Velocipede

Rita, Rita

Went out tonight to find lines at the local gas stations and people buying more toilet paper than I think I've ever seen in my life. From what I hear, bottled water and plywood are pretty hard to come by around here. Thanks, Rita.

And it's Tuesday night and we still don't know what the storm will do. Maybe it'll hit just south of Galveston, which would be pretty bad for us, or maybe it'll hit farther down the coast, which will mean we'll get lighter winds and a lot of rain. Either way, it's not great, but I'd prefer tropical storm-force winds to the doomsday prediction.

Meanwhile, Galveston County will begin its first-ever mandatory evacuation tomorrow afternoon. That's more than 250,000 people headed out, with another 250,000 or so in the mix if Brazoria County calls for a mandatory evacuation on Wednesday. And, Mayor Bill said today that up to 1 million Houstonians could have to evacuate, depending on how things go. That's a lot of people.

So we'll keep watching and waiting. But it seems stupid not to make plans to leave.

All eyes on Rita

So Galveston has called for a voluntary evacuation to prepare for the chance that Tropical Storm Rita may hit the area later this week. How familiar.

Of course, Rita could go anywhere at this point -- the projected strike area now is between Brownsville and New Orleans, which is a pretty wide swath of the Gulf Coast. Houston is right in the middle of that, but there's a chance that the high pressure that's been keeping the temperature over 150 degrees could steer the storm away from us.

In the meantime, hurricanes are on all our minds, so Rita's the topic of conversation. Something to think about is the Chron's Eric Berger's description of Houston's "perfect storm:"

Houston's perfect storm would feed on late summer's warm waters as it barreled northward across the Gulf of Mexico, slamming into the coast near Freeport.

A landfall here would allow its powerful upper-right quadrant, where the waves move in the same direction as the storm, to overflow Galveston Bay. Within an hour or two, a storm surge, topping out at 20 feet or more, would flood the homes of 600,000 people in Harris County. The surge also would block the natural drainage of flooded inland bayous and streams for a day or more. ...

Meanwhile, as the storm moved over western Harris County, its most dangerous winds, well in excess of 120 mph even inland, would lash the Interstate 45 corridor, including Clear Lake, the Texas Medical Center and downtown.

A hurricane hitting the Houston area would put the region in an interesting situation. We still have a great deal of Katrina evacuees in and around the city, and many hotel rooms and apartments are full. If Galveston and coastal cities have to evacuate, where will the people go? Farther inland, I suppose. And if Houston has to evacuate, God forbid, that should be a sight.

Still, no reason to worry right now. We'll see what the next few days bring.

- Chron.com: Rita tracking map
- More Rita tracking
- Dan Wallach reminds us what Houston looks like under water

Jeff Davis redux

A few days ago I thought we were seeing the beginning of fall, but then Mother Nature pulled the rug out from under us -- the temperature is once again in the high 90s with a heat index of around 175. But it's beautiful outside, with blue skies and fall light, which makes you want to go out. Nature is cruel.

So today, I braved what I could stand and went to the old Jeff Davis Hospital, built in 1924 as the city's charity hospital. Not long ago, Jeff Davis was a magnificent ruin, but now it's being rehabbed as affordable housing. The building looks amazing, with restored stonework, cleaned and repaired brick, windows and a new roof. What was once crumbling, sagging or smashed by vandals has been lovingly restored. It's just incredible considering what the place used to look like.

The residents will also have a great view of downtown (see above).

The site is fascinating, too. Many Houstonians know (or have a vague idea) that the hospital was built on top of a city cemetery that was established in 1840 and became the resting place of a passel of yellow fever victims and Confederate veterans, among other early Houstonians. The last burial took place in the early 1900s, and when the city was looking for a place to build a public hospital in the '20s, where better to put it but the cemetery? And so it is. The building is literally on top of part of the cemetery; the graves weren't disturbed when it was built, and that's part of the reason the building doesn't have a basement. (One man defended his family's plot with a shotgun when work began at the site -- the headstones have disappeared, but you can see the stone curbing around his plot at the bottom of the photo of the skyline, right in the center.)

Many years before the cemetery was there, and before Houston itself was founded, the Jeff Davis site might have been the location of an English fort. The Brits tried to colonize the Gulf Coast in the 1600s, but it didn't work out. They left behind the foundation of a fort and some 17th century British odds and ends that archaeologists uncovered at the hospital site a few years ago.

So it's really great news for Jeff Davis. Bad news, of course, for Houston's urban explorers, who paraded through the hospital in a near-constant stream every Halloween.

- bluishorange: Jeff Davis before restoration, in 2002 and 2003

Karaoked

Last night brought a question: When a bar offers karaoke, does that draw the crowd of self-important wannabe entertainers, or do the wannabes draw the karaoke? All I know is that a pub where I used to like to hang out has been overrun by annoying, suburban-looking people in their 30s who think they're still in fraternities and sororities. Couldn't figure out why until the bartender rolled out the karaoke machine. We beat a quick retreat; no sense in hearing Coldplay badly sung by a drunk ex-frat boy.

On a positive note, the Astros beat the Brewers last night in a 2-1 nailbiter thanks to the bionic shoulder of Jeff Bagwell, who hasn't had a hit since May 2 (and it was his first pinch hit in more than three years). Stros in the series!

On a negative note, the Cougars dropped their first conference game 44-41 to Texas-El Paso in second overtime. Gotta work on the timing, gotta stop getting the ball picked off, gotta get some defense. But the college football weekend will be saved if Rice pulls off a surprise win over Texas. Uh, I guess I shouldn't hold my breath on that one.

Separated at birth?

There must be someone out there who's noticed that great 20th century architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and great 20th century thespian William Frawley look alike.

Mies designed a lot of buildings that kind of look the same, while Frawley played Fred Mertz on "I Love Lucy" and Bub O'Casey on "My Three Sons." Ah, which will endure?

(Oh yeah: Mies is on the left, Bill is on the right. See, I told you they look alike.)

197, 196, 195 ... and Kinky!

Went to the Saucer tonight to meet Kinky Friedman, independent candidate for governor of the great state of Texas in 2006. Kinky, whose campaign slogan is "Why the hell not," hopes to be Texas' first independent governor since Sam Houston nearly 150 years ago.

And who knows? He might win. It should be fairly easy -- on the Republican side, he only has to beat the well-coiffed Rick Perry or "One Tough Grandma" Carole Keeton Strayhorn; the Dems have Chris Bell, who didn't win mayor of Houston. Perry, the current governor, has very little going for him except his gubernatorial hair.

Drinking note: I had Beers 197, 196 and 195 toward by 200-beer goal tonight. Only 194 to go. Woohoo!

Holla at yo Cougars

So tonight was the first home game (well, the first really home game -- on campus) of the season for the UH Cougars. And they won, which should have been a foregone conclusion because they were playing Sam Houston State, but with the Cougars, you never know.

One thing: During the game, a storm rolled in and sort of bypassed the stadium, but the clouds and the sunset reflecting off downtown Houston made a cool image. Camera phone doesn't do it justice.

Another thing: The price of beer has gone up (I think?) at Robertson Stadium, which means I could only afford one, which made spectating a little less fun. I like to rid myself of sobriety and faith in the home team at the same time, and at $5.50 a pop, I just can't make that happen. Go Coogs.

Apartment Suite

Though it's been gloomy and rainy on and off all day, I made it over to Midtown to see "Apartment Suite," the newest project by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck (who also did Inversion). It's at Chenevert and Winbern on the east edge of Midtown, just west of the 59/288 split.

It's a great project -- Havel and Ruck have taken five abandoned apartment buildings and cut holes in the walls, removed siding and stuck furniture in unlikely places. There are big things, like the half-circle cut in the corner of one building, and small things like art made from stove pieces. Unfortunately, it's only standing through the beginning of next week. And though it was in the Chronicle today, no one was there but me this afternoon.

Knurd central

Did something stupid at happy hour at the Flying Saucer: I signed up for the program where you drink 200 different beers and get your name on a gold saucer hanging from their walls. The cost to sign up is $15 (for which you get a T-shirt you'll never wear), but someone figured the final cost, with obligatory and extra beers, is probably well over $1,000. The most expensive T-shirt and saucer I've ever bought.

Still, it was Mystery Beer Night and I had some good stuff. Then a far too large Mexican meal and I'm home by 9:30. Not bad, even though I feel like a grease-laden mess of crap. Mmm, but at least I have those 197 beers to look forward to.

Oh yeah: No Riunite. The search is on.

Riunite on ice

For some reason, I got the Riunite jingle stuck in my head today. I'm sure almost anyone old enough to remember the '80s could sing it on command -- backed by visuals of carefree people stowing their cold Riunite in backpacks, violin cases, ice chests, wherever you'd usually store a fine Italian wine.

Supporting my theory that everything is available on the Internet if you look hard enough, I found a stash of Riunite commercials online. They're on the Riunite Web site, which I guess means Riunite is still made -- I've never had it and haven't noticed if it's sold at my neighborhood store. But I also haven't seen anyone bicycling past with a bottle of Riunite sticking out of their backpack or a vivacious couple enjoying a cold glass of Riunite on the tennis court.

So ice down a bottle of red and join me on my drunken trip down memory lane.

(In one of the ads, four office workers tap into their secret stach of Riunite, which they've cleverly hidden in a file drawer. But look closely -- what's up with their hats? It's clearly supposed to be a party, but I don't know what kind of party requires people to wear funny bowler hats and Jell-O molds on their heads. Of course, the black guy gets to indulge his fancy for women's hats, so I guess it's all right.)