What's the weather like over there?

[chattius 2,519]

Hmm danish flag, what is a fireteam boss in denmark?

At army I learned that our german Stosstrupp would be a fireteam in english. But a fireteam is military language and boss isn't.

So what other meaning has a fireteam ?

[Knuckles 904]

Can Summer be over now....like today? please....pretty please

 

Just been brutally hot in the area....oh the temps themselves aren't anything unusual. Hitting 90°F several times during the summer is normal but the humidity is down right awful. Dewpoints have been in the 70's and for those who don't follow/understand dewpoints here is a quick refresher.

 

http://www.boston.com/weather/weather-wisdom/2014/07/10/understanding_dew_point_and_re

 

So we've had high temperatures, high dew points and high relative humidity off and on for last 2-3 weeks....to say it is oppressive outside really doesn't do it justice. All three were very high yesterday...so bad we actually had 'Heat Advisories' which happen rarely here...think the last one was 3-4 years ago I had to work Sunday and I was at job site for less than an hour and my t-shirt was soaked thru by 10am...and I mean soaked, not one spot was dry. It was so bad I could take it off and wring it out and watch water easily pour out. And I hadn't really done any work yet. Needless to say....yesterday was a long and taxing day. Wish I could wear shorts but against company rules...and most companies we do business with do not allow them either. (one power plant requires long sleeve shirts....sooo much fun going there in summer (which I have twice so far this year))

 

Been working on radio systems for several bus companies for last 2 weeks and probably will right up til school opening. For some reason they wait until the last few weeks of summer to have their radios looked at. This seems to be a common occurance. Highway departments will all call the day or 2 before a big storm or hurrricane/tropical storm. So I can get unbelieveably busy and typically put in 18-20 hour days when this happens.

 

Of course had my co-worker of 6-7 years simply walk off the job last week too, so I'm on my own. His work/attitude had been declining slowly this year so his leaving overall isn't a bad thing for us, but it does force me to work some long days. I doubt I will have a day off until mid-September at the earliest.

 

I will have help though. Another co-worker who normally mans the phone/does all the quotes and billing/paperwork stuff gets to come out with me this week. He's all excited to go on a 'field trip' as he calls it. He gets tired of being in shop all day. Not sure after this week that he'll feel the same way lol.

 

Over all I don't mind summer, but when air is this hot/sticky I yearn for 20°F weather. I can dress for that.....absolutely nothing I can do to stay cool today....just drink lots of Gatorades and persevere

[Veracious 267]

I can't complain. I hate the snow and cold. I can't be the person who complains no matter what the weather. Winter is the only time of year I can't play outdoor sports so I refuse to let myself be cranky about the hot weather too. It hit 100° here and I was outside playing ball. I'll save my sadness for the snow.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Veracious

[Knuckles 904]

I guess it would be different if I played an outdoor sport. I used to play in local softball/volleyball leagues til I injured my back. I guess it's more I have no choice when work is involved. It can be quite amazing how having or not having a choice affects your attitude

 

If I could have moved Sundays work to another day I wouldn't have complained (least not in here lol). It just comes to a point where there's nothing I can do to get relief. In the Winter I can always put on another layer of clothing or put on my heated boots....in the Summer there's only so much I can remove before the police are called.

 

I guess in a way I don't really mind any season.....just when the weather goes to extremes I find it hard to deal with...and I can deal with Winter's variations much better than I can Summer's

[Veracious 267]

That's fair. I just see people all year long on social media or irl complaining it's too cold it's too hot it's so dry it's so humid. I'm like wow some people just aren't meant to be here lol. Especially handball players. What a bunch of premadonnas. Some of them only play in spring and fall. I don't understand it. We wait four to five months for the weather to warn up and the rain to stop so we can play our sport and they're a bunch of pansies complaining it's too hot. And after missing last summer with s broken knuckle and having to wait through a whole winter again I just can't let myself be down about a hot day.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Veracious

[Delta! 985]

Still cold and rainy... although we had a brief relief a few weeks ago, about 8 days of milder weather, sun still shone, but cold nights. I have replaced all the blankets on my bed though.

I always loved winter more than Summer when I lived in Pietersburg and Pretoria... But moving to the Western Cape, I prefer the Summers. it is hot, but a bit drier...

 

Delta!

[Knuckles 904]

All considered just glad I don't live in Louisiana right now....some parts had over 30 inches of rain over a couple days and the flooding is unreal.....saw somewhere they've rescued about 10,000 people from flooded areas

[Knuckles 904]

Up to 20,000 people rescued from the flooding now. Hopefully the worst is over...feel sooooo bad for all those displaced. They had more rain in those few days than we have had all year. We're setting at about 15 inches so far.....about 12 inches below normal and we've now been designated as a 'Severe Drought' area. Least we don't get fires like in California, though there have been several small brush fires lately.

 

We've had numerous thunderstorms in the area but they always miss my town....and no real rain forecast any time soon.....sure water restrictions are coming.

 

Co-worker that has been helping me out is a bit sore lol....he's been used to a 9-5 job sitting in air conditioning for years. So 14-16 hour days out in the heat has left him exhausted. But he's never complained and is working his butt off. So nice to have someone work as hard as me for a change Plus he's said he's never slept better than he has this last week lol.

[chattius 2,519]

Dry weather, with 28C.

Helped my cousine harvesting oats. Why did I make the driving license for 40ton (firefighting-)trucks at army, my own fault.

The oat stray is pressed and sold to horse owners. Some pocket money for our 12 year old. She sits at the gate blocking the only road to the oat fields. She counts the bale of straw people picked up and collects the money.

Two decades ago you could just place a cup and people put the money in unasked and uncontrolled. But times changed to the worse. All what isn't watched for is stolen...

[gogoblender 3,066]

All considered just glad I don't live in Louisiana right now....some parts had over 30 inches of rain over a couple days and the flooding is unreal.....saw somewhere they've rescued about 10,000 people from flooded areas

I saw some of the videos online, and the rescues... sometimes so hard to believe that these kinds of disasters are in this part of the globe

keep him working hard Knuckles, tell him you're there to insure he gets a good nights sleep

 

gogo

[Knuckles 904]

Weather finally decided to play nice this week...seasonably warm temps but the humidity has been much much lower....haven't come home lately looking like something that cat dragged in. Hopefully this nice weather pattern will continue for awhile.

 

Still working on radio systems for busses. Almost done though. Have only one system I need to look at. (still have extra work that needs to be done for a few companies but those can wait til after school year starts).

 

After 25 years in the business I would think I would be used to seeing everything. But in the last year I have gained a ton of customers from a competitor. Don't know much about him but sounds like he's a one-man shop. Heard he's had personal/health probs in the last few years and while I would never wish ill on anyone, that doesn't excuse the poor work I have seen.

 

I just checked out 50 school busses for a new customer. Typically when I do an annual maintenance on radios, I expect to see about a 10-25% failure rate. And almost all of that is from damaged antennas. It's the only part of the radio system exposed to the weather/outside of vehicle. So when you combine a high profile vehicle like a bus and a 4 foot long antenna you're going to have several that get whacked by branches.

 

But I had a failure rate of about 75% (actually had to repair something in every bus). All the installations were very poorly done. From radios not being mounted correctly, to wires not routed correctly or secured (can't tell you how many wires were just dangling - some right over gas/brake pedals), to wrong microphones on wrong radios, to radio programming not correct or not standard through fleet, to antennas not correctly tuned.

 

If it was a system we maintained, it would have probably taken 2 days max to go through. Took me 5 long days to correct all the issues and still have more work to do, but that work is aimed more at improving/standardizing system. I could go into one thing that has me really upset...the guy basically stole from them. But kind of hard to explain if you're not familiar with my work.

 

I was repairing so much and using so many parts and hourly labor was going so far beyond what I originally thought, that I had to stop and have customer come out with me and look at a couple busses while I was repairing them. Just so they could see what was happening and they wouldn't think I was scamming them. I didn't want them thinking I was adding extra time/parts to pad the bill and giving them sticker shock when they get the invoice.

 

p.s. co-worker still sleeping really good

[gogoblender 3,066]

Great post. It's unfortunate that your good fortune comes at someone else's poor work, but I guess this is the way things improve. That just seems to be a LOT of mistakes from one guy working though... and noone complained about failures all this time?

 

gogo

[gogoblender 3,066]

Dry weather, with 28C.

Helped my cousine harvesting oats. Why did I make the driving license for 40ton (firefighting-)trucks at army, my own fault.

The oat stray is pressed and sold to horse owners. Some pocket money for our 12 year old. She sits at the gate blocking the only road to the oat fields. She counts the bale of straw people picked up and collects the money.

Two decades ago you could just place a cup and people put the money in unasked and uncontrolled. But times changed to the worse. All what isn't watched for is stolen...

Your story fills me with a kind of nostalgia and sadness... yes, it's that time of the year... summer's almost over and the cold winds are coming..makes me just want to stay out side and not come in for a few days to get my money's worth of the good life

 

gogo

[Veracious 267]

So I travel all the way to Puerto Rico and we get a hurricane. Who else would this happen to expect me? So mad. My only week of vacation this year.

[gogoblender 3,066]

So I travel all the way to Puerto Rico and we get a hurricane. Who else would this happen to expect me? So mad. My only week of vacation this year.

Oh Veracious that sucks! I remember getting panicked when we landed in Mexico just two months ago and someone mentions it's hurrican season we lucked out though and had good weather, but im sorry yours didn't pan out...You must be so dejected Were you able to do anything at all on some days or at least indoors?

 

gogo

[chattius 2,519]

There seems to be a legal way to down multicopters flying over your ground: eagles....

 

http://petapixel.com/2016/09/15/dutch-police-demonstrate-trained-eagle-takes-drone/

[gogoblender 3,066]

There seems to be a legal way to down multicopters flying over your ground: eagles....

 

http://petapixel.com/2016/09/15/dutch-police-demonstrate-trained-eagle-takes-drone/

Someone'll soon start renting 'em

And.. heading out for my nephew's bday this weekend in the country... we got strange hot then cold then grey skies, with rain and lightning forecast...

one of those days when mother nature just can't figger out her mind

 

 

gogo

[chattius 2,519]

Sunny, but not too hot. It was a nice weather to harvest apples. It was 6:30 pm when I nearly fell down the ladder: two ear-deafening double-bangs. Looking up I saw two condensation trails and I wondered why two jets were flying supersonic. Seems I was not the only one wondering. My phone was ringing alot, most people were at home not seeing the trails and wondered if it were explosions at the company I work. Police and firefighters were ringing too. I said it were to 99.9% supersonic booms.

I had to stop apple picking because my firefighter alarm ordered me to a school. The alarm sensors were triggered which automatically demands a firefighter group to drive there - even I was to 99.9% sure one would be enough to turn of the alarms.

After 15 minutes radio said it were two british Eurofighters who were allowed to go supersonic near Frankfurt.

[Veracious 267]

I'm sad that fall is here. Summer can't be over yet ?

[Delta! 985]

I'm sad that fall is here. Summer can't be over yet

It means summer is coming my way!

sorry to rain on your sunshine parade, and steal your summer, but I have missed it.

 

Delta!

[Knuckles 904]

I'm sad that fall is here. Summer can't be over yet

Mike and I seem to have totally different opinions of Summer Think most of it comes down to choice, or lack there of. Because of my job I am forced to work all day in the heat, while Mike has the choice of if he wants to and how long for. Having a choice, even a crummy choice, can really change your attitude/lookout on that event.

 

It would be like going to a concert on a very hot/humid day. The person going to watch a favorite band will have a great time. The person who has to work the lights during concert and doesn't even like band, will have a bad day.

 

So my attitude is pretty lousy My daughter doesn't want summer over either....total beach bum. But for me it means a much more comfortable working environment. This weekend is the first real taste of Autumn and I cannot wait

[Veracious 267]

 

 

I'm sad that fall is here. Summ

er can't be over yet

Mike and I seem to have totally different opinions of Summer Think most of it comes down to choice, or lack there of. Because of my job I am forced to work all day in the heat, while Mike has the choice of if he wants to and how long for. Having a choice, even a crummy choice, can really change your attitude/lookout on that event.

 

It would be like going to a concert on a very hot/humid day. The person going to watch a favorite band will have a great time. The person who has to work the lights during concert and doesn't even like band, will have a bad day.

 

So my attitude is pretty lousy My daughter doesn't want summer over either....total beach bum. But for me it means a much more comfortable working environment. This weekend is the first real taste of Autumn and I cannot wait

My problem is I don't have a choice to be out there. I feel like I didn't get much time in the sun and now it's leaving. Working outside is terrible but when if I did I would still be outside after work as well playing sports.

[Veracious 267]

 

 

I'm sad that fall is here. Summ

er can't be over yet

Mike and I seem to have totally different opinions of Summer Think most of it comes down to choice, or lack there of. Because of my job I am forced to work all day in the heat, while Mike has the choice of if he wants to and how long for. Having a choice, even a crummy choice, can really change your attitude/lookout on that event.

 

It would be like going to a concert on a very hot/humid day. The person going to watch a favorite band will have a great time. The person who has to work the lights during concert and doesn't even like band, will have a bad day.

 

So my attitude is pretty lousy My daughter doesn't want summer over either....total beach bum. But for me it means a much more comfortable working environment. This weekend is the first real taste of Autumn and I cannot wait

My problem is I don't have a choice to be out there. I feel like I didn't get much time in the sun and now it's leaving. Working outside is terrible but when if I did I would still be outside after work as well playing sports.

[Knuckles 904]

I thought it was more you wanting to play outdoor sports...something you look forward to. For me work-wise, summer is my least favorite season. I'm sure if I had outdoor activities I was interested in, I would feel much different. I used to play volleyball and softball all the time but back injuries stopped that I really really miss the summer softball league.

 

For me, once I'm done working outside, I just want to go relax in my air-conditioned room. If I had a desk job and was inside all the time, I'm sure I would want to get outside and enjoy the weather.

 

When I was stationed in Guantanamo Bay Cuba, we would play volleyball every Tuesday and Thursday at my work. And it was brutally hot usually. If I was working that day I would be out in pants and boots playing. I would get so sweaty and dirty with the heat and dust we kicked up......but I just loved playing....weather really didn't matter to me.

 

I wanted to play volleyball and unless it was raining hard, we were going to play. Again it's simply having a choice. I could have stayed inside and stayed cool but would have missed playing. You also play a sport (handball) that is an outdoor, mostly summer sport. Something you look forward to, so summer is one of your favorite seasons. I don't do anything outside other than work so summer isn't for me.

 

So if I mis-read or misrepresented your feelings, sorry there. It wasn't intended

I just thought since you're really into handball, summer is a great season for you

[Veracious 267]

Nah we're good. I just can't let myself be mad about the heat after missing it with a broken hand. So I've made a promise to myself not to complain about the summer heat after complaining about the horrific snow. It's not a comparison to you , just a meditative effort on my behalf. More like a self betterment. I do love to play ball though. No mistaking that. Eighteen years and counting. Unfortunately I sustained another injury this year. Shoulder this time. At least I made it to August this time not just June.