5 Weeks Down, 3 Left.

     Well it has already been five weeks. I enjoy working up here in Rhode Island, not only for the experience from work but the fairly new experience of living in snow. There has been a good amount of snow at least once a week, every week, so far. At work I am still working in the Environmental Department. I think working there is a very good experience because i get the opportunity to see the level or organization and involvement necessary to get anything productive done.

     Unfortunately there is not much to do around East Greenwich, Rhode Island except go to the many, many pubs (which of course I am not able to get into because I'm under 21). Recently I did find an area to pull over on the side of the road where many people go when it snows to ride sleds and such down the hills. There was nobody there when i went because it had gotten so cold that the top layer had frozen solid. There are a couple of malls in the area but they can only provide so much entertainment. Therefore, I tend to spend most of my time after work reading or playing on my Xbox 360, and on the weekends i force myself to sleep until late in the morning.

     Escribire mas cuando haga algo,
     Eric Harris

Some More Experience at GDEB

     So far life at Electric Boat has been pretty chill and fun. On Wednesday this week the superintendent of part of the facilities found me and told me that i would begin work in the environmental department the next day. It was interesting being in the sheetmetal area of the shop from the first day till then and i definitely learned a lot but after being in the environmental department for the last two days i realize that i get to see more of the facility working with them.

     Its also interesting being back there with the people on that team because the work that they do regulates how the people on the floor work. It is quite interesting to see how the procedures and methods they lay down affect the work floor.

     In addition, there is more snow here than i have ever seen in my time down in Florida. And on Friday there was snow falling as we left for work so I drove my own car so that i could see what driving in snow on the highway was like without endangering anyone else in my car. It was quite a fun and interesting experience.

     Hasta que tenga unos momentos,
     Eric Harris

First Week of Work at Electric Boat

     Well here I am, sitting in my room on monday evening. I must say that the first week of work at Electric Boat was entertaining and quite dull at the same time. The group of new hires that were with the four of us Webbies here were hilarious. An entire week of lectures and videos comprising orientation was one of the most boring things I've been through in a long while.

     On the whole though, being able to see the facilities on tours and what not was quite entertaining and insightful. I saw a lot of what goes on in the workplace and as the days passed I became more and more interested in working there. Once I learned that the department that I am working in was heated and inside I became even more interested and enthralled with the idea of working here. The people are quite friendly and entertaining despite the comments of "The engineers are airheads!" whenever they encounter an issue with the drawings or designs. The funny thing is that those comments have grown in number and frequency since they found out we are design interns.

     Today was our first day of work and we hit the ground running. I had a mentor who walked me through the first piece of work quickly then gave me a couple more jobs and simply said "Go." So it was either hit the ground running or crash and burn. I decided to give hitting the ground running a chance, and i did. It was rather funny that the inspections guy turned to me about 3/4 of the way through the day and said, "Geez, slow down a bit will ya?"

     So far everything here is absolutely amazing, although i did hear that from past ezperience with Webbies there is a plan in the works to try and cycle us through different departments every week or two to introduce us to as much as possible on the floor and in production instead of in the design firms.

     Ciao mi amigos.
     Y que les vayan bien. =]

Reflection on the first day at Electric Boat

     Well, getting to road island was an... interesting... experience. i had no issues on my flight from Florida to New York on New Years Eve. I had to go to NY to get my car which was left at Webb. Once i got to NY i realized i didn't have any concrete plans on how to get from the train station in Glen Cove to Webb. So i walked. It was a bit chilly and a bit long with some of the sidewalks not cleared off, but i made it after an hour or so.

     Once i got to Webb i realized that there was a 3 foot talk snow bank all around my car. I then realized that i was not really willing to walk all the way across campus to go get a shovel. so i tackled the problem with my shoe and a box. after 45 minutes, wet shoes, and much coaxing to my cars gas pedal i managed to free myself of the snow drift... and then back up into another one across ice. that one was a lot easier to get out of though so it didn't take long. By now it was dark and i still had to drive for an hour to get to a classmates house to spend the night. I made it there safe and sound, however, and proceeded to spend the next day just relaxing and lazing about his house.

     On Sunday morning i departed on the ferry from Orient Point to Connecticut. Once there i made my way to the extended stay hotel that we are going to be staying at for the next two months. I proceeded to trash the room with my stuff and my classmate did the same.

     Unfortunately we aren't really allowed to talk about what goes on at EB. But what i can say is that everyone that we met today were really quite interesting. For the next little while we will be going through orientation then begin work. We still have no idea what we are going to be working on.

     Hasta la vista,
     Eric Harris