sheeats

Wow. Seriously? Hip bars and Austin wanna-be restaurants are the only things inside the Loop? And I thought Inner Loopers were snotty! What about all the interesting, non-chain restaurants - big, little, cheap, expensive, ethnic, vegeterian, etc - or the sports teams or the many museums or the theatres or the shopping or the parks or the farmers' markets or the parades or the wide range of activities only available in the city? Things like the Arboretum, the Art Car Parade, the Orange Show, Menu of Menus, iFest, Via Colori, the Azalea Trail, home tours, architecture tours and so on? Yeah. Those things are all worthless. The suburbs offer all of that AND MORE.

Wild Rides: The Toyota Prius Isn't the Angel Everyone Thinks It Is http://www.houstonpress.com/2009-04-23/news/wild-rides/

According to Fast Company, we're one of the 12 "Fast" Cities for 2009 along with Seattle, Taipei, Malmo, Vancouver and a whole bunch of other cities you'll never see grouped with Houston again.

Damn straight, Hannah Storm is a Rockets fan: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...rm_literacy.php Then again, she claims "East Coast Bias" to be a non-issue.

Alright, finally got my photos from the event up: http://www.houstonpress.com/slideshow/view/5382029 While I wasn't able to get a picture of the V for Vendetta guy, I did manage to get a leprechaun and a family of pigs among other spectacles.

Recap of the Jones Plaza gathering from the Houston Press: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...n_tea_party.php I was there myself, taking pictures (will post those soon). I was completely blown away by the turnout -- far more people came than I had ever anticipated -- and the diversity of the group. Helicopters were there, as expected, as were news vans and plenty of police. The crowd were all surprisingly nice, if a little wonky, and very eager to have their pictures taken. Wasn't impressed with the choice of Walton and Johnson (the less funny Stevens and Pruitt) as emcees. Doesn't exactly lend credence to a cause to have those guys up on stage... Otherwise, the speakers I stuck around for were more or less effective, articulate speakers.

Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe#Preparation Should give you a general idea.

Been there dozens of times. The ladies serving you don't get any less surly with time, so don't cringe when they yell at you. The oxtails are fantastic if they're serving them that day. Also make sure to get their yams and cabbage if you can. Used to be a much cooler place, but Midtown springing up around it has made it decidedly less so. The food is still good, but I hate the neighborhood now. Not surprised they're thinking of selling the land; they could build some more WONDERFUL condos there! :eyeroll:

Anvil (on Westheimer in the Montrose) serves absinthe. They've got the whole setup, so you can experience all the rigamarole and pomp that should accompany absinthe-drinking. But it's also a good way to try a little bit without wasting money on a bottle you may end up hating...like I did.

Word. I really don't see the issue with the commercial. People who take things that seriously should be sent to live on their own miserable little ultra-serious island with a bunch of other P.C. creeps. I'll take a sense of humor instead, please. ETA: Well, that was quick: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2009/...picy_little.php They already pulled the ad. Lame.

Went to the new Fleming's steakhouse tonight for the first time (first time in any Fleming's, for that matter). I was pleasantly surprised. Steak isn't normally something I pay for in a restaurant -- I'd rather make them myself at home -- but this was exactly how I'd cook a steak, only with far better side dishes. Very nice interior, typical steakhouse ambiance and design but slightly more upscale, great wine selection, good food. Makes a very welcome change from Taste of Texas up the road.

Alright, so who's going tomorrow? http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...osuton.php#more And who's stealing the "all your butts" meme?

Jesus, what a gorgeous house. Especially when lit up at night (from the few photos) on there. And the pool - gah. Love, love, love. Why would anyone want to tear this down??? (It's a rhetorical question...) It looks in excellent condition. But you never know with Houston...

Both kinds of mushy peas -- the regular and the ones with [gag] mint. Ditto. Although my husband has developed an affinity for our style of pork 'n' beans, he still prefers the "real" kind (which, to me, taste exactly like beans in a can full of ketchup, as if pork 'n' beans weren't disgusting enough to begin with).

I pass this neighborhood every single day, and I'll be damned if the whole thing isn't going to be unrecognizable from its old incarnation within the next five years. It seems like another Memorial Bend house goes down every week.

The Greater Houston Partnership's Transit Planning Committee conducted a survey that basically stated we'd be facing an average three-hour commute within the next 26 years due to unmitigated growth in and around "rural" areas, especially the Grand Parkway corridor. http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...ng_crossley.php Great. Then again, I guess that's the tradeoff for wanting a cheaply-constructed home in an area with marginally good schools.

Yep, my hubby loves the Richmond Arms, too. He's also a big fan of The Bull and Bear, further west. As for shopping H-E-B has a great selection of British food in most of their stores, but the motherlode is at The British Isles in Rice Village. Every kind of English food you could imagine -- they even have a freezer with things like meat pies and Cornish pasties.

Putting her recruiting skills to good use...the woman arrested (along with her husband) not long ago for running Houston's most high-end prostitution ring has started a service called "The Home Angels" and is recruiting home care workers and nannies for families: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20..._child_care.php ...and she gave an interview about it!

My husband is from the UK and he loves Houston so much that he won't even entertain the thought of moving back home. He hates even visiting now, aside from seeing friends, because he can't stand the weather. I know, I know. He loves having a car, owning a house larger than three of his friends' houses put together, the low taxes, the wide open spaces (what, they don't have those in England?) and our weather. The down side is that he loves the weather so much that he refuses to ever turn the a/c on and revels in the heat. And that's when the punches start getting thrown...

They're in response to this guy's attempt to build an apartment building that's going to be a bazillion times taller and larger than anything else in the neighborhood: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...and_houston.php Surprise, surprise.

We installed engineered hardwoods when we moved in to our townhouse two years ago. Anything was better than the 20-year-old, piss-and-tobacco-stained carpet that was there before. It didn't make sense for us to spend the money to install real hardwoods in our area and I absolutely hate the look and feel of laminate, so we took a gamble on the engineered hardwoods. They are Thomasville -- Brazilian cherry or something like that, I believe -- and thick enough to be refinished once, but only once. I'm completely surprised by how durable they've been. We have two dogs (one is a German Shepherd) and a cat and we tend to be pretty rough on our floors/furniture anyway, but they still look brand new. It's really difficult to scratch the floor; I'm talking, you have to take a screwdriver to it to get a nick. We absolutely love them, and no one has been able to tell so far that they aren't real hardwoods. The only caveat: Make sure you get someone to hire them who knows what they're doing. We had to have ours redone in several places because the guy who installed them didn't make sure the subflooring was level and they kept making these horrible, annoying popping sounds as a result.

Seriously: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...e_b_houston.php Granted, the writer stayed in River Oaks with a hoity-toity friend.

Boater's World Marine Center in Webster was closed down by Ike and their parent company's ensuing bankruptcy means that they're now closed for good: http://galvestondailynews.com/blog.lasso?p...05f0405f7de0668 They'd been there since 2002.

There was a Houston Press article on this just last week: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2009/...on_montrose.php

Just another macabre detail I found amusing: Todville would partially translate to Deathville in German. Tod = death. Heh.