Concerts, etc.

Hello all,

Life is good here in the great state of Utah! I am learning quickly just how serious people are here about their mountain biking and hiking. Everyone at work is talking about all of their exploits, and it has me pretty excited for the snow to melt in our gargantuan mountain playground. That said, there is sure a lot of snow up there still... I am glad we aren't in a flood danger zone, but rather just on the highway to it (anyone?).

I have partaken in a few site visits for work lately. It has been both eye-opening and encouraging to see our crews in action. My company has some pretty impressive people in its employ.

Amy has been in Kentucky visiting family for the past week, leaving me to batch it (had to throw in the phonetic "t"). I am not a big fan of her being gone in all honesty, but I have had some help getting through the week. I went to two concerts on two consecutive nights in downtown Salt Lake City! Both concerts were at a really cool small venue called "In the Venue". Pretty great open air patio upstairs for 21 & older folks who want to avoid the mosh (count me in).

Arctic Monkeys

The first show I went to this week was for the killer stoner/brit rock band Arctic Monkeys. I have been a pretty big fan of theirs ever since Pandora introduced us on my Queens of the Stone Age station. I had high hopes for this show, but I was doing my best to temper them based on an observation I made some time ago: High volume, high energy bands often struggle live due to a) trouble mixing b) fighting the tendency to just crank it and c) turning the vocalist down to the point where you just hear a murmur over the other instruments. Arctic Monkeys didn't struggle with any of these issues. The band was very tight and the vocals were excellent. Overall, this is as good as hard rock gets live. See these guys if you like them at all, because after seeing them you will like them more!

The Airborne Toxic Event

Ok, I don't like speaking in absolutes when it comes to art. Having said that, this was probably the best live show I have ever seen. Yes, thats right, EVER. I have never been to a show steered by such a fantastic performer as Mikel Jollett. I was frankly in awe the entire time. I have only recently jumped on their bandwagon, enjoying them often on Rhapsody for about the last two months. I saw they were coming to town, and thought, "why not go see them"? Holy carp am I glad I did! It would take one mean bump in the road now to knock me off this bandwagon. In addition to their battery of fantastic originals, their covers of "I Fought the Law" and "Fulsom Prison Blues" electrified an eclectic crowd including 50 somethings and people young enough to think Fulsom Prison Blues is a pretty cool song by Joaquin Phoenix. The standup base and the viola filled the room with sweet moans in comfortable contrast to the stellar guitar and drum performances. Despite the great musicianship all around, the most impressive thing about TATE has to be Mikel. This guy is not only a great vocalist, but can unify a diverse crowd under his unique brand of idealism and spirituality with apparent ease. This artist-as-leader of a crowd is a cool thing to experience... And damn, All at Once is a POWERFUL song!

Oh yeah, and he is a cool guy! Here is a picture of him with me after the show:

I am so thankful to be in a town that gets great shows like these. Well, I better go get ready to pick up Amy! Cheers!

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)

Middle-wing?

Why does every issue presented in the news have to be a polarizing issue? Republican or Democrat? They might as well conclude stories with a table, one column red, one blue, filled with sentences describing how you feel depending on your party. Sometimes I feel the most renegade, looked-down-upon affiliation is no affiliation at all. Picking this non-party is a tough call in a society where "picking a side and sticking to it" is viewed in such a positive light.

I am not sure why I have been thinking about this so much lately. I have seen blogs hammer this out many times in the past. I guess it just struck me the other day that I can scorn or respect a senator with an R by his/her name just as easily as one with a D.

Barring some drastic change, it is high fantasy to think that we will have elections in the near future where there are more than two parties who are legitimate contenders. I am not a fan of wasting a vote, so the only way I can see to get diversity and move a step closer to an objective government is to not have my mind made up by a party. Is this blasphemous for a red-blooded, rural raised American to not vote a party line? I don't think so, and freedom lets me decide.

You don't hear people referring to the crazy centrist movement, and you never will. Why is that? Because sitting on or around the fulcrum yields little motion, and motion makes news. So I will continue the unglamorous life of someone who makes up their mind based on facts rather than the formulaic, gut-stirring jargon puked by pundits far left and right.

Sorry if this offends some, but it really shouldn't. If you are reading this you are likely someone I particularly like, and your politics would never factor into your meaning to me. I value the people in my life and am amazed at their intelligent diversity. It takes all of us bringing our informed minds to the table to create effective legislation and a government for the people. I am just thinking and typing, something I thoroughly enjoy.

Safety

Last week I went through training for MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration). The course I went through was well taught and very thorough. It got me thinking about safety…

I am sure a lot of you reading this have gone through some sort of safety training, or even first aid training. I am usually struck with how important safety feels while participating in these classes. You don't want anyone to get hurt and the dangers of the job feel very real. The challenge is getting people to carry this feeling with them when they leave.

Safety is very important for engineers in a number of ways. Most engineers in heavy industry spend a lot of time in the field. Safety is perfected with practice. Going into the field with limited repetition and visiting many different sites/machines makes safety more complex. Add to this the fact that engineers are often testing automated machinery in a bypass/manual mode for commissioning and you have a perfect storm for an accident.

Also, operators are experts on their equipment. As an equipment designer I have often thought that, even if I spend a year on a design, give an operator three months and his working knowledge will dwarf mine. My point is: don't assume you're an expert on your own design… assumptions foreshadow accidents.

On a personal level, engineers are responsible for designing safety into their equipment. It is truly the first line of defense from an accident. Thankfully, the US has made a lot of progress in requiring machine guarding [sometimes struggling to find the practical limit]. We must continue to improve our designs to keep everyone safe. Bottom line is: it effects the bottom line. Stay safe!

Fake News

Local Man, Happy With Job, Nonetheless Loses it at Work

Salt Lake City, UT, AP: “He just started alternating between singing pop goes the weasel and yelling angrily at his coffee cup to ‘stop being so condescending’.” Words spoken by a witness to the small mental breakdown that took place in a Salt Lake City engineering office this afternoon. The man, 25, was apparently attempting to work after returning from a vacation. “I love my job, I enjoy the people I work with, and I can honestly say I don’t know what caused this” said the man who apparently couldn’t hold it together, hours after being coaxed down from the top of his desk where he was pointing at the door, shouting “The outside is out there, I know it is!”.

Leading experts in the field of mind-loss point to the subject’s quick return to the workforce after a vacation filled with family, food, and beverage as the likely cause for the outburst. When asked for a closing remark, the subject, still hazy eyed, muttered some nonsense not worth reporting.

No one was hurt in the mind-loss, with the only injury coming to a keyboard which was found half-submerged in a toilet bowl. The keyboard refused to comment.

Note: this story is made up

Put the Oki in Okinawa

So, to say a lot has gone on since my last post would be a bigger understatement than saying Asange leaked a little information.

At the end of November 2010, Amy and I went on an adventure to Okinawa to see our good friends, Josh and Jenn. We had been planning on making this trip ever since Josh and Jenn left Klamath for Okinawa. Let me make my best attempt at summarizing the timeline of this crazy-awesome time. Take a breath before reading the following:

Last day at old job, finish packing for move to Salt Lake City, get on airplane bound for Okinawa Japan, fly/layover for 20hrs, arrive in Okinawa, have an absolutely incredible time (see slideshow), fly/layover for 18hrs, arrive in Portland, load Penske truck and clean rental home, start drive to SLC with intent of making it to Boise but only make it to La Grande due to road closures, make it the rest of the way to SLC, Unload Penske truck, start new job in SLC.

In case you were wondering, that covered about 18 days.

As for the new job, it has started out great! I have a large project for this next year and will be doing some travelling. I feel blessed to have a job like this in a down economy.

I had the full week before Christmas off so Amy and I drove from SLC to Merrill and Medford. As always, we had a great time with our family. It was very nice to see everyone and we got SPOILED with gifts!

My best friend got engaged over the holiday, and I will be his best man. I am thrilled for him, his wife-to-be is truly great and I am proud to be his best man. Best man means one major responsibility: The Bachelor Party. Don’t worry buddy, I am on it.

So, in the past each one of these life events would have been an entire post, but as you can see, I have been busy. I hope to get back to posting with something resembling consistency. If only there was a time coming up where it was customary to make resolutions…

Happy New Year!

Cheers to 2011, you have big shoes to fill!

SLC & Apple

Pretty big news for Amy and me: we are moving to Salt Lake City!

I accepted an engineering position in SLC with a company in mining and construction. Although I will miss everyone I worked with here in Vancouver and all the great friends we made up here, I am thrilled with the opportunity I have been presented in Utah!

Needless to say, Amy and I have been busy. Last weekend we did a quick trip (flying early Saturday and returning late Sunday) down to look for a place to live. We found a townhome we are very excited about in West Jordan.

One of the most appealing aspects of this new job is that I will be doing more mechanical design. Although I enjoy project management, which is what I have done exclusively for the past six months, I miss my original passion of machine design. The art of combining multiple disciplines into a functioning product was my motivation for starting this career, and it continues to get me to work every day. The field uses big equipment of course, which has always been my preference.

We have been very impressed with the Salt Lake area from our visits. It is very clean, has beautiful surroundings, and they actually have some good local beers (very important). West Jordan has a lot of new construction. We are excited to ski some of the area’s legendary snow!

We made sure to get a place that would allow us to welcome plenty of visitors, so come see us!

In unrelated news, I recently purchased an iMac. So far, I am very impressed! It was wicked easy to set up, and clearly very powerful. Ours has the i5 processor, which so far does not disappoint. This is my first Mac and it is too soon to say for sure, but I may be hooked.

Kool-Aid = Consumed

Next week, we visit Josh and Jenn in Okinawa!