samagon

do you come to a complete 2 second stop behind a stop sign and look both ways before proceeding? do you use your signal when changing lanes? do you not speed? do you not cross the big white line and end up in the crosswalk at an intersection? do you come to a complete 2 second stop behind the big white line before you turn left at a red light, using your signal? do you slow down to admit other drivers? do you not tailgate? I mean, we can go back and forth and talk about how cyclists disobey the law, or how motorists disobey the law, but the point is, no one is infallible, we are all bound as users of the roadway to obey the same laws, we just have to learn to accept that it is the job of our understaffed police department to enforce the law, and move on without killing each other. unfortunately, on a bike, it is really easy to die if someone gets pissed off and decides to do something stupid. which gives us an added personal preservation responsibility to follow the laws of the road, but at the same time, if I see that no one is at an intersection, I'm not going to stop. That is not to say that there aren't others out there who will blow a stopsign, or stoplight with oncoming traffic, and that is just really stupid.

not to get in a sandwich discussion, in a sandwich thread, but I prefer subway bread over all of the rest, but that is all I prefer, I find their preparation areas to be messy at best, and I just feel like I'm playing russian roulette with the number of friends I have that say they've had food poisoning from one of them. regarding making a sandwich at home (or bringing supplies to the office to stick in the fridge), when you want to eat out with friends for lunch, and want something more healthy than a hamburger, but less healthy than a salad, and want to stay within a certain price range, sandwich shops are usually top of that list.

Which Wich is a good option that I will go to, I would give a toe from my left foot for a thundercloud, there used to be 1 in houston that I knew about, up off of 249 near compaq in the late 90s. One good thing about which wich that other sandwich shops in the midtown area don't have is online ordering, which is a really good thing. looking online though, I guess quiznos has online ordering too.

Where abouts are these new improved bike lanes? Can you possibly snap some shots when you get a chance? Extra markings are always welcome and a big benefit to both riders and drivers, I think some sort of barrier would be huge, either those big white balls like as are on main street around the rail, or a full curb. The biggest problem for me in the bike lanes is that they are skinny, really skinny when a bus whizzes past, and they are dirty, all the rocks and debris that cars toss around go right into the bike lanes, and a bike tire is a lot more prone to puncture. Neither of those problems are going to go away until roads are designed from the ground up with bicycles in mind, but a small barrier would be a great benefit.

nice series. I hope it's a long time before the next one like it. well, I at least hope we have a chance to get everything cleaned up from this one. blue tarp roofs seem to have become a new fashion statement.

Very true, but then you get into the price of it, and I think even if there was a central workforce location that the price would go up, and there would still be day laborers willing to do it for less. We'd be right back where we are now. I'm a fan of Martini Hardware, the place is mom and pop and they've been there since my parents lived in the area 40 years ago. Parking isn't easy, but they are like all mom/pop hardware stores in that they have random stuff everywhere, and if you find an old guy and ask him where something is he walks you right to it.

ha, yeah, I bet the firefighters were quick to respond because of this and also because they like to shop there!

I like to consider myself a conservative, and I would like this, it would provide a few things for both sides: guarantees that the day labor force is documented it would help to rid the places like HD of the biomass that just mills around pestering customers it would help to keep those places clean protection for the day laborer and the person getting the day labor anyway, I would see it as less of a union for day labor, as I would a system that provides documented labor to those who want it from a centralized location. making the city not only more presentable, but helping to reduce the illegal population of day labor.

completely different era, and I don't consider it historic, yet, but I remember the dos pesos/taco cabana law suits. totally pissed me off cause dos pesos had much better food and cheaper margaritas! (and at the time they didn't card as much, which was good for me).

I did that once, going down Jackson in midtown it is a 2 way street, after gray it turns into a one way going south. It was night and I didn't even realize I had entered the 1 way part until I got to pierce and didn't see any traffic lights. Going back during the day there are 2 do not enter signs that I missed in the dark. I think in instances like this it is easy to miss, and not well designed (or it could just be me justifying missing those do not enter signs), they should go through and make the 1 way portion move over to the right, and then put some big planters or something on the left so that you know for sure, you can't go in there. I live in the area and I did it, I can imagine for people who don't travel downtown often that being in unfamiliar territory is confusing enough, but then throw 2 way streets that turn into 1 way streets with little to no warning other than a couple of do not enter signs, it is easily missed. That is an example in my mind of poor planning, but I've also seen some extremely poor driving. anecdotally, I was at a friends house in midtown sitting on their balcony, I saw a car turn the wrong way onto their street and a car was coming the other way, there was a big show of light flashing and honking, a minute later the same exact car did the same exact thing. they were driving really slow and I am sure were looking for someones house, but still, how do you make the same mistake in rapid succession?

At one of my friends houses, well, townhome, their place is about 50ft from the tracks, they can almost feel it when the engine rolls by. They also paid a hefty sum more for their place what I paid for mine. Yeah we have to listen to the horns, I remember the first night I slept in my house there was one conductor whose method of blowing his horn was to just lay on it for a good 10 seconds. I thought that thing would never stop. hahaha. The good thing about living 3 or 4 blocks away from the tracks is that if you have all of your windows closed you can't really hear them unless you are trying to, and I imagine with better windows there would be even less noise in the house. If I go outside for a cigarette while on the phone and a train goes by, whoever I am talking to asks about it. In my opinion the sounds of rail are fine, it is when I am inconvenienced by them and I have to take a different route to work, but even that is a minor inconvenience. Granted when I am riding my bike on leeland and have to stop at cullen, that is a bother, and potentially unsafe if I am riding home late at night on a weekend, usually I am riding with others if it is dark, but still, not fun. Anyway, I guess I was providing anecdotal evidence that I have a few friends that spent way more than me on housing even closer to the tracks and they don't find it to be a big deal. I understand that there are people who will shy away from the locations because there are railroads, but Houston has a high enough population and places this close to town aren't easy to come by, the influx will happen. On a completely separate subject (well, still trains and still eastwood) I learned on the history channel that each conductor has their own way that they blow the horn, and I try to listen to see if I can pick out the same ones as they go by, I think I've heard the guy with the 5 short and 1 long multiple times, usually in the early evening. There is also a guy with 2 short 1 long and 3 short that I hear pretty often.

I only shop at walmart between 3am and 5am on weekends, and typically at the dunvale store, but sometimes kirkwood. that is some good crazy people watching. that and the strippers leaving trails of boob glitter throughout the store is fun to watch too.

wow, I can't see how they don't pull the trigger on the stadium. $20,000,000 in infrastructure (replace old and busted with new hotness) that the city pays. $60,000,000 for the stadium that the dynamo itself pays. and the city and county will own the stadium? why is this even a question, both projects, the infrastructure, and the stadium itself will create jobs and revenue in the city, not to mention the jobs and revenue that are created specific to the area that would be seen after completion. maybe I'm missing something? or is it an all or nothing kind of deal where all 4 things are part of the same thing? that would suck.

That will be awesome, if it comes to fruition, I'm never home to go to Mandola's when they're open, but I've always heard good things. and it would be a great way to make my friends come out to the east end, instead of making me trek it over to their side of the world! Places like this will really help to change people's perception of the area, I know even among my friends, that live in midtown, they refer to themselves as 'on the front lines' of the good part of town, and they refer to me as 'being behind enemy lines' I think it's funny, but I also think that there is truth in it that people have this perception of the area. When places like that open that draw people in, their perception will change for the better!

trains don't seem to make much of a difference for the rapidly developing washington area, there are some really high dollar houses, townhomes, and condos that butt right up to the tracks, and they are just as loud and just as often. I'm sure both areas are slated for the quiet zoning whenever that happens...

Update, twice I've been to the home depot recently and there's been a sheriff parked in the lot, and the number of laborers was down, as well they were staying on the sidewalk.

as the warehouse district, sorry eado, gets more and more residents, the retail will come to that area, this should continue to move east. as others have said, only time will tell, but for me I find the area to be very convenient even with the lack of starbucks on every corner, and if you find a nice starting point of a house, you'll enjoy yourself even now, even though you may have to drive 10 minutes to go to a grocery store. we have great accessibility to the areas around that have already been built up, or are in the process (montrose, midtown, washington) there are big box retailers over in gulfgate. the area is bicycle friendly with trails less than a mile away with access to downtown and herman park/ museums. even in the year I've owned, I've seen progress being made, houses being updated, etc. it is slow, but it is a slow economy, and these things take time.

Another option for people on bikes, carry two towels, one wet, and one dry in addition to the office clothes. when you get to the office while changing to office attire, use the wet towel to clean up a bit, and the dry to, well, to dry off.

It amazes me to no end that so many motorists are quick to point out every single infraction that a cyclist has of the law, mainly any law that interferes with their driving experience. Then that same motorist is breaking as many, or more laws that inconvenience other motorists and cause safety concerns they don't think about, speeding, not signaling, rolling through stop signs, rolling through right on red, the list is long. There are a few very good points that can be made. 1. The main one is about safety, cyclists have no protective shell, no seatbelt, nothing protecting us from the ground and motorists bumpers, this forces a self aware rider to continually be cautious of those around him, and if they are smart while riding solo, or in a small group, to obey the law as best they can. 2. Hypocrisy sucks. Every cyclist must ride in this mindset if they want to stay safe. The one chance we have as equal users of the road system, to use the road system without having to mentally drain him/herself is to ride in a group so large that motorists cannot just ignore us, or buzz us because they are inconvenienced. This is a great release for all cyclists! More important than this ability to ride without worry, drivers are forced to be aware of the fact that cyclists are here to share the roads. This hopefully gives some perspective to those who get angry and pissed at cyclists for inconveniencing them on a daily basis. But even more important still, we may give awareness to the motorists who never think about, or even notice cyclists on the road. That maybe in the future these aloof ones will look for cyclists before they roll through a right on red, or roll through a stop sign, or make a lane change without using their signal. It is these drivers that pose the greatest threat to cyclists. Because they do illegal things without even thinking about who they are endangering, or giving a cyclist warning as to their actions so that we can make adjustments to ensure our safety. We stop for Ambulances, Firetrucks, Police cars and trains. Keep this in mind if you have a family member that needs immediate medical attention on the last Friday of the month between 7:30ish and 9:30ish.

first orange shirt at 1:35 is me (the one without the dreads, what are the odds that not only two people would wear orange shirts, but we would be right next to each other?)

yes! I am eager to go for the first time in 15 years http://www.bikehouston.org/content/blogcategory/14/40/

There was also an officer that stopped traffic for us at some random intersection as we were going down Mac Gregor. The rides encompass all kinds of riders, from hard core road racers to BMX. It is very laid back, and very friendly environment where you are going to strike up a conversation with random people who you have a common bond of a love of cycling with. It is a great environment! Depending on who is leading will depend on how good the event is for everyone. The July event was the worst I've been on, very long between stops, and fast leaders, we ended up with a bunch of different groups that were strung out so far that the back people ended up getting lost, not to mention we rode down westheimer and some other highly trafficked streets. This is more the exception than the rule. The last event was very well led, and had a route that didn't go over lots of bad roads with tire gobbling cracks, but that is almost unavoidable unless we just do loops around downtown. My experience overall is very positive

It was a really good ride! Much better than the previous month.

Went on the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday, we rode down Harrisburg, all lanes are open, but the road is patched to hell and back at least as far as Eastwood Park.

so long as you are on public land they can't really do anything to you.