Some people are meant for city life, and others for a slow paced small city. Greenville, South Carolina was not the city for me. I spent many weekends traveling back to my home town of Knoxville, TN to fill the void of a social life. Don’t get me wrong Greenville is a good city for raising a family and a slow paced environment. The downtown area has been revitalized and looks fantastic. I guess that is what enticed me to move to South Carolina in the first place. I also knew that I wasn’t going to stay there forever. So here I am on the next step of my life in Atlanta, Georgia.

The move went flawlessly with the help of a few hired hands. The hired hands from Greenville were slow and arduous with their multiple smoke breaks, but the guys in Atlanta moved along rather quickly barely giving me time to figure out where I wanted my furniture. Its funny the difference in character of people in a small city and a big city. So far though everyone I have talked to has stated that Atlanta will treat me right.

I’m excited that I actually have an office with windows and a door. I was used to being housed in a cubicle. The drive into work is not bad nor is the drive home. That was my major concern about Atlanta, but once you figure out the flow you will be smooth sailing. The first week of work was a bit slow with all the paperwork I have had to fill out, but that is expected and I’m sure that I will soon be overwhelmed with multiple projects I will be managing soon.

I’ll leave you with a few photos of the difference of Greenville and Atlanta.

Reedy River Falls – Downtown Greenville

Liberty Bridge just below Reedy River Falls – Downtown Greenville

Main Street – Downtown Greenville (A friend told me that he felt like they were in a cartoon here)

Downtown Atlanta

Another of Downtown Atlanta

To the best of luck in a new start to the next step in life.  Only the future will hold were I go next.

Growing up I remember being lectured to get that college degree.  “Get that college degree and you won’t be doing the dirty work.”  I was told.  I managed to get a start in the engineering world dealing with solid waste.  The last thing I thought I would ever be doing with a college degree was working at the “dump”.  The first thing I learned in my first career was these places are not called dumps they are landfills.  “The landfill owners get pretty upset when they are called dumps.”  Now don’t get me wrong about landfills.  I’m actually finding them to be a very interesting process and I’m getting good experiece in the engineering world from them.  I’ve learned that these sites are a geotechnical engineers dream. 

The experience I’m getting from the geotechnical side of the landfill design process is very extensive.  “It beat watching piles being driven”.  I love going on the hunt for clay.  Its like hunting for gold.  Going into places that haven’t been developed and getting your company truck nice and muddy is a highlight of the day.  I look at it like I’m a kid in a “ginormous” sandbox. 

My latest adventure though has taken me to the dirty side of the landfill.  Were the waste is.  Thats right all the stuff you put in the trash, I had to see.  So make sure your skid mark stained underwear doen’t have your name on it.  I’m talking to you David Mathews whoever you are.   Back to why I had to get in the waste.  My firm is doing some testing on the waste material to check the stability of the waste itself.  After loosing a coin toss I was the chosen one to go out and sample the waste.  It was a dirty job and I smelled it for a day or two after.  If you ever worked in a restuarant and walked into the freezer after your buddy just came out with a smile on his face you know what I’m talking about.

Here are some pictures of my exciting day.