There were lots of these foam pieces on the highway that must have flown off a truck. At first I was scared they were wood and didn't want to hit them, then I realized they were just foam and wasn't worried, but then I got scared again because they might somehow get sucked up into an intake somewhere. Oh well, easy to avoid.
On sale because it's about to expire. Hmm... I wonder how safe this is.
I wonder why some of these are "special."
Even though I know they're probably about the same, I can't get rid of the idea that the bottles which are a lighter color are much weaker. Pastel = passive, dark = strong.
Ooh, window clings. I remember looking everywhere for these years ago.
A real man's laundry basket.
Trying out the different Dynavision settings in low vision.
Too many stickers.
Really, dude, don't bike on this road. You annoy the car drivers and you endanger yourself.
This last little way into the parking lot is horrible in the mornings because the sun is right in my eyes.
I think they need more signs.
Hey, I saw you throw that cup out. I should have run up there and thrown it back in his window.
That's an interesting outfit for the middle of the afternoon.
I was going to help with a vision screening, but I was running late because of a late patient, and when I got there everything was covered up. I thought it was supposed to go for at least another few hours, but who knows.
One of my least-favorite intersections in Houston: 59 west to 610 north.
A teller at the bank randomly gave me a coupon for a smoothie.
So I went and got one. Even with the coupon, though, that seems insanely overpriced.
Nice car, ugly color.
A little plant stuck on the side of the conveyor belt; kinda cute.
I ordered flowers for Jenny for her birthday. This is what she was supposed to get: gloriosa lilies.
However, Teleflora called me at 2pm, said they had called a ton of different florists, and nobody had them. One place offered cymbidium orchids instead. I probably would have gone with different flowers or a different florist if they would have told me earlier, but with so little time, these at least looked kind of neat online.
Finally got the banner to stay mostly vertical.
You're not supposed to take 10 minutes to make multiple wishes beforehand. ;-)
Jenny with her presents: Crave cupcakes, a smoothie, cymbidium orchids, travel contact lens solution, a Black Hills gold necklace, and some $2 bills.
Glow party at HUSH. Everybody was given one glow bracelet when they came in, but we brought some of our own.
I think it looks cooler without the flash.
Playing around with our bracelets: handcuffs.
Jenny put one on each belt loop. Kinda neat.
The staff had multiple glow bracelets / necklaces so it was easy to find them. And it looks like this one even has a blacklight skirt.
We brought one test tube shot each from this waitress, and then she wouldn't leave us alone the rest of the night.
One good way to help find your drink.
Guy dancing on the bar.
Crowd shot.
Then off to Capone's for dancing. We really should have switched the two (Capone's first, HUSH second).
Jenny dancing.
And dancing.
And dancing.
And dancing.
Aw, poor glow bracelets, now they'll just die off. They worked well for when we needed them, though.
These glasses are cool: it looks like rainbows all over.
Although I think the only place with actual coloring is the base, and the rainbows everywhere else are from reflections. I wonder if someone made a mathematical model to do that or just used trial and error.
Neat paint job.
Volleyball.
Up for a spike.
Hey, where did all of this sand come from?
Going up for a block.
High jump.
Diving hit.
Uh oh, what's this?
What my phone says if you leave it out in the sun too long.
Jenny got a couple pictures of me between her study sessions.
"Hey, you were supposed to hit it forwards, not backwards!"
A train was blocking off the road ahead. Thankfully I saw it so I could take the turn lane and go around.
They forgot to make sidewalk for about 10 feet here.
Art car we saw on the way to the Greek Festival.
Cathedral at the Greek Festival.
Inside the cathedral.
There were tons of people.
We split up since the lines were so long, about a 20-30 minute wait for any type of food. I went for loukoumades...
... and Jenny and her friends went for souvlaki.
Now the hard part is finding each other again. I texted her, "Where are you?" and Jenny replied, "Corner of the booth." Well, that's not real helpful as there are like 20 booths with 4 corners each. On top of that, she kept losing signal. But we did eventually find each other again. Unfortunately, they ran out of souvlaki two people ahead of them, so we got sausage on a stick instead. Still good, but not as good.
There were also dinner plates.
But they had the same problem: they ran out of about half of it. Jenny's friends had pre-purchased plates for $10, and now they were selling them for $5 since there was less food, so they got double helpings.
Thankfully we found an open area to eat, even if it was kind of back behind some barriers.
The best part was that one of Jenny's friends knew a dancer. He let us in the back door early so we got really good seats.
High kicks.
This guy's cell phone was really bright and distracting.
Singers.
Dancing around a wine cup, then drinking it without using his hands.
Putting it on his forehead.
We walked through the shops on the way out, but they were closing, so the cops were really pushing everyone out.
Oh well, save some money that way.
Baby Barnaby's fills up around 9am. When the first guy who got there when there wasn't a table available, the waiting list wasn't up yet, so the waiter asked his name, and he replied, "Ben." The waiter asked, "Beth?" The guy looked at his breakfast companion, another man, looked at the waiter, and again said, "Ben." The waiter said, "OK, Beth, just a second." The waiter went and got the waiting list, asked again, "What was your name?" The guy said, "Ben," the waiter wrote, "Beck," and the guy just gave up, haha. But we were sitting right there, so I fixed it on the list for him.
Always nice to see this line while leaving rather than when arriving.
We saw the signs for this estate sale on our way there, but it said Saturday only. On our way to our cars, though, they had changed it to Sunday, so we dropped in.
A little book nook.
With lots of 8-tracks inside.
Russian nesting dolls.
Nice lamps.
Love letters from a woman who wrote them in the late 1800s.
Deaf and dumb mute separates from his wife and then murders her in a brothel before killing himself. They had much more interesting, although depressing, obituaries in 1879.
It's amazing how much "stuff" people accumulate.
We noticed the seller's business card said he was a ballroom dance instructor, so we talked to him about that, then bingo, then what we did, then where Jenny was born. When she said China, he got all excited and asked her to read what it said on the bottom of this bowl. What good luck for him to have someone who can read Chinese stop by. :)
This woman is still out working on her lawn.
Sunday night we went to Hotel Zaza (the most unique hotel I know of in Houston) for Jenny's birthday. I had originally thought of doing it Friday night, but it was booked. About a month before, I had stopped by in person to ask if they actually had any rooms open since the internet might be wrong, but the clerk said they had nothing, and were booked that Saturday and Sunday, too. I went home and checked the website for Saturday, and they actually had lots of openings, although they were pretty expensive. I checked Sunday just in case, and they had openings then, too. Even better, they were discounted (which would make sense for a Sunday night) and even included breakfast coupons.
Neat little pond by the reception area.
Free drinks and cookies.
Our room.
Tons of pillows.
Neat shower.
$4 for a Kit Kat, and it only goes up from there.
Aw, so tempting, especially with no convenience stores around.
They had some pretty racy art on the walls. One woman whined about it in an online review and how it wasn't appropriate for her kids. Uh, lady, it's pretty obvious the entire hotel isn't exactly appropriate for kids.
The picture in the bathroom.
Enjoying the view from the balcony.
Straight west.
And north.
Us on the balcony.
Off to a nearby Cafe Express for dinner.
This bird was really bold, but he wouldn't quite eat out of your hand.
If you broke a piece off, though, he'd grab it off the table, then take off...
... and dip it in water so it'd be easier for him to eat. Smart fella.
Jenny: "Don't eat the one with the black spot!" Which resulted in me playing the whole act-like-you're-eating-it-while-really-moving-it-outside-of-your-cheek prank.
On the top floor they have seven suites. We didn't get to look in any of them, but they look really cool online (not to mention expensive).
A little putting green on top of a nearby building.
Out by the pool.
Cabanas around the pool.
Roundabout in Hermann Circle Drive.
There were only a few other random people at the pool.
The pool bathrooms were marked "Gods" and "Goddesses."
It was a bit chilly, but the pool was heated and really warm. Fun to swim under this little waterfall area, too.
Jenny enjoying the view.
We hung out at the pool for a few hours. Here's Jenny studying while a couple takes wedding pictures in the background.
The pool changed color about every 20 seconds.
The cabanas were pretty neat.
"OK, you just took four out-of-focus pictures of me. Time to give the camera back."
How does one person just lying there for a couple of hours go through five really-oversized towels? :)
Each of the three elevators had a different picture in the back.
#2
#3
A picture just outside of the elevators on our floor.
View from our balcony towards the west.
And to the north.
A very yummy breakfast.
We had two $25 tickets for breakfast and the bill came out to $49.80. Doesn't get much better than that. And we even got out of the $25 valet parking charge by parking on the street a few blocks away.
A little bowl of water and dog bones by the front entrance, although I'm not sure who they're for.