Archive for May 5th, 2012

Robert Sheffield is a self acclaimed army brat. His career path has shown the same wanderlust. Robert has worked construction, in restaurants and is now focusing on getting a degree at the Florida Institute of Technology.

Robert is was in my foursome playing in the first annual IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Golf Outing here at the Shingle Creek Golf Course in Orlando. (Photo - Robert Sheffield, Mark O’Conner, Mike Beehler, & Rick - still having fun after an ugly round of golf)

Along with Robert (who hits it long in many directions) I played with Mike Beehler, Vice President with Burns & McDonnell and Mark O’Conner , Sales Manager with Trimble Energy Solutions. I didn’t swing the club that well and our foursome didn’t put up anywhere near the lowest score. But at the end of the day we made new friends and had a great time on a beautiful day.

Robert was the only student I met that was golfing. Most of the golfers are here to support the “Roberts” who will determine the future of IEEE and the future of our T&D Industry. Judging by comments from fellow golfers, this inaugural event will have legs. Expect to see a similar fund-raising event at the General Meeting coming up in San Diego.

At the luncheon, I chatted with the effervescent Wanda Reder (our very own former IEEE PES President) who has taken the lead to kick off the Scholarship program (of which this fund raiser is a small part). If I recall correctly, more than 100 scholarships have been awarded this year at some 50 colleges and universities who offer power programs.

Today wasn’t my best day on the golf course. I hooked a few and shanked some more. And my partners had their “moments” too. But the reason for our being here, the Scholarship Plus Initiative is a true “Hole-in-One” .

Theme parks are designed to provide fun - just plain fun. I was really surprised by Animal Kingdom. It was a theme park. It had rides. It had a plethora of souvenir stands, junk food heavens, and other opportunities to spend money for things you will never look at once you get home.

It also had some of the best animal exhibits I have ever seen. Pam and I have been talking about San Diego and where to go during the General Meeting. One place high on the list is the San Diego Zoo of course, but this was super good and we feel we have been to a super high tech zoo. We may still go after all it is the SD Zoo! Back to today - we had so much fun doing the Africa Trek, the Mararajah Jungle Trek, and DinoLand. The dinos left an impression. They almost seemed alive.

I had a boss (years ago) that judged everything by its appearance - people, events, technology. He was a pretty shallow person, but he was easy to confuse and that was fun. He would never support sending his engineers to conference or training because he consider them just sales gimmicks developed by manufacturers to get a captive audience.

I was looking at the Tree of Life today and thought of him. On the surface it is a big tree. It has a lot of animals carved into the trunk and limbs. It is a beautiful thing to behold. Then Pam saw a sign about a Pixar show inside the tree. At first we decided it was a kids thing, but it did get you inside the tree - cool, I had to go. The kid in me won out. To say it was a 3D movie would be like saying the Mona Lisa is a drawing. It is super high tech right down to the seat you are sitting on.

When you get to the Expo floor next week, think about that tree. Take a deep look at what is on display. Ask questions. I don’t know how many times talking with one of the manufacturers experts has given me one of the forehead slapping moments. Go back and surprise your boss with all the deep things you learned about our technology!

Yesterday we went to Epcot. They focused on being able to travel around the world at the park. They ahve some great areas to visit like the UK, France, Germany, Japan, China, and many others. It was really cool, but I told Pam there was a danger visiting all exhibits - we would want to go for real.

France was super and brought back lots of memories of Paris. What a beautiful place and we had such a grate time. Then we hit the UK and had flashbacks to London. And on it went. Today we went to Animal Kingdom and guess what. It is divided into different parts of the world too! The travel bug has hit - big time.

But what is really cool is the fact I have friends from all over the world coming to the PES T&D Expo. We see each other once or twice a year at events like this or the PES general meeting. And it is always great visiting. So, the theme parks have got me thinking about traveling, but they have also reminded me how lucky we all are to see old friends from around the world and get to share experiences and talk about our work in this electrical industry.

This is a big weekend in my home state of New Mexico. I really miss not being there for all the food, music, and good will. Imagine my surprise when I saw a road runner at the “Tree of Life” in the Animal Kingdom. This is our state bird and he has been given a place of honor on the tree.

So Happy Cinco de Maya ya’ll.

Have you ever visited one of those web sites that have all the “chalk-art” photos? You know the ones. The artist draws scenes that look so real and 3-dimensional it is hard to believe it is a picture. I have seen manholes with someone appearing to be coming out of the ground only to have the perspective changed and be able to tell it is a drawing.

I have seen so many that are so unbelievable, that I have had to go back again and again just to look at it. Well my friends at Thomas & Betts told me to be sure to drop by their exhibit because they have arranged to have an artist doing a 3D chalk art on the floor. When it is finished attendees will be able to get their photo taken and they will appear to be floating above the art work.

I will have to stop by and take photos as it is underway. I am a sucker for things like this - I love creative fun!