A moment, please...

Web Guy with a Napoleonic complex
(and sporting a Mickey Mouse watch)

Gentle reader, I may need a moment here...  I have had my heart laid bare and stomped upon.  Yes, I am more than a little distraught right now...

You see... I did not make the list of Houston's Most Eligible (and hottest) Bachelors (sniff).

Perhaps it is my age that keeps me off the list.  I am pushing 50 you know.  Or maybe it is my position as an administrator at the University of Houston that dulls the senses of the judges.  Who knows...

But it is precisely this type of thing that is fantastic about living in the fourth largest city in the United States.  An online magazine like Culture Map that gives us all of the society news.  Galas, fundraisers, and eligible bachelor lists.  It is something that I genuinely look forward to receiving in my email and reading every morning.  Plus they have the best calendar of events site in the city.

Then there is a fantastic magazine called Houstonia Magazine which I subscribe to and look forward to monthly.  It has all the information about the places here in the Bayou City.  Neighborhoods, bars, restaurants, and the like; it is the quintessential reference point.

So while I will sit here in my dark office and shed a few tears over my obvious bachelor snubbing, I shall persevere and continue to thoroughly enjoy life.  After all, The Addams Family stage show is starting tonight at Miller Outdoor.

An apartment hunt...

This past weekend was all about the hunt to end homelessness... specifically my own.  My lease expires on my current place at the end of November, the proposed raise in my rent has spurred me to move on and in my usual fashion I put off finding a new place until panic starts to set in...

Well, this weekend was when the panic set in so off I went...

There are so many levels of apartment living in Houston and to be quite frank, I love the area that I live.  My current abode is on Westheimer Road past the Galleria and as I have stated before, it is basically a five mile long strip mall just full of restaurants and shops.  But being a good steward and in good faith, I broadened my horizons.  I looked at apartments a couple of streets over as well as the ones on Westheimer.

Anyway, I found a place that is much cheaper than the current one I am inhabiting which probably means that I am about to enter a housing unit that is full of thugs, bugs and nightly police raids (I read the Yelp reviews...).

Oh well, it will give me something to blog about.  Cheers!

Culturally refreshed...

Weekends here in Houston are just something to behold.  As I am sure there are in Chicago, Los Angeles, or (gulp) New York activities are plentiful on the weekends.  BUT, I would challenge them to a certain distinction.  I would challenge them to the number of times that the "big guns" of the cultural landscape come out and give fantastic performances for the public... and oh yeah... for free.

Saturday started off wonderfully with the Bayou City Art Fair.  This HUGE art fair brings artists from all over the country to display pieces from almost every medium.  The spring version is held at Memorial Park and the fall version is held downtown.  There is nothing quite like walking around for three hours enjoying some fantastic creations.

Then in the evening hearing the wonderful musicianship of the Houston Symphony at Miller Outdoor Auditorium.  It was the annual Lunada concert celebrating Latin American composers.  The music just floated wonderfully and allowed a person to just drift away.  Hokey..?  Sure.  But that is about the best way I can describe it.  This was the Symphony's fourth (at least) free concert of the year for the public.  When you combine that with the Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company all giving free performances at Miller...

Well, it just doesn't get much better than that.

Ho! Ho! What the..?

Shopping season is in full bloom and I am behind as usual.  I also made a vital discovery this past weekend.  Evidently, the ENTIRE city of Houston and all of the surrounding communities merged onto Westheimer Road where I live.  Starting at 8am on Saturday, the street was backed up and stalled until around 8pm on Sunday.  I can honestly say that I had not seen that kind of traffic in a very long time.

But..(and this is important) I still met some of the nicest shop clerks.  Folks that knew what they had to do and did it with a smile and good disposition.  I hit a number of different retailers and they all made the traffic stress just go away.  Thanks folks.  By the way, there are some absolutely outstanding antique shops and curio shops here.  I had a ball perusing them.  I even walked out with a picture frame the was made from an old cold house (gardening reference).

So have a great holiday folks.  I will be making the 14 hour drive to the plains of Illinois this year and spend Christmas with my two rugrats.  I get to make pralines, snickerdoodles, and flavored chocolates this year.  It is going to be a ball.

There just comes a time...

Here we come a' marchin' towards the holidays.  There are beautiful lights up at the Houston Zoo (I am going again... and again), there are magical elves putting up decorations in the office building, the students are sweating out finals...

Life is just good this time of year.

I am going to make the 14 hour drive up to see my folks and kids in Springfield, IL for the Christmas break.  I plan on making some chocolates for everyone to try and gather a handful of hot sauces for everyone to taste.  I know that I have been writing about all of the wonderful places to go and visit here in the Bayou City, but for me it always comes back to the food.  Always has...

You see, I am definitely NOT a hot sauce person.  Anyone who knows me can attest to that, but my son likes the stuff.  Anyway, in the Galleria shopping mall there is a place called the Pepper Palace that we always have to stop in and try.  So, I bought a pack of samplers for him to try and share with his cousins.  For his sister, I am making some different flavored chocolates. Everything from strawberry, to pomegranate to cayenne pepper.  Once again...food stuffs.

Now... let's just hope it doesn't blizzard during the drive.

New Orleans...

Preservation Hall before the show

Okay, I got to take a little trip last weekend and had the time of my life...

Remember when I told ya'll about one of the biggest benefits of living here in Houston is that there are lots of places to visit within a short drive.  Well, I discovered New Orleans... and boy, did I ever discover it.  It was my first visit and I walked through Bourbon Street for drinks and oysters, Frenchman's Street for some great jazz, Magazine Street for the shops and dining...

Dining in New Orleans is an event onto itself.  I went there with oysters and gumbo on my mind and it did not disappoint.  I could go on and on describing the eats.

More importantly (to me) is the fact that NOLA is a music city.  Much like Nashville (which attracts anyone who wants to be a country/western star), NOLA attracts blues and jazz musicians.  I have to admit that it was a thrill to hear the music coming from everywhere.

Gonna go back...

Outside the bubble...

A long time ago in a far away portion of my memory, I lived in "The North".  In fact, I still have family and friends in "The North".  Now that I live in Houston, I have come to appreciate the those hearty souls that occupy the nether regions north of Dallas.  You may be a bit confused at this attitude of mine but there is one simple reason for it...

...it is cold up there in "The North".

I have recently returned from a trip up there.  A trip where I was being enticed to move back up there.  Sure, the leaves were turning colors and on the surface, it looked wonderful.  The wind was blowing and there was the smell of fall in the air.  Folks were serving wonderfully hearty soups and stews (as is the tradition), a cup of hot apple cider or a hot toddy in my hand.  I pulled out the jackets that were gathering mothballs at my apartment in Houston.  I was sporting a fashionable sweater... it was all looking and feeling good.  I will admit that I went to bed that evening feeling really good about a return.

Then it happened...

I awoke the next morning and went for my walk.  It was 25 degrees and the wind was blowing.  I think my nose and right ear froze and fell off...

So I returned back to the comforts (68 degrees) of Houston and immediately drove to Galveston for a day at the beach.  Mid-November and I am walking on the beach with the sand in my toes and dipping my feet into the warm Gulf of Mexico.  Yeah...

So while I will have to travel back up there for the Christmas holidays, I think that it will be a good thing.  It will simply remind me that I really like Houston.