scottkursk

A Chinese guy I work with described the Falung Gong as "our Scientologists". Scientologist being a generic word for incredibly nutty cult. But it does fit. I agree, they are incredibly anti-mind but they do have a right to practice their religion. I'm very much not surprised that CNN would bend to PC and edit the broadcast. At least they showed some of it. Just about all the other news channels cut the speeches short and cut to something else.

I had two teachers come into my office today. I pretty much questioned them about the local districts and it reinforced some of what I heard. Their favorite one seemed to be Brazoria County which is to the southwest including places like West Columbia and Lake Jackson. From my time competing in speech contests in high school, West Columbia was pretty good. Deer Park has had problems with robin hood but even with some of the poor schools they are good. Especially compared to PISD and HISD. They both had issues with HISD. Mostly it was the combative nature that the district views teacher/admin relations. One likened it to the post office. Hope that helps.

Actually, you're probably one of the only other people that though of redneck culture as a type of cultural elitism. I always thought it was a triumphing of ignorance and unsophistication. Kind of like Hooter's motto "delightfully unsophisticated" or something along those lines. It's a part of it and it really isn't a restaurant. They do the usual to serve food on Sundays. It's on the calendar. Actually, there was a topic that was about the morality of being a vegeterian. Or at least something along those lines. There are a couple here or at least people with grazer diets but I quit eating meat due to very real health reasons. Still, I do enjoy a good piece of buffalo on occasion.

Oh, another thing you can do for fun is to google "restaurant supply" and get some catalogs. It'll curl your teeth. I get most of my cookware from them since the construction is more rugged since they assume you'll abuse it in new and imaginative ways in a professional kitchen. Still, it will give you a good idea of what it costs to open one.

Lots of good advice here. Dismuke is right in that the #1 problem of any restaurant, any business for that matter, is undercapitalisation. It really does take a year + to get most retail business up and running to the point of being self supporting. Of the stores I've opened they usually have taken about 2 years to be fully supporting. There are so many little things that can get you screwed up when opening a business that you'd never think of. One place that a lot of small businesses get caught is when they sign a lease. I've signed close to 10 retail leases and every time I learn something new. Finally, my company hired a full blown realtor and legal guy that really rides tac over the contracts. There are tons of subtleties that are hard to catch. With a restaurant, the little things are exponentially more complex. Then there is the complexity of doing everything about the buildout and fittings. The hardest part of any retail or restaurant business, the more complex the interactions with the customers the more important it is, is human resources. The hardest part is hiring. Hire 1 bad person and they can quite easily put you out of business and into bankruptcy. So you have to be dead spot on when it comes to hiring. Plus the hr issues like workmen's comp, etc are a bear. The best thing when it comes to any business is having someone that knows the business. Generally, one of the partners with an equity stake is ideal since they have a real stake in the places success. Like when it comes to the food, the more you do inhouse (from baking the bread to plating the enchiladas) the more profitable it can be. However, you also risk a WHOLE lot more from spoilage. So, there are some pretty decent places that job out their food to Sysco and literally just stick the food out of the wrappers onto the plates while just sprinkling onions (from the pre diced Sysco onion container) on top to make it seem fresh. If you go the exact opposite tack and do something like a Subway franchise, you do jack other than just be there and unload the boxes from the main office. They do the buildout, give hr adivce, training, etc. You just have to pony up 200k+ for the right to sell their goods. Now the real downside is you give up some of the chance for some real success. But, you gain in having someone with experience giving you guidance and support. The thing you give up most is creativity. Chains are meant to be cookie cutters of each other (for the most part), but then that is what a franchisee is looking for. The number 1 problem of any business, company, religion, etc is getting customers. Having a better mousetrap doesn't count for alot if you can't let people know it's better. People pay alot of money to get people to figure out how to get cusotmers. It's 1/2 art and 1/2 science. I've still not got it quite down yet. So, I'm not trying to talk you out of doing it. Doing something you really love and believe in can be rewarding both for the psyche and the pocketbook. Just go into it with your eyes wide open and keep asking questions and constantly check your premises. I must say that that if you are looking at opening a military themed restaurant, it might make a compelling idea if executed right. Dick's is an idea that most people would scoff at but it works. Given your neck of the woods, there also may be another reason why it would work where it woudln't work in say Berkely, CA.

Congratulations Shane and wife! Someone buy that man a Cuba stout!

We had a cabin in the woods to get away from it all. If you define "cabin" as a trailer in a chigger infested forest and "it all" as civilization other than that seen in the Deliverance. he he. Still, it did instill in me a real love of things like camping, walking an hour to the nearest store, and shortwave radios. But then that was 30 years ago. It must have changed a little bit since then. Of course, we spoke of Liberty like it was New York. It had thousands of people that lived there.

All the local ISD's have had the same trouble when it comes to underreproting dropouts. My only experience with local schools, other than attending, was that I used to sub for PISD and HISD. Both of them made me want to switch from education to being a stockbroker. Though in all seriousness, I've been thinking about going to the ATCP of one of the districts and teaching. I've been a broker for 11+ years and I am thinking of a change. I've seen a pretty good growth with the FBISD since I've got clients that are teachers or former teachers. The HISD teachers seem to have really hated their experience, PISD is not far behing. Though I've heard AISD (Alvin) was ok from people and Fort Bend was pretty well liked. There are bound to be some people that are parents here on the board.

Is that the Liberty near Daisetta? I spent some time there as a kid during the summer. I've lived in both areas of Houston, both have their advantages. Both are nice if you work nearby. Welcome.

Having grown up in Pasadena, (see the movie Urban Cowboy, he was my neighbor) I am not to horribly adverse to redeneck culture. Though the deliberate stupidity that some who "embrace" it chaps my hide. Places like Cracker Barrel and places that advertise "Kounty Kookin" are embacing ignorance as a marketing ploy. The one exception to the rule is the Kelley's Country Cookin. Opened 30+ years ago by a retired cop, they cooking is flat out amazing. Actually, it's as big as it is amazing. The breakfast food is usually what I get there as I have never finished 2 pancakes. There are quite a few locations but no website as of yet. Oh, and are they cheap.... It's somewhere between Mexican and Cuban. Alot of black beans, ham, corn masa, and things like cortida, which is a sort of saurkraut. Not as spicy as Mexican but it's got a lot more flavor. I know what you mean. Some of the best restaurants I've found are totally lacking in pretence and focus solely on delivering the food. Generally, they are ethnic restaurants since they rely on word-of-mouth to advertise in small communities. Ditto. I am about to tuck into my inlaws Easter feast. Oh, the link for the Hari Krishna temple I mentioned is here. This may be the first time someone on OO.net has refered someone over to a temple. ha ha.

If you cook, it's actually pretty easy. Just chop up three or four peppers and dice them finely when you do your mix. Mmmm. I know what you mean. I detest chicken fried steak. Maybe it was growing up around here that I learned to detest it. Even Chinese food restaurants serve it. It's one of those foods restaurants keep on the menu in case someone hates whatever the cuisine. Usually, the worst places to go are touristy places. In San Antonio, the Riverwalk is bad. My Tierra and Margarita's are pretty decent. I prefer Margarita's. Personally, I'd pick somewhere like Taqueria Alteno. They are only located in places where there are alot of Mexican nationals. I've never walked into one where it didn't get quiet for a second. Same thing for Galveston. It's not great for seafood but if you just go up the road to Kemah, avoid the Boardwalk. Try across the water at some of the greasy spoon that get their catch straight off the back of the boats. Actually, even better is go to the fish wholesalers who will cook your food there after you buy the catch. In-flippin-credible. (sp) But, it is assuredly caveat emptor. New York is good for everything. Boy, living there for a short time I rarely ate in a single meal and tried so many different cuisines. I fell inlove with dirty water dogs and any ethnic cuisine you could buy off a cart served by a guy with little command of English and a greasy beard. Heck, the best Mexican/El Salvadorian food I've ever had is at a roach coach ouside of the pull you own part junk yard in Pasadena. Have you ever tried El Salvadorian food? The most common is a pupusa with cortida.

It is hard. Speaking as a person in business, I've had to make some hard choices with cusotmers. One of my big accounts is a large born again school and their bigot headmaster. He doesn't want to deal with my staff who are all very much not white. As I mentioned in the afformentioned thread, the only Christian in the office is a guy who's a Chinese citizen. I didn't point this out to the customer. I just took his money. Because of his bigotry, he gets to wait to speak to me. And he waits a very very long time. I did put it to my office whether we wanted to take the account. We decided to do that. Ironically, we've got more racist/bigoted cusotmers who are Indian as well. It's much more common for my staff to face bigotry from "their own" people. They don't want to deal with the Muslim from Pakistan or the Hindu because she's a woman. They also don't want to deal with the Jain from America. So you have another bigot that will only deal with the white guy. That is the definition of irrationality. Still, because of their bigotries, they don't get the same level of service and they probably in the grand scheme of things suffer. I have in the past either turned down accounts or closed existing accounts, many of which were real income generators for me. So I did suffer by refusing to deal with irrational people. Actually, given the nature of my business, I deal with incredibly irrational people on a day to day basis. So for me it's a matter of drawing a line in the sand so-to-speak.

True. That or they have dots in the "armpits" that make them look differently.

Exactly. I thought it was a fun holiday. When I went to visit a friend, I was kinda surprised by the swastikas. Though the blank stare I gave them was quickly explained they were there for luck. Being from a very redneck area, they have quite a different meaning. So it was a pretty good holiday all in all.

Good point. Being the only non-desi at work for the longest time, I've learned to extend wishes to people on Divali and Eid. Though I recently hired a guy from China. This is the second person I've hired from China and as irony would have it, both are devout Christians. Still, like alot of people, I don't wish them a Merry Christmas first out of fear of offending them. If they offer the greeting first, I'll respond in kind. On my part, it's really a knee jerk reaction built in from years of doing sales/customer service. On a cost benefit analysis basis, you'd rather not please someone than offend someone.

Very glad to hear. Most people vote it tops in Houston. This is Houston after all. Jalapeno samosas are de riguer. ha ha. Or you could call it indo-latin fusion. Have you ever tried jalapeno meatloaf? It's really good. That's why San Antonio is so good for Mexican food. Houston is good for Indian. Fort Worth is good for BBQ & chicken fried steak. I don't have it handy but I'll get it from my coworker tomorrow. This is actually for practical and legal reasons. It's the same as in a strip joint. The prices for meals are like lap dances: they can't 'sell' them. If so, they technically engage in a business that requires many licenses. So that way they are not a restaurant. And as so I've heard, the dancer is not officially engaged in the business of dancing for you. You're making a voluntary contribution in both cases. At least in the case of the latter example, I think you could get away with it. This depending on a) how good your health insurance is b)how good of a runner you are

Yes, I've not been doing much in the last few months as I mentioned in my blog. Ugh. But yes, I've been playing still and I am improving. I have noticed that there was a change in mindset required to get used to the fluidity of the game.

There is something I really noticed this year. It seems to me the only people that say Merry Christmas any more are Hindus, Muslims, and Jews. At least that was the way it is with my customers. Maybe it's since they are the ones who are usally offended, that they really don't care and are into the season. Though I agree that the ones who are so outrageously offended are people that are atheists desperate to be in a victim class that they have to search out things to be violated by. They automatically assume that the white guy is the one in the office that's a Christian. Though that reminds me of the joke: how do Jews/Moslems/Hindus celebrate Christmas? They gather hands around the cash register and sing what a friend we have in Jesus.

I think it is precisely because it's a choice that people are more distrustfull of people of differing religions than that of race. I think it's more likely for me to hear " he may be from <enter name of country> but at least he's a good Catholic" as opposed to " he may be an atheist but he's at least <enter race>." That is because religion addresses things like immortality, socialization, etc where race really has to do with skin color. So when it comes down to it, people are more likely to forgive race etc than religion and philosophy. Though I do agree with you about disregarding a person's inherant philosophical choice. I've contributed to other threads about dating/marrying someone with another religion or political philosophy so I won't rehash it here. It is one of the isses that I think can and should influence how you react to a person, I just don't think it's the only thing.

I don't think it's a case of them thinking of us as evil, but as being non-desirable. It's the old NIMBY thing: "they are all nice people and such but I don't want my daughter dating one". That sort irrational stupidity is what I'm talking about. It's not that they really dislike them, they may even consider them friends but when it's down to brass tacks they really don't approve of them. My wife is CINO as well but her parents are quite staunch Catholics. It wasn't until we'd got engaged that she mentioned I was an athiest. If they had not known how good I was for her and how well we go together, say at the outset of our relationship, then I imagine they would have been against it.

I was pretty surprised by the Hari Krishna's. I always thought they were the 1/2 naked guys in the airport. It wasn't until I started working with one from Inida that I realized they were different. Those people in the airports are really just cutls that us the Gita as their book. The Hari Krishna's I know here are really no different than the Mormons I know. Pretty much hard working people with some different food habits. Though the Gita is a lot better read than the Book of Mormon. The Hari Krishna temple here is is Houston actually. Not really far from Shiva actually. Like the one you went to, the customers do tend to be wierder than the worshippers. It's a few hippies and a smattering of new agers but for the most part they are pretty much Desi. There is a BAPS temple here in Sugar Land that serves meat but their not really friendly. Especially if you have a woman with you.

1st rule about Houston - NEVER trust the maps or "expected commute time". They are rarely right except on the weekends. At least you weren't trying to commute from Spring to the loop. Now that is a nightmare. 2nd rule about Houston - never refer to it as I-610. Just call it 610 and you won't set off the new guy in town detector. It's the old Houston vs Dallas bs. Some old habits die hard. 3rd rule about Houston - most map directions are best visualized by putting a rifle scope over the city. Think of a bit crosshairs with 2 circles. 610 is the 1st circle, betlway 8 is the outer one. Well, the best Indian places are in Sugar Land which is in the southwest part of town. Which doesn't help you. Though having one of the world's largest BAPS temples 1/2 mile away and a big Indian population does mean some great eats. Masala Wok on Beltway 8 and Westheimer, think left side of the crosshairs on the second ring. It's really good but no buffet. They do up a pretty good curry with woks and it really does manage to work. They also do some chinese-ish dishes that are good for people afraid of Indian. I did hit this place in Spring where I got married called Sitar Cuisine of India or just plain Cuisine of India. It has ALOT of sitars on the wall. It was during the week so there was a buffet. Not sure if they have it on the weekend. It was a bit on the spicy side but not horribly so. It was on the west side of 45 north of Rayford/Sawdust. If you have friends up there, that should be enough of a direction to find it. It was a while ago but I remember it being nice. Probably one of the best places inside of Houston is Shiva. Food and service incredible and the crowd is pretty fobish so that's usually a good sign. It's more north Indian food wise. Good buffet that I seem to remember is up and running on the weekends. Downside is that it's south of 59 in Rice Village. I have them in outlook and their number is (713) 523-4753. They could tell you whereabouts they are and someone at your hotel should be able to point them out on a map. Think bottom crosshairs just outside of the 1st ring. Sorry I can't be of more help but the gazillion other Indian places I go to are in Sugar Land and that's probably more of a drive than you'd like. If you are here on Sunday, there is a Hari Krishna temple that serves an amazing vegeterian spread. Though you do get to eat in the temple, caveat emptor. Still, they are pretty nice and not preachy. It's ungodly (pun intended) spicy. It's like it's cooked by south Indians with an axe to gring. The other great places are Bombay Brazzerie on 59 south. It's 1/2 English 1/2 Tandoori cuisine. So it's one of the more authentic British pubs food wise. I've been to their weekend brunch buffet. My all time favorite is Cafe India in Sugar Land. It's run by a Punjabi and a Gujrati so the food is quite different. I eat there once a week and the food is really good. They've got a really small buffet but the quality is up there. They do a great deal of the wedding catering for the Desi's here in Houston and have been here forever. But they are all well outside the second ring of the crosshairs to the southwet. Hope that gives you some ideas. Sorry but I'm not really that familiar with the north side.

Agreed. Great links. I'm still trying to figure out the math but I think I've got a decent grasp. I still think it may very well be a LOT cheaper to just cut all your employees healthcare. My employer has close to 2000 employees and we have a self administered health plan. Actually, doing that is a bit risky but if your company is relatively young and you don't have a large number of expensive claims, it's much cheaper and better for everyone. I think the cost per employee for a couple is around $200 or $300 a month. The company I seem to remember picks up the overwhelming majority of the cost still. So I can't see why an employer from a straight fiscal standpoint wouldn't cancel private insurance. Mind you, that is completely ignoring the costs associated with having sick employees who get poor state run healthcare, the added cost to out-of-work time associated with either state run clinics/hospitals and the handful of private doctors that would accept the insurance. One of my clients says a good 30% of his staff does nothing but deal with private insurance companies. Forget about dealing with medicare/medicaid. Actually, having decent private healthcare would be a real selling point. That's one of the reasons so many doctors are tranistioning to ala carte healthcare for their patients. Like Canada is experiencing now, the wealthy who can afford ala carte or traveling to the US for treatment are getting good treatment. I wish people would realize that added government controls just result in an sepeartion between classes. argh.

What part of Houston? It's pretty a sprawled out city. Do you prefer South Indian, Punjabi, Gujarati, or are you open? edit for clarity

Wow. Interesting article. Being a native Houstonian I've seen many mayors come and go. Zoning rears its ugly head every once in a while but people here like the freedom for the most part. The real push for zoning does seem to come from people in "the wards" or I think the pc term is "historically African American neighborhoods" from "gentrification." Race relations here are better than just about any other place I've lived. People don't seem to care what the color of your skin is here as much as some other places I've been. Frankly, it's just to damned hot to care whether your forefather came from Zimbabwe, Hyperbad, Nuevo Laredo, Xianghai, or Croom. FYI, the authors Warren and Brian are active members of the Houston Objectivist Society. Brian got a good bit of press back when Greenwood proposed enacting zoning from what I remember. They were really vanguards.