NLC Week 1

The first week of class went well. Started the week off bright and early around 4:30 A.M. (After the Army, I forgot that hour even existed). I left the house here in Sacramento about 5:30 to pick my buddy Paul up in West Sacramento by 6:00 (I know Paul from the Electrical Technology class I graduated from earlier this year). Neither Paul nor I have the ambition to crawl around in attics or crawl-spaces for a living as electricians, so we both signed up and enrolled in NLC to learn Utility Linework. We are both Veterans so we are using the Post-9/11 GI-Bill to pay for classes. The Post-9/11 GI-Bill covers the tuition and lab fees and I get a $1,000 supplies stipend to pay for books, tools and supplies. Unfortunately, any electives and the additional $1,400 worth of required hand tools and climbing equipment is an out of pocket cost, well worth it though. We went up the CA-70 through Marysville and got into Oroville around 7:20 so it wasn’t too bad of a drive. We were one of the first people there, so we waited until the doors opened at 8:00 and began the process of checking-in. The whole process was really organized; last names beginning with A-M were on the left side of the door and N-Z on the right side. The school has 96 students and runs two classes concurrently, we are known as either Team Edison or Team Tesla, Paul and I are in Edison. Then we are broke down by last name into 4 man crews, I am in team 1. (This kind of reminds me of the structure of the Army). At 30, I am the oldest guy on my crew, the rest of the guys on my crew are pretty much just out of high school. The rest of the day Monday consisted of typical first day orientation stuff completing paperwork and learning the rules. You know...Here's what you can and can't do, here's what will get you kicked out of the program and lastly here's how you succeed! Tuesday Team Edison received our hand tools and climbing equipment, which was like a REALLY EXPENSIVE CHRISTMAS, and we learned to tie the essential knots (Bowline, Running Bowline, Bowline on a Bight, Clove Hitch and Square Knot). While we did this the other class Team Tesla did CPR & First-Aid. Most of the guys bought all of the hand tools and climbing equipment from the school, however, there were a good number of guys who had used items which saved them a TON of money. Had I known we could use “used” climbing equipment, I could have saved close to $1,500, oh well. On Wednesday we did CPR & First-Aid while Team Tesla got their tools and equipment. Thursday we spent the day in the field rotating through the three stations (this is known as County Fair) which are the Climbing Pit, Distribution Pit and the Transmission & Underground Pit. Finally we got to get on the poles. It was great. My instructor wasn’t so happy that I climbed up to about the 5 or 6 foot level, haha. Starting Monday academics begin and we begin working out in the field as well. Monday my group will be in the Climbing Pit learning climbing fundamentals, Tuesday we will be in the Distribution Pit learning about distribution principles and Wednesday we will be in the Transmission & Underground Pit learning about underground connections and transmission principles. Thursday is “County Fair” day and we rotate between the three stations every couple of hours. Every day we will begin with two hours of class lecture then we move to the field for six hours of fun in the sun (or rain). Tests are in Thursday mornings. This is going to be an AWESOME 15 weeks.