Hi folks! Welcome to another week of productivity in the Federal Government. I finally had a full week in office for the first time since our return to office order. While I was working from home several days per week, my wife and I were sharing grocery shopping duties on Friday. Normally, this wasn’t an issue, since I didn’t need to get anywhere by car, my wife could take the car to the store. In order to leave the car available to her, I had to find an alternate way to get myself to the office. Let’s talk more about that later after we go through what I did this week.
- Provided timely, policy compliant, and technically sound technical assistance to field staff on multiple active construction projects.
- Project 1 – Rock slope construction, heading towards completion of reinforcement, anticipating test blast next week
- Project 2 – GRS-IBS submittal reviews
- Project 3 – Request info for global stability analysis of contractor designed walls, supervising junior engineer to complete analysis
- Provided timely, policy compliant, and technically sound review of design deliverables.
- Project 4 – Review of retaining wall profiles, revise design
- Project 5 – Review special contract requirements for upcoming design-build project
- Performed COR responsibilities for multiple contracts.
- Project 6 – Drilling completed this week, close out final invoice. Finalize scope of work for geophysical study at site.
- Project 7 – Finalize scope of work for drilling and test pits at site, provide list of capable contractors to notify for advertisement.
- Provided technical leadership to wider FLH Geotech Discipline.
- Sent example plans and specifications for concrete block walls and seismic refraction gear to colleagues at Western division office.
- Evaluated appropriate context sensitive solutions to rockfall hazards.
- o Project 4 – Discussed implications of reducing rockfall mitigation with project manager including budget, safety risk, and aesthetics. Prepared email to owning/operating agency partner detailing thought process and decision.
Unfortunately, my colleague and I have a slightly different schedule, leaving me to find a way to get to the office when I work on Fridays, with the constraint that I need to leave the car available for my wife. For this trial run, I decided to take public transit and it worked out really well. I had a longer walk from the train station to my office, but I was able to stop in at a little donut shop and pick up a little treat for my troubles. To top things off, the office was really quiet, and I was able to get a lot of work done without lots of meetings or other interruptions. Honestly, the lack of interruptions is probably the thing I miss most about working from home.
That’s all for this week. As I type this, I have a big pot of potato vindaloo on the stove that is just about ready to eat. Best of luck to you all, especially other feds.
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