Well, I suppose it’s about time I talk a little bit about my new job…
I got a job with the City and County of Denver, working out at DIA… *WOOT!* I’m working with the FIDS (Flight Information Display System). The group I work with is responsible for all the Monitors that display Flight Information all over the airport, as well as the Flight Information itself, and the hardware network that makes displaying that information possible. All in all, it’s shaping up to be a really kind of a weird job, being that it’s part Computer Geek, part Maintenance Person, part Electronics Maintenance Person… I spend part of my day walking around the airport adjusting all the damn monitors with rolling pictures (handheld radio sticking out of my jeans pocket, ladder either in hand, or in tow on a cart, dusty and dirty from the insides of the kiosks). I spend part of my day doing truly geeky things working with an Oracle Database and SCO Unix systems all over the airport (insert nerd hat here). I spend part of my day helping figure out “with what are we going to replace these 8 and 9 year old monitors (that were supposed to last 5-6 years)?”
I get to go through the Baggage Tunnels.
I get to drive on the Airfield…
I get to be a Computer Geek at the Airport…how cool is *THAT*!?!?!?!
I got to see my first dead guy the other day… Well, he wasn’t quite dead *yet*, but I did see the Paramedics working on an old man who’d had a heart attack…His wife was standing there while a Paramedic was explaining to her that “His heart isn’t beating, but we’re doing everything we can…”
It was about that time that I heard (well, noticed) a heart monitor with a flatline signal…
OK, technically, he was dead. Still warm, but still technically dead…close enough for me… Never seen a real live dead person before. Well, dead-but-still-pre-funeral, anyway.
I’ve been working on a Trainz project…I’m trying to do Denver and into Jefferson County – up through the famous Moffatt Tunnel. It’s quite a long process, and I’m not very far into it as of yet…but it’s getting there slowly. I have the USGS data for part of the route, and I’m getting the rest as we speak.
The Talon is being such a pain in the ass right now. The water pump has gone out, and it’s leaking like a sieve, so I’m riding RTD back and forth to work. Man, what a hassle. There’s an *ANNUAL* subsidized RTD pass I can have taken out of my paycheck – for $40 a month, or I can buy passes in 10 packs for $45, or I can buy a monthly pass for $70. In order to make the Annual Pass worthwhile, I have to ride the bus at least once a week, every week, and even then I’m only saving $8 a month. However, getting 10 passes for $45 is insane if I’m riding every day… Nothing like paying $180/month to commute, eh? Looks like I’ll just buy the $70 pass at the beginning of a month where I think I might be busing it more than 7 times or so. It’d be cheaper just to fix the damn car, but I can’t do that until payday on the 7th… *grr*
Well, this has been a pretty long post, so I think I’ll sign off for now.
JB