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[Jan. 31st, 2008|09:52 pm] |
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In Missouri yet again...looks like I'm going to be here until at least mid-April. Flying home tomorrow (weather permitting), and then back to Springfield on Sunday. I don't know how some of the other people are able to do this for months at a time...really, its not bad when I'm at-site. Its the traveling that gets me. Especially when its air travel in the Winter. And ESPECIALLY when those Winter travel arrangements go through O'Hare. What the F*CK was I thinking!??!?!?!?!?
Best just sleep away some of the intervening hours and not worry about it until there's something I can do. A lot can happen in 12 hours. |
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[Jan. 11th, 2008|09:56 am] |
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Oh, I LOVE IT!! I called Delta the other night, and made them PROMISE that I wouldn't be on standby for my flight today. Guess what! They oversold the flight anyways, and I'm currently on standby. The folks at the ticketing counter said that the probability of my getting out on the flight was very high, but they can't do anything further until 1) all the other passengers on the flight check in or 2) we get to one hour before the flight is scheduled to leave.
What a pain in the ass!! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 9th, 2008|09:31 pm] |
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You know, this latest business trip has been just about as bad as it could possibly be. The undercurrent to the whole trip, thus far, is that I'm suffering from a lovely bout of the stomach flu.
Sunday - Both flights delayed getting from Providence to Springfield, MO. Waited almost an hour to get my rental car. Ironically, this trip was the first I booked with my "frequent renters" account, which touts that you'll get your car faster by presenting the card. Not so much.
Monday - Nothing's ready for me at site. The customer got delayed coming in because of bad weather. We got a hail storm, which peppered my rental car with little dents. And TWO TORNADOES hit the city, the first touching down not 500 yards from where I was having dinner. I got shoved into the restaurant freezer / storm shelter for 20 minutes, and had to sit in the hotel lobby for two hours waiting for the second tornado to pass through.
Tuesday - The customer comes, and, since I'm lead, I had to sit with him for two hours explaining to him why only 75% of what he came in to look at is ready. At least he agreed that there was nothing I could have done to push things forward. He also said that the schedule's slipped by two weeks, and that I won't be needed next week. Cool...I get to go home early. I call the airline to reschedule my flight, and they say I only have to pay processing fees, since its the same flight, just a week earlier. I call the rental car company to see if the over-priced Supplemental Insurance policy covers hail damage...nope...Act of God. Same deal from my own insurance. So, its my personal liability. Thankfully, the project manager agreed that we'd rebill the expense to the customer for extraordinary circumstances.
Wednesday - No sign of the expense check that my company promised to overnight to my hotel. I'm currently floating ~$6,000 for them, and they're being slow as hell paying me back. No confirmation from the airline that my flight has indeed changed. Called them up, got a confirmation...but no seat numbers. I try to set them on the airline's website...no joy. I call the airline again to make sure I'm actually on the flight, and not on standby. They promised that I'm not on standby, but that I should get to the airport an hour earlier than normal to get my seat assignment. Grand...already have to go in early to deal with the rental car. Talked to Melissa, who mentioned that the car rental company might try to hold my credit card, and that I should talk to the company's controller to change my credit card information to the company's, if the rental company makes a stink.
This week has totally blown since the moment I left my apartment on Sunday afternoon...less than 48 hours after I got back from another business trip. I'm a total emotional MESS, I'm 1,400 miles from home, and I can't even keep down a glass of water. I'm going to be very happy when I can finally put this trip behind me.
I think one of the project managers put it best today...Geez, if it CAN happen to Ray in the field, it WILL happen to Ray in the field! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 9th, 2007|07:08 pm] |
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*YAWN!* OK, so, a month or so later...
Work's been busting my ass, and its great. Still not sure if they're going to keep me, but I'm going to do the best fucking job I can for as long as they want me.
Loving the new apartment, particularly the 8.5 minute commute every morning. :-)
About to celebrate my one-month anniversary with an extremely wonderful young woman. Can't even explain how great the last 4 weeks have been. For the first time in a long time, I can honestly say this: I'm happy.
That's about it, in brief. Life is great. |
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[Jun. 18th, 2007|06:40 am] |
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Absolutely lovely weekend...particularly Friday. More later. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 8th, 2007|09:13 pm] |
Man that week f*cking FLEW!
Continuing to flirt outrageously with the young woman from the office. I've successfully convinced her that she needs to smile more, because frowning uses more muscles (and therefore more energy). A frown is always a waste, of course, so all of that energy just pours into the universe, creating a steep entropic gradient (relative to the more efficient smile) which causes the universe to expand faster and eventually cancels out all the forces holding everything together. So my thesis statement was that her smiling more often will prevent all of Creation from flying apart for a little while. I now get a big, bright, beautiful smile every time she sees me. Its pleasant. She's also going to come over for a home-cooked meal at my new apartment, when I get settled. Thinking I'll whip up a batch of brownies this weekend, just to fan the flames a little bit more. I'm way too calculating for my own good...
Well, the big move's tomorrow. I'm going to get what sleep I can, because its going to be a convoluted cluster-f*ck, even if everything goes perfectly. My itinerary is Quincy -> Mansfield -> Worcester -> Auburn -> Quincy -> Mansfield -> Quincy -> Mansfield...and this is with significant planning and preparation. I may alter the first part of the plan and do Quincy -> Mansfield -> Quincy -> Mansfield -> Worcester -> Auburn -> Quincy -> Mansfield -> Quincy -> Mansfield...but that all depends on what time I wake up in the morning. My biggest anticipation? My mop bucket can finally be my mop bucket again. And, for the first time in my LIFE, I'll have my own bathroom. Its going to be extremely cool. |
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[Jun. 5th, 2007|07:14 pm] |
I have spent the last two weeks fueled by cough drops and Sudafed. It hasn't been pleasant, and I find myself making little mistakes at work. Nothing that's not easily fixable or ignorable...just stuff that I WOULD NOT miss were I firing on all 6 cylinders. Its upsetting me a little bit...I dislike operating at less than 100%.
On the up-side, I've been privy to some interesting gossip at the office. Apparently, some members of management and the entire Project Services group have taken to calling me "NEC's New Golden Child". I'm the favorite of at least two Project Managers (one of whom is also the Operations Manager for the company), and the Assistant Project Manager says I'm getting close to that in her book. She went on to say that I'm "easier than most engineers" to deal with...coming from Melissa, that's a significant compliment. And the fact that she and I are flirting OUTRAGEOUSLY adds an interesting flavor to the discussion. Lots of talk about food...I'll be making brownies for her within the next week, and stuffed chicken parm, too. Lots of subtlety in this...its a very fun game.
Today was also my 3-month anniversary at NEC. I'm amazed at how quickly its gone, and how much work I've actually accomplished. But I am, of course, concerned about the whole "6 month" deal...I know Marc wants someone with more experience as the permanent guy in the group, and I know he's still interviewing. I need to take some time to send out resumes, just to be on the safe side...cutting almost 90 minutes off my commute next week should free up some time for that.
Well, I think I'm going to do a touch more packing, and then collapse. Lots to do tomorrow. |
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[May. 28th, 2007|08:29 pm] |
Was successful in getting a number of things crossed off my list this weekend. Fairly certain I overdid it, but where's the fun in half attempts?
Among my achievements, the completion of "The Fountainhead" is the most recent, and most pleasant. Its been a long time since I was sucked into a book like that.
Well, its going to be a very early morning tomorrow, since I have to be at Amgen by 7:30AM. I'll probably spend the majority of the day in a Tyvek suit. I sincerely can't wait...I f*cking love my job!
Time for a brief constitutional, another large dose of allergy medicine, and then some sleep. On the road before dawn! YEEHAW!! |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 24th, 2007|09:38 pm] |
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Any day when the top hardware engineer in your company says, "Ray, you're amazing," has got to be a good day. |
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| Quality v. Quantity? |
[May. 20th, 2007|01:21 pm] |
I've bought and read the last books by David Eddings I EVER will today. I know this is going to come across as sexist, but, ever since he started collaborating with his wife...oh, how the books suck. I don't even think "collaborating" is the correct word...their individual styles don't mesh in the least, making for a very fractured tale. The continuity sucks, the characters are POORLY developed...the series was 4 volumes long, and I can't think of a SINGLE character that was actually fleshed out beyond a name. Imagine 1000 pages full of Shrinky-Dinks...that's how flat these characters were. Thinking that I spent more than $30 on the series, and spent a week reading them...not good.
In contrast, I finished Robert Jordan's latest "Wheel of Time" novel this morning. I spent $8 on it...close to $100 on the series thus far, over the last 15 years, as well as LOTS of reading time...and its been worthwhile. The books are always extremely rich, the characters well developed, the plots (although there are like 40 of them going on at any one time) are interesting...a significantly better author, overall, than the combined forces of the Eddings Duo. But David Eddings, once upon a time, was an excellent solo author. Love the early series, and his novels are very good. Leigh, however, seems to have sucked the soul out of his writing. Sad.
For some reason, I'm very fatigued today. Last week was very busy, and this week looks like it'll be similar. I don't think I'll see my office for more than 5 minutes, total. Looking forward to a long weekend for Memorial Day. Lots of sleep to come!!
And, finally, anyone want to go to Amgen in W. Greenwich? I got my shiny new RFID access card on Friday, and there are very few places in the ARI facility that I can't go. Ah, the exciting life of a DCS Hardware Engineer. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 9th, 2007|09:17 pm] |
WHAT a day. Went to the shop to work on checking out Lonza panels, but wound up troubleshooting stuff for Biogen, Genzyme and Amgen. Think I got maybe an hour of Lonza done today in the 6 hours I was down there. Hopefully all the PMs I had to contact today to help with THEIR projects will show them that I'm more versatile than your average bear.
Lots of paperwork to do. Need to find out what's going on with the trip to Amgen on Monday...can we say "High security, not wearing your badge and we'll shoot you, you'll be doing loop checks wearing a Tyvek suit in a clean room"? This job just keeps getting more and more interesting. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 29th, 2007|09:32 am] |
Well, yesterday was fun. Poor Eilan was having some breathing difficulties again, called the vet who's <1 mile down the road...they said they don't do emergencies, nor do they deal with respiratory distress. So I drove her down to the not-so-local emergency veterinary hospital in South Weymouth. They took her right in, which was nice. Seems like she's developed allergic asthma, which is easily treatable with steroids for the acute symptoms, and manageable with aerosol bronchodilators for long-term stuff.
Only issue with the acute symptoms is that my kitty has a heart murmur, so steroidal treatment could send her into cardiac arrest. I asked them to get an opinion from a critical care specialist, who said that the murmur wasn't so significant that a 2-day tapered regimen of steroids would be strictly dangerous. There's a risk of complications, but that is relatively minor.
She's definitely breathing a lot easier today, although still wheezing a bit. I'm a little nervous about the coming week, since I'll be gone through Friday. I mostly trust my mother in caring for the cat...but she's also gone for the entire workday. That leaves the idiot sibling, whose ability at caring for living things is limited to...well, its limited. And neither of them have a car, should there be a severe problem. This is just some additional planning that needs to be done before I leave in the morning.
Seems like the coffee's kicking in, so I think I'll go balance my checkbook, make sure I have cash in my pocket, make sure my car has gas in the tank, and lots of other things that need doing in preparation for my 271 mile drive tomorrow morning. I REALLY hope I'm still awake after the drive, because we're going right to the shop on Monday afternoon. Caffeine, you've got a busy day ahead of you! |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 27th, 2007|07:46 pm] |
Wow...how is it Friday night already? This week FLEW. Been preparing stuff for the pharmaceutical plant project, and then got asked to spend a week up in Maine testing some new equipment. That will definitely be the most complicated system I've ever locked eyes on...analog signals (in and out), discrete signals (in and out)...I believe more than 40 individual control cards on 6 carriers. The power stuff is straightforward enough, but those I/O cards are going to take two days in and of themselves to test. I'm just glad they opted for multiple 8-channel cards, as opposed to the hefty 32-channel cards we also use. Much smaller footprint, but are those things a bitch to test! Running a multimeter probe through 4 separate tiers of 12AWG wire isn't easy.
Not much else to report...been working late these last few nights. I'm trying my damnedest to show my capabilities and the quality of my work. Its possible they're going to start me on some drafting work when I get back from Maine...they let one of the contractors go a couple weeks ago, and another one is leaving next week to start a new job that's more in-line with his experience over the last 25 years. They're both really good guys, and I've worked closely with them over the last two months. Hopefully any new guys they bring in will be of similar quality.
I'm going to get all the computers I have to bring up North with me off the bed and go to sleep. Lots to do this weekend, long drive Monday morning, and we're going directly to work after lunch. Let's see how this goes!! |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 15th, 2007|11:03 am] |
F*CKING IRS!!! I'm writing up the last schedules for PTN's tax returns. Since we track depreciation, we have to file Form 4562 (Depreciation and Amortization) in addition to the basic Form 990. I've spent the last 3 hours going through the whole thing, following the instructions, and putting in a whole f*ck ton of "N/A" and "-0-". I finally get to the second to last line, "Amortization of costs that began before your 2006 tax year". That's the only line that's applicable, since we didn't put any new items into service during 2006.
So I refer to the instructions for this line. How p!ssed off was I when I read, "If you are reporting the amortization of costs that began before your 2006 tax year and you are not required to fill out Form 4562 for any other reason, do not file Form 4562". WTF?! Couldn't they have mentioned this two pages and 43 lines earlier??? |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 13th, 2007|12:44 pm] |
I've got to learn that when Marc says, "I don't foresee any problems," serendipity makes major problems happen. These Amgen panels are a DEBACLE! When the PM gets the finalized drawings to the shop the day of the testing, and dozens of things have changed since the last set of drawings were delivered...holy crap. Its not just simple stuff, like changing a fuse label. These are MAJOR functional changes! Amgen's coming to check out the panels next week, and I really don't see them being ready, since the shop has to order parts from Germany.
My head hurts...I can't wait until beer time. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 10th, 2007|06:55 pm] |
Its really amazing how much sense balancing one's checkbook makes when one realizes that the expense check one thought one had deposited was still in one's wallet! Hello, senility! How are you?
Not a TERRIBLY exciting day today...spent most of the time filing test forms and filling in information for our master I/O database. HUGE scare when I opened up the downstream DB and saw that a couple of columns had disappeared. That would be roughly 30,000 fields of information, all of it having to do with the versioning of the changes, gone...NOT GOOD! I called up the DB admin, and he confirmed that the columns were still there. One of the software guys had just modified the public view so they were hidden. Why he did that on just the downstream side, when they were available on the upstream side, I don't know...but the data's still there. Had I f*cked up and deleted them, I probably (meaning definitely) would have had to clean out my desk today. And I JUST got it in a usable form, too. One of the PMs actually looked over a wall and said, "Ray...you're office is too f*cking clean". What can I say? They hired me to be extremely anal retentive, and I'm giving them their money's worth!
The bestest excitement came a little after lunch. After much not-so-subtle hinting, I convinced the bosses that 1 calibrated multimeter for three engineers couldn't cut it when we had several simultaneous rounds of testing going on. Just these last two weeks we generated a backlog of almost 20 panels because our 1 calibrated meter was traveling with my manager, so I couldn't do anything beyond check the BOM and wire markers at the shop. I heard on Friday that the new ones (we got two...one for me, and one for the lead design engineer in the group) had shipped. Today, got a little bored after 6 hours straight in the I/O DB, so I figured I'd waste a little time. Pulled up the quote I'd gotten from the company, and just blindly started looking putting the quote number in as a reference number on various shipping companies. Got a hit on UPS (I guess FedEx first, but UPS was my 2nd try), and saw that the meters had been delivered bare moments before I pulled up the website!
Now came the question of finding them. Its a VERY small company, but our warehouse consumes very large things on a regular basis. Found the warehouse manager (who is one of the larger things that tends to get lost in the warehouse), and, after a little fiddling, found the box. Ron, the lead design engineer, happens to sit in the cube adjacent to mine. He was a little confused when I started passing things across the wall to him...but he eventually woke up and was quite excited by the new toys. We ordered the VIP Kit, which was the same price as the standalone meter, with the addition of a case, a full set of leads, and a "Dammit! I just dropped my $400 multimeter on the concrete floor again!" shock-absorbing case. Pretty good deal, but still VERY expensive for a meter. Fluke's one of the best, though. Plus the lead set came with not one, but THREE different sizes of roach clips! Yes, ranging from the wee little guy you find in the bottom of the ash tray, all the way up to "Bob Marley's Having A Bad Day". Made that joke to my mother a little while ago...should I be concerned that she understood it? Could I have been smoking up with my mother for the last decade? Hrmm...
I'm jealous of the GE guy I saw at the panel shop yesterday...HE had the $2000, big as an 8.5"x11" notepad, able to drive signals, blah blah blah meter. Ah...dork jealousy. I love being an engineer!
Well, must finish the PTN taxes tonight. Or at least give it the ol' college try. Its so hard to motivate on stuff after busting my ass at work all day. How did I do it when I worked even longer hours in the lab? |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 9th, 2007|06:32 pm] |
Oy...what a day.
We've had an ongoing issue with what we call "The Golden Receptacles" for the Singapore project. Obtaining industrial-certified Type G receptacles (meaning the thing you plug the plug into) was the one material task we gave to our sales partner. And its been a F*CKING nightmare every step of the way.
First, the things arrived 3 months late. They were actually installed in the first 2 panels 10 minutes before the panels were loaded onto the truck. Not good!
Then we see that they're flush-mount...and its kinda hard to do flush-mount in a 316SS panel enclosure. So we had to fabricate housings. The client didn't like the housings, and told us to buy the cheap-ass plastic ones from the manufacturer. Not good!
The manufacturer's in the UK, and have taken all of Easter Week off. Not good!
Then we look at some of the literature surrounding the receptacles. They're pretty...nice brushed bronze finish on them. And they can handle 230VAC. But we couldn't find any use of the damned things in industrial settings. Just household kitchens and bathrooms. There's no saying if the things will hold up to plant loading. Not good!
We DID find a note saying, "Do not expose these receptacles to temperatures in excess of 25C for more than 24 consecutive hours". If we remember our geography, we'll recall that Singapore is one degree north of the Equator...and the average temperature is somewhat in excess of 25C...year-round. Not good!
Then, while I'm at the panel shop today, one of the project managers came up to me and said, "You know, these receptacles aren't UL certified. So we can't technically install them". Just f*cking wonderful. Marc was not happy when I mentioned this when I got back to the office. And the client is not going to be happy, either. They already despise EPM, and this is going to make things even worse.
And now, I've got 55 pages of paperwork to fill out for this latest round of testing. What a bloody headache... |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 5th, 2007|06:52 pm] |
You know, there are some days that I regret staying in school past the MS. Today, we had to fill in a resume update form...all the engineers who get assigned to a project have a NEC-ized version of their resume sent to the client. So, being the good doobie I am, I filled it in and sent it off to the appropriate person.
Shortly thereafter, as I was busting my ass while eating lunch at my desk, I heard two people chatting over at the copy machine. The phrase, "...and THIS one's got a Ph.D..." wafted into my cube.
I swear...what's up with the prejudice? Yeah, I got a f*ck load of education! Does that change the kind of person I am? Not really. Yes, I busted my ass for five years to get those three letters, so I'm f*cking well going to put them in my email signature, and ask that they be put on my business cards. Yes, it would make me feel like my choice of higher education was justified, if folks would see the Ph.D. and not snicker about it behind my back! All the engineers who have their Professional Engineering certification have "P.E." on their emails/cards. MBA? Them too. And a host of other certifications to boot. What's the problem with the Ph.D.? I happen to be a pretty f*cking good engineer, and that's due in large part to the additional time I spent in school. So, Carol and Beverly, screw you both.
Oddly...today is my doctorate's first birthday! One year ago today, I defended and then bolted out to California for a job interview. I still haven't heard back from that company yet...but they don't have Ph.D.'s either. *SIGH* Happy birthday, My Ph.D. I promise that someday I'll think about using you to advance my career. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 4th, 2007|07:38 pm] |
Can I say that I hypocrisy has come to amuse me? After 5 years working with Terri, and moving into a venue completely different from academia, I thought that peoples' attitudes towards "work" would be similarly different. Not so! In some lights, its even worse out in industry...because I'm not just nagging Terri to give me the things I need...I'm nagging all the drafters, all the software people, the client, my manager, HIS manager, the VP of Engineering...
I fully understand that they're all busy folks. Let's take a few examples. For one plant area, the client communicated to my manager that he wanted one of the panels changed after it was done being assembled. He marked up the drawings with those changes, and gave them to the folks at the shop to implement. However, there's a valve name that appears in that panel, and another one in the same plant area. I need him to answer the question, "Did you write that wrong, or is that valve supposed to move?". I have NONE of the documentation about the changes to the drawings, so I can't say for sure. They're new changes, so I can't look to the software I/O database for answers. The client doesn't remember the answer. And my manager's been away for a week and a half doing field testing. He is the only person on this planet who knows the answer to my question...and I can't get him to answer me!
Let's go for another. I released a set of drawings for construction today. One of the lead engineers on the client's side wrote me an email saying, "Well, how were you able to issue these for construction? I haven't responded to the RFI list (This is a list of questions we ask the customer when we're not sure of something...its supposed to be TOP priority, because it affects the software, which has somewhat slower throughput than the physical panels) yet!". I wrote back and said, "The RFI list only affected one panel, so we pulled that from the drawings and put it on hold. It wasn't included in the issue documentation, it didn't get sent to Portsmouth, and it didn't go to the panel shop to be built.". Got a little speech (good-hearted...he's a very nice guy who's very good at what he does...and he understands I'm still learning) about steps to follow in future, and how protocol was important. He said that I should push him to resolve the RFI items before I issue anything. Threw that right back in his face and said, "Please consider this my first push to get you to resolve the RFI items for these two systems". I know I'm going to have to remind him more than once. Again, I know he's busy...while the client has had this RFI list for over a month, he's the only one who can answer the questions. He's been either in Singapore at the ground-breaking, or in Missouri / Texas for the field testing of the panels we've already shipped, and hasn't seen his office in a month. Conversely...he personally is holding back two (soon to be three) full plant areas because he hasn't completed a TOP priority item. The questions are straightforward...we just need confirmation so we can implement them in the hardware, and then pass that along to the software guys. Plus, he's griping about our being three weeks (a bit less now) behind schedule. Well...he's putting us farther behind!!
Tomorrow is going to be a MF RIOT! Marc's still in the field. Ron's sick as a dog, and has already decided to call out. Which TECHNICALLY means I'm in charge...granted, there's another project manager on the job, but he only works on the accounting side of the project. Great guy, but a real bean-counter. With the EPM project manager being "transitioned out" of the project, he's taking on a lot of those duties. I (and the guys at the panel shop) am a little cheesed off with him, because he seems to think I'm getting hourly updates from the panel shop on what's being kitted, what's being built, what's done...I'm not, but he insists that I call and see what's changed. I understand that we have an AVERAGE goal of 1 panel per day...but it takes more than one day to build a panel! There are 4 people who work on our panels, and each one has a different set of tasks to fill. Bulk hardware, wiring, enclosure assembly, labeling...they can't be done simultaneously. So yes, after 4 days, 4 panels are done. But there's not one kicked out every day! That's not even enough time to let some of the adhesives set! PLUS, this place does very high-quality work, and they've got several other jobs going on simultaneously. They can't just pull the person working on the GE panel because NEC needs one built. That point is having trouble getting through his head.
But back to my point, after the Barry tangent. I'm in charge tomorrow. Got to wrangle 5 drafters, while getting my own stuff accomplished. This is going to be very interesting!! I have a feeling its going to be another working lunch and late night for me...good thing I'm used to it after 3 years managing my old lab.
So another "not quite what it seems" favor was asked of me today. Very simple...make sure all the discrete input module data txfr tags lined up in sequence with their respective power blocks on the limit switches. It would've been simple if any of the cable tags were correct, or even pointed to the right part of the system. The 10 minute task quickly turned into 2.5 hours. Just at the end, I noticed a flow transmitter in the drawings that wasn't in any of the power ladders. Big problem, because the panel's already been assembled, shipped and welded to a skid in Missouri. This is the same panel mentioned above that had gotten the midstream re-work...and that re-work ate up the entire 20% spare we built in originally. It would have been simple enough to tell the IPEC folks to throw two more terminals into the block...except that all the midstream additions also ate up every inch of space in the panel! Had to get VERY creative...just jumpered the damned transmitter into one of the other 24VDC terminal pairs and called it good. Without having them un-weld (its a word now!) the panel from the skid its controlling and having it shipped back to the panel shop, this was the only option.
Yeah...that's that. I was planning on doing a couple of things tonight, but I've got no energy left after tonight's commute. Took me a full 40 minutes to merge onto 93 from 95...f*cking assholes driving in the breakdown lane! I know 93 is a busy road, but that "solution" causes more problems than it solves. "Let's fit MORE vehicles per linear mile on the road! That'll ease congestion! Of course people will just drive in the breakdown lane to zip to the next exit! What person in New England would use it for their whole trip!!". I think I'll start taking 24...bit out of the way, but it gets me around a lot of the 95->93 hell.
Think I'm going to do a quick crossword and go to bed early. I'm done. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 3rd, 2007|08:58 pm] |
Something I'm coming to realize at NEC is that, when someone asks you to help out on something, its never QUITE what it seems. Today, Ron asked if I could look over the cable tag list for one of the Purification trains going into the Singapore plant. Straightforward, I thought. It was just in the wire segments...check if the weigh scales were powered on the right circuits, check that the wiring changes for the pH meters were done correctly, check that the discrete modules lined up correctly with the power ladders, and verify all of this against our list of wires for this particular set of cabinets. I was literally ON THE LAST PAGE when I saw something. Or, rather, I didn't see something. The 12th panel had 2 16-port discrete input modules, there was a wiring segment for the 2nd one in the data transfer section...but nothing in the power ladders. NOT GOOD!
I checked several things...checked them again...and then talked to the guy who designed this system. "Woops!". The long and short of this mistake (which went through at least three rounds of review before yours truly caught it) is that we needed to add 32 fuse blocks (the module runs on DC power, so +/- for each port). There wasn't enough space on the rail with the blocks from the first module, so we switched an adjacent area to use dual-tier fuse blocks, as opposed to the single-tier we'd had. But that change affected something else, which affected something else...and Bob V. (the one drafter who hadn't been stolen away by another project) and I pretty much had to re-design the entire cabinet. I think it was 12 drawings, but I may be wrong...I was a little punchy towards the end. Bob's got to finish up the last couple of drawings in the power ladders, since I was told about a notation change coming into effect today, before we released our 6th or 7th plant area...why this wasn't changed back in December, I'll never know...but its going to be fixed. Changing a couple hundred "+24V" to "1" and "-24V" to "2"...Bob made the changes, but wrote "1+" and "2-"...150 times. Not right, but at least its a simple (if somewhat tedious) fix.
There's an underlying layer of humor to this whole 30-minutes-of-work-turning-into-6.5-hours-of-work scenario. The Singapore plant is a "copy job"...pretty much taking the drawings from a plant we designed 4 years ago, changing all the "120VAC"s to "230VAC"s, along with making a few system upgrades. We also have to include the infamous AS52T Layout Standard..."AS52T" stands for "Average Singaporian is 5 feet, 2 inches tall"...and we have to do some ridiculous things to comply with that "standard". But that's another story for another day.
Back to the point, though...the fact that I had to figure out how to power this module, and had to create a new drawing to show that power scheme, is funny. Why? Because, for the original plant, the drawing that should have been copied and modified to represent the power distribution for that discrete input module was never generated! So, not only did this make it through 3-5 internal reviews, plus at least 1 external review by 4 people, for Singapore...it got past similar reviewing four years ago. It got past the people who built the cabinets. It got past the people who wired the cabinets to the rest of the Purification train. It got past the technicians at the original plant, past the engineers who created the "As Built" drawings, which were returned to NEC for the "copy job". Most significantly, it got past the FDA, who validated every single step in the processes for both Portsmouth and Singapore.
What does this mean? It means that I'm officially more anal retentive than Washington bureaucrats, whose sole function in life is to pick nits. I'm proud of me. :-D
Looks like I might be getting all the stuff that I was supposed to get my first week...business cards, a nameplate for my cube, a second monitor...even a second chair! Its very exciting. My cube is terribly large, and, even with my desk taking up 2 walls, its pretty empty. With all the CAD drawings floating around, in various revisions, the desk was an absolute horror show by the end of the day. The worst part was that I had to throw most of it away when I was done. Hopefully the company we hire to shred these confidential documents recycles...because I went through more than a ream of 11x17 today.
The common thread that unites all of my rambling is that I'm tired. Even with more caffeine than is technically healthy for me, I'm still beat. I'm calling it a day... |
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