Wisdom (?) From The Aged (ish)

Today (July 11, 2014) is my 17 year anniversary with Converse Consultants.  So much has changed in our industry, and so much hasn't.  Here are a few things I've learned in my tenure.  Things about the A/E/C industry, my firm, and myself:

I am old:  At least I feel old.  I am constantly learning and am very open to new and different and next.  But I am, nonetheless, approaching dinosaur status.  When I started with Converse I was in my (late) thirties, with two barely teenage daughters and two preteen sons.  Now I am in my (mid) fifties.  My kids are all in their early 30's.  I have four grandchildren.  I was a soccer mom, now I am a soccer Gma.

And I love it.

Ours is a very small, incestuous industry: I am an anomaly as a BD professional with one firm for so long.  I know of other folks, many of them with Converse, who have stayed put longer, but it seems professional and technical staff move from firm to firm to firm, wherever the projects are.  It makes sense in some ways, it's unsettling in others.

Millennials are interesting folk:  As a boomer I have worked with and supervised Gens X and Y.  I am now working with some very bright young people who aren't challenged and motivated the way I or the generations in between are.  And if I don't mentor them properly, they will leave.  Regardless of pay.

I remember yesterday:  When we weren't networked.  Stand alone PC's with phone cords dangling from to ceiling so I could access the internet. Heck I remember typing (not keyboarding) SF255 forms in triplicate with carbon paper.  Yup.

And I like today:  Everything is digital and instant.  I have a variety of ways in which to connect with my clients and each one has their own preference.  My phone is more powerful than the first PC that I worked on (the first Macintosh desktop).  Converse isn't cutting edge across the board yet, but we are up to speed where we need to be and our leadership listens.

But not everything:  We are too connected.  At least I am.  I have a love/hate relationship with my phone.  It makes it easy for me to stay in touch and I am always available, but it's also a leash and I am always available.

The view of tomorrow is cool:  Watching how quickly the technology changes and how it can be applied to geotechnical engineering and geology is awesome.  And if today is awesome, what will tomorrow look like?  I can't wait.

Healing Asphalt: Porous Pavement with a Longer Lifespan

We all deal with road surfaces in various states of (dis)repair.  Cracking and potholes are annoying at best, damaging to our cars at worst. 

There are 4.09 million miles of road in the United States, with the vast majority of those paved surfaces under local jurisdictions. Municipal budgets have withered to dust across the country but constituents want the roads fixed.  What to do?

Porous pavement has a solid fanbase for many reasons, though it has it's own problems.  But check this out...Pavement Healing...it's awesome.  Of course it's in The Netherlands but hey, if it works there, why not here?