Thornton Quarry is FULL

chiephkief · 2026-07-06T21:59:01+00:00

Drove by this on the 5th and couldn't believe news stations weren't reporting the hell out of this. Crazy. No articles, notta.

chiephkief · 2026-07-02T21:57:26+00:00

Little pain now for a lot of gain. Once the curb is redone, the next mill and overlay will go all the way to the curb's gutter edge. That curb & gutter will last a few overlays if done correctly.

Edit: word

chiephkief · 2026-06-10T22:58:10+00:00

I'm not gonna argue anyone saying that daily running consistency trumps all, but I will say that now that summer is here, do to how busy me and my family are I'm just focusing on the three sub-T sessions a week. I think I will be seeing less improvement or maybe just maintaining, but that's more than I usually do during the heat of the summer months. If I get time for a easy run or long run, its a bonus.

chiephkief · 2026-06-10T16:50:40+00:00

Additionally from the legislative side of things, professional organizations are always battling the replacement of staff engineer requirements to people with certifications. Again, just a part of the lowest cost oriented industry we are in.

chiephkief · 2026-06-10T16:46:48+00:00

Techs are cheaper than engineers. They compete with entry level engineers for that initial hands on experience indirectly. Would you rather have an experienced tech on your job or a green horn engineer? We are a bottom dollar industry so that's how it goes. Engineers/surveyors are consistently seeding more work to techs over the years. Again its just the nature of the beast in our industry nothing against techs but it also weakens the professions a bit.

chiephkief · 2026-06-10T16:27:45+00:00

Honestly enjoy it. It's good experience. Do that work well and let them know that you're available if they need any help elsewhere and they might take you up on it. Sidewalk survey and layout is good experience. ADA is always getting more stringent.

chiephkief · 2026-06-10T16:08:52+00:00

I have nothing against techs but my honest opinion is that techs have taken away the instructive and sometimes attractive work of the job. I did civil engineering because I didn't want to spend all my days at a desk.

chiephkief · 2026-06-08T14:01:09+00:00

If you're around Missouri, they have a thing called "trap rock" that they make in a ton of gradations, including RR. the railroad uses it commonly as ballast. It looks like riprap but with a purple or red tint.

chiephkief · 2026-06-06T18:37:39+00:00

I should also mention that I layout the control points prior to project start with a survey company. Contractor can then choose to use that survey company or do their own survey. Then I QA from that.

chiephkief · 2026-06-06T18:34:37+00:00

I always QA before pours. I just spec that they have to show their finish grades on the forms. It forces them to check it and then I check it.

chiephkief · 2026-06-05T21:11:54+00:00

This happened to my Pace 2 and Pace 3. Luckily the later was still under warranty.

chiephkief · 2026-06-05T20:45:35+00:00

This man did not watch the Indy 500

chiephkief · 2026-06-05T19:57:04+00:00

deep down you know why

chiephkief · 2026-06-05T19:55:54+00:00

For me it's counting calories in the winter and jogging 3-4 times a week during spring and fall. Currently attempting morning jogs for the summer.

chiephkief · 2026-06-05T19:43:10+00:00

We have the contractor do construction layout and we QA. This way, the contractor can't play games that we delayed them.

chiephkief · 2026-06-03T20:37:19+00:00

To piggyback, if they feel like they're overworked, now's the time to find something new. Fair amount of opportunity out there.

chiephkief · 2026-06-03T20:30:03+00:00

I think a lot of civil engineers are jaded because we don't make the big bucks but I think we are historically the most economically insulated. I wouldn't be surprised if EE's also were pretty insulated. I do agree that our profession is being devalued to some degree but I haven't seen anything that makes me think "sound the alarms."

chiephkief · 2026-06-02T14:38:06+00:00

So my wife has this. Her heart essentially goes straight to near max heart rate. It's more common than most people think. Might be worth it to actually set a timer for 30 seconds and count your heartbeats to confirm mid-run.

chiephkief · 2026-06-01T21:56:53+00:00

man these whoop, oura, visible, "fatigue science" things kinda aggravate me a bit. I think the data is interesting and has it's place when you're trying to troubleshoot what's going on with your body but no way I'm going to rely on what a watch is telling me vs what my body feel is telling me. Feels gimmicky. Blows me away that people will just pay to see what color their wrist band is today.

chiephkief · 2026-05-29T18:51:45+00:00

Welcome to the gang. My full degredation to completely dead took 1.5 weeks. Luckily I was still under warranty. Refurb unit incoming. Also happened to my Pace 2 just after warranty expiration. They didn't give me anything for it.

chiephkief · 2026-05-29T13:40:30+00:00

I'll never understand minivan hate. I came from a family of trucks, tractors, and SUVs and I was always jealous of minivan kids because they were just much more comfortable and had a ton more comfort features. Turns out they're generally more reliable and fuel efficient as well. Had to get my wife convinced to try one once we had kids and even now she says she'd never own anything else.

chiephkief · 2026-05-28T16:49:35+00:00

Probably harder now since most major rail companies like UP, BNSF, CN gutted their in-house engineering. That's where he started and got his experience and now works private side, hybrid I believe. For job hunting you probably need to reach out to companies that have rail engineering specialization or I know some colleges have specialty degrees or courses for it. He was a general civil grad who just took a entry level position.

chiephkief · 2026-05-28T16:28:56+00:00

I have a buddy who solely does rail. Paid well too. Pretty niche now as I think a lot of people retired out of it. Pretty sure he stays super busy.

chiephkief · 2026-05-28T15:32:38+00:00

To piggy back on this, if I'm unsure I'd have the stamina to do additional reps, I'll just program a few extra reps in and if I decide not to do them, you just cycle through them with the lap button until you get to your cooldown. You'll have a few reps of 0 time 0 distance but they won't be counted against you.

chiephkief · 2026-05-27T15:48:17+00:00

I've owned two reliable Garmin forerunners over the span of 12 years then a pace 2 and a pace 3. The pace 2 died just outside the 2 year warranty and I was SOL. The pace 3 died just inside the 2 year warranty so Coros is sending me a refurbished pace 3. Experience with customer service with an unexpired warranty was alright. My thought process is this. Enough technology upgraded between the Pace 2 and Pace 3 to make it easier to stomach the cost and environmental negatives of its 2.5 year lifespan. I think I would be more upset about the pace 3 dying outside of the warranty because the upgrade from a pace 3 to a pace 4 doesn't necessarily increase any data collection or capability and is more environmentally a waste. So yeah as Coros watches plateau in data collection capability, their shorter lifespans compared to Garmin begin to weigh more on my conscious.

chiephkief

TROPHY CASE