Thursday, March 20, 2008
Early Houston Learnings
So we're three months into the Houston experiment and it's going well. What have we learned? A few things...
Things move slowly -- As in, the pace of life. Sure, it's not really "the South" here, but that whole pace of life thing is not what it is in the Northeast... where else is it like that, though, really? Thing is, it sneaks up on you. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country and there are lots of companies headquartered here... lots of business and industry, lots of young people, a transient population, etc. And yet, if you want to get your car washed, put aside 30+ minutes at the car wash. Nobody's in a hurry.
Speaking of Car Washes -- Seriously, if anyone's looking to open a chain of car washes, do it here. People pay whatever is asked and they wash their cars constantly. It's mild weather here in the winter but it does rain a lot, so people constantly "need" to get their vehicles prettied-up. Plus, with as much hot, sunny weather as we get, you just feel that urge to go make the car look nice. The places are always packed, and a basic exterior wash is typically around $13.
No Dunkin' Donuts... yet -- Starbucks sucks, yet since it started in the Northwest and DD started in the Northeast and Starbucks is more of a virus, it's gotten to Houston first. There are Starbucks stores every-damn-where. And in fact, if you go to Dunkin' Donuts' Website and do a location search, you'll learn that there is one -- ONE -- in Houston. And apparently it's in the ghetto. Rumor has it, though, that DD is building a couple dozen stores in H-town. I heard this rumor from two sources and then when I was in Dallas two weeks ago on business, I saw one in the Dallas airport that wasn't there on my earlier visits. So maybe, just maybe, we'll get that sweet nectar back in our lives. Because Starbucks is like drinking dirty sewer water through a filter of dirt.
Toll Roads Are El Sucko -- I used to complain about tolls in NY/NJ. It was murder to cross the Hudson and then there were two toll roads in NJ and the NY State Thruway in NY. However, I hadn't lived in Texas yet. NJ gets a bad rap for being littered with tolls, but to go the 80+ miles down the Garden State Parkway to my parents' beach house costs something like $2. For the full 80+ miles. To go the eight mile stretch of the new Fort Bend Toll Road here in H-town, it costs... $2. To go eight miles. And it's $2....each way. That's not cool. So I, like many, now find ways to avoid toll roads at all costs. And there are tons of them here... another one cost $1.50 at each booth and there were three booths in a 15 mile stretch.
It's Hot -- It's only March and yet this Sunday we're going to a friend's house for Easter and their invite said "it might be warm enough to swim!" Which is an understatement. It "might" be warm enough only by Houstonian standards. For those of us up North, anything over 70 is swimming weather, right? It's supposed to be mid-70s this weekend and it was mid-80s here last weekend. I do wonder what it'll be like from June-August. Answer: hot. I've been repeatedly warned about leaving my car in the sun. Dangers include paint bubbling; metal parts of seat belts becoming 200 degree branding irons; leather being so hot your legs fuse to it; the car simply exploding if windows and sunroof aren't cracked... you know, those sorts of things.
Things move slowly -- As in, the pace of life. Sure, it's not really "the South" here, but that whole pace of life thing is not what it is in the Northeast... where else is it like that, though, really? Thing is, it sneaks up on you. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country and there are lots of companies headquartered here... lots of business and industry, lots of young people, a transient population, etc. And yet, if you want to get your car washed, put aside 30+ minutes at the car wash. Nobody's in a hurry.
Speaking of Car Washes -- Seriously, if anyone's looking to open a chain of car washes, do it here. People pay whatever is asked and they wash their cars constantly. It's mild weather here in the winter but it does rain a lot, so people constantly "need" to get their vehicles prettied-up. Plus, with as much hot, sunny weather as we get, you just feel that urge to go make the car look nice. The places are always packed, and a basic exterior wash is typically around $13.
No Dunkin' Donuts... yet -- Starbucks sucks, yet since it started in the Northwest and DD started in the Northeast and Starbucks is more of a virus, it's gotten to Houston first. There are Starbucks stores every-damn-where. And in fact, if you go to Dunkin' Donuts' Website and do a location search, you'll learn that there is one -- ONE -- in Houston. And apparently it's in the ghetto. Rumor has it, though, that DD is building a couple dozen stores in H-town. I heard this rumor from two sources and then when I was in Dallas two weeks ago on business, I saw one in the Dallas airport that wasn't there on my earlier visits. So maybe, just maybe, we'll get that sweet nectar back in our lives. Because Starbucks is like drinking dirty sewer water through a filter of dirt.
Toll Roads Are El Sucko -- I used to complain about tolls in NY/NJ. It was murder to cross the Hudson and then there were two toll roads in NJ and the NY State Thruway in NY. However, I hadn't lived in Texas yet. NJ gets a bad rap for being littered with tolls, but to go the 80+ miles down the Garden State Parkway to my parents' beach house costs something like $2. For the full 80+ miles. To go the eight mile stretch of the new Fort Bend Toll Road here in H-town, it costs... $2. To go eight miles. And it's $2....each way. That's not cool. So I, like many, now find ways to avoid toll roads at all costs. And there are tons of them here... another one cost $1.50 at each booth and there were three booths in a 15 mile stretch.
It's Hot -- It's only March and yet this Sunday we're going to a friend's house for Easter and their invite said "it might be warm enough to swim!" Which is an understatement. It "might" be warm enough only by Houstonian standards. For those of us up North, anything over 70 is swimming weather, right? It's supposed to be mid-70s this weekend and it was mid-80s here last weekend. I do wonder what it'll be like from June-August. Answer: hot. I've been repeatedly warned about leaving my car in the sun. Dangers include paint bubbling; metal parts of seat belts becoming 200 degree branding irons; leather being so hot your legs fuse to it; the car simply exploding if windows and sunroof aren't cracked... you know, those sorts of things.
Labels: Houston
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The Marketing People Would Never Go For That
I park in downtown Houston every day for work and, like any major metro area, this costs moola. I found perhaps the most reasonable monthly parking area that's reasonably close to my office. (Hey, what am I going to do? Walk? Get exercise? Get real, people.) It's quite a bit less than the garages, mainly because it's a surface lot. That's fine right now but I imagine when it's 105 degrees in July it might be a problem. It becomes a bigger problem if I forget to crack my windows and the car explodes or my dashboard melts. (Or if, you know, I forget to take Maya to doggie day care and her brain fries like a egg.)
Anyway, they seem to be fairly on-the-ball but they're a little bit of a one-horse operation. There's one guy who patrols the lot, checking out who has a tag and who doesn't and who is paying the daily rate, etc. And there's one woman who works in the office and handles the paperwork, monthly billing, etc. And one might think that if your job consists of something related to parking cars, well, you might know a little something about... cars.
Apparently, I was half-asleep the other morning when I parked. I thought I was in a row that my tag is good for and so I went about my day. But it turns out I actually parked in a "reserved" spot. One that's not reserved for me, that is.
So I get a call from "Hilda" and she says, "Hey, I think you're in a reserved spot." I told her she must be mistaken because I think I know where I parked (I turned out to be wrong but that's not the point -- me being wrong is never the point). She then says, "Whoops! I brought up the wrong account! Sorry!" No problem.
Five minutes later she calls back and says, no, it is my car -- they think. I said, okaaaay. She then attempts to prove it's my car by asking if it's mine.... and she says this:
"Well, do you have a..... Honda Acura?"
I wasn't sure what to say. It was obvious it was my car in question but it would be more fun to be difficult.
"I don't know what that is," I said. "I think those are two different kinds of cars."
"Well, that's just what they told me," she lied. (She had to be lying because Gary, who works the lot in a knit cap when it's 70 degrees out, has to know cars.)
I said, "Well, I have one of those... which is it?"
She then confirmed my plate number and the jig was up. But I think I'm going to start telling people I have a Honda Acura. Let's just cut to the chase, you know?
Anyway, they seem to be fairly on-the-ball but they're a little bit of a one-horse operation. There's one guy who patrols the lot, checking out who has a tag and who doesn't and who is paying the daily rate, etc. And there's one woman who works in the office and handles the paperwork, monthly billing, etc. And one might think that if your job consists of something related to parking cars, well, you might know a little something about... cars.
Apparently, I was half-asleep the other morning when I parked. I thought I was in a row that my tag is good for and so I went about my day. But it turns out I actually parked in a "reserved" spot. One that's not reserved for me, that is.
So I get a call from "Hilda" and she says, "Hey, I think you're in a reserved spot." I told her she must be mistaken because I think I know where I parked (I turned out to be wrong but that's not the point -- me being wrong is never the point). She then says, "Whoops! I brought up the wrong account! Sorry!" No problem.
Five minutes later she calls back and says, no, it is my car -- they think. I said, okaaaay. She then attempts to prove it's my car by asking if it's mine.... and she says this:
"Well, do you have a..... Honda Acura?"
I wasn't sure what to say. It was obvious it was my car in question but it would be more fun to be difficult.
"I don't know what that is," I said. "I think those are two different kinds of cars."
"Well, that's just what they told me," she lied. (She had to be lying because Gary, who works the lot in a knit cap when it's 70 degrees out, has to know cars.)
I said, "Well, I have one of those... which is it?"
She then confirmed my plate number and the jig was up. But I think I'm going to start telling people I have a Honda Acura. Let's just cut to the chase, you know?
Labels: Honda Acura, Houston, parking
