You never know what you'll learn at Mitchell's...

A night or so ago, I walked up to Mitchell's for a couple of beers. It's kinda funny, because I just wanted to go for a walk, but needed a destination, so thought I'd grab two beers, then come home and work on stripping paint. I was talking with a couple of guys next to me, while Andrea (totally made up name, you'll see why...) waited on us. Gus had had a great day perch fishing, We talked about politics and movies, and whether or not the Brown's would beat Buffalo. I was having fun, so I drank another beer, had a shot, then Andrea's shift ended and she joined us. She knew the one guy's name, and he introduced his friend, "Jim". She shook his hand, then said, "Wait, is your last name Hammersmith?" Jim said yes, and Andrea looked at me and said, "Oh my god! This is the guy I lost my virginity to!" I was caught off guard. If I had a been drinking my beer, I'd have sprayed it all over the bar. So, I did the only thing I could think of, "Hey man, high five!" SMACK. I told her it was a bit more information than we needed to know. We talked a little more, Jim had recognized Andrea immediately, but it was funny that she didn't recognize him right away. "You really must have made in impression on her!", I chided.

During the same evening, the other barmaid kept playing air guitar, so when I asked her if she played, she said she could play rhythm on an acoustic guitar. She's not in a band or anything, but she did tell me to look up her "Obama song" on YouTube. So, here it is. The first verse is pretty bad, but after that, well, it's still bad, but what the hell, she's having fun.

Running into old friends

One of many cool aspects of being a union electrician is that we often run into people we've worked with before, on other jobs, and/or for other companies. The first time I worked with Andy was over 10 years ago for a shop that is no longer around. I was an apprentice, and he was my journeyman/foreman. Several years later, I was foreman on a job at University Hospital and he helped me out as a worker. We've often worked together at the steel mills too. When I walked in the room for the first time for Call Henry, I saw him, Earl, Bobby, Tom G, Bruce, and Eddie; it was sort of like a family reunion. Working together over the years gives one a feeling of comraderie and brotherhood.


A couple of weeks ago, I worked with Andy on a cutover, and got to teach him a bit about HV splicing. He's a "splicer-in-training" for the shop and hands-on experience is always a good learning tool. Here he's shrinking down a Raychem motor lead termination kit for 2400V unshielded cables. I did the first three terminations, explaining what to look for, and showing him the proper technique of using the torch. He did the next three, then I finished the last three.

I couldn't have done a better job myself.

New toys at work

I've been getting started on some new types of high voltage work. In the past, I've done some lead cable work, but nothing like what I'll be doing soon at NASA, for Call Henry. I get to play with new toys! This is a solder pot. It's filled with molten solder that we used to tin the spun copper wiping sleeve of the termination. When I look at that, I think of Jearl Walker's The Flying Circus of Physics. When I was in high school, we watched a video of Jearl Walker explaining certain facts of physics, and demonstrating them. In one, he dipped his finger in water, then poked it in a pot of molten lead. He did the same thing with a cannister of liquid nitrogen. He was explaining how some people can walk across hot coals, barefoot. The intense heat causes the water to vaporize, forming a thin insulating layer between the molten lead, or hot coals and the person's skin. I don't remember how it worked with the liquid nitrogen, but it was similar. I bet Mr. Dria would be proud that I was actually paying attention way back then!

This is a sectionalizer box. Later, I'll post a picture of the insides. The cool thing is that I'll be terminating a cable installed in a pothead into one of these soon.

Here, I'm holding a stress cone that had been installed in one of the same type of terminations that we had to tin earlier. I don't know when we'll actually do those terminations, but I'm looking forward to it.