Life History Of Robert Charles Dinning

1
Life History Of Robert Charles Dinning

• This is a snapshot history of the major
  technological influences in my life so far!
• Text will accompany the photos ,explaining the
  technological and social influences of each one!
• Click the icon on the top left corner to advance
  the slides.

2
Robert Charles DinningBorn Into Technology!

• Born December 29, 1971 in Lions Gate Hospital,
  North Vancouver, B.C.
• Cute kid!

3
Early Technological Influences

• Playing with Grandma and my trucks in Edmonton
  1973.
• A typical little boy who loved to play!
• Check out the huge camera shadow, early
  technology!

4
Just a Good CanadianKid

• This is me in the hockey gear with one of my
  sisters.
• I was the youngest of five children, it explains
  a lot!

5
Early Technological Infuences

• I was always adventurous and loved riding and
  fixing dirt bikes.
• Wearing a helmet, gloves and goggles, not bad
  safety for 1978!

6
Early Technological Infuences

• Hey kid, get out of my car.
• I think one of my brothers thumped me right after
  he took the picture!

7
Early Technological Influences

• Abbotsford Air Show 1978.
• Later in life as you will see, I had the
  privilege of flying in many different types of
  aircraft.

8
YIKES!

• The dreaded teen years!
• I was naturally influenced towards the shops in
  school.
• Nice hockey hair, eh!

9
Post SecondaryExperiences

• I graduated from High School in the
  Carpentry/Joinery program.
• I expanded upon this experience over the years
  framing houses and condominiums.
• It opened other doors for me later in life as
  well.

10
Mineral Exploration Arctic Style!

• On January 6, 1993 we were dropped off above the
  arctic circle, built the camp you see below, and
  proceeded to stake land for diamond exploration
  in -100C degree temperatures!

11
Mineral Exploration Arctic Style!

• This was the first floor we framed, in -100C, it
  was dark by 3 oclock p.m.
• Arctic exploration made me realize how dependant
  we are on Technology to survive.

12
Summer Soil Sampling in the Arctic, 1993 1994

• With a map, GPS and an FM radio we worked by
  ourselves in the field, and took soil samples
  looking for diamond indicator minerals.
• This is me after a hard days work, balancing an
  FM radio, such talent.

13
Summer Soil Sampling in the Arctic, 1993 1994

• What a way to see the Arctic, go for a hike and
  sample the ground for diamonds.
• We would cover on average, 5-10 km of tundra each
  day.

14
Summer Soil Sampling in the Arctic, 1993 1994

• Crews heading up to the choppers first thing in
  the morning.
• Great way to commute!

15
Technology Gone Bad, Real BAD!

• For a while companies tried to use the self
  composting toilets!
• It was a disaster, they would clog up and require
  hands-on maintenance, a simply horrendous job!

16
Major Technological Influences

• Arctic exploration is completely dependant upon
  air- craft support.
• That is a unique feeling having one of these
  hovering over your head.

17
Aircraft Technology

• The De Havilland Twin Otter, its called The
  Workhorse of the North.
• It can carry three thousand pounds of cargo on
  either floats, tundra tires or skis!

18
Aircraft Technology

• Here we are unloading 400lb barrels of fuel for
  the camp, thats me in the white shirt!

19
Aircraft Technology

• The mighty Hercules, quite a sight having one of
  these land in front of you on a frozen lake.
• All the material for the camp we built for BHP
  was flown in on this in one load, oh right and a
  Komatsu front-end loader as well!

20
Aircraft Technology

• The Hughes 500, from one of the great characters
  of the twentieth century comes one of the
  greatest helicopters.
• Sometimes used it to get to the good fishing
  spots!

21
Aircraft Technology

• Me sitting in the back of a Hughes 500.
• A very maneuverable machine, that can lift over
  1200 lbs.
• A very loud place to sit!

22
Monster Truck Pull

• This is a tank track swamp buggy, pulling out a
  Ford F350 that had broken through the ice.
• That is broken open ice that the buggy is pulling
  in, crazy!

23
Aircraft Technology

• This is a Bell 206, a common and safe helicopter,
  capable of carrying 1000 lbs or 4 passengers.
• Here I am helicopter staking on the Barren Lands,
  they actually paid me to do this!
• We removed the door, I was definitely wearing my
  seatbelt.

24
Arctic Camp ConstructionNovember, 1994

• It is beautiful country, mother nature at her
  finest.
• On a crew of six we built this drill camp (25
  person) in four weeks, tough hard work!

25
Arctic Camp ConstructionNovember, 1994

• This was a cold and nasty time of year to build a
  camp.
• Never stand in front of a Satellite dish, it can
  apparently make you sterile.

26
Arctic Camp Construction1995, Arctic Ocean!

• BHP Minerals hired me to run a crew of Inuit and
  build a 40 person gold exploration camp.
• They were wonderful and hard working people, we
  learned a lot from each other and had a lot
  laughs in the process!

27
Arctic Camp Construction1995, Arctic Ocean!

• Coffee break consisted of hiding from the wind
  eating frozen peanut butter sandwiches and
  licking coffee Popsicles.

28
Arctic Camp Construction

• Through my carpentry knowledge I ended up getting
  a lot of camp construction jobs.
• I learned about pressure water systems, plumbing,
  electrical, engine maintenance and pipe fitting
  for liquid and gas!
• It was an excellent experience that taught me how
  to deal with endless problems as they occurred.

29
Arctic Camp Construction1995, Arctic Ocean!

• This is me loosing it, while building the kitchen
  at Wolverine camp.
• I often spent up to two months at a time in the
  bush!
• Hence the term bushed!

30
Arctic Camp Construction1995, Arctic Ocean!

• One evening after work a couple of the older
  Inuit gave us an igloo building demo.
• It took them 20min to finish.
• Igloo building is a dying skill in their culture.
  

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Arctic Camp Construction1995, Arctic Ocean!

• This camp was built on a large gold property,
  there were up to 200 people working in various
  positions on this property.
• It took two months for us to get Wolverine Camp
  fully built and operating.

32
Wolverine Camp1995!

• This is the same camp completed and in use, with
  running water, full electrical power and
  satellite communications.
• Qavik means wolverine in Inuktitut.

33
Good Old Reliable Technology

• All camps receive their electricity from a diesel
  generator of some size!
• No comparison between gas and diesel generators.
  Diesel is superior, they run twenty-four-seven,
  and never break down.

34
Wild Life Photography

• One advantage of working in remote locations is
  the amazing photography opportunities.
• This is a lonely old male musk-ox, they do
  charge!

35
Wild Life Photography

• Arctic fox showing me the pearly whites!
• In reality, it is smaller than a house cat.

36
Wild Life Photography

• Did you ever get the feeling you were being
  watched.
• Bears run fast!

37
Technological Fun in Hinton Alberta, Fall 1995.

• In groups of two, we used air satellite photos,
  GPS technology, a trusty compass and vehicular
  support to get into remote creek beds and take
  creek sediment samples.

38
Technological Fun in Hinton Alberta, Fall 1995

• Sometimes we had found ourselves overcoming
  physical boundaries in our quest for soil
  samples.
• In all honesty, it was boys playing with toys!

39
Technological Fun in Hinton Alberta, Fall 1995.

• Sometimes technology allows us to overcome
  environmental challenges.
• No fish were harmed in the filming process!

40
Technological Fun in Hinton Alberta, Fall 1995

• Here I am at a sample site, we were sampling for
  diamond indicator minerals, it was exciting work.

41
Mineral Exploration in Alberta, January 1996!

• These were some of my toys in Alberta, we were
  cutting the fastest and easiest trails through
  the bush for the the drill company to bring in
  the diamond drilling rig.

42
OOPS!Technological Difficulties

• There were some difficulties when the drillers'
  did not like our route and tried to cross a
  beaver pond!
• The second machine was brought in to pull out the
  other and it sunk to!

43
BCIT 1998-2000

• Feeling at home in the shops, I expanded my
  skills a lot in the two years I was at BCIT.

44
BCIT 1998-2000

• One of my favorite projects was the construction
  of three ocean kayaks, wood canvas, complete
  with templates and plans for a classroom.
• It was a time consuming but rewarding project.

45
BCIT 1998-2000

• This is the bottom view of the kayak.
• The stringers are cut out of 16 clear fir 2x4s.
• They are attached to plywood bulkheads with
  stainless steel screws and epoxy.

46
BCIT 1998-2000

• This the top view of one of the kayaks.
• It cost approximately 230 per boat.
• And takes 60-80 hours to build one.

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THE END

• That is a photo summary of some of the major
  technological influences in my life.
• I have always relied on my carpentry experiences
  to get different jobs. My mineral exploration
  positions are a direct result of my carpentry
  knowledge that had originated in high school!
• In retrospect, the mining industry is still far
  behind in environmentally friendly practices. It
  is part of the reason for its own decline in this
  province.
• The schooling I did at BCIT further enhanced my
  skill- base and has helped make me more
  technologically literate.