[Stargate] New to the Area

[Michael Silverhands]

On Mar 7, 2007, at 10:26 PM, Amy Adams wrote:
> Good evening,
>
> My name is Lady Irina Vukoslava.  I will be moving to
> Houston April 4th from Atlantia to work at Memorial
> Herman Medical Center in the NICU.  I managed to find
> an apartment in the Aldine area (hope I made a good
> choice!).
>
> I am looking forward to meeting everyone.
>
> I have varied interests, including rapier, cooking,
> needlework and other fibergeek interests, scribal, and
> glass bead making.
>
> See you in April!
> Irina
>

Lady Irina,

Welcome in advance to the Stellar Kingdom, and to Stargate -- and  
congratulations on the new job! :-)

By "the Aldine area" I assume that you mean near Aldine Rd. Aldine Rd  
runs west-east from roughly I-45 North (locally called the "North  
Freeway"), past the Hardy Toll Rd (a great but not-free way to get  
north out of town from there), past JFK Boulevard (the route to  
Houston Intercontinental Airport), to US-59 North (called the "Eastex  
Freeway" because it goes to East Texas).

That covers a lot of ground, some of which is very nice, and some not- 
so-nice, but in general it's an ok part of town.

If you head south on either I-45 or US-59 into town, it's an easy  
drive to the Medical Center (other than during rush hour [7-9 am, 4-6  
pm]). You'll be "inside the beltway" (Beltway 8, a.k.a. the Sam  
Houston Toll Way, a toll road for most of the way around Houston  
except in your area near the airport), which means you'll be fairly  
convenient to most things in central Houston. Closer in would be  
"inside the loop" (Loop 610). Folks who live "inside the loop" tend  
to have a very localized view of town. :-)

Stargate has a web site that lists local meetings, upcoming local  
events, etc.:
<http://stargate.ansteorra.org/>

If you have any questions that aren't answered there, this email list  
is probably the best place to ask them.

Currently, Populace meetings are held on the first Monday of each  
month at a restaurant near US-290 and Loop 610 (i.e., just a short  
distance southwest of you). [It's probably moving to a different  
location soon, so check the web site or look for announcements on  
this email list.] There's a weekly fighter practice (both chivalric  
and rapier) held jointly by Stargate and our neighbor barony to the  
south, Loch Soilleir, at the University of Houston.

There are *lots* of opportunities in this neck of the woods for  
rapier fighting, crafty stuff (including cooking, scribal and fiber  
arts) and other areas of interest (bardic, dance, archery,  
equestrian, etc.). And there are lots of folks in the health  
professions (nurses, etc.) who play in the local groups, so you  
shouldn't have any trouble finding kindred souls. :-)

Again, welcome. :-)

Michael Silverhands
(6th Baron of Stargate [1995-2000], OP)