New Mexican Pit Stop

Escalante Generating Station, the site that this all started 18 months ago. Kinda nostalgic sense about this place, especially in thinking about how much things have changed since those days. Most things have changed for the better.

I am still not used to driving in snow and the high-plains desert at the same time, even though this is the second trip in 2011 to this place. This area is where my colleague, Brett, spent some of his childhood. I'm not sure if he's blogged about it yet, please go check his blog.

So there it is... I spent a total of fours hours in there today en route to my final destination at the Cholla Generating Station. The location of Escalante is about 4 miles NW of the spec of a town known as Prewitt, New Mexico. Prewitt is a dead town, that must've been jumping back when Route 66 had it's first layer of pavement. Not so much anymore. The plant is one of my favorites to visit: it is relatively cool (maybe 110 F), clean (again relative), and our contact (Mr. Pinkston) is very supportive. Overall, I have no problem traveling here and would even go out of my way to pay a visit. The plant location is also one of the prettiest, what with the backdrop of the red mesas. The nearby town of Grants is not too bad. You can tell that it is struggling to survive, but it is able to do so just the same. Here is a link to my Facebook picture page for the National Park just south of Grants: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1310238612194.35317.1717490678&type=1&l=1f14a42b2b (sorry but the hyperlink did not work, so you'll have to copy and paste...). I was sure glad that Brett mentioned the place to me, and that I had a full day this past spring to check it out.

This day was rather uneventful, so there is really not much else to write about. The sunset just outside of Holbrook, AZ was stunning:

Managed to just catch the smoke stacks of Cholla in the distance, just outside of the hotel. They're pretty small in the picture (look to the middle-left) and naturally better in person:

That's it for today.

Thank you for reading,

Kev

The People That I Meet

Well, it's been a while since I have last written. I guess that I am not much in the mood when it comes to writing while I am at home. I enjoy as much time as I can get with my family and friends, and really am not able to get into the writing groove as when I am out on the road. I am starting to believe that the road life is a rather lonely one and that writing this blog is a way for me to communicate, even connect with people.

On the road I spend a majority with a colleague from work, up to and including 16 hours a day. Please, don't get me wrong, I enjoy the company and conversations that we have and I think we work well together. However, there gets to be a point in which all conversations that can be had have been had and all there is to talk about is work, especially as an install drags on, and on, and on.... The highlight of my day while on the road is talking with family at home. I will always make an effort to talk to my wife at least once a day, as long as I have good technology handy. Sometimes the internet connection is rock solid (for 1993) and/or cell phone service requires an aerial antenna the size of the one sticking out of Cartman's butt.

All that said to get to my point: sometimes it is a nice escape to have a conversation with a new person, face-to-face. The only people outside of the work environment that we get to have any type of conversation with is during supper: the waitstaff tend to be our captive listeners. Luckily for me, the waitresses and bartenderettes have a defense mechanism in place, and I have mine as well, that prohibits anything but menial topics of discussion: work and work. Most of the time, the conversations are superficial, namely about work, Denver, and as of late: Tim Tebow. That's fine, except when you have the same conversation multiple times with different people. Once in a while we get engaged in rather deep and personal conversations. This has happened to me during the past two installs and I'd like to share a little of these experiences:

Germany. I was looking forward to going to Germany primarily to check off of my bucket list driving on the autobahn. It was all that it's cracked up to be. Also, foreign trips tend to be beneficial to the old bank account, plus I get to experience a new culture. I know enough German to say "Thank you," "Please," "Beer," and "Receipt." So to find a bartender who speaks excellent English was a wonderful surprise. This gentleman goes by the name of Werner Castelrotto. Werner is one of those people that is genuine. He is very kind to others, an attentive listener, and above all compassionate. We were able to talk about our lives on the road and he was able to relate to what we were experiencing. His personal story is fascinating, but I will not go into details. Let's just say that he has overcome significant personal tragedies with a certain air of dignity. It was a refreshing conversation that lasted for about 2 weeks. Werner will be missed when we travel back to Germany in the coming months, but I do not think he will be forgotten. Brett has written about him as well in his blog, "Remarkably Unremarkable," if you'd like to learn more about Herr Castelrotto.

Pennsylvania. Or if you're a local: PA. Brett and I again teamed up for another install at the Keystone Generating Station. I've written 10 blog entries on that ordeal. We had the fortunate experience in meeting a part-time bartender, full time student, by the name of Dan Ross. We met Dan on the first, or second, visit to Ruby Tuesday. Remarkably he remembered who we were the next time we were there and he was working. Remarkable, because we had chatted with him for a bit while he was slinging drinks at the bar. He was kind enough to invite us to watch the Broncos game at a local watering hole, but was also open to conversations throughout our frequent, okay nightly, visits to Ruby Tuesday. Turns out he is finishing his degree in geology and will be starting work with a natural gas company in the spring of 2012. In short, Dan is the type of guy that would fit in with our group very well. Even though we only were around him for a few days, we were at ease with him as if we'd known him for a long time.

Two gentlemen that I've met in the past two months that made the unbearable, well bearable. My thanks to the both of them and I wish Dan and Werner nothing the best in life.

Frohe Weihnachten, Werner and Rene!

Merry Christmas, Dan!

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

p.s. Of course, Merry Christmas to my readers from coast-to-coast in the US and on both continents.

Keystone 10

Pssssst!!  That would be sound of a celebratory beer being opened.  Brett and I have completed an install at Keystone U1.  10 straight days of a whole crap-load of not fun and we have had our acceptance document signed by the plant.  What a wonderful feeling that was.  Granted, not even a shadow of the feeling I get when I kiss my wife for the first time in two weeks.  Not even close to the feeling I get when the kids excitedly run out to the garage when I open the door to mob me when I get home.  Heck even the dogs damn near wag themselves in half when I get home, and that is a good feeling too.  I think even the cats are coming around...  Regardless, we've toiled in the heat, suffered through the bedbug bites, and experienced the elements in western Pennsylvania, sorry western PA, for the signature.  After striking out in Germany and not getting a signature in Kansas City a couple of weeks ago, this signing felt good.

So for today, we put the finishing touches on the install, trained a large (approx 20) plant dudes on the system, and packed up the crates for returning to Boulder.  We also trained our main contact, Joe, and his self-anointed whipping boy, Keith on the finer details on the system operations. Another long day, as we've logged just shy of 8 hours of overtime this week, with another full day tomorrow. Looks like Brett will be going to Nitro, WV, and I will be going to parts unknown for next week. Sounds like a quick trip to TX, maybe a trip to China. Not too sure if y'all would like to read anything from China...

Back to Indiana, PA for a moment: It is really tough for me and I am sure for my coworker, Brett, to be away from our loved ones. Talking on the phone and using Skype is a life-saver. There is something to be said about face-to-face interaction. On this trip, we've been honored to meet two great people" Aaron from Hampton Inn and Dan from Ruby Tuesday. Aaron was very kind in the fact that he was able to get Brett and I into separate (thank God) rooms at the Hampton, when they were very busy for the week in which we were in town. After what we experienced at the Comfort Inn, we were very much indebted to him. Hopefully the beer we provided provided some small token of our appreciation. He's also helped us out with checkout time and helped me with laundry. A cool cat for sure. Dan was our bartender twice in the past two weeks. We met him on one of the first days in town. His personality fit ours very well, and he provided excellent service. Heck, he even pointed us in the right direction to go nuts for the Broncos game on Sunday, at Grubs. He remembered our faces and my name, due to a family connection, but regardless he made us feel like we were long, lost friends. Actually, both fells have. So, the next time that I'm in town (not sure when) I am definitely going to both establishments, with the hope of meeting these two fellas again. I'm thinking about writing more on this in a future post.

For now, just one, very important picture:

Back to CO tomorrow. Cannot wait!!!

Thank you for reading.

Kevin

Keystone 9

Well, another long-ish day at the plant.  Today was mostly about tying up loose ends.  Brett worked on altering the sensor heads and aligning the system.  I worked on air regulators and air pistons, plus assisting Brett and packing  up our crates.  Spent too much time in the 300 + degree heat, Brett and I did today (rather Yoda-like, eh?).  The good news is that we have installed the system and it is working as it should.  After 9 long days of working in the elements, we took time out to do our happy dance.  Sorry, no videos of this dance.  Should be able to tie up the last of the loose ends tomorrow and then look forward to getting back to my wife in Colorado.  Yaaayyyyy!!!  Two weeks away is about all that I can handle, being away from my family.  It is nice to be able to provide for them and get out from all credit card debt, but still sucks being away from them for so long.  Good thing Skype was invented, else I would go absolutely bonkers.

I am pooped, so I am going to keep this post relatively short tonight.  I've been formulating one for my bartender friends and plan on posting that in the near feature.

Pictures:

My dirty, coal infused hand after a good washing in the john.

Herr McCool at the office.

Sunset over the PA mountains.  T'aint the Rockies, but still looks good.

Regulator to be adjusted.

Note that the regulator in the picture above is right against the boiler wall (shiny wall to the left).  Hard to believe that it is only 130 F at this location, when just 4 feet to my left it is 2300 F.  Still friggin' hot where the regulator is...

Why we are here...

This is the screen shot of the system's program.  This is a tomography graph of the boiler.  Think of it as a CAT scan of the coal-fired boiler, about 100 feet from the bottom of the same.  We send lasers through the center of the combustion zone and measure the following:  Temperature, H2O %-age, CO and O2 concentrations.  This data is provided in real-time to the plant, in this case to a Siemens Optimizer (P3000).  This Optimizer is used to adjusted many inputs into the boiler's combustion process in order to meet the targeted goals of the boiler's operation (efficiency, heat rate (about the same), oxygen concentration, etc.).  If our system is used correctly, then the plant would be (hypothetically and realistically) running much more efficiently and producing fewer emissions and reduced coal consumption.  A lot depends on how the plant, or the plant operators, utilize the data that we provide.  Zolo Technologies is the only company in the world that is able to measure in the combustion zone.  The nerd in me sure enjoys this aspect of the job,  Getting to this screen shot is a pain in the arse.

That's it for tonight.

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

Keystone 8

Well that was a long day.  Just over 14 hours on the boiler yesterday and we were both dragging ass by the time we rolled into Ruby Tuesdays.  Yesterday was also a physically demanding day to boot, but I'll get to that later.  The reasoning behind the long day was that we are getting close to the end of the install.  Indeed, all of the hardware has been installed and verified to be correct.  The rack was upgraded, all IP addresses were assigned to our "heads," and half of the heads were aligned, with the other half being aligned by the computers.  All of that plus a smattering of other odds and ends throughout the day and we accomplished much.  Today will entail completion of the alignments, fine tuning the lasers, cleaning up the MDC, and checking the numbers as reported by the system.

The plant personnel seem to be rather enthused by our system.  A night shift rover queried Brett for about 20 minutes, I think, about the system last night.  Plus we've seen a variety of people with our main contact, Joe, poking around the system.  That level of interest tends to spur me on to provide the best product that we can, as I am sure it does for my colleague.  We'll see how many questions we get to field once the system is officially turned on, but I am suspecting that we'll be bombarded.

The drive into the plant was pretty, and deceptively so:

Sunrise over Keystone

The physical pain was greater than it was for the prior 7 days.  First off, my hands still haven't recovered from the bed bugs.  They hurt quite a bit more than they itch:

Right hand, looks like the left

It turns out that there was a really good reason as to why our feet were a-cookin' when we were assembling the system:

So what is one to do when working in this kind of heat?  Well the first is to protect ourselves as best as possible:

Burnt box after 5 minutes in on the deck

:When all else fails:

Tebowing in the hot spot

Almost to the end of this install!!

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

Keystone 7

 A day with the ole nose to the grind stone.  I worked on the MDC. Matix Distribution Cabinet, while Brett worked on the purge lines and the rest of the mechanical install.  After a long day at work, we went to the usual watering hole, Ruby Tuesdays, and we (Brett and I) had another great experience with Dan.  He took care of us in our sorry shape.  I had a bit more than usual, so I apologize if I slur my words, just blame Dan...

Working on the MDC is like working on the nodes: as such, it requires great attention to detail, a dose of OCD, and an open mind towards serviceability  It is tedious work, but it looks good when it is done, plus it works well:

Preparation for working on MDC.

Finished optical switch at the MDC.  Kinda like it when a plan comes together...

We are getting close to finishing up this install, just need to work on finishing up the MDC and working on the software parts of the system.  Kinda exciting to get close to the end, especially with all of the hours that we put in.  It is really cool to see how excited an engaged customer is with our system.  The hope is that he, Joe, will be able to use our system successfully. 

A bit of good news:  the boiler was started last night and was making warm by the time we got into work this morning.  Here is a shot of the insides of the boiler during a startup:

Inside the boiler.  Fireball is at the bottom of frame, soon to be even with the opening.

Yes it was hot during the taking of the picture, just an example of the lengths I will go to provide a better experience for my readers...

Speaking of inside a boiler, here is a video of a soot  blower running.  It kicks out hundreds of pounds of pressure of steam to knock crap off the insides of the boiler.  This was taken at a plant in East China, Michigan (Belle River Generating Station).  My hand got rather hot during filming, but I had watched the opening to ensure that I was able to safely video the operation over the prior week.

Crazy?  Perhaps.  But I was being safe in my actions.  More to come, I suspect that Brett and I should be able to wrap this install up in the next few days.  Take care.

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

Keystone 6

The Denver Tebows pull another one out at the end.  Brett and I watched the game at Grub's in beautiful (*snicker*) downtown Indiana, PA.  The bar was going crazy, especially in the fourth quarter.  Almost felt bad for the two Bears fans at the table next to us.  Almost.  Good beer, cheap food, and a football environment made for an extra exciting game.  And, oh yeah, we had to work today.  That is always the case:  We work 7 days a week, 9+ hours a day until the system is installed and reporting all of our constituencies.  There are times in which ( get grief for forgetting which day it is, but to be honest, working 7 days a week makes the actual day irrelevant.  It sucks, because we have games to watch and there is always something happening that requires a calendar.  Oh well, submitted the time card tonight.  Another 30+ hours of overtime.

Today was actually a pretty good day at the plant.  We worked almost exclusively in the climate-controlled computer room installing the Rack.  The Rack is a half-sized, 19-inch rack containing the brains and lasers of the Boiler Optimizing Spectroscopy System that we get to install.  There are three lasers, a UPS, laser controller, detector bank, a computer (XP!!), and a bunch of magic inside the rack.  A coupe of pictures:

Arse end of the Rack

Front of the Rack.  Lasers are the black boxes in middle.

Most of the Rack is assembled in Boulder, before it is shipped to our customer's site.  We get to splice five fibers and route the same to the appropriate locations.  Also, some other wires are managed and the detector bank is installed.  The Rack has changed quite a bit over the past 1.5 years that I've been working at Zolo Technologies.  Mostly for the better.  We left after working a half day,  in order to get ready for the game.  Besides, we were at a great stopping point for the day anyway.  The boiler is scheduled to start up tonight, which is great news.  We need the boiler on and over 1000 F for us to put the finishing touches on the install.  Looks like another 2-3 days of work, and hopefully we'll be done (knocking on wood).  My sympathies to our colleagues in Germany:  They've been busting their buttocks for the past 2 weeks and seem to be having all kinds of problems.  I am sure that they are ready to come home for Christmas.

A couple of pictures on the way out of the plant today:

The plant's after-hours medic.  Break the glass and cut up your hand...

One of four, monster cooling towers (no, not nuclear)

Another bit of good news, at least on the personal level:  No new bug bites.  The current ones that I have are healing, but still itch like a mo-fo.  Thank you to all those that "liked," my FB link.

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

P.S.  Ed:  I'll respond to your email in the next few days.  Gotta bust out the big calculator...

Keystone 4 & 5

Talk about a strange trip.  Normally the plants are oozing bad ju-ju, but in this case the hotel we were staying at contained the aforementioned bad ju-ju.  I missed last night's post, as Brett and I pulled up stakes and beat feet from the bug-infested hotel, Comfort Inn.  How bad was it?

My forearm

 

I counted a total of 53 bed bug bites on my torso, arms, and right leg.  Some were as small as the tip of a pen, whilst others were the size of quarters.  Brett was also affected, but luckily not as bad.  Kinda difficult to sleep when one's body automatically tries to scratch.  Anyway, Brett and I spent the evening washing everything that is allowed into a washing machine.  After drying, I left everything (laundry, suitcase, toiletry bag, etc.) out in the car so the frigid cold would kill any left over critters.  Thank goodness there is a Hampton Inn right down the street.

That was yesterday evening.  The day entailed the rest of the splicing from the day before, Brett working on the MDC, and the electricians working on the wiring of our product.  Spicing is a rather interesting sequence of events:

Bare fiber:  28 microns (.001 inches!!) at the core.

Completed splice between 28 micron fibers.

Finished product, in protective sleeve.

Kinda crazy getting two fibers that are about a hair length in diameter to join together, in order to transmit our laser energy.  The system tends to bring the nerd in me into the daylight.  The follwoing video also illustrates what the process looks like. Keep in mind that the bright gray on the screen is the 28 micron portion of the fiber.

So that was yesterday.  The weather was still a not-so-balmy 34 degrees and windy.  Wasn't much fun to say the least.  At least I had a heater nearby in order to keep the fibers pliable. 

Today was a day of mechanical work.  Brett continued (and finished!!!) the MDC and the electricians worked on more electrical connections.  Working with cold metal in the elements was not something I was looking forward to.  I bucked up and channeled my inner-Howlett, then set to getting things done.

I put everything into a box and hauled the box o'crap to each location for assembly. 

Leftovers and the tools within the box o'crap.  Had to create my own 10 mm allen tool.

Shiny silver and brass parts, plus the red hose were installed.

Squeezing behind the pipes, hoses, and soot blowers (COLD it all was).

It was a long and physically demanding day in the office.  Everything needed to be tourqued or crimped down as tight as I could make it.  After 27 heads (locations), I was ready for a drink.  The good news:  I am one day closer to being home with my wife and family.  Can't wait.  BTW:  I just saw a picture of her from her office party tonight.  Man, she's a head turner.

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

Keystone 3

Sorry, but this will be a short post.  The itching from  the bites is driving me NVTS (for the Mel Brooks fans).  Today was the first day in which the temperature was mostly below freezing all day.  We, the union electricians and I, worked on the wind-tunnel side of the boiler most of the day.  Granted, I needed to have the portable heater for keeping the fiber optic cables pliable for stripping and cleaving, but I still had snotcicles growing most of the day.

We spilt into two groups:  Brett and the mechanic + electricians worked on the air lines and the head sub-assemblies, and I with two union electricians working on the nodes.  The union guys I had working with me are incredible:  I only had to show them one time how to populate a DB25 connector and a RJ45 (Ethernet) connector and they were able to make the remainder on their own (13/3 respectively).  That is really unheard of, even for an experienced technician.  I followed up behind with splicing the single mode fiber optic cables.  Essentially, we got quite a bit done today, as compared to the usual installs.  More so when compared to the last install in Germany.

A completed node panel.

Again, sorry for the short post, but I need relief from the itching before I turn in for the evening.

Keystone Generating Station Plant at night.

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

Keystone 2

Another day in the books, and the comparison between this US plant and the last plant in Germany could not be more stark.  To quote Mr. Littleton, of the "Remarkably Unremarkable," blog listed to the right:  "You guys are a breath of fresh air."  I am not sure as to why there is a difference in the install experiences.  Both plants have never seen our system and we are relying on their work experiences to succeed.  The only thing that makes sense to me is the language barrier coupled with conversion from standard to metric is hosing things up in the EU.  Maybe something about the work cultures between here and there, but one experience in Germany a sound conclusion does not make.  I guess I will find out in a few weeks during the next install in Germany. 

Today at Keystone productivity was at a high.  Brett and I, along with the four top-notch electrician assigned to us, managed to install nearly 6,800 feet of copper wiring and fiber optics through metal conduit.  Plus we successful in installing the node panel, but they're not wired up yet.  This adventure normally takes two days to complete.

Spools of fiber and copper wire set up to feed into conduit.  Fluster cluck it tends to be.

All of the fiber and copper wire get taped together thusly.

It was a good feeling leaving the plant after a long productive day.  Especially in light of the facts that it was 30 degrees outside, plus a rain/snow mix most of the day, and I (personal note) am dealing with an attack of chiggers/bed bugs/spiders (not fun).  This plant is an outdoor one, meaning we are constantly exposed to the elements, plus who-knows-what dripping down from the upper levels.  No way I will be eating icicles like I used to do back in the 70's (may explain some things, no?).

Snow falling as we left the plant.

 Well that's it for today.  Gonna soak in the hot tube that the hotel decided to provide me with in my new room.

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

Post Scriptum:  Only 120 survivors from Pearl Harbor.  I hope that their memories do not die with their bodies.

Keystone 1

As promised, I've decided to create a series of short posts detailing the daily activities during the latest install. I am currently starting an install at Keystone Generating Station near Indiana, Pennsylvania.  Brett and I are tasked with getting the system install in under two weeks, we'll see how that goes.

Day 0 for every install is a travel day.  Usually a rather long day involving traveling from Northern Colorado to the hotel near our site.  The trip to Pittsburgh was rather uneventful for myself; Brett had a tough time traveling through snow-induced rush hour to the airport.  It took him 3x loner to make the trip.  That sucks.  Pennsylvania has been dubbed as Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle.  Naahhh, well yeah it's true.  Definitely rural and low-income towns, based on the condition of the homes.  In their defense, the economy in this region has been hit hard over the past 25 years, as manufacturing has left and nothing has taken its place.  The people have been very friendly, thus far (aside from the weirdo at the bar last night).  Just a rather sub-standard Comfort Inn to call home for the next two weeks, again nothing spectacular.  At least we've become regulars at the neighboring Ruby Tuesdays next door.  Thanks in part to the amount of booze we drank last night (nice to drink at a lower latitude, especially in MN (Montevideo), but that's another story).

So for today, we had to meet our contacts (boring), move some of our equipment to the level in which we'll be working (boring, boring), and of course plant training (Good God, BORING!!!).

Training on the computer.

 

 

 

 

After training, we went up to level 8 and got started on the job tasks.  This entailed pulling 800 feet of fiber from our "MDC," and the Rack (80 feet below and a whole bunch, many feet to the west).  Normally this task is rather easy and may take an hour to complete.  Not today, it took nearly seven hours to complete.  Lots of bends and no pull boxes to help the transfer of the fiber.

Stuffing Fiber Down

That was about for today's activities.  Not too much to report for the first day,as usual.  10 hours on the feet and lots of cold, as this is an outdoor boiler.  Should be a not-so-balmy 30 degrees for the rest of our trip, plus a few days of rain/snow.  Good thing I picked up some Airborne tablets today.

A peek inside of the boiler.  Gonna be off for the next week.

Tomorrow should be more "exciting."  Hope this helps in providing an insight into what is done for installs.  See y'all tomorrow!!

Thank you for reading,

Kevin

Break Needed in Deutschland

Well, it has been an interesting 2.5 weeks in Germany:  230 hours of work and 13 hours of touring.  The bank account is happy, but my body and what is left of my mind are shot to hell.  For instance: I had every intention to write a new post last night, but I fell asleep at a quarter of 8 and slept all night long.  For great insight, I would recommend reading Brett's blog, "Remarkably Unremarkable," located to the right.  He is much more versed in the art of written communication than I.

So in order to fulfill a selfish endeavour, I wish to relive for the time being the aforementioned 13 hours...

Upon arrival in Frankfurt, at o'dark thirty on a Sunday, Brett and I decided to front-load our installation trip with tourism.  Keep in mind that we've spent the past 17-ish hours in Denver, Chicago, and Frankfurt airports, plus a 757 and a nice 777 (I dig the room on those thangs) airplane.  He had heard of an old castle overlooking a town by the name of Schnaittach (insert crude joke here).  So we piled all 300 lbs of our crap into a nice new BMW 5-series and hit the road eastward.  My first experience traveling on das Autobahn and it did not disappoint.  We cruised at 100 MPH and tipped the speedometer at somewhere north of 135 MPH along some stretches, that was fun.  I haven't had that experience since the mid-1990's when we took my 5.0 across Montana, when they revoked their speed limits.  Twas fun and not the last time at those speeds, to be sure.  After much searching and a u-turn on a one-lane, goat farm road, we made it to the castle.  We started off on the wrong foot by giving the tour guide a 50 Euro bill for a 5 Euro admission fee, but tough scheiße is what I say to that.  He made us pay by eyeballing us during his rambling diatribe in the local tongue.  We didn't learn a damn thing, but took some good photos:

Rothenberg Fortress, at least the remains thereof.  Large caverns underneath.

Picturesque town of Schnaittach from the castle.

Danged if I can figure out how a New York mousetrap found it's way here...  Hello to Brett!!

 So after cruising through the remains of the castle for an hour, we hopped into the car and headed off to Nürnberg, with the hope that the trials were still going on (turns out they finished up long before we showed up).  Pictures from Nürnberg:

One of several random cathedrals we saw around town.  Amazing sight to behold.

The old rampart surround the original city-fortress of Nurnburg.  Most of the walls were still intact.

 By the time we reached Nürnberg, we were pooped.  So we headed off to the next destination for training.  Some town that begins with an "E," between Nürnberg and Frankfurt.  Training sucked, as it was on a topic that we've once, or thrice:  power plant safety 101.  we could've aced  the test right from the start, but I guess we're gluttons for punishment.  Nothing else happening aside from installing the BOSS at Niederaußem Generating Station (the "ß," is Deutsch for a double s, wheird, eh?) until the next Saturday night.

Köln is our next tourist stop.  Amazing night, to say the least.

Kolner Dom from the side.  Awe-inspiring to say the least.

Some douche bag named Adolph made a speech here 28 Mar 1936.

Bridge over the River Rhine.

 The rest of the night entailed new friends, whiskey, and another jaunt on the Autobahn.  Then more arduous work at the plant, until Tuesday.  Tuesday was a holiday in Germany and dang it we could not work at the plant.  What to do?  Sleeping in and driving to Brussels was on the agenda:

The "Manneken Pis," or as I refer to: "The Piss Boy."  Really famous landmark in Belgium.

The Brussels Museum.  Very ornate town square.

Lots of roaming around the town and seeing people from all over the world.  Brussels makes a good capital of Europe.  Even got to use some of my terrible French.  After a couple of hours of walking around in the rain, we decided to head back to Germany, as we still had a bunch of installation crap to complete.  Not everything is neat to look at in Germany:

The "dick jokes," are the same the world over.  Whodathunk???

And sadly, a lot of this shit is around the plant.  Makes me sad.

So that's been our experience as a tourist in Europe, for this trip.  I suspect that we'll have about a dozen more installations in the coming months (between two install groups).  I'd like to post daily pictures, in short blog posts for the next installation, sometime in December (Pennsylvania).

Cruising through Europe is a great experience for a "history nerd," such as myself.  In spite of all of the awe-inspiring and really cool things I get to experience every day, each day ends with the same depressing theme:

Loneliness Defined

I look forward to each day's highlight:  calling my wife at four in the AM.  Some things are worth striving for, and getting home to her is what drives me every day that I am away.   SIGHHHH, my Christmas needs to get here soon.

Thanks for reading,

Kev