Houston Metblogs » hou_steve

‘Nother way to keep up

hou_steve — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:44:43 +0000

We Metrobloggers, among others, have made the exodus from Meetup.com. So what else is out there? That’s what I was wondering when I came across Upcoming.org. It’s pegged as an open source alternative to Meetup.

I’m still exploring how it can be used, but so far it’s not so bad. You join a metro (Houston, in our case) and it lists events that other users have posted. The number of users is small, only about 70 in Houston, and the only events listed so far are upcoming concerts. As expected, you just indicate whether you’ll attend a particular event or not.

Users can post their own events, and therefore are free to come up with their own location, date and time. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Like Meetup, it has the ability to remind you. But Upcoming lets you decide when you want to be reminded and how, either by e-mail or SMS.

The only problem seems to be the lack of a large user population, but that may change.

Howdy, pilgrim.

hou_steve — Fri, 27 May 2005 13:45:36 +0000

Is it just me, or does Mayor White always sound like he’s doing a bad John Wayne impression?

How ’bout a little politics?

hou_steve — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 16:56:29 +0000

Looks like former Houston Rep. Chris Bell is running for governor. You may know him as the congressman who filed the original ethics complaint against Rep. Tom Delay.

I’m not endorsing him at this point, but I’ve read quite a few op-ed pieces he’s written and I’m intrigued. In addition, his Website is clean and minimalistic, though it does offer a little Podcasting for you iPod folk.

You can check out his site if you want to know more about him, or if you’re really interested in getting to know him, join Chris Bell and his wife for happy hour at The State Bar on Thursday, April 28, at 5:30 p.m. Looks like RSVPs are required.

Coexistence

hou_steve — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 20:33:23 +0000

The Coexistence exhibit, a traveling exhibition of giant visual art comprised of 39 works, each interpreting

Festivals This Weekend

hou_steve — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 15:38:02 +0000

If you’re not hungover after Tiara Happy Hour, get out and enjoy some of the activities happening around Houston this weekend.

On March 11, I posted about the Japan Festival happening at Hermann Park.

If that doesn’t sound like your cup of sake, then maybe you’ll be more interested in the 10th Annual Bayou City Cajun Festival at Traders Village.

They both sound like fun to me, however, I’ll be camping in the Hill Country this weekend. But I’ll see you all next Saturday at the Houston Metblog Meetup, right??

Japan’s Living Jewels

hou_steve — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:47:23 +0000

Celebrating a land of festivals born out of ancient traditions, Houston

semi-smokefree

hou_steve — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:59:46 +0000

Anyone have any thoughts on the city’s half-hearted smoking ban? Will it do any good? Will it do any harm? And has anyone noticed the funny link in the comments section of HoustonSmokingBan.org?

Lunar New Year celebrations

hou_steve — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 20:19:27 +0000

I’m looking for info here. Houston has the second largest Vietnamese population in the United States. Surely there have to be several festivals going on around town. I found a few listings here, but I was hoping to find something happening in northwest Harris County, Spring, Klein, Cypress, et cetera. I’m hoping the Tet Festival at Reliant Arena will be a good place to take pictures, but the forecasted stormy weather might hamper that. We’ll see.

Road Closure PSA

hou_steve — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 15:47:57 +0000

In case anyone is unaware, there’s going to be a total closure of Highway 59 north and south from the 610 West Loop to Highway 288 this weekend. It starts tonight, Jan. 14, at 9 p.m. and won’t open again till Sunday, Jan. 16, at 6 a.m. More information can be found here.

Judge Ito would be overturning in his grave, were he dead

hou_steve — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 16:38:45 +0000

One of the big news stories today in Houston (and the nation, for whatever reason) appears to be the overturning of Andrea Yates’ conviction in the murder of her children. Why? Because a psychiatrist testifying for the prosecution lied about an episode of Law & Order that didn’t exist. I guess that makes sense if you think the jury made its decision believing that Yates was influenced by the television show.

I confess I know little about this case. Despite being a newspaper editor, I’d probably make for a good juror when they get around to trying Yates again. Or maybe not (I’m opposed to the death penalty). I don’t tend to follow these big stories. Maybe I get bored with them once the initial shock is over. And I have a double standard when it comes to the coverage. I don’t like the way television news stations report every twist and turn in a case like this or Scott Peterson’s, as if it’s really important to me. Then again, I understand the desire to hype, because if it were something I could run in my paper, I would cover it to death, too.