheap wine from Lakehouse while the kids played in the water, at the playground, at the listening vessels, even took some sort of aerobics class out on the lawn. The girls were asleep before they got to the car.

Man, I love that park. Now if we could just cancel summer weather! We made the comment more than once about this probably being one of the last nice weekends until October.