Post
by ^Rhino! » Sat Jun 13, 2015 9:25 am
"Has anyone else noticed, how summer plans start in April, with "I have until August" and by June, it's "oh shit, August is almost here"?.........#somanyprojects."
Sure have noticed, yggy. Except my prior planning went the way of a re-think. I didn't have a ticket and vehicle pass until now. Plus, AMAZING shit is happening here, and it's all too fast. Earlier this year, I added to my job title and responsibilities (fool enough to say 'yes' to the offer of an internal promotion without additional pay that doubled my responsibilities). I was really excited about it at the time, since I became not only the guy who approves all the prelim. geotechnical work statewide, but then they gave me a full district to do that district's geotech work. I shift back and forth from two perspectives of scale as needed. Add to that I have to oversee another district's entire work because the geotech in that district isn't a licensed geologist. All that for no additional payola, and I'm working 16 hours a day, and commuting two hours daily.
Relief is not in sight, but on July 31's paycheck gets a 2% step increase. That's something at least.
The work is interesting. I'm constantly learning new things, and reviewing old ideas I had twenty years ago. My latest project was a real head-scratcher first for the project office, then the district materials folks, and so who should they bring in? Me......Mr. "If it all goes to shit I'll save you" Troubleshooter. At first, it had me scratching my head, too.
We were getting some premature pavement cracking, settlement and deterioration on a US Highway over a culvert, and people thought the culvert had something to do with it. Last Wednesday, we sent a tractor/video cam inspection unit down the pipe, and the inspection showed the pipe was pristine. The construction records were near perfect. We even checked the aggregate mix. So, I got out the County Soil Survey that was published by the USDA. The minute I put soil series names to the soils encountered in the boreholes, why the defect occurred became plainly evident. They had installed 15' of compacted fill on top of a crawdad flat. The old crawdad burrows were filling with water and emptying as the river stage 100' away was going up and down. Soil underneath the fill was pumping out since it had open pathways to do it. It had fooled a dozen civil engineers in the process. So, that's solved, and I'll have the report ready early.
Next week: the BIG erosional gully at Glasgow, Missouri. Fix it or we lose the road. hmmm....wonder why they saved this doozy for me.......
I'm having more fun doing the work than should be legal.
Rue Morgue - '08, '09
Black Rock Beacon - '2010, 2012-2016
(lux, veritas, lardum)
Bacon is forever. Veni, vidi, pertudi. (We came, we saw, we DRILLED.) - BRC Div. of Geology 2009-2015
I'm here until the serendipitous synchronicity is ubiquitous.
although this year I did get a Yeti cooler....SQUEEEE
