We find the new Miss America reality-show a rather trite snoozefest, but there's another pageant going on in Houston tonight that actually does more than just drive TV network ratings and plastic surgery sales. Meet the beauty, brains and wheels of Ms. Wheelchair Texas - a pageant dedicated to celebrating the lives of (gorgeous) mobility-impaired Texan women and promoting accessibility/disability education and initiatives. The pageant event is going down tonight 6:30pm at the Crowne......

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: Hit the Houston Boat show tonight at Reliant Center (8400 Kirby Dr.) to find the yacht of your dreams - or perhaps to find the man/woman of your dreams that can actually afford such nautical pleasures (did that sound dirty?). With tickets under......

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: Soothe the remnants of your weekend hangover with the (free) strains of a Rice University music faculty concert from 8-9:30pm at Alice Brown Pratt Hall. Suck it up - if Mozart and Brahms aren't usually your homeboys, you can always make up for......

Excellent work, gumshoes! Here's your first Top 10 list, made up of your suggestions and our opinions. If you didn't get a chance, be sure to go back and read the various comments made on the first Top 10ist, because there are a few gems. [Next step: contribute to next week's Top 10ist by commenting - below this post - in response to the new prompt, which you will find at the bottom.] Good......

As best described by www.yurisnight.net, "Yuri's Night is like the St Patricks Day or Cinco de Mayo for space." We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Another holiday giving us an excuse to drink ourselves into oblivion (or the Milky Way). Count us in. Yuri Gagarin was the first human to go into space on April 12th, 1961. "Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People......

Remember the 37-story apartment tower announced last May for a block overlooking Discovery Green? KHOU reports that foundation work began this weekend, when about 800 cement trucks dumped their contents into the big hole at the corner of Austin at Lamar. And downtown observers are all atwitter: "I think that Houston will see a lot more residential development downtown. I think this is a lead project for many to come," said architect Jeffrey Ryan......

It’s nice outside today. Feels like a good day for a protest, right? Sure! They’re happening all across the country (we were tipped off by reading LAist). And sure enough, Houston is partaking in the trend. After all, we already established that we’re hip. It’s being organized by The World Can’t Wait. And if you’re “red”, this will not, we repeat, NOT be your cup of joe. However, if you’re more on the “blue”......

We wonder if your regular Pub Fiction patrons even understand the treat they’re in for tonight when Bob Schneider plays a free show, courtesy of the Houston Press. The Austinite has only released two major CD’s since he left The Scabs and Ugly Americans, but they are both so good that it’s amazing that the rest of the country hasn’t caught on to him yet. That may change. Bob is currently opening for the Dixie......

Houstonist understands the importance of bar food, so we were interested in checking out the offerings during a recent trip to Pub Fiction for a friendly get-together with our bowling league compadres. Pub Fiction is located across Smith Street from the Spec’s Liquor Warehouse in Midtown and has a moderate amount of parking available; inside, it has a hip "nightclub marries sports bar" look, with a wall of televisions and an area for live......

Houstonist believes in love, which is why we've been taking cues from our friends at Austinist and browsing Craigslist's missed connections. We learned a lot, like that Houston's banks and gyms are great places to flirt (dumpsters... not so much) and if you don't get a name and number the first time, you haven't lost your chance for love. Here are some gems. Dark Haired Girl in Blue Caddy at Chevron on Smith St.......