36/365: Houston Dynamo’s New Stadium Groundbreaking

February 5, 2011.

On Saturday, February 5, the weather cleared up and the blistering cold subsided just a tad. However, there was no stopping the Houston Dynamo’s New Stadium Groundbreaking party & the fans & soccer enthusiasts who flocked in. Houston’s MLS soccer team, the Dynamo, will have their own stadium mid-2012.

I was impressed by the club & players’ openness and friendliness shown to fans. After the groundbreaking’s formal ceremony, eager fans simply surrounded their calm soccer heroes and received their signatures and pictures.

Sarah Gee (awesome!) below invited me to come out & introduced me to many of her friends and former coworkers at the Houston Dynamo.

KHOU 11 News story & Dynamo website article. More of my photos from the groundbreaking here.

33/365: Hello, 20 degree temps! Rolling Power Outages

Welcome to a couple of the coldest days in Houston! Especially in February.

During this time, ERCOT (Electric Reliability Counsel of Texas) began initiating rolling electricity black outs throughout Houston (and Texas) to keep up with the high demand of electricity-intensive home heaters. An investigation has been launched into ERCOT’s decision reports the Wall Street Journal.

32/365: Bitter Sweet Freedom, Jury Duty Summons

Postponed once because of our product’s December release date, my jury duty day was upon me. An odd time slot of 12:15pm loomed over my day putting a damper on any afternoon coding plans / meetings and possibly for the remainder of the week.

The day happened to coincide with Suit Up Day @ PROS so I decided to keep my suit on to let the judge know I meant business… I made my way to the courthouse through the blustery cold & wind after taking the rail from my office into downtown.

Some cameraman argues with an HPD officer. Eventually is let in… apparently he was filming the DA.

Taking an Oath!

I wasn’t a part of the first few juror calls, but with ~20 people left I thought for sure we would be free to go. NOPE. They called all of us to line up and a sheriff walked us over through the howling wind to the Harris County Criminal Justice Center where we passed through a metal detector.

We then went up into a juror deliberation room while the judge reviewed a list of all of us. He then called us all in and debriefed us on the importance of serving as a juror and being impartial & basing our verdict on the facts presented to us. Each representing side of the court asked several pointed questions pertaining to the case both to us as a whole and individually.

Due to the subject matter of the case (DWI) and involvement in some way of almost everyone on the jury panel, the judge declared our entire panel a “bust” and dismissed us all.

Taking the rail back, I found that someone is missing their hot date’s number. Officer Evans…

31/365: Fog in Houston

Monday night, the last day of January, in Houston was a foggy foggy night. The beginning of a crazy odd week of weather in Houston. My street had an eerie stillness to it disturbed only by the occasional wandering cat.

27/365 - Checked Out Dunlavy Apartment. Lease Acquired!

January 27, 2011.

For the past several months I have been scouring Houston Craiglist’s apartment listings looking for a 1BR or 2BR apartment in the Montrose/Midtown area of Houston (my search). Well, I think I’ve found the place! Today, I swung by a quaint small ~15 unit apartment complex off of Dunlavy with a courtyard & gazebos to check out a soon to be available unit. It is 3 blocks north of Westheimer which just happens to be perfect walking distance to 3 amazing cafes Agora, Brasil, & Empire!

My sister & brother-in-law lived in a similar unit in the same complex several years ago (before Sammy) & loved the landlord & management. BIG PLUS!

The apartment unit I checked out is downstairs in the corner of the complex (no one on one side of me). It is a 1 bedroom / 1 bathroom with real hard wood floors & washer and dryer in the unit (another plus). Three closets in the bedroom and tons of cabinet space in the kitchen (pictured above).

For the price, people & location, I think it’s a WONDERFUL deal! It is about 6 minutes from my work and within biking distance for those times that coding takes wind-in-the-face inspiration. I picked up a lease app, turned it in, was approved, and given a lease to read over & submit!