~The Scoop!~

Ok. Some of you have been asking what's going on with the new job. Well, I'm going to attempt to slow down here for a moment and update everyone on what's going on. TARGET DESTINATION: LIBYA TIME FRAME: 6 Weeks In Country Libya is a military dictatorship run by Muammar al-Qaddafi. For the last couple of years, they have been experiencing black-outs in power due to increasing electricity demands by the country. Current economic standards are showing a consumption growth trend of about 6%-8% annually, so there is a definite need to do something to increase the productivity of the electric company. In order to accomplish this, Libya's power company, GECOL (General Electricity Company Of Libya) is replacing their oil-burning power plants with top of the line "cycle and steam" power plants. This is a 3.5 billion dollar project that spans the entire country and will take a year or more just to get wired. What am I doing in all this?: If you look at the map above, I'll update you on the site plans. Tripoli is the state capital, and is refered to as Site 1. Slightly to the east is Khums, called site 2. Further across the Gulf of Sidra and almost into Egypt is site 3, in Benghazi. Finally, site 4 is located in the south at Sebha. Each of these sites has a new multi-billion dollar electrical facility in place. Ok.. AND?: Well, this new power company is going to provide power for the entire country. To do this effectively requires advanced communications electronics between each location. MY job is to get make this possible. Starting in Tripoli, at Site 1, we are going to go over there and wire new fiber-optics to each building in the power plant. You have to remember, this isn't like the United States where things are done in nice little city blocks. This is North Africa... a whole new bear. There are 66 buildings in Tripoli that we have to wire together, through a mesh technology of fiber optics, microwave transmission, and wired networking. Once this is done, I'll head to Sebha (in the Sahara) and begin that same process there, and again at each facility they have, until all are wired up at their individual locations. That, actually, is the easy part. From there, we have to run a combination of wireless, fiber, and underwater connections to inter-connect each facility back to the main facility. That's about as much detail as I can give on a public blog without getting into matters that could get me fired. What's Neat About This For Me: Well, truly, LOTS of things are awesome about this project.

1. I get to travel to Libya and work in a foreign country, with foreign cultures.
2. I get to personally oversee and fabricate the implementation of a multi-Billion dollar network that is over 1,000 times the size of any implementation I've done before.
3. I get to have conference calls every dang day: Ok.. that's a joke.. I'm not so stoked about that part of it, but there are hundreds of people who have to stay informed each day and that's just part of the job.
4. I get to make Microsoft my Bitch! Yeah, this truly rocks. We get to pretty much make Microsoft do whatever the hell we want for this project.
5. Vendor Negotiations Rock!: I remember the days when I had to call back a vendor four times to get a price quote for things. Now, I say "Hi, this is Tommy Jordan, the LAN coordinator for GECOL." That's about as far as I get before the guy on the other end of the phone jizzes himself in his excitement.
6. GREAT STAFF: I have an awesome staff that I work with. Some of these guys are the ONLY ones inthe country that do what they do. Projects like this get the best candidates throughout the country to jump on-board, so there is rarely a question without an answer. And by answer, I'm used to guys bringing me notes on paper when I ask a question. Now I have the head of Libyan Electricity firing me off Visio presentations, power points, spreadsheets... it's actually useful data
7. I'm getting a bi-lingual secretary.. lol I talked to Doc the other day and he just asked me if I wanted a secretary that was bi-lingual. So, you all know me, I said "Umm.. yeah!" (That would make my life MUCH easier.) So he actually asks me: "Do you want one that's Italian/English-speaking, Arabic/English-speaking, or something else?" THAT, my friends, was a hoot. I think he has a catalog of them he just orders from. I really wanted to ask if I could pick the size and color too, just to see if he would seriously say yes.

Anyway, it's 6:30 AM and I have to get in the shower and get out of here. I've been on here reading emails since 5:00 AM this morning and I have a long drive to make today. Please let me know if there are any more questions I can answer. And in case, I haven't said it, thanks to all of you for taking such an interest in my life. It's nice to know that so many people care what's going on. Miss you all. Talk to you all soon.