8am

AKBill

AKBill

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AKBill
8am and it's still dark out. I must be getting old or something but only 6 1/2 hours of daylight is starting to get under my skin.

You must understand I work in an underground mine. Leave 4am, take a boat then a bus and am underground by 6:30am. Go to work in the dark, work in the dark and go home in the dark.

During the winter I don't see the sun until I get a day off...:( Just ranting, my next job (retirement, 5 years to go) will include sun for a good part of the day....:)
 
Lachlan said:
Get your Vit D checked. You could be low.
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Good point, especially living in Alaska where the UVB is relatively low year-round.

I can understand your frustrations Bill.
 
"ain't a place a man can hide will keep him from the sun"

brighter days for you, my man
 
AKBill said:
During the winter I don't see the sun
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I spent a year in the village formerly known as Barrow. I worked outside and didn't see the sun all winter. I went to bed at 8pm and got up at 8am still just exhausted.

I can only imagine being under ground is worse. I can only imagine because you could not get me in a hole in the ground even with a gun in my back...:lol:
 
Zeldman said:
I can only imagine being under ground is worse. I can only imagine because you could not get me in a hole in the ground even with a gun in my back...:lol:
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Yah back in the day I tried to make flying my business, eyes kept me from a professional flying job. Got my BSME and ended up working underground because of the pay. Worked all over the country underground, NY City, Houston TX, Indianapolis IN, Chicago IL, White Pine MI, Lead SD, Elko NV, Denver CO, Detroit MI, Columbus OH, Pittsburgh PA, Silver Spring MD just to name a few... I guess I'm still laughing at myself...:lol::lol:
 
AKBill said:
8am and it's still dark out. I must be getting old or something but only 6 1/2 hours of daylight is starting to get under my skin.

You must understand I work in an underground mine. Leave 4am, take a boat then a bus and am underground by 6:30am. Go to work in the dark, work in the dark and go home in the dark.

During the winter I don't see the sun until I get a day off...:( Just ranting, my next job (retirement, 5 years to go) will include sun for a good part of the day....:)
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Heck, I worked for Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace decades ago. Even in the Denver area I'd see the sun on weekends in the winter. Worked in a building with no windows, drive in to work in the dark, drive home in the dark. This isn't just an Alaska thing. :D
 
Been doing the overnights for lots of years now...Go to work in the dark, get home in the dark part of the year. rest of the year, sun is just popping up when I get home. When the weather is good, or we are fueling or have a tank open, the hangar is open at night, so lots of moonlight when it's visible.
 
AK Bill,

I don't think I could go without seeing sunshine for at least a few hours a day. I hated going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. Been retired for twelve years so I'm not a slave to the clock but the long winter nights in December get downright depressing. I believe it's called "Seasonal Affective Disorder". I fare much better with long summer days.
 
I am now living the furthest north I ever have (parallel to Winnipeg but in Europe) so this winter has been an adjustment. 6 1/2 hours is rough. We at least had 8 here and I have an office window.
 
Ghery said:
Heck, I worked for Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace decades ago. Even in the Denver area I'd see the sun on weekends in the winter. Worked in a building with no windows, drive in to work in the dark, drive home in the dark. This isn't just an Alaska thing. :D
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BTDT.

Waterton, I assume.
 
Luckily we are on the other side of the solstice and the days are now getting longer.

I am a big fan of getting rid of Daylight Savings Time and so are a lot of other folks...till they realize that standard time is the one that gets dark earlier!
 
AKBill said:
Yah back in the day I tried to make flying my business, eyes kept me from a professional flying job. Got my BSME and ended up working underground because of the pay. Worked all over the country underground, NY City, Houston TX, Indianapolis IN, Chicago IL, White Pine MI, Lead SD, Elko NV, Denver CO, Detroit MI, Columbus OH, Pittsburgh PA, Silver Spring MD just to name a few... I guess I'm still laughing at myself...:lol::lol:
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I have my BSME too and once I had to set up testing equipment in the discharge tunnel of a hydro plant. That was the closest I came to working underground. Not a comfortable feeling.
 
Shawn said:
Luckily we are on the other side of the solstice and the days are now getting longer.

I am a big fan of getting rid of Daylight Savings Time and so are a lot of other folks...till they realize that standard time is the one that gets dark earlier!
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Just have to get "normal working hours" adjusted to 0600-1500. ;)
 
Shawn said:
Luckily we are on the other side of the solstice and the days are now getting longer.

I am a big fan of getting rid of Daylight Savings Time and so are a lot of other folks...till they realize that standard time is the one that gets dark earlier!
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I always mention that to people that wish to do away with DST. Funny to see their face when they think of that...:lol::lol::lol:
 
Norman said:
I fare much better with long summer days.
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Norman, I swear there have been some years here in SE AK were you get 60 days of rain in the summer. It's light out but you never get to see the sun..:( I know more than one family that has moved up here and within 6 months has left because of the weather. I've been here 25 years, and still have trouble from time to time dealing with the rain. Not to mention trying to find a flyable day.

I think the flyers in SE AK fly more in the rain than the average GA aviator.. Working underground does keep me out of the rain..:)
 
Rushie said:
I have my BSME too and once I had to set up testing equipment in the discharge tunnel of a hydro plant. That was the closest I came to working underground. Not a comfortable feeling.
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Never had the pleasure of working in a hydro plant tunnel project. Lots of experience working in water diversion tunnels and subway tunnels. Helped build the Blue Line in Silver Spring, MD. That was a summer in hell for me. Lots of sun but hot and humid....
 
AKBill said:
Norman, I swear there have been some years here in SE AK were you get 60 days of rain in the summer. It's light out but you never get to see the sun..:( I know more than one family that has moved up here and within 6 months has left because of the weather. I've been here 25 years, and still have trouble from time to time dealing with the rain. Not to mention trying to find a flyable day.

I think the flyers in SE AK fly more in the rain than the average GA aviator.. Working underground does keep me out of the rain..:)
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That is no joke. Coming from the high desert where rain is rare then to the rain forest of Juneau was almost a culture shock for me. I saw more rain in one week than I had seen in the previous 10 years in the desert. I got used to it once I learned what rain gear is....:lol:
 
Craig said:
Did a little time in the old MX Missile facility long years ago. Used to have to walk through the MX mock up to get to our office
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I started out at DSC in late 1979 working on MX. We kept referring to "1st Launch" as "1st Crater". I built a lot of plastic models when I was a kid, never thought I'd grow up to build a full scale plastic rocket. :D
 
Ghery said:
I started out at DSC in late 1979 working on MX. We kept referring to "1st Launch" as "1st Crater". I built a lot of plastic models when I was a kid, never thought I'd grow up to build a full scale plastic rocket. :D
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LOL....I was there in 1982 I think. The old tire plant was being set up for production. Northern Telecom had just finished install the SL-1 switch and we were installing the microwave interconnect to the main plant up in the mountains. Some Northern Telecom dipswitch thought it would be funny to do a ringing generator test across all the lines, after we tagged the generators out while we were laid out in the wire wrap racks running cables. I don't know how many of their cables I tore out trying to get out of the racks when they hit the test script. One of the guys on the crew I was on, ran to the control room and got those guys to vanish before I could get there...They got moved to working nights and we stayed on days. They were told to not show up until we were gone and to be out of there before we got in. I think the guy that pulled the tagouts got sent home as soon as management found out.
 
Zeldman,

Got a lesson in that in the nineties while riding the Wing. Wife and I stopped and put on rain gear. We were soon passed by a crotch rocket rider who was soaked to the bone. We had a good laugh over that. He had no protection and was a drowned rat. We chuckled.
 
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