Last week marked the start of the Spring season. It's time to put away the winter coats, boots, gloves, and scarves. Wait, we're in Houston, right? So, it's actually time to put away the long sleeved shirts, jeans, and to shave away that stubble from your face (or legs as the case may be) that kept you warm on those lonely brisk 60 degree evenings. Break out the cargo shorts, polo shirts, sun dresses,......

>> Wintry mix blasts Panhandle, North Texas with sleet, snow: They came from the north and helped freeze your tootsies. Yep, those darn north winds are to blame for the uber chill around town today writes Meteorologist Tim Heller on the Houston Weather Blog. The same system that blanketed North Texas with nine inches of snow and caused Dallas-Ft. Worth airport to cancel 200 flights will share its chill with Houston. "This type of......

:: Spring 2008 Class Registration at Art League Houston :: Even if you've given up on all your New Years Resolutions by now, there's still time to make something of the year by taking a class. You can't go wrong with bettering your brain. The Art League, besides having a very cool building, gallery and coffee shop, also happens to offer classes. Try your hand (or brush up on) drawing, painting, jewelry, watercolor or......

As the Astros start their Spring Training schedule today in Osceola County, the college baseball season has been underway for a couple of weeks now. The annual Houston College Classic returns to Minute Maid Park this weekend as one of the premier regional showcases of top-level NCAA baseball. Starting on Friday and continuing through Sunday, the Juice Box will be host to an almost non-stop flow of games. The teams participating in the tourney are:......

Spring Training is the time for all things to be made new, for minor league farmhands to have their shot at the big league club, for mid-career players to reinvent themselves, and veterans to try to hang on for one more year. As the Astros assemble the position players who will come off the bench in 2008, there are some familiar faces, one very home town name, and a lot of unknowns. As we did......

A week after the pitchers and catchers arrived, the Astros' position players are due in Kissimmee today. Some, including Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, and Kaz Matsui, have already arrived to get a jump on the rest of the team. Others, like focal point Miguel Tejada, arrived on time today. Like we did with the pitchers and catchers, we'll take a look at the guys out in the field and see where things lie. We'll start......

On this lazy, semi-holiday, it feels like the perfect opportunity to browse around the 'net and find out what's been going on with our local teams. Only the Rockets are actually playing games right now, though the Astros are gearing up for theirs in Florida right now. The Texans continue to be a topic of discussion even though the NFL draft is yet two months away. With that in mind, let's take a look at......

::Rice University's Second Annual Asian Film Festival:: Rice Cinema has put together an amazing lineup films this weekend to round out the end of its Second Annual Asian Film Festival. Houstonist would go to them all if we could. There's an erotic thriller, animation, documentary and a film based on the novel by Houston's own Bapsi Sidhwa. Go forth and prosper! Friday, February 8, 7:30pm Lust, Caution Ang Lee’s lush spy thriller set in......

It's a struggle not to talk about how awesome the Super Bowl was last night, but since we're here to talk about Houston teams first and foremost, we'll have to stick to our mission. But how 'bout those commercials, huh? We went and looked at the GoDaddy.com Danica Patrick one online; who knew that she could put both legs behind her head while playing "Smoke On The Water" on kazoo? Here's what the blogosphere has......

We usually run this column on Mondays, but the Clemens press conference inspired us to be petulant and storm out of things, so we walked away from our keyboard in a huff, drove back to our mansion in Memorial, and injected our kids whose names all begin with K's with horse steroids. After we calmed down and called our lawyer, we compiled this list of links. Here's what the sports blogosphere is talking about this......

Yes, we know that this column usually runs on Mondays. But on Monday, we were dodging the crowds in search of a couple of final presents, and were still reeling from the woodshed beating the Texans received at the hands of the Colts. We saw beleaguered soccer moms parking their Suburbans at the mall with better timing and depth perception than some of Sage Rosenfels' passes on Sunday. Anyway, on to the links: - Chuck......

::MFA Projection Bomb!:: We caught wind of this earlier this week and couldn't resist reposting. Introducing the first guerrilla drive-in theater on the roof of the MFA parking garage this Thursday night. Be part of a smart mob for a 20 minute projection bomb. Bring a car full! Details below, poster attached. (Good attendance would really help my thesis project). Thanks! Clint - - - - - - - - - - - - -......

Good morning, Houston. If you're hoping that the United States will one day be free of its dependence on foreign natural gas — and we're sure at least one of you is — this isn't your lucky day: According to a report from the Energy Forum at Rice University's Baker Institute, there's no end in sight to our use of imported gas. Natural gas accounted for 22 percent of total primary energy use in......

Spent all your cash on girlie drinks and shattered dreams again this weekend, didn't you? No worries - Thriftster gives you the lowdown on cheap stuff to do until Paycheck Friday. Monday: While the name of the show might be hitting a little close to home after this weekend's ACL sunburn, the Eastman Gallery's Skin exhibition is a neat way to check out local artists and the way they view the human form. Hit the......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. The BarCamp Houston Files Here's a roundup of links, blog posts and photos from BarCamp Houston 2. Dwight Silverman experimented by covering BarCamp ad nauseum through Twitter. If you couldn't be there Dwight's Twitter Litter could keep you up to date virtually minute by minute. Jim Thompson, Katherine Druckman, Robert Nagle, A Wandering Eyre and sean.blog were there too and posted their experiences. There are also......

Every week or so, Houstonist provides a rundown of what the Blogs are saying about our city's sports teams. Here's what we found this week: -Jeff Bagwell's life isn't all San Diego sun and jersey retirements. He's still working as a special assistant to Tim Purpura. He was recently in Lexington, KY to check out the Astros A-ball affiliate. Obviously, this was big news in Lexington. -The Texans have shown some interest in A&M and......

Today until 5:00pm is your last chance to catch works by students attending the Glassell Junior School of Art as they are presented at the annual Junior School Spring Exhibition. Works will be on view through July 31 in the Norma R. Ory Gallery at the Junior School, 5100 Montrose Boulevard. The exhibition includes more than 200 works created by students age 4 to 18. Media represented includes painting, sculpture, fashion design, and ceramics. Also......

We knew there had to be some history behind Houston's opening its doors to hurricane evacuees from New Orleans a couple of summers ago — and now, thanks to the Chronicle's addictive Bayou City History blog, we know what it was: Early in 1949, the Houston City Council annexed the city of New Orleans. So, hey, all you transplanted New Orleanians: Welcome home! It all started Dec. 31, 1948, when Houston annexed more than......

You may recognize Judah Friedlander as Frank Rossitano on 30 Rock or as “The Hug Guy” from the Dave Matthews Band video, but anyway you look at it, he is a winner (and you won't get any disagreement out of him). Judah is in town this weekend (Thurs. – Sun.) performing at the Improv. Houstonist was able to speak with the self-proclaimed “World Champion of the World” and to be expected he had us......

Houstonist was driving out 290 the other day and noticed a new Luby's under construction — it normally wouldn't attract our attention, but we could tell this Luby's was going to look different. And now we know why: According to the Chronicle, the new restaurant is the first of Luby's next-generation locations, designed to bring the venerable cafeteria chain into the 21st century. Outside, the new Luby's will be faced in stucco and limestone; inside,......

As Spring teenager David Ritcheson's family heads to Mexico today to claim Ritcheson's body, a few details are emerging about when he jumped from a Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday morning. Witnesses said Rtcheson climbed up a tower near the bow of the Ecstasy about 6:15 a.m., and moments later, ship crew members showed up and began trying to negotiate with him. Friends joined in — "What the [expletive] are......

Houston Astros left fielder Carlos Lee was selected to the 78th annual MLB All-Star game which will take place on Tuesday, July 10 at San Francisco's AT&T Park. Lee, who is now a three-time all-star, currently leads the National League with 68 RBI and has been everything the Astros have dreamed of so far. Along with Lee's NL-leading RBI total, El Caballo is currently sporting a .293 average with 15 home runs and 22......

Good morning, Houston. Were you one of the folks who lined up Friday to pick up an iPhone? And have you gotten it activated yet? If so, you're lucky: A lot of people are having trouble getting their shiny new toys activated, and until they do, none of the so-called Jesus phone's features — not even its alarm clock — will work. Though most customers have been able to activate their phones in a......

There were some people channeling our sentiments on Missed Connections this week, along with a very cheap Yahoo user and an elusive ice skating cowboy. Read on: Little Red Mercedes Girl - anyone, anyone? - m4w You were on Prarie, downtown, yesterday around 7:00 p.m., wearing a little red Mercedes -- 2 seater (maybe hard to convertible). Brown hair pulled back, great profile, tight fitted white/cream top, multiple rings - but nice rings, not......

Good morning, Houston. It's Thursday — the last day of May — which means there's just a few more hours to enter the Houstonist photo exhibition. We're accepting entries until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow, so be sure to send your photos before then. As always, the details and entry form are at 600sqmi.com. Good luck! >> Aw, hail: We knew there was a chance of rain yesterday, but we didn't expect a long bout of......

Friday night is upon us and it feels like what Spring feels like in non-Gulf Coast cities; which means low humidity, cool temperatures. And you know, you’ll feel guilty spending the night sitting on your ass in front of the tube again. That’s where your friends at Houstonist come in. We have a pair of tickets to tonight’s Ghostland Observatory concert at Warehouse Live. If you don’t know about this band, shame on you. Coming......

Tomorrow is Saturday and Cinco de Mayo. Both are great opportunities to sit back and enjoy a cold beverage. There is no debating that margaritas reign supreme over the Cinco festivities. But, Houstonist gets worn out on the super sweet mixers typically used in the mass produced varieties. Our research suggests that sipping a cold beer can be a satisfying departure from a sweet rita. Last night we corralled five cervezas currently crowding the beer......

Heights 19th Street Spring Fling If the rain holds off tonight, make your way over to 19th street in the Heights for their Annual Spring Fling. Over 20 stores will be open for business as patrons stroll down the block, with live entertainment, food, and fun. Participating stores include Wind Water Gallery, Harold's in the Heights, Jubilee, and many more along 19th street between Yale and Shepherd. While you're there, make sure and check out......

Last night wasn't a good one for people on foot in Houston: Two people were killed in two separate vehicle-pedestrian accidents, and in both cases, the drivers fled the scenes. The first accident happened around 9:15 p.m. yesterday at Emnora and Peppermill in Spring Branch, where a 16-year-old girl and her friends were crossing the street. A Ford F-150 heading east along Emnora went across oncoming traffic and onto the shoulder, hitting the girl, who......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......