Original Timmy Chan's

No doubt. I should have said that I would pay Honda to come up with a hybrid that ACTUALLY GETS THE MILEAGE QUOTED ON THE STICKER!!! I've heard that the hybrids that state they get 50 mpg only get that kind of mileage on freeways, with no traffic, no A/C, and accelerating like my great-grandmother is driving (and that ain't good since she's been dead for 25 years!) 50 mpg would be nice, if it was actually possible.

Quick hydraulics lesson: water runs downhill.

If money were no object, I'd have Honda create a hybrid Element that would get better gas mileage than its current 23 mpg. That's my only complaint about the Element. Oh, and more ground clearance wouldn't hurt, either.

Try Harris County Permits - 713-956-3000 They're the official Floodplain Administrator for Harris County. They may not have them readily available, but either they, or possible someone at Harris County Flood Control District (713-684-4000), are the best repositories I could think of. Unfortunately, maps that old have a way of getting lost. Both Harris County and HCFCD have their own libraries. Maybe ask for the librarian or archivist at either or both places.

Put in some Visine to clear up your eyes! First, I said the Chron and Ch. 13, not Ch. 26. Mark Berman actually interviewed the UH mascot last night...Berman NEVER gets UH stories wrong. Here's a direct quote from the Chronicle's story: "Apparently, the Duck became upset when the Cougar imitated one of the Duck's trademarks, pushups for total points after each touchdown in front of the student section." (http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/5134236.html) Channel 13: "Apparently the duck became upset when the cougar imitated one of the duck's trademarks -- push-ups for total points after each touchdown." http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=...&id=5655703 I heard Gina Gaston say it last night with my own two (non-doobie affected) ears. Both the Chronicle and Ch. 13 used nearly the exact same lanquage...which just happens to be exactly the same as the AP story! Great journalism there!

Based on this link, http://www.metrosolutions.org/posted/1068/...ions.141261.pdf, here are the proposed property acquisitions in your general area (the "partial" or "whole" refers to either a taking of a part of the property or the whole property): 1 1409 Sampson Commercial Partial Unoccupied / 0 1 2 3409 Polk St Commercial Partial Unoccupied / 0 1 3 3422 Polk St Vacant Commercial Partial Unoccupied / 0 0 4 Scott @ York Commercial Corner Clip Unoccupied / 0 0 5 3522 Scott Commercial Partial Unoccupied / 0 0 6 0 Scott St Commercial Partial Unoccupied / 0 0 7 3602 Denver St Residential Whole Occupied / 1 1 8 1403 Scott St Residential Whole Occupied / 1 1 9 1405 Scott St Vacant Residential Whole Unoccupied / 0 0 10 1409 Scott St Residential Whole Occupied / 1 1 11 3603 Bell St Residential Whole Occupied / 1 1 You might also be able to take a look at these preliminary engineering drawings (huge file): http://www.metrosolutions.org/posted/1068/...Vol2.141260.pdf The plans indicate that land would be taken on both sides of Scott Street at Polk, but doesn't appear to be the entire property, just a strip. Best I can tell, it looks like METRO would take less than 25' from each side of Scott. Of course, those plans are a year old now (September 2006). I don't know how much they've changed in the last year, but it's a safe bet that the plans have changed.

The UH student in the Shasta outfit is a male. I agree that Donald Duck made Shasta look like a pansy, but imagine the outcry if Shasta had actually fought back. I'm most disappointed that Houston media outlets (like the Houston Chronicle and Channel 13) are reporting that Shasta was attacked because he "mimicked" Oregon's tradition of doing pushups for every point scored. HELLO! THAT'S BEEN A UH TRADITION FOR DECADES!!! As usual, local coverage of UH athletics sucks (with the exception of Mark Berman and the Chron's Michael Murphy).

This Euro-Amerindian-Okie-Redneck disagrees 15.28%. BTW, if you go back far enough we're all from Africa. Does that make us all African-Americans? I would argue that the white guy at work from South Africa who now has US citizenship is more appropriately labeled an African-American than is my wife, who's black, but who hasn't had an ancestor step foot in Africa for at least 5 generations. I use black/white/Latino, but places like Brazil sure do make that distinction difficult. It's even tough here in the US, where some "blacks" in my neighborhood are as light-skinned as I am (and that's pretty light...nearly translucent).

You could get an earful from my wife. I hope TSU can get itself straightened out. Slade seemed to have TSU on the right path until we found out about her long-term theft from the school. Problem is, the ones who are hurt most by the scandals are the ones who have no ability to control it: the students. I see nothing wrong with putting TSU under the supervision of another school system (UH/A&M/UT/etc), but there's no need to shut it down or merge it with another school, as some suggest. TSU needs one hell of a leader.

Body: Brains:

Also notice no SH 288...at least not the SH 288 as it exists today. As I understand it, Almeda was designated SH 288 before the new freeway was built.

I'm an Eagle Scout. The weekly meetings got tedious through junior high and high school, but I never got sick of the monthly camping trips. I spent many, many weekends up at Camp Strake (which did seem waaaay out in the middle of nowhere, even in the mid-1980's). We spent several summer camps (1 or 2 weeks?) up at Camp Strake and at El Rancho Cima near Wimberley. Other places I can think of are Karankawa, Brazos Bend, Stephen F. Austin State Park, canoe trips on Village Creek, Lake Livingston, Galveston, Matagorda and who knows were else. The best trips ever were two trips to Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico. As I recall, those were 10-day trips (long bus ride, btw). Both times we did the easiest hikes, which were 50-milers, but both times were quite an adventure. While some of the stuff is a bit hokey, I do have to admit that the program was a great way to give both outdoor and life skills to young boys and men. It's a good organization that teaches the value of community service, leadership and self-reliance. Those are good skills to have no matter where you go in life.

I can dig it...of course I'm not brainwa...err, trained in architecture. It reminds me very much of the house next to my grandparents' place in Freeway Manor. Except theirs is orange brick instead of concrete block. I'm all for diversity.

My wife always comes first! Thank you, moderators, I'll be here all night...

Actually, ESPN broadcasted (GameDay?) from that park in front of George R. Brown during the Super Bowl. They were out there all week, if I remember correctly. And yes, the weather did suck Super Bowl week. It was amazing the week before and the week after, but cold and rainy during Super Bowl week. Murphy's Law.

This quote comes from your link: "The first inhabitants of the area are believed to be the cannibalistic Karankawa Indians, who lived throughout the Gulf coast region." If you don't know the history of the Karankawas, they smeared their bodies with rancid alligator fat to ward off mosquitos. Apparently the stench emanating from the Karankawa sickened many European settlers. So apparently, Pasadena has ALWAYS been known for it's stench!

Very interesting data. It's good data to use as a means of comparison for the future. Alicia hit on my 10th birthday, so my memories of it are limited to losing power, listening to howling winds and going out to check out the eerie calm (and green skies) as the eye of the storm passed over us. We lived between Ellington AFB and Hobby Airport. According to the link, we experienced average wind speeds between 55 - 80 mph, and peak gusts of 80 - 107 mph (based on measurements at those two airfields). As I recall, there was significant roof damage to our neighborhood...most people lost at least a few shingles, some lost a little bit of roof, and I believe there were a few homes that lost significant parts of their roofs. I don't think there was any structural damage other than roofs...probably a lot of tree limbs too. I don't know for certain whether we had tornados through our neighborhood, but I know they had them in Friendswood and Pearland, which were a few miles due south of our neighborhood. Could explain why the damage was so random through the neighborhood. For me, personally, it's a very good comparison to know what a Category 3 hurricane can do less than 40 miles inland. I've always been curious about the wind speeds once the hurricane hit land.

Paintball, motocross, and a new arena for charreadas.

Hell, that could be a 70-year old road! It might be historic...you should speak of it with reverence! In fact, maybe that's why the City doesn't repair some of these roads...they're historic and would require too much paperwork to touch them!

Yeah, but that was a mistake. He didn't mean to plead quilty...we've all made little mistakes like that, meant to say "not guilty", but "guilty" slips out. DOH!

Subsidence can contribute to the problem, with land sinking at various rates across the County. Two other issues I can think of are: 1) High plasticity index soils...as anyone with a slab foundation knows, there is a large shrink/swell potential in our gumbo soils here in Houston. The clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry. Therefore roads (and foundations) are subjected to a lot of stress from the ground shrinking and swelling. 2) Poor construction methods/poor construction inspection of the past. Many, many roads in Houston were built in the boom days of the 70's and early 80's. From what I hear, things were moving so fast that there were a lot of roads being built to substandard conditions, with either non-existant construction monitoring, and sometimes inspectors paid to look the other way. There was so much work back then, there were lots of fly-by-night contractors operating. With all the construction activity going on today, I wonder if the sins of the past are being repeated today? With as much construction inspection and especially materials testing that goes on nowadays, I believe that things are being built to a much higher standard. But you still wonder...

I wonder if those guys ran with a guy I used to work with (who passed away 5 or 6 years ago). He grew up in San Felipe Courts (a running buddy of Kenny Rogers), went to Jeff Davis High School, and used to tell me stories that I couldn't believe about his school days back in the 50's. He always found it funny that people thought gang violence was a recent development. He said knife fights were very common back then, and bringing guns to school wasn't a strange phenomenon back then, either. Also told me that HS gangs (himself included) were selling a lot of heroin back then...and they did a lot of break-ins back then, too. So...crime and/or gangs in the Heights is not at all a new phenomenon.

Call me crazy, but I have a fondness for the scent of the Goodyear plant. My grandpa retired from Goodyear with 25 years of service (after stints at Ethyl Corp and others in the area).

Hmmm...a bar with practice sessions. I like it! Now that it's almost drinking season again (football season), I'm woefully behind on my drinking skills. My liver is nowhere near gameday shape. I may look a little rusty for the first couple of weeks of tailgating.

On the one hand, I am incredulous that this guy was arrested for lewd behavior for tapping his foot in a bathroom stall. In any event, whether a person is gay or straight, it's their own personal business. On the other hand, I do get a sense of satisfaction over all these Republican lawmakers who have fought the hardest against gay marriage, and spoken loudest against homosexual behaviors, being outed in public. It's hypocrisy at its finest.