Houston is Number One Best Place to Live!

It's the city of big plans and no rules, beat-the-heat tunnels and loop-the-loop highways, world-class museums and wiry cowboys, humidity that demands an ice-cold martini and the biggest damn liquor store on the planet. How could you not love Houston?

Yeap.....That is what Kiplinger's Magazine says about Houston, naming it the Number One best place to live and work in the USA. They go on to say:

You can hardly afford not to. Back with a roar after the oil bust of the 1980s, Houston has reclaimed its title as energy capital of the U.S. and added aerospace, technology and medical companies to the mix, generating more than 100,000 jobs in 2007. Not only does the Houston metro area lead the nation in job growth, but also its cost of living stands well below the national average. Housing prices run half those of other metro areas its size.

Interestingly enough, Loren Steffy recently wrote an article in the Houston Chronicle business section titled The Lack of Zoning Has Paid Off for Houston. He said that when he first came to Houston he was shocked by the lack of zoning but since then he has become a believer. In the article he sites a report issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Houston branch, senior economist Bill Gilmer which found that Houston has been shielded from the USA's real estate crisis by the lack of zoning.

Gilmer's study, released earlier this year, is a reminder that the real secret ingredient in Houston's economic recipe is affordable housing, not just abundant land. Not only do our housing prices make Houston attractive for relocations, it means that residents spend less of their income on housing, so they have more to spend on other things.

"It's a big driver of our growth," Gilmer said. "There aren't a whole lot of places that can offer a big city life and affordable housing."

Just yesterday I was looking on-line at condos for sale in a high rise condo project built about 20 years ago. It is in a great location, close to shopping and all the other amenities of downtown living....even close to the two sons who live in Houston. I found this 1080 sq. ft. condo on the 26th floor for $155,000. Can you imagine finding something like this in the 5th largest city in the USA? Yes, I know it says it is a fixer-upper but how about this 1511 square feet condo for $289,000? Yes, Houston can offer big city living and affordable housing.

Whatever the reason for Houston's economy and growth, I'm glad to call it my hometown and I'm glad that I have a piece of real estate that I can go back to if I want to.

The Squeeze

This is the dreaded Mammogram Machine.....an instrument of discomfort at the very least and out right pain at times. If you have ever had a mammogram you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, imagine that they put your breast between two plates and try to mash it as thin as a milanesa de pollo. Then they tell you to hold your breath while they walk behind a barrier wall and press a button to start the image making. Hell, you started holding your breath 20 seconds before when they first mashed the breast flat. The machine makes a few noises and finally they say okay you can breath and release your breast. And if you have a strong family history of breast cancer as I do, you willing sign up every year to do it again.

This time was a little worrisome. They took six mashed-flat-as-a-pancake images and then the radiologist looked at them and said they needed to take two of them again. Mmmm.....that usually doesn't happen. And while they were doing that the technician told me that my doctor had also scheduled an ultrasound of the breast. Mmmmm......she hadn't told me that when I saw her the week before. Talk about imagination taking over....mine was running the show. I don't know if the ultrasound tech was new or slow but it seemed much longer than the ultrasound I had about 3 years ago.

When the radiologist came in to take a look at the ultrasound, I told her I lived in Mexico and would be headed back the next day so if there was any concern or anything else that I needed to do and she could tell me now, I'd appreciate knowing NOW. She said that they wanted to take a good look and be sure that nothing had changed since my last mammogram and ultrasound. But then she said that everything looked the same so no need to do anything else on this check-up.

Whew! One more year. I know I'm a little paranoid but my mother had breast cancer at 30 and my sister died of breast cancer.

I'm also glad to report that all the other test results from my medical check-up looked good including the bone density test which was normal. Another Whew! I'm good to go!

Best of Both Worlds

We are back in our little casita in San Miguel and it is always, always good to sleep in your own bed. We were welcomed home with fireworks and very loud music.....some of the amenities of San Miguel. We think they were coming from the San Antonio church but we were too tired to climb to the terrace another time to check and see exactly where the noise was coming from.

Most of our things are put away. I've been to the grocery store and have stuff for dinner tonight. Pork loin chops and lots of veggies for a veggie salad. Ned has gone to collect all the mail and pick up some more things at the grocery store. Since we are walking we split up the load to carry home.

Our trip back to Texas was truly a wonderful vacation. We stayed most of the time at our son's in Houston. They have a separate bedroom over the garage....not a full garage apartment but still it gives us all some separate space. It was wonderful to have some time with all the grandsons. And It is always fun to talk with our sons and their wives. We visited friends although we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see. We ate at some of our old favorite restaurants and a couple of new places. And we shopped.

I can understand why people in Mexico want to go to Texas to shop. Why the Europeans are coming to the USA to shop. It is a shopping paradise. You want a new hairdryer......there are 25 to choose from. You need some new undies.....most probably you will find what you want on sale. I don't understand why goods are so much cheaper in the USA but they are. And the marketing gurus are amazing. The way stores are laid out, the merchandizing of goods, the variety......all will entice you to purchase things that you hadn't planned to buy and probably don't NEED but those marketeers have figured out ways to convince you that life will be better is you just buy. It is like being a kid in a candy store in Target, Macy's, Microcenter, Home Depot......Just amazing.

At any rate, I'm glad to be home in San Miguel and I'm glad we can vacation in Texas. I have the best of both worlds.

Homeward Bound

We're in Laredo tonight. And as usual, the car is full. We keep telling ourselves that we don't have much to buy on this trip and actually I thought we were doing very well. We stuck to our list. My master packer managed to get it all in neat and tidy. Of course, I did hear a few #&*# before we left Houston.

We'll leave early in the morning and drive straight through to home.

What about the Drug Wars?

Yes, here NOB, that is what people are asking me. 'What about the drug wars? Aren't you afraid?' And who would not be asking that question about Mexico when the news is full of articles about the drug wars, not just between the cartels seeking domination but also about the Mexican government fighting the cartels to stop the traffic.

Reading the Houston Chronicle about the killing of police officers in Cuidad Juarez, about the bold threats by the cartels to the police and soldiers and about Mexican Police Chiefs seeking political asylum in the United States is enough to frighten anyone. So yes, I am afraid.....not for my immediate safety but I'm afraid for Mexico AND the United States over the long run. Somehow I don't believe that all of the bad stuff is happening South of the Rio Grande. How are all of these drugs making it across the border and into Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and all of the places they end up. Who is getting paid off? At what point will the cartels decide to challenge the United States Government as they are challenging the Mexican government? At what point will they have used money and fear to infiltrate the USA police forces?

Are there drugs in San Miguel? Yes, I hear that there are users so there have to be sellers. But personally I'm not afraid in San Miguel any more than I'm afraid in Houston. Heck, when we lived in Houston we lived across the street from a house that was from time to time rented to small time drug dealers. You would know when drug dealers moved back in. There were cars speeding up and down the street in the early hours of the morning. Cars stopping and someone would come out of the house and then the car would speed off. The police would focus on the house and after a while the house would be for rent again.

So what about the drug wars in Mexico? Some writers in Mexico are suggesting that Calderon leave the cartels alone so they can go back to operating under cover. Sort of run a figurehead legal government and a underground drug government. Bad idea! Basically Mexico would then be a failed government.

What it all boils down to......If the citizens of the United States of America were not the customer for these drugs, Mexico would not have this problem with the drug cartels. Personally I think that we should remember our lesson from prohibition and legalize, tax and control drugs. It would take the profit motive away. I know that many consider this a radical, or maybe even a simplistic view of the situation.....so comments will be moderated and maybe even turned off. I don't want to lose my vacation glow of good feelings.

Comparison Shopping

Readers, I'm sorry that I'm not checking in more often but we are BUSY. However, I did promise you a comparison of prices between San Miguel de Allende and Houston. I finally had time to do it.

Here are the parameters of this comparison which is hardly comprehensive. The Mexican prices were recorded at Mega before we left and they were changed from kilograms, liters and pesos to equivalent pounds, quarts and dollars by my resident engineer, aka Ned. The exchange rate used was 10.35 to the dollar which was the rate when we left San Miguel but now it is about 10.1. The first numbers will be the equivalent cost from Mega in San Miguel and the second number will be the cost this week at Walmart in Houston. If I had compared the costs in San Miguel to some of the 'Flagship' grocery stores the prices would have had a much broader spread with higher prices in the Houston.

SMA.....Houston
eggs(see note 1) 1.65 doz.....1.42 doz
rice .76 lb..... .68 lb
bread 1.95 loaf..... 2.74 loaf
red beans .62 lb..... 1.16 lb
pinto beans .61 lb..... 1.06 lb
Barilla pasta .88 lb..... 1.23 lb
flour .57 lb..... .66 lb
tomatoes .68 lb..... .98 lb
iceberg lettuce .58 head ..... .98 head
delicious apples 1.19 lb ...... 1.38 lb
white onion .28 lb..... .50 lb
bananas .38 lb..... .48 lb
select rib-eye steak 5.70 lb..... 6.78 lb
whole chicken(see note 2) 1.30 lb..... .82 lb
medium shrimp 5.66 lb..... 6.38 lb
whole talapia 1.52 lb ...... 1.97 lb
hamburger sirloin 2.59 lb..... 3.32 lb

note 1 eggs..... we buy eggs at the tiendas near us for about 1.23 doz
note 2 whole chicken..... I saw chicken at other places in Houston for about $2 lb and I saw it on sale for .65 lb.

I was surprised at how often the prices were similar. I have always sensed that the prices in Houston were about one-third higher than in San Miguel but that didn't hold true in all cases. Of course this whole comparison hinges on where you shop. If you are shopping at the tiangus and mercados in San Miguel or if you are shopping at 'Flagship' stores in Houston your mileage will vary. I apologize for not figuring out how to set up a table to report the info but I wanted to get this posted. I hope you can figure it out.

Homesick

I'm not homesick yet, but I think Taylor the dog is.

While we were in Austin the three year old grandson made "friends" with Taylor. Taylor is getting on up in years and it was pretty "busy" for him. We came back to Houston on Sunday and all the way home Taylor slept. When we pulled up in front of Son #1's house, I opened the car door for him to get out. He sat up and looked at the house and turned his back to me and went and sat on the other side of the car seat.

I think he thought he was on his way back to his "home" in San Miguel. Yes, I think he is getting a little homesick.

Odds and Ends From Austin, Texas

We are in Austin visiting son #3 and family. Life is moving so fast that I can't keep up with the blog.

The weather has been wonderful. It hasn't been as hot as we expected. Son #3 is building a deck and so we have been trying to keep up with the boys so he can work. Notice I say "trying" because the three year old is a human dynamo. Sweet, sweet little boy but so much energy....and so much noise. You forget how much noise can be generated by little people. The eight year old is a whiz with numbers and math and into building intricate Lego Star War things. I'll be very surprised if he doesn't end up as some kind of engineer.

Yesterday, I was the cook so I went to the grocery store. One of those flagship kind of stores. I was there so long just wandering around looking that Ned called on the cell phone to check on me. I'm sure that there must be some similar grocery stores in Mexico but so far I haven't seen one with the variety, layout and cleanliness that I find in the States. I priced out some staple items at Mega in San Miguel and before we come back to Mexico, I will check out the same items and post the comparison on the blog.

I prepared a good dinner last night for my Austin vegetarian family. Pasta salad, heavy on the raw veggies, tomato with homemade mozzarella and basil, and a fruit salad. Thank God that Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with chocolate syrup is on the vegetarian diet. That was dessert. Muy delicioso

I had lunch with my girl friends here in Austin who are photographers. So inspiring to hear what they are doing. Pat Brown brought a handmade book she made. The prints are tipped in and they are on rice paper. Lola had a brown thumb because she is using an old process called wet collodion plate and she had a small leak in her glove. I wish she had brought some of the prints. Kay was excited about project she is going to start in a few weeks when she gets back to Colorado for the summer.

We are having a great family time in Houston and Austin. So much to be thankful for.

Houston is Green

While we are South of the border in high, dry San Miguel de Allende, I forget just how green everything is in Houston. But it is green and the trees are huge with spreading canopies that sprinkle the lawns and streets with shade. There are ferns, and flowers and vines and hostas and shrubs.....all shades of green.

Most homes and even office buildings have "front yards" that are open to the public. Houses are set back 25 feet or more from the street so you get this feeling of green space everywhere you go. This is one of the things that I miss while living in San Miguel where some houses have lovely gardens but they are behind walls so you only get a glimpse of them if you catch a door open.

And the varieties of plants that will grow in Houston's heat and humidity is amazing. I loved my garden here. I like our patio and terrace pots and plants but I just don't get as excited about gardening in San Miguel as I did in Houston.

Mother's Day

Yesterday while I was in Target, I overheard this comment by a little boy about 8 years old to his sister who was a little older. They were looking in the jewelry counter.

"I think we should buy her real gold and diamonds."

Happy Mother's Day!

24 Hours in Houston

Whew! I don't know if we can keep up the pace. Since yesterday afternoon.......

We arrived in Houston just as Betsy came in from the grocery store and she had to leave again almost immediately to drive one of the car pools. We hauled luggage in, unpacked, hooked up the computer and Vonage phone, showered and dressed to go out for dinner. The grandsons came in from school with two friends. I had forgotten how much energy, noise and confusion that four boys can generate in a very short time and how they can put away food. Betsy put on a pizza for a snack for the boys then made a crab dip for cocktails. The grandsons and friends went to the Little League field for batting practice.

We had cocktails with one of Mike and Betsy's English friends who is in Houston for the Off Shore Technology Conference. Mike came in ran up the stairs to change to go coach a Little League team. The boys came back. A Mother came to pick up the visiting boys and stayed for a while to visit. Mike came in and he and the grandsons ran upstairs to shower so we could make our dinner reservation in 30 minutes. We went to Flemings, a great steak house for dinner because we can't do a Mother's Day dinner on Sunday due to the ball game/practice schedule. Son #2, Gary, joined us at Flemings. It was a great steak and a good time with the family. Finally about 10:00 PM I got to put my body straight out on the bed. It had already been a long day in the car before we arrived in Houston and that bed felt really good.

This morning it all started in again. Breakfast and off to Micro Center, Circuit City, and Target. For lunch, a bowl of gumbo, at Goode Company Seafood Restaurant. Back to the house to drop packages. Off to the Little League field to sit in the 1:00 PM sun to see grandson Jack play. Jack's team won so they go forward in the playoffs. From there we were off to Spec's, the liquor and wine store that covers a city block. As usual we had to wander the total store in amazement at the seemingly unlimited selections. We bought some wine for the house. Then back to the house.

All of this in just 24 hours. Everyone in this house is on the move. The ball game and car pool schedule is mind boggling. I really do hope we'll be able to keep up. And hopefully by the time I post again, I will have had time to make some pictures to add to the blog.

106 Degrees

My resident weather man has announced that the high in Laredo today will be 106 degrees. Yuck! ................and we are headed North.
See ya on the other side of the Rio Grande.

Will Microsoft Vista Work for Me?

The last couple of days we have been in the going back to Texas mode. It takes a bit of planning for us to gather what we need and get ready to leave. But now Taylor has had a haircut and bath. Ned and I have haircuts. Lists are made of what to take and what to bring back.

One of the things on my list is a new computer. Mine is three years old....still working but I depend on my computer so much with all the digital imaging that I do. So I thought that I would take this one back to leave in Houston at my son's house for when we are visiting and I'd bring a new, super-dupper one back. Just one problem and that is figuring out if all my peripheral equipment will work with the new Vista operating system.

I've heard some people complain about Vista. If it is just the differences in how the machine operates, I can get use to it. I had used Windows 2000 and I loved that operating system but my next PC came with Windows XP Media Center. At first I wanted to kick the computer fairly often because it didn't work the same way. I had to learn and change but now I love the operating system. I'm sure I'll feel the same way with Vista until I figure out its little quirks.

I can adjust but I'll not be a happy camper if my cameras, scanner, printer and monitors don't want to play with Vista or maybe I should say if Vista doesn't want to play with them. This peripheral compatibility problem seems to be one of the issues that people have complained about. I've run a Microsoft program to analyze my current PC to see if it could be upgraded to Vista....not that I ever want to upgrade an operating system on an old computer. This program analyzed not only the innards of the PC but also the peripheral equipment that I had connected. The report said that everything would work.

But my friend Frank, who just bought the computer that I'll probably buy, brought up an issue. He wasn't sure that his 18 month old monitor was Vista certified. Uh-oh, my NEC MultiSync LCD 1980 SXi monitor is three years old. Was it going to work with Vista? A monitor for me is a big deal. It has to be one that can be color calibrated and that usually means it isn't just any monitor so that means it costs more money. I don't want to have to buy a monitor AND a computer at the same time. I went to the NEC website and couldn't find anything about Vista certification of their monitors so I sent an email to NEC's tech support. This morning I had two answers from NEC, one of them was signed with a name of a person....not just signed Tech Support....and both of them said that it would work fine with Vista.

I was hoping that my friend Frank would get his new computer all loaded with programs and hooked up to all his photo toys so I could let him be the guinea pig. Since we use a lot of the same stuff, I'd know where the pitfalls might be. But he is so busy that it might be another week or two before he is fully connected. I'm left wondering if Vista is going to work for me. And I'm left wondering if maybe I should just wait until the next trip back to Texas.....after all what I have now IS working. You know that old saying about "If it ain't broke don't fix it." Or "Don't open up a can of worms."

Slow Tools

As I mentioned in a previous post, I took the Holgas and film to Mexico City. I thought I'd shoot a lot of film. Not the case. We were moving too fast and there were four of us, although two of us were photographers. And of course, the centro in Mexico City is a fast moving place too.

The Holga is a slow tool. And I was reminded once again that for me photography is a solitary pursuit. When I look back at all the work that makes me happy, it wasn't street shooting. It was when I could wander and observe and kind of get into some kind of flow. I think a slow walk through Colonia Condesa or Roma in DF might work with the Holga. Maybe next time.

This image was made one day in Parque Juarez when I just headed out the door with the Holga and no agenda.

May Day Parade in Mexico City

We saw just a bit of the May Day Parade in Mexico City before we left on May 1. Every street that emptied into the Zocalo was filled with people carrying banners, wearing the T-shirts of their Sindicato (union) and chanting slogans. I would have loved to have seen the Zocalo filled with the workers but we didn't have the time or a vantage point. However, from what we did see it seemed that the Sindicatos are rallying against any changes in the way Mexico manages their oil despite dropping production. Pemex, the National Oil Company, besides financing most of the government, is also tied into the Mexican's feelings of Nationalism and it is an emotional issue. According to this article in the LA Times, President Calderon is proposing sweeping changes that would allow foreign investments.

The reserves of Pemex, as the oil company is known, could disappear in a decade, officials say. Calderon said Mexico doesn't have the resources to undertake expensive deep-water drilling on its own, and contracts with private companies are essential to the survival of Pemex, whose massive revenue is the lifeblood of Mexico's government.

There is just one little problem. The Mexican Constitution forbids direct foreign investment in the oil industry or private ownership of it.

From what I saw of the May Day Parade, the Sindicatos don't like Calderon's proposal. On the other hand, they don't want to pay taxes to finance the government.

Don't Believe Everything you Hear or Read

This town is alive with rumors. Some of them are started by word of mouth and some of them you read in the newspapers or see on TV.

For about three years San Miguel's city government has been warning residents/ex-pats who rent their houses that they need to register with Hacienda, the Mexican version of the IRS and pay taxes on the money they make in Mexico. Most of the rental agencies had been collecting and paying the hotel tax on the rentals that they arrange, but the payment of taxes on money earned in Mexico was left to the individual homeowners to pay. The City kept telling people that Hacienda was investigating and making lists of houses that were advertised on the net. I know of some people who registered and paid their taxes but many just kept rolling along ignoring the tax man.

Well there was a little shake up this week with an article in our local English newpaper Atencion. Just click on "continue" and scroll down until you find it. There is a more detailed article in Spanish in El Sol del Bajio.

The Yahoo email groups of expats were abuzz that Hacienda came knocking......not on just any rental house, but casa grande that rents for $10,200 USD a week. That is right, A WEEK. But that isn't exactly what happened. One of the house rental agencies has responded......

Just for the record, the Casa is indeed registered with Hacienda, and the owner is paying taxes. The crackdown was NOT for not paying taxes, rather it was because the house wasn't correctly permitted with Desarrollo Urbano (the city's urban developement office) for its commercial use (it's a popular venue for weddings). That situation has now been rectified, and the house has its proper permits all in order. It has not been closed. The information on the Spanish TV and in Atencion was not completely correct.

I'm sorry for the embarrassment that this may have caused this Mexican-income-tax-paying expat but I hope that it scares some of the people who are renting their homes and not paying any tax on their rental income into registering with Hacienda and paying their fair share of Mexican taxes. And if it doesn't, somehow I just believe that one of these days Hacienda will knock on some doors. We would certainly expect the IRS to collect taxes on income earned by foreigners in the USA.

Two Days in Mexico City

Two days isn't enough time to see sprawling Mexico City, but we did our best. Covering spots from the historic centro, Alameda, Coyoacan, Condesa/Roma, and near Xochimilco.

We enjoyed Yucatecan food at Restaurante Circulo Del Sureste at Lucerna 12, Colonia Juarez. While we ate cabrito at Guadalupana, a bar in Coyoacan since 1932, I wondered at which table Diego and Frida sat when they came in to this bar just blocks from the Blue House. For a comida we went to "Titita" Carmen Ramirez Degollado's El Bajio Restaurante in the new upscale galleria at Plaza Parque Reforma 222. We had drinks and watched the very well dressed crowd at the hip lounge, Lamm in Roma at Alvaro Obregon 99.

We spent a morning treading through the vast Mercado La Merced where you can find not just limes and potatoes but multitudes of varieties of limes and potatoes as well as varieties of other vegetables, mushrooms, herbs and spices that are displayed in amazingly arranged stacks. We saw the dulce mercado where I dare you to leave without buying something. We wandered through markets of plastic flowers, a market of every kind and size of cookware and cooking appliances. Through tables of clothes and toys, pinatas. These markets never cease to amaze me.

We watched prostitutes pose and parade in a circle while lines of men looked on. Also on the streets not far from the mercado the women stood waiting about every 50 feet, waiting for some man to take up their offer of sex. Some of them looked so young. What happened in their lives to bring them here?

We didn't leave out the cultural side of DF. We saw Mexico y La Estampa Moderna at the Munal, at Tacuba 8. Great exhibition. We spent a long time slowly walking through the courtyards at the Secretaria de Educacion Publica, Republica de Brasil 31, and looking at the murals by Diego Rivera. There are over 100 murals painted by Rivera in the 1920s. He said that they formed a tableau of the 'very life of the people.' After the murals a death defying taxi trip out to the Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino where there is perhaps the biggest and most important collection of his paintings. These murals and paintings have raised a lot of questions for me about Rivera and the cultural and political issues of that period in Mexico. I've added another book, a biography about Rivera, to the Amazon list.

As I said, two days isn't enough time, but there is always the next time.