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My GE Days in Atlanta
Saumen Sarker
My GE  Days in Atlanta
PHOTO : GE Global Operations Center,Atlanta which monitors and evaluates the operation of GE turbines in power plants across the globe.

Some memories are ever sweet , especially when they are filled with many new beginnings, experiences of lifetime. It was November 2001, I got an offer from GE (General Electric) Power Systems , Atlanta to lead a Team of VPN (Virtual Private Network) Engineers who are responsible for connecting Control Systems of every GE Managed Power Plant, Turbines around the world to Global Monitoring Station at GE Power Systems Global operational headquarter at Marietta, Atlanta.

It was post 9/11,also I had to move my car from NY to Atlanta – so rather than flying,  I  decided to drive from New York to Atlanta , a distance of 1075 Miles (1600 Kms approx). I always love long drives, also like to explore new places, my hands and  pedals on BMW instantly transforms me a speed-loving freak.  America’s highways are lifeline of country , also spectacular views of different states, rivers, mountains, farms and gardens.  New York is considered a cold place from October to March but as one goes further Southern stretch of country, much warmer weather and landscape welcomes you. For the long drive to Atlanta – I started early morning from my NJ home -  It was a 16 hrs drive with 3 halts along the I-95 and I-85 (Interstate-95) highways – reached Atlanta at midnight. That was my first longest road trip in USA crossing 7 States – New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and then finally to Georgia .  Rivers of Delaware, Mountains of  North Carolina, South Carolina are not only amazingly beautiful  but it left me spell bound, even later everytime I drove through that corridor (I drove 6 times between NY /NJ to Atlanta). After arriving at Atlanta Hotel, few drinks comforted me at night from the backache due to continuous driving for many hours.

Picture : GE Power Systems Headquarter at 4300 Wildwood Parkway, Marietta, Atlanta. 

Day of joining at GE

It was a Monday morning 8.30am, I was driving through the massive campus of GE buildings at Wildwood Parkway, Marietta, Atlanta.  General Electric (GE) is a huge company with many divisions worldwide – GE Power Systems worldwide headquarter  is Atlanta.   Tom Gardiner, Director of VPN/Networking , an Irish gentleman welcomed me to office.  My first experience was very nice, also felt happy to get a smart boss.  Tom gave me a tour of Company, our Team had a nice lunch as GE’s company café – within no time I became part of the “family”.

My GE assignment needed me to travel every alternate week around Country, Canada and South American countries to supervise VPN installations, Troubleshooting, Network connectivity at Power Plants, and then connectivity to  GE Global Networks. Also my role needed me to work with other GE companies – GE Energy, GE Fanuc etc – any GE companies involved with Power Plants, Network Communications, Software Development etc.  

Trip to  Fort McMurray, Canada

The very next month in December’2001 during Christmas Holidays time there was a major Network Problem in GE Managed Power Plants  at Canada’s Albian Sands, Fort McMurray, Alberta Province –so, I had to fly out immediately from Atlanta to Toronto via NY, then Toronto to Fort McMurray via Edmonton.  It was a very long flight journey covering whole day and part of night crossing south eastern USA to Northwestern Canada–  last part of journey from Edmonton to Fort McMurray was by a small 20 seater Turbo-Prop Flight   flying in low altitude – I was seeing heavy snow falling front of propeller lights – finally around night 10 Flight landed at Fort McMuray – a small oil mine Town – from runway to small town all whitened up by feets of snow . That part of Canada ( closer to North Pole) is very rich in oil –it has large reserve like Middle East but most of the gigantic reserve is unexplored  or kept for future use by USA/Canada. Its called Albian Sands , here  under ice layers, oil is mixed in layer of sands.  At  Airport, driver from hotel received me , it was freezing cold, temperature minus -15”C (minus fifteen degree Celsius) – a big SUV , he is a Native Red-Indian man around age 60 –  with a big smile he told me “ everyone calls me “Big Joe” here , I have been driving since the age of 18 , don’t get scared “ as long roads full of ice, chances of vehicle slippery/sliding was very high – I drove in winter through the snow/ice in NY/NJ but nothing like at Fort McMurray where freezing ice of few feets high everywhere. Through roads cleaned up but very narrow stretch of drivable road from Airport. Fort McMurray  is a small town surrounded by  full of  big  oil mines – every oil mine is located in far away places from town, 20 to 30 km away – each Oil Mine has their own Power Plant, own runway for small flights. Everything in  town is very expensive as they need to be transported from a long distance – winter time is terrible cold. After a short sleep at Hotel next day morning “big Joe” drove me to Power Plant – a 20km approx. drive through the ice white landscape.  Every Turbine of a Power Plant communicates with Control Systems computers via a dedicated Token Ring Network , and control systems monitor fluid levels, other operational parameters for a smooth functioning of Gas Turbines to generate Electricity.  All these control systems computers connect via VPN (Virtual Private Network) to Monitoring Station at Atlanta,USA.  After reaching Plant ,it took 3 hours to fix the Network communication problems – tested with my Atlanta office and I was done with my mission.

Picture : Defrosting (removing thick coating of ice) of Flight at Fort McMurray Airport, Canada

But now what I do, how to kill time ? Its 31st December New Year night – but Fort McMurray is a sleepy small town mostly occupied by Oil Mining company people –nothing much parties either  – so sat in Hotel Pub in evening  with our few GE folks based out of Canada – made few  news friends on New Year night. Around night 12.30 we went out for a drive as my GE office friends were telling me in winter time I should experience  Nature’s amazing phenomena “Northern Lights - Aurora borealis“. The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions among electrically charged particles from the sun that enters the earth's atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres.

Picture : Northen Lights over Fort McMurray,Canada

Picture : Northen Lights over Fort McMurray,Canada

They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north” –though there is no guarantee that every winter night “Dancing Lights over the Sky “ will be visible but we took a chance. Our GE colleague John parked vehicle near a frozen lake, other than open sky nothing else was visible. Those days in freezing cold weather,  Marlboro Red puffs were the best energizers and few shots of scotch. After waiting for an hour around night 2am – we saw the spectacular sight of high flying cloud of greenish light passing far above the sky – the whole sight is breathtaking –  whole horizon lighted up. Nature is so amazing, our world has so many wonders – my nose, face was freezing, we got back to hotel and back to Atlanta after 2 days. That New Year night will always be my best ever New Year’s night in life.

Trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina

Picture : View of Clock Tower from Park Tower Sheraton Hotel, Buenos Aires, Argentia

After a month in February’2002 I had to go for an unscheduled trip Buenos Aires, Argentina to address some Network related emergencies in GE Power Plant at Buenos Aires.  New York and Buenos Aires are having opposite weather cycles. I  flew from Washington DC to Buenos Aires by United Airlines Non-Stop Flight , prepped up myself with a winter jacket and gears but after I landed in Argentina – it was a pleasant surprise - summertime, temperatures hovering around 30”C. 

Picture : Park Tower Sheraton Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentia

GE always took very good care of its people, company travel services arranged Limousine from  Airport to Buenos Aires’s top 5 Star Hotel Park Tower Sheraton where I stayed for 4 days.  Argentina and other South American countries people are very warm and friendly. In Argentina, they all speak is Latin - one  will rarely come across anyone speaking English. Park Tower Sheraton is located near La Plata River, Marina and beautiful views from higher floors. Compared to USA and Europe one notable thing I observed in Argentina is number of smokers are very high and every place they filled up. Even in the Power Plant Data Center I was surprised to see a person lighting up cigarette in a corner, then in elevator – smoke filled air everywhere. But Argentines people are the most hospitable, also the most beautiful people on earth – a mix of European, Native races. Also Argentine Pinot-Noir one of the finest.

Trip to Appleton, Wisconsin

 

Picture : Appleton located in the middle of this Map on the left hand side of Lake Michigan, Northern USA,Michigan State which bordering USA and Canada 

After completing a year at GE, I was kind of toying with the idea to get back to my base at New York. Probably I would have left Atlanta later but a single terrible flight journey made me to come back to New York.  In December 2002 I travelled to Appleton, Wisconsin via  Chicago. Appleton is nice small town famous for its dairy products, located approx 80 Miles away from Lake Michigan.  while returning to Atlanta via Chicago - I was stuck  for 6 hrs at Appleton due to heavy snow storm, our small turbo-prop flight finally got clearance to fly to Chicago O’Hare Airport – Flight took off to windy sky, mild snowfall , after 7 to 8 minutes in sky – terrible shattering of aircraft, turbulence started – flight was going up/down, looked like lost balance I alongwith many passengers were praying to God to save us from certain death as we were sure not be able to see our loved ones again - Plane was going to crash – but somehow we got lucky and crossed the bad patch of stormy sky, landed in O’Hare. After landing all of us were thrilled to get a 2nd lease of life, thanked god, -  so some of us rushed to a pub in O’Hare – I swore  that never again I would fly in Turbo Prop Planes and my first call was to my boss Tom Gardiner  that I will be resigning from GE after 2 weeks and move back to NY. It was pain to leave such a great team but Tom was very supportive and I left Atlanta; After a week’s break,  I joined at Bank of New York.

I will always cherish my sweet memories of GE Days in Atlanta

Note :  In those days of 2001, we didn't have iPhone, neither Blackberry or any other Smartphones like today - culture of instant cellphone photograpghy was something unknown  to us. Also, in all the GE facilities I worked - Photography was prohibited so I didn't carry Camera in my journeys. So, Pictures used in this column are taken from Private and Public sources so that it gives a clear idea of the places and events.

Picture : Author at New Jersey, USA

Views  expressed are personal .  Writer is a Senior Network Engineering Architect  based in New York  with 20+ yrs experience in Internetworking  Industry and previously worked at General Electric, Cisco Systems, Bank of New York, Merrill Lynch, NYC Govt,  NEC , Hewlett Packard 

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