wernicke

It's a little more than you wanted to spend, but the Canon 17-40 F 4.0 L lens is tops... I pretty much leave it on my Canon DSLR at all times. Wide angle is great for architecture. Very sharp.

The first wide angle lens I purchased was a Sigma 15-30... substantially inferior image quality, especially with the aperture wide open.

The recruiters who offer people with a bachelor's degree a $20K+ signing bonus and a $100K+ job right out of school will still mostly go to Rice or St. Thomas. Alums of those private schools belong to an exclusive club and it is all about access.

St. Thomas an exclusive club? Say what?

I dunno... I think a mountain created out of trash would be a constant reminder for all the Shadow Creek residents that they are living next door to a... well... a mountain of trash, the largest mountain of trash in the US in fact.

Definitely wouldn't make me want to start a family there.

Her package seems reasonable to me in comparison w her peers... and she seems to be doing a good job.

I'm now thinking they must have found a tenant for that slot and are adapting the glass/entry.

Here is the layout of the ground floor.

The work appears to be only on the 7700 sqft slot... so maybe a restaurant? Or maybe that glass/steel was defective.

Just got back from a week trip in Paris, was there for a wedding and touring. Did not miss my car at all and got plenty of exercise! Their integrated system is the best I've used (above NY, Rome, London), which includes trains (commutter, subway and elevated), trams (like our light rail) and buses. Their trams run (mostly) along their loop and the one I rode on the south had nice grass tracks.

I have to disagree... London's transit system is a modern marvel, way more impressive that Paris.

too bad they're cheaply built.

Ya... pretty lame development IMO. Not sure if "anything IS better than nothing" in this case. Woulda be nice to see a project similar to the Venue development in the Museum District, built in this spot.

So workers have built a wooden framework in the northern section of the ground floor... it doesn't look like a store buildout... it is set back a few feet from the windows and is only about 7 ft high... I'm think they will use it for advertising or something.

Walked around the park this weekend... the Tiffany Bridge is pretty lame. Will have to wait and see how the restaurant turns out before I judge the whole "Lake Plaza" renovation.

Twelve Anti-Transit Myths: A Conservative Critique

Opening paragraph:

Today, any town or city that proposes to build a Light Rail line becomes a magnet for

a new variety of wand'ring minstrel--the anti-transit troubadours. Travelling widely and

always singing the same songs, they tend to appear just before referenda on new rail

transit proposals.

Thought some of you might find the study interesting. Found it linked here on the Dallas Morning News.

I think the Hermann building + lights is really cool, personally... and not "gay" in any way.

There's a rumor that St. Luke's might be interested in the Baylor hospital, but there are all sorts of issues that may make it impossible. There's no way the VA would expand, especially into a facility that size.

Nevermind...

Is the pointy glass on the wortham center? What does that achieve?

Those are "kinetic blades".

I think construction costs have decreased since last summer.

I am curious about how adaptable this light rail system would be in the future... would it be possible, as the city becomes more dense, to transition segments of light rail underground?

Well, a year later and they still haven't leased a single spot on the ground floor of the 24 Hour Fitness building (labeled with signage as "The Mix", even though it only has one tenant) ... so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say nothing will happen on the lot across the street for a very long time.

On a positive note, all of the slots in the Maple Leaf strip center are finally leased, and, just beyond that, Saint Danes is quite popular.

It's been up for a while... there had been a Gensler sign (I think) hanging on the northern side a while back (I could see if from the train headed northbound).

Yeah, Atlanta has so much speculative building. Worse than Dallas.

Ya... seems similar to Dallas (did you see Perot's group sold the Victory development to a German company?)... at least ATL got some cool looking buildings, albeit mostly empty. I wouldn't want to be sitting on any of those condos, paying ridiculous HOA fees, but I think that's the case in a lot of places.

I thought they had already agreed to subsidize this development.

Dallas is voting on a ban of public financing for a convention hotel next week... the anti-government intervention folks are rabid up there.

Hopefully the stadium looks better than the images that have been released so far...

So, Tory, are you saying the GP SegE is viable on its own... as compared to the Hempstead Toll? Because that is hard to believe.

I'm with Robin Holzer on this issue.

My school (UT-H) sent out an email attributing the uptick in traffic last week to Spring Break... it looked like a mess though, as a rolled by in the train...

I don't see any timelines...? Are they going to have to raise all the money before they get started (cuz it's going to be tough in this climate)?

I bet the small towns love this project. Otherwise I can't really think of a reason to do it.

Strengthen intra-state commerce w alternative to air travel... capitalism.