Me too!:-) Although I'd did buy a new baster for the Thanksgiving turkey.
I totally agree with the sketch before you shoot as a time saver. When I first started out doing residential boundary surveys solo with a robot taking this approach cut my time by two thirds.
Surperbright flashlight
I keep a mall flashlight with a superbright bulb in my vest. Works on days when there's no sun to reflect off of the compass mirror. Not only does it help you find your target I've actually sighted to the flashlight. Usually two steps, vertical first then horizontal angle. The flashlight also works well for those days that turn into night before you can get back to the rig.
Talk to land owners...
Yes, the neighbors are nosy and ask a lot of questions, but sometimes they know more about their property than you do and talking to them can help find corners and such. Besides, it's good for business. I make sure they walk away with one of my cards!
Invest in a small video recorder and "film" those sites that larger than the typical house lot or mortgage survey to supplement the field sketches and improvement measurements. Asbuilt surveys done on schools, shopping centers and other sites with extensive concrete work, overhead lines, buildings, etc. are much easier to draft later if the area has been thoroughly and properly filmed during the survey. Learn how to film slowly from all angles as you walk around the site - filming ahead, filming from where you just came, panning overhead and down to the ground - picking up things such as steps, overhead lines, parking stripes, building shapes, entrances, anything that has to be drawn later. Do you go back on the ground to walk over the site and check it against the plat you just prepared? Do it in the office by playing the film back and forth while you draft it or have a question about how something should be drawn. Works real well at 6:00 in the morning or at 9:30 at night or on that rainy day when you are stuck in the office drafting. Then go to the field for that final check.
Taking pictures of the site is fine, but have you ever needed to see that area that was just out of the picture? Film the site and be done with it.
Talk to land owners...
> Yes, the neighbors are nosy and ask a lot of questions, but sometimes they know more about their property than you do and talking to them can help find corners and such. Besides, it's good for business. I make sure they walk away with one of my cards!
:good:
I always like to keep a couple of cans of black/grey paint in the truck. Comes in handy when you think you've found the old traverse point and paint it up, just to find it's 2' out, then find the nail that is your's, eraser I call it.
If its winter, and you don't have the sponge or turkey baster to clean out a wet hole, throw some snow in, it will soak up the water, then clean it out. This probably wouldn't work for monument boxes very well.
Year ago, on the original POB site, I started a thread, and try to post a new one every day, and I called it "Tip of the Day". I tried to post a lot of the tips like we are seeing in this thread. Most of them were pretty simple ones, and people often had better ideas then me.
Sand also works during those couple months when there is no snow.
Keep some tire plugs, and a small 12v compressor in your rig.
Often, it's easier to plug a tire, and refill it, than to change a flat. And, faster too.
N
Chains, when new, are seldom a proper length; they ought always, therefore, to be examined; as should those, likewise, which are stretched by frequent use.
Note 1. In folding up the chain, it is most expeditious to begin at the middle, and fold it up double. When you wish to unfold it, take both the handles in your left-hand, and the other part of the chain in your right; then throw it from you, taking care to keep hold of the handles. You must then adjust the links before you proceed to measure.
Note 2. Chains, which have three rings between each link, are much better than those which have only two: as they are so apt to twist.
I hope you've always kept the two basters separate! 😉
Put your favorite data collector in the washing machine, then the dish washer, to check it for water tightness.
🙂
N
NO NO NO
"Whatever you do, don't ask for permission."
NOT ON RAILROAD OR MILITARY PROPERTY!!!
NEVER, EVER!
NO NO NO
I was think more in terms of getting permission from my management. I don't know of any railroad R/Ws even close to any of our State Forests or facilities. That is fine with me; I really would rather not have anything to do with the railroad. My previous employer owned a lot of RR r/w which was not in use.
I should've done that more at my last job; I would've gotten a lot more done. Just call from the road on Monday morning, "Hey boss, I'm on my way to XYZ State Park, see you next week, oh we are going out of cell service now, bye, click."
Take enough time to do the job correctly.
You know the project will still be out there, gasp, get this, it's really true, TOMORROW!
There is a lot of false rush in our profession. I used to get sucked into it but now I have the perspective of years. Looking back most things we rushed didn't really need to be rushed that much. We could've taken an extra minute and collected some redundant observations, just for example.
Also you start to get a feel for which managers for whom everything is a rush rush rush emergency. Those are the guys who let the deliverable sit on their desk for two years after you rush rush rushed it to them. But I'm not a cynic or anything like that. It's like the boy who cried wolf.
:good: :good:
Nowadays a flashlight is very important survival thing for everyone. I have run the light mady by Armytek. It's multifunctional light and due to these functions you can survive in may difficult situations. I think this light fills all needs to survive.
