IronTiger

Those are all old circa 2008 links. I haven't visited Starmen.net in years...different times.

Houston is a great city, and it is getting more tourist-friendly. I think NYC is a good city with a lot to like, but it's got many flaws and it gets annoying when others hold it up as the gold standard as to what all cities should strive for (mostly in terms of density and trains, two things that admittedly go together) and anything else contrary to that is a negative thing. Both Slick and Citykid, while not "complete idiots" as Metro West's sock has said, are afflicted with a "grass is greener" problem in which case they ignore their own very good city (it's not like they live in some college town like I do) in favor of NYC, which they idolize.

Well, I had a breakthrough--the addresses are still owned by TxDOT, so reverse looking them up isn't too hard. Found lots of cool stuff in that process, like where the regional headquarters of Auchan were. I'm planning to actually make a page for this as I stated that I would do, so look for that soon!

I'll try to include Del Taco on the next update as well. One more correction in regards to the McDonald's listing, the 2000 Fannin block McDonald's is the Midtown McD's near the Pierce Elevated, 609 Main was the address of the McDonald's (and also Shamrock Tower, which was to replace it) which was the "other Main Street McDonald's" and was reportedly quite noxious.

So I had a chance to discuss Houston with my new flatmate, an Italian tourism major who had spent the last few years in Hong Kong, and was in Houston (Montrose, which he described rather accurately as "alternative") as his first city in the States (it's so strange hanging out with someone who's never been a Taco Bell). Contrary to popular belief, he didn't complain about the whole trains vs. highways thing as some people obsess over, but did mention the fact that Houston seemed more "American" than cities like NYC are made out to be and was impressed by the diversity of people.

I like the Uptown Dillard's building. It's a lot better than their newer stores, architecturally, methinks.

I'm not a fan of what they consider "ideal" cities but insulting them isn't the best course of action.

OK, maybe not quite on the month, but the list has been updated. It's more filled out but there's still a lot missing. If anyone can help me fill me in on old Whataburger or Grandy's locations, that'd be excellent. I also neglected to put down Quizno's, which will come next time, hopefully (I think I promised it for this month, sorry)

Yeah, I've fallen in love with H Mart too. The bakery is semi-separate from the rest of the store (in the food court), and the stuff in general tends to be a bit pricier than your typical store, but it does carry a coconut water beverage I like (at only a dollar, too!) and the seafood department is absolutely fantastic.

Sodium does burn yellow, but mercury vapor, especially older mercury vapor lights, tends to green after a while.

Yes, that was mentioned in the other thread. It's not the fact that there's no farmer's market at all in Houston (there is, I'd be horrified if there wasn't), just a big, multi-purpose one located downtown like many cities do have. It's all about not just what a city has, but the quality of it. If you count Galveston as part of the greater Houston area, then you could say Houston has beaches. But good beaches? Aye, that's another thing.

If I recall correctly, the newer mast lighting may be yellowish as opposed to white. I was a bit surprised that when they added HM lighting for an overpass in CS (that, of all the roads, wasn't a major highway, speed didn't top 50 mph), it was yellow instead of white as expected. Were the older ones white or yellow?

I'm going to laugh if the person who catches the Heights cat killer is the serial pooper. He might see something in the middle of the night...

Actually, it was ripped off from an Italian bridge. The architect literally copied the same design from a bridge he did in Italy.

I'm glad that Houston's not out halting development because developers are being told "that they are doing it all wrong".

Chicken Express, Bush's? Those two I like.

While the common complaint is trains, I noted a lack of a real farmer's market (much less one located downtown) as part of the "missing" things. Also, no city is perfect--I wager that in terms of Tex-Mex and BBQ Houston has NYC soundly beat.

Sounds like a "grass is always greener on the other side" type problem.

I think the bad infrastructure thing is largely overstated. Potholes are bad, but isn't it true that repairs slowed under Parker, instead of fixing it? Above ground wiring is kind of unsightly, but it's much more subdued than other countries that this comparison comes from and is much better working order. Finally, water and sewer lines seem to be decent, it's not like Detroit where there are literally dozens of pipe breaks everywhere.

Found this while file-searching in an older computer. It dates from May of 2008, so it dates back when I first joined HAIF (or somewhere in that era: I think HAIF was much, much better in the past overall). I think that banner up on the top looks pretty cool--I don't know if I saved the post, though.

No.

Well, it was stated on the first post of the first page that SuperCuts would vacate and the shopping center will be torn down, so old news. What for? Who knows.

There's the dark side of walkability right there. I'm kind of surprised that you guys are talking about how friendly NYC is, usually the reputation is that they're impatient and not very nice, whereas in Texas people are friendly (at least in the more rural parts). I guess that's just what comes with what you get (though I've heard that in everyone's favorite Canadian city, Vancouver, people aren't very nice). I went to New York City about 7 years ago, and while I do enjoy big skyscrapers and all that, it's almost too confusing to appreciate...there's random "holes" in the sidewalk that lead to basement shops, bars, and other structures, some of them are unguarded, so you have to watch your step. And because the subway was built decades ago, a lot of it isn't ADA compliant (which drives up prices for new construction), and like any city, there's lots of run-down older areas and the area is quite ugly when driving in from outside the city (at least New Jersey). There's lots to love about high density, but NYC is a bit too dense for my tastes, personally.

Most of those complaints seem petty at best or exaggerated at worse. Anyway, despite the (what I feel is) a bad location, this tower doesn't look too bad.

Please don't take that post too seriously.