Original Timmy Chan's

I think you got that exactly backasswards, hoss.

Guess I shoulda put on a winky face to express my sarcasm.

I would like to know when we're going to build a wall around Chicago to keep out the terrorists! (note, I'm not putting a winky face, because I'm dead serious here.)

Is that a faculty lot, or are today's students better off than we were at UH?

I say they should build a new stadium, but keep the old one too. They should play in both, with their win/loss record determining specific game sites. If they win a game, they get to play in the new modern facility the next time. If they lose... Robertson. If they lose twice in a row... they can play at Nimitz Stadium in Aldine. Three losses in a row will put them on a Pop Warner field somewhere.

I don't know about that...but if the BCS system is going to stay in place, I would certainly like to see a relegation/promotion system in college football.

Big XII would promote Houston, relegate Baylor to CUSA.

ACC would promote East Carolina, relegate Duke to CUSA.

SEC would promote Southern Miss and relegate Mississippi State to CUSA.

As a UH fan I understand that teams go through some tough times...make a couple bad hires in a row and you've just lost 10 years. But there are too many BCS teams that have NEVER done anything...but still get that BCS $$$ every year. The BCS conference payouts average about 10x the non-BCS conference payouts every year. That's a tough obstacle to overcome for a non-BCS school.

Red, thanks for the factual reply. You are right on the money with your response. I was reading the other comments and about to type up a diatribe...

Fact is, the idea of renovating/adding to/building new stadium did not just come up this weekend after a couple of big wins. It's been discussed and planned for years. In fact, we had half the money for a $30 million end zone facility raised and plans underway earlier this year...but a change in academic and athletic administrations caused a second look at that plan.

Reading the comments here, I don't understand the opposition to UH renovating its own stadium with funds from its own alumni. It's not like we're going to get tax money from City or County...unlike the new Dynamo stadium, Reliant, Toyota Center, BallparkatUnionStation/EnronField/AstrosField/MinuteMaidPark, or the Astrodome. That said, the original structure was publicly financed...it's a 1941 WPA project.

The reasons for renovating/expanding are not to add a lot of seating, but to enhance what we've already got. We've got 32,000 seats with amazing sight lines, but we also have antiquated bathrooms and concessions, amazingly bad "suites" and an embarrasing press box. The focus would be to bring the stadium up to modern standards.

The renovate vs. new debate is a common one, as many homeowners know. Do we live with and work around the constraints of the existing stadium or just start fresh with no constraints?

My personal preference, like Red's, would be to renovate what we've got. I love the Art Deco design, and hope that gets saved. I also think the fact that it's a WPA project is significant and makes the structure worth saving too.

For those that mention Reliant as a possibility...you haven't attended a college game there. It's pretty poor for a college game. We've played three regular season games there, and we're not treated well by the Reliant folks. Remember the Bayou Bucket game there when Reliant had only two ticket booths open? Fans were still in line for tickets at halftime. F--- Reliant. Robertson is our home.

How bout an all-homebrew Oktoberfest?

When I did the whole archaeology-for-money thing in the Southeast and the Midwest, I ate fried crap from more than my share of desolate, kudzu-choked one-horse-town gas stations, more than enough to fill ten lifetimes full of wretchedness. So no offense, but I'll pass on the tacos.

Unless I'm hungry. All bets are off then.

Maybe you're thinking Taco Bell? These aren't like microwave burritos.

These are made-to-order, nothing fried in them, fresh made tortillas, the pico de gallo is fresh (crunchy)...actual slices of beef/chicken (not ground)

Their breakfast tacos are good too, but just be warned that one does the trick.

I agree with some others that there's plenty of unnecessary crap in Buc-ee's, but their delis are pretty damn good. I like to get gas at Buc-ee's.

Across the border? Yeah, good luck with that. I just made two trips across the northern border. PITA.

The Amtrak train I was on spent almost an hour in the Vancouver freight yard waiting for permission to pull into Pacific Central Station. Then once we were in, it took another hour for customs and immigration to interrogate everyone on the train one car at a time.

And that was at a border that DOESN'T have a giant fence!

Coming back into the United States was a lot shorter, but we still had to unload our luggage, go through interrogation, then have our luggage X-rayed like at the airport, then re-load the luggage.

Considering your wait times, you should be happy that the terrorists only come in through Mexico!!!

I've been a fan of Buc-ee's for almost 20 years...from early morning and late night trips down to Surfside during college. The Buc-ee's between the Dow Plant and Oyster Creek was a sight better than the Stop N Go in Surfside.

I'm also a big fan of Perry's in Surfside...like a mini Buc-ee's, without the good food, but you can get damn near anything in that place!

If you haven't had a Buc-ee's taco, you should try one.

All illegal aliens are lawbreakers but not all lawbreakers are illegal aliens!

Not a liberal either...in fact, they're on my list to be rounded up at the same time as the conservatives! That's right before the Jews, but right behind the gays, for those keeping track.

I think we should round up all the criminals as soon as we finish rounding up all the illegal aliens.

That would solve a lot of our problems right there.

Thunderbird, no glass, ice cold is preferred but not required. When I'm in the mood I fancy it up with a little brown paper bag. I find that it lends a hint of mystery and excitement...kinda like the difference between a hot nekkid chick and a hot chick in lingerie. I like it both ways.

When I'm out of T-Bird, I sip on Laphroaig too. Neat.

For the life of me I can't understand why people pass up a great and affordable afternoon of tailgating and excitement at Robertson Stadium to spend hundreds of dollars watching bad football at Reliant.

#21 UH hosts Texas Tech on Sept 26th.

I'll stick to the 3rd Ward, thank you very much...

Because it's my home and I love it.

I agree their cheesesteak sandwich wasnt' great, but I've never had the real thing. Where can I get one? Someone said Jake's I think.

Although I've never been to Philly for the real thing, I've always enjoyed South Philly Steaks on Scott Street at Alabama (across the street from Robertson Stadium).

Jake's and South Philly turn out good cheesesteaks, but South Philly's in a better neighborhood!

if you go to a debate or two, i'm sure you'll be disappointed at our choices. I've been to three debates now and gene locke was the clear leader. it really surprised me that a veteran like annise parker repeatly answered questions with "i agree with mr locke" instead of responding to the question.

I watched a program on Channel 8 some months back with Mr. Brown, Ms. Parker and Mr. Locke.

Gene Locke appeared to be the only one capable of forming complete sentences, let alone complete thoughts.

I was surprised by Parker as well...I had assumed she was a much more polished candidate.

Brown, in my opinion, is well-intentioned, but not very practical.

I need to do some more research, but if I had to pick right now it would be Gene Locke.

do miles of refineries make you tingle?

Yeah, but I thought that was just nerve damage...

Some of the best refinery views are from the edge of Galveston Bay, like the San Leon area. You can see everything from Baytown, La Porte, Deer Park, and on around to Texas City and Galveston.

I've never been to East Bay, but I imagine that would have a hell of a view at night, looking back to the west at the "civilized" side of the bay.

It looks like for all purposes, the widening project is complete. I think there are some striping issues to be taken care of, but the new pavement is down. I also notice they put up new signage, part of it denoting OST as Texas Highway 90 Alt when it's actually US Highway 90 Alt. I don't know how they let that error pass, I don't even think there are State Highways with Alt routes.

I didn't notice the "Texas Hwy 90" sign last night.

The Niche already knows this, but Texas 90 goes from Navasota through Bedias and up to Madisonville.

That's a pretty big mistake.

Thanks Gov Perry!

Sounds like fun BUT that water is literally crappy.

Every station along the Bayou with ecoli measurement are usually above the EPA 394 standard for contact recreation. In other words, Should you really be touching that water?

Simple solution: DON'T DRINK THE WATER!

Just touching the water isn't a big deal unless you have open wounds and hepatitus. Just don't drink it...

Stinkyhot nozoning.

Taking 90 back to Lafayette instead of 10 is much more scenic and has some really beautiful spots, and really, you're only adding about 20 miles.

I did that last year and was pleasantly surprised to see this sign...near Morgan City maybe?

I love taking 90 as much as possible anywhere I go...and the New Orleans to Lafayette stretch is a nice one.

I've been to NOLA once each this year and last, and there's been tremendous progress at our friend's place in the 7th Ward. Seems that 75% of the homes hadn't been repaired from Katrina last year...now it's probably something like 40-50%. Progress.

I didn't go to New Orleans for a pretty good stretch of years, and was amazed to see what the Warehouse District had become in the last 10 years.

There was once a plan to establish a network of man-made canals around Houston for purposes of flood control. Whatever happened to that? I think that should be on the top of the list, together with anything related to the Buffalo Bayou plan. The longer the city waits, the more expensive it will become.

Something like this?

That's the existing network of Harris County flood control channels (doesn't include roadside ditches or storm sewers).

Harris County Flood Control District is responsible for over 2,500 miles of channels in Harris County...seems like there ain't much room for too many more!

I don't know if it's possible to abandon a public street ROW when there are multiple owners along the ROW...but to my knowledge it's definitely possible when a single entity owns all the property on both sides of the street. Obviously there are other considerations (traffic, utilities, etc.), but controlling both sides of the ROW makes it easier.

One fairly well-known example is UH's plan to close Cullen between Wheeler and Elgin. It was approved by City Council a year or two ago. The plan is to close the ROW to vehicular traffic, remove the concrete, and return it to pedestrian uses and/or use the land for additional developable space.

I will tell you from experience to be afraid, be VERY afraid. The house I sold a little over a year ago was a 31 year old ranch style over in Bear Creek, and had only flooded one time in those 31 years and that back in the 80's and it only got about 1 inch of water inside.

Fast forward to the new millenium and all the new subdivisions in Katy and Cypress from 2004 to 2008 and Harris County changed the flood plain in Jan. 2008, which kinda prompted the whole move. The house has flooded 3 times from Sept.2008 to Feb.2009. I totally dodged a bullet on that one.

In fairness, the west side of town has seen some rain events between Sept 08 and April 09 that they hadn't seen in the last 30 years.

Also...to be completely accurate, Harris County didn't change the floodplain on some kind of whim, or to deter or promote development, or to punish certain parts of town. Harris County/HCFCD/FEMA and their contractors provided the most accurate depiction of the floodplain that currently exists, in order to give Harris County residents an accurate assessment of their risk of riverine flooding, by performing more detailed studies over a larger area than anyone in the country has ever done before. It was an unprecedented mapping effort, and has been used as a model for remapping projects across the country.

Talking about the April floods in particular, and just speaking to the areas I'm aware of, the homes that flooded didn't flood due to bayous and channels getting out of their banks (which would be the definition of floodplain), but due to internal subdivision drainage issues. To be more specific, you can point the finger at older design standards (pre-1984) that didn't require consideration of extreme event overflow paths.

Going back to the original topic, while the floodplain maps give a good idea of flood risk from riverine flooding, it's a good idea to dig a little deeper. For one, not all floodplain areas have the same risk. If you're on the fringe of the floodplain you're at less risk of riverine flooding than if you're down on the banks of the bayou for the same floodplain. Additionally, the floodplain maps only reflect riverine flooding, not the sheetflow flooding that occurs due to local drainage conditions within a subdivision.