So not 10 minutes after I hit "post" my mother comes in yelling about how she completely disapproves of the program I'm applying to, because it's brand new and if I already had a hard enough time finding work with an aerospace undergrad what's the point of going into an even narrower specialization and who builds houses in space anyway, and they probably only invited me to visit becase they're desperate for students?

So possibly this trip won't be happening. But I'd like to know whether mass transit in Houston is usable anyway.

The mess transit system in Houston is called Metro [http://www.ridemetro.org/]. I am not a Houstonite but it never struck me as a mass transit friendly town. You'd probably be flying into IAH which isn't exactly close to Rice so you'd be looking at a long time on a bus. You might want to do SuperShuttle or something.

The secret to downtown Houston is that the city is underground, sort of. I spent half a day there wandering around saying "where in the hell does everyone eat?" before I realized this. The Houston Art Museum is a really terrific place if you like art museums at all, go there. I went a few more places in Houston in April and you can check out a few pictures here. Also, I know people who work at NASA, well one guy anyhow, who lives there. If you'd like an intro drop me an email jessamyn at the gmail place dotcom.