The GDAC program. As I have said many times it is the greatest tool we as surveyors have ever been given and it will continue to be for as long as I will be doing this job. That can be said for certain.

Since most of the published work was done several years ago there have been significant changes to the existing monuments due to varies conditions of construction, goofy people etc.

GDAC still remains the greatest tool for positional research and recovery but since things have changed so much especially in the city areas extreme caution needs to be upheld. 

I have been noticing a change in the monuments in character also horizontally and especially vertically. 

I use to jump all over them but now I have backed off and always check into another, especially when establishing elevation.

There have been instances when I have found monuments to still be in character but have changed vertically, once again due to construction or goofy people.

I have gotten into the habit of hitting those NGS points in the can before I go any further as a start point. Those have a tendency to stay accurate.

A program such as GDAC no matter how awesome it is can not survive accuracy with humans. Consistent updating would need to occur and the cost would be astronomical.

So the question is how does the inventory stay current? I am sure that there is a plan in place and I would like to know what it is.

Do we as the private surveyor need to report a change? 

I am curious to see how well the maintenance will go in the future. I am hopeful that it will continue to be updated and remain current.

Make it a great week surveyors.

You ever have one of those weeks that when it is done you wish you would have followed your childhood dream of playing guitar for Ozzy or becoming a Jedi Knight or a Dragon Slayer or a Nascar driver or anything instead of becoming a surveyor?

Welcome to my world boys and girls.

Aggghhhhhhh!!!!!! Here we go, here we go, here we go again.

Make it a great week surveyors. 

I will have something much more interesting as soon as I get my brain back.

There must be something in the air or I am in attract weird shit mode.

I was working on a job a while back and I approached a patio area. Going along the patio was this strap stuff that looks like Mule Tape.

I needed to locate the patio corner and it was under a tree so I whipped out old Mr. Pocket tape to pull 2 swing ties. I flipped the tape across the strap and got hit with a massive Zot of electricity, I dropped everything including the gps that got tangled in the tape.

I backed up blurted several swear words and then grabbed the rod by the carbon fiber part and got the gps out of the tape as I was hearing "zap, zap,zap".

What the hell man? Who puts electric fence around their patio? I was dazed and felt like my heart stopped. Luckily I did not have to check my pants.

I immediately set 2 traverse point and came back and detailed the area with the reflectorless TS.


Next I mentioned in my last post about doing a job in one of the more colorful parts of town. Well I returned last week to set the property corners and guess what I found that was not there before?
A brand new constructed Hobo Village under a tree right where I needed to set a corner.

I approached the lean to and was stopped by the sound of a gravely voiced female and a male with like voice arguing, about what I have no idea.
I have to admit that listening to it was majorly entertaining, however I did feel less than inclined to knock on the door and tell them that I have to set an iron pin in their living room.

I set all the rest, called the client and told him that when he serves an eviction notice and chops down the tree I'll run back and set the last pin.

I packed it up and was sitting in the truck, I looked over and the female came out of the village. She looked like Slash the guitar player, she was wearing headphones and then proceeded to do an amazing little dance that lasted for a couple of minutes while she was lighting and smoking what appeared to be half cigarettes. I was amazed and mesmerized all at the same time. If I was shameless I would have taken a video and posted it here, however I decided to keep this one for my own memory and not exploit the lady.

I do love an early morning survey in the ghetto.

Make it a great week surveyors.

I did an ALTA the other day down in a very old part of town.

The monuments I recovered reflected a change in right of ways and things were just wrong.

I contacted the City of Phoenix and they quickly sent me some quarter section maps that cleared a lot of things up. My measured monument distances were close to them and the block broke down great with a surplus and the interior monuments came in nice as well.

I finally got the title report and that confirmed everything.

There is an underground tunnel easement running through the area. I have the description of it from the title report and I plotted it but it looked extremely wrong. 

I contacted the city again and they sent me some ADOT maps that assured me that I had it plotted incorrectly.

I beat my brain out looking at this thing every which way and could not figure it out. It had a POB that started 34' +/- from the south quarter corner and was certain that I was starting there.

I got so frustrated that I walked away and left the office.

About 8pm I was still thinking about it and kicked me like a donkey.

I had this thing starting in the right place according to my field points, however I was tied into the monument line of Central Avenue and not the mid section line.

The next morning ran to the office, moved everything to the correct position and what do you know that easement was spot on according to all of the info I have.

I think the moral of this story is sometimes you just gotta choke the pooch before the light comes on.

OK. Last week was a strange week in many ways.

A couple of things that happened last week that really stand out are shown below.

First I was working in a guys yard running a topo and out of the corner of my eye I see something jump, I look over and see a dog standing on a block wall staring at me.

I've seen this before but this one was pretty cool. He actually watched me complete the job.

And then Graupel.

You may be asking what the hell is that. Well that is what fell on us last week. 

Per Wiki:

Graupel (German pronounciation: ['gʁaʊpɛl], also called soft hail or snow pellets)[1]refers to precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water are collected and freeze on a falling snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) ball of rime. Strictly speaking, graupel is not the same as hail or ice pellets, although it is sometimes referred to as small hail. However, the World Meteorological Organization defines small hail as snow pellets encapsulated by ice, a precipitation halfway between graupel and hail.


There is more but I think you get the idea.

A couple of week ago I found a significant error an a plat that was done by one of the big machines.

I promptly brought it to their attention and they looked into it.

It took them about 2 weeks to get an answer for me. It turned out that I was correct and they recorded an affidavit of correction and provided me a copy.

I get a little impatient when there is a problem and I want it fixed right away. I have absolutely zero understanding of corporate culture and their procedures, it's like the government in many ways, it all has to be done through process.

The beauty of being a small business is that we can most often do things right away, there is little wait time and we are able to jump in with both feet and find resolution.

Through no fault of their own the big machine I was dealing with had to grab that job out of archive which apparently was a whole deal and then verify what I said etc.

I understand all of that, it was just the time factor. As a small biz that is something we do not have the luxury of is time.

While a big machine can take 2 weeks we as small guys have to be in the now and on top of customer service at all times, that is what keeps us going. 

My client was getting extremely agitated and kept can the big question, "can't you just??" and of course my answer was no.

At the end of the day the problem got solved and my client was grateful for my sharp eyes.

The big machine was awesome and I am very grateful to them for working with me. They were gracious and thankful that I had brought the issue to their attention and the people I worked with were attentive and kept communication going.

I the past I have been told by similar companies that it is my problem and deal with it and they are finished.

That is the utmost in non-professional behavior and the company I just dealt with are all pros and I will never hesitate to contact them again for any reason.

I know one of the people I dealt with checks this blog out from time to time, so I want to shout out big thanks to you for all the help.

OK. So we are still here, we survived the whole 12-21-12 thing. The survey world keeps moving forward.

This is going to be a very good year. Things are truly on the up swing and the future looks good. That's first time in quite a while I can say this without that small voice in the back of my brain saying the opposite.

Proof. My revenues are up from 2011 and this January so far is killing last year. Overall projections look good and the climate and all around attitude is better.

I think there was so much uncertainty in 2013 that none of us really knew what we were going to do.

I also accomplished some great things last year. 

I have successfully incorporated my contract labor program and so far so good.

I was able to give fellow surveyors in other parts of the state some good referrals and some panned out nicely for them and their business. I love being able to do that. I am going to discuss that on another day.

I was able to create some great alliances with fellow surveyors. This is good. Does it enhance business? Not really but having people to bounce some things off of is awesome.

This coming year I am going to change the name of my company and I am going to implement a different type of marketing strategy that I will be discussing as I go along.

I am in the process of building a better business than I had before the crash, I am just going to take a different direction that I honestly think will be better and more efficient.

It's time for us all to dust off that equipment that's been sitting there doing nothing, get new batteries for them and start making some money.

I have a lot of good stuff to discuss this year. I think you all will like the changes you will see.

Lets go kick some ass surveyors. It's time. All the dead weight is gone and all of the good guys are still standing and ready to rock.

It's time for this kid to jump in with both feet, throw caution to the wind and make some shit happen and to hell with anything that gets in my way. It's time for me to get what I want.

2013. Make it great one boys and girls.

Well it’s the Holidays again. 

I want to take a moment to thank anyone that has posted and participated on my blog this last year.
Good, bad, hateful or indifferent, you help make it fun.

I want to wish everyone:

Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukah
Happy Kwanzaa

Or whatever your thing is, enjoy and make it a great one. 

2012 Has been a hell of a year. It’s been up and down and around all over the world.

2013 looks promising and I intend to charge at it with full force.

Now then, lets once again give it up for the surfing Santa.

I always find people that are shopping for the cheapest price amusing.

While I understand their outlook on the situation I always muse about the shitty job they are about to receive at a cut rate.

My prices in opinion are actually right in the middle of industry standard. 

In talking to peers about this very topic I have come to the conclusion.

While everyone can get a job done for a certain cost there are those who have gone into this thing I call "disregard profit mode".

This I am going to tell you is a travesty. Anyone that is willing to work without profit should have their right to do business revoked.

Now this is merely my personal opinion but if you think about the long term ramifications and the absolute destruction of client loyalty this causes it is a pretty big deal.

As things continue to turn around we will see less of this sort of thing mostly because the cheapo's will be to busy and guys like me will start getting more calls.

I had an experience the other day. This person calls me, tells me what they think they need and me knowing what the particular city will accept I proceed to tell them that they may be cutting themselves short and they should verify.

The verification occurred and I was asked by the same person "this is only a few hours worth of work right?" Well actually no it was much more in depth and I estimated it at a professional rate.

Needless to say I have not heard back but that's ok. I would rather pass on the opportunity to get jammed on for a cut rate price and just move on to the next job.

During the peak of the last recession at times I would get really pissed off when I got beat. Today I actually pity the client because you and I know that the service they will receive for the cheapest price will be sub par and essentially they get what they pay for.

This whole cheap thing is now coming back around to bite a lot of guys on the ass now. I think I always knew it would but wow is it better than I ever imagined.

Peace out surveyors. Make it a great profitable week.

I very rarely discuss politics in public and I am going to continue that trend.
Today however I am very sad for our great country.

On November 6, 2012 the United States of America decided to continue the unfortunate and extremely precarious position that is placed its self in 4 years ago.

The magnitude of this decision is serious and we will have little idea of it for the next year or so.
Why did this happen? I know why, but I refuse to discuss it here just as I refuse to disparage the continuing President of these United States.

Many will tell you how much trouble we are in.
Fat chance!

To them I say “Shut your ignorant mouth”! Take your mudslinging and shove it.  Keep your trap shut unless you have something constructive to say about how to help us progress.

We are Americans. We are the greatest country the world has ever seen and by nature we will prevail no matter what is handed to us.

I am an American Patriot through and through, I love my country and I will succeed no matter what comes my way.

I'm moving forward.