Holy s--- Jay, you and I went to the same school. Your mom and my mom were both moms !
I took the two year survey class at Eastern in 1975 and 1976. I worked two summers as a transitman for the late Gene Conway while in high school and worked 4 summers for Sippel and Masteller as a transitman while I was in college.
It was the greatest summer job in the world. I was in the big woods all day back then because those were the days of the huge residential outbounds and topos. I did transit and tape boundaries for Alluvium, Sturbidge Lakes, Sherry Lynn Woods and the Alluvium offshoots, The Woods of Alluvium, Whitehall and others.
Using a a bulletproof 20" K&E Paragon and a 100' Lufkin with tension handles we got the same results that modern guns achieve today. It just took longer. A lot longer.
After college, I was hired at my current company as an environmental specialist and I received my surveyors license in 1990.
Now, with the economic downturn, I still do my environmental and land use planning work but I am also the field crew when we have fieldwork. We do municipal engineering so the bulk of my surveying work is road topo and construction layout.
Not too many interesting outbounds and corner searching these days.
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I thought you had gone to Eastern. I actually found out that Mr. Munn committed suicide through you, I believe. That guy gave me and a friend detention for playing dots during surveying II (a repeat of Surveying I). Made us come and watch his JV soccer game.
Believe it or not, I left DuBois & Martin to work for Gene Conway for a summer but wasn't ready to be a crew chief, especially when he told me, if there's a problem during a survey, get on a knee and pray. He was really into his religion but the real problem was I wasn't ready for the responsibility. Of course, at the time, I blamed Gene. He was way too into my personal life but that's another story.
I tried college but have to admit, I sucked at math. I never continued with school but did try going in the nineties. Of course, that was the best time ever during my surveying life so, school came second. Classes got blown off because of being on sites until 6 or 7 at times or just working down in Galloway and classes were at Blackwood U.
I never sat for the test, being afraid of my lack of math skills. I could lay out curb around a curve on an offset, reduce a traverse, do curves and whatever I needed but I never had confidence enough to take the test. I have to say though, Mike Gallante gave me some serious confidence. He pulled me into his office on day when he could see I was very stressed and asked me why I was worried. I told him, if I screw something up, it could cost him a lot of money. He told me, let him worry, the worst thing that could happen to me was I could get fired. It was just surveying, not brain surgery. I always kept that in mind and it was the best advice anyone ever gave me as far as work. That's why, when I went to KY, I didn't put up with an overbearing boss. The funny thing was, he liked that. He still got the tick treatment for being such a jerk to everyone.
Lots of great traversing in Kentucky. I'm sure you would have loved it. Saw everything there, BIG snakes, deer running on a hillside while you were standing on the hillside across from them. Bobcats, eagles, turkey, coyotes, and one you could really appreciate, Rednecks galore!
I also found the best black lab anyone could ever have. Sorry, but surveying is in my blood and I tend to blather on about it, best job ever.
I had a friend that worked with me that dropped a yellowjacket he had stunned down his collar unnoticed to him.It stung the crap out of him.I was not quite that bold but we all watched him stomping the wasp and had quite a laugh.It was very mean but he was very irritating.
