Evolve or die

[Jims5543]

The Dog asshole is known by the police BTW - it seems he threatens everyone telling them if he lets his dogs out they are dead. Part of what I discovered is that he is 58 years old which tells me a man that age behaving that way is not mentally stable.

I pity his neighbors.


Moving on, my BIL is on his way home from the hospital, they adjusted his meds and want to see him in 3 weeks again to further adjust them.

They also told him that is he does not get in better shape he is going to die, I hope that motivates him to get his shit together.

What is killing me is he kept this a secret from me for 2 weeks, I noticed he was not sending work back to me, I asked and he said he was fine and needed to catch up (a lie) he could not get out of bed, we found out he was sleeping 18 hours a day fatigued and exhausted.

I am so behind with my clients it is not funny, I did not want to use him as an excuse, I just told them we had a drafter turn ill and we are short handed. We are not THAT far behind, they are just spoiled by our fast turn around times.

This entire ordeal has me rethinking how I am running this place, I think I want a full time drafter in house, then toss the larger projects to the BIL. Keeping my in house drafter freed up to turn out the smaller jobs faster.

The only problem with that is finding someone worth a shit, the last time I looked around for help the pool to choose from lacked chlorine.

I am going to toss my feelers out. Right now, I am just going to put in the hours again to keep up. 

[94touring]

I wish I remembered how to run Cad, it would give me something to do sitting in hotels.

[cstudep]

We hardly use 2d cad anymore in my world. We used to do some pretty awesome shit in 2D autocad with blocks and menu/lisp routine automation. Been living in the 3d cad world for a little over 20 years now and it has really curtailed my 2d cad skills, still use it but not like I once did. I have developed some pretty mad 3d cad skills though so at least there is that I guess.

It's been a real long time since I have done any surveying work, I always enjoyed being out in the field but have always enjoyed the cad side as well.

[Jims5543]

I wish I remembered how to run Cad, it would give me something to do sitting in hotels.

I already have a remote guy with my BIL when he is not broken. I really just want someone handling everything I do so I am no longer doing any drafting, just checking and signing. I used to have a full time drafter, when I did, I did not do any drafting at all. I am just wearing a lot of hats now, I am still in Housing Crash / Great Recession mode when I do not really need to be, or do I?

More and more news articles stating the housing markets (at least in Florida) are crashing. I have been seeing it for close to 2 years now, as I have said in the past Land Surveyors feel it first, then everyone catches up to us. I will probably muscle through this hiccup and wait to see what happens in the next 3-6 months before doing anything.

We hardly use 2d cad anymore in my world. We used to do some pretty awesome shit in 2D autocad with blocks and menu/lisp routine automation. Been living in the 3d cad world for a little over 20 years now and it has really curtailed my 2d cad skills, still use it but not like I once did. I have developed some pretty mad 3d cad skills though so at least there is that I guess.

It's been a real long time since I have done any surveying work, I always enjoyed being out in the field but have always enjoyed the cad side as well.

The tech in land surveying is changing a lot, what I do? 2D is perfect for me.

I have friends who work in big corporations using amazing tech.  Drone tech is insane now. The Drones now have Survey accuracy GPS and Lidar cameras, I watched a field demo from a company where the drone flew over us on some county property while we watched a big screen TV and could see it mapping everything in real time in 3D.

Then a cad tech comes in and cleans up any "noise" that may have confused it.

The investment into something like that is too rich for me, we are talking over 100K possibly 200K. I didn't ask because I know I cannot afford it. LOL!


OK another big push Friday, I have about 60 files on my desk many are just stupid little things, a lot of revisions, as in oh, I want to change the design of this pool type of stuff.

[Jims5543]

I lied, I had about 40 files, my BIL emailed this morning and wants to work, I set him loose on 10 Plot plans for a builder reducing my work load from about 50 files to less than 40.

After kicking ass for the last 4 hours I am down to 4 files. + what he is working on.


I was looking for a drunk pic for Mudhen with no joy, and I found these pics from when Topcon sent a film crew to shadow me. I felt special for a day. LOL

One of my friends who saw the video, I need to find it its on you tube somewhere. Said it was endearing to see an older pickup with some dents on it in the background indicating a real down to earth small company and not some big corp.

And that was exactly what my Topcon salesman said to me, he said it came off great because I actually use the gear. My hands on experience translates through the video and you can sense I actually use it.  A couple of other interviews they did the Surveyor who oversees the Corporation, who never works outside, wanted to be in the video so they pretend to use the equipment not really knowing what they are doing and it shows.

I never thought of this as a big deal, I just thought it would be fun to do an interview. My one surveyor buddy pointed out that I am now on the internet in perpetuity a cool legacy to leave behind. Imagine if there were video's of my Grandfather online right now I could go look at?  I never thought of it that way.  So pretty cool opportunity and experience.  Good thing they did not interview me 3 weeks ago. LOL!!

[MiniGene]

I My one surveyor buddy pointed out that I am now on the internet in perpetuity a cool legacy to leave behind. Imagine if there were video's of my Grandfather online right now I could go look at?  I never thought of it that way.  So pretty cool opportunity and experience.  Good thing they did not interview me 3 weeks ago. LOL!!

That's why I think it's cool to start putting stuff on YouTube.  A couple of years ago I started two channels.  They're both pretty small and nowhere near being in YT's partner program, but maybe they'll be out there for a while for my kids to look at long after I'm gone.

BTW, I've been lurking here semi-recently.  This is my first post in a very long time.  Good to read and catch up on things. :)

[Jims5543]

That's why I think it's cool to start putting stuff on YouTube.  A couple of years ago I started two channels.  They're both pretty small and nowhere near being in YT's partner program, but maybe they'll be out there for a while for my kids to look at long after I'm gone.

BTW, I've been lurking here semi-recently.  This is my first post in a very long time.  Good to read and catch up on things. :)

I honestly had not considered that until my friend mentioned it, I have 2 channels, I am not about monetizing it, although I have considered putting an effort into creating car content and see if I can make some money doing something really fun, playing with cars.


I just walked in from surveying a house for a pool, while I was there, the 20 something year old son comes home. I am in the back yard doing my thing, he comes out of the house and sits on the back screen room on his phone. then I smell the devils lettuce and hear him coughing realized he is getting baked right in front of me. It's legal here (medically) so no real taboo, just thought it was wierd.

The crazy part?  right after he finished blazing his MJ, he jumped back in his pickup truck and drove away. I thought that was stupid.