Brewfest!

For my first Father's Day, Amy took me up to Snowbird for Brewfest 2013.  We enjoyed perfect weather and a beautiful backdrop to complement the exceptional local beers.  I have to say, this was a great event.  $20 gets you a mug and 15 tokens.  Each token gets you 3 ounces of beer (supposedly).  Every brew-stand I visited was friendly to the extreme and had a bit of a sticky tap (I would guess 6 ounces per token is more accurate).  I got to try beers from all over Utah.  My favorite beer may have been Rooster's Polygamy Pale.  The guy from Roosters informed me that it was an IPA recipe.  Very balanced pale ale.  We enjoyed lunch together outside at 10,000ft while I sipped beers and my boy fed himself.  I will be back next year!

Work has been interesting lately.  I have transitioned to some smaller projects in the interim between big projects.  It has been nice to have some shorter term projects to wrap up quickly. 

I am very excited for our upcoming trip to Oregon.  We will be taking our bikes and hope to get some good activities in!

Listening to: Deer Tick - Awesome band that I randomly found based on a recommendation from Rhapsody.  They do a really cool cover of "What Kind of Fool Am I?".

I am so lucky to have Amy as a wife and mother to my boy!  What a great Father's Day weekend!

Thoughts on Commissioning

I have been spending a lot of time working on my home lately.  It has been very rewarding work, and opened my eyes to how simple it is to do a lot of the things yourself that would otherwise cost you a fortune.  All you really need is some can-do attitude, a bit of mechanical aptitude, and access to the internet :).  Seriously, how did people do it before the internet? Youtube has become a part of my toolbox, right next to the cordless drill.

I recently completed the shop commissioning of the massive new drill rig project I designed.  It was, as always, a great learning experience in addition to being very rewarding.  Some of the recurring truisms from the commissioning:

• You just have to try some things.  A few minutes of real world testing is worth weeks of time in front of the computer in some cases.  Now not all cases!  Thank you Finite Element Analysis!  But software, for example, almost cannot be tried soon enough in the development process.
• Its never the problem you expect.  This one is rather obvious, but rears its head frequently.  Fact is, if it was a problem you expected and didn't do anything about, you are kind of an idiot, right?  Well, not exactly.  Engineering can be an iterative process, and there is a degree of uncertainty with any new creation.  As engineers, we try to think of all the things that could go wrong, and I would bet that 90% of the time what actually goes wrong is not on that list.  This is likely due to the fact that if you are able to anticipate a certain type of problem, you eliminate it from your design the best you can.  If you are creating something new though, expect a few of these "gotchas".
• Sometimes, entropy wins.  Sure, there are a few problems you run into and think: "yeah, this happens all the time".  A leaky hose for example.  Some problems, however, are almost impossible to track down and are completely unique.  Like a faulty bus bar from a manufacture with a tiny piece of plastic covering the conductor in one of several hundred terminals.  Yeah, $2 part, 4 hours tracking it down.  Entropy 1, Engineer 0.
• Running a new piece of equipment can bring the hind-sight engineering specialists out of the woodwork.  "Why didn't you do this?" or "Why wasn't that considered in the design?".  The fact is, when building a prototype, some things are going to get missed.  Don't let it bother you, instead try to create a culture of jumping in and fixing problems rather than just pointing them out.  Remember that a toddler can spot an oil leak, it takes an adult to fix it.
• Nine women cannot have a baby in one month. I think this is a German saying.  It may be my favorite thing to remind managers who want to solve a technical issue by pulling in more resources.
• Perspective can be a big blessing.  After spending about 25 days straight working on something, that thing can pretty easily creep steadily higher on your shit list.  Every problem you encounter can seam insurmountable because it gets jammed into your crowded brain with all problems fixed and outstanding.  Get someone new involved when this starts to happen!  For my project, I called in a drilling supervisor to see what he thought of the rig.  He reminded us that we are doing stuff that has never been done before and SUCCEEDING.  All of a sudden building a small step to change a filter seams like the minute task it is.  
• Telling people what they want to hear when it comes to timing is a mistake.  This one is easy to fall victim to if you are a people pleaser (a terminal problem I deal with, along with Irish guilt).  If someone asks you when it will be done, give your honest estimate.  And don't forget to double it.  Adding time to your estimate is NOT unscientific, it is what experienced professionals do (see entropy).  It is always better to take the heat for the timeline now and be a hero if all the stars align and by some miracle you complete your project early.  
• Beer is good.  Having a beer with your team after a hard days work is good for everyone.
• Lists rule.  keep one running punch list.  ONE.  That is the key.  Maintaining multiple lists is impractical and causes things to get missed.  Don't get too hung up on categorizing your list either.  Just write it down.  You can always organize it later! 
• Things seam easier when they are done.  Don't forget all the heart-ache you poured into your creation.  People will look at it and it will appear simple to them.  Remember that it is easy to make a convoluted and complex mechanism to do a function unreliably.  To create something simple and reliable is the pinnacle of engineering achievement.  And when someone looks at it and says "duh, of course that is how that is done", remind yourself that if it was really that obvious, people would already be doing it that way.  You have created something simple and innovative (prepare to be copied thanklessly :) )

I am so excited to be at this phase of the project.  My team, which was pulled together from Australia, Canada, and the US, worked very well together!   Lots of exciting new developments and innovations.  I will post a link as soon as the info goes public!

Amy has done an amazing job documenting our family life!  Let me know if you want access to that blog, as it is set to private.  I will just say here that having a baby has been by far the greatest thing to happen to me.  I couldn't be happier with my family, career, or home.  Life is good.  Cheers, friends.

Music:  I am digging the new Queens of the Stone Age album "...Like Clockwork"
Reading: I am reading "Dune Heretics"...  Frank Herbert awesomeness.

Salute to General Nonsense

Can we all agree on revising politeness to include telling people they have a certain kind of distraction hanging out of their nose? You may be telling me the secret to life or a legit way to make millions from my couch, but all I can focus on is that bat fluttering around the cave entrance.

Now that we have taken care of that, on to other things. "What is going on with politics these days!?" is something someone who has the patience to pay attention to the current campaigning might say. I tire quickly of this stuff, so lets avoid this subject. So, what is there to talk about? Plenty.

My niece Josi Ann Teaters was born on November 10th! Mother and daughter are both healthy and happy! We are very fortunate to have a new baby girl in our family and I cannot wait to see what her life will bring. Amy and I really wish we could be there, but we will be home for Christmas, which can't get here fast enough.

Salt Lake area is currently in "mud season", the time between mountain biking season and ski season. I am really excited to get to the ski-hill this year as often as possible. In this downtime, I have been very busy studying for my PE exam, which I sat for at the end of October. It had been a while (4 years) since I had touched many of the subjects covered, so studying was quite the chore. Eight hour tests should only be used on enemies of the state... No fun. And eight weeks to get the results!? For a scantron test!? Maybe the robots are out occupying Wall Street.

Work is going great. It challenges me daily, which I have learned is a requirement for me to remain happy. I am now obsessed with mobile equipment. Drilling is a fascinating industry filled with passionate people. It is the perfect environment for someone who likes to learn. I find that truly competent people share easily and are very open to new ideas. I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by competent people.

Amy and I have been married for five years as of August 26th! Five years and two states later, I still cannot imagine my life without her. Thanks for everything Famous, you are amazing and life with you rocks!

Travelling for work: I have had some great experiences on the road and as usual, I have learned a lot from the people I have encountered. BUT: flying really, really sucks. My shoulders are a curse on an airplane, meaning I have to do this awkward sort of lean into the aisle on commuter jets so my neighbor doesn't have to use my shoulder as a chin-rest. And how bad is the feeling of walking down the aisle and waiting to see who you are stuck next to? I swear I could get on a jet 90% full of horse jockeys and get seated next to an NFL lineman.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are very lucky to have guests travelling to SLC to see us. Enjoy your family and friends!

Hello From Mountain Country

Hello All, it has been too long again.

Amy and I are doing very well. We are adjusting to the Salt Lake area nicely and finding it full of nice surprises. I am stoked to be attending two concerts this month: The Airborne Toxic Event and The Arctic Monkeys. Both are at the top of my iPod not only due to alphabetical order, but also musical preference. These shows are going to be incredible!

I have been playing softball on Monday nights. Slow-pitch softball is great fun, even for a former hardballer. Fielding the ball is the same after all, and the short base paths make for a pretty fast paced game when you have skilled players. You get the occasional guy who takes it way too serious… Come on Beergutsky, get "Glory Days" out of your head and stop yelling at the umpire who is paid like an indentured servant. It is for FUN! That doesn't mean I don’t get competitive, because I do, it just means that a dose of reality could be beneficial for these people. Those are cub scouts in the stands, not Cubs' scouts.

Work has been great! I am working on a very big project that I get to make my own. For this reason I love spending time on it. I think I was born with an entrepreneurial (thank you spell-check) mind that really enjoys a degree of independence. Lots of structural engineering and FEA to do on this job. ANSYS is the software I am using primarily; it is pretty stellar I must say.

SLC area is pretty great. We have been up skiing a few times and the resorts here are exceptional. It is so cool to be close to all these great mountains. I think I may go this Sunday, yes, that is right, Sunday May 29th. The mountains also double as a great backdrop for the city. I am still mesmerized by them, something I hope doesn’t go away. This is a great place to live. Amy has been substitute teaching and has found some very impressive schools.

On a more serious note, there are some really good breweries down here. Epic brewing is probably my favorite, with Uinta a close second. Epic's IPAs are fantastic, and Uinta's barley wine is exceptional.

We miss all of our friends and family! Come see us!

Did you hear some wack-job thinks the world is going to end this weekend? I think Bruce Willis will save us… (cue Aerosmith)

Put it on Random, Dude!

Recently, I started a free trial of Rhapsody. So far, I have been pretty impressed. Those who know me know how eclectic my music taste can be. Rhapsody suits this tendency well, allowing me to build a queue that includes Outkast and My Morning Jacket. It also allows me to listen to artists that have piqued my interest, just not $10 or $15 worth. I will report back after a few months of paid service on whether or not it is a keeper. So far I have been discovered head and shoulder dancing twice in my cubicle thanks to the iPhone app. Thankfully my lack of rhythm is masked by my use of headphones. That’s right; they might just assume it is a song with ~1408 tempo changes.

Life has been full of softball lately. I am thankful for the leagues up here. It is great to be playing ball again. I have played short stop mostly, which has been a blast. Tourney time this weekend!

Amy and I went down to Klamath recently and visited my nephew. We had a great time! The trip was too short as always. Ty is growing so fast and looking great! Watch out future ladies in your aluminum-foil-esque dresses (this is how I imagine future ladies).

Work has been intense lately; I am starting to think that isn’t going to change any time soon. I am so intrigued by the way people work. We think of work as being a linear function. For example:

Figure 1 - Incorrect linear approximation of human work and time.

Figure 2 - Obnoxious morning person. Seriously person, I haven't even had a cup of coffee yet.

Figure 3 - My work/time function. Notice that it gets to the same point, but it involve ranges with slopes approaching infinity and others nearing zero. It even contains a range with a negative slope, once believed to be impossible. The JP T/W relationship might also describe afternoon feeling "I should just go home".

Figure 4 - We have all worked with this person.

I have been thinking about getting a Kindle. Anyone have any thoughts on the subject? Like it? Hate it? Don’t care? What is a Kindle? Where am I?