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Civil Engineers & Public Policy

If you know me, you know where I stand on a lot of things. Having a website affords me the opportunity to express thoughts on what is of interest to me in my own space, […]

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Mid-Year Book Stack Check-In

It’s June, 2025. Halfway through the year. It’s as good a time as any to do a “What Are You Reading” pit stop and post an update on what I’ve been soaking in for the […]

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Training. Purpose.

Good Morning. Wednesday, June 18th, 2025. Firefighter Success Podcast #006 with John Spera. Hit a nail on my head today. Training. Purpose and why. People set a fitness goal, health goal, something goal, January 1st […]

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Fit for Duty

In this episode, I revisit (somewhat…) some concepts from Episode 20 – Preparing for the Operation. but with several new twists & angles. Question: How prepared are you for the workday. In this episode: –I dissect […]

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Discord for Construction Engineers

We are all inundated with information coming at us. Threads. Emails. Teams. Notifications. Critical overload. We are also getting a lot smarter. Understanding that our time is a commodity that we don’t give away like […]

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2025 National Surveyors Week

It’s 2025 National Surveyors Week! The Joliet Junior College AEC 125 construction layout crews have been making the best of the winter weather by getting their hands-on training done indoors. The crews spent the first […]

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What I Read in 2024

I’ll start of with a question: What did you read this year? Be honest. Reading LinkedIn posts does not count. Sorry. That’s not real reading. What books did you read in 2024? Which ones resonated […]

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Hands-On

Thanks to the great fall weather this year, the Joliet Junior College AEC 125 construction layout crews were able to get plenty of hands-on work done around campus. We put the #Leica levels & total […]

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Underground Stormwater Fire

The headline was certainly an eye-catcher… I’m not familiar with this type of system – I’m sure there will be an AAR once more details are gathered https://www.firerescue1.com/its-a-new-one-for-us-underground-fire-causes-collapse-of-parking-lot-at-va-shopping-outlet

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Niji 350 Pencils are “Vintage…?”

I find it interesting, as I see more and more of my “everyday carry” items being referred to as “retro,” “vintage” or “classic.” Am I really getting that old…? I started using the Niji 350 […]

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Cornfield SAR Training

In the Midwest, corn & soybeans are our predominant crops. It’s not uncommon for people to enter cornfields and become disorientated and lost. The Will County Emergency Management Agency organized a training session today on […]

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Measure It

The Joliet Junior College AEC Construction Survey team has been getting some hands-on work using different measuring devices. Sounds like a pretty boring assignment, right? Really, who doesn’t know how to measure something…? Using a […]

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Digital Hygiene

I’m grabbing this Short from Ryder because it’s worth exploring-The concept of data hoarding. What am I doing with all of the source data I’ve collected? How many PDFs do I really need? A library […]

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A Cool Podcast Shout-Out

It’s always neat to see how people with common interests find collection points through the Internet. I received an email from Dany over at LED Lighting Supply letting me know that they curated a list […]

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Small Engine Repairs Are Fun!!

Fixing things yourself is becoming lost craft. It seems like, more and more, society is becoming apt to dispose and replace, as opposed to repair and maintain. I, for one, will ALWAYS try to tackle […]

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On Being an Instructor

Note: I originally wrote this on June 5, 2022 – It’s worth sharing now…. Having just hit “Submit” on the semester final grades, I thought it would be a good time to open the laptop […]

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Chicago Veterans Ruck March 2024

On May 24, 2024, I had the chance to participate in the Chicago Veterans 10th Annual Ruck March. The 17-mile ruck was chartered to raise awareness to veteran suicide: It is estimated that 17 former […]

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Sunday….

I know that I should have been honoring the Lord’s Day by resting today, but I had a lot of chores to complete as we have some work being done around our house tomorrow. Not […]

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New Drone Bill Legislation in Illinois

Interesting development in the Illinois Senate as a proposed bill is making its way through the review process. Senate Bill SB2849 proposes to allow Illinois municipalities to write local legislation to “…adopt reasonable rules…” related […]

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Tracking Open Job Issues (Version 2.0)

One of the key attributes of a good construction engineer is the ability to keep track of what is going on. Open loops. Tasks needing attention. What problems need solving. Who is solving them. I’ve […]

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Keep Paying It Forward

If you’ve been around the surveying world for the past few decades, you can appreciate how far and how fast the industry’s adoption of technology has changed the way we work. The instruments, the data […]

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Am I On the Right Path(s)?

You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects. Gary Keller, from “The One Thing” Mike Pertz captured this book excerpt from “The One Thing” by […]

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Rigging in Construction

I always enjoy reading articles that are just a bit outside of my day-to-day duties. I thought this article on rigging fit the bill. It’s good to hit the Refresh button occasionally, even if it’s […]

Honoring Firefighters

FROM THE ARCHIVES

  • ARCHIVES

    Asking the Simple Question – The Solution

    In my previous article (CLICK HERE to read it), I described the maturation of a piling bearing capacity issue that we had on a recent railroad bridge project. Let’s dive into getting the issues resolved. [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    Asking the Simple Questions – The Problem

    “Ego clouds and disrupts everything: the planning process, the ability to take good advice, and the ability to accept constructive criticism. It can even stifle someone’s sense of self-preservation. Often, the most difficult ego to [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    When Slopes Fail – Part 2

    In this, Part 2 of my series on slope stability & erosion control failures, I want to dissect another jobsite failure that one of our projects suffered through a couple of years ago. The conditions, [...]
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    When Slopes Fail – Part 1

    There are some people I know, when talking about their “college days,” who can recite chapters & verses of classes they took. They can remember class numbers, people in the class, problems they solved, the [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    It’s More than a Line

    I wanted to write a post discussing a design issue that we encountered out here on our site. MicroStation, AutoCADD and the like are the daily tools of choice for almost all designers, and no [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    The Risk of Traffic – Final Chapter

    So as I’ve developed in the last 2 posts, traffic control on a construction project exposes just about everyone involved in the process to RISK. A motorcycle accident in 2008 sent me through the legal [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    The Risk of Traffic – Part 2

    As I developed in my last post, engineers in construction are often-times thrust into situations of RISK that, in many instances, are completely beyond their direct control. I’m going to take you on a tour [...]

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