Oh, and since this is the 100th post since I started my blog again, here's a picture to celebrate:
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Iiiiit's BREAK TIME!
Seems like break time comes all the time, but I'm not complaining.
Oh, and since this is the 100th post since I started my blog again, here's a picture to celebrate:
Oh, and since this is the 100th post since I started my blog again, here's a picture to celebrate:
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Food! Good Food!
Going home included good food. No more Del Inferno from Del Taco, a hot sauce that, unlike Del Scorcho, is a little warm!
I wonder what Mexicans think of names like that :-)
I wonder what Mexicans think of names like that :-)
Still Impressive
I still find Joe Morello impressive... If you're like Steve and can't stand one of the most famous Jazz peaces around, you can skip to about 1:45 :-)
BWAAA, HAAA, HA!
I was shocked with horror today while at my friendly local grocery store. To my utter disdain, they interrupted the constant flow of heavy metal to interject the weirdest song I've ever heard... I decided I needed to complain to the store manager, but they fixed the fluke before I got to him. The return of heavy metal soothed my mental condition and calmed me down.
I decided I would have to write a blog post on it... I was guessing the name of the song was "She's a weasel woman to me," but when I searched on it, I couldn't find it... until I found a site of "misheard lyrics." Tell me, doesn't this honestly sound like "weasel woman" to you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4nQB3V10i8
(Sorry, they disabled embedding, so you'll have to click the link.)
"The Story: When my daughter was little, we were riding in the car, and this song came on. After a while, my daughter asked, 'Daddy, what's a weasel woman?'"
I decided I would have to write a blog post on it... I was guessing the name of the song was "She's a weasel woman to me," but when I searched on it, I couldn't find it... until I found a site of "misheard lyrics." Tell me, doesn't this honestly sound like "weasel woman" to you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4nQB3V10i8
(Sorry, they disabled embedding, so you'll have to click the link.)
"The Story: When my daughter was little, we were riding in the car, and this song came on. After a while, my daughter asked, 'Daddy, what's a weasel woman?'"
Weird things about Denver
It all started when, once again, I was amazed at the sheer size of Denver. The entire city of Vegas and the surrounding areas feels like just one finger of Denver. The mountains in Denver are absolutely enormous, and everything is spread out.
Since they wouldn't let me bring my car on the plane as a carry-on, I made Steve bring me to get Propane for our grill. (Eat here. Get gas.) He started mentioning street names like "Federal" that sounded vaguely familiar. No "Steff-aye-nee street" in Denver! (That's how my GPS says "Stephine." It may have Spanish down, but it has problems with names. I think I need to name my GPS... Let's see... Oscar is my stomach... Bianca! That's it! Huh... My GPS is silver, not white. Eh, close enough!)
I had Dinner with Mom and Dad at the Black-eyed Pea. Sitting in the waiting area caused me to suddenly realize I have not seen any architecture that even resembles the architecture in Black-eyed Pea for a month. Las Vegas is all very grand, and that simply seems to throw tons of architectural styles out the window. The most "normal" architecture is the historic "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign that's pretty much in the middle of the city.
Since they wouldn't let me bring my car on the plane as a carry-on, I made Steve bring me to get Propane for our grill. (Eat here. Get gas.) He started mentioning street names like "Federal" that sounded vaguely familiar. No "Steff-aye-nee street" in Denver! (That's how my GPS says "Stephine." It may have Spanish down, but it has problems with names. I think I need to name my GPS... Let's see... Oscar is my stomach... Bianca! That's it! Huh... My GPS is silver, not white. Eh, close enough!)
I had Dinner with Mom and Dad at the Black-eyed Pea. Sitting in the waiting area caused me to suddenly realize I have not seen any architecture that even resembles the architecture in Black-eyed Pea for a month. Las Vegas is all very grand, and that simply seems to throw tons of architectural styles out the window. The most "normal" architecture is the historic "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign that's pretty much in the middle of the city.
Denver
As a lot of you probably know, I got to go home for the weekend.
Like last time, my family pampered me, I ate great food, and April even made a grapefruit cake for the occasion.
We played games, we stayed up talking, we laughed together, we cried together, it was great. (Huh! Yet another indication I need to get a career change and work for Hallmark Hall of Horrors... I mean... card company.)
I got in to DIA late, so Mom and Dad took me out to dinner. That was great fun. As usual, I ate a hamburger :-) Dad, Mom, April, and I then curled up and watched a Poirot episode. Once the rest of the family got home from a concert, I went and commiserated with Abb about the pains of life for several hours.
Saturday, I tried out something I made last time I was in Denver and found it didn't work. After that, Steve brought me Pawn shopping, and of, course, that was a barrel of laughs. Watching that guy try to drive is just plain hilarious. Ok, ok... I'm kidding. It was a lot of fun.
Once I got back home, we played with the robot for a while and then ate a great dinner of hamburgers! ♫Oh, the cattle are standing like statues... between two slices of bread...♫ (Yes, you have permission to ignore me.)
The whole family then curled up with an Alton Brown show. (A guy off the food network.)
Sunday, I got to see everyone at church and caught the summary of the Sermon on the Mount series. (A "brief overview" that started last June :-) Wow... That feels like a different part of my life... Sorry, random comment.
We ate a great lunch and played around till dinner. Later that night, Kellie, Beck, Abb, and I then played a couple games of Clue that were absolutely hilarious -- probably because we were all tired.
Even though it was nice to go back, Vegas is starting to feel like home. BWAAAA, HAAA, HAAA, HA! Ok, maybe not. I was a little disconcerted to find I wasn't much over the half-way mark.
Like last time, my family pampered me, I ate great food, and April even made a grapefruit cake for the occasion.
We played games, we stayed up talking, we laughed together, we cried together, it was great. (Huh! Yet another indication I need to get a career change and work for Hallmark Hall of Horrors... I mean... card company.)
I got in to DIA late, so Mom and Dad took me out to dinner. That was great fun. As usual, I ate a hamburger :-) Dad, Mom, April, and I then curled up and watched a Poirot episode. Once the rest of the family got home from a concert, I went and commiserated with Abb about the pains of life for several hours.
Saturday, I tried out something I made last time I was in Denver and found it didn't work. After that, Steve brought me Pawn shopping, and of, course, that was a barrel of laughs. Watching that guy try to drive is just plain hilarious. Ok, ok... I'm kidding. It was a lot of fun.
Once I got back home, we played with the robot for a while and then ate a great dinner of hamburgers! ♫Oh, the cattle are standing like statues... between two slices of bread...♫ (Yes, you have permission to ignore me.)
The whole family then curled up with an Alton Brown show. (A guy off the food network.)
Sunday, I got to see everyone at church and caught the summary of the Sermon on the Mount series. (A "brief overview" that started last June :-) Wow... That feels like a different part of my life... Sorry, random comment.
We ate a great lunch and played around till dinner. Later that night, Kellie, Beck, Abb, and I then played a couple games of Clue that were absolutely hilarious -- probably because we were all tired.
Even though it was nice to go back, Vegas is starting to feel like home. BWAAAA, HAAA, HAAA, HA! Ok, maybe not. I was a little disconcerted to find I wasn't much over the half-way mark.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
No Title
Man, electricians give each other grief! When they're not acting like clowns, they're giving each other a really hard time... Good thing they get along well!
BTW, today is 3 days after March 2nd which was 10 months after May 2nd which was the day after May Day.
BTW, today is 3 days after March 2nd which was 10 months after May 2nd which was the day after May Day.
Lunch time!
Uh… forgot what I was going to say.
Uh… here’s some dialog I’ve heard recently:
“Yeah, he’s being raked over the coals right now.”
"The wheel fell off the golf cart. When are the cops coming?"
“Bring that pig over here and let’s put ‘er on after we bend this pig.”
“Now where did that pig go?”
“Raise that pig up.”
(Some electricians call everything “pigs.” Electricians seem to sing circus music a lot, too.)
Uh… here’s some dialog I’ve heard recently:
“Yeah, he’s being raked over the coals right now.”
"The wheel fell off the golf cart. When are the cops coming?"
“Bring that pig over here and let’s put ‘er on after we bend this pig.”
“Now where did that pig go?”
“Raise that pig up.”
(Some electricians call everything “pigs.” Electricians seem to sing circus music a lot, too.)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
You know you’re near Vegas when...
The only green you can see is palm trees, cacti, and asto-turf.
The left-most lane at a traffic light is sometimes a U-turn lane.
You have to wait for a red right-turn arrow to turn green.
You have to stop at every light, independent of which direction you’re going or what time of day it is.
You hear tourists talking about being so drunk they can’t remember anything as being the most desirable state. (I didn’t think it was that horrible down here!)
There are more wedding chapels than grocery stores.
Every gas-station has slot machines.
Traffic lanes are marked with reflectors instead of paint.
Taxis can cross 8 lanes of traffic in a single city block.
The sun gets so low you can’t see anything while driving towards the sun.
All construction work is done at night.
Natives wear coats and gloves when the temperature drops below 80.
People drink massive amounts of beer out of plastic guitars.
You see a ton of drunk people at noon. (Yeah, I know… It’s always after 5 somewhere!)
Grocery stores play heavy metal.
Speed traps consist of C.O.P.s speeding in unmarked cars and pulling anyone over who's going as fast as they are.
Most people are grumps.
Most Nevada license plates say, “Las Vegas.”
Engineers constantly talk about how dumb gambling is. (You’d think after living here for years, you’d get tired of talking about gambling, but I guess not.)
You can see more slot machines than people.
It's hard to find a car wash.
Everything except “winning” is legal.
A light rain shower almost mandates absence from work due to hazardous weather conditions.
When it rains, you can skate on sidewalks almost as if they were iced up.
The left-most lane at a traffic light is sometimes a U-turn lane.
You have to wait for a red right-turn arrow to turn green.
You have to stop at every light, independent of which direction you’re going or what time of day it is.
You hear tourists talking about being so drunk they can’t remember anything as being the most desirable state. (I didn’t think it was that horrible down here!)
There are more wedding chapels than grocery stores.
Every gas-station has slot machines.
Traffic lanes are marked with reflectors instead of paint.
Taxis can cross 8 lanes of traffic in a single city block.
The sun gets so low you can’t see anything while driving towards the sun.
All construction work is done at night.
Natives wear coats and gloves when the temperature drops below 80.
People drink massive amounts of beer out of plastic guitars.
You see a ton of drunk people at noon. (Yeah, I know… It’s always after 5 somewhere!)
Grocery stores play heavy metal.
Speed traps consist of C.O.P.s speeding in unmarked cars and pulling anyone over who's going as fast as they are.
Most people are grumps.
Most Nevada license plates say, “Las Vegas.”
Engineers constantly talk about how dumb gambling is. (You’d think after living here for years, you’d get tired of talking about gambling, but I guess not.)
You can see more slot machines than people.
It's hard to find a car wash.
Everything except “winning” is legal.
A light rain shower almost mandates absence from work due to hazardous weather conditions.
When it rains, you can skate on sidewalks almost as if they were iced up.
Electric! Uh… Wha?
I’m finally doing what most people think when I tell them I’m an electrical engineer! Finally, I’m not doing drawings. Finally, I’m not updating cable lists. Finally, I’m not watching the clock slowly tick, minute by minute.
I’m sure you’re all riveted by my change in work status. Ok, maybe not, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Ok, so I’ll only tell you if you read this.
I, believe it or not, started working with the plant electricians. That’s actually quite an amazing thing because electricians have their unions, and in many plants, if you do so much as hand an electrician a screwdriver, they’re likely to file a grievance against you for attempting to take their work away from them. It’s a crazy world, but at Hoover, the electricians are actually happy we’re working with them. They’ve taken us on just as if we were apprentice electricians. That being said, we’ve gotten to do all sorts of things. What’s really cool is they’re not ridiculous about their safety rules. True, I still had to wear a harness when I was in a man lift 20’ above the ground, not doing any thing that required me to lean out, but I didn’t have to wear fall protection when I was on a 6’ ladder on top of a cable duct on top of a breaker cubical, 30’ in the air :-)
They’re putting in a new air compressor in the central section (central area between the two rows of generators where things like plant air compressors, sump pumps, etc. are located.) They’re replacing the old 480V compressors with a giant 2300V compressor… That means a new 2300V, 4/0, 3 phase feeder… which means a 3” rigid conduit from the USA room (room where all the station service breakers are. (I.E. compressor breakers, elevator breakers, etc.)) to the 2nd floor central section where the new compressor switchgear is.
LOL! A little too technical, hu? Ok… We’re running a 3” steel pipe from the 6th floor to the 2nd floor to hold a “power cord” for the new air compressor.
The electricians have let us help with everything. I’ve gotten to climb around in places that are normally considered places only electricians can go, I’ve been taught how to measure and bend conduit so it comes out right, I’ve gotten to play around with a narrow man-lift (those skinny things are a little scary… You feel like you’re on a giant spring.) I’ve gotten to install a lot of unistrut (Ugh… It only takes drilling a couple holes in the concrete ceiling before I’m bushed!), I was taught some tricks for pulling wire, etc.
Anyway… That was a lot to read to find out I’m working with electricians and am enjoying it, but it’s definitely not what I want to do the rest of my life. :-)
(Whoa! That's an old picture! The power plant is set up into two "wings." This is the "Nevada" wing as it's in Nevada. The Arizona wing is in Arizona. Each wing contains... Uh... 10 generators...)
I’m sure you’re all riveted by my change in work status. Ok, maybe not, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Ok, so I’ll only tell you if you read this.
I, believe it or not, started working with the plant electricians. That’s actually quite an amazing thing because electricians have their unions, and in many plants, if you do so much as hand an electrician a screwdriver, they’re likely to file a grievance against you for attempting to take their work away from them. It’s a crazy world, but at Hoover, the electricians are actually happy we’re working with them. They’ve taken us on just as if we were apprentice electricians. That being said, we’ve gotten to do all sorts of things. What’s really cool is they’re not ridiculous about their safety rules. True, I still had to wear a harness when I was in a man lift 20’ above the ground, not doing any thing that required me to lean out, but I didn’t have to wear fall protection when I was on a 6’ ladder on top of a cable duct on top of a breaker cubical, 30’ in the air :-)
They’re putting in a new air compressor in the central section (central area between the two rows of generators where things like plant air compressors, sump pumps, etc. are located.) They’re replacing the old 480V compressors with a giant 2300V compressor… That means a new 2300V, 4/0, 3 phase feeder… which means a 3” rigid conduit from the USA room (room where all the station service breakers are. (I.E. compressor breakers, elevator breakers, etc.)) to the 2nd floor central section where the new compressor switchgear is.
LOL! A little too technical, hu? Ok… We’re running a 3” steel pipe from the 6th floor to the 2nd floor to hold a “power cord” for the new air compressor.
The electricians have let us help with everything. I’ve gotten to climb around in places that are normally considered places only electricians can go, I’ve been taught how to measure and bend conduit so it comes out right, I’ve gotten to play around with a narrow man-lift (those skinny things are a little scary… You feel like you’re on a giant spring.) I’ve gotten to install a lot of unistrut (Ugh… It only takes drilling a couple holes in the concrete ceiling before I’m bushed!), I was taught some tricks for pulling wire, etc.
Anyway… That was a lot to read to find out I’m working with electricians and am enjoying it, but it’s definitely not what I want to do the rest of my life. :-)
(Whoa! That's an old picture! The power plant is set up into two "wings." This is the "Nevada" wing as it's in Nevada. The Arizona wing is in Arizona. Each wing contains... Uh... 10 generators...)
Monday, March 2, 2009
There is heavy traffic in this area.
The heavy traffic in Las Vegas isn't due to a guy randomly deciding to park in the middle of the road like it is in Sim Copter. NASCAR brought in an estimated 130,000 people... and that adds up to a lot of cars. :-) 
At Hoover Dam, the traffic was backed up from the dam all the way to the security check-point which is at least a mile up the road. No wonder so many people came to watch our fire drill. That fire drill was kind of funny. They have an air-horn that sounds like an old steam engine... After standing outside for several minutes, I felt like I was in a movie as I joined the mass of workers walking back into the factory following the two short blasts on the air horn. I guess, in a way, it is a factory...
Man, I'm so lazy. I only get a fraction posted out of what I want to post. I still can't believe it's all that interesting reading the day-to-day life of Bozo Ben. I guess I underestimated just how bored all you readers are :-)
At Hoover Dam, the traffic was backed up from the dam all the way to the security check-point which is at least a mile up the road. No wonder so many people came to watch our fire drill. That fire drill was kind of funny. They have an air-horn that sounds like an old steam engine... After standing outside for several minutes, I felt like I was in a movie as I joined the mass of workers walking back into the factory following the two short blasts on the air horn. I guess, in a way, it is a factory...
Man, I'm so lazy. I only get a fraction posted out of what I want to post. I still can't believe it's all that interesting reading the day-to-day life of Bozo Ben. I guess I underestimated just how bored all you readers are :-)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
It's my Birthday!
YAHOO! Ok, well, maybe it isn't, but Pizza Hut seemed to think it was: 
Yes, I went to church today. Not much to say. Sunday school was on Chapter 14: Of saving faith in the Baptist confession. In church, they've made it up to the peacemakers in the Sermon on the Mount. After church, some people had me over for lunch, and that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it and enjoyed being with people again.
Yes, I went to church today. Not much to say. Sunday school was on Chapter 14: Of saving faith in the Baptist confession. In church, they've made it up to the peacemakers in the Sermon on the Mount. After church, some people had me over for lunch, and that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it and enjoyed being with people again.I'm kind of missing traditional hymns. There's a huge range in this church, all the way from traditional to contemporary, all played in a bluegrass/Celtic style.
(And, no, this isn't the church. It's just a sample of one of the things we sang today. It's hard to sing hymns when you don't know them and only have the words.)
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