August 20, 1999
SENH PRESIDENT’S NEWS LETTER
Greetings!
I hope everybody has been enjoying the
summer. As we head into the fall season SENH
had lined up several activities for its members.
September 16, 1999 Meeting
The next membership meeting will be
held in Nashua, New Hampshire on Thursday, September 16, 1999. Guest speakers will be Emile Troup, P.E.,
Consultant and John Siemienowicz, President of SSFNE who will provide an informative
presentation on Steel Connections. If you are routinely involved in the design,
fabrication and construction of steel, I encourage you to attend this meeting. More information regarding the time, place, and
registration requirements are included in this mailing.
October 20, 1999 Meeting
Mark your calendars for our annual
Technical Seminar being held on Tuesday, October 20, 1999 in Bedford, New Hampshire. The theme of this years Technical Seminar will be
“Concrete Slabs on Grade”. There
will be presentations on design of new slabs, as well as the repair/rehabilitation of
existing slabs. More information regarding
this seminar will be provided in the next mailing in late September 1999.
Student Member Committee
In my last Newsletter I announced that
the Board of Directors had approved a Student Member Committee as well as student member
status for our organization. All members
should have received a survey from the Student Member Committee. If you have not already done so, please complete
the survey and mail or e-mail it back to Matt Severson, P.E., Committee Chair, or turn in
your completed survey at the September 16, 1999 meeting.
NCSEA Convention
One last reminder, the annual NCSEA
Convention will be held this year in Seattle, Washington from September 23rd to
September 25th. A very
interesting, two day technical presentation on Code 2000 related issues will be held. If you have not already registered for the
Convention, please do so soon.
SENH Website
In my business travels throughout New
England I’m routinely asked, “what’s happening with SENH?”. Typical questions are:
When
and where is the next meeting?
What
topics and speakers do you have planned for future presentations?
Are
we going to have an annual Technical Seminar this year?
Who
is on the Board of Directors?
Where
can I get information on a specific technical subject?
The answer to all these questions can
be found on the SENH website (www.senh.org.). Our website has been up and running for 7 months. The website provides much of the information that
you would want to know about SENH, as well as links to other structural and technical
organizations, and product literature. Current
employment opportunities can also be found on the SENH website. If you have not visited our website or have not
done so recently, I encourage you to see what’s new and what’s happening with
SENH. Our website is constantly being updated
with new information relevant to our membership and the structural engineering community.
Beginning this month, we will be
posting NCSEA “Monthly Moments” Newsletters on the website for your reference.
The Big Dig
Her are some interesting facts on the
“Big Dig”, courtesy of the Central Artery/Tunnel project and the Massachusetts
Turnpike Authority.
Fact: The Central Artery/Tunnel project is the
largest and most complex highway project in American History. As public works projects go, it’s larger than
the Panama Canal and the Alaska Pipe Line, smaller than the tunnel under the English
Channel and the Yangtze River Dam in China.
Fact: The lowest point of the underground Central
Artery will be 120 feet below Dewey Square at Atlantic Avenue and Sumner Street.
Fact: About 150 cranes are in use project wide.
Fact: The CA/T’s utility relocation effort
moved 29 miles of gas, electric, telephone, sewer, water and other utility lines
maintained by 31 separate companies, in all, 5,000 miles if fiber optic cable and 200,000
miles of copper telephone cable will be installed.
Fact: The New Artery will cross the Charles River
on a 10 lane cable-stayed bridge. It will be
the widest of its kind in the world, the first the U.S. “hybrid” – using
both steel and concrete in its frame.
Fact: By project end, the Big Dig will have
excavated 13 million cubic yards of dirt, enough to fill Foxboro Stadium to the rim 13
times.
Fact: The project will create more than 150 acres
of new parks and open space, including 27 aces along the Artery corridor, 105 acres at
Spectacle Island, 33 acres along the Charles River, and 7 acres at Memorial Stadium Park
in East Boston.
S
Enclosed is memo from Emile Troup, P.E.
regarding Seismic Detailing Provisions of the Massachusetts State Building Code. Anyone doing steel design or fabrication in
Massachusetts should be aware of this important issue.
NCSEA Monthly Moments
Enclosed is the June-July-August issue
of the Monthly Moments Newsletter for your review. Current
and past issues of the Newsletter will be posted on the SENH website.
AISC Annual Steel Seminar Series
Enclosed is the information on the
upcoming AISC Steel Seminar Series. Mark your
calendar for the date and location of the seminar nearest you!
O I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow, isn’t looking good either.
O I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as
they go flying by.
O Someday we’ll look back on all
this and plow into a parked car.
O There are very few personal problems
that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives.
O Tell me what you want and I’ll
tell you how to get along without it.
O Accept that some days you’re the
pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.
O Needing someone is like needing a
parachute. If he isn’t there the first
time you need him, chances are you won’t be needing him again.
O I don’t have an attitude
problem. You have a perception problem.
O My reality check bounced.
O On the keyboard of life, always keep
one finger on the escape key.
O I don’t suffer from stress. I’m
a carrier.
O Everybody is someone else’s
weirdo.
O Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level then beat you
with experience.
Enjoy “Dilbert’s Words of
Wisdom”!
Looking forward to seeing all of you at
the next SENH meeting!
Sincerely,
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
Robert H. Durfee, P.E.
President
RHD/lcd