bbear's Profile

@ caslab: "I particularly enjoy the fact that the seating is placed for maximum car-viewing pleasure." lmao! This post was mildly funny, but your comment was the capstone.

I also have their laminate flooring, Tundra in the light color. It's amazing! It looks fabulous and is very easy to clean. It's about four years old now and still looks brand new. A family with a child lived here before me, and you'd never know it.

I've rented sight unseen twice. The first time, they had clearly photoshopped the pictures (if only they had spent the time actually fixing up the unit...) The second time, I still had a bitter taste in my mouth from the first experience, but I was dirt poor from grad school and had no choice. This is the best apartment I've ever lived in! I'm trying to figure out how to take it with me when I have to move...

My parents live 25 min east of Houston but closer to the bay. Lucky for them, they live in a new subdivision that was built after Rita with lots of improvements made by the developer and no mature trees to fall over. Overall, lots of trees down and a lot of the older homes lost shingles, siding, etc. Of course, no power. I also have friends who had to stay on Galveston Island for work (they work at the medical center). They said it was pretty scary, but they've certainly been through worse. They all agree that the media is sensationalizing it.

As for not evacuating...you know, you really can't evacuate every time. It gets incredibly expensive when you factor in gas, food, hotel and lost work, and once you're out, it's really hard to get back in. Plus, most newer buildings are built to withstand the high winds. In many cases, it's sufficient to just get to higher ground. After having lived my entire life on the Gulf Coast (save the last year), you sort of have an intuition about these things.