Looking back on the first week of class

I’m just now sitting down today to do my blog post.  Today is Friday but it’s been a busy day!  We did our recycling trip and had a wonderful lunch out, then did some water system maintenance and filled some orders.  I’ve been slow to get to my blog posts this week because I’ve been staying pretty busy with things.  For example, I have my Electrical Wiring book to study.  I have my notes from Basic Wiring class to study.  I have orders to do maybe 2-3 times a day.  There are meal times that take up some time, errands to run, and other household things that need doing. I get a nap for 2 hours a day, which is much needed in the early afternoon so I can make it into the evening. During my free time, I like to use my iPad to surf the web, and that probably takes up at least an hour a day, maybe two.  So I stay pretty busy during the day.

Thinking ahead to Solar Technology

But right now, as I sit at my iPad, I am developing some warm thoughts about my upcoming Solar Technology class.  I’m really waiting for that class to start.  It won’t start until February 7, which is 24 days away.  Basic Wiring is nice, but we won’t get to cover anything directly related to solar energy in that class.  The focus is primarily on residential wiring.  It is lots of useful and practical information that electricians working on houses will have to know all the time, but I want to know how to install and wire up solar panels.  The closest I think I will get is wiring up a cable to a service panel, which will be necessary to do in order to install inverters and AC disconnects.

While I think Solar Technology will definitely be of greater use to me, I am still committed to making an A in Basic Wiring.  I never know when I might need to know all the information we will be covering in class.  Maybe I might be an electrician someday, though I never thought I would be one.  Let me correct myself – I mean I never thought I’d be a residential electrician.  Now, solar electrician is something different altogether, and I think that is definitely a possibility.

I get a special feeling just looking at a solar panel and knowing that it is converting visible light directly to electricity.  Whenever the sun shines, I always feel great, and the sun is also doing something wonderful inside of solar panels as well.  I want to hold a panel in my hand and think about the panel performing its amazing work.  What’s even better than one panel is a collection of panels, all there doing their thing in the sun.  It will be hard work installing them on rooftops, but I imagine I will feel a great sense of satisfaction seeing the products of my work, and knowing that those panels will be there for 25 years or more converting sunlight from 93 million miles away into free electricity.

Today’s battery installation

While on the topic of electricity, I just have to mention the wonderful experience I had this morning as I installed a new battery in my husband’s car.  It was cold outside and my fingers were a little stiff, not to mention this was the first job that I was doing after getting right out of bed in the morning.  However, it was a very great experience.  I had read before Christmas how to replace a car battery, and this morning I just had to do the reverse of what we had done before.  I just had to put the positive clamp on first, then the negative one and that was pretty much it.  Once I was done, I closed the hood and opened up the door again to try the ignition.  It was wonderful to turn the key and hear it beep at last – the power was on!  

Some people get their kick from driving powerful cars.  I don’t think I get a kick as much as I experience great enjoyment at being able to safely hold something that contains so much power (like a battery), or the potential to yield a lot of power (like solar panels).  Electricity is something that is simultaneously exciting, but deserves great respect.  I spend a lot of time thinking about how wonderful electricity is, but like most people my direct electrical experience is pretty limited. Hence I’m taking my Basic Wiring class so I can learn.  It is a route toward exploring my interest further, and though it will fill me with more information than I will probably ever need to know in order to install solar panels, it will still be a great class.