2012

This year has been a busy one, thus, no posts to record.  I've traveled throughout the midwest, flown commercially and in the boss's plane, met some wonderful people, and experienced new things.  Recently, a utility membership asked me to present information on an EPA rule and answer questions on the "mechanical aspects" of the rule.  Levi is the "speaker" of the house, and I don't know where he got his talent from.  I am the sit-in-the-pew critic.  It is one thing to deliver advice on speaking, it is another to speak.  When I got back from being on the road this week, there was a card on my desk that came in the mail.  Those thank you cards are under-rated.  "The information was spot-on".... "couldn't have pulled this together without your help, especially the on-site power plant visit"......"thank you, thank you, thank you".......  and those were just excerpts. 

In Story City, the power plant administrator's wife has told him that any time I come there, she wants to know so she can take off work and hang out with me.  She's a nurse at the hospital and we talk "car talk."  It's funny how we hit it off griping about lug nuts.

This year the boss finally got rid of an employee that I was doing most of his work for him, and the stuff I didn't get involved with turned out to be a nightmare for the installers.  The last job he was involved in finally got done.  His replacement is exceptionally talented and I don't have to worry about him or his submittal drawings or approvals.  He runs all the quotes by me for my input, and takes criticism very well......... throws it back at me, too.

My job has been somewhat consuming, and I attempted to warn my family that the next two years would be this way.  It pulls at me not being able to be around all the time, but I do see hope at the end of the tunnel.

I was recently invited to a facility in Omaha where they have 42 engines and I offered them a free consultation.  The supervisor asked, "what's in it for me?"..... I answered the opportunity to quote the business, and he has respected that so much, that he offered 4 of the high priority engines to be done by our company without the normal bid process.  I gave him round numbers at the consultation, and he has called the boss and told him how impressed he was with me.  I'm just now starting to get the feedback of reassurance that what I'm doing helps people with their weighty decisions for their facilities.

A couple months ago, a rep from Minnesota called me and said he has completed an installation at a major company and they want him to do the performance test and compliance paperwork.  He said I was the best there was and wanted to know what we would charge to do this part of the work.  This requires me knowing the foreign components of his installation, trade secrets, costs, everything.  I was very up front with him and he sent it all.  I just wrapped up the testing in Minnesota and the Facility Manager treated me like I had done the installation all by myself.  When I told the boss all the stuff that was going on there, he said that the Facility Manager was "intuitive."  Haha, as if.

This is already November and this year has flown by.  It is probably the first year I haven't had trouble writing the year correctly since I was putting out bids last year with this year's dates on them for installation.  I've been doing that for 2013, as well, so I don't foresee any problems adjusting after December ends.

Next week I'll be in Jackson, Missouri, followed by Chanute, Kansas, and a side trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I'm sure others will be added, as they always are.  I have the coolest job in the world getting to meet the backbone of America, the people that keep the lights on and the plug ins working in everyone's homes.  I see what they have to deal with on a daily basis and I commend them for their patience, their sense of humor, and their work ethic.  I am blessed.