The Amazing Endeavors of Jimmy Chitwood

[JimmyChitwood]

Just made physical therapy so much more appealing to me (not that I ever doubted my choice in the DPT program)...

Yeah, but you'll end up having to rub some unsavory bodies and have to smile through the whole thing. There will be days that you'll wish you were sniffing contaminated soil.



Sean, - yeah it was a challenging one. They are not normally this complex, but...we adapted and overcame. I've used shoring before, but not for this company. And the dewatering setup...that was something all new in terms of the size and capability of the system I put together, but I was more than familiar with the technology, so it was just a matter of adding enough equipment together to meet my needs. I can't believe I found six of those frac tanks, actually. I was making calls all over the place just trying to get ONE. They are all gone, due to all the flooding in the region and the Marcellus Shale work down south. I just happened to make another call when some came off rent from another job.

This site was a former gasoline station that had a historical issue at the dispensers. The old style of steel piping was notorious for leaks due to all the custom pipefitting and joints. I've dug up some sites where they obviously forgot to tighten up the piping beyond hand tight. Bad. But back in the day nobody cared about contamination and fuel was cheap so the losses in inventory were no big deal. Meanwhile your neighbors are drinking gasoline.
There is municipal water in this town now.

While we are upgrading facilities and have equipment on site we attempt to clean up as best as humanly possible. It's not cheap, but considering the fact that contamination will migrate over time and spread...it's cheaper to deal with it now versus later. At this site the contamination obviously hit groundwater, but due to the relatively flat gradient here it didn't go far. Also, due to the high porosity of the substrate and the huge column of water in the shallow aquifer, the dilution factor is pretty significant. You could pull samples from across the street and they'd be Non-Detect. I've heard it said that "the solution to pollution is dilution." To some extent, that's true... but I'm blessed to work for a company that doesn't sweep anything under the rug. We enjoy a great relationship with the regulatory community because of that. Even on a job of this magnitude the Spills Regulator only came on site twice for quick peeks, and even that was just out of interest and to shoot the breeze. Many times they don't come out at all because they know I'm there. That's trust.

[J_Bo]

I'm not a very manly man in terms of being able to do...stuff....


...so I'm just gonna go ahead and act like I know what you're project is all about ans say, "Wow, that's crazy! Keep up the good work"

What an amazing endeavor!

[AustrianOakJr]

Many times they don't come out at all because they know I'm there. That's trust.

That is BIG. Cool to work for a company that you know is doing the right thing. Unlike a company who has a big fat guy named adam throwing new serpentine belts in the dumpster out back and charging big bucks for it. I would imagine with a job like yours it would be fairly easy to cut corners when everything is covered up by dirt at the end of the job. I struggle sometimes with how much to squalk about the education system here and how much to keep my mouth shut so that I can keep my job. Fortunately there isnt anything blatently unethical going on (that I know of)....just lots of inefficiency with tax payer money but I guess thats par for the course.

[JimmyChitwood]

I'm not a very manly man in terms of being able to do...stuff....


...so I'm just gonna go ahead and act like I know what you're project is all about ans say, "Wow, that's crazy! Keep up the good work"

What an amazing endeavor!

You're sorta manly in other ways, so that still makes you neat-o in my book. Like how you can lift heavy stuff up and put it down. And rant about collective bargaining. That's awesome. And neat-o.

That is BIG. Cool to work for a company that you know is doing the right thing. Unlike a company who has a big fat guy named adam throwing new serpentine belts in the dumpster out back and charging big bucks for it. I would imagine with a job like yours it would be fairly easy to cut corners when everything is covered up by dirt at the end of the job. I struggle sometimes with how much to squalk about the education system here and how much to keep my mouth shut so that I can keep my job. Fortunately there isnt anything blatently unethical going on (that I know of)....just lots of inefficiency with tax payer money but I guess thats par for the course.

Yup. And that's just education at your school. Picture that waste statewide and across the board in all spending categories. Makes you ill. Then picture that kind of waste nationwide, and even if you leave out the State Department and Dept of Defense... it's just staggering. If only we could guarantee that every dollar went to its intended purpose with minimal waste... this deficit wouldn't be so freakin' deficient.

It's funny - NY State has been going around like mad doing audits at businesses to make sure they're getting every tax dollar that's due. If only they were watching every dollar that went OUT that closely... we wouldn't need to pay in so much to begin with. No fancy accounting will ever defeat the age-old principle of dollars in versus dollars out. Gotta have it to spend it. Don't have it? Spend less.

[AustrianOakJr]

It's funny - NY State has been going around like mad doing audits at businesses to make sure they're getting every tax dollar that's due. If only they were watching every dollar that went OUT that closely... we wouldn't need to pay in so much to begin with. No fancy accounting will ever defeat the age-old principle of dollars in versus dollars out. Gotta have it to spend it. Don't have it? Spend less.

Totally. When our new superintendent came on three years ago, the first thing she does is hire six district office based administrators at 100,000 dollars a year each to take care of individual departments at the secondary level...... and she got rid of the teacher department leaders who were getting paid a 3k dollar stipend. These admins do just about nothing. In fact, I cant really recall anything our department administrator has done for us specifically besides put on dog and pony shows for the board of ed. They are a total joke. A complete waste of tax money. Then, on top of that, she sets out to build a 9 MILLION dollar stadium at our high school complete with astro turf and jumbo trons. No, im not joking. It was "stimulus" money from the state. And apparently she was unable to petition the powers that be to allow her to spend the money on something useful. That would actually take work. The final topping on the cake is that she is laying off over 30 teachers this year for budgetary reasons. Unbelievable.

[JimmyChitwood]

Totally. When our new superintendent came on three years ago, the first thing she does is hire six district office based administrators at 100,000 dollars a year each to take care of individual departments at the secondary level...... and she got rid of the teacher department leaders who were getting paid a 3k dollar stipend. These admins do just about nothing. In fact, I cant really recall anything our department administrator has done for us specifically besides put on dog and pony shows for the board of ed. They are a total joke. A complete waste of tax money. Then, on top of that, she sets out to build a 9 MILLION dollar stadium at our high school complete with astro turf and jumbo trons. No, im not joking. It was "stimulus" money from the state. And apparently she was unable to petition the powers that be to allow her to spend the money on something useful. That would actually take work. The final topping on the cake is that she is laying off over 30 teachers this year for budgetary reasons. Unbelievable.

Good call on the stadium. Using that money to pay for a couple dozen extra teachers and classroom equipment isn't sexy. No spashy splash. Astro turf builds kids up. Jumbotrons. Foundation of America stuff right there.

I'll never understand why the powers that be don't see education as a critical investment in the future. It's like a company investing in new equipment and computers. There's no choice there. If you want to be competitive, you have to invest that way. Not that money equals a high quality education, but...it does cost money to educate. There's a reason that the US is falling fast in the world rankings for ed. Stupid. Especially considering that our higher ed and collegiate system is still the envy of the world. Can't ride on that rep forever, though. Lot of hungry up-and-comers out there with their eyes on the prize. Meanwhile we stick our kids in front of TVs and video games and build them up with ridiculous senses of confidence and a brash sense of entitlement. We are going down fast, my friend. Roman and British Empire style. Guys in the know see it coming, which is why you're seeing more and more of an "every man for himself" attitude in the business sector and on Wall St (replace either with the almost synonymous Capitol Hill). Get mine while I can. Not many people are genuinely thinking of what they can do for their country. I'm scared to see what the next 40 years look like for us. God have mercy.

[J_Bo]

How's it comin champ?

[J_Bo]

So do you still work out?

[JimmyChitwood]

How's it comin champ?

So do you still work out?

Ha ha!! Sorry J. I've been so freakin' flat out this summer that I haven't even been in my own thread. I've only been on here to check on Sean and his progress. It's been a very challenging construction season with some of the most difficult projects of my career coming at me back to back at a pace that I haven't seen before. I can actually say that it's been stressful, which is new for me. And some of these projects will involve litigation work going through the winter and probably well into next season as I rinse and repeat.

I've put more miles on my truck in a short time than I ever have and my schedule has been all over the place in terms of out-of-town stays, long days, etc. In short...gym time has had to take a back seat for the past several weeks. Only so much time in the day after you take care of major commitments like God/church, family, career, home upkeep, etc. Many on here are blessed with jobs that have a very rigid structure that's easy to plan gym time around...but mine is total chaos from March to December. In the winter I am able to get in 3-4 days per week with regularity and make some gains. It's frustrating when I think of where i could be if I could keep that pace year round...but I feel blessed to have the luxury of doing even that much, and to be able to network with all the quality athletes on here. Even if some of them do mock me openly.

[J_Bo]

That's for me exciting, that you're still alive.

Sucks to be that busy for bodybuilding purposes, but definitely a good thing (in real life) that you're having a successful summer.

I guess I'll allow you to prioritize your family over bodybuilding... as long as you don't look like a complete sissy mary weinie girly man.... because if you do, then we probably need to take care of that.

[JimmyChitwood]

That's for me exciting, that you're still alive.

Sucks to be that busy for bodybuilding purposes, but definitely a good thing (in real life) that you're having a successful summer.

I guess I'll allow you to prioritize your family over bodybuilding... as long as you don't look like a complete sissy mary weinie girly man.... because if you do, then we probably need to take care of that.

You may never know how much this kind of loving support means to me. "sniff"

As far as how I'm looking...well...not completely sissy mary wienie girl...but I'm carrying more bodyfat than I'm used to. I think that when things got busy and I was forced to back off the gym time...I forgot to adjust my cals down accordingly. I don't need to store anything in my storm shelter since I'll be just fine with a flashlight and water bottle for a week or two.

I have played some quality golf this summer. And I've improved noticeably over last year. Does that count for anything in the awesome department? Oooh...and I went tubing down the Battenkill River on Saturday. That's always a good time, but the water is soooo cold coming off the Green Mountains. I must've look ridiculous with my drastic farmer's tan. I looked like I was wearing a white tee shirt with hairy nipples. Ooooh...and I got a kid seat so my little boy can ride on my bike behind me. Leg workout on all the hills around us. I almost passed out on the first run with it. I was so glad that he wanted to stop and look at the sheep at a nearby farm...