Working World

This week I went from not so busy to extremely busy in about 10 seconds flat. I had been waiting on some new models from my JSF projects. I was also waiting on my "special assignment" with the ECHP program to start. That's pretty much what my week was entailing, waiting. On the positive side, that did give me some time to port some of our engineering computer programs from the old UNIX computers to the new Windows computers. That's an ongoing battle that needs all the time it can get.

On Wednesday things started to pick up again. Quickly. I got two new "priority" projects. One was for an engine that we have on the test stand right now. We were getting some high temperature readings and the Air Force wanted us to make sure it wasn't a problem before we push the limits too much. That meant that I had to work 11 hours Wednesday, 10 hours (+2 hours for class) on Thursday, and 16.5 hours yesterday. That's right, I worked until one o'clock in the morning last night. Not fun. At least I get paid for it though. I shouldn't complain because Jen worked like that all the time. Actually, it was kind of a fun project.

Barring any problems today with my results, I should be done with that project. The structural analysis is happening today and tomorrow. We'll wrap things up Monday and Tuesday of next week and then on Wednesday we have to go over to Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH to present our results to the Air Force. Hopefully that will go well.

I also got another project that should take a couple weeks and needs to be done ASAP. It's for a different engine that we will be testing soon. It's compressor work. Compressors are cold(ish) parts, so they're not that exciting for us heat transfer folks. It is a good learning experience though.

The JSF information I was waiting for also became available yesterday. Since we're a month behind schedule on the JSF work (thanks to our brilliant designer) that work needs to be done about a month ago. So this week will be split between those two projects with lots of overtime. I might go in tomorrow to play a little catch up. Jen works tomorrow so there isn't much reason for me to sit on the couch and do nothing all day. We'll see.

Finally, I've still got my "special assignment" for ECHP as well as the RATTLRS work coming down the pipes at me. Those should start late this week or early next week. Overtime here I come! Or should I say, big screen TV here I come! Yeah, right.

We're starting to hire a bunch of people for RATTLRS now. I got one of my friends from Rose-Hulman an interview for our department. That would be great to have a friend working in the same area as me. I've been working there for two years now and I'm still the new guy. We need fresh meat! One of my good friends quit on Friday, so it would be nice to have another cool person in the group.

I guess that's it for my update from the working world. See-ya!