there are various aspects of this profession that many of us enjoy in common. there are some, though, that i'm not sure we all get to enjoy to the same extent- or that are more infrequent, fleeting, or perhaps just not as stimulating to our varying sensibilities. i was reminded of one such thing this morning. just got back from popping a manhole downtown, in the back of an asphalt parking lot, and re-measuring the inverts as the engineer didn't believe my initial report because the inverts didn't match the plans. said plans being 60+ years old. the best part is said engineer met me on site, along with his helper, to see it with his own eyes. the whole exercise took about 5 minutes, of which one of us did the actual work and the other two simply observed. when i pulled up i was greeted by two people dressed like this:
i've met engineers on site countless times over the decades, and it never fails to amuse me what the standard perception of field work is, or how clearly excited some of them seem to be to spend 10 minutes in the field. i wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out that there was a shopping trip to REI involved for today's meeting.
Gotta be prepared in case you fall in...
OF course, you touched on the reason that baseball is America's pastime; seven guys standing around watching two work.
The true field engineer is a dying breed. I know a few, but they are few and far between.?ÿ
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Did they both have Starbucks canteens? ?????ÿ
It's amazing how little time most Americans spend outside off a sidewalk. Many otherwise fit people look like they don't know how to walk when you get them out into the field.?ÿ
I wear the same things for hiking and field work, although it has been over a year since I have done any field work.?ÿ
I also see them with ??rookie? looking steel toe boots at times, it makes me smile. All in all, it??s always nice to show the office folk what we see out on the field.
I have a lot of respect for drainage engineers who spend a half day touring projects (theirs and others) when the first big rainstorm happens post completion.?ÿ They take photographs and make notes on the asbuilt plans.?ÿ Very professional.
Or the ones that turn up in a brand new brown Carhartt, so stiff they can barely put their arms down.
They think they are getting away with something, like they do this all of the time.?ÿ I just wanna rub some mud on a arm to watch them freak out!
Once upon a time I had an engineering job at a large manufacturing plant. Day one of employment I was required to purchase a pair of steel-toed shoes. Anyone visiting an active production building had to be wearing such shoes. Ninety percent of my work outside of the office was to visit closed production buildings that had been inactive for periods between 15 and 30+ years. Regular shoes were fine for those facilities. An excursion into an active production building was rare but did happen. After more than seven years those shoes still looked almost new as they spent their time under my desk.
Ah, yes. I remember such days. It was fun to watch how the drainage patterns could change over time. Initially, for example, the flow from a specific area might move north, then stagnate until a certain event happened, then the flow might start heading southward. That is hard to explain to the average worker who hasn't been out there to witness the real world.
I do have some expensive clothing, white's boots (worth every penny) and some Kuhl pants (also worth every penny), mostly it's wrangler jeans or Carhartt pants, and an assortment of tops and frog toggs when it rains. Everything gets muddy, dirty, sweaty, painted, cow/horse/deer c#!p on it so why spend too much for field wear.?ÿ
Had to wade a swampy canal during high water this summer so it was an old pair of sneakers that got thrown out after, I keep around some of those just for that reason.?ÿ
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I'm just the opposite, whenever I'm on a flat surface I have to walk like a duck to keep my balance . ????
Cotton kills!
didn't anyone ever tell you that?
I do wear carhartt pants or jeans in the summer, but other than that, I don??t touch cotton.?ÿ
Mostly wool, poly-pro, fleece, or synthetic fill products.?ÿ
Why would anyone want to work outside and not be warm and comfortable.?ÿ
Ever meet an attorney on the job site? I have and it's not pretty.?ÿ
I once got involved in a case where a bicycle rider was suing a city because they had hit a pothole and damaged something.?ÿ I agreed to map the street, the striping, and uneven pavement. I wouldn't use the term "pothole" unless they defined it. They called a meeting and my partner wouldn't even get out of the rig because he didn't want to be seen with the gaggle of suits attending. I wish he had taken photos.?ÿ?ÿ
I am learning surveying, so not a surveyor, and my job is a desk job. I can go to work in heels (and sometimes do). I one time was on a volunteer crew doing field work and got assigned the job of weed wacking. It was a warm day, so I had light pants and a t-shirt on. When those weeds or whatever you accidently cut hit you, it HURT! I had taken a jacket with me that I wore for some protection. I came home and told my husband, now I know why they sell all those carhartts in the front section of the hardware store. I thought it was just for looks.
Cotton is king, add the right amount of starch and water will roll off like it was glass and wind won't penetrate.
elicited audible chuckle. thx.
