Going to Japan!

I will be in Japan from August 10th through the 22nd!! During that time, I should be in the Tokyo area from the 10th through the 15th. Please give me a holler if you are free to do something then!

My schedule is still up in the air, so give me the days you are free and maybe I can set some things in stone!

Ride with Me!

I got the bike running on Thursday and I've put over 300 miles on the bike since then!!

This weekend, I set sail in and around Chicago to familiarize with my bike! She is performing beautifully although there are still things that need to be fixed. Valve adjustment, carb sync, and swapping gas tanks are all on the list, among others. The bike is road worthy though and above is a picture of Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, IL that Mark and I rode to. He is a fellow motorist that I've gone to school with since kindergarden and was kind enough to invite me on a cruise this day! It was windy as hell for my little 250 motorcycle, but we made it to and back safely! In the back, you can see the old decomissioned power plant.

You can also follow our cruise here:

http://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/workoutdetail/index.do?id=1197126

Sports Tracker by Nokia's Beta Lab is what I used here on my Nokia cell phone. It works great with the built in GPS and accurately logged where we were and how fast we were going. Unfortunately, it did have some inconsistencies, especially when it lost GPS signal when we took a break at Culver's in Zion. As you can see, we somehow did a straight path through Illinois! The max speed is also not right because our top speed was much faster than that...these are some kinks I need to work out, but it's working great so far!

More motorcycle news...my helmet should be arriving tomorrow and the rest of my gear (gloves, jacket, and tail bag) should be arriving later this week! I can't wait to get them and go somewhere with them this 4th of July weekend!

My motorcycle - the Ninja 250!

I got the bike safely home and it's being stripped searched now! It has been in storage for several years and not running right now, but it is in the process of being fixed. The first problem came up as I was taking off the fairings and gas started to pour out. Looks like the seller punctured the tank with too long of a screw...I think that needs fixing!

But other than that, the bike seems to be in great condition and I can't wait to get it up and running!

Internship: Day 16

 

Above is my PPE, personal protection equipment. We need to wear this when we are in the plant area! I'm in my office so...there is no danger!

So it's been a few weeks since my orientation and have been at the power plant for 2.5 weeks. Being an engineer here has been fun, although I've mostly been following around my mentor. He's a great guy and everyone is very respectful about him. He's worked in the energy industry for a long time now and he has kids a year or two younger than me. And that is what it's like with the rest of the people here, they are getting into their 50's. They have been great though and they are all very knowledgeable and professional. But they are also silly and loves to joke around. You know how these men in their 40s and 50s can be!

But it really has been great so far. I'm learning a lot about the energy industry and most importantly, I'm learning what it takes to be an engineer. I have a few projects assigned to me and I hope to do my best with them! If you are curious, my first project is to design, price, and bid an oil filtration system for the high pressure oil line for the unit 8 turbine. Yup.

Driving back home through the Loop sucks, but it's nice to see downtown everyday...at 5am.

Internship: Day 1

 
This is what day one of my internship looked like. We had orientation at the Joliet Annex plant in Joliet, IL. Today was filled with introductions, lots of information about the company, and tons of safety talk. Free Midwest Generation goodies and a laptop was also given out. I'll hopefully get more sleep tonight so I won't be falling asleep during all the lectures the rest of the week!