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Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Nan sees snow
Good morning from the new snow capital of the world!! Mom and Jay and I are officially snowed in, and plan on a day of movies, Scrabble, and turkey sandwiches! Check out some of my videoa=s!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Planning
...
It was 41 degrees for the walk to work. It was 85 degrees for the walk home.
Now just how's a girl to dress?!?
It was 41 degrees for the walk to work. It was 85 degrees for the walk home.
Now just how's a girl to dress?!?
The back porch
...
Finally, our chance to enjoy the back porch and to rest and relax arrived. The first opportunity for us to do this happened to be on Independence day, which was quite appropriate.
Finally, our chance to enjoy the back porch and to rest and relax arrived. The first opportunity for us to do this happened to be on Independence day, which was quite appropriate.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Independence night
...
It was dark by the time we got home, and no sooner had we put our folding chairs out on the alley than the show began. We supplanted bombs bursting in air with our own sparklers. What a terrific show the city puts on every year!
It was dark by the time we got home, and no sooner had we put our folding chairs out on the alley than the show began. We supplanted bombs bursting in air with our own sparklers. What a terrific show the city puts on every year!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Reunion One
...
Nancy's plan for our arrival was to have Mom go into the terminal and look for our arrival time while she drove around outside to avoid the parking fees. However, timing was a bit off, and DOD and I were able to sneak up on Mom while she was checking the Arrivals board. When this shot was snapped, Mom still didn't know we were there ... until the flash went off ...
... then HAPPY REUNION!
Just LOOK at the energy in these two! Amazing!
And of course our chauffeur-ess/chariot-driver awaited! We reunited our luggage and ourselves with Nancy too!
Time to head Home.
Nail-biter transit
...
Plan: Connect with DOD in LA and both of us catch our flight together.
Problem: Train 2 1/2 hours late into LA. The window designed into our plans was 3 1/2 hrs. You do the math.
Regardless, once the sun had come up, the scenery presented itself. It was clear southbound before Victorville, but once we began the descent into the greater LA basin the fog got thick. DOD reminded me it is the marine layer.
We made our flight.
Plan: Connect with DOD in LA and both of us catch our flight together.
Problem: Train 2 1/2 hours late into LA. The window designed into our plans was 3 1/2 hrs. You do the math.
Regardless, once the sun had come up, the scenery presented itself. It was clear southbound before Victorville, but once we began the descent into the greater LA basin the fog got thick. DOD reminded me it is the marine layer.
We made our flight.
(As with all photos on this blog, clicking on them enlarges them.)
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
The decommissioning
...
Eight of our buses have become so decrepit that the University is finally allowing us to replace them. We will be getting eight new 34-foot vehicles in June. In the meantime, we have to remove all logos, vinyl stickers and identifying features on the old buses before sale. And that is what I'm seated on the ground doing, using a sharp razor blade. The guys helping me were around on the other side of the bus. You can check out their work by following this link.
Eight of our buses have become so decrepit that the University is finally allowing us to replace them. We will be getting eight new 34-foot vehicles in June. In the meantime, we have to remove all logos, vinyl stickers and identifying features on the old buses before sale. And that is what I'm seated on the ground doing, using a sharp razor blade. The guys helping me were around on the other side of the bus. You can check out their work by following this link.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The Surveyor
...
How about that? I'm a surveyor now! *well not really*
However, I was able to learning a little about this surveying and plotting tool and do some plotting of points.
The points I was documenting were of the bus training and testing courses critical to our bus operations and safety programs. The courses are preserved and laid out all year in a large parking lot using painted dots on the asphalt. Not a problem when the University has no plans to resurface the lot.
This is the summer, however, that the lot will get some needed attention, and when it does the dots go away.
So we spent the day plotting the location of all the painted dots.
Later we will set the points to a map and will be able after that to replicate all the points on the newly repaved parking lot, using the same surveying tool, exactly as before. The surveying tool has an accuracy of 2 centimeters, which is phenomenal. Normal GPS is 20 feet.
The pole is placed on the dot, then you tell the computer on it to read the geographical coordinates. The signal is transmitted to a satellite which locates the pole precisely. Then the data is stored in the computer on the pole, which is later uploaded to autoCAD or maps for printing.
Steve (pictured), a Civil Engineering student, and Zack, a CE graduate this May, helped me understand the process. It was fascinating.
How about that? I'm a surveyor now! *well not really*
However, I was able to learning a little about this surveying and plotting tool and do some plotting of points.
The points I was documenting were of the bus training and testing courses critical to our bus operations and safety programs. The courses are preserved and laid out all year in a large parking lot using painted dots on the asphalt. Not a problem when the University has no plans to resurface the lot.
This is the summer, however, that the lot will get some needed attention, and when it does the dots go away.
So we spent the day plotting the location of all the painted dots.
Later we will set the points to a map and will be able after that to replicate all the points on the newly repaved parking lot, using the same surveying tool, exactly as before. The surveying tool has an accuracy of 2 centimeters, which is phenomenal. Normal GPS is 20 feet.
The pole is placed on the dot, then you tell the computer on it to read the geographical coordinates. The signal is transmitted to a satellite which locates the pole precisely. Then the data is stored in the computer on the pole, which is later uploaded to autoCAD or maps for printing.
Steve (pictured), a Civil Engineering student, and Zack, a CE graduate this May, helped me understand the process. It was fascinating.
Still here!
...
This dirty lump is the sorry remnants of the 64" of snow we had four months ago. Over five days in January we got dumped on with more than five feet of snow and some of it is still here! What a winter! This picture was taken on 17 May on my way to work.
This dirty lump is the sorry remnants of the 64" of snow we had four months ago. Over five days in January we got dumped on with more than five feet of snow and some of it is still here! What a winter! This picture was taken on 17 May on my way to work.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Leak
...
For 20 years I kept pretty quiet about my birthday at work, and was able to enjoy the 'peace and quiet' ... until now. Somehow word leaked out. Though my fellow bus drivers missed it by a day, they still managed to sneak a cake in and surprise me today. It was pure ninja. I am standing by a bus in the barn barking out orders for everyone to do, and I turn around and there's this birthday cake on the counter staring me in the face. And everyone has big guilty grins ...
I can only hope next year they forget ...
For 20 years I kept pretty quiet about my birthday at work, and was able to enjoy the 'peace and quiet' ... until now. Somehow word leaked out. Though my fellow bus drivers missed it by a day, they still managed to sneak a cake in and surprise me today. It was pure ninja. I am standing by a bus in the barn barking out orders for everyone to do, and I turn around and there's this birthday cake on the counter staring me in the face. And everyone has big guilty grins ...
I can only hope next year they forget ...
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
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