The Houston area (Rosenberg) is home to a brand new and little-known professional soccer team - the Houston Leones. Founded by Juan Carlos Hernandez, president of the J. C. Hernandez Construction, Inc., the Leones play at Soccer World Center F.C., a soccer-specific facility in the city of Richmond, Texas, 32 miles (51 km) west-southwest of downtown Houston.

The Leones compete in the USL Premier Development League, a league made up of 67 teams that develops players for leagues such as the MLS (Major League Soccer). Fans of “futbol” can catch the squad Saturday at 6 PM for their match against the Mississippi Brilla.

SOCCER WORLD CENTER F.C.
6510 ROHAN RD. RICHMOND, TX 77469

According to StartupHouston.com, The Planet is taking up residency in Bayou Place, square in the heart of downtown. Straight from their blog, they plan to go head to head in competing with Silicon Valley for new tech business. Their recent donation of $25000 to the Houston Technology Center is an awesome step in that direction. It’s exciting to see the tech industry growing here in H-Town.

I love this cooler weather now, cycling is so much better. And what luck! We’ve got two big events this weekend that let you take advantage of your set of wheels.

The October Critical Mass

Dress up, come out and ride! Critical Mass rides are self-organized, non-commercial and non-competitive, just fun. Starts at Tranquility Park on Friday the 26th at 6:30pm to ride at 7:00pm. Find out more at Critical Mass’ Myspace

Moonlight Ramble 2007

Saturday night/Sunday morning brings us the Moonlight Ramble, an all-ages annual rolling bike party through the city. Costumes, bikes, noise, people all night long. A ride with your choice of 8 or 20 miles, starting at 2am (the second one) and rolling from the GRB Convention Center downtown and path through the city.

Registration for the Moonlight Ramble is $30/person and all proceeds benefit Bike Houston. Find out more info on the flyer [pdf] and the FAQ.

So, come out and support cycling, fun and great people. And remember to dress warmly, its gonna be in the low 50’s.

Dudes, talk about being late to the party.

I had been to Coco’s once over a year ago when her place was on Richmond. Although I had always wanted to go back, I just never made it out to that side of town very often.

So imagine my surprise when I realized that the Coco’s on Westhiemer (near Montrose) was the same place. Evidently, Coco had to move out of her Richmond location (for whatever reason) and so decided to move closer to Downtown.

You may recognize this location as the old Montrose Diner site… which was the worst fucking diner ever with their horrible service and bland/poorly cooked food.

By sharp contrast, Coco’s is nothing like the Montrose Diner. I ordered a “J” roll as well as several individual pieces of sushi and some hot green tea. My order also came with a small dish of edamame, but I don’t know if that was because I was there during happy hour or that’s the way it is with any order.

The overall experience was dynamite!!! Yummy food and Coco is a trip to chat with. My fear is that the highly supportive clientele from Coco’s old location won’t follow her to the new location. Which means The HouMetblog community needs to get out to Coco’s damn it!

A happy eater is you!

With such intense media coverage of the recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis, I thought this 2006 report on Texas Bridges released by the Texas Department of Transportation would be of interest to you all.

Points of interest:
- Texas leads in the largest number of bridges in the country with 50,183 bridges.
•4% of Texas bridges are categorized as ’structurally deficient’ (2,125 bridges).
•16% are ‘functionally obselete‘ (7,802 bridges)
•77% are ’sufficient bridges’ (38,425 bridges)

KHOU lists the following Houston bridges that are considered unstable but still usable:
•I-45 over Buffalo Bayou downtown
•The Eastex over the San Jacinto River
•The North Freeway bridge over the San Jacinto River

You can check out the rest of the state’s critical bridge list here.

If you want a very cool and very relaxed outing, I have a gem for you. Jonathon Dewveall will be going unplugged tomorrow night:

Dunn Bros. Coffee
This will be an acoustic show. Come, chill out and sip a cup of Joe.

When: Friday, August 3rd at 7 p.m.
Cost: Absolutely Free

11510 Space Center Blvd.
Houston, TX 77059
Map

I know Jonathon from the podcasting world, he has had some of his tracks played on Riding with the window down… as well as the Pod Music Countdown, and I can guarantee you will enjoy the music. On top of his musical talent, he is a real nice guy. Jonathon gets back together with the full band next Saturday, August 11th. They are playing at Notsuoh in downtown Houston. If you get out to either of these gigs, buy him a beer and tell Jonathon that Cdogg says “Hi.”

• Featuring over 50 of Houston’s best local bands all in one evening for only $10!
• Beginning at 4pm at Bayou Place &
  Downtown Venues
• Your $10 wristband is your admission to every venue, and is available NOW at Catwalk (1431 Westheimer 11am-7pm Mon-Sat & 11am-5pm Sunday) OR at all showcase venues the day of the event. SPECIAL CATWALK ADVANCE PURCHASE OFFER: 2 FOR $15!
• For more info, call 713.280.2448

Vote here

*Funky alien art courtesy of Houston Press

St. Arnold’s Brewery has shipped a special batch of Christmas Ale, to help you get in the holiday spirit a wee bit early.

It’s certainly one of my favorite brews, and according to their Web site has many other fans as well:

Christmas Ale, with its 8% alcohol, has interesting effects on people. Many of these people have been compelled to share these exploits with us. Why? We’re not really sure. Several have involved public nudity. One of the best was a voicemail left the evening after a tour that included Christmas Ale. The lady called to say, “I don’t know what you put in your Christmas Ale, but after the tour, my husband and I went home and made love all afternoon long.”

UPDATE from St. Arnold’s!! :

Dear St. Arnold’s Army:

A few establishments in Houston will be celebrating Christmas in July over the next week, so dress in your best Santa outfit (actually, that could cause heat stroke, so maybe not) and go out and enjoy the one keg of Christmas Ale each place received. Of course, we can’t tell you where these will be, but some hints now follow:

Wednesday (7/18): Look for ducks on Norfolk.
Thursday (7/19): Hang with PhD’s and feast with Odin at Rice.
Tuesday (7/24): Christmas Ale downtown with aliens.
Wednesday (7/25): Rice Village at a really old pub (well, 22 is old in Houston)

At unspecified times, Christmas Ale can also be found in the Shepherd Plaza area (perhaps as soon as today) and in the Bissonnet/Morningside region, an area not otherwise known for volcanic activity.

There are still a few cases of our Christmas Ale out in the market. Those of you in Garden Oaks will feel like a 5 year old on Christmas morning if you go by 43rd and Ella.

The exhibition, Contemplating the American Landscape, is closing Friday, June 29th, so do check it out if you get a chance. Three Houstonians are featured in a group exhibition of American landscape and you can drop by for a last look at the Travis Tower lobby in downtown Houston. One of the artists featured, Divya Murthy, is interested in documenting the destruction, construction, and evolution of her neighborhood in Houston. Sounds interesting, yeah?

Get directions and press release here.

“The Metropolitan Transit Authority board approved a $77.3 million agreement Tuesday with an Idaho-based engineering and construction firm to begin work on the city’s next four rapid transit lines.”

Finally! Screw all you Anti-Metro Rail haters! This is exactly what this city needs! Well, we really need an infrastructure that’s more sophisticated but this is a step in that direction! As large as Houston is it’s down right laughable knowing how horrible our mass transit system currently operates. Not only will this be better for people’s commute but it will also be better for our air quality, our wallets and our communities!
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