A couple of days ago, I posted BIG BUMP in the road for my online plans…. perhaps and there were a number of comments wondering what the heck was up.
Opal already knew as I had mentioned it was a possibility a while back, so I asked her not to give up the secret. (Thanks Opal for the comment… it was perfect!)
Oh and the picture on the post — the same one I’ve posted here — did apply very specifically to this situation.
I’ll use Teeni’s questions and my answers for part of an explanation…
- Just what is this all about? Just wait an opportunity
- Will you tell us soon? Likely so right now
- How much longer do we have to wait? Not Long now
- Is it good? Depends on the perspective, but in many ways, yes for me, yes
- Are you getting a new job? Not really.. It’s doing some of the parts of my old job that I really enjoyed, with people I know well, and with very good compensation, so it’s not really a new job — plus, it’s only a limited engagement.
- New camera? Don’t need one. N/A
- New computer? Don’t need one, but there might be something about it that brings one. I’ll have to have a computer and access into the company’s network to do the work. It won’t be my computer, but it’ll be assigned to me.
- New travel plans? There is some travel involved, but it’s not far. The travel route is virtually the same as I’ve done well over 1000 times over the years and most days it will be over, under or near the Exit78 overpass.
The main thing I am waiting on is approval for the funding and it’s at the VP level right now. They’ve already got me on the schedule — which I have a copy of — for a week from this coming Monday.
More later!
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Thats great! Congrats!!
Wow! So is this contracting then? Pretty cool. All the people I've known who have contracted have really loved it. It's work they already knew how to do and usually it's for a set period of time so there isn't the stress of a regular job because there is an end in sight and you don't get sick of it since it's for a limited time. So I would say that is great news! I'm sure you will be able to find a way to spend your income. LOL. And it's nice that you'll be working with people you already knew too. Keep us posted!
Congrats Mike! I'm glad it all worked out. Even if I hadn't known that picture would have given it away at least for me. When I worked in the corporate setting one of the hallways where I worked looked almost exactly like the one in the picture.
It's a contracting job, but in many ways it's better than a typical contracting job, provided the funding is arranged. I know that Training management wants it, but it's a matter of dealing with the budget right now. I hope it's worked out soon, because I'm on the schedule to teach in 10 days.
The hallway in the picture is actually a hallway in the training center where I worked. In fact, my office was about halfway down on the right. I took this picture on one of the last days of work there.
My initial training as a reactor operator in 1981 and '82 and, later, as a senior reactor operator was in classrooms down this same hall on the left.
Providing the funding issue is worked out, I would likely be working in one of the offices down this hall. There's a few vacant spots. I won't have the same desk as before as someone else has got it. (I did notice, when I was in there today, that some of my old notebooks are still in the bookcase.)
I was hired as an operations training instructor in April 1983 and I retired from basically the same job, though the title had been changed several times, early last year. We taught the people in the Operations Department, the people who operate the plant. We also had to attend all of the same training as the operators and maintain our qualifications.
The Operations Department and Operations Training both have had a relatively low turnover rate. I've known all but one of the Unit One Ops training staff for over ten years. One of the guys that I'll be working with started there shortly before I did and was in the same initial reactor operator class that I was in. One of the guys in the group with the least time with the company was in the first license class that I ran back in 1992. I first met one fellow that is retiring at the end of this month back in the summer of 1976 in the engine room of the USS Casimir Pulaski in Holy Loch, Scotland.
Most of what I'm going to be doing — I think, and providing the funding comes through — will be associated with casualty training of the license class in both the classroom and the simulator.
During casualty training, the reactor operator and senior reactor operator students are taught together in teams, because that's how they will be tested by the NRC, in teams.
I know every individual in the class. I don't know most of the reactor operator candidates very well, but I know them well enough to talk to them. I know all of the senior reactor operator candidates very well. All of them were recent students of mine in one of the recent license classes that I ran.
Congratulations Mike. So how many hours will you be working, or are you not sure yet? I always thought you seemed to be too busy a person to be properly retired.
I'm sure that it will be a 40 hour work week. I doubt that there will be any overtime involved, especially at the hourly rate they're going to be paying me. Provided it is all worked out, I'll likely be working until sometime in March, then have a three week or so break when the students go to the plant for a refueling outage on the other unit, and then go back to work through some time in August, or perhaps September.
I know this program pretty well. I was the program coordinator for many years and I wrote the original Program and Course Summary for it. The nice thing about this is that I'll be able to do what I consider the fun stuff without having the responsibility of running the class.