A MICROSOFT STORE FOR SUGAR LAND? 
Chron tech guy Dwight Silverman zooms in on Microsoft COO Kevin Turner’s map showing the 75 new retail stores the software company plans to open in the next 2 to 3 years. And yes, that sure looks like a tiny Windows flag flying somewhere Sugar Land-ish. (The flag over the red dot indicates the store Microsoft opened last month in the Galleria, the company’s first Texas location.) A Microsoft spokesperson hedges on the map, saying it’s only “representative of the types” of locations that might be considered. But Silverman doesn’t buy it: “Given that Turner offered a very specific number in his speech, and the locations on the map seem to be specific as well, I suspect this is more than just a case of the ‘mights.'” [TechBlog; previously on Swamplot] Image: Microsoft
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The scene captured last Saturday by that drone videocamera flight, showing excavation on the site of the East Downtown stadium at Texas and Dowling, plus a high-end view of Downtown’s back side . . . and a very round earth. Like a more steady ride? Here’s a still:
Remember those walls I built? Well, baby, they’re tumbling down, and they didn’t even put up a fight. They didn’t even make a sound.
SHOCKED TO FIND THAT GAMBLING IS GOING ON IN HERE 
Four people believed to be the owners of the Capri Game Room at 10418 Telephone Rd. (just north of Fuqua) were arrested recently on misdemeanor gambling-related charges, Craig Malisow reports. Across the street from the Capri is an HPD substation, and inside the structure, surrounded by a sea of blue-painted walls, are 122 video slot machines. The arrests have had a ripple effect on several other nearby game rooms, but Malisow is confident the changes will be temporary: “In a strip center just up the road, two others have closed. But the Just Gold game room a few hundred yards from the Capri is still open. The owner, Lourdes Rodriguez, is just one of many game room owners with landlords who won’t ask any questions as long as the rent is paid every month. While Just Gold, and this stretch of Telephone Road, is quiet for right now, the heat will blow over as it always does, and things will get back to normal. The promise of big money might just be an illusion for the suckers who play, but for the owners and vendors, the money is very real indeed.” [Houston Press] Photo: LoopNet
LOOKING FOR HOUSTON ON THE MUSIC MAP “The amazing thing about Houston is that geographically it’s located at the southernmost end of the blues belt, the westernmost part of the Cajun music culture and northernmost part of Norteño musical culture.” — Former Blaster and X guitarist Dave Alvin [Houston Press]
LIGHTS IN THE HEIGHTS TO STAY ON, JUST TURNED DOWN A BIT 
The esplanade and corner food trucks will be gone, the parade will be “de-emphasized,” and the police will be active at the next Lights in the Heights, according to a Woodland Heights Civic Association email received by Martin Hajovsky. According to some estimates, 50,000 people attended last year’s annual Christmas-y event. To assuage neighborhood concerns about possible vandalism, public drunkenness, and commercialization, the event will be held earlier in the evening and shortened by an hour as well. [Home in the Heights, via Hair Balls] Photo: Jason Tinder [license]
SOME PIG The host family of a 60-lb., 8-month-old pot-bellied pig named Wilbur, who resides on Fir Forest Dr. near Big Cypress Dr. in Spring, plans to go door-to-door asking for neighbors to sign a petition that would allow its pet to remain at home. Deed restrictions prohibit owners in The Thicket subdivision from raising livestock. Missy Sardo received a notice from her homeowners association giving her 30 days to find a new home for the pig — after neighbors complained. “‘One of the complaints was that he roots in your backyard, and I said, “So? It’s my backyard,” and he said, “The other complaint was that they smell,” and I said, “He doesn’t smell, they have no sweat glands, they smell better than most dogs who’ve been outside.”‘” At a neighborhood meeting this week, Sardo was told that if 51 percent of the pet’s 250 neighbors sign her petition, Wilbur will be allowed to stay. The pig has already collected close to 1000 friends on his Facebook page. [KHOU 11 News] Video: Wilbur Sardo
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BACK IN THE WILD DAYS OF CASTLE COURT “I’m sure the townhouses on Mandell near Castle Court are quite nice, but what could ever compare to the story of the house formerly on the site that housed Hugo the gorilla? Thanks to a friend who lived nearby, seeing him remains one of my most vivid memories after over 40 years.” [Hellsing, commenting on Comment of the Day: You Can’t Buy Home Again; more info]
What’s to look at once it’s up there? Just this panoramic view of construction so far.
- Dynamo Stadium coverage [Swamplot]
Video: Accent Aerial Photography
NO INDICTMENT FOR TWINS WHO LEFT MOM ALONE 
Murder charges have been dismissed against 48-year-old twins Edwin and Edward Berndt, who let their mother lie on the foyer floor of their Meadowbrook Freeway home for 3 days after she slipped and fell— and then left her body to rot in place for 3 months after she died there. The Berndt’s attorney, Robert Scardino, has claimed the twins were born mentally disabled and had depended on their mother for their care. He described the scene investigators found at 8402 Glenscott St. to 11 News reporter Courtney Zubowski back in May: “It doesn’t appear that there was any hygiene [or] baths or showers taken. There was water, but it was trickling water. There was no air conditioning. There were a lot of empty popcorn bags in the house. There were a lot of broken egg shells in the house and a lot of empty tin cans where they were eating food out of a tin can which indicated to me there wasn’t any grocery shopping. . . . It was in a state that I’m not sure even the most warped director in Hollywood could have made up the scene in that house.” [KHOU 11 News; previously on Swamplot] Photo: ABC News
WALLER COUNTY’S LOOMING WALL OF GARBAGE 
From a group opposed to the Pintail Landfill just proposed for the 723-acre Rainey Ranch property, a mile north of Hempstead: “The company’s plan for the property is to build an industrial park fronting on Highway 6 for approximately ¾ of a mile. Behind the industrial park, a system [of] 20 foot high berms will be constructed to hide the 215 acres of landfill behind. Neither [GreenFirst, LLC’s Oscar L.] Allen nor [Thad] Owings could or would say how many cubic yards of garbage is being planned for the life of the site or how high the solid waste will be piled up on the site. Some individuals have opined that the plan is to have the solid waste site rising to an elevation of over 130 feet. When challenged on his comment that ‘property values will not be affected,’ Allen would only shrug his shoulders in response. Neighbors believe that the mere rumor of such a development has damaged property values for up to 10 miles around the planned project, which would include Hempstead and the surrounding area. Allen praised GreenFirst’s existing Turkey Run Landfill, 45 miles south of Atlanta, Georgia, and claimed certain landowners have been offered all expense paid trips to visit the landfill in Georgia.” [Stop Highway 6 Landfill; more info] Landfill illustration: GreenGroup Holdings
A little cleanup behind Mary’s, a couple of garage wipes, and more in today’s report:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU CAN’T BUY HOME AGAIN “Real estate is more than new builds and teardowns, permits and profits. Real estate touches our lives in a very special way. I still remember like it was yesterday riding my homemade go cart down the hill at the end of our street in our little subdivision in the east where I lived as a little kid. I fondly remember lying on the warm driveway after coming home from a cold morning’s swim class and seeing the tulips pop up through the last of the winter’s snow in the front yard. Decades later, I returned to the neighborhood and was surprised at how small and cruddy the houses were compared to what you can get for 300k in Houston. And then I saw that my old 1800 sq ft colonial was listed for 600k. . . .” [Old school, commenting on Neighborhood of My Youth, Demolished Erased: Signs of Poetry in the First Ward]
Here’s the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s massive new 1MC (for “Mid Campus Building 1”) at 7007 Bertner Ave., just a short hop into the medical frontier south of Brays Bayou. 25 stories, 1.4 million sq. ft., $350 million. All to consolidate various leasing tenants from 8 sites around the Med Center, plus get some space for future expansion. Swamplot reader Stephen J. Alexander hopped from parking garage to parking garage to capture these views:
