2112

oops...that's the corner of Main and Capitol, I believe (not prairie)

"...snatched defeat from the jaws of victory" I love it man! In all of this damn dissapointment, at least you gave me a smile. Pavillions will happen. Just watch.

OMG!! I could 'ntstop laughing after reading this! I have no life...I actually went surfing for old threads...like this one....because...well...I'm a loser. But anyways, thanks for the laugh. [2112 resumes his nightly banging of head against wall]

Well just trying to be optimistic...I think I prefer no residential on this 3-block retail project...IF....IF it means that residential will be forced to be built later.....on adjacent surface lots. Thinkaboutit: Tie up residential on allready developed surface lots.....or get rid of EVEN MORE surface lots if demand dictates building more towers a little bit later. I'm just saying.

Someone shoot me.

"...Oh Wait. Was she a great big fat person? Well....Mrs. Lipman had a son..."

That's looking Northeast from the corner of Main and Prairie, toward the vicinity of the Magnolia Hotel. The empty space in the forground was slated to be the Scamrock - I mean - The Sharmrock.

I dont know if I mentioned it, but you really shouldnt be refering to this project as a "port". The reason I say this is that the nearest body of water is about 250 miles away. And historically at least, ports have water in it. And ships. And ships need water. Most people when they think of ports, they think of ships and water. So it's not a port. Because there is no water. But yes, in the end, this is all good for both Houston and Dallas, and I'm firmly behind it.

"Defect"? Hehehehe. I love the whole Lockheed vs Boeing culture that has pretty much been around since the Rockwell days (Rockwell was the prime shuttle orbiter builder...later purchased by Boeing). Ive always been a Lockheed person, and we never had a prime manned spacecraft contract...only engineering support. So this is quite a different feel for many of us...I guess all you Boeing types are veterans at all this. Even though that rivalry is there...to me its all the same game...if all of us dont prove to the American public that we can get the job done...then all of us will loose, Boeing and Lockheed and all the others too. I'm optimistic even after 20 years of being at JSC with all the political crap and all that comes with it...I'm still one-hundred percent behind it still. As far as the 2 buildings...those are the old "Lockheed plaza one" and "plaza two" buildings....which later became LM2 and LM3. We are getting one of them back but only after the landlord renovates it....the place has been the same since 1986 (at least) and needs serious re-work. The second building is sparcely ocupied by the SAIC company (safety and quality assurance)...but I hear if the landlord wanted to - they can all be put on one floor....and Lockheed could get the remaing floors....but thats just a rumor. In the mean time...we all are being crammed 3 to 5 people in one room!...with those white home depot fold up tables...and nothing else!!! I have been scrounging around for post-it notes and a trashcan, and just today I found a nice dusty 1970's vintage file organizer complete with simulated wood formica. The telephones are ancient, they work, but they dont have speakers. This sucks because we are in contact with Denver several times a week...and like 2-to-3 hour teleconferences holding a phone up to your ear is a slight pain. Plus there is no mute button. I'm sure it sounds like a heavy breathing fest at the other end. At least we have adequate computers. Looking around and watching us, it's kinda funny considering the task at hand. When I hired on 2 weeks ago...there were only 15 of us, we were the first batch of hires since the contract win announcement, no joke. And if you include the proposal people that were allready there....I think we made up no more than 35 or so. Twelve more got hired this week....and there is suppose to be a continuing ramp up. Of course there are the others in Denver..and they are ramping up also. It's kinda weird watching all this unfold around me...I kinda feel small when you think of the big picture. But maybe I'm not the only one that feels this way, maybe they just are not showing it. I always believed that confidence should be tempered with a little fear. I know this for sure, if at least part of you is not scared at the task that has been placed in front of us...then you probably dont belong there. edit: Just for the record...all of this is just my opinion and my opinion only. Jeez...It's too bad I felt the need to add this little edit...what has this world come to?

Well....I'm on my second week on CEV/Orion...and it has been like drinking out of a fire hose. For a bit there, I started having second thoughts...mainly because I am now a "systems" level engineer...and I have spent the last 19 years or so as a circuit and firmware designer..down at the gorry detail...on the same contract for that long. Part of me misses all that, but I guess I have to look at it like its a new phase for me...the next 20 years! All in all....so far it's envigorating (spelling?)...so many things that are changing almost hourly. It's all good. FYI: The people breakdown more or less on the Lockheed side (not including subcontractors) is about 800 are in Denver, and about 700 here in Houston. There are others in various states...close to the other space centers....but a big chunk is Denver and Houston. That's an expected number once all staffing peaks and the project is in full throttle. The goal is a first manned launch of Orion to the Space Station in about 2014, and the return of humans to the moon at around 2020. The idea is that - this time - there will be permanent human presence on the moon with the buildup of lunar outposts and such. I dont plan to retire until after 65...so I "should" be around to be a part of that and witness it!!! Uhhg!!! Boeing in the House! j/k Seriously, I hope there are not any people affected by Boeing not winning the contract. I heard rumors that USA (United Space Alliance) will accomadate any Boeing people left over from the proposal phase. Of course, I'm sure there are Boeing people who would relocate to Seattle or California in a heart beat too.

FYI: Those renderings are from the original proposal...NASA re-requested for an apollo style capsule, as the updated plan was for the capability for a water splash down landing or a land based landing via parachute, and to do away with the necessity of a runway style landing. The new renderings look more like an updated apollo module.

What he said.

...Just an update to this old thread....the last post was over a year and a half ago....anyways.... I'm going back to Lockheed!!!!! This thursday is my last day with Jacobs Sverdrup....I start Monday the 25th on the Orion CEV project.. I had been in contact for with Locheed for about 2 months....with contingent offer in hand....and was just waiting to see who would win the big contract. There are a bunch of us jumping ship from Jacobs...to go back home to Lockheed.....I guess in retrospect...it all worked out! Hey, just reading back on this thread...it was nice to have all you HAIF friends to offer a kind word when all the crap happened a year and a half ago.....thanks again.....

I like the intermodal terminal idea. It seems logical to have long haul transit such as the planned commuter trains, Amtrak, and the others, combined with local busses and local light rail. It ties many transit options together in one, hopefully impressive site. The bus termianal that I think is a good model is NYC's Port Authorityh Bus Terminal (PABT). That place is pretty impressive, and they cleaneup up the vagrant situation years ago by doing little things, like not having bences. Yea, it was kinda pain waiting around in there with no place to sit. But this shouldnt be a hang out place anyways. There were also lots of shops and restaurants in there. Anyways, the place was pretty iimpressive. And then, add the commuter station functions like Penn and Grand Central, and combine the whole thing together. Makes sense to me.

I vote that all girls wear thongs as a sorta "theme" for the HAIF meet. You dont have to show them to me, just as long as I know that they are there: it's all about leaving some for the imagination. oh, did I say that out loud?

Just came back from SA. As always, thier downtown and riverwalk are things that make me a little jealous. SA has always been on our favorite of cities list. Having said that, you cant help but notice that much of the rest of the city seems pretty poor. I know, you can find that in Houston too. But talking to some natives there, it became clear that the salaries there were on average below Houston's. We were dicussing engineer salaries, and maybe that is skewed in that SA doesnt have near the engineering presence that Houston has. But that in itself sort of suggests that SA is lacking in the higher salary department than Houston as a general rule. I'm sure someone here will look up some data to either back that up or not. So the gut feel at least for me is that SA would need to capture some of that higher salary industry before the citiy could realistically compete with Dallas. And I am not sure that is going to happen in our life time. I would think that with Austin being so close, and with it allready having so much mementum in the high-tech industry, that would starve any attempts by San Antonio to lure additional high-tech into the SA area. I'm talking R&D, research...not production plants. What are the odds of San Anotonio winning a competition with Austin for some new high-tech industry?

Your in Houston? (Thought you were in Dallas.)

There's a cute little taco truck on Harrisburg just east of Lockwood, right next to the "El Pozo" car wash and "washateria" (I always liked that word). They were able to get thier licence re-issued again, and the food is quite good. And it is also very convenient because there is a Metro bus stop right next door, with direct connections to many of the Canal and Navigation Blvd. destinations. Granted, you sometimes have to be careful with these types of places I'm sure. But this one "seems" to be ok. Interested? Anyone?

What is the deal with Mercury Room? We went this past weekend...and boy did it SUCK. There was hardly no one downstairs...on a Saturday night ...at 1:00am. Not too long ago, the place used to have a lot of people down there. The band was good, but at most there were 12 down there, including the 4 of us!!

The gondolas and waterways sound pretty cool. As long as the thing has a somewhat diverse theme...it might very well be cool. I still dont like the idea of a garage wrapping itself around it. Whey cant it be somewat removed and independent, instead of attached to it? The dome is situated in proximity to brays bayou. Thus, it can be touted as a waterfront resort during tropical storms and floods.

Word. Dig. And I most definitely see your take on the issue, because frankly, you

Point taken, I can see your angle. However, you directly pointed to the Latino community as being the people who prefer the urban lifestyle (and if they dont like it they can leave). There is something implied there because, obviously, Latinos are not the only group that appreciates an urban lifestyle. Not by far. Yet they were the only ones singled out by your comment. This leads me to believe that there is a different force behind the comment that has less to do with the urban lifestyle.

With all due respect, the Latino community includes those that have been here for 10's of generations, dating back to Spanish land grants in fact. Thus, its culture is just as integral as any other immigrant group. You could even say there is a relatively new hybrid called "TexMex" or "Tejano", which blends the deep Spanish - and later Mexican - history of this area with the other Texas and American institutions that came later. In short, being American or Texan is nothing more than the summations of many different histories and cultures. The very word