Houston Question!

Anyone know of awesome places to eat in Houston? Maybe that deliver? Maybe barbecue?

The grocery store it lists as close to me isn't a proper grocery store. V. small. At my previous address I was equidistant between a Vons and a Pavilions, I could walk to restaurants, bars, library, post office...it was tres cool.

Right now I don't walk anywhere from home, but I do walk a bit around work.

The house where I grew up has a score of 45, but it's changed a lot from when I was a kid--back then, we only had a gas station and school within walking distance, but there's been an explosion of stores and restaurants in the strip malls developed out of the farmland that surrounded the subdivision back in the '70s and '80s.

My current apartment is only a 23, which is understandable--the nearest thing that isn't residential is the library one mile north, and the Walgreens another 1/2 mile north of that.

Our new house gets a 66, but that is clearly too low, since the only important thing is that we can walk to an In 'n Out Burger!

Gas explosions in Dallas on the news. With NYC, SF and now this I worry.

Five Ballpark Promotions That Went Wrong

Of course, I knew about the White Sox Disco Demolition Night, but not the other ones. And really, who (in 2006!) would think dropping cash onto an audience would be a good idea?

Comiskey Park, 1979

The Promotion: Disco Demolition Night. White Sox fans were encouraged to bring old disco records to the park in exchange for a reduced admission price of 98 cents. The records were to be destroyed in between the two games of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.

What went wrong: Believe it or not, a lot of people wanted to see disco records destroyed. 50,000 people showed up at the gates and many who were turned away at the gate tried to climb the walls of the stadium to get in. The crowd, who were reportedly heavily under the influence, soon realized that records could double as Frisbees, which naturally led to fans throwing firecrackers and drinks. When the demolition moment came, the explosion was bigger than expected and ended up ripping a hole in the outfield grass. Thousands of fans ran onto the field to join the mayhem, burning banners and throwing objects. The batting cages were even destroyed in the riot.

The outcome: The Tigers refused to take the field, forcing the White Sox to forfeit the game. The quick patch job on the outfield left the grass uneven and players complained about it for the rest of the season.

I call bullshit on that walkability thing. My current address, my last address in Manhattan, and my parents' address all got in the low 80s, but you don't need a car for anything in any of those places.

My old place gets a 69 (which is ridiculous, it was crazy walkable). My new place gets a 48, which is about right, it's sort of hemmed in by a busy street and a mall.

hmm ... my current place got an 88, but they listed some places that have closed and didn't list the Safeway under groceries, although they had the pharmacy. My mother's place - 29, and overrated. Not really walkable at all, unless you're fond of either cutting through the woods and crossing the train tracks or walking on the shoulder of the highway.

To be fair, the site does have a "How it doesn't work" page, and it does confess that there's no way yet for them to know about businesses that have closed or calculate in highway overpasses and whether or not a given neighborhood is dangerous.

91 does seem a bit low for our neighborhood, but the lack of a nearby grocery store is a big giant PITA.

The address in the tony suburb I lived in until my parents split up got a score of 11, which isn't as low as some people's but is still pretty amazing for an upscale Northern California suburb that's only a 25-minute train ride from San Francisco.