*Magnify*
    March     ►
SMTWTFS
     
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
11
12
13
14
15
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Archive RSS
SPONSORED LINKS
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/entry_id/976107-Sacramento-Again
by Sum1
Rated: E · Book · Travel · #1779685
I travel the country on business, sometimes the world. Come see where I've been.
#976107 added February 22, 2020 at 6:16pm
Restrictions: None
Sacramento Again
Locale: Sacramento, CAlifornia


         This week found me in Sacramento, California for a short class with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.  It was a class on radio programming, and only two days in length, so a short trip really.  Having the flu the previous week didn't do me any favors either.  I wasn't 100%, but at the same time, I wasn't sick either.  Just not fully recovered.  And I felt it while teaching too.


         Radio Programming might sound odd to some, it sounded very odd to me when I started learning about it.  After all, how hard can it be to program a 'simple hand-held' radio?  Well, when there are about 4000 fields a technician can edit, you get an idea of how hard it might be.  Fortunately, they will seldom find themselves doing that, at most they might edit a hundred or so fields.  Still, I constantly hear about problems encountered in setting up a system initially.  Programming a radio isn't hard, but understanding how changing fields will affect its ability to operate in a system is.  Not only does it have to be programmed correctly for it to operate, but it must be properly configured in the system also.  Yep, there's a separate software used to configure it to operate in a system.  That's not a class I teach, but I know quite a bit about it.  So yep, it's complex, time consuming (at first), and aggravating at times.  Overall, everything went well, every question was answered for them, in fact, we ran out of time!

         For this trip, I flew in and out of San Francisco because trying to fly from Central Illinois to Sacramento didn't allow decent connections, nor allow me to get home easily.  An added benefit of this, is that I drove up the west side of San Francisco Bay, then across the north end to get to I80.  Why that route?  Because it took me past Mare Island, where I attended Naval Nuclear Power School in 1973.  Sadly, that building has been torn down; there's not evidence that it was ever there really.  This photo is from 2012 when I was in Sacramento for a class with the State of California.



         I think I should tell you a little about this 'school'.  It was 6 months in length, and the toughest school I've ever attended.  We had six hours of classes a day, each class lasting just one hour.  We also had an hour of study hall, and an hour for lunch.  There was a homework assignment for each class every day, and there were no 'I didn't get it done' excuses'.  It was done, or you failed.  Each Friday, there was a test in each class, graded on a 4.0 scale.  Multiple choice questions were never used, every question was an essay question.  If you scored less than 2.5 on any one of the tests, you were assigned night study the following week.  It went from 5-9 pm Monday thru Friday, and 7-11 am Saturday.  Some students were in night study from the 2nd week thru the 26th week!  That was not for me, I had things I wanted to do, like play pool or Ping Pong.  Remember, this is 1973, no computers.  In fact, we weren't allowed to use calculators, since they were about $400 for a small one.  Instead, we were issued slide rules to do math/chemistry/physics problems with.  Here's a list of course we took those six months, but only attended six courses at a time.

Mathematics - Basic Math through an introduction to Calculus and Trigonometry in 12 weeks.
Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow - Eight weeks long, a somewhat basic course really.
Physics - From Kinetic Energy, Potential Energy, etc, through an Introduction to Nuclear Physics in 12 weeks
Electrical power theory and generating equipment -Eight weeks long, a basic electrical course that reinforced learning from a previous command.
Nuclear Power Plant Components - It was really Nuclear Reactor Construction
Chemistry - Eight weeks long, was really all about Water Chemistry as it pertains to a Steam Plant
Reactor principles - How does a Nuclear Reactor work?  What makes it generate heat, how does nuclear fission work?
Radiation Protection - How do we keep ourselves safe from receiving too much radiation while operating the plant?

         You can see that Math and Physics had the greatest impact on me.  My overall grade in each was 3.26 for Math, 3.35 for Physics.  There's other classes, I can't locate a reference to the ones I attended while there.  But the pace was insane, you had to learn quick, or fail and drop out.  That was never an option in my eyes.  Anyway, TOUGH school, just ask anyone who attended it.


In Closing

         I will spend the weekend at home (2 days, yeah!), then off to Winnipeg next week.  Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE!



Jim Dorrell

© Copyright 2020 Sum1 (UN: jim-d at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Sum1 has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
Log in to Leave Feedback
Username:
Password: <Show>
Not a Member?
Signup right now, for free!
All accounts include:
*Bullet* FREE Email @Writing.Com!
*Bullet* FREE Portfolio Services!
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/entry_id/976107-Sacramento-Again