More Interesting Things...

January 30, 2010

This past week was a crazy week for me for a few reasons. Work was pretty good but the middle of the week was a real hurdle...I'm glad it is over. Good thing my dad flew out for the week to help me keep my sanity. I won't go into detail but I'll just say never take for granted good digestive health! Anyway, below is a photo of the 3 of us at work on Friday...it sums up the week pretty well :). We are getting ready to take out the yellow beast for one last trip. It pretty much works but not without it's typical attitude. Jeff and I might be playing a few games of rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to be in the new white truck and who gets to be in the old yellow truck :).

I was working on Zion road logs (documenting intersections etc...) and came across this interesting image. The three smaller images I posted are from our forward facing cameras. Yep, it is pretty dark (we were in a tunnel) but if you squint hard enough you might get a small glimpse of the car in front of us! The funny part is the pavement image at this same spot. I guess someone thought they had better warn people that the end of the tunnel was coming up and paint the word "SLOW" on the pavement. The person who did it must have forgotten to paint the message with glow in the dark paint!

Office Work

January 21, 2010

I realized today that I haven't posted anything on my blog for a few days. I've been a bit under the weather but am now on the road to recovery and a new posting is way over due.

I was at work today looking at video and documenting intersections etc... and I came across some funny images. In the parks you never know what you are going to see and people seem to do some interesting things. These two photos show that no matter where people are some aren't afraid to show what they have. In both photos people have their things laying out on the ground for all to see...not sure what they were up to...reorganizing, drying out, who knows... :).

This image of old buildings was taken from one of our routes in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is an area that used to be the "Appalachian Club" vacation community near the old town of Elkmont. This club first began as a "gentleman's hunting club". The community is now no longer due to the National Park obtaining the land and all residents were required to leave. The last lease ended in 2001. The NPS plan is to demolish all buildings but there are ongoing debates. This is a great historic community and I found a couple of websites that has some other good photos of the old town. http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/tn/elkmont.html

http://www.blountweb.com/littleriverrailroad/elkmont.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~tnhiker/lifeafter50onemansperspective/id43.html

Back to Denver

January 13, 2010
After attending meetings and seminar talks for two days this morning before my flight back to Denver I was able to head over to Arlington National Cemetery. While doing some family research I found out that I have a relative buried there! It is my great grandpa's sister's son (on my dad's side)...I think that might be a 3rd cousin. I rode the Washington metro rail for the first time by myself, which was a big accomplishment and I didn't get lost! I was glad to have had the opportunity to visit his grave site.

The flight back to Denver was long but went smooth. As we left we flew over Arlington Cemetery and there was a really great sunset. I took a quick photo. During the flight I slept part of the time and watched a movie the rest of the time. The movie was called My One and Only http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185431/. It was a pretty good movie with a good ending giving the message that "things always work out."

Transportation Meeting

January 10, 2010
Today I flew from Denver to Washington DC. This time I flew into Washington Regan airport rather than Washington Dulles. I slept most of the 3 hour flight but was awake for the awesome descent. I got to see Mount Vernon, Fort Washington, and George Washington Parkway from the air. It was a great sight.

This week TRB (transportation research board meeting) is going on and this is the first year I've been able to come and participate. This meeting happens every year in DC but I am usually out in the truck collecting/working at a park. I'm excited to finally get a chance to talk to vendors and have the TRB experience. http://www.trb.org/AboutTRB/Public/AboutTRB.aspx

People Actually Pulled Over...

January 8, 2009
Today we were driving around town in the new truck practicing how to collect. While doing this we had our beacons on to make people more aware of us and sometimes we travel at slower speeds. There were two cars that saw us in their rear view mirror and pulled over to the side of the road! Amazing. I am not sure why because our truck is white and doesn't look like an ambulance or anything. I sort of felt bad but hey, I'll take it. The less cars in the video means the more pavement and features we can see.

I was coming home from the temple this evening and saw a bumper sticker that I thought was a good one. It said: When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

The New Truck Has Arrived

January 5, 2010
With the new year comes a new road analyzer! The time has finally come so I can stop dreaming about what it will be like. The truck arrived yesterday. We spent the day looking at the hardware and the physical set up of the systems. Believe it or not I can see out the back window and the rear view mirror actually has a purpose in this truck! It was an exciting day for us all. Today we took the truck to get weighted and it came out at 7,880 lbs...not bad. We then drove around to practice collecting and get familiar with the software. It is hard to believe that after one day we feel that we could take this truck out and collect and feel confident in our data. There is defiantly a lot of knowledge that still needs to be gained but we are well on our way to a "new life" and it is great so far! Tomorrow it is supposed to snow so we are going to do some final touches inside the truck and then look at setting up a database and shapefiles to load in the new truck prior to collection of a national park! It should be another fun filled day.

Tornado Siren

January 2, 2010

After discovering that some people have never heard of or seen a tornado siren I decided to post a couple of photos on my blog. This siren is right outside my parents house in MN...I took the photos from their living room window. These sirens are popular in neighborhoods in the Midwest states. Rochester has several all over town. They do have them in Colorado but in the 9 or 10 years that I have lived here I've only heard a siren go off one time. When the siren goes off it is a warning for people to take cover and get to the safest place in their home. Here is a link I found with more info...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_warning

Back to Denver

January 1, 2010
I made it back to Denver today after spending a little over a week in MN with my family. It was good to get a break from work and I got to spend some time with my nieces and nephew who are growing up fast and talking more (and better) every time I see them. It was really, really cold in MN and I must say that I'll take Denver weather any day over the continual MN cold. The first 4 days I was home I was a bit out of it and took an unexpected Christmas Eve trip to the ER. After sleeping the next few days I was back to normal and back on my feet. It was a rough few days and I'm very glad I was around family. Getting a good family photo is pretty hard with everyone...someone is always looking away or has their eyes closed. This photo (posted) is one of the better ones we took. Little Nolan has his eyes closed but I guess since he so little I won't blame him (yet) for not understanding that when you take photos you don't blink :).

Anyway, today the MSP airport was pretty slow but with all of the added security they have been talking about on the news I thought I'd need to get there early but there were NO lines! Uhhh, good thing I brought my computer to pass the time. I got to sit next to a girl who was in her mid 20s (I think) who had never flown before. I am so used to flying that it is hard for me to understand why people have fears about flying but she was pretty nervous and it was interesting to hear her questions. Planes are basically my 2nd home (or maybe my 3rd after my work truck) and weird noises don't really phase me anymore. She was concerned about the force during take off and wanted to know if you really lean back in your seat. She also wanted to know why the plane was turning after we were in the air and not just flying straight. The flight went well and when we landed she said "that was a quick flight" and I think her fears are now put to rest.