Oh, I forgot I Had a Blog!

Someone just mentioned that I am supposed to keep this blog thing updated. Hmmmmm. OK.

Work:


Things are moving along but we are still not running at full capacity. Things do appear to be picking up and projects are trickling in a little more consistently the past few weeks. A backlog would be nice though.


We are currently running 2 crews full time and bouncing them around all over the state. Just a small sampling of our projects:

• Bellingham - Pipeline ROW retracements
• Olympia - Environmental monitoring project
• Port Angeles - Engineering design mapping
• Kennewick - ALTA/ACSM survey
• Redmond - Microsoft design surveys and construction layout
• Redmond - Microsoft ALTA/ACSM

The scanner is doing it's job very well. 3D Laser Scanning or HDS (High Definition Surveying) produces a very accurate, very dense 3-dimensional collection of point data referred to as a ‘Point Cloud’. The Power of 3D laser scanning is its inherent ability to capture extraordinarily complete and accurate 3D “as-built” or “existing conditions” geometric information quickly and unobtrusively. 3D laser scanning can be used for capturing high definition data sets for almost any conceivable use. If you can see it we can scan it.



We have been marketing and are now on several teams that will require our services in the near future. We do have some gaps in the field crew schedules so if any of you need some surveying or mapping now is the time to do it as these schedule gaps have been filling up.

Marathon:

Training is still on track. The Vancouver Marathon is just over 4 weeks away and I am nearing the end of full on training. The last 3 weeks are delegated to tapering and letting the muscles mend and recover from the intense training. I have been having a lot of trouble with my shins throughout the training and am looking forward to the tapering. Hopefully the pain and tenderness will go away and I'll be in tip-top shape on race day. The biggest trick for me (at my age) is to get through the training phase and to the marathon injury free.

I have high hopes of completing the marathon in under 3:30 and qualifying for the '09 Boston Marathon. How about a little marathon info for those smart enough to not be involved in the actual running of them?

• A marathon is 26 miles 385 yards. Every marathon.
• Early "official" marathons were closer to 40KM or just under 25 miles. (wish they still were!)
• The marathon is based on the legend of a Greek soldier who ran from the Greek city of Marathon to Athens to announce the defeat of the Persians.
• It is said that after announcing "We have won" the soldier fell dead of a heart attack.
• The world record of 2:04:26 was set in Berlin in 2007 by Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie.
• The "Wall" is the point where easily burned glycogen stores are depleted, usually between miles 18 and 20, and a runner suffers from overwhelming fatigue. (It hurts!)

In other news:

Kerrel is headed to France next week to spend a couple of weeks with his daughter who is a superstar, professional volley ball athlete. He is excited about visiting his daughter and seeing many of the WWII battle sites. We are looking froward to all of the stories he'll be bringing back. He promised to post his experience on this blog when he returns.

That's it for today. More later.

Cheers!