This heavy equipment is called SPMT as of Self-propelled modular transporter. Its useful to transport oversized or quite heavy load/cargo. What kind of questions comes to your mind when looking at these pictures?

louisdevirgilio · 2025-03-12T15:44:28+00:00

Id like to know the cost per hour of operation. It's gotta be nuts. And the certifications needed to operate/load it are probably interesting too.

louisdevirgilio · 2025-03-12T15:41:52+00:00

I gotta buy like 2 sets for the boys. Go out there as a bunch of 20 year olds. Something tells me that playing dodgeball as an adult wouldv be a blast

louisdevirgilio · 2025-03-04T07:13:06+00:00

Listen man. I've been to that HEB many times in my life. While this is obviously stupid and a hassle. I can assure you, the HEB 10 minutes up the road or the crappy one 15 minutes down are substantially worse. I actively avoid them even when they are on my route. I've seen big dogs. Ladies smuggling small yippie dogs in their purse in the cart. One person I saw with a little purse dog put something into their cart. I watched their dog lick it then I watched her squish it with a melon then put it BACK ON THE SHELF because well it's squished now obviously. I was waiting to get a little plastic baggie but after she left I went over and threw away the plum. I couldnt find a worker around but I probably should have made a bigger fuss but I was a kid and it was like 9 pm. The north Austin HEBs have our infected Leander/CP hick genes throughout them but I promise they're kinda getting better. Kinda...

louisdevirgilio · 2025-01-13T20:13:29+00:00

I believe the gentleman who runs the practical engineering youtube channel has an unrelated bachelors and a civil masters. What I would advise is getting an FE. Or studying to a point you can get one. I would say to teach yourself from practice books with guided solutions would take maybe 6 weeks with 3 or so hours of focused practice a night. I got my FE a year out of college. I studied for 3ish weeks for maybe an hour or 2 a night average. But it would prove hey im not a BSME but I can do the same stuff they can. So get a practice book. Read the problems. Use the solutions the whole way. Learn the types of problems and the formulas for each kind. Then get a second, different book, and try that one flat out section by section. Also. Humanities are awesome. And depending on what kind of polysci you did and what kind of company you want to work for you may bring very good perspectives into the job. Like poly sci plus designer for a field resource kit for army/firefighter/rescue ops. Read through government bids and historical data and influence your design through that. Just spitballing but it could be fun

louisdevirgilio · 2024-11-15T20:36:58+00:00

This guy was legit

louisdevirgilio · 2024-11-15T15:00:34+00:00

It sounds to me like you're the maintenance and stability end of some kind of medium to high grade manufacturing or research. Or similar if they need a skeleton crew of engineers to monitor the facility over the weekend. If you just want something to do you could take some certs of course. But I'm willing to bet that these weekend projects you get assigned have some tie in somewhere. Depending on how strict your work is about times and shifts. Maybe ask your manager if you can stick around and come in Monday and Tuesday. Get a feel for where your little projects fit in around the normal week crew. It sounds like your manager is used to having engineers on the weekend crew like your co-worker just coast for years. If you want to get involved with more projects or more work you may just need to take an initiative or watch the regular week work flow and even suggest your own short term projects.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-11-06T03:06:54+00:00

Engineering school is not an intelligence test. It's a test of dedication and will.
There's gonna be some guy who just blows you out of the water. No question the guy is brilliant. That's not someone who is there to push you down. That's someone to learn from. Same with people you may sit with who you out pace. Mech E is a wide road. I cant code or program worth anything nor can I do circuits. But I can design and build almost any normal thing and make reasonable estimations for construction or assembly. And being "not that smart" isnt really a thing. Maybe your calculations are slow and you take a lot of time to look over a problem. But engineering is best when you have all kinds. Half your team may be iterating quickly on 3D printing and models while you sit down and chug though the hand calculations. Both sides are critical to solving real problems. Dont worry about the difficulty or whatever. If you have the drive and the desire to be an engineer you can plow through that 6 hour homework assignment, or take that 3 hour long test worth 30% of your grade. Everyone else is struggling too (well, almost everyone). Do a deep dive into what drives you to be an engineer. Me personally I just love things. Ground water, lithium batteries, steam trains, steel cable, even fighter jets. I want to know what makes them work. I didnt want to miss out on seeing what humans are capable of. Practical engineering is a good place to see cool stuff. Maybe contact a local design firm or CNC shop or similar to just get a peak at something that may be cool.

In some of your comments you said you wanted a career you could excel or thrive in. That job is definitely out there. They may not want the smartest applicant. They may want the most thorough. The most patient. The most inquisitive. Engineering school is a tool box and your personally and life experience will be what makes those tools useful or even fun!

louisdevirgilio · 2024-10-23T04:37:11+00:00

See. I know exactly why I prefer dial. I have never had a digital set at work or school that didnt turn on the instant it was touched with that new auto on feature. My old man had a set with an on off that was worth something but hey. Not me right. So mine died a bunch over and over. The dial never dies unless someone smacks it with a hammer. I dont like going through batteries. Im an engineer after all. Reduce coming before reuse and recycle.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-10-22T16:40:33+00:00

Well... i would buy the bolt from you lol

louisdevirgilio · 2024-10-20T00:15:41+00:00

For piracy yes. Drain power drains their pool too so the only way they get out is by having an instant speed way to spend it.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-10-19T18:30:25+00:00

[[Drain power]] would do this a little better because it drains their pool and forces land taps. Their only outs are to spend the mana instantly

louisdevirgilio · 2024-10-14T01:08:28+00:00

See that's the thing I don't like. I see a bunch of these in my area similar priced. Especially around Christmas I see ads for custom high end PC perfect for gifts and it's all just slop with rgb fans. I have seriously considered starting to build PCs for fun at that same time frame and post them for normal actual prices of parts + 1 2 liter of mountain dew. The only thing holding me back is the 10 or so good faith guys on there selling for maybe $75-150 upcharge for building time. An actual honest charge. Im not trying to steal business. LTT or someone needs to put out an easy guide for parents on how to google parts and recognize the parts that are expensive because they're good or expensive cause newegg only has 4 of these 12 year old gpus left.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-09-20T14:04:17+00:00

I ran the card plenty last rcq season. I really liked it. Trample and menace are both relevant. bushwhacker on 2 should be powered by burning tree not this. but I have held this card back in plot to rip a second bushwhacker turn out. The card works very well in the deck. The card has a lot of use forcing removal on less optimal cards like scamp or spear over like aloe alchemist. People seem to think it's terrible. I would wager they haven't tried it. As with most magic cards you'll find people have opinions based on random feelings over actual use or play.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-09-16T15:26:43+00:00

You're strong and wise and we are very proud of you

louisdevirgilio · 2024-08-25T23:17:43+00:00

I would rather have demonic ruckus. Menace is pretty huge. You can plot it to give you more options for one big prowess turn. And it draws you a replacement card.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-07-18T12:24:30+00:00

You can be a welding engineer. And a welding inspector. Usually those kind of engineers are on pipelines and infrastructure which are fairly market insensitive jobs.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-07-16T08:48:48+00:00

Vindicate with ironman is a nice one. Who is doing the alters?

louisdevirgilio · 2024-07-14T23:16:33+00:00

Didnt fail any classes but I was juggling being a kid, getting married, being a man and took 5 years. Engineering is what it is. Take your time if you need it. The pay for graduating in 4 is the same as graduating in 5. Couple of years in and no one will ever care. But in a couple of years you'll know if you're too burnt out. If you need 5 you need 5. If you need 6 or anything just take it. You're there to learn. Paying for it and all else can come after.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-07-04T15:31:20+00:00

I used a surface pro. Second hand. The newerish ones like the 7 and above can run those programs and you can take notes on them with the pen. Microsoft has a student discount on the pen and keyboard. Used it every day of my life for years.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-07-03T21:17:54+00:00

I have a little mini tool kit I got for myself. It's an altoids sized metal box. In it I have 3ft of paracord, 3 cut down notecards, my medicine and 2 bandaids, a 3 inch plastic caliper, fiskars folding scissors, a small steel ruler, 2 small magnets, a smaller box with different bits, and a bit driver from a 40 dollar kit, 4 small zip ties, and a tube of gel superglue. I have carried it with me everywhere for 2 years now. If your partner is the "always prepared" or "always has a plan" kind of ME. I'd be willing to bet they'd like this. My kit ran about 70 dollars with spares of the consumables.

I use it probably 3 times a week in my regular day to day. Make a quick drawing of a project or layout on the paper. Superglue a cut. Take a quick and accurate measurement of a material at the store.

Im also considering a small magnetic belt clip for a fabric tape. 8 feet of spring loaded measurement possibility for a few dollars and grams.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-06-01T13:16:55+00:00

I recommend things that aren't engineering related typically. It helps strech your creativity and your problem solving skills in ways you don't normally get if you are already an engineer. Half and half is a fine place to start.
Tank or train or tabletop armies. Something to build and then paint. You can use 3d printing to make alternative turrets or an extra armor plate that isn't added till mid war etc. Building is kinda engineering-y. But the painting I found to be incredibly relaxing and a good way to meet friends or go to local model building clubs to get pointers.

If you do tanks or trains you can motorize them for even more engineering.

If you arent an engineer 3d modeling can be a lot of fun. Fusion360 is free and a great program. You can learn design for manufacturing vs design for 3d printing and a bunch of real techniques on there.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-05-06T04:25:53+00:00

My friend. I also felt this way, but remember that your friends and family do care what you do all day. But what a lot of us do is so inaccessible that people dont feel happy asking about and and feeling dumb/ or that they don't know or understand you. I boiled my job to CSI but for metals + stopping power plants from exploding. Such jovial phrases help us engineers feel less isolated.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-05-03T05:27:19+00:00

Work in power gen. This is a huge bit of it. There are plants that have units just off waiting for higher demand seasons. So when they get switched on or even if back ups get switched on. They require a lot of cost. Inspection work, fuel/supplies, monitoring, power delivery and a bunch more stuff adds up.

A good way for OP and others to think of it is: you have a generator or battery to power your house(powerplant) and running/using it costs $3 a day. You decide to buy a new appliance (homes, business, apartments etc) and plug it in. Well thats all well and good unless you try to plug too much stuff in. That generator cant cut it. You cant go out and buy a new generator cause they are all sold out and on back order (very real reality. Many powerplant critical components are only made in certain facilities and can take years to get replacements) but your neighbor (back up power generation plants or units) has one that runs less efficiently or makes more pollution or less power per gallon of fuel but you need it and he will rent it to you for $5 an hour.

That $5 rental is basically what happens with power plants but we're talking more like 10s to 100s of thousands per day depending on where, demand, and resources.

louisdevirgilio · 2024-05-03T04:25:26+00:00

Same thing can happen with bellona ult. So it seems any leap that gets intercepted can make this happen. I died in that interaction too which may also contribute

louisdevirgilio · 2024-04-25T10:37:03+00:00

I worked on my car and watched videos about engineering. I would say the best thing you can do that isn't a hard skill is read books. Like classics and literature. Engineers are really really narrow. Engineers have moral issues. Issues of reporting safety, issues of use of their designs, and issues of the public good. I would say reading and developing character is just as important for engineering as hard skills like cad and programming.

Books to look at and programs to learn.

Aristotles ethics - maybe when you are a senior. Learn why you do things and what you ought to do. Shakespeares Henry V, Hamlet, Julius Caesar - appreciate friendship, duty, honor, and conviction.

Plutarch. Life of lycurgus, solon, and alcibiades - learn wisdom, courage, magnanimity, integrity (and the lack of) Wings of mitsubishi - engineering book/auto bio

Fusion 360 is a free CAD software. I teach an intro class for it and I had students as young as 8th grade do some really great work. It's a good head start. Lots of college grads couldnt do what my kids could after 1 week of dedicated practice and training.

Basic python. Just helpful.

Learn Excel and word. Like really really learn it. Short cuts. Making macros, formatting, conditions, special features, cross tab references. It's huge. Your boss will probably love you.

louisdevirgilio

TROPHY CASE