I got side tracked in my wanderings when I noticed a strange noise coming from the floor below me. I went over to the rail and looked down and what a surprise - dang, there is a water show going on at the McCormick Place. I stood there for at least 5 minutes and no one was watching except me. It is a great show. Everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere. I can understand that, but don’t get so focused you miss beauty right in front of your nose.

This is Pam - Gene asked me to blog about my companion tour of Chicago’s Mansions of Yesteryear. On the bus I found my notebook, but no pen. Seat mate Elaine dug through her SUCCESS bag and found a toothbrush and a spoon, but no pen. When I asked the group, several offered pens. One lady did not request a return; she is our hero.

Without modern utilities, how were Chicago’s early mansions kept warm, cool, and lighted? Chicago’s Clark house, the oldest surviving house built in 1836, had floor to ceiling windows. Open a window in the ceiling of the 3rd floor and air was pulled from the “widow’s walk” on the roof through the house. Walah…air conditioning. 4 fireplaces heated the home, and mirrors set strategically through out the house reflected candle light to brighten the areas at night.

A huge 18,000 sq.ft. mansion built in 1886, the Glessner house had a fireplace in every room. The north side of the 3+ storied house had very narrow windows and a long servants’ hall that acted like a buffer to keep the interior rooms warm. The half basement school room had not only a fireplace, but a 5’ x 6’ wall hung metal radiant heater, to keep the children warm. The large dining room boasted a curved south wall with 5 large windows to receive the sun’s heat. Gas chandeliers and lamps provided light.

Which house did I prefer? The Glessner house. It had 10 servants!

The folks at Trench have been doing so neat things with series coils. They can install one of these on a transmission line and keep the current in manageable levels. That beats taking the line out of service to reconductor it. Stop by and ask Tony or Dave to explain how it works. It’s pretty cool and switchable.

In my latest wanderings, I stopped at the Southern States exhibit. They have some pretty interesting technology on display. Raj Anand calls it enabling technology. Things like the CMD (current measuring device) – watch it measure current, but not have to be part of the circuit. The Cap Switcher is pretty interesting, but the RL Switcher really got my attention. Ask them about it. Tell Joe that Gene sent me. He can explain anything – heck I understand it when he explains. I wish I had had an instructor like him in my under graduate work.

I just got back from the HVDC panel session. My buddy Wayne is making a great presentation. The room is full. When I stood up to answer my phone, someone jumped into my seat. I can’t blame them. It is a great session. I’m going back as soon as I finish this, but I wanted to get the word out to those of you texting.

I was following my nose taking photos as I went when I ran into Mark Wells at ABB. He set up the exhibit and was really excited about the numbers of engineers on his floor. They were pushing buttons, pulling levers, and just having a ball with real hands on. I’ll have to get back there and play myself - Mark said I could.

Have you ever wanted to see the insides of a transformer? Talk to Vince Paparo at MTC Transformers. His group is going to tear down a trashed core and coil (on the exhibit floor) and rebuild it. They will take a couple of days to let everyone see how it goes. Vince took some time out of his busy day to explain transformers to my student group. Thanks Vince. Everyone go see this exhibit.

My NMSU students found my hiding place. They are a great bunch of young engineers. We visited a lot of booths and they had tons of questions. S&C really wowed them with some new technology to save fuses. They had to run off to the luncheon, but we had fun while they were here.

Trevor Kryt of GeoDigital has some pretty neat things on the floor. Imagine being able to fly a transmission line with 6″ accuracy. He inputs the data to PLSCAD and they can do all kinds of neat things with it. Go see him and play with the toys he has

Hi campers. There are some pretty intersting things around here today. I met Art Becker, fleet specialist for ComEd. He has a full electrical hybred line truck on display. It runs on bio-diesel. The hybred electrical system can run the aerial system for about 40 minutes with the truck silent - no engine running. Art says that is very important in a residential area late at night.