Slow and Steady

Man, keeping up with these things is a pain.

Well, all is well on the work front. We've had a few changes in leadership (yes, even more so than what I mentioned last time), but I think everything is going to work out fine. I'm still the AMI supervisor, still doing AMI supervisor things. I'm trying to open up my office, as I'm getting a little cramped in there.

Desk space is at a premium, and I still want dual monitors.

I went back to Gainesville to recertify my Backflow Tester certification. I never understand why I take the classes, as the only time I touch backflows is when I actually go down there to test them. It's a certificate and a skill though, so I'll take it.

A backflow

In a nutshell, all this doohickey does is prevent water from flowing back into the municipality water system. They have checks and valves in them that have to be tested.

Whenever I take these trips to Gainesville, I always try to see how far I can stretch my fuel. This time I hit a new high with 543.6 miles on one (35 gallon) tank. I think that's about 15.5 MPG.

Speaking of fuel....

No Joke.

Saw this energy drink in the cooler at the local Little Champ (that's what I call every gas station store.), and it had a sign stating you had to be 18 or older to buy one. So of course I bought one. 

These guys come in two flavors, neither one that great. The blue raspberry is the most tolerable. The first one I had really worked me up, but the currently do not do anything for me. They've got way more caffeine that a equally sized Redbull, and a whole bunch of other supplements. I still have one every once and awhile, but I'm still sticking with RedBull.

Not much else has happened on the work front, and there are a few things I'm cooking up on the side. We just celebrated Thanksgiving, and Christmas is coming up, so I'm sure there will be more tales to tell. 

Until then!

Ketchup

Ok, let's get everyone up to speed.

For the most part, everything is still the same. Still work at the same place, albeit performing a different duty.

My previous job title was "Field Service Technician" and I've pretty much summed up what those job duties were. Through people moving around, I have ended up in a spot titled, "AMI Supervisor", "AMI" meaning "Advanced Metering Infrastructure".

Not me, this guys is too excited.

What does that all entail? Well, to be honest, I'm kind of figuring that out on my own/making it what I think it needs to be.

Current duties keep my very busy and include the following.

• Inventory - In a nutshell, every meter, register, and related device goes through me. Whether it's new stock arriving, checking current inventory out to the Field Techs, or doing warranty returns, I'm the guy that scans in and scans out all of it.
• Truck Maintenance Records - I make sure our in house database is up to date with my departments vehicles. I'm currently using this information to try and put our trucks on a routine maintenance schedule.
• Quality Control - Making sure our guys are doing the correct work, at the correct address, with the correct parts. This is the most time consuming part of my job. Any error out the field gets sent to me. Sometimes it's small and an easy fix, sometimes it's not. Half the time I can get the guys to go back and correct it, sometimes I end up having to go.

I do a few other small things, but those are the biggies. It's a change of pace, and a welcomed one at that.

Currently, we are scanning in every single item me have, for the end of the fiscal year inventory. This is where things get scary. Basically, every item the finance department says we are supposed to have, we better have. So for now, I'll be spending my time in the meter bay, armed with a bar code scanner and a pack of pink stickers.

This is but a smidgen of our inventory

Nope, not going to say it

I suck at this.

A few things have happened in what, the year I've been off here. Some work related, some not. Instead of writing one large post, quickly touching on a few subjects, I'll take the next few days, weeks, or months covering them.

I can do this. I can do this. I'm probably not going to do this.

Before I forget....

justinraymer.com

TOAST PT. 4 - The Work Truck

2015 GMC Sierra 2500HD - Duramax, 4x4

Well, here it is. My work truck. The mobile office I call home for 8-ish hours a day (sometimes more).

I've had this truck since new, and as of this post it has 17,500 miles on it. It's a good truck, and performs its duties well. I think its a tad overkill (I'd prefer a Colorado, or a Van), but I'm not complaining. It takes the daily routes like a champ, and like most GM truck's I've driven, rides very car like. I try not to idle it very much, and the GPS makes sure it doesn't get romped on too hard. It get around 14.9 MPG, and thanks to the huge tank, I can go around 400 miles between fill ups. Only defects so far have been a cracked fuel filter housing, and the driver seat is starting to tear.

Lets go through the rest of the truck, starting with my "office".

The driver's seat is where I spend a good bit of my day. To my immediate right is my center console, filled with various things like medicine, pens, keys, and so on. This console also doubles as a third seat if you flip it up. The cup holders hold my phones and pass cards... as well as cups.

Next to that is my computer. That's where i get my orders from. All my field work routes through that. It's actually new as well, a Dell Latitude E6540. I'm trying to keep it clean.

On the transmission hump is the power inverter, and my WiFi hotspot (for the laptop). The inverter is obviously used to power my laptop, but it also powers any plug in tools I have, as well as my printer, and any other A/C adapters I have.

Next up is the passenger side, or as I call it, "The Closet".

The passenger side is really a catch all for whatever I don't want in my way. The floorboard sometimes is used as a trash can.

The seat holds my Every Day Carry bag (I'll do a post on that later), as well as Chromebook, and a few other things. It really depends on what i'm doing for the day as to what goes there. Some of the items on the floorboard get changed in and out. Speaking of the floorboard, it currently holds my printer, hand held meter computer, and a host of cables and chargers.

Finally, here is the radio. 

This is about the only part of my truck I interact with. The truck is equipped with BlueTooth, so I use it to stream my Google Play Music, or Pandora. The center console also has an SD reader, as well as an USB slot, so I could play music from them as well.

Below the radio are the buttons. The only one you need be concerned with is the left one. The Traction Control button. Now I think we all know what happens when you push it, but do you know what happens when you hold it down? On this truck (and most every other modern GM product), If you hold down the TC button for 5 seconds, it also turns of the Stability Control. What does this mean? Well it certainly doesn't mean you can do donuts or drift in parking lots. Not at all....

So that's about it. Thats my work truck. I'f sure I'll cover a few areas of it in greater detail in the future, but that's the gist of it. Thanks for reading!

Transportation

I drive things! Let's talk about it!


Being a water utility, we would obviously have a fleet of vehicles. These vehicles range from basic pickups, to dump trucks and medium duty vehicles. Every field worker here, except for the Construction crew, has a "take home" vehicle. It's a great privilege.

In my time here I have driven many vehicles. If my memory serves me right they are as follows.

• 1990 Ford F150 - 5.0
• 1998 Chevy 1500 - 4.3 V6
• 2000 Dodge Ram 2500 Long Bed W/T - 360 (My favorite truck so far)
• 1996 Ford F250 W/T - 351W
• 2004 Chevy 2500 W/T - 6.0
• 2006 Chevy 2500 W/T - Duramax
• 2012 Ford F250 - 6.2 Gas (My first new truck)
• 2008 Chevy 3500 W/T - Duramax
• 2003 Ford F350 - PowerChoke
• 2008 Chevy 2500 Long Bed - Duramax (2nd favorite)
• 2015 GMC 2500 W/T - Duramax (2nd new truck, Current)

There have been a few others, such as spares and heavier equipment, but those above were my main take home trucks.

That brings me to this guy.  His name is Ned.

My truck is currently in the shop to have its oil changed, so I have been blessed with Ned, a 2007 F150 with a 5.4 V8. Ned is tired. Ned has 143,000 hard miles on him. Ned needs to be retired.

I have have spent some time now, getting to know Ned. Ned smells of gas at a stop, he has no heater or AC, and the blower sounds like it is about to fly out of the dash. Ned has questionable steering, that likes to lock up while you turn it. Seriously, if you make a U-turn, you can take your hands off the wheel you can drive in circles all day.

Ned also has no suspension. This makes running over anything higher than a road reflector at any speed higher than 10 MPH a real joy. This truck also wobbles like a fish out of water if you give the steering wheel any forceful input.

Ned also needs a tune up. Plugs, Filters, the works. Ned won't get these things, Need is on his way out.


Soon my truck will have had its oil changed, and will be ready to be picked up. At some point, I'll go get it, and I'll have to say goodbye to Ned.

Well, that's about it for this post. At some point in time, I'll do a full review of my current truck, it's ends and outs and everything in between.

Until next time!

Frozen in Time

It's been awhile.
That seems to be a reissuing theme, doesn't it?

Well there were Holidays and stuff.... Yadda yadda yadda, Bob's your uncle.

Currently it's very cold, and I'm in a beast of a truck, with (among many crippling defects) no heater. It's great.

Well, here's to more posts! I've got things to say!

See you soon!