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!

Of Motorcycles, Miles, Wind, and Cool Weather

Well, I somehow convinced GVB into actually doing an 8 day 'Helge' style motorcycle adventure down to the southern California desert.  I think he may have been swayed by some promises of fame, grandeur, sun, and warm weather.  Oh, and a beer or two may have been used in the coercion.  Poor guy will never be the same again.....

The intent of the trip was to bomb down I-5 to Yreka on the first day and then on to Visalia on day 2.  A total of 1000 miles for the first 2 days and then begin to explore once we had made it to the warm sunshine of the southern CA desert.  There was to be much camping and much basking in the sun.  So the big GS was loaded with gear and GVB and I met at a Bothell coffee house for the beginning of our big adventure.

We were actually blessed with fair weather for the first day of the trip and this was the one I was most concerned with.  Of course my biggest concern was getting over Siskiyou Pass in southern Oregon without encountering snow.  Bombed along I-5 at around 70-mph and we were over the pass before dark.  There was some talk of trying to make Redmond on this first day but rain and darkness convinced us otherwise and we ended our day at the Best Western in Yreka.  Of course, we did have to do the Mexican Dinner thing with a couple of Dos Equis and then a few Sierra Nevada's at a local pub before calling it a night.

Day 2 started with a bit of an ominous look to it but broke off nicely and became one of the nicest of the entire trip.  As many times as I have driven the I-5 route I would have to say that this was one of the more scenic trips.  Colors were really brilliant and the Redmond-Redbluff region was as green as I have ever seen it.  As we traveled south through the Central Valley temps began to creep into the low 70's and I was thinking life is good!  We made our destination of Visalia in the early evening hours.  Once again, we partook of the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in relatively massive quantities.  This was to become an all too frequent event and would become the downfall of all my best laid plans for frequent morning runs during this trip.

In the morning Mr. GVB had some academic responsibilities that needed to be attended to so I decided to go for a run.  It is amazing just how much the lingering effects of to many alcoholic beverages will effect your performance on a run.  I did about 5.5 miles at an 8.5 minute pace and every bit of it was just plain ol' ugh. 

A few points of note on the City of Visalia:

1. The city is far prettier than I remember as a transient kid living in a migrant workers camp.
2. The city is far more affluent than I remembered.
3. The city has a very large christian population, they even have large subdivisions dedicated to them.
4. The city is flat as a pancake.
5. The Sierras to the east are magnificent!

GVB and I were now in full on relax and take our time mode and the route out of Visalia was chosen based on its exploration value.  The southern Sierras hold many tiny threads of roadways that wind their way through the foothills and canyons and the spring weather had the wildflowers in full bloom!

The roads were about as twisty as you could get.  There were a couple where you needed to be practiced up on your slow speed maneuvers.  Most were just right though and made for some really fun spirited riding.

The original route had to be scrapped though due to snow conditions and road closures so we ended up having to loop right back to 99 and Bakersfield.  It was good to see that the oil industry was doing their job continuing to exploit and rape the earth so I can keep riding this fossil fuel burning beast.

By the way, this is about the point where the weather really decided to take a turn for the worse and never let up for the rest of the trip.  As we headed east out of Bakersfield the winds began to pick up and the temps to cool down.  By the time we had reached Tehachapi and stopped for a late lunch and a warming cup of coffee the winds were blowing at a steady 30-40 mph with temps in the low 40's.  As we pushed on toward Barstow the winds just continued to build.  I've had experience with cross winds on the bike before but this was GVB's first and it can be a bit disconcerting to say the least.  By the time we reached Barstow I do believe that my traveling partner was considering hopping a plane and leaving me to figure out how to get the both bikes home.  Can't say as I could blame him though.... those winds were nasty.  We stayed at a hotel in Barstow hoping that the 'morrow would bring better conditions.

Why the heck does Barstow exist?  I realize that it is a major coming together of several transportation lines including 2 major freeways and 2 major railways.  I also know that it's a pretty big military hub with 2 bases in close proximity but, damn.  This place is a real hole with not much redeeming quality to be found.  Even the pub, which took some hiking to find by the way, was tough to understand.  The clientele appeared to be more of a redneck bunch but the jukebox was blaring hardcore hip-hop????  Oh well, that didn't keep me from drinking more Sierra Nevada than I should have.

Another morning run skipped.

Winds were still blowing in the morning but I think my traveling mate's senses may have been dulled by the previous nights libations and we readied the bikes and headed south for J-Tree.  We are now officially in the SoCal desert and, you know, it's still not warm.  I'm beginning to feel a bit cheated.  Temps are in the 30's and the wind is blowing friggin' sand storm!  It's a short trip though and we are soon in front of our favorite desert cafe 'Crossroads Cafe' in beautiful downtown Joshua Tree.

And then after provisioning

we head up into the park proper.

After setting up camp we decided to do a bit of exploring.

What a beautiful desert.

And our little desert road seemed to wind on forever.

I was once again reminded that my big gazillion pound motorcycle does not like deep sand.  Almost lost it a couple of times but somehow saved it just before the point of no return and saved face.

We played for quite some time out here but camp and beer were calling and these cravings could not go unheeded.  I know it looks all warm and stuff but..... damn it was cold!

We did at least take the time to watch some of the more hardcore climbers endure the cold and do some routes.

And we did buddy up with our camping neighbors and drink more Sierra Nevada.... lots more.

Another morning run scrapped.

From J-tree we headed north through little desert towns and the Mojave Preserve on our way to Death Valley.

Did I mention it was cold?

Oh, and gas was expensive?  Fighting a headwind had reduced my fuel mileage from a respectable mid 40's down to a dismal 31.

I've always wanted a picture of my bike in front of the Amargosa Opera House.  You talk about the middle of nowhere!

We are definitely in the desert.  It's hard to find life anywhere in these hills.  At least it's dry.

It's cool to see negative numbers in the elevation column.

But the wind is blowing another sand storm up.

I think a motel in Beatty sounds better than camping in this stuff!

Guess what.  They served Sierra Nevada in that joint!

Another morning run skipped.

At this point I do believe that Greg and I were both thinking that maybe the warm Pacific Northwest may be a better option for riding.  So with that thought, we started heading north through the high desert of western Nevada thinking we could easily make Susanville by early evening.  We stopped for a late breakfast in Tonopah at around 11:00AM and the temp gage on my bike read 29 degrees.  Damn, it was cold.  By the time we made it to Reno it was a balmy 57 degrees though and we were beginning to thaw out.  We continued on and made it to Susanville at around 6'ish and found us another hotel for the night.

Of course, we went for dinner and, once again, found Sierra Nevada was served.  So after a fine meal and several Sierra Nevadas I pretty much determined that any training while on this trip was out of the question and just gave up on that idea.

Morning broke clear and cold..... of course.  Did you know that pretty much all of Nevada, a good part of northeastern California, and most of eastern Oregon are all pretty much at 5000 foot elevation?  It's hard to get warm at those elevations when you've got a cold front breathing down the back of your neck.

That lake you see in the background, it's FROZEN!  Yep, it was cold.  We continued north and decided to take a detour and run into Lava Beds via the tiny road that enters from the south.  It was a really cool road.

From there we chased little rural roads up through my old childhood stomping grounds.  I found it amazing how the old routes came back to me as I went along but yet I couldn't have given anyone directions if my life depended on it.  We even took the old Squaw valley short cut up to Sprague River where we just had to stop for lunch at this little joint.

Of course the food wasn't any good but the place was interesting to say the least.

We then headed west and picked up 97 at Chiloquin and made our way up to Bend for the night.  Bend has a really cool little downtown area that includes the Deschutes Brewery so..... we decided maybe some food and a few beers would help take the chill out of the days ride.  It worked, of course.

While we were eating breakfast in the morning the snow began to fall.  Damn, we didn't beat the front.  Loaded up the bikes and quickly headed north as conditions were supposed to continue to deteriorate through the day.  The snow continued to come down but the temps stayed above freezing (barely).

But the farther north we got the better the weather got.  By the time we reached the Columbia river the sun was shining and temps were pushing around the mid 50's.  We did run into some fairly heavy rain from Kelso to pretty close to Tacoma on I-5 but all went well and we made it safely home by around 6.

All in all, it was a great trip.  I of course would have preferred some warmer temps and less wind but that all just added to the adventure.  I would have brought more long pants and less shorts but that made for less laundry once I made it home.  Another sign that the trip was good... every time someone referenced the nasty weather and said they felt sorry for us on our bikes I immediately thought "don't".  I'd still rather be on my bike than stuck in your mini van with those noisy kids and disapproving spouse.

I had an amazing time!

Cheers to all!

Get a Survey Folks!

As reported by King 5 News:

DAY ISLAND, Wash. – A Pierce County family is being ordered by a judge to tear down part of their waterfront dream home because a small piece of land that runs right through the middle of the house.

"This is our dream. We've put every penny into this home," said homeowner Pamela Hubert.

A Texas-based company called Strong Capital recently bought about a 3,000-square-foot section of land from the railroad. It's covered by water half the time. Based on different surveys, the exact location of the area in question seems to move.

The Hubert's say their title company apparently cannot be held libel for the survey errors from years ago, mainly because the family does not have a special kind of insurance coverage for that. The couple says they made the Texas firm a fair offer for the land. Instead, they say the company wanted $400,000, even though the court said the muddy property is only worth about $2,500.

So why, exactly, does everyone expect me to be able to survey a parcel of land for $800?  That's a lot of liability!  Just something to think about.

Cheers!

It is NOT A Small World!

If anyone says that it's a small world we live in tell them to try running across even a small part of it!

Today was my scheduled long, slow run day with a target distance of 20 miles.  So I laced up the shoes just a little before 9AM and headed south from Lynnwood along one our suburban streets headed for Kenmore.

• Note 1:  Why can't our suburban communities provide pedestrian friendly streets?  Really.  This is a major arterial that connects south to north and it doesn't even have a shoulder.  Hell, it's not even bike friendly.

At about 4 miles in I arrive in Kenmore and picked up the Burke-Gilman Trail at the north end of Lake Washington.  The reason for choosing this trail is that I can generally run for great distances without having to stop and wait for cars or lights at street crossings.  Generally I can run unimpeded at whatever pace I feel comfortable at without getting in anyone's way.

• Note 2:  Cyclist, if you are going to ride at 25MPH, ride the streets or at least a less busy family trail.  Jeez, guys!  And, really, do you need to ride 3 abreast giving dirty looks at little old ladies walking their dogs and generally being terrorized by speeding 'Pace Lines'.  I'm a cyclist too but, I have to tell you, it annoys the crap out of me how you guys ride this trail.  That's why I stay off of it on my bike.

The middle miles on a long run are the best.  Everything from about mile 5 to about mile 18 just feels good.  You get into a groove and run on auto pilot while your mind wanders on to far more interesting things than running.  The miles click by at a very pleasing rate and it's actually easy to lose track of what mile you are on.  It's a good thing those miles are so good since the trail trends upward at a very mild yet steady grade from Lake Forest Park up to Ravenna.  It's not steep but if you're not careful it will kick your butt.  It was about here at around mile 12 that I began to have a bit of intestinal distress.  I was able to hold on down to just past mile 13 where I was able to convince the workers at the bike shop that it might be a good idea to let me use their restroom.  Thanks Bike Shop guys!

• Note 3: Seattle Parks, could we arrange for a few potty stations along the trail?  I, for one, would really appreciate them.

At this point I am basically at the UW.  Running through this stretch can be at least a little interesting.  What, with all the young hard bodies (both male and female) flaunting their stuff.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  I gotta say though, it seemed a bit cold for tank tops and sport bras.  Just sayin'.

I made Gas Works Park at just past mile 16.  I really am fortunate to live in an area that has so many cool distractions for my long runs.  Ok, so maybe those fun middle miles I was talking about earlier end at around mile 16.  It sure seemed to get into the 'not so fun' stuff soon after Gas Works.  It is still pretty cool running through the Fremont District and along the ship canal through miles 16 and 17 but somewhere around 17.5 the scenery just gets UGLY!

The industrial zone through Ballard is just plain nasty for running.  On a bike or in a car you at least get through this zone quickly enough but running..... you just gotta' endure.  And of course, I'm beginning to really hurt about mile 18.  This certainly doesn't help my mood.

• Note 4:  Why is it that I do this?  Let's stop and discuss for just a moment.  I have a tendency to get sick, as in 'upset stomach' kind of sick.  My hips start hurting pretty bad.  Oh, the soles on my feet, they really take a beating.  Lower back begins to rebel.  Knees and ankles.... let's just not go there.  Fun?  I think, not.

Somewhere in mile 19 things get better, at least in the scenery department, when you get to the Locks.  If I wasn't hurting so much I would take a side trip over to watch a couple of boats get lifted from or lowered to the Puget Sound on their trip into or out of the Ship Canal and Lake Union.  Pretty cool stuff.  Seems like all that water being dumped through the Locks would empty that damn lake.... guess they got it figured out though,  still water in the lake.

Running does hurt though but I'm beginning to feel like the end is near.  It's amazing how fast miles tick by in the middle miles and how slow and grudgingly they pass in the late miles.  I check my GPS watch several times just to make sure it is even working.  Yep, running hurts. 

 

Finally I begin to see my destination, the Shilshole Marina Office where my loving wife is supposed to meet me.  Yea!  I'm gonna survive another long run!  After what seems like 3 miles I cover that last hundred yards or so and hit the stop on my watch.  21.07 miles.  That's far and it would be even farther if I was running around the world.  So, I have determined that the world is not such a small place after all.

At this point my loving wife has lost a little of her luster since I don't see her anywhere.  My phone rings (oh yeah, I do have the phone with me....) It's the loving wife.  She saw me pass her about a 1/4 mile back, she's parked at the Scandinavian Guy statue.

Damn.... you mean I have to walk back in the direction I just came?  Why didn't you honk, or yell, or something.... I would have gladly stopped!  Oh well, she redeemed herself by pulling out a towel, some dry clothes, and a sandwich when I got there.  Wow, what a gal!  Thanks babe.

Not too bad.  Scheduled a 20 miler but ended up doing just a touch over 21 at a moving pace of 8:55 per mile.  For those of you who want details, go here.

See, now you've gone and wasted your precious time reading about my masochistic ways.  Go on now.... go play.

Cheers!

Cap'n Ron

Allegro!

Allegro: The musical tempo meaning "quick and lively" or, literally "cheerful"

Allegro is the name of my sail boat and this definition fits her to a "T". Allegro is a 1982 Tartan 33R and the only one of her kind on the west coast that I am aware of. The 33R is the masthead version of the much more prevalent fractional rigged 33. Masthead meaning the fore sail attaches at the top of the mast rather than attaching lower or, a "fractional" distance below the top.

Well, Allegro has been a tad neglected over the past year so the decision was made to right some wrongs. Since MSC up in Anacortes did the original delivery of the boat and almost all upgrades and maintenance since new, I thought it only fitting to deliver the boat to them for some additional TLC. So, let's schedule a trip to Anacortes aboard the good ship Allegro.

Now, for those of you who are not sailors, sailboats are not known for their ability to reach high rates of speed.... about 6.5 knots is the best we can do without a gale. Allegro is moored in Everett and the distance to Anacortes via the Swinomish Channel is approximately 45 nautical miles. Since there is no possible way to do the trip without fighting some adverse currents this time of the year, you better figure an average speed of 5.5 knots. You do the math..... this trip is going to take the whole day.

Since things have been a bit stressful at PGS of late, I decided that a good managerial summit would be in order and what better place to do this than to have all my managers held captive on a boat for 9 or so hours. Allegro is all about low stress and this was probably the best leadership idea I have come up with in quite some time. As we departed Everett you could just see the stress levels begin to drop and creativity ran rampant among our little group. Lots of good discussion, both work and non-work related, flowed in generous quantities throughout the day.

The guys met up at Allegro in the early AM, we readied the boat for departure, made a stop at the pump-out, and then motored out into the bay. The morning began with a thick, soupy, fog with visibility in the 100 foot range. Thank goodness for GPS chart plotters. There be islands out there..... somewhere!

As the day wore on the sun did begin to shine and slowly burn off the fog. It really turned into a beautiful day. It would have been nice if the wind would have blown a bit so we could sail but I guess that was too much to ask for so we motored along to the sound of that little diesel engine mixed with some Jack Johnson music as backup.

It always amazes me just how relaxing it is to be on the water. For whatever reason I just never get bored. My crew commented on the exact same feeling, so it isn't just me. There is just something about bobbing along watching the sea critters, eagles, and debris all while navigating the straights, channels, and passages of the puget sound that keeps the mind occupied. Speaking of navigating, here is the entrance to the Swinomish Channel:

We got really lucky this time as the tides were fairly high and navigating the narrow channel was relatively simple. The last time I had come through this channel on my way to Succia it was at a low tide and I basically navigated by brail. I do believe that I left a bit of Allegro's keel rubbed along the bottom of the channel. The channel is always interesting as you see lots of big motor yachts moored along the waterfront in LaConnor and the narrow channel affords views of some pretty spectacular homes.

Once you leave the channel it's not long before you arrive at the Anacortes Marina. Some more rather tricky navigation through shallow dredged channels and we arrived at the fuel dock/haul-out for Marine Service Center. Handed over the keys to Skip, gave a few instructions, some well wishes, loaded things up into the Jeep that my wife had so graciously brought up to get us and headed home. What a great day!

Skip got Allegro hauled first thing the following morning and sent me some pics of the bottom:

Now, that don't look so bad!

Oops, I did leave some keel on the bottom of that channel last trip through!

All in all, this was one of my better trips on Allegro and I am really looking forward to getting her back all gussied up for the summer cruising season. My crew performed flawlesly and did a great job of covering some really important management subjects. I think I will have to get them to crew for me more often..... maybe a PGS racing crew! Stay tuned.....

Cheers!

Cap'n Ron

Redundancy!

I'm a Surveyor.  I'm a statistician.  I like redundancy.

What can I say?  If you don't show me more than one result, well.... I'm just going to assume the info has a blunder, I have no confidence.  If my crew sets up over a known point and measures a baseline to a second known point, they had better give me a full measurement to that second point so I can compare it to previous measurements.  If they don't, I'm just not really sure they know where the hell they are....  Come on guys.  Check your back-sites!

I'm a runner.  I like redundancy.... Yep, I like to repeat the same run so I can compare the results to previous runs.  Redundancy.  I get asked, on a regular basis, if I'm getting tired of my lunch run route.  I've run this little 6+ mile, one-way route more times than I care to count.

The cool thing about it is that I'm so familiar with the route that I'm able to judge my performance and how I'm feeling at almost any point within the run.  It's factual.  I have past measurements to compare it with.  Redundancy.  Yeah, baby!

I'm a sailor.  I like redundancy..... No, wait!  I don't like redundancy on the water, at least not when racing.  Sunday was a bit redundant.  Like, in a no wind kind of redundant way.  So little wind in fact, that we had to cancel racing because we ran out of beer under the postpone flag.

The one thing you learn by sailing in the Puget Sound is just how many light air days we get around here.  I have come to the conclusion that if you can deal with the challenges of sailing here you can pretty much sail anywhere in the world with confidence.

We have big tides, big currents, big rocks, shallow deltas, rip tides like nothing you have ever seen, heavy air that makes lead feel light, navigation hazards, fog, and the list goes on.  Man, do I love sailing!  One day, the Pacific will be mine!

'til next time,

Cheers!

Oh my!

I think I saw the sun today!!!!

I did, I did, I did saw the sun today!

Maybe we will get through this winter yet.  It's been a long one but, alas, the days are getting warmer and definitely getting longer.  Sun is coming up earlier and setting later each day and my nasty attitude is beginning to show signs of moderation.

Exactly 4 weeks from today I will be riding down the big concrete slab headed south on the motorcycle.  I spent the eve with GVB planning the escape.  We're thinking a blast down I-5, covering as many miles as possible in the fewest amount of hours, and getting to the warm desert sunshine as quickly as possible.

From there we'll begin to slow down and explore.  Spending time in Joshua Tree, the Mojave Desert, Death Valley, and the eastern Sierras heading north from Death Valley.  We'll determine our crossing back to the coastal deluge dependent on weather systems and temps.

Can't wait!

Cheers!