My first job as an Engineer (FINALLY!) was at KeyTronicEMS in July 2006. In 2007, I took my very first "business trip" to our facility in Juarez, Mexico, with my mentor, Ken Holmes (a now-retired specimen of engineering awesomeness). Growing up, I remember vague tales of grown men taking business trips to "exotic" locales and seeing incredible sights. The way they described it made it seem like a company-paid vacation. Apparently, my wife had heard the same stories. I went. When I got back, she immediately wanted to know what sights I had seen and what souvenirs I had brought back from them. I told her, "none". She was incredulous and asked what I had done for an entire 6-day period. I told her, honestly, "I woke up at about 6:00 every day, had breakfast in the hotel, and at 7:30 went in to the factory. We got done sometime around 6:30 or 7:00 PM every day, went to dinner (at which time everybody else is eating too, so it all took longer). By the time we were done with dinner, it was 9:00 PM and we were exhausted so we went back to the hotel and slept. EVERY. DAY." She never asked me what I did on a business trip again. They were ALL like that.
All of them so far... except this one.
For a particular project we are working on with Eaton Corp., I traveled to the Baltimore area with our Sales Manager and my Design Engineer. Often, it is much easier to resolve issues like the ones that we were having face-to-face rather than via email. Not that the latter is not possible, it is usually just faster to do the former. It is also a great relationship-builder between companies and teams. We do our best to plan enough time to address all the concerns a customer has, but sometimes, like in this case, we are just too darn efficient. Based on the length of the flights (and the routes we had to take) we allotted travel days, not hours, so the 6th and the 8th were "flight" days and the 7th was for visiting the customer. We completed that visit at 11:00 in the morning. Lunch with the customer was over by 12:30, and we were left wondering what we were going to do for a half-day. The obvious and usual answer was to go back to the hotel and work remotely, but I knew that my designer had no way to do so. We learned, however, that he had never been to Washington DC, before, and both our Sales Manager and I had. We decided to take him on a tour to some of our favorite sites. First up, was the National Air and Space Museum. Our Sales Manager is a private pilot, and I have always been interested in aeronautics and the space program (after graduation I wanted to work for NASA as a Chemical Engineer), so we both LOVED the place.
Several pictures of the things that we saw are below (In the later ones, I thought to take pictures of the descriptive plaques so that you might see what they were...):
This one is from the inside of a Boeing 747 cockpit.
Some of the "experimental" planes used by NASA and the US Air Force:
Old rockets and space modules:
A couple of satellites:
After that, we started in on the national monuments. The capitol building (the dome was under repair at the time):
The Jefferson Memorial:
I have to stop here for a moment. I have been here 3 times now. Twice as a kid and once again as an adult. I have to say, as an adult, this had MUCH more meaning than it did when I was younger. I had an actual spiritual experience here this time around. Over the last several years, I have been studying off-and-on the founding fathers, their writings, American History, Economic Theory, Political Theory, Constitutional Law and Theory, and American Government. To me, Thomas Jefferson was the pinnacle of American Thought and, while not particularly sectarian, was very definitely a God-made man, who reverenced his Creator and understood the importance of using God as a foundation for an enduring and just system of government. The quotes within this monument are powerful enough to me now that I had to take photos of all of them. His words are worth studying still and, in my opinion, should be required reading for ALL youth in America today so that they will understand the great inheritance that they have received and treat it with the care and respect it deserves.
The Washington Monument (and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool):
And finally, the Lincoln Memorial:
And old Top-Hat himself... I've often wondered what he'd say if he were here now. I think I have a pretty good idea.
By the time we'd been to all of these, everything south of my knees felt like it was going to fall off. I'm getting too old and too out of shape to be doing that much walking all at once, but I am incredibly glad I did, and grateful that my designer could provide an excuse for me to re-visit some of these timeless locations and gain a new and more mature appreciation for them than I was able to in my youth. Also, it was simply a more pleasant way to spend an afternoon than sitting in a hotel room in front of a computer. I don't know that I'll have the opportunity to do that very often, but it was definitely nice this time.
- Josh
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