NARF!

[hkellick]

My brain ees melting!

I went through most of my active cases pretty quickly. Yay, me!
Now Manas has given me a.. challenging case.
Challenging isn't really the right word. Damn difficult is.
It's an ugly case.. no.. cases. It's three cases. All connecting at Cross Section S. One from Cross Sections Q through S along Fourmile Creek, One from Cross Section S upstream and one at an unnamed tributary to Fourmile Creek meeting.. close to S.
So my desk is a disaster area with three cases spread around, various backup data.
Really, it's my fault. I obviously went through the other stuff far too quickly. Obviously I NEEDED a challenge, right?
Actually, between me, you and the wall, I'm enjoying this. This is a CHALLENGE. Something to sink my teeth into. If I can figure this one out, it'll be a feather in my cap. I'll know it and Manas will know it :)

But this case*S* still sucks!
Just.. in a not totally bad way.

Comments

[lwoodbloo.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see updates on this, it sounds interesting.

What sort of case is it? yOU STILL doing hydrology? (or were you ever??)

[lite.livejournal.com]

Yes, I still do hydrology and hydraulics. Really, it's easiest to think of me as doing Flood Insurance, without the door to door. What I do is update the federal flood insurance maps.
If you know anyone who has bought a house, they may or may not need to buy flood insurance. If they're reasonably close to a stream or river, they probably will. While there are NUMEROUS insurance companies, they all rely on the same federal maps. My job is to keep those maps updated. Engineers from.. well, at the moment, it's from around Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri come to my team asking us to OK the changes and OK their models depicting those changes. That's the engineer right there.

So this project...
Here's.. what's going on, in a nutshell...

Stream A was studied from the confluence to some point approximately 30,000 feet upstream of the confluence given the best methodology, best models and best data of the time (1986). At the time of this study, that end point, 30,000 feet upstream of the confluence, (known as the Limit of Detailed Study) was in the middle of nowhere (that is to say, all that was in the area, in 1986, were a few country roads.
Within the last few years, a NUMBER of Subdivisions were built there (I can't give names, but there's at least four)
Subdivision 1 was built on the west side of Stream A, from approximately 30,000 feet upstream of the confluence to approximately 28,000 feet upstream of the conflunece.)
Subdivision 2 was built upstream of the limir of detailed study, from approximately 30,000 feety upstream of the confluence to approximately 32,500 feet.
Subdivision 3 was built on an unnamed tributary whose confluence is very near the limit of detailed study.
The developers changed the stream some, building some detention ponds, a couple of weirs, and a couple of new streets over Stream A. These changes change the course of the river, possibly raising or lowering the elevation during major storms.
The developers hired two different companies (I'm glad it wasn't three) to get FEMA to OK the changes to Stream A and that unnamed tributary.
Let me back up..
While I was still at PBS&J, I was working on a case for Subdivision 4, upstream of all the other subdivisions (from approximately 34,500 feet upstream of the confluence to approximately 32,000 feet, but to tie in, they extended their model to the limit of detailed study. That case was nearing completion when I left.
Since then, three new cases for Subdivisions 1 through 3 have come in to Michael Baker, all meeting at or close to the limit of detailed study.
Since then, Engineer Company A has taken over all of the cases and are now trying to process everything in one big, ugly model stretching from way up back where my old PBS&J case started to down around 28,000 feet upstream of the confluence.
The trick.. the challenge.. is that all FOUR cases in the area are at different stages of completion and it's difficult to keep track of what's going on at what point. With only Engineer Company A and us, there's alot LESS interplay then there was a few months back when there were two companies, Company A and B, but it's still very confusing.
The biggest challenge has been the consistency challenge. They've combined all three cases into one big model, but did they combine it correctly?
Dunno yet. We'll see. :)

[alierak.livejournal.com]

Eheheh, I love to hear you enjoying your work :)

[lite.livejournal.com]

Me too :) It's nice to be able to ENJOY my work, to see something like this as a challenge instead of "OMFG. THIS SUCKS. I DUN WANNA DO THIS. BITCHBITCHWHINEWHINE."
...
It's nice to actually be trusted to be able to handle this level of challenge as well :)