New England B.S. Thread

Yeah its gonna be dependant on what you're use case is but I don't think there's many people out there who would find a dual zone a necessity haha

 

If you have the money in the space definitely go Dual Zone.

And look for used, that's where I got mine. Mine is not Dual Zone and have wished it was plenty of times

 

When I was younger, my parents had a house (raised ranch) that came with the finished in-law basement apartment. It was all wired up with the orange outdoor extension cords, and if you killed the main breaker, some of it was still live.

They haven't changed over their automated system yet. I still get voicemails with then identifying as National Grid. I remember when it was Narragansett Electric.

 

Ours is a raised ranch...so...

 

Yeah!

My local store didn't have any in-stock but I put in an order for this!

 

I'm a bit surprised because the one nearest to me always seems to have a lot of those. I don't need one, but have looked at them and they seem okay. Not Snap On quality, but seem Craftsman quality.

 

The early bird special at Denny's is great, do they give you the senior citizen's discount too. or do you use your aarp card....

 

We were talking about that feeling of “summer ending” the other day



The interns are gone. Had no idea they were already wrapping up, I guess that’s another “thing” to add to the list of “depressing events that remind you ‘summer time jams’ are winding down”

It’s not just the weather, it’s that summer-time feel. Even though RI doesn’t get real snowy/cold/winter-wonderland like NH/ME/VT etc, it’s still in that “not a party-time” feel in the winters. Being near the coast/beaches kinda bleeds over that feeling.





ANYWAY HAPPY DEPRESSING MONDAY! Ordered the wrong TPMS tool (didn’t have OBD capability) so had to send that for return and pony up for the up-trim so I can flasha new TPMS codes to the truck.

 

I hate the AARP, but that's politics so I won't go further into it.

Sadly, the Early Bird Special can't be "combined with other discounts."

 

It's feeling like an early sign of autumn. Saturday it was almost cool enough for me to put on a jacket when I went out for breakfast. It warmed up quickly, but it was clear that it's starting to cool down. Which, after the last couple of weeks was not bad.

Interns gone? No more free labor for you mister!

 

Free? Are you kidding me? It's nuts what we pay interns now-days (college interns, usually not first years though so they're actually pretty decent since it's effectively an extended interview process)

 

Paid internships! No wonder the world is falling apart.

 

To be fair, I always sought out paid internships when I was in college also (and I'm not going to say how long ago that was). Some of them paid pretty decent for a summer gig. I was a civil engineering student and mostly worked with construction companies and one internship with NYSDOT. I couldn't afford to do an unpaid internship, I needed to sock away money during the summer to get me through the next year. Fortunately, it's common in the construction field to have paid internships.

 

My son went to Mass Maritime and they had paid internships in every field. He not only learned a lot, he got paid during the summers.

 

Yup! Depending on the field, “unpaid” internships are not a thing. I think they were chemical engineers of some sort, so they were paid.

Interns are an investment now on your future. Train them, get them up to speed, learn-ize them on stuff, and then they’ll want to come back. Give them crap jobs, don’t give them the time of day, and don’t pay them? Of course, they aren’t going to want to come back and you have to start fresh.

 

I agree with parts of that last statement. They still need to have the crap jobs although a lot of them believe it's below them for some reason. We've had some interns with a chip on their shoulder and weren't smart enough to realize that they got the crap job because they're the lowest paid, lowest experience level people on the job, but they're still on the job and can listen in on all the other inner workings going on. I do feel some abuse and neglect is character building. I'm not holding your hand, want my attention, do your job, show interest and I'll include you on everything and anything. Come in with an attitude, you can sit and mark up drawings all day.

 

I'm fresh out of school but seeing the new interns is disappointing. Most of them just care about their shoes and sit on their phones all day and don't know how to strip wires or know how to use any basic hand tools. These are 3rd year Mech E students...

 

Bro you got engineers. You think any of them are hands ON?

I did 4 years, internship, and a capstone. I could have gone all 4 years without even knowing what G code was. Let alone running machines.

We had a Mech E Tech program at the school, but I was a Mech E. I’ve been hands on since I was in 8th grade so I knew what the deal was, but yeah you can get a whooooole lot of desk learnin’ and be an engineer who has never even TOUCHED a tool.

And you know what? I’m okay with that. I don’t love it, but I won’t lie, I’m okay with an engineer not having used some of the tools. Especially if they at least know what the tools are, that’s okay.

What I’m NOT okay with is an engineer having never even seen a set of calipers, or mics. Shenanigans.

Even the older guys at my company laugh at me because I use dial mics and calipers. Hate batteries. I usually have to dig to the bottom of the pile to get “Rob’s calipers”

Problem is you get engineers who make something that’s super difficult to machine, and impossible to measure. Yes this needs to be +/- .0001 for the design intent? Yeah we can measure that….for enough money, we can do anything. How do you feel about x rays? The parts 15$ but the inspection costs 400$

 

I really wish schools put more importance on internships and how vital they are once you graduate. I went to school for civil engineering and saw first hand what happened to those who didn't get an internship somewhere. I was fortunate that my father ran a civil/survey firm and I started working for him at 15 and continued all through school and college. By the time I graduated, I was ready to sit at a desk and start working.

A few guys I went to college with came from well off families and never had to worry about making money during the summer for the upcoming school year. Didn't see the value in getting an internship and 13 years later, still have never worked in field (not for lack of applying and trying to get a job when graduated). Granted we graduated in the slums of the economy (2009), but there was still work to be had if you could stand out from the 100 other resumes that were sent in for an entry level civil job.

I would love to hire someone to help my current workload, but have to battle both financial ramifications of taking on more people, as well as finding someone who actually wants to work. A few of my colleagues have been looking for help for a while and tell me about their troubles finding entry level grads who want to show up and learn the profession. While an internship teaches you the basics of whatever field you are working in, I see the value of an internship being more for learning *how* to work and to take orders and follow through. Most people can be taught anything if the resources are available, but if someone doesn't know how to take orders from a superior and do what was requested of them, it's never going to work out.

 

My older (now gone) brother was a machinist/tool maker. I still occasionally pull out his Brown & Sharpe micrometers. Talk about precision instruments. After his retirement I snuck into his tool box and grabbed a couple of his Bridgeport (if you know...you know) milling machine cutters and had them mounted in a black velvet lined shadow box frame for him.