Welcome to this week's edition of the POB eNews... 

It's interesting how the images used in marketing change over time. Sometimes this change is significant and positive. In many ways, it has been for women. When's the last time you saw a serious ad featuring a Stepford-like wife frolicking about the house simply tickled pink with the anticipation of scrubbing the toilet bowl and pedestal until they sparkled?

The image of men has been in transition, too, but the change has been subtler. Today, marketers often use famous sports figures, like football players and NASCAR drivers, in ad campaigns. These celebrities possess the attributes and portray the glamorous lives advertisers want to associate with their products.

Not too long ago, however, the objects of idolization were of a much different sort. They were land surveyors like you. Your image sold everything from liquor and tobacco to vehicles to clothing and more. You even sold pantyhose (though, I'm glad to say, you weren't wearing them like Joe Namath did in the 1970s for Hanes). Yours was the profession chosen to personify courage, the spirit of adventure and independence.

I encourage you to pay a visit to the Virtual Museum of Surveying, POB's Cool Link of the Week, and travel back to the good old days when the land surveyor was put on a pedestal and glamorized in American society as the forward-thinker and pioneer. 

While I, for one, am glad that women have fallen off their historical pedestal (albeit sparkling), I believe American society would do better to return the land surveyor to yours.

 -Wendy Lyons, eNews Editor

This month, we want to know if you use any navigation software to route your trips to the job to conserve fuel? Take a moment to vote in our Quick Poll at www.pobonline.com.  

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AEC Store Corner: HOT OFF THE PRESS

Prefurbia: Reinventing the Suburbs: From Disdainable to Sustainable
by Rick Harrison

Rick Harrison has planned and designed over 600 neighborhoods in 45 states and 10 countries. The builders and developers utilizing his methods have enjoyed tremendous success. Many of today's suburbs are not quite the retreat that were once imagined. Nor do they contain the natural spaces that once provided the character and desirability to live within a neighborhood.

Prefurbia does not provide a slight modification to the cookie-cutter designs we see today, it is rather drastic to some. However, if we want to encourage a sustainable lifestyle where people want to live within environmental constraints without sacrificing quality of life needs and economic concerns, Prefurbia provides a starting point. While it is not another book castigating sprawl, it does challenge the concept along with those of New Urbanism and Smart Growth. $89.85 CLICK HERE to purchase.

Visit AECstore.com to view our all of our surveying resources and products!  Call Stephanie at 248-244-1275 with any questions.

Tami Named NCEES Vice President
Patrick J. Tami, PLS, was commissioned Western Zone vice president of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) at the organization's 2008 Annual Meeting, held August 13-16 in Minneapolis.

Eagle Point Software Corporation Donates Software and Services to Crazy Horse Memorial
Since 1996, Eagle Point Software has been instrumental in providing design and surveying software used by engineers at Crazy Horse Memorial. This year, thanks to the $5 million Sanford Challenge Grant, Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation was able to take advantage of Eagle Point's donation in a new way.

Riegl USA INC Launches Redesigned Web Site
The new site is loaded with quality photos, easy-to-navigate menus and an abundance of product information.