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18 October 2009

Changes at the blog

As readers have no doubt noticed, we've made some changes at the little blog.

Anne Linehan and I have decided that we're going to move forward with shorter, more frequent posts with more links, less blockquoting, and maybe a little more attitude.

We may still be doing some of the old-style, longer posts (now located here), but for now we're interested in trying something a little different. We're thinking of it as a cross between the formats of Instapundit and Twitter. More pith and opinion, less filler, and certainly no copyright-abusing 12-graf rips with minimal attribution! We're calling the reworked effort The Stream.

I hadn't intended to roll out these changes until we were on a new software platform, but that's going to take a while, and we didn't want to wait. So we reconfigured things here on the fly. If you find something that looks broken... that won't necessarily surprise! As always, please drop a note or leave a comment and we'll try to fix. Also, some of our early "trial" posts don't actually sync to a forum post for reader comment (they just point to the same post, this one). That's a development anomaly, but all new posts after a certain point should have full commenting capabilities. So chatter away with us!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/18/09 07:42 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (6)

04 October 2009

On the new host...

The site is now residing on the new host.

If you're seeing this post, then the DNS updates have been successful and everything should be working as usual.

However, there may well be some glitches or cleanup left to do, so please leave a comment or shoot me an email (klw2005 at gmail dot com) if you see something that appears broken or otherwise needs attention.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/04/09 02:01 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (2)

28 July 2009

blogHOUSTON gathering Saturday, 2pm, Stag's Head Pub

We've decided it's time to have another gathering.

If you're a blogHOUSTON reader, commenter, linker, lurker, or just want to come by and say hi, we and some other local bloggers will be hanging out at the Stag's Head Pub this Saturday (August 1), from 2pm until.... sometime.

Hope to see ya there!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/28/09 09:40 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (7)

31 May 2009

Another blog slowdown

I'm heading off on a mostly internet-free adventure for a couple of weeks, so posting here is likely to be slow for a while.

We're going to turn off new registration in the forum this time, because every time we post one of these announcements, the spammers drop by. We'll turn it back on when we crank back up. It won't affect any current members.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/31/09 02:34 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (0)

20 May 2009

Blog vacation

Memorial Day weekend is quickly approaching, and that means the little blog is going on vacation for a few days, as some of us are headed out of town and some of us just like a break here and there.

You might still see a post or two, but probably not, so feel free to treat this as an open-comments thread to discuss Houston-area stuff while we're away (within the usual guidelines about flame ways and such, please).

And thanks again for being part of our little online community!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/20/09 10:03 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (2)

10 January 2009

Texas Watchdog to host meetup Jan. 17

Texas Watchdog, the relatively new local watchdog group, is planning to host a blogger/citizen-journalist/activist meetup of sorts at the Stag's Head Pub at 2:00 pm on January 17.

Here's a blurb from their earlier blog-post announcement:

Come on out and hang with our staff. We want to know how we can help local bloggers and citizen journalists in reporting and using freedom of information laws in the Houston area — and find out how we can better investigate and keep an eye on local and state government agencies in the Houston area.

[snip]

Bring your story tips, your questions, your complaints — and let’s have a refreshing beverage and relax some, too!

If you want to pass along story ideas to the Texas Watchdog folks or just learn from working new-media journalists how to get info out of your local school or METRO or other public entity -- this sounds like a perfect opportunity! And the fried mushrooms aren't half bad at the Stag's Head either.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/09 02:02 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (1)

31 December 2008

Happy New Year's

Happy New Year's, everyone.

Be safe out there tonight. And please don't get behind the wheel if you've been drinking.

See ya'll in 2009!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/08 04:01 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (11)

23 December 2008

Holiday slowdown

Are you procrastinating? Or have you finished all your shopping?

With just one weekend left before Christmas, the average person has completed nearly 65 percent of their holiday shopping.

But about 44.5 million people, or 20 percent, haven’t even made their list or checked it twice, the survey found.

Posting will most likely be slow over the next few days as we busy ourselves with final holiday preparations, and then celebrate Christmas with our families.

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Whatever Holiday You Celebrate!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/08 05:34 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (6)

27 November 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

We take a break from our feasting to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Here at the little blog, we're thankful for everyone (bloggers, commenters, emailers, readers, lurkers) who have made this little hobby of ours so enjoyable. With rare exceptions, we manage to have a civil and informed (if sometimes spirited) discussion about the Houston area, and we appreciate everyone who helps keep it going.

Now, back to the feast.... :)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/27/08 01:30 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (7)

30 September 2008

Post-Ike blogger gathering Saturday, Oct. 4

Now that Houston is almost back to normal following the storm, it seems like a good time for a post-Ike blogger gathering.

We're planning on hitting the West Alabama Ice House on Saturday, October 4, from 6 pm - ????

If you're a local blogger, commenter, reader, whatever -- feel free to drop by and have a brew (or several) with us!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/30/08 09:39 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (17)

30 August 2008

Labor Day weekend

Things might be a little quiet around here (unless something interesting pops up, such as a hurricane!), so here's hoping you all have a wonderful, relaxing holiday weekend.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/30/08 05:24 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (2)

19 July 2008

The blog is going on vacation....

The blog is going on vacation over the next week....

I have travel this week (a pleasure trip and a work trip), and Anne Linehan has a number of things demanding her attention over the same time period, so it's unlikely we're going to have much time for posting.

So we're going to turn it over to ya'll for a while.... Please feel free to use this thread to discuss any Houston-area news that pops up over the next week. We just ask that you abide by the usual rules of the forum, and treat your fellow readers and commenters with the usual courtesy. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/08 12:20 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (19)

03 July 2008

Happy Fourth!

Here's wishing everyone a very happy Fourth of July weekend.

Happy Birthday, America!

ANNE ADDS: If you live in unincorporated Harris County, be sure to thumb your nose at the Chron killjoys. Klein Oak Band is running the Fireworks Warehouse on FM 2920, west of I-45 and across from Spring Tabernacle, as a fundraiser. If you live in far north Harris County, drop by, say hi, and spend some money. I'll be working 'til 2 this afternoon.

Happy Independence Day!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/03/08 10:17 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (4)

02 June 2008

Stuff we're working on...

In light of Anne Linehan's post on METRO's latest "service improvements" we thought we'd share a few things that we're contemplating for the little blog.

First, we're considering a new blog category and separate forum section to post and track citizen TXPIA requests. We started with the idea of tracking Tom Bazan's requests (which routinely result in stonewalling from METRO), but then thought we could just as easily post additional relevant requests sent by readers -- and then let the submitters keep track of their status in the forum. The Sheriff's Office is hardly the only local governmental entity that stonewalls TXPIA requests, after all.

Second, we've long had a sidebar of "Local Blog Talk" link postings, where we try to highlight local bloggers posting about purely local affairs. As blogging about local matters has grown, we've posted more and more to that sidebar. Unfortunately, there's not currently an RSS feed for it, and it's not featured as prominently as we would like. So we're contemplating just rolling those updates into the regular blog stream, with their own category and RSS feed for anyone who wants to track them separately. The posts would be along the lines of Instapundit-style one- or two-sentence linkposts.

Let us know in the forum what you think about these proposed "service improvements" -- and whether they should even be called "service improvements" (since we are not proposing cuts, that may not be the appropriate term).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/02/08 08:58 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (8)

22 May 2008

Memorial Weekend slowdown

Memorial Day weekend is nearly upon us, and that means a slowdown in posting here (especially since some bHers are off on a camping/floating trip).

Here's wishing everyone a restful, long weekend!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/22/08 08:34 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (17)

30 April 2008

Headed to Piraeus (and mostly points beyond)

I wanted to put up a short announcement that I'll be headed out of country to Greece for a couple of weeks, and won't be posting here (although I may check in from time to time depending upon connectivity).

If everyone helps to play nice in the forums (which is almost always the case anyway), I'm sure Anne and the other bloggers/mods will be most appreciative. :)

Oh, and Go Rockets!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/30/08 11:17 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (9)

31 December 2007

Less-than-world-class New Year's greetings

We'd like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Sadly, our quirky little burg didn't manage to resurrect the world-class New Year's Eve Star event. Recall that Carol Alvarado was too "event-ed out" last year to plan what we were led to believe was going to be a huge annual event. And this year, she apparently was too depressed over term limits to be bothered with the event. The new leadership at the GHCVB apparently couldn't be bothered either -- because, you know, it's more important to advertise to the world that our little city has celebrities!

We do suspect that, even without a world-class "annual" event like a New Year's Eve Rising Star, most Houstonians will have a fine time tonight. Somehow, Houstonians always seem manage to muddle along just fine, even if our leaders occasionally have "world-class" envy.

Thanks, as always, to everyone who reads, comments, lurks, links, amuses, or otherwise contributes to the little blog community here. We're looking forward to 2008!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/07 08:32 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (7)

27 December 2007

Technical difficulties

Apparently, the web host had a hard drive crash earlier, which knocked us off the web for a bit.

Unfortunately, they had to restore from a backup that wasn't exactly current, so some posts and comments have been lost. I was able to restore the posts from web feeds, but all comments past a certain point have been lost permanently, unfortunately. Sorry about that!

We may have to consider a new web host before too long, as this is annoying!

UPDATE (12-29-2007): I've added some backup redundancy via a couple of scripts we're now running via a cron job. Details are here, for anyone who is interested in a similar backup system for their own blog (recommended after our recent experience).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/27/07 10:03 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (8)

23 December 2007

Holiday slowdown

There is likely to be little blogging over the next couple of days as the big holiday approaches, so...

Merry Christmas, everyone! Or, as my very inclusive compatriot said last year, "Merry Whatever Holiday You Celebrate!"

UPDATE: A Pancho Claus sighting! And Elves and More gives away 16,000 bikes!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/07 05:58 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (9)

08 December 2007

O' Come All Ye Faithful (readers, commenters, critics, etc)

It's well past time for a blogHOUSTON gathering.

We missed having an anniversary get together, so we'll just have an omnibus Merry Christmas/Holidays/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/2007/Anniversary celebration.

If you're reading this, please feel free to join us at Byzantio on West Gray on Saturday afternoon, December 15.

We'll get underway about 3:00 pm and carry on as usual. We may retire across the street to Barnaby's for dinner if anyone is interested.

If you're a reader, blogger, commenter, pol, journalist, critic, friend, or just really like Greek bars, please feel free to drop by and say hello.

And if we don't get a chance to say so in person -- As always, thanks to everyone who helps keep the blog fun for us!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/08/07 05:01 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (15)

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At the bottom of Mayor Parker's priority list

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Even in Texas, Death Penalty Still Constitutional (Defending People)

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