Letters to the Power Plant #127 — Shufflin’ Around at Dell

After I left the power plant and went to work for Dell on August 20, 2001, I wrote letters back to my friends at the plant letting them know how things were going.  This is the one hundred and twenty seventh letter I wrote.  Keep in mind that at the time when I originally penned this letter I didn’t intend on it being posted online.

11/27/07  —  Shufflin’ Around at Dell

Dear Friends at Sooner Plant and Beyond,

I realize it has been a long time since I have written, even though as I get older, it seems like only a few weeks.  I received an e-mail yesterday from my old “roomie” at Horseshoe Lake that reminded me that I haven’t written to you guys for quite a while.

I went to a User Conference in Phoenix for our Expense Reporting tool the week before Thanksgiving, and I just now caught up on all my backlogged e-mails!  For the last two years I have been in the Finance department, and yesterday I was told that I will be moving back into IT.

It seems that since I am doing mainly IT work, I should be in the IT department….. Imagine that.  That’s ok.  I enjoy working in IT.   That’s why I came to Dell in the first place.

So, how are things going at OG&E?  I haven’t heard from anyone lately until my old roomie sent me an e-mail with a copy of the Merry Christmas Power Plant Man poem in it that someone had sent him.

I’ve call Steve Trammel my Old Roomie ever since we were working on an overhaul at Muskogee Power Plant in 1985 and we were sharing a Camper down at #3 plant by the river.  Bob Kennedy was there and there was another guy, who,  I can see his face, but I can’t remember his name….  And we would go out and eat dinner together every night.

Note to Reader:  To learn more about my Roomie Steve Trammel and the Overhaul at Muskogee that I am referring to throughout this post, see the post “Lap o’ Luxury at the Muskogee Power Plant“.

The other guy, that I can’t remember his name, had a son or some relative who was in a contest for a free car, and they had to keep their hand on the car until they were the last person left.  I think they had been at it for three days when we went to see them.

It’s funny how things start coming back to you kind of slowly as you get older, but it seems that the guys last name began with a “W”.  Like Wickert or Watson but it wasn’t that…..

I think he worked at Seminole and probably early retired on the second go-around in ’94.  —  My old roomie will probably come back and tell me that his name was John Smith, or something completely different than I remember.

I’ve gotten to the point at work where I don’t try to remember things.   I just let people remind me what they want me to do when they come by and ask me if I am done with their stuff yet.  It’s a lot easier that way.

I try to fix or create stuff as quickly as possible when they ask me to do something so I don’t have to remember it for very long.   I think its just that I’m doing too many things at the same time to remember everything.

I’m back to three computers on my desk and I am working on all of them at the same time, most of the time…..  (actually, even while I was typing that last sentence someone came to my cube asking if I could create  a new program that would process some files for payroll that they have to start using next week….

They have already left my cube and I have forgotten exactly what they wanted, but they will go back to their desk and write everything out and send me an e-mail (and a task) so that I can work on it.  They just wanted to make sure that it could be done.

No, it wasn’t Willard Stark…..   I met him the following Spring at Mustang Plant when I went to work there with Ted Riddle.  This was the time when I was working at Muskogee with Ben Davis and we kept slipping out the back on Friday afternoon and the Supervisor over the Electricians kept trying to catch us, but we kept getting away….

Note to Reader:  To learn more about Willard Stark and when Ted Riddle and I worked at the Mustang Plant during overhaul, see the post “Working Power Plant Wonders with Willard Stark“.

But I can’t remember his name either, but I can remember that he looked like the coach from Oklahoma University, —  You know who I mean…. I know his name…. It’s Barry Switzer….. Geez… finally a name came back to me.   And…..

Maybe that first guy I was trying to remember whose last name began with a “W” had a first name like “Terry”.  Or maybe I’m just remembering someone from High School (or was it grade school — yeah.  Grade school….) who had a name like:  Terry Wizniski (of coarse, I’m not spelling that right, but my friends from High School, Brent and Mark — At least I can remember their names — will remind me…).

Note to Reader:  To read more about the person whose name I couldn’t remember read this post:  Something is in the Water at the Muskogee Power Plant.

Unless Terry used to go to the Catholic school that I went to,   but I don’t think so, because it seems like I can remember my grade school friend Brent saying his name at some point in my life…..).

Anyway…..  Is it a sign of “old-timers” disease when you can’t remember names like that?  I don’t think it is when I just keep changing the subject and keep rambling on, because that was an affliction that I gained in College when I met “Ramblin’ Ann Bell.

It does seem like it’s an “old-timers” symptom to start remembering odd things from your childhood as if it just happened….. Like graduation day from High School when there was a big lightning storm, and lightning hit the transformer for the school and all the lights went out just as Matt Tapley (who had white hair) was walking across the stage, and all we could see in the dark (as the emergency lights lasted about 10 seconds before they died), was Matt Tapley taking a bow with his glowing bright white hair….

And like I said.  I can remember my friend from elementary school Brent saying Terry Wizn-whatzHisName’s name during recess or art class or something like that…..  —  I know…  I know…. I’m not that old.  I just like pretending that I am, because then it lends a little credence to my inability to remember simple things like the name of the Electrical Supervisor at Muskogee.

The guy that came into the electric shop around 2pm to watch Ben Davis and I to make sure we wouldn’t leave early, so I went in the office and sat in his lap and told him that he was the cutest thing I ever saw… then he got up and ran out the other door as we headed for the parking lot…..

I can see his face so clearly with his jaw hanging down in utter disbelief as I put my arms around his shoulders like I was going to give him a big kiss…..  Maybe I figure that if I keep talking about him that his name will finally come to me….

About 2 months ago I moved to a new team and so I have a new manager and today I was explaining to him how we drop tested the stack elevators.  He just looked at me like it was crazy (of course, that may be because of other reasons than the story I was telling….  He may just think I’m crazy, because, well, because…..).

Maybe that is why he agreed to have me move back into IT.  So in a few weeks, I’ll have a new manager again….  That’s just how things work around here.  —  Believe it or not, but in the time I have been writing this e-mail I have already received over 30 other e-mails….  Pant…pant…pant…..

It’s no wonder that I can’t remember the name of the Electrical Supervisor at Muskogee…  Help me out Ben!

Ok.  I know.  I’ve rambled long enough.  You guys probably quit reading this letter right after the phrase “…and Beyond”.  But that’s ok.  At least I was able to take a fifteen minute break today and type a letter to all my friends!

Your friendly Dell Programmer,

Kevin James Anthony Breazile

Dell Inc.

Employee Services

512-728-1527