innerloop

Luckily no, this is that unused building that is surrounded by the apartment complex.

Cool. Now that the Donnellan crypt is going to be accessible, are there any plans to put up a plaque or something? I think it's a pretty interesting relic.

I like the idea in concept, but it would be a huge missed opportunity if it didn't pass through the airport.

I've seen those closures, but I don't see how the strips can be installed once the panels are already screwed down? I suppose I could cut out the individual trapezoids and insert them in the holes individually, but I was hoping for a less laborious solution. Also, if the foam pieces are loose, how do I make sure that they stay in place? Maybe I could glue the strips to the underside of the panels just inside the top of the wall and then spray foam over the top of them.

I bought an old storage building that has what I think is called an R-panel metal roof and I need advice for sealing up 100's of gaps around the roof. As I hope you can see from the photo, there are all of these trapezoidal gaps where the ridges in the panels sit on the outer wall. I did some research online and found these strips of foam insulation that you can place under the metal panels during installation to close up the gaps, but apparently the builder didn't use these when he built the building. And I think if I try to use spray foam that it will just shoot straight through the hole. Dose anyone know of a DIY solution for this problem?

It's important to remember that the limitation is not just how many cars can functionally be linked together, but you also have to consider the length of the shortest platform. Otherwise when the train stops for unloading, people on every car can't get off the train. There are work-arounds though, like warning the riders slightly in advance that Car X does not exit at Station Y so please make your way to an appropriate car. That works for most people, but may be a little difficult for people with mobility issues or new riders and out-of-towners who are not familiar with the stations.

It's not a theory.

I saw miles of these bike bridges all around Moab, Utah. They must have cost a fortune, but they were a way to make bike paths along the rivers where the roads are too skinny to add bike lanes.

Best Buy, Michael's, Sephora, Leslie's Pool Supply. And maybe a Fry's since it looks like Radio Shack is going away. And I don't think any of those will displace an existing small, family-owned business in the Heights.

Exactly. I too hope this project, and others like it, continue to be built in the Heights.

I think the map on page 3 is deceptive, it implies that the four houses on Dunbar are included, but the maps on pages four and five suggest otherwise and the size numbers wouldn't add up. But regarding the Historic District, I thought the rules for replacing existing commercial with other commercial were fairly free?

Not Dyslexia. I think the word you're looking for is "Freudian".

If the ridership information that you input has related time information then I would be cautious. That information in the wrong hands says when neither of you are at home or worse, when she is home and you're not.

A Pappas restaurant? Probably too small for one of their's, but my wife and I were just saying on Saturday night that we were surprised there wasn't at least one of their's in the neighborhood (the Bar-B-Q places are the closest, but don't qualify for a date night). So we have this gift card from last Christamas that is still unused.

I like them. Very Darth Vader/Death Star look to them.

Because federal money is our money. They take it from us every two weeks and then somehow believe it becomes their money. And we have to go to Washington bowing and scaping to get it back. Of course minus the cost of their administrative overhead that reduces the amout of capital left over to apply toward the project.

That problem seemed to be addressed last month. The police set up a row of cones in the far south lane so that residents could come and go.

Yeah, but it's only one block to Shepherd.

Just a reminder that this Sunday, May 4th is the second event. This time it's Westheimer from Yoakum to Hazard. Thankfully the weather is supposed to be great as opposed to what we got in the Heights last month.

I have to disagree with you on that one. As a Houston native I can say for sure that no one ever called that area around the Galleria "Uptown". Now in their defense, I do remember some lawsuit by the Galleria people who thought that everyone else was trading on their good name, but nevertheless, that area was previously all called the Galleria and now it's called something else. More egregious is what's happening Downtown with the attempted adoption of the New York inspired NoDo and EaDo. I don't think NoDo ever caught on, thankfully, but I do hear people say EaDo. For those of you who don't know, the acceptable Houstonian terms for referring to the north part of Downtown are the warehouse district, "by UH Downtown" or "by the old M&M building". Names for the area east of Downtown that won't draw a sneer are Chinatown, Old Chinatown, Second Ward and "over by the old Ninfa's". And lastly, the people over at the Cottonwood bar have come up with a new name for their area between Garden Oaks and Oak Forest and they're calling it "the GOOF". Bravo for cleverness, but no, we're not calling it that. So there you go. Now I just look forward to the future real estate announcement for that new apartment complex "Alexan over by the old Ninfa's".

We can debate the merits of different ways to improve the quality of life in Houston with additional city spending, but I think the key point is that we're all on the same page... let's keep the taxes at this level for a while so long as the extra money is put to good use.

Indoor putt-putt golf and, if the support columns are far enough apart, indoor electric go-karts.

Google Maps updated their aerial images.

We in Houston don't have many inclines, but we do have heat! I conducted a series of tests downtown a few years ago where I determined that the maximum distance a normal weight man in a suit can walk without getting inappropriately sweaty for the meeting he's going to is five blocks. More than that and you have to take the tunnels or show up early enough to give yourself time to stop sweating. I'm being totally serious here. When I visit New York and London, I never drive, I use the trains and subways. But Houston is always going to have the problem of heat and sprawl to deal with when it comes to public transport, by that I mean how is any system going to be able to drop people off close enough to their destinations that walking the rest of the way in 90 to 100 degree heat is not a problem?

The city knows which contractors follow the rules and which ones get red tagged. No one likes hassles at work and city employees are the same so they are much more likely to be friendly towards the guys who don't give them any trouble. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't believe that city employees enjoy being an obstruction to anyone's project. I believe that they're mindless bureaucrats who try to get through the day by blindly following the rules even when the rules don't make sense. But to be fair, they didn't write the rules and they probably have very little discretion. We had a very personal case of this last year when we were doing a plumbing project at a property we were converting from commercial to residential. Initially our plan was turned down because it didn't meet all of the commercial standards and our contractor didn't know what to do. Enter my wife who is an attorney who specializes in helping companies file their governmental regulatory reports and paperwork so she's an expert in dealing with bureaucrats. She went down to the permit office herself professionally dressed with a smile on her face and a patient attitude, she pointed out the relevant section of the code that allowed what we were trying to do and the person at the city signed off on everything on the spot. They just needed to see that everything was in order. As to your question about a bugalow renovation, I highly recommend Bungalow Revival. We chose them to do an addition to our own house in the Heights and couldn't be happier. Great design, quality construction and not a hint of a problem with the city.