Employee of the Year (Informally)

So last week I attended a quarterly meeting of all the employees of the City of St. Helens. In these meetings, the City Administrator shares the progress of projects, resolutions adopted by City Council, and other issues that concern or impact city employees. The City of St. Helens, like most municipalities in Oregon, is managed by a City Administrator who reports to the Mayor and City Councilors. This system ensures stability and continuity of management of City Hall operations since the Mayor and City Councilors are elected positions for 2 years. (FYI, most City Councilors/Mayors are paid nothing or token compensation for their work.)

Anyway, as the meeting starts the Administrator turns on the projector and puts up one of my maps. That map was one of a series that I made earlier in the month. The administrator proceeds to talk about City Hall business, not mentioning the graphic on the screen. After forty-five minutes or so, he turn the topic to grant applications that are in progress.

Finally he talks about the map up on the screen. He said that when they started the grant for the acquisition and development of the Dalton Lake Recreation Area, he thought the didn't have a shot at the money. They had a tight application deadline, and that city employees went above and beyond in their work for this grant. He singled out me, the City Planner Jacob, and my boss the Engineering Supervisor Sue as putting time into this project.
Showing the next in the map series, he says that now he is amazed at our work. He feels strongly that we are likely to receive the grant because of the work the 3 of us did. In way, we might have made his job harder because he'll now have to find the match funds the city has to pony up with the grant award.
With the final map on the screen, he asks everyone to applaud Sue, Jacob and Me. Sue interjects that she her contribution was minor and that it was Sarah and Jacob who did the real work. The administrator builds on her comments and thanks Me and Jacob for the GPS collection of trails and the amazing maps of the area that we made. He said that Jacob and I are the employees of the year!

For those who might be curious, Jacob and I walked all the de facto trails in the area while I recorded the location with the GPS. He made notes and took pictures. Back in the office I processed the geospatial data and put together the 3 maps. Jacob is an excellent editor, giving me important government verb-age and direction with improving the symmetry and design. I got to wow him with some of my advanced GIS skills in the production and representation of the data.

On a final note, this last Wednesday my supervisor Sue offered me a continuation of my position with the City. The have secured more American Recovery and Restoration Act (ARRA) money for a big stormwater project and I will be paid from that funding. I now have a job through all of 2011, maybe even 2012. So the next time someone you know complains about the waste of money the President's "recovery bailout" is, think of me and the fact I have meaningful work because of it.

Cheers!

Seaside for the 4th of July

Nina and I spent the 4th of July at Seaside, Oregon. We had a lovely time and the Sun even graced the sky for most of the time. I showed Nina how to fly a kite - something she has never done before. (!?!) I hadn't flown a kite since I was a tweener in Kaysville, Utah.

On another beach walk we happened upon an abandoned camera tripod. Joey the Beagle started barking ferociously as we neared it. Since the beach was deserted, with not even a bird overhead or in the sand, I felt real puzzled at what Joey's protection bay was warning us of. It was the tripod - which was standing upright on the sand. This picture is rather poor of Joey and I and the Tripod "beast," however I'd like to point out the large hill or mountain in the background. That is Tillamook Head, where our next hike took us somewhere near the top.

I'd like to describe the hike on Tillamook Head as: up, up, mud, up, mud, scramble over a ancient fallen tree (wider around than I am tall), mud, up, up, mud. Repeat this for three hours, then reverse for 2.5 hours. We climbed into the ocean mist, so our view of the ocean was whiteout. This is us taking a break on the way down on a tremendous fallen tree.

Hugh And His Trench

About a month ago Hugh began digging our yard beside the back sidewalk. 

Now, he's about to finish an expanded walkway, retaining wall, and French drain!

Memorial Day Family Group

Today we met at Sarah and Nina's house for our monthly family gathering. What fun that Carrie and Drew are visiting from Los Angeles so we celebrated with a family photo on Nina's steps. Only Yukie and Ewan were missing for the pic. Father's Day came early as well and the kids surprised Hugh with tickets to South Pacific! If anyone wants a high-res image of this for printing and framing, email me.

Hugh And His Family

We visited Hugh's parents last week in Indiana for Rosemary's 80th birthday. Here's a good shot I got of the four of them, Shelli, Warren, Rosemary, and Hugh on the lawn swing in between rain storms.

Lucky Thirteen

We took a cake over to Wilbur's tonight to wish Zack a happy birthday. Here's the lucky thirteen-year-old:


And here are other photos from our evening.



Joanna is better but still in pain.


Andy and Zack have a few grins while waiting for cake to be served.

CAMP FEST 2010

YEOW! Hello 05 BLOG! I've FINALLY figured out how to post. This is my first official "blog" EVER. And it couldn't be a better one... It's a privilege to be included here! PLEASE pardon the CRAZY layout...This past weekend Carrie and I decided to go camping- it was decided- last minute style (to my fault) because I had worked super late until 3:30 am on Thurs night/Fri morn (to get a cut done for networks to BUY the show!), thinking I could get my taxes done on Friday... After work I slept really late, also due to working later than usual the previous 3 days, but not past midnight. So I didn't get my taxes done. And the only next appt my guy had was sat night- prime time to spend with Carrie so I debated for a few minutes- camping with Carrie or taxes (which I had been prepping for awhile)? Hmmm... No brainer. After a few texts between C & I (which included some of the info in the previous sentences you've just read), I got a new appt AND GOT READY TO GET OUTTA LA! So I go friday afternoon to the toy store (home depot) and pick up some new camping supplemental gear. Got awesome new headlamps, lantern, fire packs, etc. STOKED! So friday night, we hit the grocery store & get lots of supplies/wood/ice/food...getting info on these "super mega delicious" foil wrapped fire dinners from Carrie. Then, we look in my "California Camping" book and look up some sites. We call a few and all are closed, look online, and seems that most are booked all around LA. I fell asleep thinking about making sure we had everything on the list Carrie had entitled "CAMP FEST 2010!"

Sat am Carrie goes to get her hair done & I hit the loading for awhile...once she's back, we finish packing & HIT THE ROAD @2:30pm (30 min past target time) w/ a FULLY LOADED vehicle. Texting/calling people that we are out of town & "If we don't find a campsite, I'm pitching the tent in the middle of PCH!" Probably wouldn't have in the MIDDLE of pch, but we were DETERMINED. So we get up the 101 and jump down one of Malibu's most winding roads, Route 23 to get to the PCH. Shortly up the road is Leo Carillo State Beach- highly rated (& one that says online is booked)...my hopes are low here. We drive up & see the sign that they are full, talk to the gate guide & he gives us some info on other places. We drive up the road & check another. Booked. Daylight is running out. We keep heading north, and as we pull into Mc Grath State beach, Carrie says, "I've got a feeling THIS is the one! They have spots!" I have the same feeling. Pull up & CHA CHING! Yes, they have sites available...we even get to pick it out. Sweet!

We scope the most prime spot & go back to the ranger to lock it down as more cars are getting in line to come to camp...Set up shop & BAM! We're in business! Camping. Awesome. We set up the tent, unload the gear, prep the gourmet fire dinners, take a walk to the beach @ sunset, then build the fuego. Carrie may dispute that we made it to the beach in time, but I KNOW it was still sunset, it was just CLOUDY! We got caught up in the intricacies of creating those foil deliciousness packs!

We come back & start the fire, eat the most excellent dinner (which Carrie has video of), and then make some smores! Awesome! Pros of this camp: Really close to the beach AND Availablity! Cons: Lots of campers (we had to tell our neighbors to turn down the punk rock)... But it was GREAT! The next morning we get up and tear down camp. LUCKILY, Carrie found my crowbar (which I had dropped in the grass after pulling out the stakes!) I REALLY dislike losing tools;-/ Thanks Carrie!!! We get outta McGrath & start heading SB & find another beach that Carrie knows about...we were in no hurry to get back to LA as it was LA marathon race day which as you all know SNARLS traffic. So we go to this beach after coming down the trail, realize it's kind of warm & sun is starting to peek out of the clouds. I run back up the trail to get some beach stuff since we decide stay- on the phone with Carrie a couple times within 10 minutes finding towels & blankets, I get back down & the sun goes back in the clouds & the temp drops a solid ten degrees in the next 15 minutes. SO, we head it back to LA... What a GREAT WEEKEND! I LOVE CAMPING! Hope you all had a great one too- I love these pix! I'm going to sleep now because my tax appt is in the am. What a super complicated job YOU have Joanna! Cheers, Drew