I'v been everywhere - Texas style

muldoon · July 19, 2008, 11:20:52 AM

I thought this was a cool video. I have been to a little over half of these but know where almost all of them are. For other Texans, how many have you been to?

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=scjb_f95diA

Homegrown Tomatoes · July 19, 2008, 11:30:30 AM

I'm an Okie, but I've been to a lot of those places.

July 19, 2008, 01:08:16 PM

I was to a lot of them when driving truck.

ScottA · July 19, 2008, 02:42:38 PM

Nice video. I've been to a few of those places. Some I've never heard of. Then again I live in a place most people never heard of. Thank God. I'd like to make a trip like that before they restrict travel.

glenn kangiser · July 19, 2008, 03:00:43 PM

Get papers, a chip and salute Shrub, and you will be allowed to pass the road block. What's the problem, Herr Scott? hmm

July 19, 2008, 03:31:59 PM

Did I mention my wife is a German?

glenn kangiser · July 19, 2008, 06:53:29 PM

Nr. Sie nicht, Herr Scott. Love those online translators.

My name is German but family came from Lithuania. Looks like the US is headed back to the old country ways.

ScottA · July 19, 2008, 07:37:41 PM

Might want to stick to english glenn.

desdawg · July 20, 2008, 06:14:16 AM

I will look at the video when I get to the office. Read out of the dial up zone. There I stand a chance of actually seeing it.
In last month's Fortune magazine was a good sized write up about the Dallas Ft. Worth area. It sounded like there was a reasonable economy going on in that area being oil patch country that hadn't taken part in the housing boom and thus would take less time to get though the recovery process. It also described a business friendly atmosphere which after a little time in AZ sounds pretty good. Our various levels of government here are so greedy that it doesn't work that way. Texas was sounding pretty good. I never had a craving to go to Texas before reading that. Now I am curious. AZ was fine during the boom years when work was plentiful and money flowed pretty freely. I think the largest employer here is the state government. Too many little agents running around here trying to justify their existence on the public payroll. Auto registrations, business licensing, property taxes, development fees everything is out of hand. Texas was sounding more user friendly. Maybe the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. Or maybe I am just getting itchy feet.

July 20, 2008, 09:16:48 AM

Dallas has bad traffic, low pay and lots of illegal mexicans. Otherwise it's OK. 2 of my kids live there.

muldoon · July 20, 2008, 10:20:54 AM

one thing I have heard before and would tend to agree...

Dallas aint Texas, and Houston aint even close.

It's true, but if your looking for work it's tough to beat either of them. Dallas has bad traffic and horrible drivers. Houston has bad traffic, bad construction and NASCAR drivers.

My sister lives in Dallas, she just lost her job and says its been tough finding a new one. It's anecdotal for sure but thats what I have heard recently.

I live in Houston, and I think it is well positioned to weather the storm. We have a big oil and chemical plant industry, but also the largest and best rated medical center/community in the world. We also are home to Johnson Space center NASA and the host of defense contractors that do work with them. Were also a big warm water port, and the ship channel does a ton of shipping business. So 4 big industry bases that wont be leaving. Our real estate in the suburbs didnt go too nuts, so the contraction hasnt been that bad. My 150k house would have been 1M+ in San Jose, or 400k in Chicago or Tacoma or even 300k in Omaha. I never visited AR so I cant comment on any comparison.

Tons of spanish speaking folk here, I assume some percentage illegally. Literally sometimes I look around on the freeway or street and note that I am the only white person out of the last 10 cars. Crime went up quite a bit after our New Orleans citizens showed up, but I personally have not been affected by it. I know its out there, gang grafiti is popping up near my neighborhood lately.

Another downside is how big Houston is, literally 100 miles east to west, and maybe 130 miles north to south once you count in the surrounding suburbs. And really, they should be counted, there is no distinction, no gap between the areas, its all city for forever it seems. Almost no one lives near work so we drive alot which is getting very expensive. Our public transportation is very limiting, but given the geography and size I understand why. Also these numbskulls are still building houses at breakneck pace out here...

I hear you about grass is greener and all, that may be the case as I dont think anywhere is perfect for those of us that need to work for a living. If you want to make a road trip I might be able to suggest a few places to check out and/or avoid.

glenn kangiser · July 20, 2008, 11:14:44 AM

Yes on the English --- that was the only part that didn't reverse translate very badly.

MountainDon · July 20, 2008, 02:47:10 PM

Quote from: muldoon on July 20, 2008, 10:20:54 AM

Tons of spanish speaking folk here, I assume some percentage illegally. Literally sometimes I look around on the freeway or street and note that I am the only white person out of the last 10 cars.

The only place in the south west portion of North America without illegal Mexicans would likely be Mexico itself.

glenn kangiser · July 20, 2008, 03:14:28 PM

While probably a few around, we are a bastion of white meat here in the mountains.

July 20, 2008, 07:13:39 PM

I guess cities are cities no matter where they are located. I am not a city person but being located within striking distance of one helps the local economy as lots of people need population centers to eke out their existence. I suppose given todays energy costs commuting needs to go the way of the dodo bird and soon will until some new methods of economical travel become viable. People may take to living where they work during the week and only getting home on weekends. Not every job can be done by remote control using technology. So city populations may explode once again. Here in the western US there are large distances between places and we don't measure commutes in city blocks but rather in miles or minutes and hours.

Homegrown Tomatoes · July 21, 2008, 10:30:35 AM

Quote from: MountainDon on July 20, 2008, 02:47:10 PM
Quote from: muldoon on July 20, 2008, 10:20:54 AM

Tons of spanish speaking folk here, I assume some percentage illegally. Literally sometimes I look around on the freeway or street and note that I am the only white person out of the last 10 cars.

The only place in the south west portion of North America without illegal Mexicans would likely be Mexico itself.

Probably true, Don. Here a while back I took a side road through OKC looking for a place to grab a bite to eat. I drove for MILES without seeing a sign in English!!! I'd heard that part of town referred to as "Little Mexico" before, but didn't realize it was almost exclusively Mexican. Granted, most of those business owners are probably legal and hard working, but there's got to be quite a few illegals, too. We go to church in that part of town, but I'd never driven back east through the city from there before that day, on that particular street. It was an experience... I truly felt like I'd crossed the border.