Boeing, El Segundo, CA
Just got back from a visit to a customer who was having a problem with one of our power supplies. The trip was all a complete blur, but to summarize, they have had a string of problems with one of our products, and in an effort to keep them happy, we went to their site to troubleshoot. In the end, it turned out that it was a noise issue. They won the lottery big time. One problem was an outright bug, several units had a part that came loose during shipping (now fixed), one is an unknown defect (probably component failure or manufacturing defect). However, somehow all the problems looked like firmware, and of course the finger was pointed at me.
We arrived late Thursday night, and from the air we could see the freeways were jammed with cars still. Welcome to LA! We got the the car rental place, and found they had a Mustang waiting for us. We had to squeeze four people into it, but the novelty of having a Mustang beat out common sense. It turned out to be a complete PoS (super squishy suspension, squealing exhaust, not to mention being packed like sardines). We ended up exchanging in the next day for a luxurious Buick Century. Ahhh....Never thought I'd like that car, but compared to the 'stang, it was bliss.
We met at Boeing at 7am (McGriddles for breakfast - yum!), but waited around for an hour before we could get past security...dang paperwork was missing. Because we are not American, foreign nationals as they refer to us, we need a lot more paperwork done. We had to be escorted at all times.
By 10am, we had figured out it was not the option card or its firmware, and I was very relieved. However, Emanuel, our analog engineer was becoming increasingly stressed.
We didn't stop until 3pm...not good for my need-to-eat-every-2-hours metabolism...
(For the techies, we ultimately found that attaching the ground clip of an oscilloscope fixed the problem...and reasoned that a capacitor would have the same effect. Then it was just a matter of fining the right values.)
The second day, we went for lunch at a very authentic Mexican restaurant. The handmade torillas were amazing (almost like paper thin naan bread.)
Because we managed to fix the problem, Sunday was a free day, So we drove to Long Beach, visited the Long Beach Museum of Art, a Krispy Kreme, and an artists' street market. Wandered around Redondo Beach Pier, and saw Hawaii's yo-yo champion do a demonstration at the Sunshine Kite Company. I'm thinking of picking up the Strikeforce to learn stunt flying. They seem to have the best price for it. There was a sea gull begging for food outside the restaurant...reminded me of the gulls in Finding Nemo. My my mymyMy MY my...
Monday, we were back at Boeing (7am again) to see how testing went over the weekend, perform some firmware upgrads, and to pack up our EIGHT boxed of equipment that we shipped via FedEx. They almost screwed us over...first, they lost the paperwork, delaying our shipment at customs, and then promising a Saturday delivery, they ended up sending the stuff to an outlet that was not open on Saturdays. With the proper noise-making, we did end up receiving our equipment on Saturday.
We finished up just in time to hang out at Hermosa Beach for a little bit before heading to the airport.
Just got back from a visit to a customer who was having a problem with one of our power supplies. The trip was all a complete blur, but to summarize, they have had a string of problems with one of our products, and in an effort to keep them happy, we went to their site to troubleshoot. In the end, it turned out that it was a noise issue. They won the lottery big time. One problem was an outright bug, several units had a part that came loose during shipping (now fixed), one is an unknown defect (probably component failure or manufacturing defect). However, somehow all the problems looked like firmware, and of course the finger was pointed at me.
We arrived late Thursday night, and from the air we could see the freeways were jammed with cars still. Welcome to LA! We got the the car rental place, and found they had a Mustang waiting for us. We had to squeeze four people into it, but the novelty of having a Mustang beat out common sense. It turned out to be a complete PoS (super squishy suspension, squealing exhaust, not to mention being packed like sardines). We ended up exchanging in the next day for a luxurious Buick Century. Ahhh....Never thought I'd like that car, but compared to the 'stang, it was bliss.
We met at Boeing at 7am (McGriddles for breakfast - yum!), but waited around for an hour before we could get past security...dang paperwork was missing. Because we are not American, foreign nationals as they refer to us, we need a lot more paperwork done. We had to be escorted at all times.
By 10am, we had figured out it was not the option card or its firmware, and I was very relieved. However, Emanuel, our analog engineer was becoming increasingly stressed.
We didn't stop until 3pm...not good for my need-to-eat-every-2-hours metabolism...
(For the techies, we ultimately found that attaching the ground clip of an oscilloscope fixed the problem...and reasoned that a capacitor would have the same effect. Then it was just a matter of fining the right values.)
The second day, we went for lunch at a very authentic Mexican restaurant. The handmade torillas were amazing (almost like paper thin naan bread.)
Because we managed to fix the problem, Sunday was a free day, So we drove to Long Beach, visited the Long Beach Museum of Art, a Krispy Kreme, and an artists' street market. Wandered around Redondo Beach Pier, and saw Hawaii's yo-yo champion do a demonstration at the Sunshine Kite Company. I'm thinking of picking up the Strikeforce to learn stunt flying. They seem to have the best price for it. There was a sea gull begging for food outside the restaurant...reminded me of the gulls in Finding Nemo. My my mymyMy MY my...
Monday, we were back at Boeing (7am again) to see how testing went over the weekend, perform some firmware upgrads, and to pack up our EIGHT boxed of equipment that we shipped via FedEx. They almost screwed us over...first, they lost the paperwork, delaying our shipment at customs, and then promising a Saturday delivery, they ended up sending the stuff to an outlet that was not open on Saturdays. With the proper noise-making, we did end up receiving our equipment on Saturday.
We finished up just in time to hang out at Hermosa Beach for a little bit before heading to the airport.
posted by Karen at
5:28 p.m.
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