Hello from Left a Fuzz

Back in the days when we ran conventional surveying instruments, you would often hear a cadence from the instrument man instructing the rodman on where to put the rod for a shot. Although they vary from crew to crew, mine went something like this......Right! Right! Right! Left a tenth! Left a hair! LEFT A FUZZ! Good! I'll shoot it!.

Now for a little history about me.

I am a Construction Surveyor, a Heavy and Highway Construction Surveyor and I am very proud of that fact. At this time, I am 42 years old and have been surveying since I was 19.

I was born and raised in Eastern Kentucky and relocated to the Cincinnati area in 1987 and have been there ever since.

I became licensed in 2001 and began doing more boundary work, but my first love has and always will be Highway work.

My reasons for writing this blog are many. First, I am a techno geek, I really like all of the new technology that is available to surveyors in this day and time. I really enjoy using the Trimble GPS grade control systems , building files with Terramodel and Trimble Sitevision Office, establishing base stations, doing site calibrations and all the bells and whistles associated with the High Tech toys that we have to play with.

But, it wasn't always like that.

I started out with a steel chain and a theodolite, a Carl Zeiss Level and a Philly rod, a Rhodes Reducing Arc with a stick referred to as a JO-Pole, and a plumb bob without a Gammon reel.

I learned how to use a highway chain, how to take cross-sections with a Wilde RDS ( and more importantly, how to reduce the dadgum notes!), and how to figure the chord correction for an offset spiral. I learned how to drive hubs from daylight to dark and how to round house a 12 Lb sledge hammer!

The older I get, the more I appreciate the little tidbits I have accumulated over the years. In my mind, this is where I got my education and it is my hope that I can pass it on to the next generation of surveyors. They won't use it, they won't have to, but maybe it will be handy to have around anyway.

I have worked with a lot of CO-OPs from Surveying School. With Technology being what it is, They don't get the same education that we as older surveyors got on the job.

more later.