20thStDad

All is not lost, I haven't lost anything higher than 24. After that I lost a 23, then nothing higher than 13. I knew which ones I didn't know. Something like that. Anyway, it could all change today with big numbers on the line (17, 22, 19, 33).

About to be 0-3 today, so I would like to change my story to that I am trying to lose on purpose. Because technically, getting them all wrong is as hard as getting them all right.

It's a breastaurant, therefore I will never go.

Your logic is confusing. The burgers are pretty good, why scoff at nice presentation? Anyway, I accidentally went to the one in Dallas with a female coworker on a business trip, and the "talent" was sub-par. She thought it was funny.

Yeah.. Baylor looked terrible.

I say we switch back to Yahoo for next time. I'm in a league there as well.

a) it just looks more professional

b ) it hides your opponents pick and wager till game time, which increases the drama.

c) it has your "max score possible" listed as well on the scoreboard

Fine by me, I'll do both. I like seeing everyone's picks lined out, so I can think they're crazy for putting a 27 on Tulsa, then they end up being right. ESPN used to show PPR, and I know they always do for the NCAA bracket challenge, Maybe they got lazy this year or let the interns run this one over the holidays.

We're stacking 'em deep and selling 'em cheap!

Interesting commentary. I think it greatly oversimplifies the issue, but expect it will be very useful ammunition for anti-labor conservatives in other states during the next election cycle.

The re-districting fight in Texas will be a dogfight.

As long as we find a way to re-district SJL out of a job, I'm for it.

20th and brijon... you two were aware we're supposed to pick who we think would win each bowl, right ?

That's 6 losses in a row for each of ya.

http://games.espn.go...t?groupID=11556

Someone must have sabotaged my picks. I look back on a couple thinking I would never pick that. There are 3 specifically that I originally had right, then I read some column by some sports idiot and decided I should change them. That never works out well. That big 12 bias seems to have hurt you yesterday. Then again I'm an SEC guy and got the same 2 wrong, although for less points.

All is not lost, I haven't lost anything higher than 24. After that I lost a 23, then nothing higher than 13. I knew which ones I didn't know. Something like that. Anyway, it could all change today with big numbers on the line (17, 22, 19, 33).

We have a winning combination with the offense, but the defense is just atrocious aside from Pollard and Cushing.

You are right about the defense needing improvement. They could use Dom Capers back on the sideline for that, he's doing a damn decent job as def coordinator in Green Bay.

As for the offense, are you sure? Andre Johnson will make just about any QB look good. I'm not sure Schaub is a franchise QB from a leadership standpoint. Look at the differences between Brady/Brees and someone like Romo. Dallas is supposedly the most talented team in the NFL this year. They haven't done anything in years. Brees and Brady are making average talent teams super powers because of the way they lead. Coaching helps for sure, but it's not the only thing (Belichek failed a few times before NE). It's all about the QB, and he's proven he's not going to win those close/late games.

I worked for Ascension Parish in LA in college, and the Parish government was responsible for doing new addresses. Whenever you put in the documents to indicate there are improvements on the land, a new address was part of that process. It might be different here. They didn't address anything until there were approved plans for improvements (or until someone rolled the trailer up the driveway).

There are so many wholesale jewelers, and even those who make their own here in Houston. Unless you are going for something incredible simple and low cost there's no reason to go retail or chain. Jewelry is marked up even more than furniture, I'm sure the wholesalers are still screwing you, but to a much lesser extent.

There's a building on Richmond (6222 I think) between Voss and Fountainview that is full of jewelers, I think 9 or 10 floors of them. Just go there and find someone you think is trustworthy (might be hard if you have a phobia of Persians/Arabs/Jews). Also, it's fun to say "I got a guy" for jewelry and not be just trying to sound funny.

Why not just slap some housing on top of existing water towers? I would love to live on a water tower.

That's okay.. I was so distracted by playing with confidence points, that I completely forgot I was supposed to be picking against the spread.

Of course.. i am 4 for 4 so far... so I may have found my new winning strategy for next season.

It's not against the spread, all straight up. For bowls that's never as easy as you would think.

At least I got my 35 pointer right! Enough of this one game per day stuff, I need 5-6 at a time happening.

I already know where to get good mexican food, I will only try this place if they have good margaritas for a great happy hour price.

David Weekley Homes used to always make that list. Maybe criteria or the recent economy kept them out this time.

Also, Dallas has more white people.

= much worse food

I've never done one with confidence points before. Over on yahoo, each user's winner and their wager on that game will be displayed under group picks. I'm hoping our ESPN game is the same

There's gonna be lots of ups and downs and turmoil when we see for any given game that one person has waged 30 pnts on team A while someone else has waged 33 pnts on team B.

When the first game starts it will lock all picks and you can see everyone's picks and confidence. Coming up to the last games, you'll be able to do some math (and it'll show you PPR) to figure out the likely scenario.

Looking at tomorrow's games, I think I have single digit confidence on all of them, so even if I'm right I won't have much to show for it.

Anyone know where to get wood pellets for an electric smoker (gift for the pops). I've seen wood chips, not pellets.

Centrist (40/40). Not surprising, I think most political parties are idiots most of the time.

Maybe it's the Holiday Effect. Who really is hankering for a carb blowout right now?

For the next two weeks, if I had nothing but sashimi, liquor, and Super Dieters Tea things would be good.

too. much. food. everywhere.

Ha, I thought it was a good idea to try out our chocolate fountain (gift that sat in the closet for 2 years) at the company pot luck. Well, it was a great idea. And then later it didn't feel like a great idea.

Let the overeating continue! January is for regretting.

Skeeters, are those the blood sucking little annoying insects? We do have a lot of those. Oh damn, that is what they mean. I can't decide if I like that or not. I guess it's better than the Gnats.

My favorite view of downtown is from the west side, coming over the Durham bridge over White Oak bayou, and to a lesser extent Shepherd on the bridge over Allen/Memorial (it's closer and the angle is better but there is some tree blockage), just before the sun comes up. The natural light makes downtown look awesome before the sun pops above the horizon. Every morning I come that way, I wish I had my camera (and 2 extra hands).

Oops, I jumped the gun and replied in the original 2010 thread. Um, here it is again.

1. Oil will be within +/-$5 of where it is right now ($72)

2. Kentucky will win the NCAA basketball tournament

3. No hurricanes make landfall in TX, again

4. We will go from drought to soaked again, with a top 10 record rainfall in the month of July

5. My tomato plant will not grow back after that freeze, the lemon tree will be fine

6. The Saints will NOT win the super bowl (reverse superstition, go Saints!)

1. $88 right now, but when did I mean? Who knows. It was $72 at some point last year. Badly framed prediction

2. Doh!

3. Correct

4. It was the 4th wettest July in recorded history for Houston!

5. Tomato plant died. Gone. Lemon tree came back to life somehow

6. It worked!! I should get some kind of payment for that, right?

Not bad, 4 out of 5. The first one was dumb.

As I understand it, yes.

I believe how it works is if the team you rank with 1 confidence points wins, You get 1 point, regardless of which bowl game it is. Same can be said for every winner up to 35 points.

Unlike the strait up Bowl Pickem, I have not found where it says the bowl games are also weighted by importance.

So, my understanding is, there are No incentives to rank more important bowls, for example, rank Auburn with 35 confidence points... You would not get an additional weighted amount of points over if I had given Middle Tennessee 35 confidence points.

If I'm wrong in that assessment, I'll have some re-ranking to do.

You are right, bowl importance has nothing to do with it. You get the points that you assign to a game if you pick it right. I think it plays on those emotional homer or hater picks even more than the against-the-spread format.

Once it locks, your picks will be shown in chronological order to make it easier. Points are given as games complete, and on the group page it will show totals and possible points remaining after each game.

1. Oil will be within +/-$5 of where it is right now ($72)

2. Kentucky will win the NCAA basketball tournament

3. No hurricanes make landfall in TX, again

4. We will go from drought to soaked again, with a top 10 record rainfall in the month of July

5. My tomato plant will not grow back after that freeze, the lemon tree will be fine

6. The Saints will NOT win the super bowl (reverse superstition, go Saints!)

1. $88 right now, but when did I mean? Who knows. It was $72 at some point last year. Badly framed prediction

2. Doh!

3. Correct

4. It was the 4th wettest July in recorded history for Houston!

5. Tomato plant died. Gone. Lemon tree came back to life somehow

6. It worked!! I should get some kind of payment for that, right?

Not bad, 4 out of 5. The first one was dumb.

This is a stupid idea. People who want to know about what is going on in other cities should go straight to the source. If I want to know about the latest fiasco at Metro, I wouldn't go to Dallasmetropolis.com. Screw Texas. I only care about Houston and so that is why I come here. I wish the Dallas board would be eliminated. It only serves to invite Houston bashing and is the source 95% of the childish bickering that goes on at this otherwise fine website.

I think that number is down around 40% since the Heights Wal-Mart and historic district topics have been up. Lately it's been mostly h-town on h-town bickering.

Hey, don't be dissing analog clocks! I have one in my vehicle.

That dash looks a lot better to me. Maybe it's just the overall styling as opposed to the individual element that I don't like.

LDPE, or even LLDPE which the dry cleaners use for those super thin cover things. HDPE is good stuff.