In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1005090
PAGE 338 of 1154
I have a fear of heights, but I was Ok as long as there was a railing or safety cage. I hated working on roofs, even tho they were only 15-20 ft off the ground. No idea how I would fare now- probably not anywhere near as well!!
I kinda feel like I learned a lot everywhere I worked. When I worked at a pharma I learned about FDA GLPs (Good Lab Practices) and GMPs (Good Manufacturing Processes). When I worked at university biomedical I learned how to fix instruments. When I was a source tester I learned about a lot of industrial processes because I had a phenomenal supervisor who knew everything about everything. When I worked for government I learned about policymaking and regulation and legal requirements for prosecution and all that good stuff.
Every job was a learning experience, but I feel like EVERY job is a learning experience! When I worked telephone sales I saw how donations were divied up among the sales staff, "runners" and managers and how only a little bit went to the cause. I also learned that I sucked at it and hated it, all at the same time!
So I feel that every job is a peek into what makes things work. I hope you all will share your experiences, insight and knowledge!
*****
Power generation plants: Those big hulking things that look like enormous square buildings with pipes running around the outside and giant tall smokestacks ...
Well, their function is quite simple. The big multi-story boxes are "boilers" ... literally, a box with gas (or oil) jets inside, squirting fuel and making flame. All that stuff on the outside are fuel and air lines and catwalks for access ... nothing more. And inside that fiery box are tubes filled with water, which is turned to steam, and the steam goes out and drives a turbine. The rotating turbine turns a generator which creates electricity.
There are a lot of refinements added to those power plants ... for example, they run the incoming air ("combustion air") through a pre-heater before they use the air to burn the fuel in order to maximize the boiler temperature and thus the efficiency. They control the flow of combustion air because there is a fine line between not enough and too much. Not enough creates carbon monoxide - a deadly pollutant. Too much creates nitrogen oxides - another serious pollutant. And waaay too much makes the flame unstable ... the flame actually starts to flutter close to going out. So they want to meter in only just as much air required for complete combustion, plus an extra three percent oxygen ("just in case"). For this reason they monitor the oxygen content of the exhaust gas to make sure that they've got complete combustion plus a little bit leftover O2, but not too much.
The big power plants in southern CA have all been converted from oil to gas many years ago, so now ALL power plants run on nat gas, even the littler ones ("peaker units") that are turned on to supply extra electricty during times of peak demand (hot weather).
One more thing about power plants ... they all have to be "in phase" which means that the cyclical rise and fall of voltage has to line up from all the power plants at the same time. Considering that long power lines introduce a delay, they have to take that into account too.
Did you know that there is a huge DC (direct current, not AC) transmission line from the northwest to the southwest?
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY
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Nesting dolls are out and made plans to meet a friend for Christmas exchange over the weekend. Trying to get hold of someone else about something to do with Christmas.
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Im glad you're celebrating the holidays with friends BRENDA!
Me, I'm still not ready. As usual! This year tho I have a legitimate excuse ... too many home repairs bunched up before Xmas!
We were watching one of those home renovation shows ... Love It Or List It Too which takes place in western Canada (Probably Vancouver or nearby but you would have to tell me about it if you recognize landmarks, BRENDA!) and they were talking about the difficulties of renovating a 100-year-old home and all of the problems that can be encountered (settling, rot, undersized utilities, bad pipes etc.) and it suddenly struck me ... OUR home is almost 70 years old! It's not 100 years but definitely qualifies as an "older home" and is showing its age! NO WONDER we've had to make so many repairs! Over the past ten years new roof, new copper water supply, new heat/AC, new flooring, new demand water heater, new waste lines, new irrigation system, replaced most of the windows, moved a door, rewired the garage ... and still have a lot of things to do!
Anyway, now I know that it's not just bad luck with our house, it's normal and expected. When we moved in lo these many years ago the house was not yet "old". Time sure flies!
Anyway BRENDA, MERRY CHRISTMAS IN YOUR NICE COZY FUNCTIONAL HOME! May you create many happy memories there!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I have a fear of heights, but I was Ok as long as there was a railing or safety cage. I hated working on roofs, even tho they were only 15-20 ft off the ground. No idea how I would fare now- probably not anywhere near as well!!
I kinda feel like I learned a lot everywhere I worked. When I worked at a pharma I learned about FDA GLPs (Good Lab Practices) and GMPs (Good Manufacturing Processes). When I worked at university biomedical I learned how to fix instruments. When I was a source tester I learned about a lot of industrial processes because I had a phenomenal supervisor who knew everything about everything. When I worked for government I learned about policymaking and regulation and legal requirements for prosecution and all that good stuff.
Every job was a learning experience, but I feel like EVERY job is a learning experience! When I worked telephone sales I saw how donations were divied up among the sales staff, "runners" and managers and how only a little bit went to the cause. I also learned that I sucked at it and hated it, all at the same time!
So I feel that every job is a peek into what makes things work. I hope you all will share your experiences, insight and knowledge!
*****
Power generation plants: Those big hulking things that look like enormous square buildings with pipes running around the outside and giant tall smokestacks ...
Well, their function is quite simple. The big multi-story boxes are "boilers" ... literally, a box with gas (or oil) jets inside, squirting fuel and making flame. All that stuff on the outside are fuel and air lines and catwalks for access ... nothing more. And inside that fiery box are tubes filled with water, which is turned to steam, and the steam goes out and drives a turbine. The rotating turbine turns a generator which creates electricity.
There are a lot of refinements added to those power plants ... for example, they run the incoming air ("combustion air") through a pre-heater before they use the air to burn the fuel in order to maximize the boiler temperature and thus the efficiency. They control the flow of combustion air because there is a fine line between not enough and too much. Not enough creates carbon monoxide - a deadly pollutant. Too much creates nitrogen oxides - another serious pollutant. And waaay too much makes the flame unstable ... the flame actually starts to flutter close to going out. So they want to meter in only just as much air required for complete combustion, plus an extra three percent oxygen ("just in case"). For this reason they monitor the oxygen content of the exhaust gas to make sure that they've got complete combustion plus a little bit leftover O2, but not too much.
The big power plants in southern CA have all been converted from oil to gas many years ago, so now ALL power plants run on nat gas, even the littler ones ("peaker units") that are turned on to supply extra electricty during times of peak demand (hot weather).
One more thing about power plants ... they all have to be "in phase" which means that the cyclical rise and fall of voltage has to line up from all the power plants at the same time. Considering that long power lines introduce a delay, they have to take that into account too.
Did you know that there is a huge DC (direct current, not AC) transmission line from the northwest to the southwest?
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY
I haven't learned anything at a job in 12 years other than how to do physical tasks as efficiently as possible and how to manipulate managers into doing what I want them to do.
Any of my interesting stories from good jobs I've probably already talked about here or I've fo
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Quote:Like... how?
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I have a fear of heights, but I was Ok as long as there was a railing or safety cage. I hated working on roofs, even tho they were only 15-20 ft off the ground. No idea how I would fare now- probably not anywhere near as well!!
I kinda feel like I learned a lot everywhere I worked. When I worked at a pharma I learned about FDA GLPs (Good Lab Practices) and GMPs (Good Manufacturing Processes). When I worked at university biomedical I learned how to fix instruments. When I was a source tester I learned about a lot of industrial processes because I had a phenomenal supervisor who knew everything about everything. When I worked for government I learned about policymaking and regulation and legal requirements for prosecution and all that good stuff.
Every job was a learning experience, but I feel like EVERY job is a learning experience! When I worked telephone sales I saw how donations were divied up among the sales staff, "runners" and managers and how only a little bit went to the cause. I also learned that I sucked at it and hated it, all at the same time!
So I feel that every job is a peek into what makes things work. I hope you all will share your experiences, insight and knowledge!
*****
Power generation plants: Those big hulking things that look like enormous square buildings with pipes running around the outside and giant tall smokestacks ...
Well, their function is quite simple. The big multi-story boxes are "boilers" ... literally, a box with gas (or oil) jets inside, squirting fuel and making flame. All that stuff on the outside are fuel and air lines and catwalks for access ... nothing more. And inside that fiery box are tubes filled with water, which is turned to steam, and the steam goes out and drives a turbine. The rotating turbine turns a generator which creates electricity.
There are a lot of refinements added to those power plants ... for example, they run the incoming air ("combustion air") through a pre-heater before they use the air to burn the fuel in order to maximize the boiler temperature and thus the efficiency. They control the flow of combustion air because there is a fine line between not enough and too much. Not enough creates carbon monoxide - a deadly pollutant. Too much creates nitrogen oxides - another serious pollutant. And waaay too much makes the flame unstable ... the flame actually starts to flutter close to going out. So they want to meter in only just as much air required for complete combustion, plus an extra three percent oxygen ("just in case"). For this reason they monitor the oxygen content of the exhaust gas to make sure that they've got complete combustion plus a little bit leftover O2, but not too much.
The big power plants in southern CA have all been converted from oil to gas many years ago, so now ALL power plants run on nat gas, even the littler ones ("peaker units") that are turned on to supply extra electricty during times of peak demand (hot weather).
One more thing about power plants ... they all have to be "in phase" which means that the cyclical rise and fall of voltage has to line up from all the power plants at the same time. Considering that long power lines introduce a delay, they have to take that into account too.
Did you know that there is a huge DC (direct current, not AC) transmission line from the northwest to the southwest?
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY
I haven't learned anything at a job in 12 years other than how to do physical tasks as efficiently as possible
Quote:OMG now THAT is useful
and how to manipulate managers into doing what I want them to do.
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Quote:Damn, that's cold.
]Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Freaking cold here tonight. 22 degrees dipping down to 13 overnight. I didn't think I was imagining that it got colder than usual in my house.
Whatever snow we have will be gone by Christmas though. Looking at 48 degrees on Tuesday.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Rain and cold forecast for here in the foothills on Christmas Eve - and showers and cold for the next 4 days after.
HEY! Climate Stations finally started putting up their chart:
YAY!
To be at normal by the end of December, we need another inch from the last posting of the chart.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIX:
I haven't learned anything at a job in 12 years other than how to do physical tasks as efficiently as possible
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Like... how?
See... That's really, really hard to explain. Couple that fact with having very little patience with other people and you'll know why I did not enjoy having to train other people.
Not to sound like a dick, but being in these low level positions that I've been working, I'm probably among what amounts to an extremely small percentage of people who can actually say that the work they're doing is far beneath their abilities.
But... I enjoy it. And if I'm getting paid while getting a great workout and making something better than anybody else either isn't capable of doing or would never put the effort into it, I'm fine with that as long as you stay the hell away from me and let me do my thing, and you don't expect me to train somebody else who is never going to be half as good at the job as I am.
Quote:
and how to manipulate managers into doing what I want them to do.
Quote:
OMG now THAT is useful skill!!! Tell me all about it!
Well... the first thing is what I said above. You have to literally be the best there is at something. But you also have to be working for much less money than you're worth.
Now... If you meet those two requirements, it doesn't do any good to complain about the fact that you're not getting paid what you're worth, or the fact that you're the best at what you do is going to be nullified almost immediately when they know that every-time they talk to you it's going to be more complaining.
But I guess the third thing is being set up outside of work where you don't NEED to work there. I may have embellished to them how well off I was and that I was only doing it to work out, but my point is I wouldn't have been able to even pull that off if it weren't at least a half truth. I'm a terrible liar and they'd see right through that.
Make no mistake, when the new guy came in and threw his weight around, nobody was under any illusion that I was going to go back on my word and stick around under the new terms.
But, that's only half of it. I'm a terrible public speaker, and I don't like being in large groups, but I'm excellent in 1-on-1 conversations. It's very rare that I have a manager (at least a direct one) who doesn't love having me around. I've learned how to balance a lot of these things. I know that most companies aren't ever going to give me what I'm worth monitarily speaking, but after a little provisional period where I just keep my mouth shut, learn how they used to do the job and figure out ways to do it better, and I quickly make myself the top performer on a team, I'm usually able to get some other side perks that others aren't going to have offered to them.
I dunno. I don't think I could write a book on it or anything. It's more instinctual at this point than a procedure. I'm pretty unique in a lot of ways... most of them, arguably negative. But I guess you have to just work with what you've got and make that work for you. I'm sure there are plenty of younger, better looking, and more charismatic people who have the gift of gab and can get people to do what they want them to do without having to have the insane performance levels that I do at a job.
If I REALLY had some sort of mind control powers, I wouldn't be looking to start my dozen or so attempt at starting somewhere else at the bottom of the ladder is all I'm sayin'.
Quote:
Freaking cold here tonight. 22 degrees dipping down to 13 overnight. I didn't think I was imagining that it got colder than usual in my house.
Quote:
Rain and cold (at least by So Cal standards) predicted beginning Sunday and for 5 days. The nights are pretty nippy for these parts.NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Damn, that's cold.
Originally posted by 1KIKI:Quote:
]Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Freaking cold here tonight. 22 degrees dipping down to 13 overnight. I didn't think I was imagining that it got colder than usual in my house.
Whatever snow we have will be gone by Christmas though. Looking at 48 degrees on Tuesday.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Yup. :(
Not as cold as it was in early November though. And last year about a week from now was when we had those two nights that were negative 20 with wind chills of 70 below.
Hopefully we stay quite a bit warmer than that this winter. I'm not going to turn my furnace down to save money from where I had it last year, but I had relatively decent income back then compared to now, and I'm looking down the barrel of zero income very soon.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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I just want to say that at least you know you've got good airflow through your ducts and registers (that's what we called them) from the work you did. So whatever heat your furnace is generating is going where it needs to go. That's got to be a big improvement! 
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