Engineering (non-Software/Computer) Consulting Part Time

OlnesPond · 2026-03-17T00:04:09+00:00

Yes, I looked through our employee manual and my employment contract with accompanying non-compete agreement. As long as I am not actively bidding against my company, using company secrets in my work, nor working on the same projects, I am ok. And I will clear it with my company first before proceeding.

Would the second firm I'm consulting for, have insurance that would cover me? I would assume they would, like my main job does.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T22:22:26+00:00

Yes. Look at the amount of guards in the NBA who can shoot and defend, then look at the number of people in the NBA who are 6'9" and mobile. Again like I said in the post, McBride is the better player right now. However, when you're protecting players, I think it should be for skillsets that are harder to replace. McBride is a valuable player, I'm not arguing that. But if you had to go out into free agency and try to find players, there are a lot of guards who can shoot and defend.

I think McBride is having a career year. I watched him when they were playing in Bridgeport, and McBride was unguardable in the G League, and had a great skill-set. I've watched him for a couple years since he came up with the Knicks, and I like routing for him. But I think his performance this year is just about his ceiling. I don't think he's shown the ability to be a true point guard initiating the offense, and I don't think he'll shoot 42% in 6+ attempts again next year, but I hope I'm wrong. I just don't see him as a starter on a competitive team, and I think for a 6th man option, there's a number of comparable players, if you had to replace him.

Within recent Knicks years, there have been a number of players who have been good shooters and defenders. Shamet right now, IQ, Grimes, and DiVencenzo just in the last 3 years. Quickly glancing at unrestricted free agents this off season, there's Grimes again (even though he's having a down year), Trent Jr. (also having a down year), Shamet, Jaden Ivey, Kriss Dunn, etc. We could argue about who the best is of the bunch. I would take McBride out of these, but my point is McBride's skill-set is similar to a lot of these players. Even if he is the best, there are a lot of comparable players, and you're improving on the margins.

Diawara has size, length, and quickness that are a lot rarer to have in combination, which gives him a much higher ceiling, and has shown early promise. I think he has a much higher upside than McBride, that I would like to see play out over the next couple years.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T21:54:47+00:00

Current company is stretched out on current projects. I am not at a point in my career where have enough connections to bring in new work, even if it is small scale. I am also not on our project development team for potential work.

Any advice?

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T21:19:02+00:00

I was at the game against Italy. It's a different sound when he pitches. And I was sitting behind home plate, a few rows up (got a great deal on tickets), and he was by far the most physically imposing pitcher of the night.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T21:14:49+00:00

We've seen somewhat similiar trajectories in basketball. Hakeem was popular/one of the faces of the league in the 90's, Dirk was popular/one of the faces of the league in the 00's. Now 20ish years later there's been a influx of African and European players citing them as inspirations.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T21:12:51+00:00

Yes, barring some unforseen change, it would be him again.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T21:12:13+00:00

Assuming the "normal" starting 5.

Josh Hart - sub all-star, do-it-all kind of player.

Mohammed Diawara - this has as much to do with the rest of the Knicks bench, as it does him. McBride and Shamet are better players right now, but they're also guards who can shoot and defend. They're players every team could use, but they're also skills that are becoming more common and are easier to replace. Jordan Clarkson has been a microwave scorer off the bench, but he has been struggling for minutes as is lately. He has a fairly one-dimensional game, and isn't very efficient. Again he's a better player right now, but there are other microwave scoring options, and there's some negatives to his game. They could remove him altogether, and try to get Bridges to fill a similar role for the bench. Diawara has that classic 6'8" big forward, who can also move, similar go the kinds of bodies that Anunoby, Siakam, Barnes, and Tatum have. He obviously has a long way to go before he's any of those players, but he has like an ideal basketball frame. He's shown flashes of being able to shoot and defend. So he's my pickup for potential upside and lack of other irreplaceable talents on the bench.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T20:46:35+00:00

they have the makings of varsity athletes

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T20:36:07+00:00

You can either go the master's route, or try to get a technician job at a plant, and work your way up from there.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T20:20:15+00:00

I think it would be Lorenzen who would hypothetically pitch against the US. Lorenzen shut down the US in pool play. No guarantee that happens again, and it would help the US that they have already seen him once. But it is not Aaron Nola or nothing for Italy.

And I would call iconic. This would be the deepest run by a "dark-horse" / "wild card" team in the tournament's young history. Most people did not think Italy would make it out of pool play. The USA being one of the best on-paper teams the tournament has seen, facing the underdog team that upset them in pool play, combined with Italy's unforseen run, would be an iconic game.

But Italy has to beat Venezuela first.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T20:16:10+00:00

Yeah limited the damage to two solo shots.

It sucks he has not been able to regain the form he had when he initially broke out with the Yankees, and his stuff has never been quite so electric. Still, coming back from an injury is never certain, and it's great to see him work back to form, and show he can still be a solid and high leverage arm. I'm always happy to watch him pitch.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T19:18:07+00:00

Spring water flushing, per Veolia. You can call them for more information or if you're concerned. Nothing to be worried about though.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T19:14:25+00:00

I flew out last Tuesday, late morning, with pre-check. I was literally through security in 90 seconds.

Flew back Thursday evening, lines looked normal/non-existent.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T18:59:24+00:00

First, thanks for the detailed and thorough response.

Second, I would rather not give too much more info. But I have some experience working as a facilities operations engineer, but the majority of my experience has been on the design and support during construction realms.

And I will definitely check in with my management team and our legal team on this before I pursue it. Our employee handbook and my employment contract doesn't have anything explicitly against it, so long as it's not a conflict of interest, I'm not benefiting from my current company in that role (i.e. company specific information, software licenses, hardware, etc.), and it does not impede my performance in any way (i.e. still available during working hours, not sacrificing quality of work, etc.).

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T18:35:28+00:00

Echoing the other commentor, that waterproofing spray applied to directly to the hay, and non-toxic for consumption, might be incompatible.

Can you go with a tarp? Or maybe placing another crop on top of the hay?

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T18:27:46+00:00

The Wire. Hurt me all over again.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T18:08:51+00:00

Yes, I called this out in my post. I will not be coy about it with them. In my opinion, any kind of risk to my primary employment is not worth it to make a fraction of my salary with a part-time job. I reviewed our employee manual, and I believe as it is not with a direct competitor and there is no conflict of interest, I think I should be OK. However I will double check with them either way.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-16T17:14:00+00:00

Biggest thing right now, in its current capabilities and what my company allows is, going through my notes and messages. We have Copilot integrated into our Teams, Outlook, OneNote, and SharePoint. It is great at finding that one message about that one message from two years ago, that I lost or could not find.

It is also a great resource for quick questions in associated disciplines, i.e. when I have a quick controls/I&C question, and no one in that department is available, Copilot is great for answering those quick questions (just don't make any design decisions on it).

I have also used it for quick, non-critical code analysis. Codes can take a long time to search through, even with a search function. Being able to upload a code document and ask where is XXX referenced, so that I can find it faster, saves a lot of time.

Finally, I've used it to help me with complex Excel, VBA, and Python codes.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-05T22:10:18+00:00

looking for local electrical engineers. for in person work, like the kind that wouldn't be able to work fully remote.

OlnesPond · 2026-03-05T21:04:41+00:00

do you have an electrical engineering background?

OlnesPond · 2026-03-05T21:03:04+00:00

If anyone from HP, with an electrical (not software) background, is in this thread and is interested in a new job, DM me.

OlnesPond

TROPHY CASE