"You win at the game of tonight!"

I'm not quite sure what to make of tonight.
I was anxious to try a little Houston night life, so I Google-boxed, "cool bars in Houston".
Of the 10 or so top entries, several bars on Westheimer Rd. in the Montrose area came up, and since the Mac needs a little tune up, I thought, "I'll hit the Apple store in Montrose, then find dinner and a drink and maybe, a good conversation."

The Gods of Stimulating Conversation did not come out tonight.

After an hour or so at the Apple Store,

The Apple Store on Westheimer Rd., Houston.

which is, quite probably, the most gorgeous retail environment I've ever been in, I realized that, for the time being, my pop3 will have to use the outgoing stmp.att protocol, even though the incoming server uses port 465, as opposed to 993, and really, I'm not that fond of the SSL overall, inasmuch as you and I both know that the greatly preferred use of authenticated, pop servers in relation to their "password" brethren is really the right way to go every time.
But I'm preachin' to the choir on that one, right!?!
Can I get a witness!?!
Hello?
Is this thing on?

Annnnnyhoo.....

I met 2 really nice customer care reps at the Apple Store, and even though my pop3s are still hangin' out in the wind for God and everybody else to see, they were really very nice and helpful.

 Afterwards, I rode down to Poison Girl, a bar on Westheimer, that was googley-fied in my search for  "cool bars".  Seemed like the natural choice since Poison Girl is an awesome song by my favorite artist, Chris Whitley.
Whitley's first album, Living with the Law, is definitely "desert island 5" material.  (remember when radio stations used to do that?)

" If you were stranded on a desert island, what 5 albums would you want to have with you?"


It seems like a reasonable, rhetorical, never-going-to-happen-situation, type question, right?
A real conversation starter for people who like to walk down the local pier with their pet ferret.
Really, it's just a chance for emotionally bereft and shallow people to sound like they have depth.

"Hello, you're on Zany Chet and Creepy Pete's Morning Zoo innnnnnnnn........... Millllllllllwaaaaaaulkieeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  (fake laughter) (shattering glass) (police whistle)    (tires screeching) (tiger roar)  "How ya' doin' out there!?!" (cymbal crash)
" Now."  (donkey)   "If you could have just 5 (toilet flush) albums with you, just5, to listen to while YOU were TRAPPED       on a DESERT          ISLAND."
(sound of strong wind)   (sound of ship's horn)   (hooga horn)
"What5albulms, wouldya' bring?"

Well, Chet, Creepy, I think I would, bytheway, long-time-listener, first-time-caller, but anyways, I think the 5 albums I would take to that deserted island would be, uhm...first..."

"COMING IN FROM THE SKYCAM IT"S CAPTAIN  TRAUMA WITH ALL YOUR TRAFFIC AND WEAAAATHERRRR UPDATES!!!!"  CAPTAIN T, WHAT CAN YA" TELL US FROM THE EYE IN THE SKY?!!!!!"

(thumping chopper sounds)  "ALLRIGHTTTY, Chet and Creepy in the morning: traffic is really not that bad down there this morning.  (thumping chopper sound)
Ya' know what's bad?  Having to eat your best friends kidney stones when your pinned down in a foxhole by those DAMNED DIRTY ..(beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep)(sudden loss of radio feed)

"SOUNDS like someone needs a CHILL PILL, doesn't it Creepy Pete!?!"  "A-Hahahahahahhaahahahahahahahha!!!!  Right-ee-o Chet!  A-HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA....."

But, I digress:

Poison Girl bar

(insert pictures here)
Poison Girl was maybe a bit too local for me.  Adam, the doorman, was kind enough to offer a couple suggestions on other bars in the area and bought me a beer (well, hey there Shiner Bock on tap.  How yoo doin'?) when those places didn't fair any better and Jonas behind the bar was pretty friendly but outside of that I felt a little out of place; not quite "unique" enough for most the bars in the area, not quite upper middle class enough for the rest.  Still a good place to go and check out.

I tried another place suggested by my Google-y friends:  Boondocks.  Just a half mile or so from Poison Girl but tucked back a little on a bend in Westheimer, I blew right past it and had to break out the GPS to make sure I didn't miss it the second time.
The description online was right:  a divebar.
But, not in a good way.  Not the "been around for a hundred years and has wear and tear and character and charm" sort of way.  Just in a shitty sort of way.  In an unwashed, crappy jailhouse tattoo kinda way.  I ordered a Shiner from the tap and sat outside.  I hadn't been there but a few minutes when I heard the unwashed, tattooed, lisping-hipster, pothead next to me say, "Oh, my God!  You win at the game of tonight!"  in response to a couple who had walked up with their gorgeous Great Dane.
Ok.  Time to go.

Later, a local told me that Boondocks was a great place to get drugs.  Or mugged, depending on the night.  I must've just missed my chance at either.

The whole Westheimer Rd area is dotted with restaurants and bars.  At one end you'll see lots of tattoo parlors and at the other high end retail.  It seems like an interesting part of town, albeit in a bit of transition, but I think I would've had a better time had I chose bars that are a little less cool.

I made it back to ZaZa at around 11:30.  After the intense rain Houston had yesterday, it was great to get out on the bike and ride thru town.  The streets were cool and mostly quiet, so no trouble navigating from Montrose back to the museum district.

Westheimer Rd, Houston - outside the Apple Store.

Monarch at Hotel ZaZa

Monarch at Hotel ZaZa

(I probably need to work on this post.)