Post-RPLS Test unwind

Ha! well I would be surprised if you didn't pass. So congrats on your likely passing of the minimal competency exam.

BrandonA, post: 425135, member: 11837 wrote: Friday afternoon I finished taking the RPLS test in Austin. I tell my wife, lets go over to campus (University of Texas, my alma mater) and visit this bar me and my buddies used to go to after a long test. Surely, this will give me a chance to take my mind off of surveying for a little while and just unwind. Well, I finish a drink there and decide to go walk the drag and check out a couple of places... when I look down and see the evidence of some inconsiderate surveyor that just had to bring me back to reality and remind me of surveying. Anyway, whoever set this owes me 11 dollars since I had to go back and get another drink.

Wait for it....

Didn't that firm get bought out by ABC Premium Surveys Unlimited? 😉

if you only saw one then you'd clearly already had enough to drink.

and if you weren't at the crown you were in the wrong place to begin with. (ain't no 11 dollar drinks there.)

(actually, though, i know EXACTLY where that nail is, if you're talking about the drag.)

11 dollars for a drink you must have done really well on the test, and already spending that RPLS money.

Scott Ellis, post: 425147, member: 7154 wrote: 11 dollars for a drink you must have done really well on the test, and already spending that RPLS money.

i think he's lying and actually meant "3 drinks." because i can't think of anywhere within a stone's throw of campus that has 11 dollar drinks- at least, anywhere that a student would go.

Didn't you trip over it and injure yourself? I believe the culpable party's contact info is stamped on there....

Nice dimple

Robert Hill, post: 425163, member: 378 wrote: Nice dimple

Robert, You and I both know that dimple was already on the nail head when Kent set it...but getting him to admit to it would be another long post entirely. 😉

Hmm, wonder if he set that on a fixed fee? Or if a fence is nearby?

flyin solo, post: 425149, member: 8089 wrote: i think he's lying and actually meant "3 drinks." because i can't think of anywhere within a stone's throw of campus that has 11 dollar drinks- at least, anywhere that a student would go.

Cain and Abels. They have a "Texas Tea" and it is 10 dollars, but I went top shelf for 11 dollars since I'm not a student any more and can afford the nicer things in life lol! It is basically like 5 drinks in one though, so well worth the 11 dollars.

BrandonA, post: 425135, member: 11837 wrote:

If that's in the vicinity of UT, you most likely found Spike and Washer No. 39 that I set in 1996 on the South side of 24th Street about half a block West of Guadalupe.

39 = Spike/[email protected].&.Alley

Lat. 30-17-15.594297(N)
Long.97-44-31.821925(W)
EllHgt = 501.821 ft.
NAD83 (CORS96) Epoch 2002.0

It's part of a network of control points that I surveyed along Guadalupe and various parallel and intersecting streets from which I made ties to quite a number of old survey markers that have since been destroyed. It's looking pretty good after 21 years, if I say so myself.

@30.2877059,-97.7421375,3a,18y,223.76h,56.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shMivOH-pEGriq8pZLMDldw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656"> https://www.google.com/maps/ @30.2877059,-97.7421375,3a,18y,223.76h,56.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shMivOH-pEGriq8pZLMDldw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Certainly holding up better than the mural that overlooks it- the one that, for so long, was militantly defended against the constant graffiti onslaughts.

In fact, it's pretty much at the center of that network which is shown in the pdf below. It remains alive as a Star*Net project that I add measurements to from time to time although I wouldn't be in any hurry to take a job in the UT area these days unless it was over some holiday break. The main value of the network is just to perpetuate the positions of some old evidence of boundaries.

paden cash, post: 425167, member: 20 wrote: Robert, You and I both know that dimple was already on the nail head when Kent set it...but getting him to admit to it would be another long post entirely.

Uh, that's actually a 3/8" x 8" plain steel spike that is holding the stamped aluminum washer in place. The spike was driven into a 3/8 in. dia. hole drilled into the concrete gutter.

When you can actually buy a centerpunch and a hammer, it's easy enough to punch the head after driving the nail. It's also better practice since you get a crisper center mark than had you done it backwards, i.e. punching the spike and then driving it. I'm pretty sure you could order a center punch from somewhere else if none of the hardware stores in Oklahoma stock them.

BTW, one of the newly discovered advantages of that type of Spike and Washer monument is that they show up in Google Street View for an easy recon. Here's one a block North on Guadalupe, also from 1996, that the Google informs us is still in place:

@30.2888283,-97.7414098,3a,15y,167.63h,78.73t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sT4LtD6gfvS_d8kZM1mdbAA!2e0!5s20130401T000000!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en"> https://www.google.com/maps/ @30.2888283,-97.7414098,3a,15y,167.63h,78.73t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sT4LtD6gfvS_d8kZM1mdbAA!2e0!5s20130401T000000!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en

On the other hand, here's one that appears in Google Street View in March 2011 that was still there in July, 2013

@30.2849458,-97.7418234,3a,15.5y,104.79h,72.17t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shzTMnZu0a3tleadyprHWcA!2e0!5s20130701T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en"> https://www.google.com/maps/ @30.2849458,-97.7418234,3a,15.5y,104.79h,72.17t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shzTMnZu0a3tleadyprHWcA!2e0!5s20130701T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

but that by April, 2015 had bit the dust, a victim of ADA ramp upgrades:

@30.2849935,-97.7418166,3a,49.8y,133.02h,66.14t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sfV1VKeY-Z0SeRYwAXdVhLA!2e0!5s20150401T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en"> https://www.google.com/maps/ @30.2849935,-97.7418166,3a,49.8y,133.02h,66.14t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sfV1VKeY-Z0SeRYwAXdVhLA!2e0!5s20150401T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Ric Moore, post: 425170, member: 731 wrote: Hmm, wonder if he set that on a fixed fee? Or if a fence is nearby?

Interestingly, that Spike and Washer now references a line that was the subject of a lawsuit in about 1881 or so to which the City of Austin was a party. The street along which that control point falls was originally laid out in 1840 and one of the questions at issue was where exactly the South line of that street was. There were a couple of businesses (hole in the wall taverns) that were alleged to extend about six feet into the street as claimed by the municipal authorities and the whole question was settled by two reputable surveyors with local knowledge, Dennis Corwin and William von Rosenberg (without cheating and referring to the file on that) who delivered up an interesting report upon their work to the court.

The centerline of the street now known as 24th Street was monumented in accordance with the decree of the court and the City Engineer's monument line perpetuates both an adjudicated boundary as well as what was most likely an original boundary, if Corwin and von Rosenberg's report is credible (which I think it is).

The punchline? Corwin and von Rosenberg agreed that one original (wood) stake then in place and a fence that they knew to perpetuate another were a definite basis for determining the location of the street as laid out in 1840.

....ask Kent what time it is and he'll tell you how watches are built in Texas...

Cripes you fellas give Texans the one two three.
Surely they can't be "that bad".
Probably explains all the prickly plants there. A natural defence system against predators.

[USER=11837]@BrandonA[/USER] hope all goes well for you.
It's a hard (very) thing to take your mind off surveying. We pop up anywhere and everywhere, plus tripping over our existences we leave behind for the benefit of others.

[USER=20]@paden cash[/USER] I can relate to your comment to the T.
There's a certain person I always hope won't answer the phone when I make that call.
Best be ready with coffee and cake for sustenance along the journey.

Actually Kent, I enjoy your posts, and your musings. And not as entertainment.