20thStDad

I'm doin it!

I do agree with you. I guess I just don't feel it to the same extent on that end of the spectrum, my worries lie more toward the crackhouses and empty buildings that are both visual blight and safety hazard. Most of the time those were there first, but hey, some well-aimed fireworks are fun sometimes. If something "nice" is going in place of nothing or crap, that's ok. What I'm learning to appreciate from this forum is the shame of tearing down a perfectly good old house for no great reason. But if someone wants to raze all of the shotgun crack shacks down near Lawrence Park I'll show up with my crowbar. It's already happening without me.

There are nuisance laws such as noise rules because sound doesn't magically stop at the property line, but my neighbor's big house doesn't keep me from sleeping at night. They can't throw trash over the fence and can't have their yard drain into yours, but aesthetics never come into play until there's a fire or safety issue. Just like people can do whatever they want IN their house. As for the Heights, we observed its randomness before we moved there, and I really didn't expect it to change. Pretty much all of inner-loop has that randomness to it save a few places.

I was thinking showroom which is mostly empty space, but yeah a warehouse stacked to the ceiling with boxed furniture is going to be unstoppable.

Um, not really. My dream of what my neighbor's property should be really doesn't count. You can move somewhere partially due to its surroundings, but you have to know that you don't have any control over it. If you want control over it, move to suburban Stepford land and you'll have it. Well, someone will have it, maybe not you. EDIT: use real words

How does a place like that burn to the ground? Maybe they're staging it to get out of that crap neighborhood

That blogger clearly doesn't have an annual Memorial Day tubing trip, which makes Memorial Day awesome. It's too hot for parades.

If you do that, the casino in Marksville has the best casino buffet I've ever had. Also, there's a butcher shop with awesome cracklins, can't remember the name. It might also be a gas station. Yes, everything I have to say today involves pork in some way.

Pig Pit Barbecue in Arkadelphia - this is the only cool thing I remember about Arkansas. It is a complete hole (or was 18 years ago). No smoking inside...whatever, the place was filled with smoke from cooking anyway. Just the fact that I remember the name of the place after going there on vacation in middle school tells me it must have been good. http://www.yelp.com/biz/pig-pit-bar-b-q-arkadelphia

Make it a HAIF clubhouse! I'll help build the bar.

Marksmu, so you like McMansions (some) but hate townhomes. I think we've run through the definition of McMansion in another thread, but what's a townhome? I'm guessing there are just as many definitions as there are people here, but to me a townhome is a house built as part of a "complex" - that share a driveway off the street (non-alley), that may or may not be joined to other units. To you, and others, is it defined by its configuration or its look? I've heard people call my house a townhome, and in no way do I think it is. We have a front yard, back yard, aren't joined in any way to neighbors, have a detached garage with alley access, and it's on a "full" Heights lot (3275 sq ft) as they were originally platted. It's not big or fancy enough to be a McMansion, but it was built in 2004 so it has some newness to it. Just wondering what people out there consider "townhomes". EDIT: quick Google search, all of the first 5 definitions pulled up for townhome say they are attached to other homes. So I guess I don't have one.

We could make a rule where only forum guesses count, and your guess has to be only a city name, no chit chat about anything that might indicate you know absolutely for sure.

I was thinking Scotland til I saw the big mountain/hill. Somewhere in Austria or Germany. Hamburg.

Stretching gasoline efficiency to the limit isn't a real change to anything. Until someone figures out a different and better way to push a car, it's pissing in an ocean. So why punish consumers by not supplying what they are clearly demanding?

The 6 year old kid dialogue and knowledge was a huge stretch, but focusing on the adults' answers and reaction I found myself wondering how we're going to look back on this era once it's a few years down the road. We don't know yet. Baseball is weird. Ban a gambler for life, worship the drunk wife abusers.

What!? He's gone mad in his old age maybe. I think I listened through the glory days of the clones and smackoffs. I sort of enjoyed the idiocy of it all. Does he still do tour stops/ Nothing complicated - there was no team in Louisiana, and although the Astros were on the radio in BR, I never really got to like them because they played on turf and their colors sucked (what? I was 10-12 yrs old!). Not many games were on TV back around 1990-ish, it was mostly the Braves and WGN. Well, I didn't like the Braves because Dale Murphy didn't play any more, so when it came down to choosing Cubs or White Sox, I went with the better team (at the time) and cooler uniforms. Jack McDowell, Frank Thomas just starting, Alex Fernandez - and I'm sure the rest of the country hates him, but there's no better homer TV broadcaster than Hawk Harrelson (if you're a Sox fan, and Ed Farmer on the radio is another awesome homer). All it takes is a few years following a team when you're 10-13 years old and you're hooked for life. I agree with this 100%. I can't read Bill Simmons most of the time, but have to sometimes because I know there will be some humor in there. Although, I did really like his piece on Manny last week. Not humorous, more of a thoughtful read.

I disagree with Mike and/or Mike all the time. I just think they are much better at putting together a show than any local hacks when it comes down to interviews and guests, and especially just driving a discussion to an interesting place. Local hacks are still local because they constantly have those awkward moments where you're going "what the hell are you getting at here". There are plenty of pointless national guys too - like Colin Cowherd, who is completely annoying, and JT the brick, who is an idiot. I listen to sports radio non-stop during baseball and football season, and in those 2 really crappy months where there is neither I force myself to take a break, which leaves me fresh when I come back to it. I haven't listened to Charlie since it was Charlie and Rich, I had XM by the time he split off. So you could be right about Charlie being boring by himself. I used to listen to Jim Rome but the time slot just got more difficult to keep up with after my work cut off the streaming audio, so it's been years. I didn't like him at all at first, but after a while I loved it. I would imagine picking it up again today (after 6 years out of it) wouldn't be too difficult, he's probably exactly the same. My teams are the Saints, White Sox, and anything LSU. But, for football and baseball I love to get complete national coverage (college especially for football, pro for both). I don't expect to get much of any coverage on my teams unless they are nationally relevant, and that's fine with me. I know all of the websites where I can get what I need for them. I do get annoyed when the networks crawl up the Red Sox and Patriots asses, some of the ESPN guys are way too homer for them.

huh...search says a month ago. Maybe he went all on HAIF. Or went schizo HAIF and made another login just to mess with everyone. Or he just has better things to do.

What happened to memebag?

Wannabe what? They're far better interviewers than any local guys, not to mention the much higher quality of interviewees. Past that, hosting a radio show is about entertaining and sounding coherent and somewhat eloquent. Not sure what there is to want-to-be. Of the local guys, Charlie Palillo is good. But if your station's best option for the drive-home hour is Calvin Murphy, that is pathetic.

They didn't start redoing it yet. Well, except for the dirt area as room for expansion. We (and lots of other Heights posters from what I read here) break up our shopping - produce at Canino's because you can't beat it. For us, it's non-perishables at Fiesta because they are cheap and have every random thing, and for meat we switch around. I look at the mail ads every week and based on the good deals we go to Kroger, Foodarama, HEB, and sometimes Randall's. Pretty much every week at least one of them has a good deal.

and at every gas station. Get your drink on! Can't they just move the school?

Istanbul. Somewhere in Greece or Romania. ...or Prague.

Just sampling my dozen or so close guy friends, all but 1 are sports fans, and 3 of us I would consider hard core sports fans. Only those 3 of us ever listen to sports talk radio, but we do it a lot. I catch Mike and Mike every morning, and switch between different things in the afternoon (MLB Home Plate, Doug Gottlieb, or any games that are on). That being said, I'm so glad I have XM and am not stuck with the local affiliate (lack of) talent. I hate days when my carpool buddy drives and our options Carl somebody and Calvin Murphy in the afternoon. Completely useless and not the least bit entertaining. I used to listen to John and Lance back in the day, but there's not a chance I'd go local over Mike and Mike. They are more amusing, first of all, and second when they do have interviews it's way better than local crap. Part of my sentiment is that I'm not tied to any Houston teams at all, and talk focusing on Texans, Rockets, or Astros is a great reason to not listen. I need broader coverage to stay entertained. So maybe that's something evident here, that Houston fans are not that great. They really aren't, save a few hard core locals. This is very evident going to Astros games, though I have heard Texans fans are good but haven't been to a game. Most of us are transplants who already had teams when we got here, so we don't care about an interview with the U of H basketball coach and never will. Local sports radio rules the real sports towns (Chicago, New York, Boston, St Louis, maybe a few more), here it best serves as a national affiliate.

Damn I should have made more beer, it won't last 10 minutes! Oh well, first come first served. The wife and baby might drop by for a bit, not for long and not late. I'll probably have to leave when they do. I used my hall pass this past weekend for a cross country RV trip bachelor party. So...I'll just be there during the early part of the festivities. I'll be sure to reserve a beer for our gracious host, if anyone else want to claim a cup let me know and I'll do my best to remember to set some aside.