Paloma Cruz

But the Houston Chronicle’s Joey Guerra didn’t. Read his very detailed review.

News

March 16th & 17th is Clean Your Files Days in Pearland:

March 16th and 17th 2007, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm
Keep Pearland Beautiful would like to encourage all business owners, local officials and office managers to recycle paper at the Pearland Recycling Center. Every year Americans throw away tons of recyclable paper, but in Pearland we have the convenience of the Pearland Recycling Center. An additional service offered at the Center is shredding of any documents that contain personal or confidential information.

The Pearland Recycling Center is located at 3423 Harkey Rd, Pearland, TX., inside the Southwest Environmental Center. View Map

For more information call Keep Pearland Beautiful at 281-652-1659 or the Pearland Recycling Center at 281-489-2795.

More info:

• Clean Your Files Day announced in Pearland, reported by the Houston Chronicle

News

So, I’ve decided to jump on the fatblogging bandwagon. I started a diet as part of my new year’s resolution, same as millions of others did.

Today’s victories:

• Even though I slept through my alarm (which means that I didn’t eat breakfast at home) I overcame the desire to stop at Burger King for a croissant breakfast with extra hash brown. Instead, I ate a protein bar at my desk.
• I drank 4 bottles of water (which is great for someone who used to get along without a single one all day)

Discouraging:

• I still can’t get properly motivated to increase my activity significantly.
• After dinner, I had a tremendous urge to eat even though I know I wasn’t hungry. (I hate being a stress eater.)

Wish me luck.

Health

The Houston Chronicle has picked the top ten films ever shot in Houston. Their list:

• Rushmore (1998)
• Terms of Endearment (1983)
• Apollo 13 (1995)
• Local Hero (1983)
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
• Friday Night Lights (2004)
• Reality Bites (1994)
• Urban Cowboy (1980)
• Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991)
• Tarnation (2003)

News

NASA Parkway bypass stays ahead of schedule
Project could be finished by end of 2008, say TxDOT officials
– reported by the Houston Chronicle

Work on the NASA Parkway bypass project is ahead of schedule and the road is on pace to be open by the end of 2008.

The 3.4-mile stretch will be a four-lane divided highway that runs through a tract just south of Magnolia Avenue in Webster.

It will go toward Texas 3 and curve northward to intersect NASA Parkway at Sarah Deel near Nassau Bay, connecting with the parkway at the Johnson Space Center.

[snip]

Don’t forget, I-45 South is going to be closed this weekend starting at Bay Area Blvd.

News

Local grocery store, Mi Tienda, is offering a free shuttle service for customers. You must spend more than $25 at the store and live no more than three miles away to use it, but it is free. The shuttle runs every day (seven days a week) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (excluding holidays).

More on this:

• Grocery offers free shuttle, reported by the Houston Chronicle.

News

The Kemah Boardwalk will soon boast a wooden rollercoaster that is 96-feet-tall roller coaster, will drop 92 feet and reach speeds in excess of 50 mph. The coaster is expected to open in late spring or early summer.

More on this:

• Kemah Boardwalk getting a wooden roller coaster; Attraction could open as early as late spring — reported by the Houston Chronicle.

News

I won’t pretend to understand the politics behind it, but Texas Governor Rick Perry finally did something I can applaud: he’s ordered that sixth-grade girls be inoculated against a virus linked to cervical cancer. Of course, the virus is sexually-transmitted, which is why it’s such a controversial order.

Some people see inoculating 11 and 12-year-old girls against a sexually-transmitted disease as permission or implied permission for them to have sex. I don’t agree. Apparently, neither does Gov. Perry.

Critics rip Perry’s vaccine mandate
Governor rejects opponents’ calls to reverse order
– reported by the Houston Chronicle

[snip]

Social conservatives from Texas to Washington called on Perry to reverse his order making Texas the first state to require the vaccine, saying the mandate makes sex seem permissible and that parents should be the ones to decide whether to immunize their daughters. And several Texas lawmakers expressed outrage at Perry for circumventing the legislative process.

[snip]

Perry refused to rescind the executive order he issued Friday requiring the vaccine for girls ages 11 and 12 who are entering sixth grade in September 2008. Parents will be able to opt out their daughters, as they can for other required vaccines.

In a statement, Perry addressed criticism that the vaccine could send a message that teenage sex is permissible.

“Providing the HPV vaccine doesn’t promote sexual promiscuity any more than providing the Hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use,” the governor said. “If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it claiming it would encourage smoking?”

[snip]

Health, News

From the City of Houston:

CITY OFFICIALS SELECT EARTHLINK AS THE COMPANY TO NEGOTIATE FOR THE RIGHT TO CREATE A CITYWIDE “WI-FI” NETWORK

Mayor Bill White today announced that EarthLink (NASDAQ: ELNK) has been chosen by the City of Houston to build a citywide wireless broadband network, pending contract negotiations. The selection comes following the review of five companies that submitted proposals. EarthLink’s experience in developing systems for other cities and its plan to finance the network on the equity of its available cash reserves figured prominently in the selection.

The Wi-Fi mesh network will provide affordable, high-speed Internet access for residents of and visitors to Houston. It will also enable municipal employees to work in the field without having to return to an office to use traditional landlines to complete their tasks.

Houston’s 600-square-mile service area will make this Wi-Fi deployment the largest in North America.

“This is a very important initiative for Houston as it will bring the consumer cost of broadband down significantly and already has,” said Mayor White. “It will provide a scarce resource to help our low-income households have access, benefiting students at home, helping telecommuters for whom childcare or transportation creates limitations, and benefiting telemedicine in the future. Houston’s workforce will be more productive.”

“Mayor White has made his goals for wireless broadband pretty clear: make City Hall more efficient and responsive and improve both the City’s business climate and residents’ quality of life,” said Donald Berryman, EarthLink Executive Vice President and President of the Municipal Networks Unit. “Our Wi-Fi networks give consumers an affordable and portable broadband Internet connection anytime, or any place, throughout the City. We will also offer a fixed wireless solution that when compared to existing landline offerings, is faster to install and much more cost effective.”

EarthLink has major initiatives under way in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Alexandria, VA., and Milpitas and Anaheim, California. The company is also finalizing agreements with the cities of Pasadena and San Francisco, California. These initiatives clearly indicate EarthLink has an experience advantage over the other companies that provided proposals. Additional criterion for the project included value to the community (including soundness of the financial plan, low-income inclusion investments and wholesale rates), deployment strategy and value to city government. City Officials spent five months evaluating the firms.

EarthLink agreed to offer a very competitive wholesale rate capped for at least the first seven years. For up to 40,000 low-income users, EarthLink will provide a discounted rate of $10 per month or lower, depending on the competitive wholesale rate.

Members of the evaluation team, City IT Director Richard Lewis and Assistant IT director Janis Jefferson, along with EarthLink representatives, will brief City Council’s Transportation, Infrastructure and Aviation Committee, this Thursday at 2 p.m.

• www.houstontx.gov/it

As part of its commitment to open access, EarthLink will enable multiple providers, such as PeoplePC (www.peoplepc.com), Vonage (www.vonage.com) and DirecTV (www.directv.com) to offer their Internet service to consumers and businesses over its network. For small businesses, Houston’s wireless network will also provide an alternative for broadband connectivity, such as affordable fixed wireless solutions.

Wi-Fi is short for wireless fidelity. It enables a person to connect his or her Wi-Fi enabled computer, cell phone or PDA to the Internet or another Wi-Fi enabled device, without a traditional ‘wire’ connection. For more information on EarthLink Wi-Fi, please go to: www.earthlink.net/wifi. For more information on EarthLink’s Municipal Networks business unit, please go to: www.earthlink.net/muni.

About EarthLink
“EarthLink. We revolve around you.” As the nation’s next generation Internet service provider, Atlanta-based EarthLink has earned an award-winning reputation for outstanding customer service and its suite of online products and services. Serving over five million subscribers, EarthLink offers what every user should expect from their Internet experience: high-quality connectivity, minimal online intrusions and customizable features. Whether it’s dial-up, high-speed, voice web hosting, wireless or “EarthLink Extras” like home networking or security, EarthLink connects people to the power and possibilities of the Internet. Learn more about EarthLink by calling 800.EARTHLINK or visiting EarthLink’s Web site at www.EarthLink.net.

More on this:

• EarthLink is selected as Houston’s WiFi provider, reported by the Houston Chronicle

News

From the City of Houston:

CITY OFFICIALS SELECT EARTHLINK AS THE COMPANY TO NEGOTIATE FOR THE RIGHT TO CREATE A CITYWIDE “WI-FI” NETWORK

Mayor Bill White today announced that EarthLink (NASDAQ: ELNK) has been chosen by the City of Houston to build a citywide wireless broadband network, pending contract negotiations.  The selection comes following the review of five companies that submitted proposals.  EarthLink’s experience in developing systems for other cities and its plan to finance the network on the equity of its available cash reserves figured prominently in the selection.

The Wi-Fi mesh network will provide affordable, high-speed Internet access for residents of and visitors to Houston.  It will also enable municipal employees to work in the field without having to return to an office to use traditional landlines to complete their tasks.

Houston’s 600-square-mile service area will make this Wi-Fi deployment the largest in North America.

“This is a very important initiative for Houston as it will bring the consumer cost of broadband down significantly and already has,” said Mayor White.  “It will provide a scarce resource to help our low-income households have access, benefiting students at home, helping telecommuters for whom childcare or transportation creates limitations, and benefiting telemedicine in the future.  Houston’s workforce will be more productive.”

“Mayor White has made his goals for wireless broadband pretty clear: make City Hall more efficient and responsive and improve both the City’s business climate and residents’ quality of life,” said Donald Berryman, EarthLink Executive Vice President and President of the Municipal Networks Unit. “Our Wi-Fi networks give consumers an affordable and portable broadband Internet connection anytime, or any place, throughout the City.  We will also offer a fixed wireless solution that when compared to existing landline offerings, is faster to install and much more cost effective.”

EarthLink has major initiatives under way in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Alexandria, VA., and Milpitas and Anaheim, California. The company is also finalizing agreements with the cities of Pasadena and San Francisco, California. These initiatives clearly indicate EarthLink has an experience advantage over the other companies that provided proposals.  Additional criterion for the project included value to the community (including soundness of the financial plan, low-income inclusion investments and wholesale rates), deployment strategy and value to city government.  City Officials spent five months evaluating the firms.

EarthLink agreed to offer a very competitive wholesale rate capped for at least the first seven years.  For up to 40,000 low-income users, EarthLink will provide a discounted rate of $10 per month or lower, depending on the competitive wholesale rate.

Members of the evaluation team, City IT Director Richard Lewis and Assistant IT director Janis Jefferson, along with EarthLink representatives, will brief City Council’s Transportation, Infrastructure and Aviation Committee, this Thursday at 2 p.m.

• www.houstontx.gov/it

As part of its commitment to open access, EarthLink will enable multiple providers, such as PeoplePC (www.peoplepc.com), Vonage (www.vonage.com) and DirecTV (www.directv.com) to offer their Internet service to consumers and businesses over its network.  For small businesses, Houston’s wireless network will also provide an alternative for broadband connectivity, such as affordable fixed wireless solutions.

Wi-Fi is short for wireless fidelity. It enables a person to connect his or her Wi-Fi enabled computer, cell phone or PDA to the Internet or another Wi-Fi enabled device, without a traditional ‘wire’ connection.  For more information on EarthLink Wi-Fi, please go to: www.earthlink.net/wifi.  For more information on EarthLink’s Municipal Networks business unit, please go to:  www.earthlink.net/muni.

About EarthLink
“EarthLink.  We revolve around you.”  As the nation’s next generation Internet service provider, Atlanta-based EarthLink has earned an award-winning reputation for outstanding customer service and its suite of online products and services.  Serving over five million subscribers, EarthLink offers what every user should expect from their Internet experience: high-quality connectivity, minimal online intrusions and customizable features.  Whether it’s dial-up, high-speed, voice web hosting, wireless or “EarthLink Extras” like home networking or security, EarthLink connects people to the power and possibilities of the Internet.  Learn more about EarthLink by calling 800.EARTHLINK or visiting EarthLink’s Web site at www.EarthLink.net.

More on this:

• EarthLink is selected as Houston’s WiFi provider, reported by the Houston Chronicle

News