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Thread: A day in the life of Kosh... (lotsa pics; 56k'ers be warned)

  1. #1
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    ... On one of my other forums, some of us have taken cameras along with us and taken pics of an "average" day... So, here's my "average" day:

    I work for Ford Motor Company, on the Rouge Assembly Complex, in Dearborn, Michigan. It's where the Mustangs are built. It used to be the largest complex of its kind, but I think it's now second or third.


    Leaving the house, I hop onto I-75 south, then catch I-94 East. Along I-94, there's an exit for Canada. No, really! See:




    Further along I-94, there's an exit for the Rouge Assembly Complex:




    After a few minutes, you pass through the security gates and almost pass under the Stamping Plant. Yeah, the road actually goes through the middle of the Stamping Plant, which extends for nearly 1/2 a mile to either side of the tunnel, where the main road on the complex goes through:




    Turning before the tunnel (dodging freight trucks along the way), you come to my building:




    My desk (had to put a couple of shots together, to show the whole thing):




    The new "Th!nk" cars we use for short trips to other buildings. They're electric, have a top speed of approx 45mph, and can travel about 60 miles before they need a recharge.

    That's a regular-size Ford Explorer in the next parking spot over... you can park two of the Th!nk cars (or "rollerskates" as the guys in the shop are callling 'em now...) in the same space as one Explorer


    Close up:





    Going under the Stamping Plant (through the tunnel you saw in the other picture above), there are openings to the left that show the cavernous insides of the building. The huge coils of steel you see there are taken to the other side of the building (directly behind where this pic was taken), and are stamped out into Mustang body parts.




    On the other side of the Stamping Plant, next to the Ore Storage, is the Boat Dock:




    A train-tug moving containers of molten steel along the over 100 miles of railroad tracks we have here:


    (Henry Ford's vision was to be able to bring the raw materials via any means - train, truck, boat - and spit a finished car out the other end)



    More containers filling up with molten steel, which will then be taken to the foundry to be cast out into huge ingots:




    This is the Powerhouse, which had the boilers explode, back in 02/99. Killed several workers and horribly injured many others. I was supposed to be in the powerhouse later that day. I'm very lucky that the explosion happened when it did. The Powerhouse is now non-operable, and is scheduled for demolition.

    (I'll tell the story of the explosion, if there's interest)



    Ford World Headquarters (technically: "Henry Ford II World Center"), about 5 minutes drive from my office on the Rouge Assembly Complex.




    The new training center for the Detroit Lions, being built on what was once forested Ford land.




    Give me any shit and I'll install this on your system.. Windows 3.0, still in the factory wrap:




    After my job is done I go down to my partner's work, as they have a gym in the building there, and I work out:




    Normally I hop onto the freeway and drive home after the workout. Tonight I took a "scenic route" through downtown near the river-front, to take some pictures for ya.


    Joe Louis Arena, home of the Stanley Cup winning Redwings:




    The Renaissance Center. Ford used to have many offices in here, but when the lease was up, GM offered more money, and so they got the offices. This has become GM's headquarters. The four smaller towers are all offices, and the center tower is offices with a four-star hotel. The main-floor level of the entire center is open-air, and full of shops and businesses. It's also the only place in North America where you can actually look South into Canada. No lie!




    "The Spirit of Detroit". Huge statue. When the Redwings won the Stanley Cup, someone sewed a huge Redwings jersey and put it on him.





    Finally heading north on the main boulevard out of downtown, I pass this statue collection of various war heroes who came from the Detroit area, topped by a statue of the Greek goddess Athena.

  2. #2
    king of useless info syxxpm's Avatar
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    wow cute doggie on the computer....and what happened that day, i am interested, and did you know the people who got killed.. and how did it affect your life?-syxxpm
    the vibe says syxx so let it be syxx......

  3. #3

    somebody went on a field trip :thumup:

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    wow cute doggie on the computer....and what happened that day, i am interested, and did you know the people who got killed.. and how did it affect your life?-syxxpm
    The little dog is "Little Brother", from the Disney flick "Mulan"... You only see him once or twice, in the first 5 minutes of the film... But he's hysterical.

    As for the explosion, here's the note I sent to all my friends at that time, about 30 minutes after the explosion had happened:

    February 1, 1999
    Okay gang.

    At about 1pm, I was in the Assembly Plant, installing some software on a client's system. There was a huge boom, and the building shook. This is not some flimsy little tin-roofed building; this is the Assembly Plant. It is not *supposed* to shake, and yet it shook as if God himself had reached down and hit the building with a sledgehammer.

    There was a stunned silence, for approximately 5 minutes, and then the power slowly started to flicker and die. Within a minute of it starting to die, we were in pitch blackness. Being a systems admin, my first thought was for the network servers. I dropped what I was doing, and ran for the stairs. As I was going, I heard mumblings of "powerhouse" and "boilers".

    As I drove out of the Assembly Plant, past the Powerhouse, there were flames shooting out the top and side of the powerhouse with rolls of inky black clouds roiling out the top. Once I got back to my building, and discovered that power was out there too, I heard what had happened.

    One of the boilers had exploded at the Rouge Powerhouse. This is the building that supplies the entire assembly complex with power. The powerhouse is a huge building, with an open atrium-like center, five stories tall. The center open area is filled with power generating equipment that is approximately four stories tall. The fifth floor is an open level of catwalks and offices that overlook the machinery. The largest assembly plant of it's kind in the world was completely without running electricity. Then I heard the aftermath.

    The explosion blew the siding and windows off the building, threw debris 1/4 of a mile into the air, and rocked the van that a co-worker of mine was in onto two wheels. A gigantic ball of fire shot into the air, as flames burst through the exposed siding. It decimated three of the five stories, and is still burning, according to the radio and TV news, hours later.

    At this time, we've heard reports of one fatality, and nearly twenty injured. The entire afternoon shift is being turned away at the gates, and the complete assembly complex has been evacuated. We are not looking at work tomorrow either, as the entire plant is without power.

    One of my co-workers in my office, also has an office on the fifth floor, and I was scheduled to install the software on her computer after I finished the one at the Assembly Plant. I have yet to hear anything about her. Your prayers, thoughts, candle-lightings, whatever, will be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks, all.

    On the one year anniversary, I sent the same message out, with the following addendum:

    Now, one year later:

    The co-worker I was supposed to see had decided to take a late lunch, and so had left the building approx 12:30, so she could be there later, when I was supposed to work on her system. Due to this, she was out of the building when the blast occurred.

    The blast and fire killed a total of six workers and in addition to the deaths, 34 workers were injured. In interviews with state investigators, workers said the building was dirty, unsafe practices were common, and cleaning was poor, according to records obtained by the Detroit Free Press for a story. "It was the worst building I've ever worked in," one unidentified worker was quoted as saying.

    And in September 1999, the state fined Ford $1.5 million for safety violations at the power plant. Ford also paid about $30 million to settle lawsuits and agreed to give $5 million to researchers and hospital burn units.

    The powerhouse stands gutted and empty, it's blackened, gaping windows a spectre of blame and a reminder of safety complaints ignored. One safety complaint came from pipefitter John Arseneau. He was killed in the blast. Arseneau's 1995 complaint said there were leaky valves in the boiler that later claimed his life.
    The is the only pic I have at the moment of the powerhouse, taken the day of the blast:



    I have more pics, I'll try to find 'em and put 'em up.

    The explosion certainly taught me a lot more respect for the vast powers we harness for everyday use. I've never been afraid of working with electricity or steam powered machines, or so on... but I certainly have a lot more respoect for 'em, and pay a lot more attention to what I'm doing now.

  5. #5
    king of useless info syxxpm's Avatar
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    wow ...im speechless-syxxpm
    the vibe says syxx so let it be syxx......

  6. #6
    pm dawn fam til infinity Hero1's Avatar
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    where is this guy?
    I've got amnesia.. I can't remember..

  7. #7
    From Outta Space! Cozmo D's Avatar
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    I think Syxx scared him off!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
    Alright
    Tap the lightpole and we'll be jammin all night
    And ain't nobody callin' the cops
    'Cause everybody's here freakin', if they're older they're doin the rock
    And every block from all around
    Comes runnin' to the park when they hear the sound
    And soon the word's spreadin' through our part of town
    "Yo, 40 Park y'all, Jam-On's gettin down"
    Yeah...

    Jam-On Productions:Website Forum

  8. #8
    Weird Boston guy Harmeister's Avatar
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    Kosh dissapeard from most of the forums I knew him from.

    People were ragging on him because of his sexual preferences (mostly little kids who have no idea what they are talking about anyways). He took the high road and ignored them, but deep down I think they got to him.

    The last time I saw him was at the WOT LAN party in Virginia over a year ago. (Right before he started to post here) Don't know why he doesn't frequent here anymore. He's not the lurking type (like me).

    It might be that because volume was so low back then you could visit the board once a week and see everthing that happened in five minutes so he got bored and left.

    Harmeister

  9. #9
    Regulator Terrick's Avatar
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    I WANNA SEE THE PICS! thanks alot, syxx.... :mrgreen:


    "that's pretty deep stuff. that's not, 'yo yo yippy yo yo bling bling, smack a bitch.'"
    "when i eat chicken nuggets....they don't look like they're in pain...but i believe that they were.."

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