Day 3 - Hi Ho, Hi Ho ...

Monday, April 2 was my third day here and being a Monday meant that I was actually supposed to work. For those that don't know, the field portion of my work is done in electrical substations. Typically, this portion of any trip is slotted for one full day, two if major problems arise. For this trip, we planned 2.5 days so that we could do extra tests and performance analysis.

My guess is that you all don't really want to hear the work related details of my trip, and since some of it borders on confidential, I now have two good reasons not to tell, but I can show you a picture of a substation...



So, I spent all day in this substation doing actually very little. I examined our equipment, met with some of employees of the utility, and watched as connectors were added to the 22000 Volt bus work. To give you perspective (Mom, you should skip this paragraph): 120V will shock you; 240V will likely cause some permanent damage; 480V will disable your reflexes making it impossible for you to let go (i.e. it will kill you); 7000 Volts can arc through the air a distance 6 inches or more to your person, enveloping you in flames, though if you actually manage contact, you will die instantly from the shock; voltages above that can arc greater distances and otherwise cause more damage. But see, by knowing this, I know to NEVER TOUCH ANYTHING in a substation without the proper protective equipment, if at all, and in general, I touch nothing, instead letting the customer do all the work. And, most utilities have proper warnings, and reminders about safety, and some, like this one, require that everyone be properly inducted before entering the switching yard.



After spending the day in the substation, which did afford me the opportunity to get some sun, we left back to the new hotel for dinner. The restaurant attached to the hotel was actually a very well trafficked establishment and a reasonable classy sports bar atmosphere. Every beer they pour from the draft was placed into a glass wit that beer's logo (too much effort if you ask me, but a nice touch nonetheless). Also attached to the restaurant was a small gaming (i.e. casino style) room with slots that you could see from the doorway. I didn't bother going in. I had for dinner that night a lamb curry dish that was tasty, but had absolutely NO spice, which it could have used, but was still good. I drank a Stella Artois (sp?) beer with the dinner.

The night before, in the same restaurant, I had the Barramundi fish from the list of specials. It was very, very good and served over a bed of fries with an ornamental salad on the same plate. I drank a Beez Neez honey wheat beer with the meal. For ketchup, (no, I still don't eat it, but i did try it again) they have packets of 'tomato sauce'. These packets are more like the jelly packets you see at some restaurants. The difference here is that there are two cups in the single packet and the top doesn't peel off, instead there is a four sided pyramid protrusion from the center of the container.

What I found out about the container by accident, is that you are supposed to grab the opposite short ends across the long diameter and pull/squeeze together away from the pyramid. The accident part of this was that I wasn't thinking, not realizing this was designed to squirt the ketchup, not open the container, I shot some of this sauce a clear meter into the air before it fell splattering over the table. Only a slight embarrassment, but luckily the only other person to see it was my fellow consultant to the power company.

So, this made two dinners in a row in the same restaurant. We decided that the next night (see my Day 4 post when I get that far) we would eat somewhere else. While in this restaurant (called the Red Lion), however I did get to have my introduction to Aussie Rules Football (AFL, Footy) as there was a game on the telly. Think a cross between Ultimate Frisbee, Rugby and Soccer. The 25 (maybe 22) people per team are on the huge field (in this case the game was in the MCG, Melbourne Cricket Ground). They punt/drop kick or pass (volley ball style hand gesture one holding the ball, thumb side of the fist hitting the ball) the rugby ball all over the field. There are possession rules based on tackles, but in general, it is the job of the ball carrier to get rid of it before being tackled (Do you remember the game 'Smear the Queer' from elementary school?). Anyway, scoring is done by kicking the ball through the air through four uprights in a line that start at ground level. Six points if you get through the center two, one point if on one of the sides. Scores for this game get high, like 102 to 84 (I think) for the game we were watching. Each suburb in the Melbourne area seems to have its own Footy team.

After hanging out in the bar watching the game for a while, I returned to my room. I actually have a photo of this room, but more importantly, the bathroom, in which I had a jacuzzi tub and a shower with no door, no base, just a drain on the tile floor of the bathroom.



And so that you can see the room and the rest of the bathroom...