A wise man once said, "A man without music is like a fish without water."
Monday, September 14 2009 6:13 AM PDT
Work Stuff
So it's a funny thing that my first blog while on my second deployment to the Bahamas comes on the day I am leaving. I guess that just goes to show how busy I have been this time around. The project is coming along well now. We are still behind schedule, but with the team working 12+ hour days 6 days a week now some time should be caught up. It was rough pulling that off - getting up way too early for my liking and being out in the heat and humidity all day really sucked. Nonetheless, I was able to get my part of the project done during these two weeks. I can say I am honestly happy to be headed back to the US. My life has effectively been on hold for almost two months and I need to get back to dealing with things at home. I did enjoy this stay, not as much as the first time around. But it was definitely another experience I'll never forget. I don't know yet if I'll be headed back out here a third time. We'll have to wait and see how the progress on the scanner goes. If anything it'll be at least a month before I'd head back, which is about how long I'd like to remain stateside before being deployed again. All in all, good and successful times out here this round. I've got a lot of pictures and video to share, but I'll get to that sometime soon here. Going back out to the bay to eat breakfast now for one last moment in the cool island mornings!
Tomorrow I'll be headed back to Freeport for a second deployment. Things with customs finally got sorted out and the build on the RDSC has started while I have been back home. Things are in order for me to finish my part of the project now and I'm looking forward to being able to actually get something done out there now.
Here also is a video of one of the straddle carriers that I took while out there moving one of our containers out of the way when we finally got the first one from customs.
Well, my first deployment to the Bahamas is over. I arrived back in the US Monday evening after just over three weeks out there. In my last blog, we had just started working on things after a week and a half of trying to work out customs issues. Truth be told, that was not the end of the customs nightmares we were to experience, but at least some work could start to be done. We were able to get DNI's equipment all set up and do some work on what pieces we had, specifically the control room I had designed. Several other things, including the containers with the Isoloader straddle carrier continued to sit in customs until this past Monday. It was quite a headache. In fact we eventually learned that the Isoloader, which was shipped from Sydney Australia had been shipped, not east through the Panama canal, as logically one would think, but was instead shipped west through the Indian, Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans before finally arriving. So no wonder it was two weeks! Now that I've left and they have everything, it appears that work is picking up quickly. Instead of extending my stay until I had everything there that I had designed so I could help put it together, which was the original plan, I was sent home on the end of my three week rotation to finish some design and to await some more things which have to get shipped out there that were part of my designs. So I will be going back in a couple weeks on at least one more rotation.
Overall, I would say that we had at least a 50% average downtime. Last week, however, I flew my girlfriend out as part of her bday present. From the previous two weeks, I had tried to do just about everything on the island so that I knew what to take her to do. That worked out quite well and she had quite a blast to say the least, even though I was working a lot of the days. During the time she was out there she and I also got engaged. No plans for the wedding as of yet, but they will come soon enough.
I was actually quite sad to be leaving when I did. I enjoyed it so much out there and had experiences I could not even begin to describe. I learned so much and my outlook on a lot of things changed. I definitely think that these times I'll spend in the Bahamas will have a lasting impact on my life in many ways. I suppose I'll go into those in more detail at some point though. Fortunately, I will be returning in a couple weeks for a second rotation and will most likely make it out for a third sometime in October as well so that is something to look forward to. In ways, it is good to be home for a little while too. It'll give me time to spend with my friends and family and do other things that I need to do to keep my life in order (can't always stay away on 'vacation' or your life back home goes to hell ya know!).
I am still in the process of uploading the massive amount of pictures I took. Will post them as soon as I have them online somewhere!
So I've been in the Bahamas for work for about a week and a half and for the most part it's been a pretty good time. We (tried at least to) started 'work' last week monday, trying to work out logistics with the port. That pretty much involved running around between the customs, port security and port operations offices trying to find and then clear our shipping containers. Try as we might the entire week, it didn't happen, so most of my time was effectively spent doing nothing. Well, not nothing, but relaxing and enjoying my time out here on the beaches and exploring the island. Can't complain, I mean basically I was getting paid for a nice week long vacation.
Today our containers finally cleared and we were able to open them and get out equipment out. Unfortunately, the reality of how hellish the conditions I'm going to be working in set in quickly. It only took 4 hours this afternoon to get what we needed done done, however working in 95 degree heat with 70% humidity really, really sucked! We had to stop about every 15 minutes for water breaks and stuff and I went through at least a half gallon an hour. I'm sure I'll start to get used to it, but still I'm gonna be praying for cloudy weather during the day because it's so much cooler out. We may end up shifting to a much earlier starting time, which would suck for me because I have a really hard time getting up in the morning, but it may be the best option to get out of the worst heat of the day.
All in all though, this has been quite the experience. I've posted a lot of pictures on my facebook account and you can see them HERE. I'll keep you all posted how things continue to go!
Well, I'm alive. I made it. Didn't crash in the ocean flying through the Bermuda Triangle like the
irrational little thought in the back of my mind had been saying for a few days prior to my departure.
LOL! I've been in the Bahamas for two days now so I figure it's about time for an update. It's only been
two days but I feel like I've been here for a lot longer with everything that I've done so far. The flight
out was actually rather uneventful. I left Albuquerque Friday morning and flew to Dallas and then to
Miami. From there, picked up a little turboprop to head out to Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. It really
didn't take that long to get here, just over 7 hours including the layovers, which isn't bad. I touched
down just after 4:30PM ET and got through customs decently fast. We had been concerned that we were going
to have problems getting through without any kind of work permit, even though the DOE had consistantly
told us we didn't need one, and initially when we got up to talking with their immigration officers it
appeared that it was going to be a problem. However, after talking to the supervisors at their customs
agency they waived us though since a guy from the US Embassy had come by earlier in the day to make sure
we'd get cleared through. Almost hit another snag when we were picking up the luggage and a custom's lady
refused to let Ted (the team lead and other guy out here with me presently) bring his crate of tools into
the country. He argued with her for a bit until he mentioned the name of our project 'Megaports' and she
literally said "ok, you just said the magic word. Go on through and enjoy your stay" LOL! It seems a lot
of people out here are aware of it and just how important it is to the Bahamian gov't since it will allow
them to bring in a massive amount of revenue being able to charge each container that arrives a fee for
the scanning.
We proceeded to pick up our rental cars, which turned out to be mid-90's model Nissan Sentras. It was at
that point that I could tell I was most definitely not in the United States anymore. Seeing as it's pretty
expensive to import things, no one, not even the rental agencies, really has new vehicles with the
exception of the few wealthy people I've seen. In the Bahamas, they also drive on the left side of the
road. That was something I had to get very good at paying attention to very quickly because not only do
they drive 'wrong' but a lot of them drive like shit too. So it was kinda scary for the first little while
driving around here. But by now I think I've gotten the hang of it. Just have to always be aware and
remember to look both ways before making a turn ;-)
We soon got checked into our condos, which turned out to be some really nice units. Very modern and
stocked with everything we'll need to live for a few months while the team is here. Although it seems like
it's not much of a concern to people out here (crime is really low, especially burglary), the condos are
video monitored and with double security doors, which has given me some peace of mind since I can
sometimes become paranoid when in new places. But even from the few days out here I feel very safe, the
times I've been out at night walking back to the condo from the market or beach a few blocks away.
Everyone I've met is very nice, very polite, and really tries to make you feel welcome.
I'm technically staying in the town of Port Lucaya, which is the most 'touristy' part of the island. My
condo is only a few blocks from the market/marina/casinos/beaches which is nice. It's a pretty hopping
area there most of the time with a collection of shops, bars, restaurants and all the other typical
tourist traps. Spent a good amount of time there so far, but I also have gotten to explore some of the
rest of the island. Grand Bahama is really long and thing, about 85 miles from tip to tip and only a
couple wide on average. There are beaches (if you can get to them) essentially ringing the entire island,
but outside of Freeport/Lucaya, there isn't much habitation. I tried to drive to the east end of the
island yesterday, but after going for 30 miles and seeing only a couple of houses and nothing else but
miles and miles of tropical forest I decided to turn around. The island is definitely a very beautiful
place though.
All in all I've had a good time! It's only been two days and I've experienced a lot more that I couldn't
even begin to go into right now. It's been a great time so far, very relaxing which is something I've
needed. Work begins again bright and early tomorrow though. We get to start setting things up with the
port for the arrival of our equipment over the coming weeks and get things in a little more order for when
the rest of the team shows up.
I'll keep you all posted on my continuing adventures here as they unfold! Pics are up on my facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?
aid=2067240&id;=490000
This past weekend some friends and I headed to Denver for Global Dance Fest. It was an interesting road trip to say
the least. The whole trip had been in planning with a buddy of mine for almost two months and the full roster of who
else was going had changed several times during that stretch. Nonetheless, we ended up with three others along and
headed out Friday morning in a rental SUV. It started out as a good trip, but we soon hit a few bumps along the way.
We were trying our best to get there in time to get ready for a crazy night on the town and so we sped for the first
few hours until my buddy got a speeding ticket right before we left the state. We slowed down after that and
eventually made it to Denver.
Now Denver, I'll tell you, is a huge city. If not for the GPS we had along we would have been SOL for finding our way
around. Friday night we ended up downtown at a restaurant to meet up with a DJ we knew who could get us into the club
he had a residency at - Church. We spent a while there and as we were about to leave noticed the keys to the rental
car had disappeared off the table we were at. My buddy, the DJ, and one other girl took off to the club while I and
two other friends searched the restaurant, but to no avail. I ended up having to call Hertz and they came to unlock
the vehicle and towed it all the way to the airport across town. After some more hassles, by about 1:30AM, I had
secured a replacement vehicle and headed back downtown. Found out about then that this other girl we were with had
gotten wasted at the club, had an emotional meltdown, and decided she didn't want to be on the trip anymore. Nevertheless
everyone got back to the hotel ok.
In the morning, this chick, who I would have figured would have gotten over herself after sobering up, still demanded
to leave so we ended up driving her almost to CO Springs and dropped her off with some friends she had there. In the
end that was the best idea considering she was a lot of drama. The only thing that sucked is that she was supposed to
buy my extra ticket from me that I had bought for someone else previously who was going to come on the trip but
changed their mind as well. So I spent the rest of the day making calls trying to find someone to buy it from me.
Eventually I did find someone and I got rid of it just before Global started.
We got to Global just after the gates opened. Right away, after seeing how everything was set up at the Red Rocks
ampetheater, I could tell that this was going to be one hell of a party. By nightfall the place was packed with close
to 10,000 people, given that that is the capacity there and that it had sold out. The event was pretty cool overall.
I really enjoyed Markus Schultz's and Benny Benassi's sets. Sasha and Digweed, the headliners, were mediocre at best
and that was disappointing given who they are. They just played really boring stuff and I could tell that no one else
was really feeling it.
We left probably a half hour early given that all of us were bored and wanted to go find something else. We were
going to go to an afterparty downtown, but soon found out that it was packed and we were unlikely to get in. We ended
the night sitting in the hottubs at the hotel just chilling.
The next day, the restaurant had located our keys, which were discovered underneath a cushion in a couch across the
room from our table. So I know that someone had definitely swiped them, although I'm still at a loss as to how or
when that had happened. I guess that'll teach me to hold onto my keys better next time. Leaving Denver we stopped to
turn in the keys to the rental agency at the airport in the hopes that I wouldn't get charged for cutting a new key.
I'm still waiting to hear from Hertz as to if that charge will be lifted or not.
Regardless of the drama that happened, I still had a good time. Was able to see a good friend living in Denver that I
hadn't seen in about three years so that was cool. Global overall made me reflect on a lot about the electronic music
scene, especially as it applies to NM. I was actually saddened to a point to have left Denver and returned to NM. We
have such a shitty scene as compared to Colorado and I see it now more than ever. I wrote a lot more about it on my
myspace artist blog here if you'd like to read it.
So overall it was ok. Now I am getting ready to head out to the Bahamas. I'll be leaving on Friday morning. Can't say
that I am stoked about it, because I've got a lot to finish at work and other things to prepare for the trip.
Hopefully I'll get it all done in the next two days!
Well, it's official. I am leaving for the Bahamas on July 24th - next week friday. I am excited, though a little unsure of exactly what it's going to be like. Either way I think it should be a good experience. I'll be there a little over 3 weeks initially, then rotating out at least one more time. Between now and then I'm finishing up engineering drawings for putting together this radiation detection system. Thus it's involved some long hours. Last week for instance I was at work from 9AM Wed. and left at 4:30AM Thurs morning frantically finishing up assembly on some of the things that need to be shipped. Got it together as much as possible so it could get on a boat and shipped to Freeport, but there will still have to be several more shipments since other things are still in progress.
One thing that came up worrisome last week was that our detector verification testing with Los Alamos Nat'l Labs, slated to start this week, had to be postponed because the software programmers hadn't gotten their shit done in time. This testing is where we essentially prove to the gov't that our stuff works. As such my company is forced to put it off and the next window of opportunity is at the end of Sept. That is the last and only time that it can happen. If for some reason it fails or can't happen because something isn't ready there is a great likelihood that the 23 million dollar contract we have will be cut and DNI will go bankrupt. So I am praying that these software guys get their shit in order so that doesn't happen.
All in all, life is going ok though. I am headed to Global Dance Music Fest this coming weekend with some friends so I am stoked about that. I haven't really had a vacation in a long time so it will be good to get out of town!
