Texas Tour - Day 4 (3/30)

Day 4: Houston

Friday I met JoeWhite.com for lunch at the famous House of Pies. Joe just got married! Trying to figure out what to do with his Montrose bachelor pad (dude if I lived in Houston I would so take it).

Andrea and Joe.com at House of "Pies" - get it?

After lunch I dropped by campus for the first time since 2003. I was a little upset to see that, after the 4 years that I lived in the trash paddy that was the Hanszen quad (complete with mud pits and broken Krylon-decorated patio furniture), they finally got around to fixing it up! Combined with the construction and commons destruction and our subsequent squatting in the Wiess commons, I picked the wrong 4 years to go to Rice!

Overall the campus looks pretty good. The 6400 construction projects from my days have all finished. I dropped by the North campus and had the darndest time trying to figure out which college was Martel and which was McMurtry, and which were the new halls of Jones and Brown. They all looked the same to me.


You heard me right, alums. Rice is building ANOTHER college for the million fafillion new students they are planning on accepting. During a welcome/protest for the new school detailed in the Thresher, I found Eric Libby's identical twin (who is also from Hanszen). I'm not kidding, see for yourself:



There weren't too many professors still on campus that Friday afternoon, but I ran into a few. Dr. O'Malley was out having twins, they told me. Dr. Chapman is still there, but this is the first semester he's not teaching anymore. I think he must be 210 years old by now - I don't think he recognized me. I had the longest chat with Dr. McStravick, who is now sporting a beard. He's doing really well. Detailed to me how Ryon lab and most of the Cox building have expelled the MECH department, which I can't understand at all. I see my alumni donations decreasing by the second...


It was good to see folks and tell them that I'm finally settled with a job I really like. Then came the "Great! So, are you married? Any kids?" Then I had to say "Uhhh, well THAT part of my life still sucks, but anyway-"


That night I caught up with Felicia (my hetero soul-mate) at my old favorite Madras Pavilion (and 3rd Indian restaurant of the week). Once again, the food wasn't as good as I remembered, but the company didn't disappoint. She just finished medical school as will start her residency in September! She also hooked me up with Nick Walther, Scott Berger, and some other Hanszen folks for some bocce ball. Everyone as doing fabulous. Check us out:

Good-looking bunch, huh?

I was staying at the Greenfield Inn just off Southwest Freeway, and the first night I noticed that my bed smelled like stinky guy - but only on one side. I concluded they must not have changed the linens since the last guest! So I slept on top of the covers, and the next morning I specifically asked them to change the linens. Their agreement looked a little suspect, so I took a pen and drew a star on the corner of the fitted sheet. When I got back that night, it was still there! I called the front desk and demanded new sheets, but they told me the cleaning staff had gone home for the night. Man, I wish I had demanded a room change and refund. But instead I was a pushover and slept on top of the sheets again. The next morning I threw all the sheets on the floor in the hopes that they wouldn't do it again to the next guest (just as easy to put new ones on as the old ones, right?). So be careful, and don't accept excuses!!!


On a more sober note, I did get an update about someone who didn't make it into town so I didn't see personally (probably a good thing). They treated me badly, and I found out that something bad had happened to them. That made me re-think the anger I had for him, that I had almost forgotten. Can you still be mad at someone who has had misfortune? It is simultaneously justified - what happens now doesn't change what they did then - and coldhearted - to think ill of someone who has already been punished enough. I can't be selfish and see it as some sort of karmic retribution for hurting me - and I hope it's not because what then happens to me because of the people I've treated badly?