Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Knuckling Down

Our work has begun! Finally we are not just in Texas, but we are working too. I'm not really allowed to talk much about what we are working on, but I can say we are doing an audit.

With all the new systems I will soon be learning about there come also the manuals to use them properly. This is very important because we are operating and maintaining aircraft and if we don't follow the rules the plane could crash, and we all know crash=death. So we have lots of publications and manuals which we have to use whenever we operate or try to fix the equipment. Because the equipment and the systems are brand new, the publications are still being written.

So... here we are, making sure that what the contractors are writing is not just in line with the way the systems work, but also in line with the way we like our manuals to be written. Because some of the people working on the pubs are not engineers, but technical writers or editors this can be a very frustrating process. Fortunately for me I am coming into the end of it - after about two years the publications are over 70% complete, and all I have to do at this stage is make sure that requested changes have actually been incorporated.
Have I bored you all to death? Well the work I'm doing is even drier!!!

On the upside, they have allocated us two weeks to get the work done. We've been at it for two days and we reckon we'll be done by the end of tomorrow. That's the Maintenance Team anyway (my team). I'm not sure how the Operators are going.

After we finish auditing the publications we are going to audit the training package. This is the funny part, because after we audit the training package we will then go on the courses we have just audited! We will be checking everything about the training except for the tests. It doesn't stop there. Once we are on the course, we will then be doing more than an audit. We'll be doing full-on verification of both the pubs and the training. We'll be looking for mistakes, inconsistencies and discrepancies between the two, and from manual to manual.
Did I mention we have to pass the tests too? By the end of it each one of us will be the authority in our respective area. And that's a scary notion.

It's only been two days at work but I think I'm settling into a routine. There's little to do here and the books I ordered haven't turned up, so I enjoy cooking dinner (for once) because it actually gives me something to do. I have two hotplates, a microwave, one pot and a tiny fry pan. I don't have any microwave bowls but I have crockery. This has made cooking an interesting adventure as I have to think very carefully about what foods are going to go in which pot/pan and when. It's worked out so far, but the first night I cooked the spuds, then needed the same pot for the mince. Lucky you can eat potatoes cold eh?

Okay well I won't bore you anymore, I just wanted to brag about how fast we've been on this audit. No doubt I will have more to add at the end of the week about how wrong I was. Karma might yet be mentioned.




Till We Meet Again,
JLS

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go on, you can tell us... it involves "lasers" doesn't it?
While you're upgrading things, can you get a La-z-boy fitted in the engineers station so I can lock the rock and put my feet up?
:^)
Wayne

lorenzothellama said...

Where is Southfork on the map?

You mentioned 'pubs'. I didn't think they had any in the States!

Your work is so complicated it went right over my head so I can't comment on it. Clever old you!

sempre said...

Ello poppet.
Lovely to hear things are going well. And yes, this life in another country with very few distractions (and kitchenware) leads to a renewed creativity in the kitchen. Let me know when you get bored to the point of baking. So far my lack of transportation to buy heavy things like flour and sugar have held me back, but it's brewing. Go somewhere and take some photos girl!
Miss you heaps *mwah*!

Ju's little sister said...

Wayne - one La-Z-Boy on order.

Lorenzo - sorry I was being lazy, 'pubs' was short for publications. I thought it might be a bit dry and boring!

Sempre - sweetie, I would already be baking if I had an oven. I had big plans to bake batches of meat-pies, freeze 'em then sell them to the other boys for a dollar a pop. But alas no oven. :-(

Viking Warrior said...

Yon lassie, wherefor dost I go now I reachest New Zealand?

simon said...

are things really bigger and better in Texas? hahahahahah!

Ju's little sister said...

Sail ye to the Southern Isle and find the River to the Sky. Ye must avoid the Mighty Rakia for its path leads ye only further from thy destination. Sail ye for days and weeks 'till thou reaches the Land Between Two Rivers. There ye shall find the most bountiful of lands from whence to commence thy plunder and pillage.

But BEWARE VIKING! For the natives of the Long White Cloud, and inhabitants of the River To The Sky are not sane, nor shall they lie down meekly. BEWARE VIKING for the Nor' West Wind shall blow fear and craze into thine heart until ye turn back from your prize.

Viking Warrior said...

Oh 'eck!

kiwi mother said...

Viking Warrior - you could try Greenville or Rockwall Texas!

JLS glad to observe by your writing that you must be feeling better xxxMxxx

Ju's little sister said...

I never said I'd take the pillaging lying down ;-)

Viking Warrior said...

Now then wee lassie, that be yon provocative statement. Lying down indeed! What do ye thinkest we Vikings are?

Ju's little sister said...

Mighty Warriors.

And that's a provocative thing to be!

lorenzothellama said...

Scaredy has had a lot of his fur cut off as I hadn't been brushing him often, and it went into dreadlocks. I couldn't undo them so had to resort to scissors. He hated it, but was very good and didn't even try to bite me!
There was a dead baby hedgehog on the lawn yesterday. I hope it wasn't Scaredy!

Martin Stickland said...

Hello me old fruit cake, sorry I cannot be around for a while so have a big USA burger on me!!

xxxx