A while...
It's been a couple weeks since I last posted anything. Nothing has really happened. I got back yesterday from visiting my family in Maryland and school starts tomorrow. Fun times. In the meantime, I am hoping I can sleep well soon.
*Real* Tech work!!
Today I got to go out on site pass with Kris K. We went to PERK, OSUPbase, STILrptr, and STIL. There was a lot to be done at PERK so we had to be quick at the other sites. Because PERK was first, he had to tell me about what was to be done. The standard pass is to take pictures (before and after), perform a drip test for the rain gauge, clean the sensor shields, and cut/rake the grass, taking care to not damage anything! Two drip tests are done - one prior to cleaning and one after. Sometimes it can be as much of a difference as 5 tips!
Solar panels at all of our sites (except PERK) were upgraded last year, so a new one needed to be installed. He did that while I raked and did another drip test. We also had to replace the 2-meter Wind Sentry due to bad bearings.
We finished up and went to lunch at the original Hideaway Pizza at OSU. It was a little busy, but it was nice. From there, we went to OSUPbase at the OSU Police station to upgrade the RF PROM in the radio. That was quick and easy. Next was STILrptr, perched on top of Kerr-Drummond Dormitory. I was kind of scared to go up it because in years past I've been there for camps and they had a bad bad history of falling. Much better now though.
STIL site was really easy. No fence or boundaries, so cutting the grass was simplistic. I got to do both drip tests. That was exciting. It was over pretty fast.
Overall, it was great to learn what the technicians do firsthand, especially since I am very interested in pursuing it as a career. It was also nice to get to know Kris better and learn more of his background. We have some really amazing people at OCS!
When we got back to Norman, we went our separate ways, but someone still both ended up in Operations. haha. An AMS friend from Oswego was in Norman touring and so I met up with him and a TAMU AMS friend at La Luna. Oh.. the days. It was a wonderful day.
Technology... a double edged sword...
Today was a greaaat Saturday! Until right around 10pm. Up to that point, my day consisted of going out to replace a dessicant at the Micronet and cutting some of the grass, then going out to dinner with my roommate and some friends. We came back to our apartment and started to play Cranium. We were about halfway through the game and our power went out for a moment. Right after this, my pager started to beep. I just assumed it was a severe wind gust or something like that. Nope. I started getting page upon page about servers being down! I called Jared to find out what was wrong, but he wasn't at SEC yet. It ended up being that the power for the entire building went out and we were on backup power, and the UPSs were starting to freak out for some reason. Jared and I are the only ones in town too (Don and David are in Oregon, Nathan in Nashville, Mark L. is on vacation somewhere.) So he started to take machines down and there wasn't much I could do until power was restored. I did what I could, which included calling OG&E to report the outage. Apparantly right after I called them, the power came back. We talked a few more times, then finally I went up to help around 12am. My first task: restart the loggernet boxes that needed it. Easy (except for D which is different.) Next task: switch out a KDM switch. Easy, but I made it complicated. It took waaaay too long to change them out, then it was time for me to mount them in the rack. Of course, I mount it in the wrong spot too, but that was Jared's fault! Not a big deal though. It was pretty easy to fix. After a few more little things, he needed to go home for something and he told me to go home too. So now I'm home, but I don't know for how long. Jared said he would page me again when our web products come back on and we have no idea when that will be. We both have to be at church in the morning, so hopefully it won't be too bad tonight. At least I will be able to sleep a little because there isn't much I can do now. Poor Jared. Maybe if I sleep now my dreams will either be nonexistent or short and hopefully not sad. Until tomorrow....
Finally! Tech work!
Today has been really drawn out..
I had to get to school early for an appointment with my advisor. I recently added a Geoinformation minor to my school curriculum, so we had to discuss how this would affect the rest of my time as a student. We decided it would be best to not take Dynamics III this fall and get some other courses out of the way. As a result, I won't be able to take another class, Mesoscale Metr, in the spring, so I will probably retake Dynamics II even though I don't have to. I really like the attitude of the Geography Department. They don't seem as stuck up as our Meteorology Department. But, eh.. to each his own. They both function fine.
After the meeting, I had to go to work. Nothing unusual there. I am working on decommissioning instruments (or in this case batteries) in the database. It's really awesome because you get to track down where instruments have gone in their lifetime and what has happened to them. Fascinating!! Ever since taking Meteorological Measurements in Fall 2004, I have really been interested in instrumentation. I suppose I was before that too, due to helping Matt some with the Crosstimber Micronet.
I had been planning to take Nathan out to the Crosstimber Micronet to show him around because he's never been there and I always talk about it. The net radiometer there needed to be fixed (water in the dome and replace the dessicant) so it was convenient that we were intending on going out there anyway. Lugging a bucket filled with shears and a dessicant tube along with a camera bag, we trudged out through the grass. I stood on the bucket and unscrewed the dome of the radiometer, which was reeeeally not level. It had a lot of water from condensation. It was crazy! I took several pictures of it and more of the surrounding area. Oh... if I could only do this for a living!!
Not much happened when I got home. I cleaned a little, ate dinner, and now writing this. Time for bed now. Thanks for reading!
