Project #3:done

I finished my third project last week, 4 days ahead of schedule. Though I wasn't around for the last day, because I had a wedding to attend. It was just some striping that my helper was able to take care of. Simple stuff, just go out and measure what is put down. The project in general was easy. The contractor knew what they needed to do and often did things without me asking them. They were also very prompt in getting me certifications which is usually the hardest part and can often take months after the project is finished. I personally think the contractor did a job with the overlay, a rather smooth ride. Too bad the approaches are faulted about an inch on both ends, so anyone driving will feel a noticeable bump.

So technically I have 6 months to finish up all the paperwork, because the job is only partially accepted. We have to wait 180 days to make sure the striping remains adequate. Since I have all the certs, I'm going to try to finish as much as possible in the first week. If I was really motivated I could have probably done it all in a day, but my attention span doesn't allow me to keep working. I've been lucky all the project I've been in charge of have been fairly short. I don't think I could stand doing a project that lasts more than 1 construction season.

I do have one unfortunate reason for trying to get this project finaled out as soon as possible. Last week, the person that beat me out for the EAIII (Construction Engineer) position at the north office last year died in a motorcycle accident. So that position is now vacant. I really don't want it because I like it here and recently bought a house near here. Technically you have to apply for promotion so I don't have to apply if I don't want to, but it would look bad if I didn't. My boss knows this and has started slowly training me for the new job. It'll probably be a couple months before I get the promotion. Considering it took them 3 months to fill the position last time it was vacated. I'll admit I'm a little nervous about the position, because I'll actually be in charge of a construction office and the Metro engineer is just down the hall so he can watch over me.

Meh

I didn’t get the Construction Engineer position, which kind of sucks because I dislike field work. But I guess it’s ok. It’s a lot more responsibility but it does come with a 10% pay raise. In that position, I don’t think I could take off for two weeks to go Japan, which is something I very much want to do again. And Theoretically I can make more money in my current position because of overtime. I actually made more than the old EAII last year, though I don’t think it’ll happen this year. I also like my current office and boss better.

It makes some sense on why I wasn’t picked. He had some natural advantages. He’s from the North office, so there’ll be no transferring and he has worked with all the techs in that office. Though I’ve worked with all the techs in his office too. He and I start about the same time, so if I were to get the position, I’d be his boss which could be awkward. Not sure if this made a difference, but he’s a Missouri-Rolla graduate, and one of the three interviewers is also from Missouri-Rolla, while the other two were KU.

But now since I know I’m not going anywhere I can focus more on this project. I actually probably wouldn’t hate it as much if I actually felt my presence was necessary. A lot of the time I’m out there with another Tech, and he’s the one that the contractor talks to. I don’t actually do much if I out there during the day, which is why when the opportunity to go work in the asphalt lab came up, I asked to help out. The guy assigned to the lab is taking college classes and has to leave early two days a week. The boss assigned someone who hates the lab to fill in. After he complained to me about I asked the boss if I could go, since I personally prefer lab work to field work. I also want to learn how to do ever part of project, even though it’s very unusual for an engineer to do those things. I talked to my boss and she said she didn’t want to assign me to the lab, because she thought I was going to the EAIII position in the north office. She agreed to let go in the lab one of the days, because she still wants the other Tech to suffer which is fine by me.

Interview

Today I had my interview for the Construction Engineer position in the north shop. It was a nice laid back interview. They asked me a couple technical questions, but most were about management. I messed up on the technical questions, because I don't know the exact minimum densities required for concrete, asphalt or cement treated based. I told them I was guessing and usually got within 1-2% of the correct answer. I asked my boss a couple days ago on what kind of questions they asked her, but other than that, I did very little to prep for the interview. It's easier for me to just respond to the questions right on the spot. The interview itself felt short. There were three interviewers and each asked me 5-6 questions, but when I walked out, 45 minutes had past. My feeling during this interview was the same as when I first interviewed with the State, but back then I didn't have any competition. This time I have a fellow EAII that started a month before I did. I personally don't care if I don't get the position. I like the office I'm in and what I do, but with the way promotions work here, I have to apply when I get a chance, since I never know when the next opening will be. Though if I really wanted the position, there's 4 other EAIII positions open in the eastern half of the state, the two in Topeka and Olathe aren't too bad of prospects either. I'd prefer to stay in Wichita though, since all family and a lot of friends are here. I have a lot of friends in KC too, but the cost of living is higher. The benefit of Topeka is that it's close to Lawrence which would allow me to go to more concerts.

This Sunday, I'm going to Lawrence to see Ratatat. I'm actually going with 5 of my friends which is surprising to me, since I've never managed to get more than two to come to a concert with me. Especially to see a group that most of have never heard of more than a month ago. Maybe it's because of the holiday weekend. I'm sure none will come with me to see Jenny Lewis or Stars in the upcoming weeks.

mmm, steak

My boss continues to be awesome. We had a cookout today and she provided the steaks. I brought fried rice, while others brought three different pasta salads. There was also strawberry cheesecake, some kickass brownies, and watermelon, which made me happy. It was actually a cookout/staff meeting, so got some business taken care of too.

The north office EAIII got the FEA position, and I still waiting for them to open the position. This recent cookout is reason a why I like this office so much more than the north office. I’ll apply for the EAIII job, but I won’t be upset if I don’t get it. I figure I have to at least try, can’t let myself get too lazy, plus it’s a $6k/yr raise. Though I’m afraid it’s already too late.

Not ready to be back.

Two weeks didn't feel like enough vacation for me. I should have taken an extra day to recover, because as soon as I got back to Wichita, I went to a lan party for the weekend which really mess up my schedule. I did manage to get some work done on Monday and Tuesday morning since I had some stuff piled up. But soon after 11am, I lost any focus I had. With no motivation, I just tried to catch up on everything I missed in the past 2 weeks. Today, I managed to do no work, felt tired the whole day. I even took a short nap during my lunch break outside. A couple engineers from district drove up during it, hope they understood it was my lunch break and that I wasn't blatantly slacking off. I don't think I'm jetlagged because I'm able to go to bed a decent time and still get 7-8 hours of sleep at night.

There were a couple changes at work while I was gone. The Construction Engineer (EAIII) got a new car. They replaced our old Taurus with a new Impala. We actually got that Taurus a couple months ago. We had an old one and they replaced it with an older one. We got our new senior, The tech with 15 years of experience can finally stop bitching. I am happy for him though. They're having interviews for the FEA position in the north office today, and I was sad to hear that our EAIII didn't even apply for it. She didn't want to work in that office. Truthfully, neither do I, but I'll still apply for the engineer position assuming it opens up. The EAIII from the north office and Pratt office recently passed the PE exam, not sure if the Pratt EAIII applied for the position though.

The next several posts will be about my trip to Japan. I didn't really write much while I was there other than some tweats. So they won't be very detailed. I did take quite a few pictures, but not nearly as much as everyone else in my group. I guess Japan doesn't impress me as much as everyone else.

Vacation Time

15 more minutes until I go on vacation to Japan for two weeks. They finally put me on a project this week. It's a night project, which is normally Sun-Thurs. Because of the holiday, they were only able to work Tue-Thurs, so I had to cram 32 hours in three nights. Once concrete is poured, usually around 2am, there's nothing to do. I was worried that I might get so antsy that I'd use my vacation time to leave at 2am, but I actually managed to keep busy.

Working out in the field for the first time in 7 months, I realized I don't want to be out there. The short week and upcoming definitely has role in me not wanting to work outside. Though I think I would rather sit indoors and do paperwork. They just opened up the Field Engineer Administrator (FEA) position, so a EAIII position should be opening up soon after it's filled, assuming one of our EAIII's gets it and not some outsider. So maybe I can get that indoors only job. Granted I'll actually have to work, but the extra pay will make it worth it. I only have one other EAII to compete with. There was another EAII in El Dorado, but he recently took the EAIII position in Hutchinson. He's actually has 1 year less experience than me, and is already in charge of a office. If don't get the position here in Wichita, I might seriously consider taking one fo the other EAIII jobs around the state.

Rain

I actually got something to do today. My project that's administered at the north office, so I don't see them very often. I delivered some paperwork to the construction engineer there over a month ago, but he was out of the office and I just put it in his inbox. He finally cleaned his desk and found the paperwork yesterday. So I had some minor corrections to make, 30 minutes work at most. Though I feel I've been doing a good job of occupying my time, since I've been bored a lot less lately.

We were under a severe thunderstorm watch. When I woke up I checked the ambient morning temperature, but didn't look at the forecast. So I rode my bike today. It was nice riding to work, but it's raining pretty hard right now. I didn't pack my rain pants either. At my jacket, helmet, and boots are waterproof.

Recently, the female Senior quit. Now I'm the only person in the back after 4pm. My boss and the office administrator are in the front and still stay until 5pm. Since she's gone, I'll have a greater chance at having to answer the phone. Also because of her departure there is a Senior position open here. We've got 4 Techs in this office and 1 from the north office that will competing for the position. It'll be interesting since two of them have over 14 years experience and have seen 6 other Techs with only the minimum 4 years experience pass them up. In the past two openings I've been around for, there was an obvious candidate, I haven't noticed one this time. Maybe someone from outside of Wichita will come and piss everyone off.

Level up

I finally got promoted today. I'm now an Engineering Associate II. Good thing I didn't have them put EAI on my business cards. I had my evaluation this morning, same results as the other ones. My boss finally gave me an idea of what I'll be doing spring. He'll put me on a bridge project with the other engineer initially. It's unknown if I'll stay on the project the whole time or not. It'll depend on what comes up. I think there's some nights jobs this year, so he might put me on those, since he knows I like those.

The concrete class wasn't too bad, had a good teacher. A lot of repetition so the all specs are drilled into my head. I passed all 7 parts of the lab exam on my first try, and I have to wait a couple week to get the results of the written portion of the test. I was actually 1.5 hours late to the first day of class. I had my alarm set for PM instead of AM, and work up 10 minutes before the class started, which was 100 miles away. That's the 2nd time I've been late for a class, and it's only the 4th class I've take so far. My next class is tomorrow, QC/QA asphalt. It's a two day course, but it's in Hutchinson, just 50 miles, so I have to drive home afterwards. I'll be sure to get there on time. I try to be on time, but never early.