A positive week

Well, I had Monday off (6 free days off work in a row!). I spent the day tediously gathering information for pre-approval on a mortgage loan. We had a meeting with a loan guy on Wednesday and while he was getting us approved he was also giving out really helpful advise on paying down debt faster. The concept is pretty simple and after researching it and crunching numbers we realized I could pay off my school debt in 5 years instead of 11 and he could have his paid off in 12.5 years instead of 30! Currently we both pay our school debts separately, but out of curiosity we decided to see how it would differ if we started paying off our debts together using the same concept. Turns out we can pay off 120K in combined school debt in 8 years! I don't want to bore folks who aren't interested in the details of how it works so all that is at the bottom of this post. [...]

Two crazy weeks

Disclaimer: It's been a month of long hours outside, so I apologize for the rather dry dialog.... my brain is running on fumes. Also, I really wish I had taken more pictures in Anchorage, but I was having such a great time with all my friends, that it never crossed my mind!

While I was out working on the bridge (see previous post) I got a call about going to Alaska with Gabe! Really, that was all I needed to hear before I as nonchalantly as humanly possible said "Sure" while inside I was jumping up and down with excitement. This would be my first time back in state since 2010 when Matt and I went to Megan and Aaron's wedding. 

The job was up at Eielson AFB in the Interior about 30 min SE of Fairbanks. The project itself was simple enough- getting vertical and horizontal data on over 200 water quality monitoring wells. We worked with Chris from EA Engineering who was a huge help and the unofficial third person on the crew. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but the military frowns on that. We watched F16s all week. No matter how many times you see them screaming overhead it never gets old! [...]

The Sellwood Bridge

Sorry, for the blur spot. It was bright and I couldn't see
the panorama correctly in my camera.

Today was my first day on the project site. I won't go into too much detail, but you can learn more about the project here. There's even a link to two live feed cameras. Currently, we have to help Advanced American Construction set 150 pylons by Oct. 15. Basically, I stand on the shore (currently) and tell them based on our instrument readings where they need to go to set the pylon in the correct spot. It sounds like "Go offshore/inshore 3 tenths and upriver/downriver 8 tenths." We aim for a 2 tenth tolerance, but it's up to them to decide when it's close enough. This process takes patience since our instruments are very accurate and a crane on a barge is not so much. Then they use a hydraulic hammer to pound it into the bedrock while we periodically stop and check to make sure we're still in the correct spot and haven't slid out of place. 

Ben took this of me on the east platform.

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