Friday, May 25, 2007

Passing in the Fast Lane

A score of 85 made me the fifty-somethingth Level III Operator in the state of Wyoming yesterday. I was so overjoyed at passing that I didn't even mind the traffic ticket I got ten minutes later for going 38mph in a 20mph school zone. Oops.

10 Comments:

Blogger The Fifty-Fourth Element said...

Congrats A !

May 27, 2007 at 6:46 AM  
Blogger mister anchovy said...

Well, congrats - but I think I tuned in too late to know just what the heck a Level III Operator does... please tell. thx

May 28, 2007 at 9:09 PM  
Blogger A said...

Thanks both.

Mr. Anchovy, you'd have had to be hanging around the blog about two years ago, in Jan. of 2005, when I got a job at the City water treatment plant. I am an operator at the facility, where we use a combination of chemical and mechanical treatment methods to purify Evanston's drinking water. There are some fun pictures of the place in the archives around that time. Our plant is a Level IV as far as the classification of that technology goes, and the operators have to be certified. I've got one more test to take, next year around this time. It's a really fascinating industry, but my job as an operator is pretty mundane: sit around and wait for something to go wrong. We also clean, drink coffee, and maintain and adjust the chemicals and equipment according to the quality of the water coming in, and since our source is river water, that can be tricky. Rivers change. A LOT. Being a fisherman, this you know. Here's a gallery of shots from our facility: http://gallery.adrianeskinner.com/album22?page=1

May 28, 2007 at 11:03 PM  
Blogger A said...

Oh, by the way, Rossi looks like a pretty irresistable fellow!

May 28, 2007 at 11:08 PM  
Blogger dorothy rothschild said...

Yeehaw!

May 29, 2007 at 9:07 AM  
Blogger a572mike said...

Congratulations A!

May 29, 2007 at 10:22 PM  
Blogger mister anchovy said...

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Interesting business. A few years ago there was a big problem with a treatment facility in rural Ontario, in a place called Walkerton, where the characters running the place weren't doing their job. Quite a few people in the town got ecoli and some died...it was a terrible mess, and it was the only time in my memory that water treatment up here was all over the news. It was complicated by government cutbacks and privatization of labs. The whole business was as ugly as it gets.

I don't think I've ever been through Evanston. The closest I've been is Rock Springs. I stayed overnight there once on a road trip that took me into Idaho to meet a fly fishing buddy on the Henry's Fork, and then down into Nevada and across to California to attend a button accordion camp in the Sierras. All I remember about Rock Springs though is a not-too-bad Mexican dinner, as I was just passing through.

June 1, 2007 at 5:02 AM  
Blogger femaleatlarge said...

Congratulations!

June 2, 2007 at 5:01 PM  
Blogger A said...

Rock Springs, oddly enough- which is about an hour and a half from here- is where I was born. The little town my parents lived in had no medical services, and we had and still have lots of family there. Rock Springs loves accordions. Up until a few years ago they had an annual polka festival in late summer; I remember learning the chicken dance with Grandma, who was Slovenian.

June 3, 2007 at 2:26 AM  
Blogger mister anchovy said...

One of the teachers at the button box camp I attended a few years ago lives in Rock Springs. He plays one of those Strasser Helikon button boxes with the deep tuba-like bass - beautiful sounds.

June 3, 2007 at 9:38 AM  

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