Ups and downs

(Thumbs up) May we suggest that the most dangerous spot in America is wherever the Texans QB happens to be standing. The local guys have lost three signal-callers in recent weeks and for Sunday against the Ravens have to rely on either journeyman newcomer Thad Lewis, who's still learning the offense, or hometown hero, former University of Houston passer extraordinaire Case Keenum, back from the St. Louis Rams practice squad for a rare second chance to make good. It's a good bet - if your Thumbs staff gambled - that our man Case will get the nod. We're pulling for him, and we suspect our Thumbs won't be the only ones crossed when he faces a mighty Ravens rush.

(Thumbs up) Oompah, oompah, oompah. That's your Thumbs staff celebrating the news this week that squeezebox king and fellow Tejano Flaco Jimenez will receive a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award for his accomplished career. Jimenez, a conjunto accordionist and a San Antonio native, has recorded with the likes of Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakum and the Rolling Stones. No one squeezes the box better.

(Thumbs up) The $55,000 annual cost to attend Rice University may not seem a bargain, but for its value - two semesters at one of the nation's best private universities, as named this week by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine - it's a great deal. Kiplinger's ranked Rice as the nation's fourth-best private university when it comes to quality, value of the education acquired there, and the financial aid packages the university makes available. We always knew about Houston's wise Owls. We're glad to see they're drawing such deserved national recognition.

(Thumbs up) We love it when local folks make the commitment to restore pieces of our city's history, so a hearty thumbs-up to the Grenader family for taking on the enormous task of restoring the five-story Heights Clock Tower Building at Lawrence and West 22nd Street. If you've driven by the Heights neighborhood, there's no missing it. A four-sided clock atop the building is its heart. As the Chronicle's Erin Mulvaney reported, project manager Jonathan Grenader inherited the property from his father, who had partnered with a group of families to buy the building in 1966. Grenader's wife, architect Nonya Grenader, took on the project along with Galveston architect David Watson. Construction started in April and the project should be ready for tenants in March.

(Thumbs down) It's hard to fathom why anyone would want to own a link to a horrific tragedy that took the lives of five children. And yet a murderabilia website - yes, such a thing exists - is hawking a two-page letter written in 2006 by Andrea Yates. In June 2001, Yates drowned her five young children in a bathtub in the family's Clear Lake home. If there is an upside to this, it's that the letter has yet to sell.

(Thumbs twiddle) On this, the fifth day of Hanukkah, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Gov. Rick Perry's pronouncement two weeks ago that he considers dancing with Jews one of the "top 10 interesting things" that he did as governor. As was captured on video - there's that ubiquitous camera again - Perry in 2011 lit a menorah with Orthodox rabbis to celebrate Hanukkah, then danced around a table with them at the state Capitol. Not that we needed proof of his affinity for the hora, Perry busted moves again this week in a seemingly impromptu jig with rabbis outside the Capitol.