ELECTRICITY

Some of my Bona fides:

 I worked at a variety of jobs in my career and some of them involved "stealing horses" a euphemism I use to represent work I did on the dark side of the street. Uncle Sam trained me well in the dark arts but that is a story for another time. I hope the rats have made fine nests with the files in those cardboard storage cartons.

I also worked for a number of years in the electrical trade. it was there that I was made a member of the AOEW. The Ancient Order of Electrical Wizards.

I worked  as an electrician at a mine down here in New Mexico. The voltage coming on to our property was like that in the vid (138,000 volts). I worked around sub-stations that took that voltage down to 46,000 volts and others that took the 46kV down to 4160V.

There's power, as in sex-money-power, and there is power which is more, uh, volatile.



I worked with switchgear that controlled large motors, 600hp large.

There is something about being around that sort of power that I was attracted to. I am not deluded, think that I controlled that energy. I just managed it and directed its usage. There was a sense of danger, like walking close to the brink or going 100 mph on a motorcycle or shooting powerful weapons or setting off explosives and there is a healthy fear of the stuff. We had redundant safety protocols, adequate PPE ( personal protective equipment) and strict SOPs (standard operating procedures) that we followed but there was always an edge, a dynamic of energy waiting to be unleashed. A proximity to really really big power.

This next clip is not funny. It is a tragic accident that happened to some electricians doing work similar to mine; the one electrician was cranking in a circuit breaker and something went wrong. He was not wearing proper PPE but would not have survived the 40,000 degrees F arc flash even with it on. The other guy was seriously injured as well. While my safety margin was big there was still danger lurking just below the surface.



 God rest their souls and thanks be to God for my safety.


I am not a hero. There is no "glory" in what I did. I merely did my job as best I could.





So mote it be.