HtownWxBoy

Sounds like the new Cowboy's stadium is going to be spectacular.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition...0,1156838.story

It just sucks it's not even in Dallas... I don't know I just find that weird... it will be a really nice stadium, though.

Stick a fork in McCain.

Stick it in Palin, she's the one who derailed McCain's campaign... then again he picked her... well stick it in both of them.

Looking forward to the winter when the cold, dry air makes the skyline at night look so.... crisp!

Do you think Palin will even make it to the debates? I have a feeling if McCain's campaign isn't happy with her debate prep she may bow out of the race for "personal reasons".

Oh yea, she will make the debates, it's way to close to the election... she's in it for the long haul... or short haul I guess. I just keep thinking of her Katie Couric interviews... scares me to death thinking that woman could be a heart beat away from the Presidency.

I think it's over for McCain / Palin.

Dial tone? How 20th century.

... seriously.

I am not looking at my 401K... I know it's down... it's just on paper, I am optimistic the markets will go back up... here's hoping!

I doubt they'll pay a credit for the time the power was out. They don't give a credit when my TV or PC are broken.

They are crediting me for all days I was w/o cable and internet, including those days when the power was out. They said it came to 16 days... $80 or so.

You want the credit before you know when the service is back? How can you know how much credit you get until after the lack of service ends?

That's why they ask you to wait until it's all back up and running... then their computer shows how long you were out of service... then they can calculate how much they will credit you.... that's what they did w/ me it was easy and quick.

What number did you call? I've been calling them repeatedly to ask them about our lack of internet service (though we have cable), and every time I bring up the credit for the cable outage issue, they just tell me to "wait until everything is back on line, and then we'll talk".

They're pissing me off.

1-800-COMCAST. They did tell me the first time I called to wait until both my cable and internet were back up before I called about the credit... which I did... but both time I was able to talk to someone within a few minutes of calling... no long wait at all.

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one

Yeah well all those numbers mean squat right now. If Palin does well in the debate against Biden, or rather if Biden implodes or gaffes himself to death, you will see a 10%-15% swing, perhaps more. The few points Obama gained after their debate, will be minute compared to the swing of this next debate. You'd think she was running for frigging President, the way the numbers swing on her more than McCain. The numbers are so polarized right now on three major issues. She hasn't been in the pit yet. If she jumps in and breaks even with Biden, McCain/Palin can call it a victory and the points will swing. It will get those leaners that are still unsure on how she will handle pressure. She will be debated a seasoned politician that been in office since she was eight years old. If Biden gaffes himself badly there will be a huge swing in points. For whatever reason the numbers react more on things around her. Which really is insane, in the history of the office, I don't think a VP candidate has had this much influence on the polls. I don't think McCain would have gotten a bigger rise out of people if he'd have chosen the world class idiot Thomas Robb (current grand dragon of the KKK). This race has been stranger than strange. Bill Clinton has practically been endorsing McCain/Palin with some of his interviews on TV. I see now why Obama distanced himself from Hillary, because Bill would have to be dealt with. It's hard to figure his motivation these days, other than to get Bill on the TV, and plug his latest project. This thing is far from a done deal. No matter who you vote for, get your ass out and vote, it's part of the process, and it's the right thing to do. People gave their lives so we would have the right to do so, it's a right we should be proud of and exercise at every given chance.

See you at the Polls..............

If Palin doesn't do well in the debate I think it's over... unless Obama does something horrible... I know Palin is not running for President but so much focus has been placed on her and she has been on a downward spiral the past several days. Her interview w/ Katie Couric... what a disaster!

I rode my bike around HP last night, and here's what I saw...

The SHED (House of Blues) looks great on the inside, and it was full of workers getting it ready.

Borders is already shelving books and has a full staff there.

McCormick and Schmick's looks like it will be open soon too.

The rest of the development still looks a bit unfinished, so my guess is that they're going to be opening in phases. HOB and Borders will probably be phase one

You mean "books-a-million".... and M&S's opens in November.

You mean Books-A-Million... where is it located in HP?

EDIT: Nevermind, noticed it was mentioned above.

JINX!

I sent an e-mail to Comcast requesting the credit for days without service. I got my power back 5 days before cable came back. Comcast sent back an e-mail saying I needed to open an online chat session with a service rep or call them. No way was I spending hours on the phone so I went online. The person I was chatting with said they could only authorize up to a $25 credit and mine was going to be bigger than that so I had to copy and paste the e-mail Comcast sent to me before she would give me the full credit but, I finally got it.

As for power if you buy electricity from someone other than CenterPoint then most of your bills are estimated as they only true up to the meter about once every six months. I use TXU and my last bill went through September 12, and said it was an estimate. If the next one is an estimate I'm sure it will be high and unless I negotiate a deal with them I won't see the effect of the power outage until the next true up.

I was only on the phone w/ Comcast for like 10 minutes yesterday... was really simple... it didn't take long at all.

I buy electricity through Reliant... I guess we will see what happens.

The latest daily Gallup Poll now has Obama up 50% to 42% over McCain... if the current trends continue Obama will definitely win this election. The excitement over Sarah Palin has diminished greatly... some conservatives are now even saying she should bow out b/c she was obviously not a good choice for V.P. candidate. The thought of her being second in line for the Presidency scares the heck out of me.

I called Comcast yesterday... they are crediting me for 16 days w/o cable or internet which is exactly how many days I was without it... not bad.

interesting indeed. Apparently electric bills will not reflect all the days we've had w/o power because no one was reading meters. It will be up to you and your middleman to argue over exactly how many days you had no power. Should be fun.

I am confused. I didn't have power for 2 weeks... so obviously my meter wasn't running those two weeks... when they read the meter next will they not see that?

I saw the second crane is now up. Must've installed it over the past few days.

2 cranes!?... ooo... double your pleasure! he he he he

Agreed.

Thanks HAIF for all the great information and resources during this time.

Hurricane Ike made history for me. (Worst hurricane I have ever been through. Longest power-outage in my life.)

Ditto... this was really my first hurricane... I was here for Rita but I don't really consider that "hitting" us... just got my power on Friday... 2 weeks w/o power... crazy! The husband just informed me that cable and internet came back today... so back to normal! Bring on winter! ha ha

Got my power back in the Heights Friday late afternoon... still no cable... should have that today or tomorrow.

Sounds like FEMA wants to help out people in a hard place, but doesn't want to play the role of gap insurer.

I think so too... the article saying they want to help out where insurance does not makes it a bit confusing... just something to look into.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=...&id=6393873

According to this article, you can apply for help from FEMA... it says the money can't be used to repair your home to it's condition before the Hurricane but it also says you can use the money for home repair... so I really don't know if they can help or not.

According to FEMA's site....

Repair: Money is available to homeowners to repair damage from the disaster to their primary residence that is not covered by insurance. The goal is to make the damaged home safe, sanitary, and functional.

I'd like to make a couple things clear...

1.) Ike, what everybody from Galveston to Conroe to Livingston experienced was a bonafied Cat 1 storm. Sustained winds were 80 to 85 mph sustained...this according to the HRD (Hurricane Research Division). Ike actually strengthened as it moved over Houston. This can be seen in the microwave imagery. Notice the orange showing up over northern Harris and southern Montgomery counties. This explains why the damage was so extensive in the northern areas.

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/real-tim...sBy12hr_26.html

Also you will notice the wind field (posted below) that the Cat 2 winds were confined to High Island and that's it. You will also notice, in conjunction with the microwave imagery above, that the highest sustained winds in Houston were located from Downtown to Conroe to Livingston. Winds were likely higher in The Woodlands than they were in Galveston.

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Storm_pages/T...L092008_mph.pdf

One of my supervisors showed us a map like that... showed winds west of the center were actually a bit stronger from Downtown to Conroe than they were south of Downtown, excluding maybe the immediate coast. This is evident by that orange dot just north of Downtown.

So today while using my car as a power source my boyfriend was able to deduce that although we don't have power, we also don't have cable or internet. He asked me to get Comcast to credit us for not having either service since the hurricane hit... I told him he was crazy for thinking Comcast would credit us, especially since our power is still out... well, guess I was the crazy one. ha ha ha Just came across this article while bored at work.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories...22/daily16.html

Not sure if you have to actually call them or email them or if they will know who didn't have power and just credit your bill... I am going to call just to be safe!

^^^ A Super Target paid for with insurance money. As long as no one was killed or hurt, that actually bodes well for the Target Empire, doesn't it?

m.

That's what cracked me up... I was feeling all bad for Target at first then realized they will benefit from the whole situation! ha ha

Everyone knows it's the self-loathing conservatives who really want to eat their children .

Well duh, but it's the conservative way to blame everything on the (insert minority group name here).