20thStDad

It's official. The Andrew Sisters were douchebags.

I notice that there's no female equivalent term - perhaps douchebaguette?

We never fault the women - we just sit there and jealously mutter under our breath that the hot chicks who hang out with douchebags would be better off with us.

4866 in Houston Pavilions. I bet there is one with 10,000 out there.

macht schnell!

ok, so I don't have many chances to use my only German.

This sounds like one of those places where someone decided what sort of skimpy waitress outfit they wanted to use and built the theme around that.

We are simple creatures. Kudos to anyone who takes advantage of it!

Is Someburger safe? Build the damn thing. Fill in empty lots. Is it in a historic district? If so it will probably fail because Wal-Mart made it.

got this email from a neighbor and fellow HKG mom this morning and thought I would share for you HAIFers who might be interested:

A group of community parents have been investigating ways to revitalize Hogg Middle School. A few us met with Dr. Grier to discuss the need for significant change and improvement to Hogg. He seemed to appreciate our directness and asked us to gather Grassroots support.

To demonstrate that improving our neighborhood school, Hogg MS, is an issue widely-supported by the community, an online petition has been created. We are hoping to gather 1000+ signatures from the 77007, 77008 and 77009 zip codes in the next 10 days or so. Below is the link:

http://www.gopetitio...tion/42231.html

Please sign the petition, if you support this effort and live within the 77007, 77008, 77009 area. It would be great if you would also forward to other individuals you know in the community.

Our need for a strong, viable neighborhood middle school option grows every day! How wonderful it would be to send our children to school down the street and with the classmates with whom they have shared so many years already. Every child in our diverse neighborhood deserves a quality education.

Only up to 179 signatures so far. Are there enough of us out there to get to 1000 so quickly? I have my doubts.

I thought it was mostly Metro buses that hit the trains. Since they own both vehicles I would think accident avoidance is just a proximity auto-shut-off fancy device. Or at least something that blasts "STOP! THINK" through a loud speaker at the bus driver when they get near a train.

Hells yeah! Definitely my kind of place.

Do the Dynamo have a contract with Aramark or Chartwell's? Just wondering if beer prices will be ridiculous. If it's decent, I might even go to a game.

I wish IBM hadn't ruined the word Lotus for me. I bet it would be a cool word if not.

Time to explore that "ignore" function on the board...

Some of us don't have easy access to our meters. My own is down in our condo garage, in the dark, with cars parked in front of it. I'm not going down there several times a month and try to do the convaluted "calculations" along little microscopic clocks. Also, to continue the practice of having a meter reader go from house to house with a clipboard in 2011 is insanity. Time marches on and don't hear anyone bemoning the fact that we don't have milkmen or ice delverymen anymore.

Elimination of the meter readers is an excellent reason to tout these new meters, I never said otherwise. As far as convoluted calculations, subtracting one 5-digit number from another never bothered me. It is very convenient to see the information online rather than having to go outside or downstairs, I still just don't get anyone gaining great knowledge on how to reduce their bill beyond what is obvious.

I like digital stuff and data more than the average person, but come on, you don't need this to figure out how to lower your electric bill. I think it's interesting to see the daily trends and I like to have fun with graphs. That's about all I get from it. If my bill is too high, I know what to turn off. I used to check my analog meter several times per month and even that way it's easy to estimate what your usage and bill is going to be.

If you turn &^#%$ off, your bill will be lower. There's the intelligence you are seeking.

In the immediate I-10 and Beltway area we considered MDUMC and Fair Haven UMC on Gessner. There's also Creme de la Creme and Holy Spirit Episcopal both south of I-10 for a slightly higher price. Just outside the beltway there is Westwood Montessori. Moving in I-10 there is St. Christopher's on Blalock, Morning Glory Montessori and Kindercare both on Bunker Hill, Spring Branch Presbyterian Academy on Campbell, and Big Little School and School of the Woods Montessori on Wirt. Those are (mostly) only the places that take infants, full-time--as that was what I was researching for when I made my list. I'm sure there are other options because not everywhere takes little bitties. Also, I'm not recommending all of the above places, those are just the ones on my list.

Unfortunately, daycare/preschool options are far more abundant and cheaper in the suburbs. Full-time infant prices in this area range from $900 to $1200+, and frankly I toured some places where I wouldn't leave my dog. We pay right around $1000 for a one year old in a very good school. For a toddler I would expect to pay $800+. Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone, this does help. But, the prices we're finding hurt! We have some time to look, so we'll keep searching.

Just for reference, what residential area in Houston has better restaurants than the Heights?

My recommendation is Calliope's at 2130 Jefferson

Big Mamou is ok now and again, but I secon Calliope's. Better food, more of it, and for less $.

Mardi Gras Grill is also good stuff. Cajun comes in many different forms, all of it can be good.

The Passat is looking kind of Camry. It was always a bit different but seems to be losing that.

Does any action have to be taken by the opposition for this ordinance to be thrown out by some judge? I think this is an easy case of the city going well outside its power and undertaking a very unfair process. If it ever falls to a judge I can't imagine them taking long to overturn it.

Whatever, LSU eliminated A&M (and any hopes of a decent big 12 bowl performance) yesterday. I tanked the pick em on purpose for superstitious reasons!

LSU at 32...jus' sayin'. Bunch of big 12 aggie homers...actually 3 out of 5 picked LSU, but whatever. I can't win the pick em, but this win feels nice.

Hold on now...might have been doing some whiskey math there. If Kentucky, Nevada, and Auburn win, I think I win.

LSU at 32...jus' sayin'. Bunch of big 12 aggie homers...actually 3 out of 5 picked LSU, but whatever. I can't win the pick em, but this win feels nice.

I think vegetation works better as a visual barrier than a physical one. And using it as the outside layer, that doesn't exactly convey your "I'm a fortress, Keep Out" message.

I say go with an under 8' CMU wall as your outer layer with tall vegetation, perhaps bamboo, as the next layer in. If you could put some sort of natural berm or stepped site between the ROW and your wall, that would raise the height even more. Take a look at Zemanek's house.

Another plan.. go with the taller walls at the easement, but in conjunction with your secure access issue, give over 1/4 of the site, outside the 25' easement to a secure paved carpark area with a secondary shorter wall, as described above, and a solid gate. Add in a basketball goal or a tennis wall and all is not wasted.

You could always try applying for a variance like i assume this guy did

I've seen a dense bamboo planting as a barrier, and it's definitely impossible to get past with 6-8 inches between each stalk (right word?). And remember Age of Empires? You can't walk through that junk!

Private schools can be very diverse. My sons class is 30 students and pretty much every "common" ethnic group is represented at least twice. At Awty, the international school, over 50 nationalities are represented on campus. Public schools can, at the same time, have a startling lack of diversity. Half one thing and half another doesn't make a school diverse. I am not saying there is no merit inyour comment but the generalizations shouldn't be taken as absolute. Diversity/private are not mutually exclusive and public does not automatically = diverse.

I didn't intend to generalize, I was just trying to put a pro-public plug in and remind people that private doesn't necessarily mean better. Also I wanted to defend my LA public alma mater just a bit. I think you really do have to look neighborhood by neighborhood and school by school, there's no general answer that works everywhere.

And it is not about what a single house looks like on a single lot. It is about the continuity of a historic neighborhood. Stick a McVic in the middle of bungalows and you bust the block. Put in a camelback, you still have the continuity. Not perfect, but a far cry from dropping in a McVic.

I don't know what neighborhood you live in, but my Heights could never be described by continuity. It's as random as you could possibly make it.

Anybody have any opinions on Memorial Elementary?

Seems like a nice facility with the advantage of being in walking distance to Memorial Park and nestled in between two very nice neighborhoods.

I guess Texans can take what they have for granted sometimes, in regards to public schools. I have a colleague from Louisiana and when we were conversing about school options in our area his exact quote was:

"...even the worse public schools in Texas are probably better than the schools where I'm from"

I can totally understand your viewpoint growing up in Cleveland than SM3H

In LA it's all about neighborhoods, same as pretty much anywhere. I went to a magnet public high school, and I can safely say that the education provided was miles and miles ahead of the private school I attended from 3rd - 8th grade. I also think the exposure to diversity helps a kid, rather than being stuck in a place with too much sameness.

Bamboo forest perimeter, reaches to 25 ft. Might grow slowly, unsure of mature transplant opportunities.

We've done some quick searching for preschool and toddler day care in the area around BW8 and I-10, but so far most are either crazy expensive or have pathetic hours like 3 days/wk from 9-12. Ideally we would want something that spans what a typical school day is. Any recommendations or advice?

Thanks in advance!