Calling all Map Geek Wannabes

Think you have what it takes to be a Map Geek?

Take this test and let me know how you do.

One of the coolest map thingys ever.

Oh I got a 564,172 my first try. I guess that's OK...I could prolly do better if I boned up on my Central Asian geography. ah well.

Unemployment blues....

Greetings, faithful Blog readers..

As of last Friday I officially became unemployed. Apparently my position with my employer was eliminated during the reorganization of their business. I joined about 1800 other employees there that fell to the slumping housing market. It was a great experience working there and I'm going to miss it. But life moves on.

Good news: I'm on vacation in Hilton Head South Carolina with my family and we're having a blast.

Bad News: I'm fully unemployed starting the middle of July.

Anyone looking for a mid-level GIS Analyst/Manager type?

I have my resume handy if you want a gander. Seriously - post below if you have any interest...I am looking for any and all opportunities.

I'll check in later when I'm back home from vacation - should have some pics and all to share.

P

I'm BACK!

Howdy intrepid Blog readers!

I've been away for a while as lots of interesting things have happened in our lives over the past month. If you've kept up with War Eagle Girl's Blog, you'll know that we took a trip to Vegas and to Charlotte, so you know we've been busy. I have also been going through a job transition and am just starting to get settled at my new job. They keep me pretty busy around here, so I haven't had a heck of alot of time to post on my blog. This new job has been a big change for me, and I am finding that most changes (especially this one) are for the better. Some of the pros of my new job include:

1) They gave me a nice big office (my own!)
2) I have a big and fast PC to do my mapping and programming on
3) The morning commute is better
4) They pay me more
5) Better opportunity for promotion and career growth
6) I'm a regional employee now, so I work with a larger variety of people in different offices
7) Less stressful - not near as many hurried requests for projects due in an hour
8) (this is for Seannibal) The vending machine in the breakroom is free!

As great as this new job is, there are some drawbacks:

1) I no longer work with War Eagle Girl
2) the afternoon commute is worse than before
3) I miss talking with my BC friends. I'm located with the Regional VPs, and they travel alot so its usually pretty quiet around here.
4) I no longer have a supportive GIS community here to work with. I guess I will have to build my own.

Who am I working for, you might ask? Pulte Homes, America's largest home builder. I am still making maps, but in support of strategic planning for residential development. It's a different world over here, different from environmental consulting, that's for sure.

Just wanted to fill you all in, I'll try to keep up with my blog when I find amusing links and the like.

Have any questions for the new Southeast Area Senior GIS/Data Analyst? Ask away...

Hasta Luego, Amigos!

Own your piece of the Caribbean

Wow. Check out this link and you can own your own island!

I reckon I'd better start saving....

*dreams*

Another HHI Vacation

Hey there faithful Blog Readers...

We have returned. Packed up the family and went to Hilton Head South Carolina for more fun in the sun. The weather was much better temperature wise this time around, but it was rainy and windy. Thanks Tropical Storm Tammy. It was a good trip, my Dad turned 60 on Tuesday so we took him out for ribs and a nice dinner at Truffles Cafe on Sea Pines Plantation. Very very good meal. The Babygirl got to be the center of attention the whole week also, which she enjoys immensely.

Now we're back in the ATL trying to get readjusted to the fast city life. *sigh* At least it's been a short work week and I have aerating and overseeding to look forward to tomorrow. yay.

Hope everyone is doing well, we've been keeping mega busy round here.

Katrina

We were in Hickory this past weekend when we noticed on the news saturday night that Katrina had intensified and become a Cat 5 storm and was bearing down on Louisiana. I had always wondered what a Cat 5 storm would look like when it hit land, seeing as how I used to T.A. Meteorology and Climatology in Grad School. I had this inner desire - from the same place that people have the desire to see car wrecks - to see what sort of destruction a storm like this could bring.

I've seen it now, although not in person, and I am ashamed of ever thinking that it would be 'cool' to see what a Cat 5 storm could do.

This is beyond anything I could have imagined, and I fear it may get alot worse in New Orleans. Buildings may start to topple due to softening foundations. There is no law in the streets now, so it may even be necessary to have a Fallujah-style invasion of New Orleans by our military just to get it back. Gas lines are insane here in Georgia. Corpses float through flooded streets. Diease will soon set in. Thousands may die. The effects are seemingly endless.

And all this because of a very large hurricane - a natural event.

Who's to blame? No one. The lefties and Euroweenies are blaming President Bush for this, just showing their total lack of human hearts and minds in the process. Category 5 storms occur on this planet, they have in the past, they will in the future. It's not one man's fault and to think so is ignorant, and then to voice it? That's just the height of stupidity.

I pray and hope that things get better for the entire Mississippi and New Orleans Katrina impacted areas. I just hope that we as Americans learn some lessons out of this, and remember when someone brings up the possibility of an event like this being brought on by a terrorist. *shudder*

Back from vacation, Jury Duty Etc..

Check out APC's blog for more detailed info from our trip to HHI for the past weekend.

Things I learned on this trip:

1)Babygirl gets fussy past 8 PM
2)it is waaaaaaaay too hot in the end of August to sit by a pool in coastal South Carolina
3)Georgia's laws against happy hours STINK! half price appetizers and $2 beers at a 4 star resort on the beach in South Carolina? sweeeeet. (Cartman voice)
4)Wild Wing wings at Hilton Head are just as yummy as they are in Atlanta.
5)Hotwire rules. We stayed at a top notch resort with great facilities for a C-note a night.

After we returned I had to report for my civic duty at the Fulton County Courthouse Monday morning. Jury duty. Two words feared the country over, yet noone really knows why. Basically I learned why. You wait way too much, and then listen to lawyers speak, and you can't resume your normal schedule until they're done with you. BUT..this was a murder trial, and it was actually very very interesting. More on this later, but let's just say, I didn't make the jury after TWO DAYS of questions.

*sigh* Finally back at work.

Oh and dayammm....APC's Blog is dominating mine in hits - you go girl!

Thoughts on Mortality and Sickness

Ugh.

I came back from San Diego with a sunburn and a sore throat. The sore throat changed into a brief head cold that seemed to go away over the weekend. Then Wednesday afternoon my voice started getting hoarse and by the time I got home from work, I couldn't talk. I basically was making odd hoarse raspy noises that vaguely sounded like the English language, or a frog choking on a freshly caught fly (how's that for simile?), depends on your angle of hearing it I guess. Oh and my throat hurt. I had to call in sick on Thursday and half day Friday because of this 'thing' that invaded my body.

What's my point? I have a point, really I do. You just don't realize how important your voice is until you lose it. I could not do my work and I work with computers most of the day when I wouldn't think I would have to be able to speak. It threw me out of my normal 'comfort zone' and into a realm of the unknown where I had to communicate using hand signals mixed with whispers. Digital communication can only do so much, but face to face is still where we as a species make and break relationships. Now I have an idea of what it would be like to be mute, and it isn't fun. I have since recovered, but the experience will last with me for a while.

Hopefully I won't have spread it to my wife and baby girl. We might have to learn American Sign Language then. Or get a big whiteboard with some dry erase markers.

Don't think I'm getting waaaay too deep here, I mean it's almost football season and I'll have plenty to pontificate upon then that some may deem shallow.

San Diegoooooo....

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I realize that I may be losing many of my loyal fans by my lack of blogactivity (is that a word?). I have been at a conference all last week in San Diego, California.

Wow. What a great place and a great conference.

It was the big ESRI International GIS conference at the San Diego Convention Center. It was my first time going and I couldn't beleive that there were almost 15,000 GeoGeeks all in one place at once! It was incredible, There were hundreds of technical workshops on GIS software, thousands and thousands of map displays, hundreds of GIS demos, User papers, maps, aerial photos, and maps, oh my! It was definitely a great time to network and learn alot about my industry.

My thesis advisor in graduate school at USC, Dr. Cowen, got a lifetime GIS achievement award at the plenary session on Monday in front of thousands of other GIS colleagues. He was moved to tears. It was a great moment for a man I am a big fan of. Congratulations Dr. Cowen! and of course, as he was leaving the stage, after the thunderous applause, someone shouted 'Go Gamecocks!'. and the grand poobah of all things GIS, Jack Dangermond said from the podium 'umm, yes.'

*sniff* it was beautiful.

The keynote address was given by Jane Goodall of Chimpanzees in Africa fame. She gave a really good speech about the Earth and how were destroying it and all and how she got to come to know the chimps in Gombe. Then after her speech, she and Jack Dangermond were on the stage and started chatting about things. He asked her a couple questions and it got pretty liberal, pretty fast. I have alot of respect for Dr. Goodall and the things that she has done for environmentalism and science in general, but some of her views on the world are a bit extreme. But then I suppose if you devote your life to these views, then I guess that's what one should expect to hear. Dr. Goodall proceeded to tell us (I paraphrase a bit, but this is what I remember):

- we are destroying the Earth and we should return to the good old days of
subsistence hunting and gathering (yeah that'll fix it!)
- that many of us buy things we don't need and that is one of the problems with
Western Society (I don't need this house or motor car? Who'd a thunk it?)
- Things would be so much better if we just gave more food and money to the poor in the world (You mean we don't already give BILLIONS of American Taxpayer dollars in aid to the world already?)
- She pushed her 'Giant Peace Doves' as some sort of statement that everyone on Earth really wants peace. She hoped that someday 'a satellite will fly over the planet and see thousands of giant peace doves all over the planet'. As jaded as it sounds, I couldn't help but chuckle at her peace doves. It's just funny. Check out the link - its good fun. I just hope those things come equipped with explosives for the terrorists and murderers in the world.

San Diego is a great town. The weather was unbeleivable, I kept shaking my head thinking to myself 'it's almost August, Pat, almost August..really!' as I was strolling through the Gaslamp District in the middle of the day in sunny, 74 degree temperatures with NO humidity. Being from Atlanta, I KNOW humidity. They don't have it in San Diego, and that is why it is so expensive to live there. Not only is the weather great, but the downtown area is happening with tons of restaurants, bars, shops, etc. that people actually go to at night. Yes I am referring to my own hometown's lack of downtown life, and the reasons are many, but I won't get into them here. Let's just say that SD sure as hell puts on a good nightlife time - whether it be a fancy reataurant, Mexican cantina eating on the sidewalk, or Irish pubs...they got it. Plus beautiful bayside scenery and palm trees.

But I have to be honest with yall, as great as it was to be out there, by the time the third morning dawned, I was reallly missing my wife and daughter. It just isn't the same to travel without them.

awwwwww.

Hurricane Emily

In the latest weather news, Category 4 Hurricane Emily hit one of my favoritest (is that a word?)places in the world, Cozumel. As APC pointed out recently on her blog we are JONESIN to travel back to Mexico for a good old fashioned tequila-laden dive trip. Of course the storm hit the southern end of the island and as a result I was searching web forums and the news for any information on what happened to Cozumel. Sounds like there's lots of trees down, some structure damage, flooding, and no reported deaths. *phew* BUT the palapa toll was extensive. NOOOOOOO!!! What the hell am I gonna drink my fruity drink under next time I'm there? I hope they regrow! Damn you Emily...DAMN YOU ALL TO HELLL!

On a more serious note, the Eastern side of the island which had all of three bars on isolated beautiful beaches, was demolished. We will miss you, Mezcalitos.


APC at Mezcalitos


Me and Corona overlooking Caribbean at Mezcalitos *sob*

On that note, we are starting to plan a little trip sometime in the month of August. We are looking for some beachy type resorty place in SC,GA or NC where we are close to Hickory. Charleston? Myrtle Beach? HHI? Anyone have any great suggestions for an affordable family friendly beach resort to stay?

Those crazy Brits...

Courtesy of Coach Thugg (little brother),

I just read this article on the web about a long lost food item in Britain. Apparently this food has a large 'underground' following and they would like it to come back into British menu prominence once again.

Don't know why, but I found it a little humorous, maybe its the picture of the family that is named after my nickname for Curley Ver 2.0's bowel movements.

Enjoy!

Post Fireworks blues..

Arggghhh...

After a nice long holiday weekend at the lakehouse in Tennessee, it's back to work for the MapGeek. Yuck.

Had a good 4th of July weekend, fishing and playing on the lake, ate lots of BBQ and determined that Apple Pie may be the quintessential American dessert, but in the South it's definitely peach pie.

Will have pics from the weekend up tomorrow.

Answers to last weeks geo-quiz (thanks for your participation, Seannibal - the rest of you - ptthhhhtttt):
1) Mt. Whitney, California (el. 14,491 ft above MSL)
2) Hibernia - Ireland
Dacia - Romania
Gallia - France
Hispania - Spain (and Portugal)

Oh and thanks for all the responses to my football query! /Sarcasm

May actually go to the Wild Wing for wings and trivia tomorrow - w00t!!