Thursday, March 20, 2008

Another boring work post

Well, I ended up back down at the mill again yesterday and today. This time, it was a bad transformer. We worked 16 hours yesterday, and 11 today. Now, that's not really a big deal. We work those kinds of hours often, to get a machine, or building up and running. What I really want to do with this post is say something about my co-workers. Junior, Dobi, and The Big Man really busted their asses yesterday. That's not out of the ordinary though. What really made their hard work stand out was the weather conditions they were working in. Rain. Sleet. Hail. Snow. High winds. I mean, the weather really, REALLY sucked last night, and they kept at it, making steady progress, getting the job done, with no complaints. I had a spectacular view of their dedication from inside the warm, dry building where I was installing 15kV stress cones on cables. I could hear the hail hitting the roof like nails falling from hundreds of feet up. I could feel the wind shaking the small, pre-fab, building. Once in a while when I had to go out to my truck, I trudged through inches of cold slush, freezing my boots in seconds. The work they were doing wasn't a cup of tea either. They were routing 500 kcmil cables, which are about 1 inch in diameter, and pretty heavy. Then they had to terminate them in their respective boxes, which is a very physically demanding job. I eventually made my way out there too, once the stress cones were done. I didn't have any fun, but neither did I work in the same storm conditions as they did. My hats off to those guys, and other construction workers who do whatever it takes to get the job done, regardless of weather, discomfort, fatigue, pain, being away from their families, and other sacrifices. Well done, boys.