I love Houston. Having been to many cities around the world, I would have a hard time saying that Houston is one of the most beautiful cities...but I still love it .
Heh, I drive from the North Belt and 45 to UH every day, so I catch all of the ugly on my commute. Lucky me
I'm not that crazy about Houston, but I what I dislike most about it is that everything is so spread out and you have to do a lot of driving to go to all of the places and involve yourself in the various cool things there are to do. If I could afford to go on more vacations I think I would like it here more. I'm sure there are a lot of cities that are worse, but I find it pretty dull in Houston and not remotely pedestrian friendly, which sometimes leads to people being kind of distant and keeping to themselves in my opinion.
Houstonians are the most open and friendly residents of any major city I've lived in or near, by a wide margin. I mean, I'm living in the Washington DC area now and the people here are absolutely frigid (and snotty). You smile and say hello to someone and they grab their valuables and stare at you like you just escaped the looney bin. I met my fiancee up here and when we visited Houston last year, she was stunned by how friendly everyone was.
Houston is incredibly spread out which is why you live inside the loop and you are 10 minutes from everything worth seeing and anything that is further out can be timed to drive against traffic.
Depending on where you live - Bellaire, Lamar and others are good. Also, if you can afford private school, the best one's are nearby.
All I got to say is this: New Orleans. And I love Houston, yeah we got a lot of strip centers and billboards, but all the spaghetti-like network of interchanges are pretty cool to behold and the city's so spread out there's tons of green space. Hell it's not even the ugliest city in Texas.
Yup, Houston has the best schools in the region...and also the worst. On the news, you only hear about the worst. But there are some excellent magnet schools for elementary and Jr. High that routinely test very very high. But you rarely hear that from people not in the area.
I lived in Houston almost all of my life but moving to CT has really opened up my eyes. We have tons of trees, hills, very little crime, cleaner air, and a lot less traffic. The people in general are also more educated and cultured. They care more about preservation than building giant strip malls on top of each other. The biggest downside is there's a lot less diversity - which is obtainable with an hour and a half drive to NY or Boston - almost the same distance from Sugar Land to Intercontinental. The heat and humidity vs the cold and snow are about even. Snow during the Christmas season is actually nice.
The only time I've ever honestly considered living somewhere else, it wasn't about Houston. I always thought it would be interesting to live on the east coast where all the cities are so close together. In Texas, the next "city" is 2+ hours away. I thought it would be fun to be in a place where there were 5 major cities within an hour or two of each other. Other than that, I have few qualms with Houston. It's not a place you camp or a place you go as a tourist. It's a place to live. It has hidden beauty and the nicest people anywhere.
So true. Its total bs. Plus the sports teams in NYC are the absolute worst. And dont get me started about the ****ty Mexican food. But I'm not here to compare NYC to Houston....just wanted to call out this "Houston so much cleaner than filthy East Coast cities" post. And the first sentence of your post confirms it. However, I miss Houston. But my dog doesn't. Since I moved out of Houston, my dog's allergies - gone.
I live in Texas (no--not in Dallas), and upon my most recent visit to Houston, I couldn't stop thinking about how ugly the place was. The Galleria area is nice, but as a whole, everywhere I looked there were giant p*rn shops, strip malls, concrete, horrible traffic, etc. And I don't think I've ever seen a city that's so spread out. Having said all that, Houston seemed like it might be a cool place to live/go to school. However, from an outsiders perspective, Houston is one of the ugliest cities in America.
I'm still trying to figure out what difference it makes if a city is physically attractive anyway. I mean, San Diego is beautiful, but a 1000-square-foot home in a ****ty subdivision might cost you half a million. Taxes are through the roof and you are surrounded by tourists year round. To me, what makes a city great has little to do with how it physically looks.
Would your perfect woman have all of the intellectual, emotional and cultural aspects you crave and be uglier than Sam Cassell; or would she have all of the above and be gorgeous? Sure, Sam Cassell might be cheaper to maintain. She's willing to just eat at Taco Bell because she never was pretty enough to get the higher class guys that could afford Jack In The Box. But the gorgeous, more expensive one gives you a good reason to spend that extra money.
I think there is a significant difference here. I don't have to be attracted to the physical beauty of the city in which I live to love living here. It isn't a prerequisite for me. I do have to be attracted to a woman to ultimately have a long-term relationship with her. It is part of the deal. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are lots of women I find to be hot that guys on here don't seem to think are that big of a deal and women that people on here think are the hottest chicks on the planet that I don't find attractive at all. In the same way, I find unique beauty in Houston that others may not see. If they don't, that's ok. They don't have to. It is only important to me anyway. I don't need their approval to find the city beautiful anymore than I need other guys' approval to tell me a woman I'm dating is hot.
