UT vs A&M

I'm guessing there are employees at Midway Companies that were cheering for both sides of the college football battle last week. I say this because CityCentre Plaza was decorated to look like a small football field with painted endzones and intermediate yardage ticks. Disclaimer; I am a University of Houston Cougar, but I do have my own bias. You see, back when I attended college, UH had a forgettable football team. Actually, my first year there coincided with the first winless 0-11 season ever in the history of the school. How about that for a welcome?

My personal bias is towards A&M because I used to drive up 290 to 6 into College Station on most Fridays to attend the football games there. The traditions are definitely interesting, but that's part of what made it fun. I made sure not to walk on the grass in the Quad and remembered to pass the yell up the stands with those crazy hand signals. I attended the 2002 game where TAMU defeated the #1 ranked, undefeated OU Sooners. That had to be the most fun I have ever had at a football game.

I don't have a picture of the decorated CityCentre Plaza at the moment, but I have one incoming. It looked pretty good and I am ecstatic that Midway Companies support local traditions.

New Parking System

I have the scoop for you on the new parking system at CityCentre Houston. The parking kiosks ARE active and the security guards ARE checking all cars! Each of them have a company phone which they use to enter your license plate number, and take a photo of your dashboard to prove that a ticket was not present. Here's something that is really important so listen up.

First Offense: Warning Ticket
Second Offense: Parking Fine
Subsequent Offenses: Maximum Parking Fine

I haven't been able to uncover the actual amount of the fines as of yet, but it is refreshing to see that the first offense is a warning. People weren't really given much warning before this system was rolled out. In fact, there is still absolutely no information on their website pointing to the parking fees. Here is a picture of the kiosk so you know what you're looking for. Remember, you can click any picture on this site for a bigger version.


The parking rates are as follows:

30 Minutes - $1.00
60 Minutes - $2.00
5 Hours - $10.00
It isn't clear to me at this time if the 30 minute charge is only for the first 30 minutes or if something like 1 hour and 30 minutes will be $3.00 instead of $4.00
Be on the lookout for these kiosks and don't get caught!

Twitter and Parking

I gave in and finally started a Twitter account. I took a hint from something that my coworker said about Facebook. He pretty much said that if he wanted to be flooded with updates, he would open a Twitter account instead of just a Facebook account. There is no better way for me to give people the inside scoop than Twitter on my smartphone.

Follow me on Twitter! @cchoumayor
As for the other topic, the parking meters around here are fully operational now. I think parking is somewhere around $1.25 for an hour. I just looked all over their website and I couldn't find any warning about the parking meters. Oh well, I guess that's what I am here for! Bring correct change, I haven't looked close enough at the machines to see if they take cards or give change.

C'mon Man!

Living in a mixed use area has its positives and its negatives. I want to talk about one of the huge negatives right now because it just doesn't make sense to me. I fully understand that noise is a factor that I need to live with here at Citycentre. I've come to terms with the fact that the area has progressively gotten louder as more restaurants open and more customers pour in. I no longer care about the drunk crowd yelling and laughing while I am attempting to sleep. I no longer care about the cars honking and the slamming doors either. I'm at peace with the delivery trucks that slam their ramps and sliding doors. I am even okay with the street sweepers that come through at odd hours.

What I don't understand is the extremely loud grease vacuum truck that comes by every quarter around 3:00 AM on workdays to empty the underground grease trap!

What makes this truck so loud is the fact that it has to rev up its engine to compensate for the vacuum motor when it runs. It's technology called "PTO" or Power Take Off. The vacuum motor itself is awefully loud too. There has not been a single instance where I was able to sleep through the noise. Imagine your household vaccum noise, multiplied by 10, right outside your window at 3 in the morning.

Here are the issues I see from the restaurants' perspectives. The manhole covers for access to the grease traps are in the middle of parking spots so the truck has to arrive before cars start filling up those spots. The truck would have to shut down one side of the Boulevard for about 30 minutes while it did its thing.

Look, just tell the truck to come at 6:00 AM, cone off the area around it and block traffic for 30 minutes, and then go on its merry way. There are multiple entrances to this complex for those that arrive that early and those people all work here and park in the parking garages anyway. Think of it this way. It is easy for someone to drive around to another entrance, but I will never regain the health I lost from abruptly waking up and losing sleep once a quarter.

Random Musings: Citycentre has some exciting events lined up for the Christmas season. I'll keep you updated, stay tuned.