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jgriff

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Everything posted by jgriff

  1. jgriff
    It's a bank.
  2. jgriff
    <br /><br /><br />Your problem Niche is that you are winning this argument. Once you start winning they want you to shut up.
  3. jgriff
    My wife and I go to Lifetime Fitness 5 days a week. I check out the crowds every time we're there. It seems to be getting more and more crowded every week. I'd like to go to Yard House this Friday but we probably won't because of the long wait. We went to the dog thing last weekend and it was packed. There were a bunch of retrievers swimming in the courtyard fountain. They had staff with scoopers cleaning up after the dogs. I hadn't heard about Flora and Muse yet. While searching for info on it I came across this article that I don't think has been linked here before. http://houston.modernluxury.com/style/urbane-planning-citycentre
  4. jgriff
    If you don't live near it then there really is no reason for you to go there. It's very nice for the people that live nearby though.
  5. jgriff
    I worked in one of these buildings for a while. The development seems to be set up to be like a campus. They have a nice jogging trail and people use bicycles to get around.
  6. jgriff
    A Gyro and a Shawarma are not the same thing. I've never heard of fries being served with or inside a Shawarma but there's a lot of things I haven't seen. Shawarmas are kind of like the "tacos" of the middle east. How many different kinds of tacos can you think of? I'm sure somewhere there's a guy making them with fries inside. The ones I've had in Europe were really good but different than what you get in Houston. I like the ones in Houston better. The ones at Phoenicia are usually served with potatoes, tomatoes and chicken or beef inside with some kind of garlic sauce. When I go there it seems like at least half the people there are ordering the Shawarma. Being able to get a good shawarma near Discovery Green will make the park much more attractive for me.
  7. jgriff
    I'm probably in the minority here but I think everything about Phoenicia is better than everything about Niko Niko's. I've been to Phoenicia dozens of times. I went to Nikos Niko's twice and never had the urge to go back. The Shawarmas at Phoenicia are awesome and cheap too. I might walk the 20 blocks from my office to the new location a few times.
  8. jgriff
    FilioScotia: Please don't get over it.
  9. jgriff
    I heard over the weekend that ExxonMobil will not be moving the corporate headquarters to Houston but that this new campus will bring a very significant number of ExxonMobil employees into Houston from outside of Texas. The numbers I heard were much larger than I expected. This is great news for Houston.
  10. jgriff
    Brio Tuscan Grill is open now. We tried it tonight. It seemed like a slightly more upscale Maggiano's. The nicest thing about it are the huge patios and windows. I had filet mignon; it was decent and the prices are reasonable. I've been going to CityCentre once a week now and it's usually so crowded that you may have a 45 minute wait to get into Yard House, etc... Last Thursday they had a mini car show. There were a few old Ferraris, Porsches, a McLaren race car, etc... Here are some shots a buddy of mine took.
  11. jgriff
    After reading the article it seems I may have been wrong about a potential for it to end up like the Astrodome. Crescent Real Estate wanted to buy it and redevelop the site so the building must not have been more expensive to tear down than the property was worth. The article says that Lakewood won for purely economic reasons though. They paid as much to rent the facility for 30 years as the building was worth. In the end the city basically sold Lakewood the building twice.
  12. jgriff
    I think that has already been paid. From what I've heard Lakewood had a 30 year pre-paid lease on the building. It seems to me that Lakewood has done Houston a huge favor taking over this building and giving the city a little money when it needs it. It could have easily wound up less then worthless like the Astrodome.
  13. jgriff
    My sources tell me that KBR has exposure to a massive project in the middle east which has been delayed and/or severly reduced in scope due to market conditions. This is often a precursor to a cancellation. This project was in the 25-35 billion dollar range. This may have factored into the decision to stay in downtown. Why build a huge new campus in Katy when there is no work? This news is going to cost Houston hundreds of high paying jobs. It will probably affect the Energy Corridor more than downtown though.
  14. jgriff
    I agree that the food at SMG is awful. How they can make ice cream taste like it's been sitting in the freezer for 2 years in a place that's 6 months old is beyond me. My wife and I attempted to stop by Yard House Friday night. There was a 45 minute wait. Yard House is OK but not worth 45 minutes. Every time we've been to Citycentre on a weekend the place is packed. The first two floors of the parking garage we parked in were full.
  15. jgriff
    I don't mind paying for valet parking but I couldn't even figure out where to pull into the lot. They only have one lane for entrance and exit as far as I can tell. Every time I would try to pull in someone was coming out. If I have to come to a complete stop and block traffic for even 2 seconds I'm not going there.
  16. jgriff
    I went there once in the mid 90s. I've never been back because of the parking situation.
  17. jgriff
    Bayou City History Blog has some info and photos of T&C mall. http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2009/12/town_and_country_in_pictures_1.html
  18. jgriff
    I don't know or even care to know what people define as "smart growth". This project is smart for these reasons. 1. It could make the investors a lot of money. 2. It's going to give a lot of people a good place to live.
  19. jgriff
    Too small for what? A large motor would ruin a car like this. It needs a small high reving motor like the ones Honda is so good at building. Weight is the enemy of a good car. In a contest between more horsepower and less weight the latter always wins.
  20. jgriff
    My wife and I had dinner at Bistro Alex Saturday night. I had the Osso Bucco and it was the best I've had. The Hotel's bar and lounge area around the pool was packed. Our waitress took us into the yet-to-open Cafe Rose. It's got a coffee menu similar to Starbucks but serving all Illy coffee.
  21. jgriff
    I think all indications are that downtown will be very much the same as it is now in 20 years. The reasons our downtown has the residential population is does haven't changed much since the interstate system was built. Some kind of major social, political or economic upheaval would be required to change that. I remember in the 1970s and 80s that I though things would be much different in the future. Really things haven't changed much. I think the biggest change is the rise of the internet. 20-30 years ago people were more hopeful and less cynical. We still believed that engineers and scientists could make our lives better in the 80s. That all changed over the last 20 years. Now people view science and industry as an evil, not a good force. I don't really see the future being much better than today. I think we need to live for today and not assume that the future will be any better.
  22. jgriff
    Not surprising. "Leasing to artist at affordable rates." is usually a euphemism for "If you have the right connections you can get a good deal on an apartment."
  23. jgriff
    Is there any reason to think that it will? Progress is not the foregone conclusion a lot of people seem to think it is.
  24. jgriff
    I remember thinking that 10-20 years ago.
  25. jgriff
    1. It had the worst manual shifter I've ever had in a car. It felt like something out of a truck. On the test drive I thought I'd get used to it, I never did. 2. Not enough HP. I only drive manual transmission cars so I couldn't opt for the 350 since they don't offer a manual. The 250 doesn't have enough horsepower. 3. The seats were a cream colored leather. After a couple of months the "blue" from my jeans permanently discolored the seats. I just bought an '09 Audi A4 2.0 for my wife, it's much better than the Lexus. I drive an '09 Porsche 911S, the shifter in the A4 is almost as good as the 911. It has around the same HP but much more torque than the IS. It feels like a sports car more than a 4 door. Occasionally my wife and I will trade cars for a day. It's really not a letdown going from the 911 to the A4.
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