Here we go, if it is written like s*** I will blame it on the beer!
Why do you survey?
I am a 5th generation Land Surveyor. As a child I swore that I would never become a surveyor; Wall Street here I come.
Until I found myself in the middle of a 2,200 acre cow pasture with the sun trying to burn through the fog and one of my closest friends was sitting next to me.
Five years later I was sitting next to an 18 year old kid and we were pulling onto 3,400 acres of hell. We found original corners, dealt with Spanish land grants and cut more line through nastiest swamps this swamp surveyor has ever seen. One year later we had completed a topo of the site. I swear on everything holy we cut every inch of every line at 50’ intervals. It was one of the best years of my life! That kid became my brother-in-law and my best friend. I have been married to his sister for ten years.
The local economy tanked and I left my wife, kids and closest friends and went to Alaska. The field guys didn’t like the fact they had a new boss and gave me a lot of grief. Actually on the first day I went in the field they left me at the coffee shop and went to the site without me. I walked back to the office and did some cad work and reviewed some existing contracts. The next morning I jumped up on a desk and chewed some mother f******’s a**es out! After my tirade I went to the marina and set sail (it was a motor boat but setting sail sounds better 😀 ) with a few of the victims of my tirade. We surveyed the most beautiful island; the best way I can describe this small island is to say you can have heaven and I’ll take this unnamed island! If the island wasn’t so awesome I might have been worried about them leaving me on this deserted island. A week later we left heaven and returned home. When we arrived back in port I had three new great friends. The next week I got a fair shake with the other guys. When I left Alaska I trusted every one of them with my life and considered Alaska to be a second home.
A few years later I’m back at home with my own company and I am neck deep in some nasty swamp! I can’t help but smile and thank God that I have the privilege to be neck deep in snake and alligator infested swamp!
That is why I survey!
I think surveying is like a wife, they drive you crazy but at the end of the day there is nothing you love more!
:good:
I think surveying is like a wife, they drive you crazy but at the end of the day there is nothing you love more!
Oh you're so right on !
Chr.
:good:
Surveying provided me the opportunity to use my knowledge and skills in a location where I wanted to raise my children. It did not start out as a compulsion or a love....merely a means to an end. The children are grown and gone. I'm still surveying because, as my own boss, I'm now pretty much unemployable in the standard world of 40 hour weeks and structured management layers.
Second Generation here.
Been doing it for 45 years and plan on another 15+.
B-)