Clean Up Jobs
Some workers in desperation do desperate things. And usually the desperate thing turns out to be, well, dumb. One of the larger jobs I was on was a build of a thirteen story building. As the electricians were finishing up our trim-out of the job, the carpet layers arrived. I had made a habit of cleaning up behind me as I worked, so there weren’t many issues on my end with tools and debris lying about. However others had not been so careful. The carpet layers said that they wouldn’t do any clean up because, in their words, “That’s not our Job.” There were many rooms that after...
read moreIt’s a Long Drive to Get There
For awhile, in order to make a living, I worked out of town. Over a period of a couple years, I worked part time in Seattle. I couldn’t afford to move there, so I stayed with our daughter and son-in-law and drove home every weekend. This practice gave me a wide variety of experience. Heavy fog was the most challenging condition I encountered. For instance, at times I would follow a set of tail lights through the night, in the fog, on the freeway. One time I followed a car right off of the freeway. Then I had to figure out how to get back on the freeway and find another set of tail...
read moreProjects I Didn’t Get
In operating my own business, I became very competitive – well competitive for me. If I was on the road, tending to business, and passing by a job site, I would wonder to myself; “Why didn’t they let me bid on it?” Sometimes I would stop and leave a business card. (Of late, the boys have put together a list of pros and cons for hiring AdenBecks to do their wiring. They send it with bids or leave it in doorways where there is a project happening. The last listing under the “Cons” of the home owner doing it himself is; “Being electrocuted is a bad thing.”) One...
read moreAdvancing Electrical Technology
Changing electrical advancements have included changes in the way cash registers work. In fact, I am unsure if “cash register” is still an accurate description of the modern version of determining your bill at the check-out counter. Maybe it’s no longer called the check-out counter anymore, either. The old style cash register could pretty much be placed on a counter at any given spot and used as it was. As the cash registers became electronically controlled, wiring and grounding became necessary – limiting their movement from where they were installed. When bar code...
read moreLightning Changes
There are three ways to conduct electrical current from one point to another. 1. Under the ground through wires. 2. Overhead on poles through wires. 3. Through the air – with no wires As radical as number three sounds, it is used today – sometimes with increasing regularity. However at this time lightning is not controlled by humans. I have always wondered why it isn’t possible to use the electricity produced by lightning. You can use running water to produce electricity, and you can use electricity to provide running water. You can use blowing wind to produce electricity, and you...
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