Time to return to posting!

Hi everyone. Anyone still look at this blog? Not that there has been any reason to. Smile.

I am planning on returning to writing in several forms and this blog is one of them. So much has happened, it will take time to catch up. For now I am living in a homeless shelter in Richmond CA, and spending most of my time in a charming piece of the bay known as Point Richmond. If you get a chance you really need to take the time to visit. You can find me in my office  (Starbucks ).

Job Change

After 7 months here it became clear that while we really liked the town, the company I hired on to was not a good fit.  Seems I am a bit crusty and set in my ways and it is hard to find the right fit.  So I changed firms after finding a boss who is a bit crusty and set in his ways.  Now I am working a three week on, one week off rotation in a fly-in/fly-out arrangement.  This is a bit unusual for the US, but not uncommon in Canada.

I was going to include some Google Earth shots of the projects I am working on, but it seems the rural plains of Canada don't get updated very often.  Even so, here is the jobsite in Alberta:

See the big open area in center of the picture next to the fertilizer factory?  It seriously does not look like that any more.  It is the future site of the Northwest Redwater Partnership's Sturgeon Refinery.  The first new refinery in North America in 30 years.  An interesting aside is that our across the street neighbor in Kitimat was born in Redwater.  Redwater being the closest thing to a town anywhere near the site.

And here is the site in Saskatchewan:

Each of the little square boxes is a square mile, Canada was also sectionalized in a pattern similar to the US.  Here there is little to no evidence of the project.  As with Alberta, it looks much different now.  Not really close to anyplace the actual project is 20 kilometers (15 miles) down a dirt road from the nearest highway, and just over an hour's drive from Regina.  On of the big parts of this project is to build the housing (camp) for the workers on a fly-in/fly-out rotation.

Not all of the work is interesting, but the job is constantly changing and it is hard to get bored.

Kitimat

Kitimat is a different kind of place.  It is a designed community build out of basically nothing in the 1950's the purpose of the town was to house and support the workers at Alcan's aluminium smelting operation.  It is remote, 50 kilometers (30 miles) down a dead end road from the nearest other town (Terrace, which is not huge either).  I could say a lot more, but Wikipedia and the official website do it better:

Wikipedia on Kitimat

Official Site

The short story is we like it here.  Made some wonderful new friends and brought an old friend back to the town of his boyhood.

Where next?

This is the RioTinto Alcan site in Kitimat, BC, Canada.  The Kitimat Modernization Project is a huge job in a very small town.  It sounded like fun and adventure, so we went.  More than a bit spur of the moment, but it isn't the first time we have done that.

Definitely time for an update or two...

While it may seem so to some, or many, that I have again dropped off the face of the earth, that is not the case.  The earth is not that lucky.  New Mexico went bust for a lot of different reasons, but in a weird case of synchronicity something came up in my sister's life where she needed a bit of help.  So we packed it up and moved to southern California.  It was wonderful to spend time there with family, but SoCal is not a good place for me.  Too many ghosts and demons, drove me more than a little bit crazy.  So we moved on.  But I will be eternally grateful to my sister and her husband for their warm welcome and hospitality.

I am so lucky

I try, but truth be told I am not a good man. But I have a spectacular woman who loves me, kids who are off the top spectacular, and a unique collection of people I call friend. I am a lucky man.

Okay...

Okay, when you just pull it of the the top of your head, you would think Farmington NM sucks.   Well I have to say that is wrong.  And I have been places that sucked, I have been places that redefined sucked.  This is nice.  Comfortable, warm, homey nice. Yeah. that kind of place. And this might seem strange, but the native americans I have met so far really remind me of the nigerians.  There is something so basic and earthy.  I guess the common trait is they don't do bullshit. I have so much more to learn.

The adventure begins.

So the start of a new phase in life. This one is a bit different, the closest thing in my experience is the move to Seattle. But this is different, just me, the wife, and the dog.

A new job. A new adventure.

So it took a bit of looking, okay a whole hell of a lot of looking, but I finally found a job.  And with this new job comes a whole new adventure.

First, the where of it; Farmington, New Mexico.  Farmington is the largest city in the Four Corners area.  Four Corners is the unique juncture where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado come together.  High desert at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  The scenery is incredible.  Thing is, if you use Google Streetview to do some exploring, you will find that Google did not do Farmington any favors.  Main Street was photographed at night, possibly in the rain.  The rest of the town was done at the height of winter, not a green leaf to be seen.  On top of that you have to do some real searching on the web to find any good news about the place (though this is true for good news in general).  But unbiased information can be found, and while it will be a big change from anyplace we have ever lived (putting aside my misspent youth) it sounds like a nice place.  I will keep you posted.

Then there is the job. Professional Land Surveyor for a native american owned company named iiná bá Inc.  (It will take some practice to learn how to pronounce that correctly.)  They do a lot of work for the Navajo Nation and their values are structured along native american philosophy. Should be interesting.  I am also thinking that it will be a different path than the "dirt butcher" work that has been such a big piece of my career.  It is hard to put into words my growing discomfort with that kind of work.  Again, I will keep you posted.

If you are so inclined take a look at their website: http://www.iinaba.com/

Looking for work...

Looking for work is never fun.  In the current market, with the now accepted practices, it is humiliating.  First you need to prepare a resume/CV.  In my case, having been doing what I do for 32 years, that is not a small task.

Then comes the actual application.  For most firms this is an online process.  A key part of this process involves retyping your resume/CV into their online forms after you upload it.  Why? so their automated system can search for keywords.  The problem with this is who prepared the keyword list?  If you are a surveyor (I am) you know that data collector, datacollector, DC, and jigger all mean the same thing did the poor individual in HR stuck with the task know that?

But say that you got lucky and hit 70% of the keywords the computer was looking for, your application is now ready for initial review by a human being.  Odds are this person will not be have any experience in the field you are applying for, they will just be scanning for some basic yes/no conditions.  The intent of those conditions is not considered, it is a simple pass/fail test.  The net result of this arrangement is best shown in this snippet of an email I recently received:

We have carefully reviewed and considered your application.

The minimum qualifications for this position are:
An Associates degree with course work in civil engineering, drafting, engineering mathematics or a related field AND three (3) years of experience preforming field surveying or engineering technician duties. An LS license is preferred.

Although your application reflects many desirable skills and experiences, they do not meet the minimum qualifications needed for this position.

Damn near crushed my fragile ego.  Okay, not really, I laughed.  At least this entity was courteous enough to respond, most submittals just disappear in the void.  When did "don't call us, we'll call you" quit being rude?  their response was accurate.  I do not have a two year degree that included course work in those areas.  I have though prepared and taught some of those classes.

I am lucky.  I am really exceptionally good at what I do, and have more than a few well placed people in my field that know that.  I find work, not always quickly, or someplace I want to go, but I find work.  The people I feel for are those without connections like that.  People that are chewed up and spit out by a system that really doesn't know how to evaluate them.  Talented people who come away feeling like a 60 year old prostitute in fishnets and a mini-skirt standing on a wintry street corner in Chicago.

New toy

Well it really isn't a toy and I expect to get some serious use out of it, I just bought an Android tablet.  I have been using an Android phone for awhile now and found it really useful.  Well useful for most everything but being a phone, coverage is still bad no matter what the carrier.  Given that the tablet just seemed to make sense.  One of the side benefits should be more frequent posts.  The phone easy to access, but entering anything more than a couple of words was a pain.  Tiny "buttons" not so tiny fingers.  This should work much better.

A thought...

I think all textbooks should be published in an eBook format.  I think it is better that a student pay even $300 for a reader and then $20 - $30 for a text rather than $75 - $175 for a single book.  Because next semester, you do not have to buy the reader and you only pay $20 - $30 for a text.  And if there are new editions, revisions, etc.  the student pays $20 - $30 for the latest.  This way more people can afford important parts of their education, there is a better distribution of current knowledge, and we quit killing trees for books that are outdated in a few years.

About the money.  One of the arguments for textbooks has been; they are expensive because they have a limited readership.  My question is, do they have a limited readership because they are expensive?

And it isn’t like there is extra work to be done to make this happen.  Okay, for the sake of argument, much extra work.  The books are already  in digital format because that is how they are sent to the printing presses.

Time Flies..

Well since it has been a few months I figured it was time to try and catch things up here.  For the last few months I have been working mainly from home, and I can tell you it is a wonderful thing to actually live at home.  Hopefully I will be able to keep this up for awhile.

have I mentioned that Seattle is a beautiful place to live?  It really is.  This photo was taken last Sunday at the Cheery Blossom Festival that ran through the weekend at Seattle Center.  A really wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

And Taiko!  How can you not love Taiko?

Humm....

Wondering about more ways to post here.  Part of the problem is having an easy way to post when I think of it.  So I am trying the blogger app for my phone. I will let you know how it works.

Damn...

No I did not fall off the face of the earth, it just felt like it.  Been a bit crazy of late, hopefully I will have that fixed soon and I can start playing catch-up.

It takes an intelligent man to be spectacularly stupid

I suppose I could start with excuses here, but I won't.  After three days of bouncing back and forth I finally landed in the home of a dear friend that will be my base here in the SF Bay Area.  It has become normal when I do this kind of relocation to pack a lot of stuff; two large suitcases, a carry on, my laptop bag, and my CPAP.  Oh, and my hat, jacket, water bottle, and whatever book I am reading.  I need a personal porter.

So, when I finally landed here in Oakland (that is an important point) I was tired of lugging this crap around.  And that is when I got stupid.  You know where this is going right?  Yeah.  I left stuff in the truck over night on the street in Oakland.  So in a simple smash and grab some individual walked off with my laptop bag.  Laptop, backup HD, and camera...  all gone.  And to add insult to injury, they looked thru the clothes and such in the other bags, and left them.

The big loss, as always, is the data.  Pictures, documents, etc.  I believe I have a backup on the HD in Seattle.  But it will be awhile before I am up there again.  Damn.

So off to a new foreign country...

 California.  Another fun and interesting project, a tunnel for a water main.  One long basically flat, basically straight tunnel.  Now one might question the sanity of getting in a 3.5 mile long, 10 foot diameter tube up to 750 feet underground directly adjacent to the Hayward Fault.  If that is one of you folks reading this, let me know what you get for an answer.

The good news is I have already been to hospitals in California so I can skip that whole part of my working out of town experience.  I wasn't really enjoying it much anyway.

It will be good to see some friends, enjoy some of the things I miss about the Bay Area, and be reminded why the move to Seattle was such a good idea.

Things I have learned so far...

Now there is no way this could be a complete list, but since it is the start of the year I thought I would cover some of the things I have learned so far.  So, in no particular order:

Having what you need is very important.  So is needing what you have.

Beauty is as hard to define as love.  You know it when it is there, but it is hard to describe to someone else.

Having a village is important.

Having the right tools for the job is important.  Not having the right tools does not make the job impossible.

Nigerian Pepper Soup is really good.

Chopsticks (kuài zi) are one of the most useful kitchen tools ever.

I have been mispronouncing Chow Mein my entire life.  Oh, and Chow Mein noodles is redundant.  Kind of like software programs.

Nigerian women need to teach the rest of the world's women how to walk.  It is an art.

Prejudice is human nature, overcoming that is civilization.

Maggi is for lazy cooks.   Yeah, I used a lot of it.

To really understand a people or a culture, you have to work at it.  Everything you think you know when you start is probably wrong.  But if you are open and truly interested, people are will to show you.

Never let a politically motivated person stand behind you, and if you have no choice, watch the cutlery.

I don't bounce.  Not even a little.  Damn.

The great food I had in the little shops on Changxing Dao made me regret I never got the opportunity to try little shops in Nigeria.

At some point I have to go to India.

And, for all its faults, the US is a really nice place to live.

New Years Eve

It has been an interesting year, not the best year I ever had, but far from the worst.  Made some new friends, caught up with some old ones, and learned a few things along the way.  The weather outside is crisp and cold, really pleasant so long as you aren't working in it. 

I expect the New Year will bring more challenges and discoveries.  I am looking forward to it.  After all I did get the almond in the Risgrynsgröt.

Shanghai Survey Truck

Now those that have been patiently following along know how much I loved the CalTrans approved Shanghai Team Survey truck.  And since maintenance is a vital part of survey operations I thought I would introduce our factory authorized service representative:

He is the guy on the right.  The tent with the cheerful red and blue strips is both his shop and his home.  For various reasons we would see him about once a week, usually for a flat tire, but occasionally for some other tweak or fix.  He always wore a smile.  He most certainly overcharged the lao wài (foreigners), we didn't mind.   Never did learn his name.

Not sure who the woman is, but she really wanted to be in the picture.    Notice the bright red box in the background?  In that box is $40,000 worth of survey equipment.  Security never said a word to us about carrying it back and forth through the gate.  These being the same guys that randomly roust workers as they pass, searching through the papers in the baskets of their bikes and such.  China.