h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, we're both from the US, we're both non-Christian, and we have a very slight overlap in musical/film/literary taste.

But I wanted to drop by and say hello. I've enjoyed getting to "speak" with you over the last few days.

I'm from Chicago, I'm female, just shy of 36, live with my S.O. and a cat, work as a corporate accountant for a large-ish company that deals in management and sales of manufactured housing communities, and think you seem like a really cool sort of dude.

Thanks for the intro, I've enjoyed the conversations also.

I'm a retired engineer (of the chemical persuasion) living near Houston, also with a S.O. (wife in my case) and a cat. My wife was born near Chicago (Waukegan), moved to Dallas for high school. We took a vacation in Chicago years ago, I remember it was cold ... not my favorite thing, as you might guess from my location in a subtropical climate (80F yesterday, way colder today, about 62F). The city was interesting, tho, including the museums, music clubs, etc.

I'm looking forward to more "conversations". I'm glad I noticed your post, I don't always see them on "My Space", I usually just look at the conversations.

- Steve K.

Thanks- I enjoy getting a vague idea about people to whom I wind up speaking with any frequency. Otherwise I conjure up my own mental images, and those are usually pretty weird.

I find that by definition, my idea of cold and other people's ideas of cold are quite different. I don't totally hate all warm weather, but I prefer winter to summer, and can't tolerate heat and humidity too well at the same time.

80°F in February? Last night it was 8° here. I'm usually OK till we hit single digits, and then I wear my real winter coat.

See you around the convos.

" ... can't tolerate heat and humidity too well at the same time."

You do NOT want to live in Houston. Comedian Dennis Miller was the host of a birthday party for former president George Bush (the father), in the outdoor baseball stadium (the roof was open). Maybe September, typical Houston summer, a sweat soaked Miller said, "I think I'll go back to my last job as a guide in the Amazon rain forest."

There was a poll of travelling news reporters a few years back, asking what was the city with the worst weather. It was a tie between Houston and Buffalo.

I can just imagine how warm and humid it must be there now, then.

I've been to the Houston airport, but didn't have a long enough layover to venture out into the city itself.

Did I miss much?

My least favorite city is still D.C. I had an eight-hour layover there once and ventured out for two hours. During that time, I was mugged three times.

Its been hot and hasn't rained much in the last month, so our electric bill went thru the roof. The rain cools things off, but then when it stops, its like a sauna. I don't remember if I told this story on H2G2, but I was landing at Houston Hobby Airport once, sitting behind a woman and her daughter. Looking out the window, the daughter said, "They have TREES here!" We had to walk outside briefly to get to the terminal, one of them said, "Its like AFRICA here!" I think they were expecting tumbleweeds and cactus.

Houston is pretty much like most American cities, lots of freeways, strip malls, Starbucks ... rampant generica. Chicago is probably more interesting. I've never been mugged in Houston, probably because walking is not too common here. If you go downtown most evenings, you'd think an evacuation had been ordered. Actually, its the same during the day, since everybody is in the tunnel system avoiding the heat.

There is a pretty nice park and adjacent museum district a few miles from downtown. Its named Hermann Park and has free outdoor shows at Miller Theater, including the Shakespeare Festival in early August. They start at 8:30 to avoid the worst of the heat ...

My wife & I enjoy San Fancisco - easy to walk clear across the city, but avoid the hills - and especially London. The Tube and trains made getting around a very large area pretty easy, although we avoided rush hour. I agree with the writer who said London may not be the most beautiful city in Europe, but it is the most interesting. The British Museum, the Maritime Museum at Greenwich, Dover Castle, the hovercraft ride to Calais, etc. Good stuff.

Suburban areas and chunks of downtown have lots of generic stuff like Starbucks, etc. But we do have some awesome museums and historic landmarks. Any city that has those is cool in my book. I like Austin, too- they've got one helluva music scene.

Never been to San Fran. I hear I'd love the climate- but they have a Big ing Bridge!! I've never actually been to California.

Your story about the lady and her daughter is funny. When I was a teenager, my parents bought a house in Orlando (I stayed here). On my first visit I was amused to find that they had pine trees in their yard and not palms. I guess stereotypes are more pervasive than we think.

We don't seem to have had a lot of rain, but with all of the flooding in the surrounding states, we must have. It's definitely humid. Not that warm yet- highs have been in the low 80s, mostly.

I'll make a note that if I visit Houston again I will visit Hermann Park (and the Shakespeare Festival if at all possible)!

A few links - the theater, park and museums are all in the same area:

http://www.milleroutdoortheatre.com/default.asp?Mode=DirectoryDisplay&id=1&DirectoryUseAbsoluteOnSearch=True

http://www.hermannpark.org/

http://www.hmns.org/?r=1

http://www.mfah.org/home.asp?par1=1&par2=1&par3=1&par4=1&par5=1&par6=1&par7=&lgc=0&eid=&currentPage=

http://www.mcgonigels.com/

The last one is for my favorite music venue, Mucky Duck, a pub style place. Mostly acoustic, lots of folks from Austin like the "Asylum Street Spankers".

hi there
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im a lurker for my sins lol
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when you said you dont see message s on your space. you wouldnt be in a brown colour on the page would you, known as brunel
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if you are, and want to see the page in a clear fashion.
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go to my page, look for the (plain )link, click to change the skin colour, hen use the my space back to yours, then edit the page to stay plain. there is also alabaster, not so good, and classic goo, a bright blue colour
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take care jim in lurker mode lol

Hi Jim, I think Steve meant he doesn't always notice whether he has new messages on his space or not, not that they don't actually appear.

You're kind to offer your help!

hi
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its suprising how many dont chnage from the brunel brown or black, i always use the plain, being digibox, i se it better, to get on, after it logs me off now and then, i have to use the alabaster.
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the goo looks good, but near impossible to use for messages.lol
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did you ever use the old 360, i miss that one lol jim

"I think Steve meant he doesn't always notice whether he has new messages on his space or not, not that they don't actually appear."

Correct.

no probs
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if you get adventurus, ive the alabster,plain and brunel on my page. brunel is the one that you can see the date you joined on lol im gone jim

Okay, thanks.

Looks like the coast is clear.

So how are things going in lovely Houston? How was your Fourth? Ours was nice and quiet- we live near a fairly large park so we were able to watch fireworks from indoors, sitting on the bed and looking out our window.

Hot and dry. My wife is in Longview (East Texas) at a hot air balloon festival. I'm betting the balloon will just lay there, no matter how much hot air they pump into it ... a guy down the block said his car radiator overheated, and he hadn't even started the car ...

Oh my gosh. That is hot! Did the hot air balloon manage liftoff?

Warm and a bit humid here, and we might see low nineties later this week, but it's definitely not as hot as all that.

Our big city food festival took place a few weeks ago. I never go, and haven't since I was in my early twenties. Usual attendance is something like three million people; combined with warm weather that's not my idea of pleasant, no matter how cool it is to eat a pickle on a stick.

I was joking about the car overheating, and my wife says they did not fly Friday, but because of too much wind, not heat. A few balloons did fly, but apparently wished they hadn't ... landing a balloon in high wind is not fun.