Original Timmy Chan's

That's not actually my dog, but a pretty good representation. The ungroomed look makes him look crazier...matches his personality. Ours is indeed 35 pounds, hasn't been 15 lb since he was a puppy. He looks 100% like a border terrier, but our dog is part beagle, which must be where he gets his bigger size. He's definitely good security. Almost too good...tried to go after some cops in the street last night (I swear I didn't train him to do it!) A true JYD.

The Mosaic towers have indeed formed their own skyline...and that new skyline blocks out half of the previously fantastic vista of the downtown skyline looking north up Almeda.

There used to be an old sandpit out there. Is that the "next door neighbor" you're talking about? If so, are they filling the sandpit with Ike debris? It doesn't make the best foundation material for a new neighborhood.

I miss the Hwy 21 Cafe in North Zulch. They had the best Chicken Fried Steak I've ever had. That qualifies as Brazos Valley, right? I mean, it drains to the Navasota River, and that's tributary to the Brazos... [Oops...just looked at a map and realized that that side of North Zulch actually drains to Bedias Creek, which is tributary to the Trinity River. Gotta go to the other side of the tracks to west North Zulch to get in the Navasota River watershed.] I still miss that CFS. The next nearest CFS to my grandpa's place is Sodolak's in Bryan, and their CFS is just a step above cardboard.

I'd pay for a front row ticket to see it demolished. I was arrested there for criminal trespass (for parking in their parking lot) in the early 90's. Two of their employees told straight-up lies in court in their testimony...and of course Galveston judge isn't going to let a teenage college student get over on the venerable Flagship. I can only surmise that Yeh must have been running the place back in the early 90's...

You just reminded me of one of the exact reasons why I chose UH over A&M out of high school. I had scholarship offers from both schools, so obviously my choice came down to those two. After 5 minutes on A&M's campus, I wanted out...everyone I saw was wearing khakis and button-down shirts. It was not what I had in mind for college; in fact, I only owned one or two button-down shirts at the time. The atmosphere seemed as starched as a Corps turd's brown shirt. Conversely, after 5 minutes on UH's campus, I immediately felt at home...people in shorts, t-shirts and sandals...and the diversity of the women sure didn't hurt either. Beautiful women of all colors in all manner of dress...and undress. I'm know that 5 minutes on either campus is not a fair representation, but you know what they say about first impressions...Maybe Samsoner's judging by his/her first impression as well?

I guess I lucked out when I was there...right between the "Slacker" and the "Grunge" eras. I was always at the height of style in my smelly T-shirt, blue jeans, sandals and worn-out baseball cap. The only people on campus who fit the persona better were my engineering professors.

Judging by how much a slight breeze can push you around in a kayak, I'd say that riding out a hurricane on the bay would end up as a quick ride to some inland destination like Santa Fe or League City. I went out in West Bay earlier this summer, and the winds kicked up while I was out there. In a short amount of time there were waves crashing across the kayak and it was tough to paddle in. I learned my lesson...always check the weather before heading out to the bay.

Actually I heard on the news that the Dynamo would be out at UH's Robertson Stadium today working the POD there (just as the Rockets team did yesterday).

Power on: ice cold beer Power off: grapefruit juice and vodka By the way...best pre-hurricane hysteria album: Black Sabbath "Paranoid"

What's so funny about that? If you can read the sign, you ARE temporerly close to the KFC...until you start driving away, then you get progressively farther away. I noticed the McDonald's demolition last night after leaving "my place" with a sack of egg rolls. So are we gonna get a new "bad ass" McDonald's or what? I don't know what was wrong with the old one...it was just like every other McDonald's you've ever seen. Back to the original topic, does the Wings place sell anything but wings? I'm a sucker for po-boys.

I'll second Niche's recommendation. South Union is just north of the South Loop, and is generally nicer than Sunnyside. Just north of South Union is Scott Terrace, which is generally nicer than South Union. Just north of Scott Terrace is Riverside Terrace, and if you can afford to live there, you are probably dictating your posts here to your executive assistant.

My home security looks more like this... ...but he still scares the hell out of half our neighbors for some reason. 35 pounds of crazy and ugly.

All the old-timers I work with (Native Houstonians) pronounce it "bio"...almost like "bah-oh". I interchange my pronunciation, depending on the watershed. It's Armand Bio, Greens Bayou with me. Don't know why.

Best Home Security Device EVER: Most of the burglars that I know that work residential won't mess with barking dogs.

Anybody tried the Banh Mi place next door yet? I keep forgetting about it... I'll have to give both a shot. I've supported South Philly Steaks (and they've supported my ever-expanding waistline) ever since they opened. I like to do my part to patronize these types of establishments; they are very much welcomed as UH enhances its campus atmosphere. Not to mention, there's not much else to eat around Scott/OST...just Timmy Chan's and the seven fast-food dwarves (McD, Sonic, Jack-in-the-box, KFC, Popeyes, etc.)

Hall Road was a great place to pick shrooms. Even after they started building the Beltway feeder roads through there. I don't know if there are any pastures left out there today. We moved from Beverly Hills into Kirkmont. We were across the street from where the Beltway is today. The easement where the Beltway is now was a great shortcut to Beverly Hills Intermediate via Beamer. As a kid I was always intrigued by the graffiti, zig-zag packages, and beer bottles in the handful of abandoned concrete pipe culverts that were scattered around the Beltway easement. I was too young to know what was going on there, but old enough to know something was going on in those culverts. I also recall the high-voltage towers that ran down the easement. I believe there were two kids electrocuted right outside our neighborhood while I was young. You can imagine that my parents drilled into my head not to climb on those towers. After seeing a video of what people look like after getting electrocuted...I didn't need to be warned again!

Garner State Park meets all those criteria...it's a little further than you wanted, but still only about a 4-hr drive. I've only been once, but it was around this time of year, and the crowds weren't bad. We slept under the stars within 100 ft of the river. Also maybe Pedernales Falls State Park? It's around 3 hours away, and it's another beautiful Hill Country locale. The drive is half the fun.

Here you go... Southern's Human Juke Box (featuring their Big Girls in this clip...this video doesn't do their performance justice): UH's Spirit of Houston doing their version of the Human Juke Box: Closest I could find to football action was this...the student section counting out our score early in the 2nd quarter (24-0): The game ended up 55-3 in favor of Houston...lots of highlights, but can't find them on youtube. UH rolled up over 600 yards of offense, including 6 TD's through the air, and held Southern to 215 total yds. We played half of our 100-man roster in the game. One of the highlights was new Baylor coach Art Briles' appearance at the tailgate: Good times on Saturday night at Robertson. We face a real test this coming Saturday up in Stillwater against the OSU Cowpokes.

RE-open Goats Head Soup, Epstein's, Blue Iguana, and every other dank smelly bar that's closed down over the years!

Sheeats makes a great point here...you're doing your job as a father by worrying about your daughter and wanting the best for her. Of course, we've ALL made decisions in our lives that our parents questioned, haven't we? Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. But lucky for your daughter, she's got you keeping an eye out for her best interests. You can't make decisions for her anymore, but you can certainly help. Personally, now that I'm older, I wish I'd listened to my dad more often in my youth. Then again, by doing a lot of the things my dad told me not to do, I had a hell of a good time!!! Be confident in what you instilled in your daughter, and hope that you've given her the tools to make the right decisions. And if it doesn't work out, you can always welcome her back to Indiana with open arms. She may just surprise you. This may be her time to get out on her own and shine as an independent woman.

Apparently I've been using the wrong techniques to interview all these years. I base my hiring recommendations on character, experience, dedication, and personality rather than school. Maybe engineering is a different animal, but to me an engineering degree is an engineering degree, regardless of whether it came from Rice U, A&M, TSU, UH or Lamar. Every engineer worked hard to get that degree, and I haven't seen anything in my years to show me that someone with an A&M diploma is automatically more qualified than someone with a UH diploma. It all comes down to the individual. I've seen enough bad engineers from A&M to not be wowed by that diploma, and some of the best engineering minds I've worked with have nothing more than a high school diploma. I still say it's the individual, not the school. I'm not wowed by any school name, nor am I discouraged by any school name on the resume. It's the total package that counts. With that in mind, I believe that a person should choose a school environment that they're comfortable in. Not everyone feels at home at Big State U. Some like smaller private schools like St Thomas, some just want a party school like UT-Austin. That being said, I do agree with Texas Vines on the point that it's tough to find a job with certain degrees, such as Communications...or English, Political Science, Philosophy, Business, etc. I was friends with a number of people who graduated with degrees in English, and they went on to make excellent waiters!

Wow, I STRONGLY disagree with that sentiment. I fail to see how UT-Austin or A&M are more "worthy" schools than UH or TSU for a bachelor's degree. The undegrad curriculum is nearly the same at all schools for similar degrees. I work with many Aggie and Coog engineers (UT-Austin doesn't seem to send many civil engineers to Houston). I can guarantee you that by no means are the Aggie engineers any better as a group than UH engineers. There are employees of varying degrees of excellence and failure from each school. For that matter, the two Rice grads I've ever worked with were two of the worst employees I've ever met. For an undergraduate degree (I have no experience with graduate degrees), I believe it's the individual that determines the value of the diploma, not the school from which it came. Once you get your foot in the door with the degree, it's all up to the individual. The name of the school on your diploma is pretty meaningless at that point.

Because my only other choice was New #7 Timmy Chan's, which obviously sucked, since it couldn't stay in business. Just like myself, The Original Timmy Chan's has staying power.

Teacher. A friend of mine just finished her first year of teaching/coaching making just under $50k per year (Pasadena ISD). She dropped coaching this year, so salary drops down to around $45k/year. Not bad for 9 months of work.