Robert L Young.net

Happy January 11th.  I am very grateful to be

a team leader in growing a business with great

team players.  I feel the division of our beliefs as

Americans (not team players)  on “work ethic”,

does not create a roadblock that can’t be overcome,

or an end to my passion to grow a business, grow as

my creator instucts, and pursue the American dream

I have in my mind and heart.

Leadership does not stop, it works

on feedback, adapts as needed, creates

a new approach to reach the desired

end result.

Common Sense, right?

What an awesome time we had on Thursday.  All of my family showed

up at my parents house and my wife and I had arrived the night before

to prepare the ritual meal that has been part of my life for almost 60 years.

This year it was a little different.  As opposed to “helping” – me and my wife

were honored to prepare the food without the direction and assistance of my

parents, who have been married 64 years to date.  They agreed to watch and

to just relax while the bird and all the trimmings were prepared in their kitchen

by others.

All went better than I could of hoped for.  The food was abundant and everyone

commented and took home loads of the leftovers.

Thanksgiving has always been important, and this year it seems to make sense.  I

for one am SO THANKFUL to have my parents alive, well, and willing to be served.

So many of us work hard to serve others and NEVER allow others to serve us.  This

incredible priveldge that I feel to serve them an awesome dinner made me really

count my blessings, as I have so many that I feel rich, very very rich.

The moments that I remember from Thursday are with me, (some of them on the

Iphone) and my whole family is appreciated more by me than ever.  Not sure why,

just a certainty in my gut that all is well, as we all look to a great deal of uncertainty

in most areas of our life, I am THANKFUL to have the love and support of my family

and realize that is very valuable and should never be taken for granted.

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!

I am thinking there are many more than me that enjoy being

in the field, especially this time of year!  Been really blessed

to have work, leadership within our team that allowed me

to get in the field and live and work with several of our crews

on a project in West Texas.  What a blast to get the chance to

be back in the field and to really get to work on projects from

the ground up that cover such a huge amount of Texas.

I am learning every day and by being involved in all aspects of

this project. It’s proving to be a great opportunity to share with

others and learn a great deal from others.

Weather is becoming a bit cold at night, and other than that, the

days are PERFECT this time of year. With the technologies today,

we get a chance to be very productive, cover a large area, and

provide value to our client.  The crews I am working with are very

tight as a team and it is a great atmosphere where we enjoy the good

things and endure the inconveniences.  We have our own trailerhood.

That’s another story for another day.

Technologies will be part of a future post, as we are in the process of

changing from the old style radios to the new FCC compliant radios.

So far they work fine – have not tested range and will report the specifics

in a future post.

Surveying in Autumn

Anybody else having fun?

This is the Friday before Labor Day Weekend.  Made me think about how

the work force has changed, at least from my perspective.  Used to be that

slackers were the minority and most everyone did their job.  Nowadays,

slackers rule… it is almost like the more you can slack and get away with it

the cooler you are.  Cool to who?  your peers?  Anyways, as I think about

my work history, I always have and will work, as that makes me happy.

Work is something I like to do and is part of me.

As I continue to grow older, I am amazed at how much things change

and how much some things never change.  My parents are still alive and

well, and I hear them say “how much has changed in our life time.” a lot.

When I look back at my almost 60 years on this earth, one of the things

that has changed from my perspective is the way we view work and the

way we view “Them” – “They” – “Everyone else”, etc…

Specifically, the “work ethic” that seemed to be prevalent in most every

job I ever had is not so prevalent today.  It is as if there is a new fad or wave

of thinking and projecting a sense of entitlement that resonates from

many present day workers.  They want to be in charge NOW.  Many new

hires project a sense of “they are doing the company a huge favor” by just

showing up and that entitles them to money for nothing….etc….

It is not only the words spoken, it is the actions taken, not taken, and the

drama with which many work related issues take on in this day of extreme

caution and political correctness.  Some folks are just looking for a chance to

claim “foul” or blow a whistle to let everyone know they are being wronged.

I was raised to be polite and respectful and this whole new political corectness

is something we have let get out of hand.  Who is to say what is politically correct

or incorrect?  Common sense would be a good rule of thumb from my perspective.

The Golden Rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not so

important or nearly as appealing as how can I get the most out from the least input.

When I was growing up in the early 1960s as a young teen, we all wanted to

work, we wanted to be grown up, and the elders advised me to enjoy my youth

and not speed up the process, as I would become of age in due time.

Wow, they were right.  In 1977, when my buddies were still in year 4 or 5 of

their higher education career, I was out.  I hurriedly graduated to make sure

that I was out of the college degree program in the four years, as I was not about

to have others think I was slow and that I could not get a four year degree in four

years.  When I did get the degree and the reality of WORK all the time was in front

of me, at first I was angry and not ready to grow up, then I realized how fortunate I

was to be young, have a degree, and the world was my apple.  When I began to look

at the world with that perspective, along with a work ethic that I had been raised with and had

taken for granted really helped me excel in all jobs I took.  I was always striving to do

my best, do more than was expected, and to continue an upward mobile path as I was

maturing into a young man.  This was called the “American dream.”

Now as an employer, I am still very impressed with some of the people I am so lucky

to work with, as they know how to work, and they know a lot more than I did when

I was their age.  The problem is that these type of folks are the minority, as I see many

more people just looking for a paycheck, an excuse, and always a greener pasture.

Seems to me that this type of lollygag approach was always around, just a real minority

compared to the go-getter’s that I was lucky to be influenced and surrounded by when

I was in school and early adult life.  It is not that there are no hard workers, it is that

the hard workers are in the minority it seems at this time in my life.

Not sure if it is me, or if our society as a whole is looking for an easy way out and not

willing to strive for excellence and to better themselves or their company each day

through each action.

I applaud those of you who see work as a good thing as a way to help solve problems

and make forward progress in life.  Please let me restate that I am truly fortunate to

have a team of really high performers in my company and as friends.  Not everyone

is off the charts as far as lazy or allergic to work….it is just more prevalent, accepted,

and it appears that our present government leaders are promoting this behavior, rewarding

it financially and creating a safe haven for this type of thinking and acting.

Maybe it is me, maybe it is my age, maybe it really is a change that is taking place in our

society.  I just got to thinking about how many people I have hired and worked with in the

past 25 years and the ones that I remember the most were those that I learned from.  No

matter where you are in your life, there is always more to learn.

Why is there no one cheering for individual success?  Has this led us to the state we are in

where we are all “successful” as it is not cool for there to be winners and losers?

I don’t like to lose, yet the large battles in life that I lost, seem to be the situations I

learned the most from.  Easy stuff is in my memory, just not as vivid as the things that

required a great deal of work, time, patience, and persistence on my part.

Not sure there is a any solution other than each small business taking care of what we

can that is in our control.  When all of us focus on moving in the same direction, there

will be progress.  This works in positive ways just as well as it works in negative ways.

I am not sure what is going to happen, and I will do my best to think before I act which

speaks much louder than any words I speak.  I will remain an optimist, and do my best

to encourage and reward hard work and smart work, and never give up on the potential

that we humans have.  My goal is to tap into the most potential within me and the team

of people I work with.

What are you going to do?  What ideas do you have as to how we can increase the popularity

of hard work and smart work?  I am always open to learning from others and look forward

to your input and ideas.

After all, this is labor day weekend….

Was planning a GREAT TRIP to San Diego for the

ESRI Survey Summit.  Not gonna happen as we are

very blessed to have a lot of work came our way.

Due to the nature of our economy, I am not going

to attend and wish those of you that are going a

Great Experience as I will put it on the calendar for

2013.   HAVE FUN ! ! ! 

Are you finally going to go?   I mean have you thought

about going all the way to California and meeting with

the folks who are “allegedly” taking over the profession

of surveying, those GIS folks?   Even in a down economy

I will bet there are 14-15,000 people going to attend.

Seriously, there is no better time than NOW to make a decision

and move into the world of GIS as far as it being essential to

surveying in the present day.  My blog, opinion.

We can just sit back and keep on doing what we have been doing

as land surveyors and not sure that is working out well for everyone.

Not sure, but I bet the surveyors with GIS knowledge are the ones that

are still in business in the areas where they are NOT so lucky to have

an abundance of energy land surveying as that is about all there is to

chase anymore. Of course there is the DOT and Government work, and

I will not discount that, as it has sustained many companies through the

most odd economic times of my life.  Where is the land development?

Just saying it may be worth taking the hard earned money, heading to San

Diego, and going with a desire to learn and see how you can apply GIS to

some portion of your land surveying work. Where do you fit in with GIS?

Where does or can GIS fit in with what you do and how you do it?

Last year was the only year I have missed since 2003. Why would I go

back? The reason is to learn and to meet others to help me learn how

I can improve the way I manage my data and my business as well as

learning about new needs that may be missed as anyone with “GPS”

can get data, can’t they?  As land surveyors where does our potential

to produce value and create revenue streams stop?  Is there a limit?

Hope to see you there.

Robert L. Young

Many of the surveying practices, skills, and

procedures are falling by the wayside as we

continue to automate.

We thought it would be a good thing to acutally

make a video on “how to” set up a tripod for

use with a Total Station, Target, GPS/GNSS base,

OPUS, conventional traverse, laser scan,  or other

land surveying  applications when precision and

accuracy are important.

A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to

get Darrell and Nedra to let me come to their

office in Silsbee and turn on a camera and ask

questions.  Here are a couple of videos as we

cut the time into short snipets and anyone with

a desire to learn or to hear him talk about surveying

can view it anytime.  In memory of a great mentor

to many.  Here he speaks about his heritage and family.

Mr. Darrell Shine is the main reason I am now a surveyor.

I am merely one of hundreds who have been directly

positively influenced by this man.

DD as many call him, was one of kind, and will live on

in our memories as one of the greatest men ever to

be a land surveyor in Texas.

His love of the youth, and actions taken when it came to making

sure that everyone that wanted to learn, had a way to is only

one way that Mr. Shine walked his talk.

His silent acts of benevolence will never be known as

like so many of his generation, he did what was right, always.

Never a thought to do wrong to others.  His gentleness

was only equal to his toughness as he was surveying in

the field, walking and looking for evidence up to the past

few months.  I for sure do not have the only stories or

feel the loss any more than countless surveyors all over

our Great State.  I did appoint myself as president of the Darrell

Shine fan club, and to this day he has not vetoed it, nor have I

been openly contested.  Just some humor, as humor is one

of the main fuels like Love of family that fueled Darrell.

God Rest Mr. Shine, as he has been the most positive influence

on me in land surveying, generousity, and giving back to the

great profession of land surveying.  I am so proud that I had

the experiences with him and others who make up the few who

were there when Texas began licensing surveyors in 1955.

As I feel a loss, I also feel a happiness, as Darrell has been long

waiting to see his awesome wife Barbara and the day has come.

If you are reading this, whether you knew Darrell or not, what a

great time to take action and to what he always did.  When asked

a survey question, he always took the time to help and ask questions

of me to help me help myself.

Please do your best to be a mentor to others as that is what Shine

was really all about.  He always saw the youth as the future, and

his actions spoke much louder than his pretty unique and easy to

hear, one of kind, voice. Can’t you hear him now, “A miracle Greater

than the Virgin Birth”…  Darrell knows we are sad and I think

he wants us to remember the pranks, tricks, and fun he had and

brought into so many of our lives.

Thank you Darrell for your time, energy, passion, and patience.

We all will miss you and be grateful for what experiences we had.

Sincerely,

Robert Young

Texas RPLS 5400