6.30.2007
Lazy Saturday
Today was a pretty lazy day. I did not get to play golf, because it started thundering about the time we were going to go, and a golf club is basically a lightning rod. After waking up at noon, I lounged around all afternoon while washing clothes and watching TV. When Jamie got off work at 8 p.m., he joined Phil and I for a run (somewhere between 2.5 and 3 miles) through the Preserve. After that, we headed to Nick Barry's new house for some burgers, and now I'm about to get some sleep. Cheers.
Friday
Yesterday (Friday), I worked the early shift at UPS from 4 a.m. until 11 a.m. Our project was finally going down, so we had to be there when all of the truck changes were made. Everything actually went smoother than I thought, as there was only 2 or 3 trucks that were in the wrong place. However, we will see on Monday how everything else went, because I'm pretty sure that some of the senior drivers will have something smart to say.
The rest of the day consisted of:
The rest of the day consisted of:
- a nice 3 hour nap
- solid lunch and dinner food
- reading about globalization
- a 2 mile run with Phil and Jamie
- 120 push-ups
- 290 sit-ups
- 1/2 gallon of Gatorade
- La Brisa
- Dueling pianos at Twist and Shout
6.28.2007
Bike, Golf, and Tennis
Phil, Jamie, and I went on a 10.36 mile bike ride around Hoover. We started out in the Preserve, went out to Star Lake and rode around there, and finally ended up going through the Preserve and back to my house. It was really weird......at several points in the ride, we picked up random bikers to ride in our pack, and it almost felt like a pick-up basketball game. A guy would join us for a few miles, leave, and then someone else would show up. I guess Thursday evenings are prime time for riding.
After biking, we headed to Phil's to hit golf balls into his new, MASSIVE net. I tried out his new Taylor Made irons and driver, and they are sweet. I'd say I probably hit around 30 to 40 balls, comparable to a small bucket at the range. As if we had not done enough physical activity today, we then headed to Birchtree to play some tennis. We didn't actually play a real game and keep score, but we just volleyed back and forth trying to hit crazy shots.
I have to be up in 4 hours and 40 minutes, so I should probably get to sleep. However, this was quite the common situation this past Spring, when I almost always got to bed between midnight and 1 a.m. while having to get up at 5 a.m. for crew practice. However, I am not suggesting in any way that it will be easy, or that I enjoy doing it.
After biking, we headed to Phil's to hit golf balls into his new, MASSIVE net. I tried out his new Taylor Made irons and driver, and they are sweet. I'd say I probably hit around 30 to 40 balls, comparable to a small bucket at the range. As if we had not done enough physical activity today, we then headed to Birchtree to play some tennis. We didn't actually play a real game and keep score, but we just volleyed back and forth trying to hit crazy shots.
I have to be up in 4 hours and 40 minutes, so I should probably get to sleep. However, this was quite the common situation this past Spring, when I almost always got to bed between midnight and 1 a.m. while having to get up at 5 a.m. for crew practice. However, I am not suggesting in any way that it will be easy, or that I enjoy doing it.
Finally
We FINALLY got the go ahead for the implementation of our car changes at UPS. For the past few days, Nic (the other intern) and I have been battling the Dispatch Supervisors in a "We want to save money and follow corporate decisions vs. We don't want to piss off drivers" all out brawl. Actually, it wasn't too bad, but it really makes you see why Industrial Engineers are needed in the business world because of their people skills (not that other disciplines do not have any people skills). The trucks will be switched to their new locations following their daily washing after Thursday's routes are run. I have to come into work at 4 a.m. on Friday morning to make sure that this all goes smoothly. The Preload starts at around 4:45 a.m., so we need to make sure that all the trucks are in the right spot before the packers try to load them........or else, chaos will be incurred!
Also, I received my work schedule for next week. Since volume goes down during 4th of July week, UPS [encourages] workers to take time off that week. That being the case, the IE department traditionally steps up its duties during that week, covering all work shifts between the department. I will be working the Local Sort on Monday and Thursday (1 a.m. to 7 a.m., and on Tuesday and Friday I will be coming in at the end of the Preload (7 a.m.). My sleep schedule is going to be really jacked up next week.
Jamie and I lifted some weights after I got off work, and at 6:30 we will be going on a bike ride, with Phil possibly joining us.
This just in: I have received my tickets to the Projekt Revolution Tour in Atlanta, GA on August 7th, headlining bands such as Linkin Park, TAKING BACK SUNDAY, My Chemical Romance, Saosin, and others. My dad literally just handed me the evelop seconds ago. One funny note though, I ordered my tickets off Ticketmaster's online web site, and it says they send them to you in an unmarked envelope (to prevent theft). The envelop I received had this return address on it:
AFTER 5 DAYS RETURN TO:
Customer Service
1000 Corporate Landing
Charleston, West Virginia 25311
Haha! After the initial confusion went away, I had a good laugh. Time to ride.
Also, I received my work schedule for next week. Since volume goes down during 4th of July week, UPS [encourages] workers to take time off that week. That being the case, the IE department traditionally steps up its duties during that week, covering all work shifts between the department. I will be working the Local Sort on Monday and Thursday (1 a.m. to 7 a.m., and on Tuesday and Friday I will be coming in at the end of the Preload (7 a.m.). My sleep schedule is going to be really jacked up next week.
Jamie and I lifted some weights after I got off work, and at 6:30 we will be going on a bike ride, with Phil possibly joining us.
This just in: I have received my tickets to the Projekt Revolution Tour in Atlanta, GA on August 7th, headlining bands such as Linkin Park, TAKING BACK SUNDAY, My Chemical Romance, Saosin, and others. My dad literally just handed me the evelop seconds ago. One funny note though, I ordered my tickets off Ticketmaster's online web site, and it says they send them to you in an unmarked envelope (to prevent theft). The envelop I received had this return address on it:
AFTER 5 DAYS RETURN TO:
Customer Service
1000 Corporate Landing
Charleston, West Virginia 25311
Haha! After the initial confusion went away, I had a good laugh. Time to ride.
6.27.2007
Car Nightmares + Tennis
Well, we were finally ready to implement our car changes today, and as it turns out, some of the Dispatch Supervisors had already done some switching in the past few weeks. THANKS A LOT GUYS. So now, instead of changing the cars around tonight before the Thursday morning Preload gets underway at around 3:45 a.m., we will try to hurry and get it ready for the Friday routes. In an event of shear disbelief, the Standard Car Lineup (the sheet that shows exactly what cars are being ran and where they are positioned) actually had the SAME CAR in TWO DIFFERENT SPOTS! Is UPS running phantom cars or something?
After work, I headed home and hung around until around 6:00 p.m. Jamie and I then headed to Chase Lake Country Club to join Moose and Matt Sterley for a round of doubles tennis. I had not played in about 2 weeks, after starting off the summer playing just about every day. I had a rather mediocre night, with my net-play sucking to say the least. My serves were actually doing well, and out of the 30 games or so that we played, I think I only lost one service game. Sterley and I went out strong and got up 4-0 in the first set, and then survived a late comeback to take the first set 6-4. From then on, our play got worse and worse. We should have easily handled them, but our horrendous play handed us a loss in the tie-breaker in the second set and a 4-6 defeat in the third and final set. If either of us had been anywhere near our A game, we would have for sure gone something like 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, game-set-match. Oh well.
I'm going to go listen to some guy ramble on about how the world is flat and simultaneously bash the Bush Administration as much as possible. What is everyone doing for the 4th??
After work, I headed home and hung around until around 6:00 p.m. Jamie and I then headed to Chase Lake Country Club to join Moose and Matt Sterley for a round of doubles tennis. I had not played in about 2 weeks, after starting off the summer playing just about every day. I had a rather mediocre night, with my net-play sucking to say the least. My serves were actually doing well, and out of the 30 games or so that we played, I think I only lost one service game. Sterley and I went out strong and got up 4-0 in the first set, and then survived a late comeback to take the first set 6-4. From then on, our play got worse and worse. We should have easily handled them, but our horrendous play handed us a loss in the tie-breaker in the second set and a 4-6 defeat in the third and final set. If either of us had been anywhere near our A game, we would have for sure gone something like 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, game-set-match. Oh well.
I'm going to go listen to some guy ramble on about how the world is flat and simultaneously bash the Bush Administration as much as possible. What is everyone doing for the 4th??
6.26.2007
UPS + The Basement
Work today was a normal day. We had a meeting with the Dispatch Supervisors about the project we are working on, and I will be talking with Managers in Tuscaloosa and Fort Payne tomorrow to increase the scope of our project. I met the Tuscaloosa Building Manager (Mr. Mike Boone) last week, and as it turns out, I went to high school with his daughter Natalie, who is a year younger than me...small world, eh?
After a short nap and some dinner, I headed to Heather's house at 6:15 to head off to the Basement. This was my third time to go, and it keeps getting better every time...its just amazing how everyone is just so on fire for God, I can't get over it. I also enjoy the rap music at the start, which uses the beats of modern songs, but changes up the words. I found one of Matt Pitt's references very thought provoking:
".....that WHOSOEVER believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16
It is important to note the use of the word whosoever, which means anyone that, and in this case means anyone that believes in him. It does not say that if a Baptist believes in him, a Catholic believes, or a white or male or female believes, it says that "WHOSOEVER believes in him shall have eternal life." No external features of a person matter, it is all about a relationship with Him.
I am eating steak for lunch tomorrow, yes:)
After a short nap and some dinner, I headed to Heather's house at 6:15 to head off to the Basement. This was my third time to go, and it keeps getting better every time...its just amazing how everyone is just so on fire for God, I can't get over it. I also enjoy the rap music at the start, which uses the beats of modern songs, but changes up the words. I found one of Matt Pitt's references very thought provoking:
".....that WHOSOEVER believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16
It is important to note the use of the word whosoever, which means anyone that, and in this case means anyone that believes in him. It does not say that if a Baptist believes in him, a Catholic believes, or a white or male or female believes, it says that "WHOSOEVER believes in him shall have eternal life." No external features of a person matter, it is all about a relationship with Him.
I am eating steak for lunch tomorrow, yes:)
6.25.2007
Sore, Tired
Today was a pretty good day. All of the Birmingham Managers at UPS are looking over our recommendations, and we are planning to make the adjustments on Wednesday night to be ready for the Thursday routes. I had a little bit of touch up work to do this morning, but we are pretty much at the point where we have to wait on approval for our plan. I borrowed the book Excel 2003: Power Programming with VBA by John Walkenbach (also known as "Mr. Spreadsheet") from Jordan. As I mentioned earlier, I am learning the ropes of VBA, because already in my 5 weeks of work at UPS, I have come across numerous instances where I could have easily executed an otherwise time-wasting task with a macro. Anyways, I made some strides today in my quest, as I finished up the first chapter entitled Introduction to Visual Basic Applications.
After work, I headed straight to the Hoover REC to get a leg workout in. I didn't know what to expect, because it had been 10 days since my last leg workout. Previously, I was making tremendous gains on all exercises (squats, calf raises, leg extension, and leg curls), but I wasn't sure how my sabbatical would effect my strength. Anyways, I decided to continue adding 10 lbs more on each set as compared to the previous workout. As it turned out, I actually felt stronger after 10 days off! I am 5 lbs away from reaching 300 lbs on my last set of squats (for 2 reps), and I increased on all other exercises. Keep in mind, I am a major proponent of doing "real squats," and anyone that has ever worked out with me can verify this fact. I absolutely can't stand watching people do what I call "knee flexors," or only squatting down enough to barely bend the knees. Most of time, you will see meat-heads do this, as they focus so much on upper body strength and they still want their weak lower body to look strong. Haha.
After running by the bank and the post office, I headed home for some taco salad dinner. I continued work on my Father's Day gift to my Dad, which is to put all of his running data (date, distance, time, etc) into Microsoft Excel. He has kept track of his runs since 2000, and I have completed years 2000, 2001, and 2002. Both of my parents are pretty big into running and biking, so this will really help my Dad out as he is basically computer illiterate. I have found that through my experiences in rowing for the U of A Crew Club, it always helped me to keep track of my workouts and track my gains.
I came across an interesting story today. I read (via a link off OpinionJournal) that a man in Georgia killed a bear with a log. He was camping with 3 of his sons when a bear came up and grabbed their cooler. The guy's 6 year old son threw a shovel at the bear, and of course the bear dropped the cooler and turned to the kid. The father (an ex-marine) grabbed a nearby log and hurled it at the bear, killing it. Wow. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself......Man kills bear!
Jamie and I went on a run after dinner, completing one of our trail runs through the Preserve. We kept a nice 7:30 pace for 3.25 miles, but neither of us could ever hit a rhythm. It was probably the most uncomfortable "easy run" that I have ever completed. For one, my legs felt like jelly from lifting earlier, so that certainly did not help. I still have a healing blister on the inside of my left foot, so that did not help either. I think we are just beaten up from hitting the exercise so hard for the last few weeks. I believe that we are going to take tomorrow off, and maybe Wednesday also.
After watching an episode of Man vs. Wild, I am about to pass out. Tomorrow, I plan to make some more progress at work in the area of VBA. Lunch is at my Grandmothers (score), and I also plan to attend The Basement again tomorrow night. Maybe I will get a quick nap in after work. I'm tired. Bed time.
After work, I headed straight to the Hoover REC to get a leg workout in. I didn't know what to expect, because it had been 10 days since my last leg workout. Previously, I was making tremendous gains on all exercises (squats, calf raises, leg extension, and leg curls), but I wasn't sure how my sabbatical would effect my strength. Anyways, I decided to continue adding 10 lbs more on each set as compared to the previous workout. As it turned out, I actually felt stronger after 10 days off! I am 5 lbs away from reaching 300 lbs on my last set of squats (for 2 reps), and I increased on all other exercises. Keep in mind, I am a major proponent of doing "real squats," and anyone that has ever worked out with me can verify this fact. I absolutely can't stand watching people do what I call "knee flexors," or only squatting down enough to barely bend the knees. Most of time, you will see meat-heads do this, as they focus so much on upper body strength and they still want their weak lower body to look strong. Haha.
After running by the bank and the post office, I headed home for some taco salad dinner. I continued work on my Father's Day gift to my Dad, which is to put all of his running data (date, distance, time, etc) into Microsoft Excel. He has kept track of his runs since 2000, and I have completed years 2000, 2001, and 2002. Both of my parents are pretty big into running and biking, so this will really help my Dad out as he is basically computer illiterate. I have found that through my experiences in rowing for the U of A Crew Club, it always helped me to keep track of my workouts and track my gains.
I came across an interesting story today. I read (via a link off OpinionJournal) that a man in Georgia killed a bear with a log. He was camping with 3 of his sons when a bear came up and grabbed their cooler. The guy's 6 year old son threw a shovel at the bear, and of course the bear dropped the cooler and turned to the kid. The father (an ex-marine) grabbed a nearby log and hurled it at the bear, killing it. Wow. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself......Man kills bear!
Jamie and I went on a run after dinner, completing one of our trail runs through the Preserve. We kept a nice 7:30 pace for 3.25 miles, but neither of us could ever hit a rhythm. It was probably the most uncomfortable "easy run" that I have ever completed. For one, my legs felt like jelly from lifting earlier, so that certainly did not help. I still have a healing blister on the inside of my left foot, so that did not help either. I think we are just beaten up from hitting the exercise so hard for the last few weeks. I believe that we are going to take tomorrow off, and maybe Wednesday also.
After watching an episode of Man vs. Wild, I am about to pass out. Tomorrow, I plan to make some more progress at work in the area of VBA. Lunch is at my Grandmothers (score), and I also plan to attend The Basement again tomorrow night. Maybe I will get a quick nap in after work. I'm tired. Bed time.
6.24.2007
Weekend in Tuscaloosa
I spent Friday night through late Sunday afternoon in Tuscaloosa and basically, all I did was relax a lot...plus I got to see a lot of friends for the first time since school let out. Jordan and I had a few duels in MLB 2007 The Show, and I failed to win any of them. Today, we went to the late service at Calvary and heard a pretty good message on trust. The word came from the story of Joseph in Genesis, which was one of my favorite stories growing up. I have probably read that section of Genesis about 40 times, so it was good to hear some talk on it. Following the service, a bunch of us headed to Mellow Mushroom, and I proceeded to knock out 1/2 of a large, pepperoni, meatball pizza. The rest of the afternoon consisted of cleaning my bathroom (because I will be moving out of my current apartment in a few weeks) and taking care of some Alabama Crew Club finances. I finally made it back to Birmingham around 6:00 p.m. I worked out, read, ate some dinner, took a shower, and now I am not even close to being tired after receiving about 20 hours of sleep in the past 2 days:) Not to worry though, I will be dead tired by Tuesday.
6.23.2007
Good Saturday
After seeing a few friends last night, I slept for 10 HOURS before waking up at 11:45 a.m. After lunging around and grabbing some lunch, I was thinking about going for a run. I took one step out of my apartment, and quickly decided against any physical activity, as it felt close to 110 degrees. Instead, Jimmy and I headed to Rachel Jone's pool at her house over in Northport. The water felt excellent, and I received slight sun burns on my shoulders and the top of my forehead. That's what happens when you don't wear sunscreen in 100 degree heat. Dinner: Mugshots. Rest of the night: wing it. Peace.
6.22.2007
Bored at Work
I'm bored at work because my boss is in Montgomery, and I've pretty much done all that I can do for the day. I'm testing out the "Add Image" feature, hence the UPS logo on the left side. As for today's highlights, I pretty much dominated Excel, did some very informing data analysis, and made a few strides in my quest to learning VBA. During the data analysis, I found the need to perform a hypothesis test for the difference between two different sets of data. I had to do a little bit of preliminary research regarding p-values, because I couldn't remember on which side of the value constituted a rejection. I found a pretty cool web site that actually carried out the test for me: http://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/. Anyways, the p-value was .1168, so by conventional criteria, this difference is considered to be not statistically significant becuase the value is above the commonly chosen standard of .05. Basically, this means that the two sets of data that I was comparing were not statistically different (if they were, I would have had to rethink my approach to tracking the results of our project, and that would suck). In thirteen minutes, it will be the weekend!6.21.2007
Its Almost Friday
For whatever reason, this week has seemed like the longest week ever. All day today, it kept on feeling like a Friday, and then disappointment would set in as I realized it was indeed only Thursday, oh well:( Work went pretty good......I got in a zone as soon as 8 a.m. rolled around, and completed the MPG Optimizer for rest of the Central Division. I also completed a Birmingham Car Switch Summary, at the request of the Building Manager. I believe I slightly impressed John Rich, the Package Planner Manager when I showed him the summary of how much money we could save!
After work, I headed to get my haircut and to get a long needed car cleaning at Anthony's Car Wash. The last time that my car got washed was some point over Christmas break......which was basically half a year ago. Needless to say, it needed a good washing. I received a pleasant surprise today, as I was filling up with gas....Heather called me and asked me "blah, blah, blah" and all of the sudden she is right behind my at the gas pump, crazy! After giving her the iPod USB connector that she so graciously let me borrow, I headed home.
Jamie and I knocked out a solid [estimated] 3.2 miles in approximately 21 minutes on our normal loop through the Preserve. The first 5 minutes or so are basically uphill on pavement until we hit the trail in the back of the Preserve. At this point, we hop on a pines straw/root/rock trail that is more or less slightly declined until we have about 1.5 miles left to go. At this point, we hit a pretty short but steep hill, head on to an uphill road for about a half mile, and then the last mile is basically all declined. We started moving well once we hit the trail, and the last mile we were haulin', finishing with a nice sprint for last 3/10 of a mile. After contemplating doing our round of push-ups/sit-ups, I declined the internal offer.
The plan for tomorrow is to lift some weights and pay a visit to the bank to deposit some checks and get an application notarized before heading down to Tuscaloosa for the weekend. I plan on relaxing this weekend, but Jason and I may take the double (or pair) out for a row, whichever one it is rigged as. I haven't been on the water in a few weeks, so I would like to do this. If not, I may go run a few-miler.
I forgot how much I like My Chemical Romance's second album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. I do not sponsor the act of sweet revenge in any way, I just think that the music behind it is good:)
After work, I headed to get my haircut and to get a long needed car cleaning at Anthony's Car Wash. The last time that my car got washed was some point over Christmas break......which was basically half a year ago. Needless to say, it needed a good washing. I received a pleasant surprise today, as I was filling up with gas....Heather called me and asked me "blah, blah, blah" and all of the sudden she is right behind my at the gas pump, crazy! After giving her the iPod USB connector that she so graciously let me borrow, I headed home.
Jamie and I knocked out a solid [estimated] 3.2 miles in approximately 21 minutes on our normal loop through the Preserve. The first 5 minutes or so are basically uphill on pavement until we hit the trail in the back of the Preserve. At this point, we hop on a pines straw/root/rock trail that is more or less slightly declined until we have about 1.5 miles left to go. At this point, we hit a pretty short but steep hill, head on to an uphill road for about a half mile, and then the last mile is basically all declined. We started moving well once we hit the trail, and the last mile we were haulin', finishing with a nice sprint for last 3/10 of a mile. After contemplating doing our round of push-ups/sit-ups, I declined the internal offer.
The plan for tomorrow is to lift some weights and pay a visit to the bank to deposit some checks and get an application notarized before heading down to Tuscaloosa for the weekend. I plan on relaxing this weekend, but Jason and I may take the double (or pair) out for a row, whichever one it is rigged as. I haven't been on the water in a few weeks, so I would like to do this. If not, I may go run a few-miler.
I forgot how much I like My Chemical Romance's second album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. I do not sponsor the act of sweet revenge in any way, I just think that the music behind it is good:)
6.20.2007
Presentation + Misc.
The presentation went excellent. All of the managers were a lot more receptive than I thought.....I was very surprised. I may be traveling to Montgomery on Friday to give this same presentation, but that is still in the works. Tomorrow, I will continue optimizing centers throughout Alabama as well as finalize the Birmingham building implementation plans. I think we are going to try to get things going early next week, so we will see how that goes.
Today was an upper body workout, and as usual, both Jamie and I dominated. I continued to move up 5-10 lbs on every exercise, just as I have been doing since June 1st. I'm feeling pretty good right now, and I'm hoping I can continue this same trend throughout the summer. We then headed down to Hoover High School to take advantage of some of the trails. About 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the run, we came across a stream that had (somehow, even with the drought) completely covered the bridge. After searching for a way to cross we eventually just ran straight across the knee-deep 15 foot wide stream. We finished the run in about 28 minutes, and then quickly knocked out 105 push-ups and 260 sit-ups before heading home.
After grabbing some dinner, I finally decided to fill out my F.E. exam application, which is due on July 1st. All I have to do now is get it notarized tomorrow....and write an $85 check:( I am not really looking forward to taking this exam come October, but it is necessary in order to graduate so I guess I have no choice. I continued my re-reading of The World is Flat, which I hope to finish within the next week so I can start on some good ole' Thomas Sowell. Tomorrow, I plan on running a bunch of errands, as well as starting the data entry part of by Fathers Day gift to my Dad. Basically, I am creating an Excel spreadsheet for him to keep track of all of his running information (date, time, distance, etc), as well as input the last 4 years of data! He is an avid runner (and computer illiterate), so it is an excellent gift. Hopefully work tomorrow will be fun.....
For all you people out there that enjoy political talk, click on the link below. Jordan, you have inspired me with your Fred Thompson videos!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sagvVMfAUa4
Today was an upper body workout, and as usual, both Jamie and I dominated. I continued to move up 5-10 lbs on every exercise, just as I have been doing since June 1st. I'm feeling pretty good right now, and I'm hoping I can continue this same trend throughout the summer. We then headed down to Hoover High School to take advantage of some of the trails. About 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the run, we came across a stream that had (somehow, even with the drought) completely covered the bridge. After searching for a way to cross we eventually just ran straight across the knee-deep 15 foot wide stream. We finished the run in about 28 minutes, and then quickly knocked out 105 push-ups and 260 sit-ups before heading home.
After grabbing some dinner, I finally decided to fill out my F.E. exam application, which is due on July 1st. All I have to do now is get it notarized tomorrow....and write an $85 check:( I am not really looking forward to taking this exam come October, but it is necessary in order to graduate so I guess I have no choice. I continued my re-reading of The World is Flat, which I hope to finish within the next week so I can start on some good ole' Thomas Sowell. Tomorrow, I plan on running a bunch of errands, as well as starting the data entry part of by Fathers Day gift to my Dad. Basically, I am creating an Excel spreadsheet for him to keep track of all of his running information (date, time, distance, etc), as well as input the last 4 years of data! He is an avid runner (and computer illiterate), so it is an excellent gift. Hopefully work tomorrow will be fun.....
For all you people out there that enjoy political talk, click on the link below. Jordan, you have inspired me with your Fred Thompson videos!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sagvVMfAUa4
Scheduled Presentation
Since I got to work this morning, we have been preparing for our presentation about the MPG Initiative project that we have been working on. We were originally supposed to hop on the end of a Building Managers conference call, but this has turned into a presentation to the Manager of the Central Division as well as the 6 Building Managers in the division. Its actually going to be pretty cool, showing these upper managers how they can help UPS save a projected $10 million a year on fuel costs:) I have anticipated a few questions, and I have included some sweet Appendix slides in our presentation just in case......they won't know what hit them. Also, I plan on using the highlighter and pen features that are available in PowerPoint, so that should win us some point for creativity. Our presentation is at 1:30 p.m., and we have absolutely nothing else to do until then....hence the blog entry.
6.19.2007
Music Shopping Spree + Golf + The Basement
A few weeks ago, I went on a CD buying spree on the ever-popular Amazon.com. After about an hour of browsing, I ended up with 9 CD's in the cart. They were as follows:
Lies for the Liars by The Used
I have thoroughly enjoyed the first 2 releases by The Used, and this album is no different. However, as with almost any band, their style is changing. It seems to be moving towards a more “pop-ish” tone, if that makes any sense. It seems to me that every single band that starts out “hard” in their early days tends to evolve into more of a mainstream rock or pop sound as they get more and more popular. This is especially evident in bands such as Incubus, among others. Anyways, that aside, I really enjoy the song “Paralyzed”, and the rest of the CD is pretty good also.
Minutes to Midnight by Linkin Park
As a high schooler, Linkin Park was definitely ranked high amongst my favorite bands. Their ability to blend rock and hip-hop was so “catchy” and unlike any other style that I had ever heard, I instantly became a huge fan. Their first 2 releases (Hybrid Theory, and Meteora) were huge successes, but in my opinion, Minutes to Midnight does not stack up. (They also released an album called Reanimation which consisted of remixes and a few collaborative songs.) It seems that their style is shifting to more of a mainstream rock, even though there are parts that exhibit their hip-hop abilities. It is still a good CD, just not what I want out of Linkin Park. However, I will be traveling to Atlanta, GA in August to see them perform, which I have wanted to do for a number of years. They are heading up the Projekt Revolution Tour, which also includes bands such as My Chemical Romance, Saosin, and of course my favorite, Taking Back Sunday!
A City Divided by the Light Divided by Thursday
This was my first encounter of the band Thursday, and I was pretty impressed. Good sound…..I recommend to any punk rocker.
Still Searching by Senses Fail
This CD is awesome! I really enjoyed their previous two albums, From the Depths of Dreams and Let It Enfold Me, and this one definitely follows suit. My favorite track is probably "Can't Be Saved", which also has a video playing on MTV and other music channels. This album has become by new workout music.
The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance
While this album can’t be compared to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, it is still a good listen. They will be playing alongside Linkin Park in Atlanta this August…..but I must say that I am more interested in hearing their older stuff.
I Am the Movie by Motion City Soundtrack
Good for relaxed, easy fluid listening, Motion City Soundtrack albums are always fun to listen to. Although I think the album Commit This to Memory is better, it is still enjoyable.
Saosin by Saosin
I was recommended to this band by a friend of mine, and they are awesome! They will also be playing alongside Linkin Park during the Projekt Revolution Tour.
World Service by Delirious?
Pretty much every song on this Christian praise band’s CD is awesome, especially the hit "Majesty."
United We Stand by Hillsong United
The same goes for this album, whose hits “From the Inside Out” and “Came to the Rescue” are extremely great worship mediums. It is from the latter of these two songs that I describe the goal of my spiritual life: “In my life, be lifted high.”
Today was a pretty good day at work, except for the fact that I was looking forward to playing golf with my Dad the whole time, hoping the rain would hold off. I finished up planning the truck rearrangements for the whole North Division of UPS. Tomorrow, we have a presentation with the Central Division manager concerning the Birmingham building changes, so that should be interesting.
After I got off work at 3:30 p.m., I headed straight to Robert Trent Jones at Oxmoor Valley to play the Short Course with my Dad. The short course consists of all par 3's, and provides a good opportunity to work on iron play and play around the green. Through 9 holes, I was up on my Dad by 2 strokes, shooting a 35 (+8). I started off double bogey, rattle off 6 bogeys in a row, and then finished the front nine in par-par fashion. At that point, I was definitely feeling my putter. The back 9 took a turn for the worse, as a was continuously hitting my tee shots "fat".....I was hitting too much of the ground and the ball was not going as far as I would have liked. I managed a few very nice up-and-downs to save par and bogey a few times, but eventually I got on a double bogey streak and ended up finishing four strokes behind my Dad. I had it down to 3 strokes with 3 holes to go, and produced a par on hole #16 to move within 2 strokes. It looked as if I might post a miraculous comeback, but I ended up hitting a bunker on hole #17 and it was over:( Anyways, it was still a lot of fun. My Dad and I have had some epic battles on the golf course over the years. I actually consider myself to be dead-even with him as far as scoring goes, but you can't win them all.
I rushed home after we finished in attempt to meet up with Heather to catch a ride to The Basement over in Trussville. I got stuck behind some dude doing 35 the WHOLE way down Shades Crest Road, but I guess that happens sometime. For those curious about what The Basement is, I'll try to explain. Basically, it is a worship experience for people of all ages. It has a club sort of atmosphere, which is very interesting and fun. The worship starts off with a Christian rap group (they are signed and have albums out and everything) performing on stage. The crowd is going wild, and people are jumping up and down, all the while praising God. It is sweet. From what I know, the Basement started out in.....guess where.......somebody's actual basement, I think a few years ago. It has grown and grown, and is basically taking Birmingham by storm. It now takes place at Cathedral of the Cross in Trussville, a massive church, and the two times that I have been there have been over 500 people there. I introduced myself to a dude sitting next to me tonight, and quickly found out that he drove all the way from Destin, FL. Still another guy traveled all the way from somewhere in Louisiana.....God is definitely working here! Matt Pitts (sp?), the speaker, was talking about being on fire for God tonight, and he posed a very, very good, thought provoking, hair raising, stomach dropping, why-haven't-I-done-this question, and I will end with this (it was quoted something like this, maybe not exactly):
Lies for the Liars by The Used
I have thoroughly enjoyed the first 2 releases by The Used, and this album is no different. However, as with almost any band, their style is changing. It seems to be moving towards a more “pop-ish” tone, if that makes any sense. It seems to me that every single band that starts out “hard” in their early days tends to evolve into more of a mainstream rock or pop sound as they get more and more popular. This is especially evident in bands such as Incubus, among others. Anyways, that aside, I really enjoy the song “Paralyzed”, and the rest of the CD is pretty good also.
Minutes to Midnight by Linkin Park
As a high schooler, Linkin Park was definitely ranked high amongst my favorite bands. Their ability to blend rock and hip-hop was so “catchy” and unlike any other style that I had ever heard, I instantly became a huge fan. Their first 2 releases (Hybrid Theory, and Meteora) were huge successes, but in my opinion, Minutes to Midnight does not stack up. (They also released an album called Reanimation which consisted of remixes and a few collaborative songs.) It seems that their style is shifting to more of a mainstream rock, even though there are parts that exhibit their hip-hop abilities. It is still a good CD, just not what I want out of Linkin Park. However, I will be traveling to Atlanta, GA in August to see them perform, which I have wanted to do for a number of years. They are heading up the Projekt Revolution Tour, which also includes bands such as My Chemical Romance, Saosin, and of course my favorite, Taking Back Sunday!
A City Divided by the Light Divided by Thursday
This was my first encounter of the band Thursday, and I was pretty impressed. Good sound…..I recommend to any punk rocker.
Still Searching by Senses Fail
This CD is awesome! I really enjoyed their previous two albums, From the Depths of Dreams and Let It Enfold Me, and this one definitely follows suit. My favorite track is probably "Can't Be Saved", which also has a video playing on MTV and other music channels. This album has become by new workout music.
The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance
While this album can’t be compared to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, it is still a good listen. They will be playing alongside Linkin Park in Atlanta this August…..but I must say that I am more interested in hearing their older stuff.
I Am the Movie by Motion City Soundtrack
Good for relaxed, easy fluid listening, Motion City Soundtrack albums are always fun to listen to. Although I think the album Commit This to Memory is better, it is still enjoyable.
Saosin by Saosin
I was recommended to this band by a friend of mine, and they are awesome! They will also be playing alongside Linkin Park during the Projekt Revolution Tour.
World Service by Delirious?
Pretty much every song on this Christian praise band’s CD is awesome, especially the hit "Majesty."
United We Stand by Hillsong United
The same goes for this album, whose hits “From the Inside Out” and “Came to the Rescue” are extremely great worship mediums. It is from the latter of these two songs that I describe the goal of my spiritual life: “In my life, be lifted high.”
Today was a pretty good day at work, except for the fact that I was looking forward to playing golf with my Dad the whole time, hoping the rain would hold off. I finished up planning the truck rearrangements for the whole North Division of UPS. Tomorrow, we have a presentation with the Central Division manager concerning the Birmingham building changes, so that should be interesting.
After I got off work at 3:30 p.m., I headed straight to Robert Trent Jones at Oxmoor Valley to play the Short Course with my Dad. The short course consists of all par 3's, and provides a good opportunity to work on iron play and play around the green. Through 9 holes, I was up on my Dad by 2 strokes, shooting a 35 (+8). I started off double bogey, rattle off 6 bogeys in a row, and then finished the front nine in par-par fashion. At that point, I was definitely feeling my putter. The back 9 took a turn for the worse, as a was continuously hitting my tee shots "fat".....I was hitting too much of the ground and the ball was not going as far as I would have liked. I managed a few very nice up-and-downs to save par and bogey a few times, but eventually I got on a double bogey streak and ended up finishing four strokes behind my Dad. I had it down to 3 strokes with 3 holes to go, and produced a par on hole #16 to move within 2 strokes. It looked as if I might post a miraculous comeback, but I ended up hitting a bunker on hole #17 and it was over:( Anyways, it was still a lot of fun. My Dad and I have had some epic battles on the golf course over the years. I actually consider myself to be dead-even with him as far as scoring goes, but you can't win them all.
I rushed home after we finished in attempt to meet up with Heather to catch a ride to The Basement over in Trussville. I got stuck behind some dude doing 35 the WHOLE way down Shades Crest Road, but I guess that happens sometime. For those curious about what The Basement is, I'll try to explain. Basically, it is a worship experience for people of all ages. It has a club sort of atmosphere, which is very interesting and fun. The worship starts off with a Christian rap group (they are signed and have albums out and everything) performing on stage. The crowd is going wild, and people are jumping up and down, all the while praising God. It is sweet. From what I know, the Basement started out in.....guess where.......somebody's actual basement, I think a few years ago. It has grown and grown, and is basically taking Birmingham by storm. It now takes place at Cathedral of the Cross in Trussville, a massive church, and the two times that I have been there have been over 500 people there. I introduced myself to a dude sitting next to me tonight, and quickly found out that he drove all the way from Destin, FL. Still another guy traveled all the way from somewhere in Louisiana.....God is definitely working here! Matt Pitts (sp?), the speaker, was talking about being on fire for God tonight, and he posed a very, very good, thought provoking, hair raising, stomach dropping, why-haven't-I-done-this question, and I will end with this (it was quoted something like this, maybe not exactly):
"Throughout history, there have been many people that have died in the name of Jesus Christ. If all of these people would DIE rather than renounce his name, would it be too much to ask for us to LIVE for Him?"
6.18.2007
Summer so far
Since a month has passed through the summer without an account to reference it, I will finish up my first third of summer summary:) My neighbor Jamie and I have decided that we want to get in really good shape this summer, which I guess I was already in pretty good shape from crew in the Spring, but I would like to focus more on lifting weights and running. Jamie was an excellent high school and collegiate runner, so I definitely have someone to push me.
I started weight lifting on June 1st, and have decided to revert back to my high school training techniques, in which I saw a good deal of success. I am working my upper body out about 7 times every 2 weeks, and my lower body about 3 times every 2 weeks. I have already seen some pretty decent gains since the start of June, mainly because we focused more on endurance training during crew.
We started consistently running on June 9th, and have since logged approximately 25 to 30 miles. We have a few different loops that we run, with most of them running on trails through an adjacent neighborhood of mine. I recently ordered some Nike Free 5.0's because I was in dire need of new running shoes, and I am pretty impressed with them.
Along with running and lifting, I have been road biking, playing tennis, and rowing. I used to play tennis for a club back in the day, and I am really enjoying getting back into it. As far as biking goes, it is pretty fun, and I have the intention of buying a nice road bike when I graduate. Since the end of May, I have logged 49.33 miles on my Dad's Bianchi with a total time of 3 hours and 22 min, keeping an overall average speed of 14.8 mph. I would like to be consistently around 16 to 17 mph towards the end of the summer, which I think is pretty attainable. I have not done much rowing......only twice have I been out in a rec single. I started driving out to the Birmingham Rowing Club with the intention of rowing a single once or twice a week, but I found the club to be highly non-competitive, which is just not my style. Oh well:(
The only other thing that I would like to do this summer is catch up on my reading. I am currently re-reading a book entitled The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, a book that I read for my Systems Design course but was not able to read as thoroughly as I would have liked. It is an excellent account of recent globalization and how the competitive playing field is becoming "more flat." I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys interesting information. Also on the list for the summer are Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller (also wrote Blue Like Jazz) and some Thomas Sowell works that I have previously taken dabs at, but failed to finish because of an increasingly hectic schedule. These include Basic Economics and A Conflict of Visions, and the possibility of a few more. I also plan on reading some literature on Visual Basic, because 1) I have already seen the need for it at UPS and I could have saved myself a lot of time and 2) I feel that I can significantly raise my stock as an Industrial Engineer.
I think this about wraps up my summer so far/what I want to do. Oh yea, I went to the beach for a week, that was nice:) For anyone that has ever been or heard of the Basement, an "intense worship experience" (for lack of a better description) out in Trussville, AL, I went for the first time the other week. My brother told me about it this past year sometime, but I could never carve out enough time to travel from Tuscaloosa to B'ham during the middle of the week. Anyways, I figured I'd go since I'm now in Birmingham for the summer, and it was pretty sweet.....about 500 people (this is a pretty rough guesstimate) on fire for God. Yea, that is pretty sweet.
As for today, work was........"a case of the Monday's." I ran 1.5 miles at a pretty decent pace, probably around 6:20 or so /mile. I then worked out a little bit, read, stretched, and ate. I'm playing the short course at Robert Trent with my Dad tomorrow, so that should be pretty fun. I promise that after today's 2 monster blog postings, I will most likely never have one half as long again. I just felt like I should enlighten everyone on my summer so far, or maybe I'm just bored.
I started weight lifting on June 1st, and have decided to revert back to my high school training techniques, in which I saw a good deal of success. I am working my upper body out about 7 times every 2 weeks, and my lower body about 3 times every 2 weeks. I have already seen some pretty decent gains since the start of June, mainly because we focused more on endurance training during crew.
We started consistently running on June 9th, and have since logged approximately 25 to 30 miles. We have a few different loops that we run, with most of them running on trails through an adjacent neighborhood of mine. I recently ordered some Nike Free 5.0's because I was in dire need of new running shoes, and I am pretty impressed with them.
Along with running and lifting, I have been road biking, playing tennis, and rowing. I used to play tennis for a club back in the day, and I am really enjoying getting back into it. As far as biking goes, it is pretty fun, and I have the intention of buying a nice road bike when I graduate. Since the end of May, I have logged 49.33 miles on my Dad's Bianchi with a total time of 3 hours and 22 min, keeping an overall average speed of 14.8 mph. I would like to be consistently around 16 to 17 mph towards the end of the summer, which I think is pretty attainable. I have not done much rowing......only twice have I been out in a rec single. I started driving out to the Birmingham Rowing Club with the intention of rowing a single once or twice a week, but I found the club to be highly non-competitive, which is just not my style. Oh well:(
The only other thing that I would like to do this summer is catch up on my reading. I am currently re-reading a book entitled The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, a book that I read for my Systems Design course but was not able to read as thoroughly as I would have liked. It is an excellent account of recent globalization and how the competitive playing field is becoming "more flat." I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys interesting information. Also on the list for the summer are Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller (also wrote Blue Like Jazz) and some Thomas Sowell works that I have previously taken dabs at, but failed to finish because of an increasingly hectic schedule. These include Basic Economics and A Conflict of Visions, and the possibility of a few more. I also plan on reading some literature on Visual Basic, because 1) I have already seen the need for it at UPS and I could have saved myself a lot of time and 2) I feel that I can significantly raise my stock as an Industrial Engineer.
I think this about wraps up my summer so far/what I want to do. Oh yea, I went to the beach for a week, that was nice:) For anyone that has ever been or heard of the Basement, an "intense worship experience" (for lack of a better description) out in Trussville, AL, I went for the first time the other week. My brother told me about it this past year sometime, but I could never carve out enough time to travel from Tuscaloosa to B'ham during the middle of the week. Anyways, I figured I'd go since I'm now in Birmingham for the summer, and it was pretty sweet.....about 500 people (this is a pretty rough guesstimate) on fire for God. Yea, that is pretty sweet.
As for today, work was........"a case of the Monday's." I ran 1.5 miles at a pretty decent pace, probably around 6:20 or so /mile. I then worked out a little bit, read, stretched, and ate. I'm playing the short course at Robert Trent with my Dad tomorrow, so that should be pretty fun. I promise that after today's 2 monster blog postings, I will most likely never have one half as long again. I just felt like I should enlighten everyone on my summer so far, or maybe I'm just bored.
Work, so far....
Since May 21st, 2007, I have been working as an Industrial Engineering Intern for UPS, located just off West Oxmoor Road in Birmingham, Alabama. So far, it has been a pretty cool experience. UPS is very concerned with the efficiency of their operations, and almost all of the behind-the scenes-work, planning, and improvement projects are completed by Industrial Engineers, because as we know, IE's are efficiency experts. I am working under John Farren, the IE Manager for the Alabama District, and within his jurisdiction I am also working under John Rich in the Package Planning department.
I have completed four weeks of work, roughly 1/3 of my scheduled summer work. For the first week, I had to complete some compliance training courses with topics such as "Insider Trading" and "Sexual Harassment." These boring tasks took up most of the first 2 days of work. Throughout the first week, Christ Guest, the Package Planner for the Central Division of the Alabama district was showing us (me and the other Intern) around the building and getting us familiar with everything. We completed several tasks for him as well, such as planning the staffing levels and package volumes for the first quarter of 2008, as well as trying to help him determine the optimum level of stops-per-car a day for each truck (with the help of Excel graphing techniques). I also helped him created a form in Microsoft Excel for Division Managers to use in order to re-allocated their resources throughout their buildings.
At the start of Week #2, we were given the details of our first Project. UPS management is in the process of trying to implement what they call a "Miles per Gallon Initiative." The basis behind this is that if the trucks with the best fuel efficiency are placed on the longest routes, fuel will be saved, and this cause a decrease in operating costs. One would not think that this would produce any significant savings......but I quickly found otherwise. After some preliminary number crunching, UPS has the potential to incur nationwide savings of around $10 million.
The last 3 weeks (Weeks 2-4) have been spent working closely with David Posey (not sure what his official title is) on this project, trying to reallocated the trucks in the Birmingham building with the intent on saving fuel. We were given almost no guidance and a set of hardly workable data to start out with, but a significant amount of progress has been made. I will say that over the last month, my Microsoft Excel skills have probably doubled. I considered myself a fairly knowledgeable person in the area of Excel before UPS, but I have far exceeded my previous limits. As I previously mentioned, the data that we were given to start out with was in poor form, so much of the last 3 weeks was spent on getting the data into working form, and in the processing developing a standardized process in order to do it again more effectively.
We have been using a database called E-cars that has provided us with mileages for the different routes as well as the fuel efficiency of each truck. This database actually performs the optimizing routine that the project calls for, but in the process it proposes that 91% of the trucks should be switched. One thing that I have learned since my arrival at UPS is that a difference exists between formulation and implementation. I was reminded of a book I read in my junior Manufacturing Systems class entitled Necessary But Not Sufficient, authored by Eli Goldratt, a theory of constraints genius. The basic conclusion of this book is that formulating an answer to a certain problem (in any industry) is a necessary task, as success cannot be achieved without it. However, the answer to the problem is not sufficient, for the answer must be implemented into the given industry in order to achieve the success that was "discovered on paper." Implementation can often be hard, as it may require going against the norm and requiring workers to do things that they do not want to do. PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE CHANGE. This applies to pretty much any industry, when you have a worker that performs the same task every day, for years at a time. Anyways, using my skills in versatility (which every true IE possesses), I set it to optimize the optimizer.
The way that the E-cars MPG optimizer works is simple:
These steps are completed for each truck size. About 8 truck sizes are used at the Birmingham building, so each set of truck sizes would be rearranged. What I found out was that after a while, the optimizer started to de-optimize itself. In other words, it might be better to only rank the top 10 or top 15 routes and trucks, and rearrange those to achieve the desired results (top 10 was found to produce the most savings). We created a form in Excel that somewhat mimicked the E-cars database, but allowed it to only rank the top 10 before rearranging. For a few days my brain was getting completed racked with all of the embedded "if" statements that I was working with. One of our calculations actually utilized the "if", "and", "offset","match", and "lookup" functions........CRAZY! It was times like these that I wished I knew Visual Basic, as this would have made things a little more easier.
Along with the MPG changes that were to be made, our boss also wanted us to examine truck utilization levels.........basically, to make sure that a truck wasn't only getting half full or over packed every day. Since management was convinced that some trucks were over utilized, we were faced with the task of talking to the Dispatch Supervisors: the guys that controlled the workers and trucks. As you can imagine, they were not too happy about the changes that management wanted to make, but they eventually lightened up. This part of the project was very minor in comparison to the other changes, but it had to be done.
We finished up the recommendations for the MPG initiative last Friday, and we are set to give a presentation to Stanley Garret, the Manager for the Central Division on Wednesday. The Central Division consists of the Birmingham building as well as buildings in Goodwater, Tuscaloosa, and Anniston. Our next task is to apply our developed techniques to the other buildings in the Alabama district besides Birmingham. The rest should go by pretty quick, as we have already developed some "standards", and I created a template for the optimizer that only requires the input of data from the E-cars database.
The formulation part of the project is over........but implementation lies ahead. I can only hope that building managers will be respective and accepting of our recommendations.......because they will save UPS millions!
Other projects for the summer include:
This has been a scaled down (haha) account of my work experience so far. Hopefully, our implementation will be successful, as well as any other work that I have to do this summer:)
I have completed four weeks of work, roughly 1/3 of my scheduled summer work. For the first week, I had to complete some compliance training courses with topics such as "Insider Trading" and "Sexual Harassment." These boring tasks took up most of the first 2 days of work. Throughout the first week, Christ Guest, the Package Planner for the Central Division of the Alabama district was showing us (me and the other Intern) around the building and getting us familiar with everything. We completed several tasks for him as well, such as planning the staffing levels and package volumes for the first quarter of 2008, as well as trying to help him determine the optimum level of stops-per-car a day for each truck (with the help of Excel graphing techniques). I also helped him created a form in Microsoft Excel for Division Managers to use in order to re-allocated their resources throughout their buildings.
At the start of Week #2, we were given the details of our first Project. UPS management is in the process of trying to implement what they call a "Miles per Gallon Initiative." The basis behind this is that if the trucks with the best fuel efficiency are placed on the longest routes, fuel will be saved, and this cause a decrease in operating costs. One would not think that this would produce any significant savings......but I quickly found otherwise. After some preliminary number crunching, UPS has the potential to incur nationwide savings of around $10 million.
The last 3 weeks (Weeks 2-4) have been spent working closely with David Posey (not sure what his official title is) on this project, trying to reallocated the trucks in the Birmingham building with the intent on saving fuel. We were given almost no guidance and a set of hardly workable data to start out with, but a significant amount of progress has been made. I will say that over the last month, my Microsoft Excel skills have probably doubled. I considered myself a fairly knowledgeable person in the area of Excel before UPS, but I have far exceeded my previous limits. As I previously mentioned, the data that we were given to start out with was in poor form, so much of the last 3 weeks was spent on getting the data into working form, and in the processing developing a standardized process in order to do it again more effectively.
We have been using a database called E-cars that has provided us with mileages for the different routes as well as the fuel efficiency of each truck. This database actually performs the optimizing routine that the project calls for, but in the process it proposes that 91% of the trucks should be switched. One thing that I have learned since my arrival at UPS is that a difference exists between formulation and implementation. I was reminded of a book I read in my junior Manufacturing Systems class entitled Necessary But Not Sufficient, authored by Eli Goldratt, a theory of constraints genius. The basic conclusion of this book is that formulating an answer to a certain problem (in any industry) is a necessary task, as success cannot be achieved without it. However, the answer to the problem is not sufficient, for the answer must be implemented into the given industry in order to achieve the success that was "discovered on paper." Implementation can often be hard, as it may require going against the norm and requiring workers to do things that they do not want to do. PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE CHANGE. This applies to pretty much any industry, when you have a worker that performs the same task every day, for years at a time. Anyways, using my skills in versatility (which every true IE possesses), I set it to optimize the optimizer.
The way that the E-cars MPG optimizer works is simple:
- Rank the routes by mileage (longest route gets a #1)
- Rank the trucks by efficiency (highest MPG gets a #1)
- Match the #1 with the #1.
These steps are completed for each truck size. About 8 truck sizes are used at the Birmingham building, so each set of truck sizes would be rearranged. What I found out was that after a while, the optimizer started to de-optimize itself. In other words, it might be better to only rank the top 10 or top 15 routes and trucks, and rearrange those to achieve the desired results (top 10 was found to produce the most savings). We created a form in Excel that somewhat mimicked the E-cars database, but allowed it to only rank the top 10 before rearranging. For a few days my brain was getting completed racked with all of the embedded "if" statements that I was working with. One of our calculations actually utilized the "if", "and", "offset","match", and "lookup" functions........CRAZY! It was times like these that I wished I knew Visual Basic, as this would have made things a little more easier.
Along with the MPG changes that were to be made, our boss also wanted us to examine truck utilization levels.........basically, to make sure that a truck wasn't only getting half full or over packed every day. Since management was convinced that some trucks were over utilized, we were faced with the task of talking to the Dispatch Supervisors: the guys that controlled the workers and trucks. As you can imagine, they were not too happy about the changes that management wanted to make, but they eventually lightened up. This part of the project was very minor in comparison to the other changes, but it had to be done.
We finished up the recommendations for the MPG initiative last Friday, and we are set to give a presentation to Stanley Garret, the Manager for the Central Division on Wednesday. The Central Division consists of the Birmingham building as well as buildings in Goodwater, Tuscaloosa, and Anniston. Our next task is to apply our developed techniques to the other buildings in the Alabama district besides Birmingham. The rest should go by pretty quick, as we have already developed some "standards", and I created a template for the optimizer that only requires the input of data from the E-cars database.
The formulation part of the project is over........but implementation lies ahead. I can only hope that building managers will be respective and accepting of our recommendations.......because they will save UPS millions!
Other projects for the summer include:
- Analyzing the "smalls" package system and propose and justify improvements"smalls" are packages under 8 x 8 x 8 inchesthey are containerized in special bagsmany flaws exist in the current system
- Improve the efficiency of feeders (tractor trailers), and determine standards for the routes of these feeders.not much work has been put into this areathey need help from IE's!
This has been a scaled down (haha) account of my work experience so far. Hopefully, our implementation will be successful, as well as any other work that I have to do this summer:)
6.17.2007
Welcome
Welcome to my life everyone. Considering how much free time I have this summer, I figured I would start the whole blogging thing so that all interested can keep up with my cool life (haha, kidding).
Today, Father's Day, has been pretty good. The college Sunday school this morning produced a nice discussion on Godly characteristics of a father, with a few ensuing laughs at the rather humorous answers. Our preacher is currently on a series of sermons about "The third word in our church's name," which is "Baptist." Dr. Foust noted that one of the things that are characteristic of being a Baptist is the focus on a personal relationship will Jesus Christ. I often find it irritating that people focus so much on "going through the motions" and doing the church thing in a specified way, and "saying the right things" in worship. I liked this point, as I think that all relationships, no matter who it is with, are different. Therefore, everyone's relationship with Jesus Christ may take a different shape or form, and everyone may worship in a different way, depending on how they feel. There is not one right or wrong way to worship, it is all about your relationship with him and how you make it grow:) Anyways, I will admit that I did not pay attention to much of the sermon after this because my brain was throwing all this around.
After church, my Dad, Mom, and Grandmother enjoyed a nice lunch of pot roast, potatoes, carrots, home-skillet cornbread, green beans, salad, and pound cake with strawberries and whip cream for dessert. This was followed by a cup of coffee and a nice relaxing thirty minutes of some U.S. Open viewing. Jamie and I continued our streak of workouts this summer by lifting some weights. This consisted of bench press, curls, close grip bench, upright rows, 100 push-ups, and 250 sit-ups. We have been pretty consistent this summer with our workouts, running about 5 times a week and playing tennis very often. We will also start biking as soon as my Dad's bike gets out of the shop. I will be keeping my blog updated with our workouts, for all interested, and for anyone that is in Birmingham and would like to run some trails, bike, or lift weights, I would love for some more company.
We are about to head down to the final night of City Stages, with the schedule tonight consisting of Puddle of Mud, Breaking Benjamin, and Three Days Grace, all back to back.......this, in my opinion, is a pretty solid lineup. On Friday night, I saw one of my favorite bands, Hawthorne Heights rock out for a little bit. I saw them play last summer in Boston, MA at some underground club, and they did not disappoint at either gig. On Saturday night, we enjoyed some New Orleans Blues from Dr. John. I was actually pretty impressed with the gig, it was a lot better than I thought that it would be. At one point, he was playing 2 keyboards simultaneously, a feat that I'm sure 99.9% of people can't do. Anyways, I'm off to shower to get ready for some music, I may add on later.
Today, Father's Day, has been pretty good. The college Sunday school this morning produced a nice discussion on Godly characteristics of a father, with a few ensuing laughs at the rather humorous answers. Our preacher is currently on a series of sermons about "The third word in our church's name," which is "Baptist." Dr. Foust noted that one of the things that are characteristic of being a Baptist is the focus on a personal relationship will Jesus Christ. I often find it irritating that people focus so much on "going through the motions" and doing the church thing in a specified way, and "saying the right things" in worship. I liked this point, as I think that all relationships, no matter who it is with, are different. Therefore, everyone's relationship with Jesus Christ may take a different shape or form, and everyone may worship in a different way, depending on how they feel. There is not one right or wrong way to worship, it is all about your relationship with him and how you make it grow:) Anyways, I will admit that I did not pay attention to much of the sermon after this because my brain was throwing all this around.
After church, my Dad, Mom, and Grandmother enjoyed a nice lunch of pot roast, potatoes, carrots, home-skillet cornbread, green beans, salad, and pound cake with strawberries and whip cream for dessert. This was followed by a cup of coffee and a nice relaxing thirty minutes of some U.S. Open viewing. Jamie and I continued our streak of workouts this summer by lifting some weights. This consisted of bench press, curls, close grip bench, upright rows, 100 push-ups, and 250 sit-ups. We have been pretty consistent this summer with our workouts, running about 5 times a week and playing tennis very often. We will also start biking as soon as my Dad's bike gets out of the shop. I will be keeping my blog updated with our workouts, for all interested, and for anyone that is in Birmingham and would like to run some trails, bike, or lift weights, I would love for some more company.
We are about to head down to the final night of City Stages, with the schedule tonight consisting of Puddle of Mud, Breaking Benjamin, and Three Days Grace, all back to back.......this, in my opinion, is a pretty solid lineup. On Friday night, I saw one of my favorite bands, Hawthorne Heights rock out for a little bit. I saw them play last summer in Boston, MA at some underground club, and they did not disappoint at either gig. On Saturday night, we enjoyed some New Orleans Blues from Dr. John. I was actually pretty impressed with the gig, it was a lot better than I thought that it would be. At one point, he was playing 2 keyboards simultaneously, a feat that I'm sure 99.9% of people can't do. Anyways, I'm off to shower to get ready for some music, I may add on later.
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