New Job

[Ty]

My brother does local runs for ABF and he likes it just fine. He's home every night and has a "normal" life. They needed help in Pensacola, FL so they put him up in a hotel here and he drove for that branch for a week. Every once in a while, he does a long haul for a friend who hauls loads for regular people who don't need a dedicated trucking partner.

It might be worth looking into local routes and working longer hauls on down time.

 

[goofyone]

Several members have asked me how I was doing in my new position so I thought I would post a general update.

Spring and fall are the busiest times of year for my job. This is when power demand is at its lowest allowing power plants to go offline for maintenance and upgrades. October and November are the peak fall maintenance months and I barely had enough time to get through about two months of basic classroom and hands-on training before I found myself right smack in the middle of the craziness we call ''fall outage ".

During this fall outage I have essentially just jumped off into the deep end and hung on for the ride. I bounced around the country working on about a half dozen plants while simply trying to keep up with what was going on, trying not to screw up, and learning a lot about the systems as I went along. As things begin slowing down it feels to me like I have been through the wringer however everyone has told me I have done a great job so I take that as a good sign.

I have a few images I can share as well:

This is a good general overview shot of a combined cycle natural gas power plant. The turbine building is the large building on the right with the heat recovery steam generators and exhaust stacks in the middle and the cooling blocks on the left. The tanks in the foreground are for chemicals used in the cooling blocks.

One of two natural gas turbine in the turbine hall. There is also a steam turbine in this building which turns using steam generated by the very hot exhaust from the gas turbines.

These are the exhaust towers with attached heat recovery steam generators. This use of what otherwise would be waste heat makes these combined cycle plants about 50% more efficient than a simple cycle plant which does not have the steam generation.

Here I am hanging out with a pair of my PLC's in the background. Contrary to what some may believe some of us engineers do get our hands dirty.

I am currently enjoying some south Florida weather in Ft Lauderdale. This plant has some great views as its right on the intercostal waterway and inside the Port Everglades complex so I also get to see massive cruise ships come and go. Next week I will be in southern Missouri to commission a major upgrade I worked on for about two weeks just before Thanksgiving. After that things will hopefully slow down as it gets colder throughout the country and power demand starts picking up again.

 

[JEBar]

outstanding .... thanks for the update

 

[NSTG8R]

Several members have asked me how I was doing in my new position so I thought I would post a general update.

Spring and fall are the busiest times of year for my job. This is when power demand is at its lowest allowing power plants to go offline for maintenance and upgrades. October and November are the peak fall maintenance months and I barely had enough time to get through about two months of basic classroom and hands-on training before I found myself right smack in the middle of the craziness we call ''fall outage ".

During this fall outage I have essentially just jumped off into the deep end and hung on for the ride. I bounced around the country working on about a half dozen plants while simply trying to keep up with what was going on, trying not to screw up, and learning a lot about the systems as I went along. As things begin slowing down it feels to me like I have been through the wringer however everyone has told me I have done a great job so I take that as a good sign.

I have a few images I can share as well:

This is a good general overview shot of a combined cycle natural gas power plant. The turbine building is the large building on the right with the heat recovery steam generators and exhaust stacks in the middle and the cooling blocks on the left. The tanks in the foreground are for chemicals used in the cooling blocks.
View attachment 7701

One of two natural gas turbine in the turbine hall. There is also a steam turbine in this building which turns using steam generated by the very hot exhaust from the gas turbines.
View attachment 7703

These are the exhaust towers with attached heat recovery steam generators. This use of what otherwise would be waste heat makes these combined cycle plants about 50% more efficient than a simple cycle plant which does not have the steam generation.
View attachment 7702

Here I am hanging out with a pair of my PLC's in the background. Contrary to what some may believe some of us engineers do get our hands dirty.
View attachment 7700


I am currently enjoying some south Florida weather in Ft Lauderdale. This plant has some great views as its right on the intercostal waterway and inside the Port Everglades complex so I also get to see massive crews ships come and go. Next week I will be in southern Missouri to commission a major upgrade I worked on for about two weeks just before Thanksgiving. After that things will hopefully slow down as it gets colder throughout the country and power demand starts picking up again.

Southern MO? Where about?

 

[AriLea]

Nice post! I would love to have posted things about my work, but alas, that old company policy.
Actually, I've had sooo much time for the Elio, because my system was being superseded by another. Literally sitting on my hands desperate for something to do! I'm on vacation now, but when I get back, I may have less time than I've had in the last full year. So until January I'm still using Elio as a day-time activity, but after that, maybe a lot less so.

These down-times were soo, opportune? Serendipitous? Kismet? When I first joined this company, I mostly got to sit on my hands 10 months waiting for various accesses, and my lead pretty much just kept the system to himself. So left to my own, I used the time to design the Atlantric. And I put a lot of that results online. One year later, the Elio appears on the seen. There is no way to ever know, did I help kick any ball down the road in the public view? Did this help with the Elio thinking? There is no way to ever know that. All you can do, is put your effort into good works, and hope for the best.

 

[Buckeyejake]

You ever going to make it up my way. You thought there was a possibility at one time.

 

[goofyone]

You ever going to make it up my way. You thought there was a possibility at one time.

I have had two trips your way cancelled. I will make it up there some time. [emoji1]

 

[goofyone]

Southern MO? Where about?

Poplar Bluff, MO. Flying into St Louis and driving down there.

 

[NSTG8R]

Poplar Bluff, MO. Flying into St Louis and driving down there.

I work right at the airport. Northeast end of the runway (not sure, but you might be able to see all the F-15 Eagles and F/A-18EF Superhornets corralled up waiting to be ferried to their new homes) . Keep in contact if you find yourself with any free time when you head back up this way. Love to get to meet you in person! First beer's on me.

 

[Coss]

Wow G1, do you ever get to go home? Or is it life from one hotel to another?
That was the one thing I stipulated when I had a job that had me on the road; always home on the weekends; and they did grant that to me.
And I'm curious; how noisy are those plants? I see the hard hat, but do you have to carry the hearing protection and the steel toed shoes just for traversing to your work area?