Original Timmy Chan's

You left out one of the greatest rap songs of all time: Public Enemy's "BRING THE NOISE!"

Is there really a place where you can try a monkey? I don't mean "try" as in "bring before a judge", because that's just silly. I mean "try" as in "is this the right monkey for me?"

...and I was rewarded with this burn mark on my foot.

No surprise after METRO announced the "black line" (SE Line) and the "white line" (Richmond). The Original Timmy Chan wants to know when we will get the yellow line!!!

Hereby nominated for longest run-on sentence of ALL TIME!!!! Excellent work!

Just got back from a whirlwind trip to NOLA...I think we spent a grand total of 35 hours there this weekend. I was able to get a few of my favorite foods there, but none from anywhere spectacular. Nevertheless, I can't leave NOLA without at least one po-boy (that was today at lunch-time, from the Jefferson Quick Stop gas station.) Not the best po-boy, but it wasn't the worst I've had either. It didn't match Danny & Clyde's for the all-time best gas station po-boy. Unfortunately for me, they were out of oysters, and a shrimp po-boy is just a poor substitute. I badly wanted to try Mothers...but both times I walked by there were 20 people lined up down the sidewalk, and waiting wasn't in the cards this weekend. I also was able to get a serviceable muffaletta at Evelyn's Place in the Quarter. It's a ####-hole bar, which is exactly why I stopped in...I'm a ####-hole kind of guy. Lunch yesterday was a little more upscale...oysters, grits and pork belly. Fancied-up pork belly, that is. I can't recommend any restaurants, but we did enjoy our stay at the Rennaisance Arts Hotel. It was out-of-this-world for $109/night. Beautiful place, great service.

The loudest thunder I ever heard was an 11...maybe even a 12.

Freaks...

Yeah, in our classes that adult was called the TEACHER! Of course, we never had disturbances by any of the kids, "special needs" or not. We had a healthy dose of respect for the paddles that were wielded by the Principal and Coaches. (And of course we learned at a young age that the paddles had holes drilled through them to decrease wind resistance and increase the "pop" in the "pops")

No, in Pasadena ISD we had "special needs" kids in our classes, at least in elementary school. We called them retarded then, but they were in class with us. There are two kids in particular in my classes that I recall being what I called "retarded" at the time, but looking back, maybe they were autistic? This would have been in the late 70's and early 80's.

Yes, yes, yes, maybe. June 2001 was TS Allison, I remember it pretty well. Amazing rain event. March 1992, I was at UH, I remember the Metro busses floating in the Lockwood underpass. October 1994, I was stuck in Pasadena, couldn't get out of the neighborhood. San Jacinto River was on fire, and the I-10 bridge over the San Jacinto (or Trinity?) River was knocked out. July 1979 was TS Claudette...not sure if I remember it, but I remember some big floods when I was a kid where we rafted down the street. The July 25-26 storm dropped 43 inches of rain near Alvin in 24 hours, still the US record for 24-hr rainfall.

http://www.uh.edu/uhcnonline/2008/05may/05...n-projects.html May 27, 2008 UH MAKES PROGRESS ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS Growing minds is one of the University of Houston

No, I drive a car. 13 miles in 9-14 minutes on the freeway is pretty easy. That's an average of 55mph-85 mph (although I usually don't go over 75 mph anymore, to save gas.) The SW Freeway outbound is wide open in the morning, as is the Westpark Tollway. I'm one block off of the intersection of Westpark Tollway and Beltway 8, so it does take me a minute or two to get to the office once I hit the stoplight at the Beltway.

South Union to Westchase - 17 miles in approx 15-20 minutes, regardless of what time I leave (anytime between 7 am and 9 am). Same for the ride home...unless I leave work early for some reason (before 7pm), at which time inbound traffic on 59 sucks. The reverse commute is a good thing. Worst part of the ride in the morning is the 5-7 minute drive up 288 to 59. Worst part of the ride in the evening is having to drive through 3 traffic lights.

OK, maybe it wasn't just our neighborhood... Harris County foreclosures peaked at around 31,000 in 1987. That's nearly triple the number of Harris County foreclosures in 2007 (11,766). Harris County's 1987 population estimate of 2.75 million was only 70% of the current (2007) population of 3.9 million...but the number of 1987 foreclosures was 263% of the 2007 number of foreclosures. On a per-capita basis, 1987 foreclosures were nearly four times as numerous as 2007.

A good number of the houses around us became rent houses just before we left...there would be a different occupant every few months, with many months of vacancy. We were at the corner of a T-intersection, and I remember the house across the street from us was empty, the one behind us was empty, and the houses on either side of the guy across the intersecting street were both empty. When I say empty, I mean they were occasionally occupied. Maybe it was just our end of the neighborhood that got hit. We were right across the street from the future South Belt.

What I meant was that every other house on our street was vacant. In that economy in Houston, many of our neighbors ran out on their mortgages, leaving their houses vacant. The house behind us and across the street from us was vacant. My aunt/uncle/cousins down the street left unannounced in the middle of the night one weekend. There were lots of empty homes in our area (technically Kirkmont, not Sagemont.) Other than that...I can't tell that Sagemont has changed too much in the last 20 years.

Beverly Hills Intermediate 1987. I should have started at Dobie in '87 but we left Houston (along with the rest of Sagemont, it seemed.)

I have altered my own personal driving habits to save $$$ on gasoline. I have slowed down from my old standard of 85 mph on Houston freeways to sitting on 75 mph. That is unless I need to go 80 mph for some reason. But other than that, I don't go over 75 mph anymore. I now get passed more often than I used to.

No, but he may be "qualified".

Frenchy's established in 1969. Guy's Meat Market established in 1938...but they have only been at their current location since 1958.

I buy my wife's jewelry at two places: 1) Nazars - Westheimer @ Fountainview. I've always been very comfortable there. They have amazing jewelry...but not a lot in the $500 price range. His stuff is beautiful, though. Our wedding rings came from Nazar's, along with a few other select pieces. 2) Sam's Club. Believe it or not, they have good prices on some decent jewelry. Especially in the price range you're talking about. They don't have the widest selection, but try different Sam's Clubs...they all seem to have different stuff. Be forewarned...I believe they laser inscribe all their diamonds. My wife won't buy a diamond there. However, I've bought her many colorful gemstones there.

DOH! That's what I get for not reading all 62 pages of Houston Pavilions chat... I'll put it to rest...

WHAT?!? You'll have to speak up, I can't hear you!

How is that a better deal than what the Dynamo have with UH right now? Only improvement I can see is a better share of the concessions revenue for the Dynamo, and possibly better parking than they have on weeknights at UH. Is that really enough for the Dynamo to put up tens of millions of dollars? Not to mention, TSU is hard-pressed to justify spending money on a new stadium when they've just started playing football on campus (in front of hundreds of faithful).