My trip to the Big City

We (all the engineers in our company) made our trip to the Air-conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration exposition in New York City yesterday (January 23). We had to leave at 5 AM to get there by the 10 AM opening. I felt like a country hick going to the big city -well, I guess that's because that's what I was! As much as I make fun of New York City and people who live there, I have to admit that it is a great city and has a real character. Of course, many other cities have a character but New York City is special to our country. I'd like to take some time and go there with my family to explore. There is a variety of history, entertainment and interesting things to do that is hard to match anywhere else. I also love going to Boston. And I grew up near Pittsburgh. There is a wide variety of things to do there - especially for such a small city. But they don't have the variety of New York City. Near the convention center, you could see the Empire State Building (picture to the right). Even though it is not the highest building in the world anymore, it is still impressive. And there aren't that many larger buildings around the world.

Anyway, the expo itself was both disappointing yet very interesting. There were vendors for everything from large metal bending machinery to tiny sensors to measure a large number of physical properties (temperature, humidity, vibration, acceleration and various gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and oxygen). There were huge machines and fans (yes, there was a company called the Big Ass Fans which made really huge fans) and welders along with tiny boxes to record the state of the air to measure how efficiently the big machines were running. There were lots of displays to show how well one pump or another was able to move water or air or one pipe configuration was able to reduce the force needed to move the water or air (one demonstration is shown at the right). We got to talk with a lot of people who could use our products and we saw the way a lot of other companies design and produce the same products that we do.

But, all in all, I have to say the trip was disappointing. Most of the seventeen hours we spent on the trip (eleven of those on the bus), I kept thinking how much I could have gotten done back in the office. Another thing I worried about, but didn't mention, was: What would have happened to our company if our bus had been in an accident a large number of us had been injured? The show lasted for three days. We could have at least split up into three groups and attended each of the days. Or have some of us go to different expositions. I think that those of us in the Software Department got the least out of this experience.

But it was nice that all of the engineers got to be together at one time. We had some good laughs and got to know each other a little better. And we got to watch a couple movies on the bus on the way home. I've seen bits and pieces of Cool Hand Luke before but now I've seen the movie all the way through! And I've heard about Caddyshack for years but had never seen it. Now I have. I won't be adding it to my list of favorite movies, though. Hey, there's an idea for another blog entry. A list of my ten favorite movies - with reasons why they are my favorites. And my lists of favorite books and favorite foods. Stay tuned.

By the way, on the bus ride to the expo, I got most of the way through reading The Children of Hurin, J. R. R. Tolkien. I highly recommend it. It is not easy to read and a tragic story but the complex storyline has a number of enlightening and satisfying themes. You wonder how Mr. Tolkien could keep every thing in his mind as he wrote it.