Frank's previous post got me reminiscing about the world 40 years ago.?ÿ It's a different place now than it was, indeed.
Iran sent American hostages home after 444 days.?ÿ President Ronald Reagan took office, I think.?ÿ He survived being shot a few months later by John Hinkley.?ÿ Gas was about a buck and a quarter a gallon.?ÿ That was also the first year both my sons were in elementary school and riding the bus.?ÿ This simplified my morning ritual immensely.?ÿ?ÿ
That was the year I got into a bad argument with my kid's mother for spending money out of the savings account to buy an HP-41C.?ÿ The computer-side of the surveying world was just starting to drop its pin feathers.?ÿ What a beautiful bird she has become.
That year I also traded-in a 1976 Ford Pinto for one of Lee Iaccoca's K-cars.?ÿ I remember thinking I had made it to the top of the American dream with a brand new car.?ÿ Say what you will, it was a beautiful little car.?ÿ It was also the last car I ever owned that 'looked' like a car under the hood.?ÿ It had a distributor with plug wires and a cut little 1 barrel thingy called a carburetor.?ÿ Some of you may have to Google that term.?ÿ That was the car that took my family and me on some great American vacations to places like the Rockies, the Grand Canyon and Silver Dollar City.?ÿ The faded color snapshots still grace the pages of my family photo album.?ÿ Sweet memories.
The company Christmas party at the end of '80 was attended by sixty something folks.?ÿ Bonuses were fat and it didn't look like anything could stop us.?ÿ I was 80% vested in an ESOP that was worth around $20K. The big plan was to cash in on a down payment for that new house for my family and myself.?ÿ That didn't happen.?ÿ When the ESOP was dissolved I made out with a few hundred bucks.
The next Christmas party (1981) was attended by six people.?ÿ It was dinner at the engineer's house. Three of those six had the same last name.?ÿ It sadly wasn't my last name.?ÿ It turned into a bummer couple of years for surveying around here.?ÿ I saw good folks move on to different genres because of the economy; some never returned.
The world definitely changed during 1981, never to be the same again.?ÿ I did keep my 41C.?ÿ It got me where I am today. 😉
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In late '81 I got laid off from a union outfit due to lack of work.?ÿ With no survey companies in the area hiring, after a couple of weeks I took job working for an acquaintance building commercial greenhouses at about 1/8 of the pay.?ÿ I did that for a couple of months, then got picked up by a small engineering firm at about 1/2 the union rate.?ÿ I spent the next couple of years doing USFS boundaries in the mountains of northern California.?ÿ I think it wasn't until around 1985 that I began making a decent living again.
Thanks...I don't feel as old now.?ÿ Graduated high school & started college in 1981
1981 was very different from today.?ÿ Was focused on engineering with minor activity in surveying.?ÿ Married to my first wife and had two young daughters, with one being in school.?ÿ Living in a rental house.?ÿ Had not yet purchased my first piece of real estate.?ÿ Didn't even own a pickup truck at the time.?ÿ Money went out as fast as it came in.?ÿ Was not serving on any kind of volunteer board.?ÿ THE telephone was attached to the kitchen wall with a very long cord.?ÿ We were still on a party line.?ÿ No computer of any kind in the house.?ÿ My daily world was very small.
In March of 1981 I completed the second of my two college careers.?ÿ I had quit work and went back to school when I hurt my back.?ÿ I took a job as an "office engineer" with a large construction company making nearly twice what I had ever made surveying.?ÿ We moved to Chattanooga and my wife got pregnant with our first.?ÿ I was miserable for the next three years until I was laid off and got back to surveying.?ÿ A lot of water over the dam since then.?ÿ Some good days and some bad days but it has been a good life.
Andy
40 years ago this month...hmmm...I was 18 and five months into my (yet unforeseen) surveying career.?ÿ Wife was due with our first child in March and like Paden, I had spent every dime we had (some we didn't have) to buy my first HP-41C (secondhand - still have it).?ÿ?ÿ
Employed at a rather large firm in the Denver area, and having the benefit of learning from some great party chiefs, I was assigned to a crew going to Texas to survey locations of proposed right-of-ways (for what purpose I had no idea) for a few weeks.?ÿ First route was near Granbury and had a lot of fun out in the middle of nowhere running the proposed alignment and topo.?ÿ This is where I learned to raise 1 finger at juuuussst the absolute last second to wave at the rancher/farmer driving by in the opposite direction.?ÿ (there was a lot of anticipation from the three of us waiting for the oncoming driver to raise his finger...always chevy pickups...before we barely had enough time to wave back - it was like those waves they do in sports stadiums.?ÿ We were late several times).
Second route was outside of Denton and the first day was fine.?ÿ Went downhill from there.?ÿ Then the VP from the rather large company decided to fly out and "observe" the progress.?ÿ Never met him before, still remember his name, but he was the LS for the project.?ÿ He arrived at the site about early afternoon the second day in a rental car, beating the hell out of it driving out to where we were.?ÿ He announced that night that he was returning the car and we'd all drive out in the "regular cab" pickup together the rest of the time we were there.?ÿ Remember, January in north Texas.?ÿ Next morning, we were all loaded up waiting on him to come out of his room.?ÿ He finally did saying "Ric, get in the back"?ÿ PC looked at him "Its a 40 mile drive and its 30 degrees out?"?ÿ VP didn't care.?ÿ So, I rode in the back of the truck.?ÿ Like I said, downhill from here...
This route went through a much more wooded area and we used chain saws all day long.?ÿ Since we were moving away from the truck, I volunteered to transport the saws back and forth for sharpening, adjustments, etc. so we could keep on schedule.?ÿ Plus I just wanted to stay away from the VP.?ÿ Problem was, it wasn't long before his office rearend had enough and he announced he was going back to truck to work.?ÿ Rest of us were very happy about that. But then, he started yelling at me when he saw me coming in or leaving with another saw "Hurry up, you're wasting time RUN!"?ÿ I eventually told him that I was not running half a mile through the woods with a chain saw in my hand.?ÿ Things didn't go well from that point.?ÿ After a second day of this, when we arrived back to the motel, I told the crew that I was leaving and flying home that night, $@$^%# that VP.?ÿ He threatened to fire me and I told him he couldn't because he was the supervising land surveyor for the company.?ÿ He then offered to drive me to the airport...Dallas FW airport...that was a long drive from Denton...in total silence.
Went to work the next day and reported to the supervising land surveyor.?ÿ He told me to take a couple of days until he calmed everyone down.?ÿ Couldn't afford that, so I arranged for another job at a small firm.?ÿ Within a week I was called back and the original crew from the Texas trip had arrived back and had backed up my reasons for leaving.
Could only get better from here, right??ÿ Think again.?ÿ Within a couple of weeks, it was announced that a new project was starting up in Beulah (sp), ND in Feburary and they needed four crews to go out for a minimum of six weeks.?ÿ Everyone is like, Feb in ND!?ÿ One morning just as I finished loading the truck, some HR guy came walking through telling a few of us (including me) that he needed to talk with us before we left for the field.?ÿ PC told me to go ahead, he had a few things he could do in the meantime.?ÿ Walked into the office, I was one of the ones "asked" to go to ND.?ÿ I reminded them that my wife was due to give birth in a few weeks and now is not the best time for me to leave her.?ÿ I offered that I was willing to go once the birth happened and all were safe.?ÿ Since this was a long project, seemed reasonable to me.?ÿ After what seemed like 30 minutes in silence, they told me I wasn't much good for the company if I couldn't go on this project.?ÿ I said "Okay, I quit then.?ÿ Thank you" and walked out.
Long story short, I had a new job within hours making 50% more working directly for one of the company's construction clients.?ÿ My PC quit too and we ran surveying (he became licensed) for that company for many of the large commercial building sites in Denver/Aurora for the next 2 years.?ÿ Really helped me survive the downturn in the economy.
40 years,ago this month I was packing for the move to Korea. If I had it to do over again I would have packed better socks and gloves...
40 years ago today I was a senior in high school in a small town in northwest Ohio. I could never have envisioned the things to come.
Since at my age I can??t remember where I set my beer down 5 minutes ago all I have to add is it was a fun ride that I wouldn??t trade for anything. ?????ÿ
1981 was the year that I turned 5.?ÿ
1981 was the year I got tired of working. I had just finished an interesting project and wasn't excited about the current one.?ÿ I spent some time looking at a college catalog and went back in the fall to finish my MSEE.?ÿ I came back to similar work but it enabled me to get into new developments as they happened and I think it was an excellent move.
Edit: I bought an HP15C that fall to use in school and still use it frequently.
Born in 82. First heard about the 81 economy bust in 2002, when my 2nd RPLS boss told me about how business was great and then all off sudden there were layoffs, and the people left were parking recently purchased new trucks in the bosses barn because there was no one to drive them.?ÿ
Scared me when i first heard it and gives me the pucker factor at least once a week since I started my own business in 2016 and then i remind myself I??m not in control but the big man upstairs is. So we will keep doing what we do best.
I was 10.
Mowing lawns and sacking away money in a savings account with double digit interest was my focus, and by my early algebra in 5th grade i was on my way to fat city.
I was clueless that my parents were paying double digit interest, and remember pretty much everything and try to stop that....thanks for rebooting my overactive memory....
1981 was the year that I turned 5.?ÿ
Glad I'm not the only one...I turned 6.
Those interest rates were insane.?ÿ Nice if you were the one with idle money.?ÿ Horrible if you needed to borrow money.?ÿ The most I ever paid through a lender was 18.5 percent on a cattle loan for six months.?ÿ Knew a woman who wanted a new vacuum for her house and borrowed money at a rate above 20 percent to get it.?ÿ I believe my first real estate purchase in 1983 was at 14 percent.?ÿ When the numbers finally fell below 10 percent I thought I was in Heaven.
