Good Fridays
Usually I only work half-days on Friday. Every Friday. And honestly, it's as great as it sounds. Today though, I got the day off (the plant takes care of their own, I've found). Slept in, strolled around the house in whatever felt comfortable, played some GIJoe and have had an otherwise incredibly great morning.
Yesterday however, was a little crazy. I arrived just before my morning meeting, only to notice a strange smoke exiting the powerhouse stack. So I drove around for a better look. Mostly what's exiting the stack is white steam. It's an EPA reg (they like to do that...make regs...and I'm okay with that, the ducks I hunt tend to fly in the air, so the less pollution the better). This time though, the steam looked dusty.
After my meeting however, it seemed things had returned to normal, and Tucker said it could be that the PH lost a boiler or they were just cleaning the stack. (The stack, BTW, is a brick giant about 200 ft. high.) Not long after that, production began cutting rates at the PH's request... they had in fact lost a boiler. Then, couldn't have been ten minutes later, the power browned without warning. Now, in a chemical plant, this is a Bad Thing. Kind of like driving through the country at night and having the check engine gauge suddenly light up. I glanced out my office window, which is over ten feet long and five feet high (yes my office is pretty big), and noticed the stack again. It looked murky, and about the time I thought uh-oh, the power died. Completely.
This was bad, because it meant the PH lost both boilers. They have five, only running two at a time to conserve energy. I found out they lost the first from a cracked tube in the boiler, then the high voltage switchgear in the CIPS substation experienced an arc-flash and grounded, exploding a high-voltage fuse before the gear had been rerouted. It was kind of a holes-in-the-cheese-lining-up thing. Then, I spent the next 6 to 7 hours in my office with (literally) nothing to do except just sit there. Which they paid me for, of course, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining (anymore). You don't often get paid to just sit there. So I figured I better do something productive.
I began designing our band logo (you had to know, somehow, someway, it was coming back to rock-n-roll). And what's crazy is that I made one. A classic design. See, I've been seeing a lot of shots in alleys, by buildings, on mountains... and there's been a flurry of groups using "action shots". Actually Keith made one we're going to upload on the webpage, but for billing, we needed something good. Something simple, yet cool. And oh did I get it. Pictographs of us four beneath an awesome name font I accidentally discovered. We're getting them printed on t-shirts with the intent to sell.
All to say, it's been pretty good: yesterday I got paid for sitting in a chair and designing our band logo. Then today I got paid to stay home. Not too shabby.
Yesterday however, was a little crazy. I arrived just before my morning meeting, only to notice a strange smoke exiting the powerhouse stack. So I drove around for a better look. Mostly what's exiting the stack is white steam. It's an EPA reg (they like to do that...make regs...and I'm okay with that, the ducks I hunt tend to fly in the air, so the less pollution the better). This time though, the steam looked dusty.
After my meeting however, it seemed things had returned to normal, and Tucker said it could be that the PH lost a boiler or they were just cleaning the stack. (The stack, BTW, is a brick giant about 200 ft. high.) Not long after that, production began cutting rates at the PH's request... they had in fact lost a boiler. Then, couldn't have been ten minutes later, the power browned without warning. Now, in a chemical plant, this is a Bad Thing. Kind of like driving through the country at night and having the check engine gauge suddenly light up. I glanced out my office window, which is over ten feet long and five feet high (yes my office is pretty big), and noticed the stack again. It looked murky, and about the time I thought uh-oh, the power died. Completely.
This was bad, because it meant the PH lost both boilers. They have five, only running two at a time to conserve energy. I found out they lost the first from a cracked tube in the boiler, then the high voltage switchgear in the CIPS substation experienced an arc-flash and grounded, exploding a high-voltage fuse before the gear had been rerouted. It was kind of a holes-in-the-cheese-lining-up thing. Then, I spent the next 6 to 7 hours in my office with (literally) nothing to do except just sit there. Which they paid me for, of course, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining (anymore). You don't often get paid to just sit there. So I figured I better do something productive.
I began designing our band logo (you had to know, somehow, someway, it was coming back to rock-n-roll). And what's crazy is that I made one. A classic design. See, I've been seeing a lot of shots in alleys, by buildings, on mountains... and there's been a flurry of groups using "action shots". Actually Keith made one we're going to upload on the webpage, but for billing, we needed something good. Something simple, yet cool. And oh did I get it. Pictographs of us four beneath an awesome name font I accidentally discovered. We're getting them printed on t-shirts with the intent to sell.
All to say, it's been pretty good: yesterday I got paid for sitting in a chair and designing our band logo. Then today I got paid to stay home. Not too shabby.
posted by about me at 12:17 PM
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