It is the period after EOS Aura structural testing. Their is a lull in activity. In fact, I'm bored. Other than a few small test reports to write, there is nothing more to do on EOS. But I make the mistake of telling the Boss that I have nothing to do and that I am bored.
A couple weeks later the Boss calls. "Do you want to support the EOS Aqua thermal vac test?"
"What does thermal vac have to do with our department?", I ask the Boss.
He goes into a long description of how we actually perform the data acquisition task for the thermal vac testing. And he explains that we do data acquisition support for a lot of other static and pseudo- static testing around the company.
Taking a cue from my military background (One never refuses an assignment in the military.) and thinking that I could learn some things during the test, I enthusiastically agree to help out with the data acquisition.
It is only a few days later, two days before the test starts and way too late to back out now, that I realize that 24 hour coverage is needed. And I start calculating how many hours this entails. Let's see - there's 24 hours in a day and two people covering it. That's 12 hours a day. Wait a minute. I must have done something wrong. Let me re-do this calculation. But it keeps coming out to 12 hours per person regardless of how I do the math. And then I start to realize that this coverage includes Saturdays and Sundays and Labor Day.
Somewhere along the way a second and a third date with the biochemist occur. We have not had the serious discussions about DNA and genetics and mixing chemicals that I had been hoping for, but there is still time.
Fast forward nine days into the testing. The 6 am until 6 pm 12 hour per day shift, 7 days a week is going okay. (I don't know exactly why, but the other dynamics support asked for the 6pm until 6 am shift.) Nopester doesn't really recognize me anymore. Except on the days that we get out for a walk.
During the testing, opportunities for cool conversations and dates with two geek pseudo-ChiChi's present themselves. The dates will have to wait for a short while. But they should be fun.