2017 Year in Review: The Hustle Is Real

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On my drive home from work today, listening to Kaleo's "Way Down We Go," I realized I have been unusually content with my life recently. The latter half of 2017 was downright incredible—in terms of personal accomplishments and career, at least. More on this later.

2017 for me started in York, PA, where I was visiting my "adopted" white family, and was convinced by Taylor and Aysenur to purchase my own sewing machine, mainly so that I can start tailoring my own clothes. So I did.

In January, I officially received my MD engineering license, the first of many. I even stamped and signed my first few projects. Later in the year, I obtained licenses in VA and DC as well. OK is still pending.

In February, I attended Smrti and Eric's wedding in Saratoga Springs, NY. While up there, I visited my sister and did some sightseeing of good old Albany, NY.

In April, I started upgrading the old Trek road bike Taylor gifted me a few years ago. The repairs started with a broken brake cable replacement, just to get it rideable again; I didn't anticipate a full upgrade. But piece by piece and about $1,000 later, I had new wheels, tires, brakes, shifters, and levers. Later in July, Taylor and I biked the (painfully uphill) 40-mile rail trail from Cockeysville, MD to York, PA.

In June, I visited Detroit for the first time (outside of DTW), to hang out with Taylor, Graham, and Sarah. I went camping, by Lake Michigan, for the first time. Unfortunately, the observation level of the GM Renaissance Center was closed for renovation. But did catch glimpse of Motor City Pride.

In July, I attended Myra and Ben's wedding in Cambridge, MA. It was nice to hang out with the bros again.

In August, I resorted to Solar Eclipse Plan C, but still found my way to the path of totality for the "American solar eclipse." I drove from Washington, DC to Nashvegas, TN to visit a few friends, and decided to attend a viewing party in a place called White House, TN, about 30 minutes north of Nashville, to stare at the sun. I was even randomly asked to get photographed, and later featured on the local newspaper website. (The ten hour drive alone in a white Kia Soul was a new personal record for time and distance.) On my way back, I detoured through WV, which was my first time in the state.

In September, I had my first surgery—nasal septoplasty and turbinoplasty. I was getting extremely anxious as I prepped and signed all the paperwork in the Nemo Room, especially considering how it was an entirely voluntary procedure. At the time, I felt pretty foolish for volunteering for it. I walked myself over with my IV bag to the cold operating room, laid myself down on the table, put my head on the purple foam pillow, and then next thing I knew, I woke up in my recovery bed with gauze taped to my face. Fortunately, there were no complications. Thanks to Kelsey for being my adult chaperon and caretaker for a few days at home. I was prescribed some narcotic painkillers, and I took some just in case (and just so I could say I took narcotics for the first time), but there was essentially no pain whatsoever; just some swelling and numbness. Splints were removed just four days after the operation. The amount of packing that the doctor removed from my nostrils was astonishing. (I even asked the doctor if I could take a photo of it all in the trash.) Most of the recovery took place over a few weeks. I was able to go running in about two weeks. Full recovery took just about a month. Quality of living—a.k.a. breathing ability—has increased substantially. Highly recommend!

In October,... well October was pretty eventful. After over a year of realizing I needed to quit my job, I finally got serious about finding a new one by the end of summer. On Friday, October 6, I went in for an interview. Because of my propensity to schedule all the stressful things for the same time, I immediately followed up the interview with a four-hour engineering certification exam. I passed the exam, and I was extended a job offer the same day. All of this was followed by a celebratory drive back to NYC to spend time with family for the weekend. I remember listening to Cold War Kids' "Love Is Mystical" during the drive north. It felt appropriate.

The following weekend (October 13-15), one of my HVAC vendor reps took me and a few other engineers to San Antonio for a engineering seminar trip. Of course, while in Texas, we all opted to visit a shooting range and eat lots of steak. We also visited the Alamo and the River Walk. Having never shot a gun before, I had to slowly work my way up from 100 rounds of a .22 pistol to ending up trying a .308 FN SCAR 17 rifle (from which I kept a fired casing as a souvenir). Yes, it was loud. Yes, it was terrifying. Yes, it was a cool experience. I'm not entirely sure I'd want to do it again though, at least not for a while.

I returned from the all-expenses-paid San Antonio weekend trip and put in my three week's notice that Monday, October 16. It was three weeks, and not two, because I had already planned a work-related seminar and factory tour trip to Germany... which I still went to, because at that point, WHY THE HELL NOT? A free one week vacation—essentially between jobs—meant no worrying about work emails whatsoever.

This year was probably the first time I definitively fulfilled my new year's resolution—to run a 5K. During weekend runs on the National Mall, I was able to run a full 5 km, on perfectly level ground, in 36 minutes, if I could finish at all. The morning of Saturday, October 20, two coworkers and I ran the Baltimore 5K. Somehow, I finished in 29:06. Later that same day, I was on a plane to Europe. Yes, after the 7 hour flight, my knees and calves were tight and in pain. I limped slowly through customs in Brussels, and waited for my connecting flight to Berlin. We started in Berlin, and went on to Liepzig, to Cologne, to Attendorn (stayed at a castle!) to Rheingau, to Frankfurt. Like the San Antonio trip, the Germany trip was also paid for by others. I spent maybe $200 in total, primarily for getting to and from IAD, daily international mobile data plans, and personal souvenirs. What a trip!

On November 04, I left Gannett Fleming. By that time, I logged the most overtime hours in 2017 among mechanical engineers in the company (198 hours); not sure if that's something to be proud of or not. I regretted having to abandon my friends and allies in the company, but it was about time to leave the toxic environment in the Facilities group. I teared up when I said good bye to my boss. Dave and I watched The Book of Mormon in expensive second row seats at the Kennedy Center that night.

Just two days later, on November 06, I started my new job in Rockville. On November 11, I celebrated my birthday in York, PA and test drove a new MX-5 Miata for fun. (First time successfully driving stick-shift on the streets and surprisingly did okay.) On November 14, I flew to Rapid City for a multi-day work meeting, and found time to see Mount Rushmore; it was okay. Dinosaur Park was pretty neat too.

When I started the new job, I was at first very suspicious why people were so chipper around the office and why they were so nice to me. Like, what are you trying to hide? Two months into the job, I've concluded that maybe sometimes people are just nice, that maybe it was because there isn't a backstabbing narcissistic manager in the office like my old place had. So that's good, I guess. So far at the new job—as "senior mechanical engineer," whatever that means—I've been able to keep up. The hustle is real.

What a year!

Summary from all the air traveling in 2017:

• New states visited: West Virginia, Texas.
• New country visited: Germany.
• New airports visited: ALB, BRU, FRA, RAP, SAT, TXL.
• New airlines flown: Brussels Airlines.

I'm going to wrap up 2017 having added about 23,050 miles on the SCP3SHP this year, for a four-year lifetime total of about 89,650 miles. With my new commute that is now a third the distance and half the time compared to what it used to be, my rate of mileage accumulation has plummeted, making it just that much harder to join the 200,000 Mile Club. Fingers crossed! I've been considering getting an old Miata to play around with as a spare car; haven't decided yet. With help from Taylor, I also learned how to do my own oil change, brake and rotor replacement, and spark plug replacement this year. Learning from mistakes is the best way to not make them again... like driving at 65 mph for 40 miles with loose lug nuts (true story!). Also worthy of note on my car ownership adventure: I got my first flat tire on the Mazda and also my first parking ticket.

2017 was also the year I finally decided to take my Cornell diplomas out of their cardboard sleeves and install them in decent frames. Now, they're in fancy frames, but wrapped in plastic bags, in the back of my closet.

I hope 2018 will be just as productive, challenging, and rewarding as 2017 has been for me. It is odd though that my "good" year was the same year of increasing national and international turmoil. With an ongoing investigation of probable collusion, explicit White House nepotism, obvious presidential lies, various terrorist attacks (domestic mass shootings by Americans count too), nuclear escalation with North Korea, and America's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, I hope 2018 will bring us some correction to the national embarrassment that is Trump and the blatantly hypocritical Republicans that surround him. Hopefully, we'll learn to put aside "alternative facts" and focus on real ones, and hopefully disgusting men will learn to keep their hands to themselves. Good luck to us all.

P.S. AirPods may looks like snot dribbling out of my ears, but using them day-to-day in the office has been truly magical.

P.P.S. Flannel sheets in wintertime make for fantastic dreams.

National Grid Term 2 Reflection

See National Grid Miscellany.

I returned to National Grid at Hicksville, Long Island and began the second term of my co-op assignment almost immediately after leaving Cornell for the summer. I continued my work with the Power Engineering Department that focuses on power generation. The department provides engineering support on maintaining and improving the eleven steam units in five power stations and several other gas turbine sites that produce electric energy by burning fuel oil or natural gas. Specifically, I was a part of the Plant Project Engineering & Mechanical Design group, but I also had the opportunity to work with members from other groups in the department.

Upon my return this summer, I was able to follow up with the senior project engineer I worked with previously on several of the projects I was involved in last time. It was fulfilling to hear about how projects from the fall turned out. In addition, I continued my participation with the development of a company-wide plant maintenance program for pressure and safety relief valves by studying industry standards, managing data, and meeting with plant managers. We were evaluating the costs, procedure, and framework for routine inspections of these valves in all the power stations. Field trips were frequent, and I had an opportunity to revisit many of the power stations on Long Island.

For the most part, I was able to pick up where I left off last time. But the difference between this work term and my first one was clearly evident. Though I was given fewer assignments this summer, I was simultaneously involved in a number of longer-term, more involved projects and had a vital part in AutoCAD drawing revisions, data management, thermodynamic calculations, and pipe analysis. I worked more independently than I had previously, which was particularly welcomed. I was also given more responsibility in my work, and I had to collaborate with other engineers on work statuses and keep them informed of the issues I encountered, on my decisions, and on how I attacked certain problems.

I discovered that between the assignments I was given and the more substantial projects I participated in, the things I learned at Cornell proved very useful in intuiting and understanding operating processes and components. Classes like Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Fluid Mechanics had immediate applications to the type of work in which I was involved. While I was excited to see that the classes I took and the things I learned in school had a positive impact on my ability to perform at work, I was more excited to discover that there is always more to learn on the job. I have learned about how plant processes work and how project engineering applies to everything we do.

But the greatest things I have learned while working at National Grid had little to do with engineering or technical learning. I consider myself fortunate to have been surrounded by many interesting people who shared their stories with me and who taught me countless things about various topics. Working at National Grid in Hicksville, Long Island has given me opportunities and experiences that I don’t think I would have otherwise had. I enjoyed working with the people there; it was a pleasure.

National Grid Miscellany

Tomorrow will be my last day with National Grid. As with all things that come and go, this departure from real-world engineering and from co-workers will be bitter sweet. These last two weeks have been my busiest. I have been trying to tie up loose ends and prepare my open projects and pending assignments for others to review and access. I have so far been unsuccessful.

I also haven't gotten around to writing my Job Summary for this summer work term. Last time, I was able to spend a good week revising and writing a decent essay, Term 1 Reflection. This time, unfortunately, I will probably spend no more than a few hours on it, basing it off the previous version. This biggest difference between the two terms is probably that I had more independence this time around, working on a few bigger projects (ones that I really have little idea how to do), rather than many simpler ones (ones that were fun, but often too quickly completed).

In other news, I think I will start keeping a scrap book / book-bound personal journal of my life, in addition to my public USuMBS Blog. I have been keeping a work log and writing down miscellaneous facts and ideas during my two co-op terms. It's nice to look back and reflect.

Note: photographic memory is not an indicator of intelligence.

National Grid Term 1 Reflection

Today is my last day working at National Grid for the "Fall Term". I expect to return here for the summer right after school is out, by the end of May. The following is a job summary that I submitted back to Cornell as part of my co-op assignment. Wow, I have been here 20 weeks.

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In 2007, National Grid acquired Keyspan Energy and its Power Engineering Department (PED) on Long Island, NY. National Grid was originally a transmission and gas distribution company, based in the United Kingdom, and it began acquiring similar companies in the New England region of the United States in 2000. Only recently has the company expanded into the electricity generation business after the 2007 acquisition of Keyspan Energy. During my co-op assignment, I was a part of the Power Engineering Department of legacy Keyspan Energy. The department’s focus is on power generation including eleven steam units in five power stations that produce electric energy by burning using fuel oil or natural gas. Specifically, I worked in the Plant Project Engineering & Mechanical Design group with the majority of the available projects having to do with power plant repair, improvements, and other modifications.

During this fall term, I worked on a wide variety of projects and assignments from drafting engineering drawings and designing parts to performing engineering calculations and corresponding with vendors. One of my first projects was database work for a new program National Grid was starting up for the assessment of safety and pressure relief valves for the power stations. We were evaluating the costs, procedure, and framework for routine inspections of these valves in all the power stations. The inventory lists were then submitted to the plant manager of each site for review and updates.
In the meantime, I worked on creating a cart-mounted fuel oil strainer drain system for the Port Jefferson Power Station. The goal was to create a portable version of a typically in-line drain system that allows fuel oil strainers to be cleaned without stopping the flow of oil. This comprehensive project allowed me to create a design, draw and dimension it in AutoCAD, and generate a purchase list of parts. I was able to see this design to completion after General Shops manufactured the design according to my engineering drawings.

Other major projects I worked on during my first term include calculating heat capacity and procuring a bill of materials for three unit heaters for the Port Jefferson Power Station, assisting in the filing of a NYC house boiler permit for the Far Rockaway Power Station, and studying documents and providing input for National Grid’s contribution to a NYC program for climate change risk assessment on infrastructure. I also worked on miscellaneous AutoCAD drawings for other engineers varying from pipe supports to piping modifications.

I was surprised to discover that between the assignments I was given and the more substantial projects I participated in, the things I learned at Cornell proved very useful in intuiting and understanding operating processes and components. Classes like Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Fluid Mechanics had immediate applications to type of work in which I was involved. The informal training I received also helped a lot. I was provided pertinent reading material that served as a primer for how power plants generate electricity and I received assistance when I asked my co-workers many questions.

Perhaps the greatest thing I learned from working at a this job is that projects and other things in the real world do not move with as much speed as I was used to at Cornell. Even though our Power Engineering Department was relatively small and keeping in mind the several power stations we worked in conjunction with, there was still a clear presence of corporate bureaucracy that ultimately slowed down the process of getting jobs completed. The biggest challenge I faced was not having unanswered technical problems, but rather waiting for more tasks or waiting on others to update pending projects.

Working at National Grid in Hicksville, Long Island has given me opportunities and experiences that I don’t think I would have otherwise had. I was fortunate enough to live at home in Brooklyn, which essentially eliminated the extra cost of food and housing, and I commuted for about two hours from Brooklyn to Hicksville by taking the NYC Subway and Long Island Railroad. Because National Grid’s power stations are scattered throughout the island, I learned about new places when we made site visits, and that made the trips all the more interesting. I was able to obtain a newfound appreciation for Long Island and its history. Before working with the company, I had never truly explored Long Island east of Queens; now, it is no longer a foreign place to me.

Being away from school and living at home had both benefits and drawbacks. I did not have to deal with the stress of classes, assignments and projects, and exams that I have come to expect after going to Cornell for several years. Outside of work, I was virtually free, with time to reengage in several hobbies that I had been forced to set aside or abandon at Cornell and time to pursue other personal ventures. I was able to catch up with friends from New York City whom I typically rarely get a chance to see and I was able to meet up with other Cornell co-op students in New York City. Still, the major disadvantage of being away from the Cornell campus is missing out on the social and academic events on campus, especially when classes were in full swing. It was one thing I had to learn to get used to.

Working at National Grid had enabled me—for better or for worse—to get a real sense of the kind of jobs mechanical engineers may get involved in. While I got a chance to put what I have learned to action, I quickly realized the enormous scope that mechanical engineering actually covered and that what I was taught in the classroom is, for the most part, a merely idealized situation, designed for a specifically contrived application. While I was excited to see that the classes I took and the things I learned in school had a positive impact on my ability to perform at work, I was more excited to discover that there is always more to learn on the job. This co-op assignment with National Grid was a positive experience overall.