Original Timmy Chan's

OK, maybe you have a point. UH is getting a "Tier 1" dining experience now!!! http://www.uh.edu/uhtoday/2009/11nov/111709moody-dininghall-renovations.html REGENTS APPROVE RENOVATIONS TO MOODY DINING HALL In late April, construction will begin on Moody Towers dining hall and the revamped facility will begin operations in August. Photo by Pathik Shah A new dining concept is cooking at Moody Towers. Soon, the University of Houston community will experience a new dimension of campus dining thanks to an $11 million renovation of Moody’s dining facilities. The UH System Regents recently approved this major project that will completely transform the dining hall. In late April 2010 construction will begin on this project, and the revamped facility will begin operations in August. It will connect Moody Towers with the new undergraduate residence hall that also will open in fall. The new dining facility will display the Fresh Food Company concept that is popular at campus eateries across the nation. This food-service model is focused on meals being prepared in front of customers and being freshly prepared upon request. “The renovation will upgrade a 39-year-old dining facility into a Tier-One culinary experience for our students, faculty and staff,” said Emily Messa, vice president of University Services. “With the renovation, we will have the largest Fresh Food Company in the nation.”

Fuhgeddaboudit.

There was some site work going on this past weekend. Just looked like some clearing work...maybe some dirt work. That's based on my 70-mph drive-by inspection technique.

Just taking a wild guess here, but I don't think any churches have endorsed the candidates...just the individual preachers.

No room to build something with as much potential impact as Addicks and Barker Reservoirs. Those two reservoirs cover 25,000 acres of government-owned land, and hold 200,000-300,000 ac-ft of water. In contrast, something like the detention ponds at Art Storey Park on BW-8 at Bellaire, cover about 200 acres and can hold somewhere around 3,500 ac-ft of water. I don't know the total costs of the project, but it's certainly in the 10's of millions of dollars, and has taken decades to complete (from planning to land acquisition to construction).

Jax, in addition to bisecting the lands of the rich and powerful, being the centerpiece of Houston commerce for the 19th century, and being a focal point of downtown, Buffalo Bayou has another thing going for it -- Addicks and Barker Reservoirs, which control the flow of water down Buffalo Bayou, through Memorial, River Oaks, and downtown.

Sounds good. Not too many places nearby where you can get Mediterranean...closest I can think of is the Dimassis buffet on Kirby across from Reliant Stadium. I may give Canary a try Friday...if I can get myself to keep driving past Guy's Meat Market.

Damn...if that's the case I'm gonna have to make a promise to myself that I can only eat at Guy's/Beaucoup if I walk there from my house. It's a pretty easy 1.5 mile walk across the freeway...even easier now that it's cool out. 3 miles round trip may not balance out a roast beef po-boy or 1/2 pound smoked hamburger...but I'm ok with that. EDIT: I just googled, and it looks like it's the same Beaucoup...they've got the deep-fried hamburger! Check out the website: http://www.beaucoupbarandgrill.com/

Something's going to change on S MacGregor between Almeda and Cambridge...but I'm not smart enough to figure it out yet. Looks to me like S MacGregor will become a 2-way divided street? That's based on the paving they've built, along with a piece of pavement they're building to connect N MacGregor to S MacGregor (in front of the Hermann Park GC/just west of where Brays Bayou crosses MacGregor). They're building a bridge right now for what will become the new eastbound lanes of S MacGregor. I believe what is currently being used as eastbound lanes will be converted to westbound lanes soon. Anyone know what the plans are there? Am I close to being right? I don't know that I've ever driven MacGregor west of Cambridge, so I don't know what goes on over there......

My personal approval rating of Obama dropped significantly when I woke up this morning to read the news that the FDA is banning sales of raw Gulf oysters. It's by far the biggest mistake he's made in his 9 months in office.

Trees do have an impact on the channel's conveyance, but a few solitary trees have a pretty minor impact, especially in a channel the size of Brays Bayou. If the trees are planted near the top of slopes, or on top of the banks, the only blockage that the water sees is the trunk of the tree, which is a pretty minor loss. HCFCD has been pretty progressive over the last 10-15 years in "greening up" the bayous around town, and now plants about 20,000 trees per year. In fact, HCFCD runs its own nursery that has room for around 10,000 trees. With 2,500 miles of channels to maintain, it's a long, slow and expensive process. And it's not helped by the fact that no one wants to pay for flood control or drainage around here. The bayous can definitely be made to look more natural, but it takes lots of land, which is already developed, which means buyouts, which means lots of money, and lots and lots of time.

I went to a wedding there about 10 years ago...I didn't realize the history at the time. Since then, I've heard lots of in-laws talk about the Groovey Grill. It was definitely the spot around TSU for a long time.

From a strictly hydraulic standpoint, yes. The map above shows that the current floodplain of Brays Bayou is half the size that it was back in 1915, in spite of the development in the watershed. The wider, deeper, straighter, slicker Brays Bayou is much more efficient at carrying water, and does indeed provide much better flood protection for hundreds of thousands, if not over a million, residents of the watershed. Granted, it's not very scenic, and there's nearly nothing for an ecosystem, but it does move a lot of water when necessary. Given today's environmental climate, I don't think you'll see another concrete-lined bayou anytime soon. Clear Creek and Buffalo Bayou are two that have been spared that fate...although there's still an on-going debate on Clear Creek (4 or 5 decades old at this point.) Channelizing and concrete-lining the channel was seen as a satisfactory solution to a chronic flooding problem back in the 30's and 40's.

Don't look now, but COMRADE Obama just pulled a play out of the Republican playbook! STATES RIGHTS!!! http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/19/obama-wont-seek-arrest-medical-pot-users/

Dunkin Donuts finally admitted that they were fighting a losing battle against the much superior Shipley Donuts. Hopefully they'll start making good donuts at the old Dunkin Donuts building...move a Shipley in.

I used the bridge this morning too! I regularly use Cambridge to get to the Krogers on OST/Cambridge...I've never before used Cambridge between OST and Holcombe. That's a nice piece of road. It's night and day compared to Cambridge between the South Loop and OST (the stretch I usually drive). I think there are some serious sinkhole issues happening on Cambridge south of OST. It's a hell of a roller coaster ride, with lots of "birdbaths" in the street holding water for many days after a rain. I hope the City replaces Cambridge before it swallows up a car!

Damn...I thought I'd mentioned them on this thread already. I didn't want to become known as the Guy's Pimp, because I know I've mentioned them in several places on HAIF. I just had a Guy's burger last week. It's a rare treat for me, since I work on the west side of town, and I'm not often home around lunch time during the week. I do have to second Robb Walsh's recommendation for the Guy's burger: cheeseburger, with bbq sauce, jalapenos and onions. No lettuce/tomato/mustard/mayo. It's too messy with everything else. It's definitely not your typical burger, but it's a tasty treat...at a nearly historic business. Guy's Market has been in business for 71 years, 51 years at the OST/Yellowstone location.

Don't forget the UH motto..."In Time." Rome wasn't built in a day, neither will the learning/scholar/research community. I will say that when I was in school in the early 90's, a similar "community" was in place in the Quadrangle. Several of the Quad dorms were Honors Program dorms, in which Honors Program students were given priority. We had some non-Honors students in the dorms, but it was mainly Honors students. I thought it was quite a success. We were not always the most diligent and studious students, we had a hell of a great time too. It was kinda like being in one of the colleges at Rice, except without all the multi-sided dice! Well, we hit that level ($100 million in research) this year! TIER ONE BABY!!! DONE! What's next?

I'd be happy for UT to open up a Houston area school in exchange for them signing over their share of the PUF. Texas needs a "Brown vs. Board of Education" type lawsuit to break up the PUF. We've been "separate" but not "equal" for too many decades.

To me, the ends justify the means. Use whatever slogan necessary, as long as it results in greater alumni giving, better corporate support, and more support from our state and local governments. "Tier I" is a pretty amorphous term, but it is being used (successfully, in my opinion) to push UH to a higher level, both in public perception and in reality.

Drug use in and of itself is a victimless crime...just like alcohol use. Both can turn into a bad thing when the user lacks self-control. For that matter, Shipley's Donuts and KFC can be just as harmful to a person as drugs and alcohol. I say legalize it, use real and honest drug education to inform the populace about the true effects of both drugs AND alcohol, and let rational adults make their own decisions...and punish them when those decisions harm others (domestic violence, DWI, theft, absenteeism, etc.)

Brazoria County Sheriff's Dept is UNAMERICAN!!! Here we have a couple of hard-working Americans, filled with the can-do entrepreneurial spirit that made America great...and the sheriff wants to shut down their business and ship their jobs across the border to Mexico (or Vancouver, BC...depending on the quality of the merchandise.) Joseph Kennedy must be spinning in his grave!

What, no Axiom/Catal Huyek/Harvey's Club Deluxe/Axiom? That was always the #1 destination in the Warehouse District. Sometimes it was as entertaining as a trip to the "Maggot Colony"...sure you could get loud music, sometimes good, at both places, but the Maggot Colony offered the side benefit of knife fights in the parking lot!

I live about a mile west of Foster Place, in South Union. I've only lived here about 6 years, and I drive through Foster Place occasionally, but I don't have much reason to spend a lot of time there. From what I can tell, it's not too much different from South Union. It's hit and miss. Includes some well-maintained homes and some abandoned and rotting homes. Today Foster Place is mainly black, some Hispanic...similar to South Union. Jerome, you can probably share some good information on the area. I'm assuming that's a picture of you, and that you're white. I understand that Foster Place was initially a white neighborhood. One of my old co-workers, a white woman, about 75 now, lived in Foster Place through her high school years at San Jacinto HS (late 1940's/early 1950's?). I also know that South Union, across Scott Street from Foster Place, was always a black neighborhood. My wife's family has owned our home since it was built in the 40's, and they've always been black. So...I've been curious what the dividing line between the races was? Was Scott Street the divide between white and black? Or was there a Scott Street back then? When did Foster Place become a black neighborhood? And was it a rapid change, similar to other "white flight" neighborhoods? Any acrimony at the boundary between the races, was it harmonious, or just completely separate? Where did whites in Foster Place go to high school? It's now zoned to Yates. Lots of questions...

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.)