Remote Sensing Pavement
Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, Matt via hardcopy, and Brian,
cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts
Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea,
belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit
to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended
family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail
box at any time.
"Hard to believe I'm already two weeks behind again and it
is 8:00 on Sunday night. There were other things which
needed to take priority to my diary. The bottom line is
this Thoughtlet might not make it out tonight, and next
week's Thoughtlet about `Sending Sara to Benin' (0339.html)
will be even later than this one. Oh well! Choices. We
always have choices to make about what is most important at
some particular time.
Well before I start writing about remote sensing pavement,
there is something which needs to be caught up on. Sara
and Audrey have each sent me a summary of their views on
our trip to London. So here they are in the order received,
first Sara's comments:
<![CDATA[ `With seven days, four travelers and a go at London, I would
definitely say we took advantage of it all. Especially since
we were blessed with weather like Austin in the spring...
perfect! It was sunny with clear skies almost the entire
time we were there...which is nothing short of amazing for
London! We stayed with Todd and Michelle Staheli who were
on the move to Rio de Janeiro. Despite their busy schedule,
they were so awesome with rides, food, and great company.
Audrey and I even got Harley rides (sorry Roice, I was a
traitor!) through the countryside in Oxschott where they
lived. So the first three days we spent taking the bus into
London and discovering the city. We went to the Hyde Park
ward, which used to be part of Dad's mission. We went to
several great museums: The Victoria and Albert Museum had
a wonderful old English and old Welch harp collection.
Harps used to have three sets of strings placed parallel
to each other and vertically along the base of the harp.
Then the harpist would have to reach beyond the outer
layer of strings to reach the middle row. This allows for
the same note to be played very closely together and makes
for some neat patterns. For those of you at my last harp
recital, the song I played (Chanson Dans la Nuit) began
with similar sounds.
The Natural History Museum had a really neat exhibit
called the Earth from Above. It was by this French
photographer who took pictures all over the world, each
with a powerful and touching subtitle. The pictures
portrayed poverty, well-known buildings and landmarks as
well as natural beauties, many of which are hidden from
most people. For example, there was a picture of a
seaweed/algae farm where at first glance, it looked
like green fields where farmers were growing various
things, each block a different shade of green. Then
when you look closer, you could see three or four
small boats where the farmers were floating around and
taking care of their crops on water. The whole
exhibit was very impressive.
We also went to several shows: Les Miserables and
Bombay Dreams. If you haven't seen Les Mis, do! Even
though it was emotionally draining, it was so awesome.
And Bombay Dreams was fun. Anyone stopping by Dad's,
ask Andrea to get the soundtrack out...Shakalaka
Baby, shakalaka baby...cute, fun, and in my head
the rest of the week!
Some typical London things we did were eat fish
and chips, watch the changing of the guards, and
visited the Tower of London where the crown jewels
are kept, hung out in Hyde Park, saw the old
Landmark building (you know, that's on everyone's
itinerary :)), and ate great Indian food. We had
several dinners with some of Dad's friends who
were all really nice.
Then came our day trips! We headed to Hampton Court
(an old palace with a labyrinth in the gardens!),
Stonehenge (frustrating cause no one has any idea
what these crazy huge rocks are doing in the middle
of nowhere!), Canterbury (with a pretty cathedral
and part of Dad's mission), Stratford Upon Avon
(cute, quaint town and Shakespeare's home), and
my favorite, Dover. On our last day in England,
we drive out to Dover where Dad tells us that we
won't be able to see the cliffs at all, but the
tops of them would have to do. Pretty disappointed,
we decided to prove him wrong. So we hiked a little,
and there they were...everywhere! Andrea, Audrey
and I hiked along the tops of the white cliffs of
Dover, walking past split pea fields and snacking
on handfuls of peas while we walked...all along
the green, green tops and glancing downward past
the stark white, steep cliffs and onto the English
Channel. Then we found a place where we could make
it down to the water, so we zig zagged down along
the path with the walls made of chalk, and flint
stuck in it. Paul, I thought of you, and what
amazing fire-starting experiments you would have
come up with. :) Once down to the bottom, Audrey
and I walked over to wade our feet in the English
Channel. If it wasn't foggy we could have seen all
the way to France! Oh, Paris! Tu me manque! So
then I decide to climb up on a rock and pull a
cheerleading stunt, but the rock was covered with
algae and plop! I was waist deep in the water!
Audrey couldn't resist either, so church clothes
and all, she joined me! After a nice swim, I
climbed up as far as I could along a rock fall
close by. We attempted to dry off and then made
it to the Dover castle just in time to run to the
top and soak in one last view. What's so great
about the castles in England is that they are huge,
stone, with fortification and drawbridges and
moats...the whole knight feel that we grew up with
in books! Castles in France were huge mansions
and in Germany, fairy tale dreamers (Neisweinstein
is the Cinderella castle). Neat, but so different
from this! I loved English castles. Ready for
anything coming their way!
So the next day, I said au revoir to Dad, Audrey,
Andrea and the Stahelis and went to Prague for a
week where I got to visit some close friends and
explore another city. After five days, I was
back in London again and saw a couple more shows
on my own. This time, I was a groudling at
Shakespeare's Globe Theater. For only 5 pounds,
I got to stand through Christopher Marlow's Dido:
Queen of Carthridge and loved it so much that at
half time I bought a ticket for the following day
for the all women's company showing of Richard
III. If you remotely like Shakespeare, don't
overlook this one! Richard III is the best bad
guy!
So, thanks Dad for the graduation trip and a
chance to spend more time with you and Andrea and
Audrey. I had the time of my life, constantly
moving and seeing and chatting and soaking it
all in!']]>
Then from Audrey:
<![CDATA[ `Our trip to London, didn't start at the speed of a
glacier, rather it was jump started by our excitement
and exhilaration of actually being in London from the
time we stepped off the plane. Ditto to Sara and her
thoughtlet!! I will try and give a different
perspective of the trip....
The trip to London was one that was awe inspiring,
mostly from my point of view, because I have never
had the opportunity to travel abroad. It was amazing,
needless to say. This trip was all about first's for
me. It was the first time overseas, first time to
see Les Miserable (or any other musical), first time
on Subway, first time on a Harley, first time to
do..... a lot of different things. If you were to
ask me what I enjoyed most about the trip, to begin
with: EVERYTHING!!!
Roice has spent a lot of time in London, he was a
wonderful navigator of the possible things to go
and see. Trying to see and do everything that London,
and the surrounding area, had to offer in a little
over a week, is quite a feet but I think that we did
rather well!
We started off with church at the Hyde Park ward. I
believe that this is where Roice spent some of his
mission time. Sara and I couldn't contain ourselves
of being in church after sacrament meeting, so we
went on a walk, all I could think of was "This is
fun, but what's next? The next part is to work out
what you want to see and how to get there? GET ME
SOME SLEEP!" But seriously folks, sleep deprivation
didn't even phase us....
After church we caught up with the parents and we
walked to see the Museum of Natural History,
Imperial College, College of Geology, and Westminster
Abbey. While we were walking and talking there were
chunks of buildings that were missing. I pointed this
out, and Roice said that they were left over bomb
markings from WWII. Pretty interesting that they
would leave a piece of history there from when Hitler
bombed London. Westminster was the highlight of my
day. We were able to attend an organ recital which
was really beautiful, and especially fitting for a
Sunday. This just happens to be where they had
Princess Diana's funeral.
We also went and saw The Changing of the Guard is
such a touristy thing, but it was still on our
itinerary. It was pretty cool to see, though I don't
know why because there is not much to see when you
are only 5'2", but what do you do? The Victoria and
Albert Museum had some really old art, cool statues,
beautiful stained glass, and amazing blown glass. I
really enjoyed this museum.
All of us were blessed to be able to get some really
expensive Barker Shoes through one of Roice's
business friends, whom he is doing some work for. I
love my shoes!!! We traveled almost everywhere on
the Subway. We saw famous places such as: Piccadilly
Square/Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square
and Regent Street. This is where we spent some time
to look at shops and walk around London for a bit to
soak in the European scenery. That night, we went
and saw Les Miserable. I have never seen Les
Miserable, though everyone else had. Thank you for
seeing it again, so that I could see it for the
first time!!!
Sara and I really enjoyed hearing people talk. One
day, an older guy came up to us as we were looking
at a map, and asked if we needed some help. We said
no, and thanked him, and he said "Jolly good then."
Sara and I couldn't help but chuckle at his phrase.
Hampton Court Palace was really cool, this is where
Henry VIII lived. It was huge, amazing, and the
gardens were just beautiful. We got to go in one of
those tall grass mazes, but I was a little perturbed
because when we got to the center of it, all there
was a tree stump...that's it. I wanted to quit
halfway through because it was so frustrating to
not know where you are going, what direction you
just came from, anything. You just pretty much walk
until you get there. And you can't quit because,
well, because you are in a stinkin maze.
We traveled back to London, and went to the Tower
of London. Some of you will know what this is if
you have ever seen the Scarlet Pimpernel. It was
really neat inside with the Crown Jewels, the
marks on the walls from the prisoners staying
there, and talking with the Beefeaters. The
world's largest cut diamond resides here: 530
carets!!! You can't put a price tag on that puppy
can you?!!?? Just outside of the Tower of London,
is the Thames river, which runs all the way
through London. The Tower Bridge sits on the
Thames river and is just a little North of the
Tower of London, and is really a site to see.
One night, we went and saw "Bombay Dreams"
another musical which is fairly new. Sara and
I have a favorite song that you will have to
listen to when you are at the house, you'll know
it by "Shakalaka shakalaka baby...."
One morning, Sara and I got a bit of alone time
to do what we wanted. We spent the morning
walking on the Thames river and just talking.
We ran across Shakespeare's Globe theater and
walked across the Millennium Bridge which
extends across the river and straight up to St.
Paul's Cathedral. This is where Princess Diana
and Charles got married. The Cathedral opens
up tall and wide when you step inside. There
is indescribable beautiful stained glass,
statues and impressive tombs in the basement.
My favorite part of this area of London was
when we went and saw "Old Bailey's." This is
the English courthouse, and Sara and I were
able to go in and watch a little bit of a
case being tried. I know this is somewhat
boring to some, but to me, IT WAS GREAT!!!
The solicitors and barrister (our
attorneys/lawyers) all wear wigs still today,
even the women. Their justice system is quite
a bit slower, not as abrupt and rude as the
American legal system.
Our next leg of the trip was to Stratford
upon Avon, where William Shakespeare was
born and grew up. On one of the Statues
for William Shakespeare, it had this poem:
Life's but a walking shadow
A poor player that struts and frets
His hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more
Another day trip was spent at Stonehenge and
Windsor Castle. I can't even begin to describe
Stonehenge...it was a dramatic and overwhelming
site as we were driving, and we get to the top
of a hill and there it was on another hill in
the distance. It looked very grand all by
itself in the middle of nowhere!!! You see
stonehenge in movies, pictures, etc., but
there is nothing like seeing this in person.
This was pretty stinkin cool!!!!
Windsor Castle is the primary residence of the
Queen. We toured and walked on the grounds.
We saw the outside of St. George's cathedal,
and we got to row our own boat on the Thames
river.
Our last day in London was pretty much wrapping
up all the things that we really wanted to see.
I wanted to go and see "Notting Hill" really
bad because of the movie. However, I would have
to say that I was a little disappointed when
mom and I got there. It is just a place. THERE
IS NO HILL, just for future reference in case
you want to go and look....It is pretty much
an area of streets full of shopping. I got a
purse there, and that's about it. Mom and I
also walked along Portabello Road (Mary Poppins).
We went to the British museum and saw mummies,
yes real ones!! We also stopped by the original
Hard Rock Cafe there in London, and got a tshirt
for Matthew and Rachel.
I would have to say that my most favorite part
of the trip was the White Cliffs of Dover. This
was our last day in England, and I wouldn't have
wanted to spend it any other way. Besides proving
Roice wrong and actually seeing the cliffs, Sara
and I were little expeditioner's finding a trail
down the face of the cliffs and playing in the
English Channel/Dover Straight. We had planned
to go and spend some time in the Dover Castle,
but Sara and I were more content to play in the
water in church clothes and all. Hey, when are
you ever going to get the chance to do something
like this again??? What amazed me the most, was
when we went to the top of Dover castle, you
could see all the way across the Dover straight
and see France. It was so tempting to be so
close to something you've always wanted to see,
and not be able to go. We were already this far,
but we didn't have time to go a little further.
Oh well, what do you do?
My perspective of the trip was none that I have
ever experienced. Having the opportunity to
travel abroad and see different things, opens
up your mind in ways that are imaginable. I
have never had the opportunity to do anything
like this and I am grateful and am a better
person for it. It really exposed me to the
rest of the materialistic society and what is
the only true currency in this world: what we
share with other people, our relationships,
and our friends and family...cheers
Thanks again Roice and Mom!!!']]>
So what is the most obvious conclusion I draw from
these wonderful reports? Remember, we all personalize
everything, even 53 year old guys. My conclusion is
that I need to make obvious mistakes more often,
because both Sara and Audrey got such a kick out of
proving me wrong. I make so many mistakes, I'm
surprised you all don't call me on the carpet about
them more often. Oh well!
It's now 7:00 PM the following Sunday. So now I am
three weeks behind again. So I'll do a quick summary
of my week in Washington D.C. talking about remote
sensing pavement, and get on to the next Thoughtlet.
Sunday the 14th of September was spent finishing up
catching up on the outstanding Thoughtlets. Monday
I ate at Wendy's, and don't remember why. Tuesday
I did some work for Nigerians named Timi and Ayo.
Later they gave me a letter saying they were only
going to pay half of the time I charged them, then
they told me I would be paid for everything this
past week, and there has been no check come. I am
becoming pretty disillusioned about my Nigerian
friends. Oh Well.
At lunch I went to the HGS talk by Alan Huffman.
I sat between Alf Klaviness and Wulf Massell. It
is nice to have good friends. We had a good time.
Alf was embarrassing me, and so I turned it around
and embarrassed him. I pointed out to the others
at the table that he was the single individual who
started the OTC, the biggest multidisciplinary
convention in the oil industry. He sheepishly
said, `Well, it seemed like a good idea at the
time. The guy across the table said, `And every
topless dancer at every strip joint in Houston
appreciates your starting it.' We all laughed.
Alf then told about how they hired women to
shine shoes of attendees when they first started
the OTC, and how some of the guys would go back
and have their shoes shined five or six times.
Then I told them about Duke Rudman and his
shining someone's shoes at a SEG in Dallas, which
was one of the funniest things I have ever seen
(../9745.html).
Norman Nidell made one of his insightful comments
which was new to me: `well velocities are vertical
and seismic velocities are horizontal.' This
won't mean anything to any of you, and I write it
because it might mean something to me down the
road. On a somber note, it looks like Wulf Massell
is going to be forced to declare bankruptcy over
Epic Geophysical. It does not currently appear he
was as lucky or as blessed as I was with my
HyperMedia debacle, and it is amazing how similar
the issues we faced were. My heart goes out to him,
because I do know how hard it is to go through
this kind of financial struggle. Seven years after
the fact, I am still struggling with the HyperMedia
financial backwash. I remind myself often:
<![CDATA[ `... know then, my son, that all of these things
shall give thee experience, and shall be for
thy good.' D&C 122:7]]>
Tuesday evening I left for Washington D.C. I knew
Isabel was coming towards that part of the country,
and as usual, I ignored it and figured everything
would work out. It did, and I lost a couple of days
work time. Oh well! Read a book I enjoyed, The
NetForce, first in the Tom Clancey series about
NetForce, which I've mentioned before (../9910.html,
../9944.html, ../9946.html, ../9949.html,
../0048.html, ../0106.html, ../0107.html,
../0202.html, 0317.html, 0327.html, and 0330.html).
I ate Sushi for dinner at the Atlanta airport, took
a shuttle bus when I got to Dulles, he got lost
three times, even with GPS, and it was 2 hours
later, about 12:30 AM Eastern Time that I made it
to my hotel room at Best Western Capital Sky Hotel.
I was up early the next morning, and took a cab to
the Holiday Inn on the Hill where our meetings were.
Dr. Michael Hauck invited me to participate in the
panel in Gillette, Wyoming last year (../0234.html).
He and I have clicked and become friends. He is
working on a Department of Transportation initiative
to do research on improving highway construction
and maintenance. For instance, if there is too
much water in the cement or the asphalt, it will
`sweat,' and eventually this moisture will act as
a slide plane, and cause the road material to
separate, and eventually to form the famous pot
hole. Michael's idea is by remote sensing pavement
to identify where there are problems in advance
and to optimize maintenance crews. This project
actually starts with identifying where the gravel
is that will be used to make the road, optimizing
getting the gravel to the construction site,
monitoring the construction, identifying flaws
so they can be fixed before they become serious,
and optimizing maintenance. It turns out my
geophysical background is right in the middle of
each of these processes, and I like it because
the whole project is related to optimizing our
city infrastructure, which is what I feel like
the Lord called to work on three decades ago.
The meeting and dinner and breakfast discussion
were very interesting. I'm not going to attempt
to regurgitate the conversation here. Hopefully
they will get funded in the next six months, and
there will be some things to report about remote
sensing of highways as I do work with them. We
did have a first class, $250 for four of us
dinner on Wednesday night. I had French onion
soup, lamb roast with lima beans, great cheeses,
and none of them had a bit of a problem with me
drinking water while they drank wine. I do tie
a 5 pound gain to that trip and that meal, and
I still haven't lost it. Oh well!
After Michael and I spent 3 hours concluding our
plans over breakfast I took a cab to Dulles. My
flight was canceled, and there was an earlier
flight. I went out to the gate, had to go
through all of the security stuff, and was bumped.
There was a Continental flight I got on, and then
it got canceled. They shut down the airport. I
ended up going to a Hampton Court Inn for Thursday
evening. As I was waiting for the bus, I was
approached by an old man who wanted to know if
this was where the Hampton Court bus would come.
We got talking. He was on his way to The Ukraine
to teach the New Testament. I asked him if he
liked the book of John or the book of Luke better
as a summary of Christ's life. He couldn't
answer. We had an interesting discussion about
grace and works, about heaven and hell, about
death and salvation, and I introduced him to some
of the concepts taught so clearly in The Book of
Mormon. He asked where he could get one, and I
agreed to send him a copy so it would be there
when he returns. I got a copy, and I have not
sent it off yet. Need to get that done tomorrow.
As we were registering at The Hampton Inn, I got
the manager to commit to help him place a call
to The Ukraine so his contacts would know he is
going to be on a later flight. Just then a young
man with a shaved head came in, shaking water off
and saying `It is so good to see water again and
to get hydrated.' I asked what he meant. He said
he just returned from Bagdag and it is very dry
there. I reached over, shook his hand, and said,
`Thanks for being there for us.' We both had a
tear in our eyes as he said `Thanks.' Reminded
me of the story Audrey sent a few weeks ago about
the Boeing 767 (0336.html).
I had my book. I went to the service station on
the corner and got some junk food. That night I
got wet going to the Holiday Inn next door for a
little pizza. We lost the television signal on
all but CNN about 11:30 PM. Other than that, it
was a lot milder than a Houston rainstorm or a
Cedar City cloud burst. At least where I was.
It has been interesting to watch how hard it has
been to recover from the storm. Friday was
certainly frustrating. The only flight I could
get before late evening was to Houston George
Bush Intercontinental Airport. My car was at
Hobby. Oh well! It was by way of a small
turbochop airplane which flew into Cleavland.
As we flew into Cleavland, with the storm now in
this area, I couldn't help but think about when
Joseph Smith lived a few miles to the south in
Kirtland, and how they did not have the warnings
we have when a large hurricane was coming onshore.
Andrea picked me up and drove me to my car at
Hobby. We got back to the house about 7:30 PM.
It was a long two days.
We went to a Taylor High School Football game.
They didn't do very well. It was 28 to 0. Not
at all like the game we went to the week before.
On Saturday we went to see the movie `Matchstick
Men.' I'm not a big fan of movies glamorizing
thieves. It does show him repenting of being
a thief. It is a cute movie. I still do not
care for the theme. I'd much rather be working
with satellite or airplane or truck mounted data
remote sensing pavement."
I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements
of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how
important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy
it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of
distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets
go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at
rnelson@walden3d.com.
With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)