Archive of the '2012 All Things IEEE' Category

They just hit the public address system with some 60s music and woke everyone up. It can’t be much longer till the 2014 Chicago party starts for the floor. I can’t wait to go to Chicago and I’m still sitting here in Orlando blogging!!!!!

IEEE PES is having a half price sale on membership. Well actually the year is half over and they are prorating the membership, but still it is a great deal. If you aren’t a member this is a great place to get it done. Henry is giving out all kinds of stuff if you sign up. He even gave me a couple of things.

I have been a member of IEEE and PES for over 35 years now. I made Life Member status last year. That is a great benefit too. I get discounted pricing on conferences and membership. So you young guys sign up now and start the clock ticking. When your age and number of years as a member total 100 (you have to be 65 too) you become a life member. The really cool thing is all the friends, fellowship, and memories you will have.

Also, I use IEEE for all my insurance needs. They provide me with life insurance that stays with me no matter who I work for. They also cover me for professional liability in my engineering work. Both are worth the cost of membership alone! Enough commercial.

In New Orleans several of the universities contacted me about the number of engineering students they brought to the T&D Expo. As a result, we had an impromptu contest to see who brought the most engineering students. New Mexico State (NMSU) won hands down.

I spent a couple of hours with the NMSU students walking around the floor introducing them to manufacturers and engineering consulting firms. It was so much fun seeing the industry from their fresh point of view. These young people learned a lot too. It is one thing to read about transformers in a text book, but they got to see the internal workings first hand and one of the experts explained a lot to the students.

So lets see which university can bring the most students! The winners are the students! I will add any university to this blog that takes up the challenge. I’m betting the NMSU will win again - prove me wrong professors!

In my thirty plus years of working in the utility industry and taking part in PES activities I know a lot of people. One of the really cool things about the PES T&D Expo is visiting with these old friends that are scattered around the world. This is one event that brings them into one place. We get to catch up on family, our projects, and just enjoy each other’s company.

I heard from one of those friends, Al Rotz, recently. Al is the past president of PES and has been trying to keep me out of trouble for years. Al has a couple of passions besides PES - golf and helping young engineers. He has been after me to join him at the PES Scholarship Plus Golf Outing on May 5th at the Shingle Creek Golf Club. It is a great event funding scholarships to engineering students wanting a career in the electricity industry.

Come on out and meet some old and new friends. Here is a link for more information. http://www.ieee-pes.org/scholarship-plus-golf-outing-with-tad-conference

Can you believe that two years have gone by since the 2010 PES Expo? It seems like yesterday, but the time has flown by and here we are 2012 and a little over a month until we meet in Orlando! Sun, surf, and salt air - at least that is what Florida represented to me as a kid growing up in the Sunshine State. But today it represents a whole lot more. It is a chance to catch up with old friends, make news ones, and most importantly - get educated on the latest technologies for the grid.