woolie Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 leaving my house meat cutters union building fiesta highway 59 looking towards TMC looking towsards downtown Future site of Red Line / University line LRT interchange TMC stuff my building (Alkek tower) my desk (with diet cokes) view from window larger versions and titles here http://flickr.com/photos/irees/sets/72157600199249587/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orikal Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Love all those bikes parked in the garage! Lots of bike commuters at your work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Cool ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Cool, this is kind of artsy, ya know? I like the route, but I couldn't tell when you were on foot and when you were on the train. Maybe if the edge of the window was barely in the picture we'd be able to tell.Other than that, I dig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chenevert Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 You live just south of Alabama?Whats your neighborhood like? I live just on the North side of Elgin. Everytime I walk my dog down there, I get spooked out. Just gives me the creeps. Its amazing what a few blocks can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolie Posted May 10, 2007 Author Share Posted May 10, 2007 Cool, this is kind of artsy, ya know? I like the route, but I couldn't tell when you were on foot and when you were on the train. Maybe if the edge of the window was barely in the picture we'd be able to tell.Other than that, I dig.I didn't take any pictures on the train because I wasn't in the mood for a fight yesterday (they were all taken while walking). Regardless of the legality (it is legal), people have strong opinions to being photographed on the train, or people photographing while on the train or platforms. I often do it, but yesterday I just didnt feel like being hassled. I got on the train at the stop with the empty green field, and got off on the next picture, showing the TMC platform and the other train in the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolie Posted May 10, 2007 Author Share Posted May 10, 2007 Love all those bikes parked in the garage! Lots of bike commuters at your work? This is one of the two bike racks for my building at Baylor There are also three similar racks near the main entrance (fountain), and more in the garages on the back side. One of the professors in my lab group rides his bike all the way from Chimney Rock @ Braeswood! He brings his bike into his office to keep it out of the elements. The other set shown in the 'garage' pic is actually the pedestrian/street underpass beneath the UT-Med building. About 1/2 the racks are shown. Bike commuting in the TMC is relatively high because of economic incentive (or rather, disincentive.) There are approx. 25,000 students of various kinds in the TMC, generally either paying their way, or on modest salaries (stipends). Parking inside the TMC campus is very expensive ($10/day or ~$200/mo contracts.) Many places (Baylor) don't even offer garage contracts to students, even if they can afford it. There is offcampus parking at reasonable cost (Smithlands), but it's a big hassle (requires shuttle bus or long walk). If you live close enough, public transit, walking, or biking is much more convenient. Some people (I would never do this myself ) park at the Houston Zoo for free and walk Of course, they only open the parking lot gates at 9am and close them at 9pm, so you can get stuck in there. A friend of mine destroyed his brand new VW Golf by trying to drive over the wheelchair ramp/curb to get out after hours. Cut a hole in his oil pan and the car's engine blew up. Fortunately now that I live close enough, I don't have to hassle with the parking situation, since ALL of the parking options are suboptimal in some way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolie Posted May 10, 2007 Author Share Posted May 10, 2007 You live just south of Alabama?Whats your neighborhood like? I live just on the North side of Elgin. Everytime I walk my dog down there, I get spooked out. Just gives me the creeps. Its amazing what a few blocks can do. Yeah, I live 4 blocks South of Alabama, in the lower half of a very nice duplex. Eagle @ Caroline. Of course it's an urban neighborhood, so it's difficult to describe. - Eagle, Caroline, and going North to HCC is very nice, tree lined older homes/duplexes and small businesses based in converted homes. Some townhome encroachment. - Going South, it is a bit gritty (Fiesta, low-rent businesses) until you cross Wheeler, where it becomes very expensive again (too expensive for me right now... :( ) and full of new townhomes. In particular I'd like to buy this townhome by MDGi http://mdgi.net/details.cfm?PROP_ID=73&sales=yes My pictures of the inside are here http://flickr.com/photos/irees/sets/72157594532174844/ - Going East is a mixed but still transitioning area. Some tear downs, some vacant lots. It'll probably all be townhomes in a few years, though, until Almeda. I used to live on Almeda @ N. MacGregor, in the shadow of the Mosaic (it abutted my backyard.) we moved to be closer to the train and a grocery store, among other reasons... fortunately the property is in the family, so the increasing value is being captured. - Going West is typical Main St. Houston dereliction and ugliness, until you hit Westmoreland after 5 or 6 blocks after the 527 Spur. Of course people have been holding their breath for a decade about the Main St. revival from the rail line. It'd come if people were willing (or able, due to the incredibly high land value) to invest in new midrise (e.g. Camden Ventana) or mixed use structures. It probably won't happen until the University Line is built -- which will then make this area IDEAL as it is near the junction. In ISOLATION, the Red Line is useful if you live on it, of marginal utility if you don't. I moved to take advantage of it now and go ahead and position myself to take advantage of the Univ. line in the future. The things I like most about the neighborhood are the proximity to transit, having a reasonably good full supermarket one block away, easy access to freeways, all while being close to our favorite places to eat and shop in Montrose and Midtown. Yes of course there are sketchy parts, and things to be aware of, like any real urban neighborhood. It isn't The Woodlands and that's one of the things I like most about it. There are a fair number of homeless or vagrants who pass by occasionally (they tend to stay under the 59 elevated regions, for shelter.) So you have to be aware of your surroundings when you're walking around, particularly at night. I don't think it's particularly dangerous because you're near streets with continuous traffic and the supermarket, but it's still important to be aware. It goes without saying that you have to be proactive in protecting your property. We park on street, so we don't leave any valuables in our car, period. We have full insurance as well, on the car, and renter's insurance. The most important piece of security is our high fence. It'd be quite difficult to enter our lot without the key. But I've lived in urban Houston almost all of my adult life, so I'm just used to these things and I'm not particularly concerned or afraid of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 The photos seem dingy, like you might not have enough light exposure.They seems dark and make Houston look dirty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolie Posted May 10, 2007 Author Share Posted May 10, 2007 The photos seem dingy, like you might not have enough light exposure.They seems dark and make Houston look dirty. Is your monitor calibrated? It's a possibility I'm using 2.2 gamma on a Mac and you're probably using a 1.8 gamma PC monitor. The images should have embedded color profiles, if your browser supports that. Anyway, I know how to operate my camera and its light meter. It was a sunny day, and I took these pics at noon. It's a very high contrast situation and if I brought up the exposure or brightness any more, the sky would be 255,255,255 white. I did increase the shadow detail significantly to reduce the contrast, though, but it's probably obscured by differences in gamma. Regardless, though, these are just snapshots. If I intended to make art quality pics, I would have taken them much earlier or much later in the day. But I do hate to break it to you: Houston is, in fact, dirty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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