2112

If we removed it, then where would we be able to poke fun of Dallas?

OK. Just kicking the idea around, but we are interested in building, not any time soon, a new home. I really like Idlewood with its old establish homes and old trees. Do any of you know of any areas similar to Idlewood that are still in the southeast side of the city? Southeast is important to stay close to work (Clear Lake) but still be in the city and within 20 minutes of downtown. I have not seen anything like Idlewood until you get to Midtown and Montrose, which is a bit too far from work for our tastes. Any ideas anyone?

Right. You didnt mention a certain group. Those illegals from Canada sure are taking over....

Thanks. My Christmas trip to the Valley really put things into focus, on what is important. It never fails...all I have to do is see the poverty that has always existed in the valley, and I quickly realize how spoiled I am. It was not that long ago when I lived there, and to think I am worried about a leadership change when I am probably going to keep my job...it seems silly all of a sudden. The thing I like about NASA, at least in the lab I have worked at, is that we are allowed to think outside the box and innovate. It is hard to go to another industry where last quarter's earnings and stock price dictates your likelyhood of staying employed. I would think one would tend to stick to the time-prooven for-sure ways of developing, at least for design engineers, and not think crazy new ways of doing things. Of course, once we come up with some crazy idea, and the money is given to us, then we have to deliver. But we can think a little more long term and in terms of quality more than price. I like that. I will stick around in a hear-beat.

It reopened. You can now go outside onto the banks, and leads you to underneath the commerce street bridge. An access from underneath, in what is now club Rehab, takes you out there. I have also heard the same rumors about market square tunnels. Supposedly, by another old timer, there were tunnels underneath what is now the Market Square Garage. It used to be something else, there, including a bar or lounge of somekind. Anyways, he doesnt know if the tunnel acces was closeed in, or whether it is still there but not accessible. I love this stuff. I would just love to know what is under there.

I dont believe that all of our ugly business fronts are a result of the lack of zoning. Zoning always seems to be blamed first for some reason. It is code enforcement or a lack of good codes to enforce that are the real problem. You can have a free no-zone city and still insist that a certain minimum quality be maintained on the visual side. That is our real problem.

Well, I will do what is best for the family, of course, however, my heart and soul is tied first to Houston, then to NASA, and then my laboratory. Call me old-fashion, but I really believed in Loyalty. I really enjoy developing electronics, and where I am at is like family, so, yes, I will take the offer to stay there. Still waiting for it though...

Someone told me there is an article in the chronicle about the whole thing. I havent checked it yet. NASA has put into the contract that Sverdrup FIRST hire incumbents, i.e. legacy Lockheed employees. And Sverdrup is holding town hall meetings all week discussing the transition. Basically, they will not consider outside applicants until incumbent employees have had 2 days to either accept or decline their offers. It looks like most of us will be picked up. It's built into the contract requirements NASA has written. I have a 3 and 6-year-old daughter and wife, and of course I am concerned. Especially since my wife also works at NASA and her company has been downsizing. That is life it seems. I am sort of in that transitional phase...I am 39 years old, so not quite a cheap young whippersnapper anymore, and companies like cheap. It really makes you cynical. I saw the movie

We wont know who will be obsorbed by the new company until after January 10th. The rumor is that Sverdrup is scared as hell that workers will jump ship and transfer with within Lockheed at other sites throughout the country. Some people are actualy speculating that they never really expected to beat Lockheed, and that now, they are worried about delivering!! Of course, they have SOME experience with NASA at Marshal Space Center. But they aint no Lockheed. If enough people jump ship, this would seriously delay, if not downright halt, current return-to-flight efforts, not to mention the loss of critical skills and human capital. The thing about this contract, at least the way it used to work, is that Lockheed's product was primarily the human capital. In other words, some laboratory in JSC required, say, 3 highly experienced hardware engineers, two entry level, one experienced programmer, and maybe 10 test engineers and one quality engineer. So if the contractor only is able to find people who cannot do the job and really have little experience in that particular area, then the contractor is not providing the product it promissed, and that is directly reflected in that quarters "grade" for the contractor, which equates to a specified profit or lack of thereof. True, the end-result is flight or non-flight hardware and software, or the operations of a lab such as Mission Control. But technically, the actual product that NASA is paying for is the expertise to have on hand and on-line, i.e., the person. In fact, the higher qualified and better performance employee, the higher the contracter got payed per-hour for that person. Like, A Ph.D would equate to higher profit per/person for the company, in addition to the quarterly grade award-fee based on overall contract performance. What is so strange, for the last 5 grading periods, Lockheed had received above 90 percent, out of 100, for grades, mainly for all the work on return-to-flight. Naturally, we were all shocked when we lost in the end.

The Engineering and Sciences contract with NASA, which was held by Lockheed for over 42 years going back to the Mercury and Apollo programs, was lost last week to Jacobs Sverdrup. Lockheed had designed everything from radar used on the lunar surface, to space shuttle and space station avionics, to the new mission control center, and all supporting tasks. Unlike other contracts that are primarily operations and support, Lockheeds contract was the premere pure science, and design engineering team for Houston's Johnson Space Center. It is being felt hard within the troops, where unique talent that can only be transfered by working with the elders, is being broken apart. Contrary to popular believe, manned space travel is difficult, and requires many years to master the harsh and unforegiving nature of space. My termination date will be January 31st, 2005. I have been with Lockheed for 18 years. Merry Christmas Regards, 2112

I guess maybe I just like that building. I would probably have a differnt opinion if it looked like the Mercer. I dont know why I like it, I just do. It has a mediteranean feel to it, almost, with that dome (I assume its going to be gold in color). I like the way the color of the building flows with some of those older buildings in that side of downtown, not to mention MMP. I like the features of it also. But that's just me.

Ok....with one exception: Please, no more Mercers. Thanks.

Wow. Why so critical? Let

Mancuso, I was in the Computer Engineering program. Finaly got the MS this past december. Actually, I spent some time there for my BS also, to the order of 7.5 years total between San Jac and UHCL. (3 hours at a time). It enforced patience in me, which is not an inherent attribute I have. Spent many years in the Bayou bldg. But most of my grad work was off-line at the space center, so the last 2 years was SWEEEEEEET.....only showed up to provide status reports to my thesis commitee! I think I am done with school. I'm tired.

No ____!!! Congrads!!! I'm jealous man! I graduated one-year ago from UHCL, but my commensment was at Holfienz. I would have LOVED for it to be at MMP!!! It would have impressed my in-laws who have kin at UT. Oh well. What was your major? Maybe we passed each other in the halls over the years! I was there from 1998-2003. Those are some nice shots. (...thats why I say "hey man, nice shot")

One of my favorite views of downtown, is when you are going northbound on 59 coming from the 288 area...as you take the "Dallas" (I45N) ramp....that view right there...downtown right in front of you for that 5 seconds as you curve left onto the pierce elevated. For some reason, downtown looks massive from that perspective. It's always better when youre not driving so you can enjoy that view. but then again, I always like the view when going south

I also like the phrase "you failed to...." you can put anything after that, because by that point the reader is allready irritated. Other favorites include "I guess you forgot..", and, "thanks", and "I noticed you didnt.......but that you instead chose to.....". Also offending sometimes is "figures", which is fantastic because you imply so much pompous generalizations with just that one word. Also demeaning is "....I can see why you would think that...", and its cousin: "I can see why someone like YOU would think that". The last one I like to use after using the first version, because usually someone will respond with "what are you trying to say?", and then you say "what I meant was is that I can see why someone like YOU would think that, that's all". Anyways....

Damn. I read the article all wrong. I was using spherical coordinates.

Cheers my friend! Your not still mad at me, are you tw2ntyse7en?

You know, you have offered some enlightening things on other threads. I think you are fundamentally a good person with some irritations that need to be addressed. You have addressed some of them allready on this particular thread. I believe that everyone should have some slack here and there, so I offer you a virtual drink here, and say "let by-gones be by-gones". Cheers.

I just re-read your post. And frankly, it doesn

Dear tw2ntyse7en (if that's really your name), Thanks for asking. The bottom line is that this nation was made up of many cultures, and we have everything from pasta and pizza, to tex-mex, to hot-dogs and music, to even cowboys, which was taken from the Mexican word "vaquero" that we can look at to understand our rich history. Our American heritage is nothing more than the summation and histories of all of our pasts.....all of them. It