My First Week

I'm not sure how long to make my posts, but since it's been a whole week, I figured it could be a little long.

Getting Ready to Leave
I always leave things to the last minute, so I had a lot of stuff to do Friday night. With the help of my family, though, I don’t think I forgot anything.

Before I left on my trip, I got a GPS. Although you wouldn't need it much for normal, everyday driving, I'm so happy I got it. Driving around Henderson and Las Vegas isn't always that straightforward. California? Again, I'm glad I have it. It's so nice to say, "I want to go buy a present for Steve's birthday tomorrow," (*hint, hint* for those of you who may have forgotten) and to ask the GPS where the nearest stores are in a specific category. You need gas? The GPS knows where to go. You want food? Good luck. Ok, ok... so the 2009 map update will be nice for the city of Henderson since it seems to have changed so much in the last few months.

Saturday
I left home... And drove... and drove... and drove. I figured driving 8 hours would be torture, but when you know it's going to be a really long time, it's not bad at all. I am really happy with my new 4runner and would highly recommend one at this point in my rank as car-owner, a privileged position where one can spend lots of money. On Saturday, I drove to Beaver, Utah, a little cow-town at about the 2/3 mark. It turned out to be a really nice hotel. The rooms were huge with a king-sized bed, full bathroom, 3-person couch, and Jacuzzi. The neighboring Burger King/Shell gas station/Peerless Tire turned out to be really nice, too. The beef was obviously fresh as the beautiful aroma of cattle filled the town.

Sunday
I got up, ate some of the hotel's "free," deluxe continental breakfast and continued on my way. The scenery got progressively dryer and dryer. Death Valley was really weird looking. In ugly areas of Colorado, we have acres of sage brush. In Death Valley, they have these weird cactus-bush-tree thingies. (Joshua Trees, I think.)

Driving into Nevada was a strange experience. I stopped at a gas station-combination-Arbys right over the border of Nevada and was surprised by the fact that there were slot machines in the gas station.

Las Vegas surprised me. I had always pictured a small town out in the middle of a flat desert with some big casinos and enough houses to house the employees. Well... It feels almost as big as Denver, and it's just an ordinary city. Aside from the fact that every grocery store and gas station has slot machines, you wouldn't know it was Vegas. (Unless you’re on "the strip," of course)

I arrived at my hotel in Henderson, a "city" that's grown into Vegas. My hotel is pretty much on the edge of the city, so it's kind of a nice location. The hotel room is fairly large and contains a bathroom (Well, I’d hope so!), king bed, large, flat-screen TV with a VGA input, desk for my computer, a small table I use for holding soon-to-be-consumed food, a 2-person couch (love seat?), a table in front of the 2-person couch, and a mini-kitchen. Not bad considering the government is only paying $40/night for it :-)

Once I unpacked, the truth started settling in. I had been excited up to that point, but the fact that I'd be sitting in this hotel room for three months started to sink in. I quickly started feeling like I was in prison, so I headed out to get some groceries. I bought enough food for dinner and that week’s lunches. $41. Beef out here is $4.12-$5.00/lb, and everything else seems to be proportionally higher, too.

I decided to eat hamburgers (I know, I know) that night, so I made them... with minimal kitchen utensils. Since then, I've bought a knife, a turner, soap, dish cloths, etc.

Monday
My co-worker and I drove out to Hoover Dam and got our badges. Nothing too exciting. If you want to see it, they filmed part of "Transformers" out there. The only unique thing I noticed about this dam right away is the fact that Hoover is somewhat decorated... A lot of the tunnels have inlays in the floor, a lot of doors are brass-plated, and there are some statues, monuments, etc. sitting around for the tourists. Basically, we spent our first day meeting people and touring.

Tuesday
More of the same. I started to find out why we were there and what we would be doing.

The goal of our trip is to teach Matt (the co-worker I'm here with) and me as much about Hoover Dam as the employees know.

Somewhere in the week, we got our schedule:
First 2.5 weeks -- Learn AutoCAD. Update wiring diagrams as there's a big control-modernization project going on.
Second 2.5 weeks -- Be an electrician apprentice and work on the control-modernization.
Third 2.5 weeks -- Work with the test team and test the new installations.

After those 7.5 weeks, I have no clue what we'll do.

Even though we're electrical engineers, they're teaching us as much as possible about the mechanical side of the generators so we can understand the big picture. I, personally, really enjoy this aspect. It's cool to see how they re-build a generator, how the thrust bearing is assembled, how the generator breaks work, how they cool things, how the valves work, etc.

Well… That’s enough for now. I’m tired of writing and want to go eat dinner. Stay tuned for more details and my trip out to California where I visited the NAAM convention (enormous music convention) and Knott's Berry Farm (COOL roller coasters)

"XCELERATOR hydraulically launches you off the line at an electrifying top speed of 82 mph in 2.3 seconds through an exhilarating 205-foot ascent and immediate descent at a 90-degree angle..."

Um... It's... really.... reaaaallllllyyyyy intense, but EXTREMELY fun. There's no anticipation, so it's way more fun than the "Tower of Doom" equivalent.