Today we were given a short lab day. Our assignment was to go to the first official career day held in front of squires. There I machines used in the construction industry, experienced new technologies that the industry is moving towards, and talk to professionals from the field. I have some pictures to the left of what I saw. First I nervously watched a couple of my classmates operate the crane that they had on display. They were only allowed to move the hook up and down so they couldn't do too much damage. Although the people studying in the library were probably not happy about the noise coming from the crane's motor. I was then shown a mock-up of a hallway by Mr. Depp. He described how much stuff is actually in a ceiling and wall that you can not see and how tight it can get. He then showed us a short presentation of program called primavera which he uses to keep all the paperwork for jobs organized. He explained how he can view his program anywhere in the world where he can get online. The next stop on the industry day journey was to tent where some survey and GPS equipment was set up. They explained to us how the industry is beginning to move to completely real time on job sites and showed us the reciever that can estimate to something like 5/1000 of a foot. I learned that he was able to do this due to a base unit that was mounted on top of one of his trucks. He said that the difference between the GPS in my car and his was about $25,000. This technology interested me the most out of the displays because it gave me some insight to the direction the industry is moving. Eventually you will be able to sit in an office and know exactly when a beam is being put in place or when a wall is going up. All in all I think the first Industry Day at Virginia Tech was a success. Given the fact that it was the first time the experience can only improve and bring more and more publicity to showing what the construction industry is all about and displaying new technologies that I will eventually be using when I get into the field.