flu....flu....flu

Sorry!

I’ve been ill :( I’ve had an stomach flu, and I’ve been in bed for these days.
I’m not used to be in bed for so long, and I get exasperated easily.

Actually I don’t like those kind of situations in which I’m not the one who controls them. I know that there are many times in which I’m just an observer, and all things that could happen won’t depend directly on me. However, those times when I think that I’ve all under control, something unexpected happens. Then, I realize that I was wrong, and I can see how many determining factors are behind every single action. For example in a car crash, in which you get involved because you were there, in the wrong place at the wrong time. All seem to be a game of chance…. If last week I hadn’t been attending a two-day seminar, I wouldn't have met the one who gave me the flu.

I haven’t told yet you what I do. Well, I told you that this is my first year in a water company. I’m working for its development department. This is actually my training period, and I should end up knowing about almost everything that is done there. The question is, what is done there? Well, the company has remote stations, such as pumping stations, water deposits, sewage station, water treatment plants, and so on. These stations have to be remotely supervised and controlled (for example, opening and closing pumps or valves). The master station does also the polling of the remote stations of its net.

As you imagine, there are a lot of remote stations widely scattered! Well, to communicate with those stations any operator needs a graphical interface to interact with, and that’s what I’m programming….or trying to. Its name is Scada. There isn’t a standardized platform to program it, since there are many software developers, and each one offer different approaches and different ways of programming. As usual, price is what makes a difference.

I like this sort of half visual programming language, where one has to program the graphics (which is quite funny, because I like graphical programming) and at the same time write new scripts to adapt each interface to the particular case in its remote station.

I’ll also have to learn how to work with the automatons that the company gets. Nowadays, just two people can program those robots and are experts in the field. That’s why the company requires that more people get familiarized with them. Basically because every station is managed by a automaton, which will be “bigger” or not (in the sense of more analog/digital inputs, analog/digital outputs and a higher calculation power) depending on the complexity of the stations, and all the water processes carried out there. A simple automaton can cost more than 1,000 euros.
Tomorrow I have to go to a water treatment plant. You can't get an idea how it stinks! The worst thing is that I get used to that…..One can get used to almost everything, as long as one needs to….

That idea scared me a lot, because most people don’t usually question whether something is wrong or not. For example, some people avoid thinking about what’s happening with forests and oceans and how it will affect themselves, is it ok? And what about politics? I particularly disbelieve in any politician. They aren’t insincere and most of them just want to make a profit from their positions. It's true that in their beginnings they had honest aims, but power mixed with money end up corrupting anyone in charge.

From my point of "rational" view, it’s advisable to get one's own convictions, and not to support any particular theory blindly. On the other hand, for many people it’s important to cling to the hope that some convictions give to them, to feel relief , to face difficult situations or to tale a load off one’s mind…..


That’s all for now!

See you tomorrow

Silvia

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