travelguy_73

Two words: High Point, as in NC, the furniture capital of the world. All the manufacturers are represented there, and you don't even have to fly over to buy (with a few exceptions). Just copy down the make and model, and find a distributor in High Point who sells the brand, and give them a call. With few exceptions, you will save over the local retailers, even with shipping factored in. And, unless the local guys have the product in stock in the fabric you want, you will wait about the same time for it to be made and delivered. It tends to be easier to find traditional ("Star-style") furniture, not so much on the modern stuff.

I have used monoprice.com in the past. They have good quality products and a very loyal customer base.

I'm not a fan of the large complexes because I don't think you get as much for your money (paying for amenities you probably won't use like clubrooms, movie theaters, etc.). They also tend to have very poor sound deadening, which means you hear everything your neighbors are going (especially when hardwood or concrete floors are what you want).

You might try duplexes as well, particularly in Upper Kirby and Montrose. They tend to be larger (I rented an 1100 sq ft one years ago), and have more period (1930's) details for the same price. You also have a little yard, and more of a house feel. And perfectly in your price range.

Har.com and Craigslist will have plenty of options.

I second Bogota, Buenos Aires, and all of Costa Rica.

I lean toward high protein snacks, which means very little in the way of fruits...These are all work-friendly assuming you have a fridge handy.

• Natural peanut butter, but don't go overboard with the scoops!
• yogurt with Walnuts (I bring a small container of FiberOne yogurt to work each day, and mix in walnuts from a bag I keep in my drawer)
• Protein shake (I use Optimum Nutrition whey (for post-workout) and casein (for slow release during the day). I have a mixer cup that keeps the powder separate from the milk. It's like a chocolate milkshake!

Honda will have a version of this called Crosstour. I don't quite get the fastback SUV craze. I think it all started with the Aztek.

I think the Crosstour is more like the Toyota Venza, while this Acura model is more like the X6. I still cannot believe that Honda sunk precious resources into this thing. It's ugly from every angle. And they still don't have a V8 luxury sedan to compete with the likes of Lexus and the Germans. They can justify their RL's V6 all day long, but they aren't fooling anyone but themselves.

And the lovely and attractive Acura ZDX has been officially announced. Carpocalypse may now begin.

http://www.vtec.net/..._item_id=842420

Funny enough, I have seen some nice units on overstock.com.

Actually, what about an open vanity? Gives plenty of storage space, and you might even be able to construct it yourself (it isn't rocket science, especially if you paint and don't stain it). I love the look of the open vanities with stacks of towels below. Very spa-like. I bet you could build one for cheap, and then have more to spend on a nice granite or carrera marble top.

http://nhwoodworking.com/Bathroom_Vanity_Open_Style.html

http://www.ebuild.com/articles/sectionId.1598/506629.hwx

Err, where is the toilet in the picture?

IMO, it won't look very good with the gaps on either side, like wasted space or you tried to go cheap and not get a custom vanity. I see a couple of options: (1) use the 61" vanity, adding wood fillers to attach it to the side walls, and then use a full width top. (2) consider pushing a smaller vanity to one side, and then putting in a nice floor cabinet furniture with shelves and doors to hold towels.

What style are you going for? Depending on your style, (1) or (2) may look better.

I'm in Eastwood, and this morning we found a hang tag on the door that we are getting the new CenterPoint smart meters soon! Looks like some time in August they will replace ours. The website has a deplyment schedule, and it looks pretty evenly spread across the city.

Pretty exciting, I think. Anyone else receive one?

http://centerpointenergy.com/energyinsight

Jeff Smisek is his replacement.

Larry was a suitable replacement for Gordon Bethune, who turned the company around. More of a numbers guy than Gordon, a bit drier and more serious, but a great leader. Smisek has big shoes to fill, but he has been groomed for this.

Along the lines of what marmer suggested:

This stuff is incredible on car interiors. Gives plastic a nice clean matte finish just like when the car was new. I don't want to sound like an infomercial but it is truly amazing. Available on amazon, or at west marine stores.

flipper

ps. use a microfiber cloth.

I LOVE this stuff. I use it on my tires, interior plastics, and the crazy body-cladding that makes up most of my XC70. It's matte, goes on like a charm, and isn't greasy.

Flipper, since you mentioned towels, I would like to recommend the best auto drying towel I have found: These Blue Perl towels are super absorbent and don't scratch. I use two per car, and wash them alone afterwards (so they don't pick up lint from other towels). WELL worth the money, and they last forever.

http://www.autopia-c...com/mf-204.html

For my landscape projects, I have always used Osmocote, which you can find at Lowe's and Home Depot. I mulch my beds twice per year, and apply this before I mulch, and whenever I install a new plant. It's isn't organic, but it also isn't Miracle Grow (which is nothing more than a Snickers bar for your plants). It is slow release, and is easy to apply, which means it's easy for the average time-pressed homeowner.

My neighbor has one now on their new car, and it isn't all that bad...from a distance. But the font used for The Lone Star State is so Word 2.0.

Just saw this... I'm with you. I drive a Mazda Protege and love it. If I were buying a new car I'd get the Mazda 5 (microvan), since it would have room for a friend or two of the two rugrats already occupying the backseat. We were just talking last night about what car we would get if we won a million bucks. We agreed we'd still get the Mazda. Or maybe go wild and get a little Volvo 5-door. We are wild, wild, wild people.

I had a rental Mazda5 for a drive between DC and Raleigh, and it was very nice. Sunroof, MP3 input, the works. I was so impressed, I tried to convince my partner to get one for his mom (we ended up getting her a RAV4 instead because she didn't want a "minivan"). The 5 is a supremely practical hauler, though I would worry about having people in the third row in the case of a rear end accident. There just isn't much space between the hatch and the seats. Other than that, it's a sporty ride.

Hmm....I"m surprised anyone haven't mentioned the tunnels with all these restaurants (mostly fast food last time I visited) down there. It seems there are so many that you could eat at a different one everyday in a month and not run out of options. :-)

During the week, yes

My favorite cheap eatery downtown is Frank's Pizza at market square. They have burgers and sandwiches (and alcohol ) as well as a large selection of pizzas (whole and by the slice).

It's...uhhh...very sparkly. We need tiny, little, LED disco balls to hang from our license plate lights.

I'm hoping the sparkle is just the flash oicking up the metallic reflection all plates have. I was excited about getting a new plate design at first, but I think I will just move to the State of the Arts or my alma mater's plate.

Does a bad rep mean anything, though? I know on some blogs, it will keep your replies in posts from being seen, or the text is so grayed out as to effectively disappear.

I'm probably late to the party with this, but is there a way (under New Content) to add back the topic originator/starter? There are a few on here whose posts I enjoy reading, and it is nice to know when they start new topics.

OK, definitely the visuals are getting better. The New Content screen, IMO, can still use some work. I generally understand the use of whitespace to set off topics, but there just seems to be way too much of it. For example: The thread topic is huge, but the path (e.g., "Traffic and Transportation") is unnecessarily small. Then there is a huge horizontal whitespace, then three rows of small type with a lot more whitespace around it. Yet we don't have page number links for multiple pages. Hopefully the software will allow you to tweak a bit more. I think the vertical whitespace (between topics) could be trimmed like crazy, and I'm not sure we really need the "Attachments" link at all since you will see the attachments in the thread itself. I can get used to a lot of the changes, but the New Content page is what I look at most ofte, so I'm most focused on it.

As has probably been mentioned, in the threads themselves, there is a lot of vertical space between posts, just a ton of it. The sig area takes up a lot (which I could care less about, but others like the sig area). I think getting rid of the pictures for Administrator, Subscriber, et al, would help a lot, especially when the Group line appears to repeat the same info.

Thanks for working so hard on the site. It's such an important one for our area.

I'm not the power user I used to be, but I think I will be fine with the changes if the HD logo is dramatically shrinked and the spacing is worked on so that there is more info on a screen. For example, on the View New Content page, there is just too much space, and the font too large, so that you can't fit as many posts on the screen. Everything just seems too large and too spread out. I could barely use the old HAIF on my Bold (fault of the Bold's small screen), and can't imagine how much scrolling I will have to do now, LOL. Under this same topic, I also notice that when I go to respond to a post, I have to scroll down to get to the reply box, and then again to get to the Add Reply. Just too much space/scrolling. My laptop screen resolution is 1440x900.

Question: What is the purpose of the professional building, and who are the tenants? Is it like other professional buildings that are basically just doctors' offices? From a design standpoint, it is an interesting, overwhelming addition. But from a cost standpoint, I see it is completely wasteful.

I would never recommend Pfister again. Calls are rarely answered, almost never returned. He is not a professional. He is a handy-man, and the quality of work is handy-man quality. He is cheaper because the work is cheaper. He did work on the house a couple of years ago - never even entered the house, never even pulled out a level, had to scrounge around under the house to find shims, said he couldn't do everything I wanted because he said not enough time - and then never answered or returned calls.

100% opposite of my experience, and I would guess the experience of most of the people on this board who have used him. He and his son did a thorough interior and exterior inspection of my place before drafting an estimate, and I felt nothing but comfortable with his crew's service. If anything, I had to shoo John off because he was talking so much about leveling and future maintenance.

When i go to View New Content, it lists 18k posts. I thought it might move down to a more accurate number the second time I used this function. , but it didn't.

I do have questions, though:

• Under the old style, I could View New Posts, then click the icon next to the title, and it would take me to the first unread post in the topic. I don't see that now (the folder icon next to the title doesn't seem to do anything). Will this feature be turned back on? It's very convenient!
• The HAIF HD screen (http://www.houstonar.../haif/index.php?) has too much going on at the top, the pictures and text are just too big and too spaced out, IMO. It takes up practially the entire first screen, and I feel like many visitors will see this and never scroll down to the actual content.
• I haven't tried accessing this on our iPhone or Bold, so hopefully the larger text will format properly on those tiny screens, LOL.