I've been working in downtown Houston for over a month now. This has been such a good change - I have a company provided bus pass, so no more horrible Houston traffic every morning and evening. No more filling up the gas-guzzling Expedition every five days. I love working in a city, as opposed to a random building off the freeway. My office is on the 52nd floor, so I have a really nice view of the city. When they finish renovating our floor and I move to the other side, the view is even better. Anyway, I wanted to blog about some of the odd similarities I've found between Houston and Washington D.C.
1. The Slug Line. I take a commuter bus in and out of work everyday. However, most mornings I have a really hard time getting to the park and ride before 8:30am. This is when the last regular bus leaves - the ones after that run every hour, and stop at some other places before getting downtown. Luckily, I've never had to get on the 9am bus, because there's a
slug line. Just like I did 14+ years ago, I get a free ride to work with a stranger almost every day. I generally take the bus home - there isn't a centralized location to pick up riders going home. Plus, I do have a free pass and the buses come frequently in the early evenings when I'm headed home.
2. The Tunnels. During my various stints as a page and intern at the Capitol, I spent a lot of time in the tunnels that connect all the buildings. It turns out that the buildings in Houston are connected by
tunnels too. There are restaurants, stores, banks, even doctors and dentists with tunnel locations. Since Houston weather tends to alternate between hot or raining, this is a good thing. Last week I did quite a bit of exploring and found some new places to eat, but this week I'm brown bagging it, in the interest of my wallet and waistline.
And October always brings the elementary school Hoedown/Fundraiser. Ellie and Ben got cool face painting (Ben's is a disturbingly realistic eyeball), and Sammy managed to win some squirt guns.
Our football game against the Katy Tigers was televised on Fox Sports. Their football team whipped us, which was not surprising since they're currently ranked top in the state. They put the band halftime shows on too, and it was fun to watch them later on our DVR.
We started out today at 9am at the nail salon. The I dropped Maddie off at home, while I trekked to the mall in search of a small silver purse to complete her outfit. While I was at the mall, Maddie called me in a minor panic, because she realized that her ticket to the dance was in her trumpet case, which was in her locker in the bandhall. Luckily, I knew there was a drumline competition today, so they would be returning to the school and opening up the bandhall to put the equipment away. I called Wes's mom to find out when the buses would be returning to the school, then went to wait for them. Finally, ticket safely in hand I headed home. Oh - I found the perfect handbag at the mall, for only $3.50 too.
Wear a ribbon flower thing as big as your head, with streamers down to the floor, and painted overalls to school on the Friday of the Homecoming game. Texas is definitely a world all of its own.
Because of everyone's busy schedules, we had a birthday breakfast for Mary Lou, with fruit salad and a coffee cake. Maddie, Mary Lou and I declined to be in the pictures, since it was the first thing in the morning.
We've discovered there are a lot of traditions surrounding Homecoming weekend here in Texas. This is the invitation that Maddie got to the dance (I think Wes had more than a little help from his Mom and big sister putting it together.) We've also gotten a garter for Wes - it's this huge ribbon flower thing that goes around the arm, with all sorts of stuff attached to it. The kids wear them on the Friday of homecoming. The girls get mums (also huge ribbon flower things that are pinned on). At Maddie's school there's a tradition of wearing overalls that Friday, probably so that the huge mum has something sturdy to be attached to. We've obtained those and are almost ready for the big weekend.
Maddie is in the marching band at her new high school. This is a picture of the March Off - the drum majors barked out orders and the kids followed. If they made a mistake, they stepped off the field.
