nmainguy

Currently just primer now. Until I'm sure it will be an improvement over primer, I'm not going to paint! My wife thinks something grey, or grey with a little blue. I'm clueless. Thoughts???

I would meld the window trim with the darkest brick and meld the gutters with the roof (and actually, your gutter color looks right on). That gives you enough contrast within the entire structure thereby avoiding a more cartoonish look just for the sake of being different. Tasteful and understated will always trump garish and cartoonish whether it comes to your home-which you will live in for a long time or your flip which needs to appeal to the broadest audience.

OH MY GOODNESS, someone in Houston finally admitted this?!?!

nmainguy, you are correct in good architecture doesn't always require a lot of money, but embracing a habit of building on the cheap certainly can open the door to mediocre designs, and that hasn't been more evident than in Houston over the past decade.

A recent example is the Christ Church Cathedral addition on Texas. It is a great example of for-profit architecture that exceeds long-term design, style and cost-effectiveness for a non-profit.

My mother-in-law was here 2 weeks ago and we walked from Main down Texas to MMP. Now she hasn't been exposed to alot of design in her 67 years outside of Milam and Hemphill but I was taken aback when she stopped midway in the block and looked up at the trellis. Then she started to explain to us how pleasant it was to walk under this shaded trellis and how beautiful yet inexpensive it must have been to contruct in the overall scheme of the design Then she commented on the structure and it's windows and how energy efficient it must be and how great it was that the church had the buisness and esthetic sense to choose a beautiful and lasting yet cost effective design that included parking, office and green space.

So yes, Velvet: you are correct. Houston is a captive of mediocre design. It's a quick-fix for the shortsighted which has unfortunatly become the hallmark for developers/investors/architects. It seems the days of long-term planning that not only benefits the developer but the public which he/she relys on have past.

Herb Greene-Norman, Ok.

No way. I would love to see how that fits the lot.

It is definatly more than one lot.

Ka-ching. My property value just went up.

So did your property taxes.

The uncertain height of the building seems like an impediment to good design. Stretching a building from 30 to 50 stories can wreak havoc with proportions.

Exactly. Imagine Pennzoil at 60 floors or a widened Transco. Conversly, a shortened Wells Fargo or removing one of the Flemish row houses from BOA woud make them look cartoonish as well.

I'd be elated if it were. Anything is better than cheap unimaginative faux-architecture IMO.

Actually many things are better than a dull and cheap One Houston and cheap unimaginative faux-architecture. Any Aggie can copy that. Why settle for the mundane?

Yes, I am quite aware that "more Did you have a point?

That is Chicago's Metropolitan Statistical Area. This topic was started regarding Houston's Metropolitan Statistical Area.

My point? None. Just a comparison.

What "sleek native style"? Since when does downtown have anything that could be considered a "native style"? A bunch of skyscapers that happened to be designed in the late 1970s-early 1980s doesn't constitute a native style, it just indicates a historical coincidence.

We have no "native style." We have a group of buildings that you could plop down in any large city. Few were ever exceptional; Pennzoil, The Menil and Transco come to mind as exceptions. Houston builds on the cheap-although really good architecture doesn't always require alot of money. Knowing Houston's provincial background, I'm not expecting anything more imaginative than One Houston Center.

As I said previously ----- That's horrible. Wasn't it bad enough that YOU saw it - why did you have to show it to us???

Maybe for people to get a grip on reality instead of concentrating on a video none of us know the background on?

1. Just a kid imitating a video... big deal

2. Cruel parenting

3. Ignorance at its finest

There are much worse things happening in the world to kids

Like this

It is my guess that she, Nancy, is waiting on the complete implosion of the developer so the "whole story" can be told. Shamrock is but a piece of what is a much more complicated, and frankly more interesting, story that is this guy.

It's my guess Sarnoff hasn't been fed her fax yet. Now if you're waiting for a much more complicated and more interesting story, I wouldn't be holding out for anything from her or the Chron-they don't do complicated or interesting.

If you are attempting to sell this property, your post belongs here http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...hp?showforum=76

What would you do?

I've used Houston Fence for the last 20 years. They will take care of everything so you won't have to deal with any inspectors. All you need to do is make sure how high you can build. The last job they did for me was about 125' of 7' cedar fence (6' vertical slats on a horizontal 2 x 12) with one gate.

Excellent company-very proffesional.

My Own Country by Abraham Verghese

About an AIDS epidemic that hits rural Tennessee in 1985 and how this doctor and a conservative population dealt with it and overcame their pre-concieved notions about the disease.

Diliberate Indifference by Howard Swindal

About racial injustice, respect and human decency in East Texas.

The Art of Understanding Yourself by Cecil Osborne

Just read it.

The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre

Fiction based on historical fact in Calcutta. The best description I can give you is it's a story about how charity, love and grace can co-exist and at times overcome death, callousness and disease.

Beyond Love by Dominique Lapierre

Another fiction based on actual events. Again based on personal courage, grace, hope, love and charity for lifes outcasts whether they be Lepers or early victems of AIDS.

Read "If" by Rudyard Kipling when you feel things are slipping out of your control.

I like Lapierre in the two listed above because of the compelling and very true-to-life messages he sends.

I like Rand because I think she is a great descriptive writer though much of her philosopy is a fantasy.

If you are going to read her I suggest The Fountainhead first and Atlas Shrugged second.

All of the above plus more has informed my life's outlook.

Good luck.

They had quail in their room before they went down to the LULAC dinner and then to the Albert Thomas dinner.

(My mom was a voracious note-taker and a good friend of Max Peck, the GM at the Rice. He set me up on the back of a motorcycle so I could see Kennedy. He and Jackie moved by pretty fast but LBJ worked the line and patted me on the head.)

you can come up with something more creative, right?

I could but why waste any of my creativity on a caricature?

Time's up, rhinestone.

My reply to bigtex's absurd rant was three words long! I count five in your suggested response!

You counted wrong. Mine was 97 and yours was around 80-much more than 3-which just goes to show sometimes you need to use more words when talking to someone who can't count much less compose a succinct and coherent response. You need to recount yours so I'll give you these back

He then asked some worthwhile questions that were sufficiently analogous, so I answered them.

He must have asked you in an IM because the only posts from Tex since your pedatic response was regarding a bladder control problem and a cute poem which I'm sure you'll reply to with another skull numbing essay on why you were a follower of Rand before you weren't accompanied with a breathless response that you were dizzy as a tap dancing queen from counting all of those words!.

The scenario proposed by bigtex is absurd. If what he was putting forward was at all realistic, the government enforcing these laws would quickly recognize that they can't shut people up by threats alone, and that they'd have to start shooting them or incarcerating them with complete suspension of habeas corpus. Communists pretty much figured out that one during each of those revolutions, and they ended up just shooting anyone that was smart enough to cause intelligent discussion.

I'd rather not be one of those people, so if the deck was stacked against me, I'd cut my losses and get the hell out.

Are you completely humorless? Did you not catch bigtex's sarcasm and just laugh it off? No, you had to go into another pointless, long-winded, broadband wasting pendatic reply when all you needed to say was "Gee, Tex! Clever sarcasm there!" and let it go. Not every post needs an essay in reply when just a few words are far more effective-and appropriate.

(God, I feel like I'm talking to a 7th grader)

Maybe you should start a Humorless People Pride Club? Or we could get some right-wing "christian" nut job to cure you by lobotomy.

Red,

What bigtex said...don't make me go out and buy some Depends!

(Love your floors, BTW!)

They used the Imperial Suite on the 5th floor to rest and change. He gave a speech at the Coliseum that night and went straight to the airport. They flew to Ft. Worth where they spent the night at The Texas Hotel.

That was the first time I had ever seen a President and future President and the next day was the first time I ever saw my Dad cry.

Thank you for this post. I could easily just say "DITTO" because it fits me almost exactly.

Great post, kink. I have known alot of gay men and women who have had a similar experience and have come out stronger on the other end. I suppose I was one of the lucky ones because of my parents. I think I was about 15 when I came out to them and they were always supportive. I think because of them, my siblings and close and enduring friendships, I avoided the bar scene and some of the more negative aspects that can accompany that scene. I suppose my only gripe is my partner and I remain second class citizens under the law. That some translate that gripe into the tiered old "All you people want is special rights!! You're not special!!" just shows how uninformed many people still are when it comes down to what EQUAL-as opposed to special-rights really means.

hmmm isn't puma the one who's into the american idols threads?

Why don't you just ask Puma if you're that interested...and feel free to leave me out of of your pointless, loaded questions.

i see straight men, friends and family, who attack problems vehemently and honestly, they are specifically honest with themselves. most of the gay men i've met were like some of the delusional contestants on american idol. any disagreement and they jump off the logic train. i found it very frustrating to communicate with people in the gay community on an objective level. one of the endearing things about haif is the amount of intelligent discussion from gay and straight participants.

and, i was unloading in this particular thread. actually, "I" avoid conflict at all costs and was, more likely......definitely, describing personal flaws that i felt were connected to my identity.

i see the sacrifices my dad and friends have made for their families, and i spent my twenties and thirties running around partying with anyone i could find who didn't want to grow up. the world has grown up around me and i've refused to accept many necessary facts of life. as i'm sure you can see from my earlier posts.

I'm not sure what the "gay community" is anymore but if you were a barfly you probably weren't coming into contact with guys like Puma and I.

I always like your honesty and never see it as "unloading" as such-more like a free-form train of thought.

BTW, raising your nephew is definatly accepting the facts of life.

You just aren't that important is all. You're just a person. Not special.

Well that's consistant with your posting history: people don't matter. But in the REAL world which you seem to have a hard time grasping, people do care and people are special. It says something about YOU when you say things like that; when you express a complete disregard of human life as you are wont to do. It says you are socialy cripple to the extent you can't even recognize the value of a person on so many levels

That you crave acceptance (and wear perceived martyrdom like a badge) seems indicative of underlying deep-seated insecurities that you have yet to overcome.

You seem to have a problem distinquishing between craving the same rights you have with acceptance. Again a sign that you may be an adult but have yet to join us grown-ups.

Now my time is up with you on this subject so you are clear to rant and rave to your heart's content.

i couldn't find them...please get me some info...i am looking in garden oaks now....

Go to www.2percent2buyer.com, click "view listings" then scroll all the way to the bottom. I'm not sure that's the one because that is north of Garden Oaks and the street may be Brinkman and not Brinman.http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formt...S&geodiff=1

http://har.com/cs_allproptype.htm