My Trip to The Sanborn Map Company, Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colorado

7/24/2009

Posted by Proposal Panda
After a long flight from Virginia, I arrived at The Sanborn Map Company in Colorado Springs, hoping to relax and enjoy my time near the mountains. But soon after stretching my legs, I was issued an official staff badge and tasked to assemble an important proposal set to ship that day. No ladder was in sight, so I scrambled up the side of the file cabinets and got to work.

Heather and Lee Ann, the Sanborn Proposals team, asked me if I needed help, but I was in the zone. In a matter of minutes, I had assembled and bound 10 250-page proposals. My hosts were amazed and asked if I would like a job. I graciously declined (bamboo doesn’t grow in Colorado).

I dropped the proposals off at the shipping department, and then wandered around the office, introducing myself to the entire Sanborn staff. They were really cool folks, but I was still a bit fuzzy (no pun intended) on what, exactly, a geospatial company does. So I got my paws on a book about photogrammetric mapping and spent the afternoon learning about all things geospatial.

The day flew by quickly and, before I knew it, the clock said 5:00 p.m. – and it was Friday! Lee Ann invited me to join her for the weekend. I’m glad I accepted, because there’s a lot to do in Colorado Springs! From Pike’s Peak to the U.S. Air Force Academy and Garden of the Gods, we did it all.

Heather even let me borrow some of her hockey equipment, and we got to play in a pick-up game on Sunday night! Since I am from a mountainous region in China, the altitude here (6,035 ft) didn’t really affect my nimble athleticism (bet you didn’t know pandas could skate), and everyone was impressed with my stick-handling skills even though I don’t have opposable thumbs!

It was a busy couple of days, and Sunday night I was really tuckered out. I was invited to a sleep-over with my distant cousin, Publishing Polar Bear, but as you can see, we all decided to turn in early.