Two weeks ago I, Brian, took a trip to Mankato, MN for a training class with work at MTU Onsite Energy. MTU Onsite Energy is a part of MTU and here they manufacture Gensets. Everything from small ones you all have seen at the store to big ones pictured here.

Pictures of the building. The sign is new from the last time I was here early in Sept. About a year ago MTU bought Katolight and now they have changed their name.

16V4000 genset. I don't know for sure but I think it has an electrical output of 2000Kw
To give you an idea of how big this is - the ladder (orange) is an 8' ladder folded up so it is probably closer to 9' tall the way it is right now.

This is a S60 (same kind of engine found in freightliner trucks) genset in a sound attenuation (fancy way of saying making it quiet) enclosure. This has an electrical output ranging from 300Kw to 700Kw

This is another 18V4000 genset only this one has a remote radiator setup (no big black thing in front of it). This engine is also getting ready to be tested before going to the customer.

Yes, we test all of our gensets before they leave our facility. In fact, we even test the engine before it leaves our plant in either Detroit, MI or Germany, so the engine gets tested twice before it gets to the customer. This way we know that everything is working properly and can ensure the customer that this genset will work 100% if installed correctly and there will not be problems. The engine runs for a couple of hours at full load to be sure that nothing is going to over heat or come apart.

For those of you who have no idea how much power these engines put out because you do not have anything to reference it to; an average house would require 5-8Kw genset to run a house if the power went out. Some houses can get away with as little as 3Kw genset others need much more (ex. Al Gore's home would requre 15-30Kw genset)

Wednesday after my training was done, I met Wade and Rebecca Kreun in Owatonna, MN. It was about an hour drive for both of us for the Kreuns live in Rochester, MN. We ate dinner at Timber Lodge Steak House which is located right next to a Cabela's were we decided to meet. It was great to see them and catch up on things as well. I hope to be able to visit them again on future trips and maybe sometime I will be able to take Beth with me too.

Beth just read this to see if it all made sense. She learned some things by reading this...did you??

Candy Corn and Dash Lights

Just thought I'd share a few fun things with those of you who read about us every so often.

Last week I came home to find flowers and a bowl of candy corn on my desk. There was a note with it that explained it was a gift for Sweetest Day, because Brian had been gone the previous week, and because I'd been sick. Here's what the end of the note said: "If you eat all this candy corn on your desk, there is more, lots more, but to find it you must play my game." Following were a set of clues I had to figure out to find the rest of the candy corn.

Clue #1: "40 days and 40 nights"
I knew this would be the wooden ark we have in our living room. Inside I found the next clue.

Clue #2: "I know the ark is large, but do you think I would really put 3 lb. of corn in an ark? That much corn and it would sink. Your next clue is found between cariban and caribe and piranha and pirogue in the Webster's College Dictionary."
After looking in the dictionary, I found Caribbean and pirate, so I checked in our copy of "Pirates of the Caribbean to find the next clue.

Clue #3: "The next clue brings "Netherlands" to mind for we have had great memories there. Just find the one that does not belong for the next clue is there."
Since we have never been to the Netherlands together, I figured the next closest thing was Holland. I have sunset pictures in a collage on our wall. At the moment, there is a picture of Brian in one of the spots because his friends put it there, so that was the one that didn't belong.

Clue #4: "Now that I have you on memory lane, the next clue is similar and involves both of us."
I don't have any other pictures of Holland up, but there are other collages of pictures. The one from our honeymoon is the only one that both of us were at, so I knew the next clue had to be there.

Clue #5: "I will not make you search anymore. Just find what is so common with MTU, Wayne State, retirement, and computers for there you shall find a corny treasure."
These are all files in the bottom drawer of our file cabinet and that is where I found a 3 lb. bag of candy corn! I'm still slowly working on eating it all. :)

The dash lights in my car have not been working correctly for the past few weeks. For a while, they would come on partway through driving, but eventually they just didn't work anymore. I've become accustomed to driving with cruise because there are no street lights on the highway to see my speed. When we were home this weekend, Brian fixed them. The whole way home, every time Brian turned them on, they worked. Yesterday morning, I got in the car and turned the headlights on and there were no dash lights! They did come on before I got onto the road. I think they just don't like me for some reason. Hopefully they're not broken enough to have to replace anything.

Brian has some pictures from his latest trip to Katolight/MTU Onsite Energy. I don't know what all the machines are, so I'll have him post his pictures and tell you what they are.

Greenfield Village

This is the first time that I (Brian) have posted on our blog. I thought I would create a video containing clips from a few visits to Greenfield Village. This is one of the few videos that I have actually finished and produced. There are some silent parts because there was too much background noise and I removed the audio in those sections.

I know it is not the best movie you have ever seen but let me know what you think.

Everyday Life

It's about time for an update on our everyday, normal lives. We've actually stayed in Belleville for almost a month now, which is the longest since we have moved here. We're getting to know people, our way around, and keeping busy without having to drive to GR every other weekend. Here's what we've been up to and what's coming up for us.

Brian is actually staying busy at work. He is part of a group that is trying to translate information from one program to another, newer program. This is a program that they order engines and generators from. He meets every Thursday with the group and stays busy working on his part of the project in between.

Brian hasn't travelled with work since the beginning of September. That's been nice for me because I haven't had to stay here alone. Next week though, he'll be gone again. He leaves Tuesday afternoon for Mankato to do some training. He's going to see our friends Wade and Rebecca while he's out there because they live not too far from Mankato. He'll come back at midnight on Friday night and then leave again for Saturday and Sunday with cadets. Hopefully he's feeling better than he does right now - he's got a nasty cold.

As you probably figured out, Brian started being a cadet counselor at Dearborn CF. They have had one meeting so far and he helped with the older kids and cutting wood. It's been a while since he's worked with kids, so it's a new experience for him. He'll miss the meeting next week Wednesday, but that weekend they have a campout that he'll be going on.

I've been keeping busy with school and work. I am almost constantly reading either a textbook or young adult novel, so I don't lack for anything to do. Most nights in our apartment are spent with me reading one of my many books and Brian watching a movie or playing computer games. My classes are good so far this semester. I love the young adult literature class, although it keeps me busy with 2-3 novels a week. My reference class is interesting, but I've learned it's not something I'm terribly excited about doing in the future. The cataloging class is a lot of little rules, but I like it because I've done it before. We'll see how the midterm goes. :)

I looked at my schedule for the rest of my degree and discovered that I should be done next December. This is a semester sooner than I had originally thought, so that will be nice to have it done and actually be able to find a real person's job.

Work is pretty good. Earlier this week we had no computers for a day and a half, so that gave us a ton to do once they came back up! I did a tween program last week with two kids, but they enjoyed it and that's all that matters. Wednesday night I showed "Monster House". I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I should be doing all the time while I'm there, but I'm getting there.

Tonight we're going to Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village. They have 800 jack-o-lanterns, people dressed up, and candy to pass out. I'm pretty excited about seeing something different there. Tomorrow night we have our first small group meeting for Dearborn CF. We joined a small group of people who live out our direction, so it will be good to meet some new people from the church that don't live in Dearborn.

After the small group meeting, we're driving to Midland so that I can go to my cousin's bridal shower Sunday afternoon. It will be a short trip, but good to see Grandma Jo and Fred. Since Brian's leaving me most of the next week, I'm making a very quick trip to GR for Becky's supporters dessert. I'll be there maybe 24 hours, but not much more. It will get me away from being here alone the whole week.

We're actually both coming home for a weekend Oct. 24-26. It's my dad's birthday and we're taking family pictures and those are wonderful excuses to come home. We'll spend some time with Brian's family on Saturday and hopefully see a few other people while we're there too. Hopefully you haven't gotten too bored with our happenings, but I figured people would want to know about our everyday life instead of just the extra fun things we do. :)