In another thread, responding to a post by GigHarborSurveyor, Mark R wrote:
>I thought so. Thanks for giving me my first Surveying Job back in 94. Hope you guys are finding some work.
So I was wondering, how many other Beer Leggers / Surveyor Connecters worked with or for other posters in the past?
In February of 1988 I had just walked out of my job as a media analyst with a PAC in DC (well, I had walked out a few months earlier, but I was running out of beer money and wearing out my welcome on people's couches) and was looking through the help wanted ads in the Washington Post when I came across an ad for "Entry Level Surveyors".
All I knew of surveying was (having been an English Major) that Henry David Thoreau had been a surveyor and that was enough for me, so I sent my resume to Greenhorne and O'Mara in Rockville Maryland. After the "formal" part of the interview, the survey director gave me about a 20 minute tour of the office, showing me what everyone did, how all the work was interconnected, and what different areas were available for advancement. I thought that was pretty impressive for him to take the time to do that and accepted the job offer ($5.00/ hour if I recall correctly). The surveyor that hired me left the firm and moved back West a few months later. About six years ago, reading a post on rpls.com, I put two and two together and realized that Luke, CO PLS was they surveyor who gave me my first job in the profession.
Obviously I did lol. I went to a very poor Technical College. They had a planner teaching a Surveying Course and I came out with no idea what Surveying really was. Other than learning some math and how to turn a couple angles I was lost. They gave me a chance as a chainman, with some drafting and research on the side. I'll never forget after the first week being told " forget everything that moron taught you except the math". They did a great job educating me on construction, topo, and boundary. In 96 I became a Party Chief and have done well since.
I later went back to a very good School (just a few years back) to help with licensing and better office skills. Renton Tech College has an outstanding Survey Program in Washington State. I just wished the taught Ks State Law lol.
I worked with Jim Luke, or Luke, CO for a little while at David Evans & Associates, Inc. (DEA for the Oregonians on here) in Southern California in 2006-2007.
I also worked at the same company as Jered McGrath for a while (Psomas), but he was in the LA office and I was in Orange County, but I did spend some time working in his office if the workload was light in OC.
At my first surveying job (intern for City of Los Angeles Department of Water & Power) in the summer of 1995, the other intern was Bryan Taylor. I was a Cal Poly Pomona student with about 6 quarters of school to go. Bryan was a Fresno State student I think with 2 semesters remaining.
I can't think of any others off the top of my head...
I worked under Justin Mapitowski, whiich was a pain because he kept kicking me in the head....
I worked with Daryl Moistner and his wife, Mary (before they were married... and a bit before they were dating come to think of it) in AK back in the mid 80s.
I worked for Liz Gaines. She still posts here once in a while and I just saw her at our FSMS chapter meeting last week. Now if you ask how many I've drank with, that would be a much longer list.
i've worked for Northern Surveyor back in 91 and with eapls2708 above in the mid eighties.
Jerry Knight in Arizona the early eighties.
Here we are on the C-12 crew in Cantwell in 1986. Responsible for surveying the Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fairbanks over 5 years ...
Now that looks like a great reality show cast!!
> Now that looks like a great reality show cast!!
Would have been a great show.... we are all spread to the wind now..
Hey Andy, you ran some prints for me once in awhile, before you got into this surveying gig!
I may be the only guy here who's had the distinction of working, for a few weeks in the mid-80s, with Nearly Normal. I don't recall if he's ever checked in here, but he was a notable presence on the old RPLS board.
Although I've never worked with Dave Karoly -- and have only met him once -- I have worked with his brother Michael, a CE who's been with public and private outfits in the area for many years.
> I have worked with his brother Michael, a CE who's been with public and private outfits in the area for many years.
No wonder he complains about Engineers so much:-D
My Dad (RCE10508) and my Uncle (RCE10580) too.
Some Engineers are cool. A young PE in our office came to me one morning about staking some frontage. His boss (a PE) just wanted him to wing it but he is a smart and practical young family man; no time for nonsense.
He asked me for help and all the bosses were out for one reason or another so I said, "OK, lets go do it and ask for forgiveness later."
Andy - Next time I am in Florida, I will buy you a few. Isn't Sanibel close to Tampa? My grandparents stay in Zephyr Hills or Zephyr Springs every winter. It is north east of Tampa
Yes, we met at the aerial gravitometer (sp?) presentation at McClellan Airport.
Michael is 2 of 5 and I am 5 of 5.
or an 80s sitcom about an Alaska bar and the regular crowd.
> Yes, we met at the aerial gravitometer (sp?) presentation at McClellan Airport.
The GRAV-D project. I think gravimeter is the preferred term, but it's all wizardry to me anyway. I figured you'd be there because of the airplanes.
The airplane was beautiful, for sure.
If I understood correctly it has a beam of light that responds to variations in local gravity. It measures the beam moving up and down. But it takes a whole lot of gyros and other stuff plus computing power to take out the inertia of the airplane.
> Hey Andy, you ran some prints for me once in awhile, before you got into this surveying gig
I wonder if that's unique,Andy???
We met in the real world before I ever knew surveying existed outside of the typical " who are those guys with the cameras?"
Well, it's a few hours south of Tampa. Some say Sanibel is worth a drive by, though.... Either way, I appreciate the sentiment.