sarahiki

Watch out, we may be getting another freeze tonight or tomorrow...

I agree that dropping the fare to a dollar makes sense. And I'd like to see that $2 all-day pass come back. I like that she's recognizing it doesn't have to be about the bottom line. Nobody expect freeways to make money, but we keep building them. We shouldn't expect public transit to operate in the black, either.

I'm not totally sure I understand, though from looking at the picture it looks like you have two levels you're talking about--the stove area, then the bar at a slightly higher level? If I've understood that right, I would say to use the same bullnose black granite for the lower part (the edge actually isn't too bad... I was picturing something more elaborate. It looks almost straight). For the bar part, either the same granite, though you could cut it straight, I think, or I guess you could do something totally different there. Depends on the rest of the space. If all the wood will remain white, and there is white detailing in the adjacent room, you could do a formica-looking white that might have a mid-century look. If you're going to have a lot of natural wood in the adjacent room, maybe you could have a wood that matched some of that as the bar top. It's hard to say if it would be too jarring a transition to the kitchen. Might be.

Agree-I would stick with the same granite. At least it's black. Can you have the edges redone so they're all straight?

I like the Robindell idea, if you can find a decent place there for 100K. Easy commute to Sugar Land, and close to Galleria, etc.

Anyone know which neighborhoods they are adding?

Wow, this is exciting news. The building was the big drawback to that school, in my view. I'm so glad there will be a new building, and right in Montrose! Wasn't that site where they were going to put the new HSPVA? But that was delayed because it was historically significant? (an African-American cemetery, if I remember correctly?)

It really depends on the place. My first place in Houston was a Montrose carriage house; we were on the first floor, there was a place above us, and the whole building was completely shaded. We hardly ever turned the a/c on. I guess at night, to sleep, but I worked from home and never needed it during the day. But if you choose a place on a higher floor, or one without shade, it would be a totally different story.

My guess is that would present accountability problems. If those kids weren't taking tests, or passing tests, or advancing grade levels, they would bring the schools numbers down, which would lead to all manner of sanctions and reputation issues. I don't think you are allowed, by law, to "remove" students from accountability measures. This is one of the problems with "no child left behind" -- schools are forced to meet not only local and state standards, but national ones, with very little local authority left. There was something in the news about Perry refusing an opportunity for millions in grant money for Texas schools because the money would have come with federal strings. I guess he is resisting exactly that kind of outside control. But it's like closing the barn door after the horse is already gone...

Ooops! My bad. Thought is was W. Maybe my latent desire to heckle W. caused me to read it wrong. I must say, while I don't like his politics, #41 is a true statesman. I can't imagine talking to him that way.

I don't think it's appropriate to talk to anyone that way, particularly a former President. However, Bush IS responsible for all the deaths of the Iraq War, since he started it. So I see where the guy is coming from. But I don't agree with his actions.

I'm in favor of all of you having firearms; if these guys get the idea that homeowners are likely to be armed, maybe they'll be less likely to break into my house, too. Just please, please, please be smart ... you might not have kids, but if you ever have a kid inside your house for any reason, lock the guns away.

Might be simpler to get a deadbolt and good insurance...

Thanks H2B. I'm not in a panic anymore... I ran the water for a while and it's running clear. I think it's a reminder of what bad shape our pipes are in, though. It's a matter of time.

OK, I'm in a bit of a panic this morning. The water coming out of the taps is brown. I can't see evidence of a burst pipe anywhere, but I don't know what this means. Is it a city water problem, or is it our house? My husband is away, I'm alone with the kids and I'm kind of freaking out...

Just curious-- what are people setting their thermostats at? I've had ours at about 68 for days. Shows how soft I've become, living here. In upstate NY we would turn it down to 58 at night to save money. Getting up in the a.m. was tough.

I'd like someone to stop the lawn crews from using the leaf blowers to blow all that flurf into the storm drains. There ought to be a big fine for that. Outlaw the leaf blowers, while you're at it.

Thanks Gary. Do you think it's better to wait until any danger of another freeze is past to prune, or can I do it anytime? I am looking forward to cutting these bad boys back.

A couple of my accursed bougainvillea look quite dead after the freezes we've had. Unfortunately, the one that I liked is one of the dead looking ones. I'm planning to use this opportunity to chop down the ones in the yard, but I'm wondering about the one near the garage... the one I like. Do you think it's really dead? Or just dormant, from the freeze? It's entirely brown.

I guess one disadvantage of leaving your car unlocked is that it could get stolen. I had a crappy old Honda Accord at one point in graduate school... I mean it was 15 years old. That thing was broken into so many times, I was tempted to just leave a cardboard sign in place of a window, saying "press here to remove contents of car." This was in Philadelphia. I couldn't figure out why they kept breaking into the car, until I read that Hondas are often stolen for parts. I started leaving it unlocked with a club on it.

That bathroom is awesome. Pretty house. I wonder if there will be an estate sale... some nice furniture in there.

That's amazing. Yay for generous philanthropists!

Those nutria are pretty cute, except for the tail. There is just no excusing a rat tail. Since people invented cities in 3200 BC, the rat is not our friend. Can't argue with 5,000 years of history.

Merci. Question answered. I can now contentedly lost interest in the topic again.

Apologies if this is considered thread-jacking, but something I haven't understood in all this soccer stadium talk is why the money isn't being devoted to improving the existing UH stadium. They play there now, right? It brings tons of people to that part of town, increases UH's visibility... but apparently the stadium is too yucky for the professional team. Why should UH have to live with a yucky stadium while money is being spent on a new professional one? Improve the UH stadium instead and everyone wins. I should point out that I know almost nothing about sports, or the business of sports, and have been in very few stadiums, so my question is a sincere one, coming from ignorance. I'd just honestly like to know why what I proposed wouldn't be a better solution.