Florida Power & Light Company: Fill & Download for Free

Yes, more times than I can recall. Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the intestate highway system wasn’t yet finished in the 1960’s, here in Florida the main highway that ran all the way from New York to Orlando was Highway 17. We had a shop that was located in the middle of a 70 mile stretch of nothingness. There were three basic types of people who lived here, grovers, ranchers and retirees, and 90% of the land was either cattle ranches or citrus groves, with small areas of retirement homes. The retirees all lived on very modest fixed incomes and the ranchers and grovers only had one shot each year to sell their crops or cattle and the rest of the time they barely got by. Keeping their farm tractors and implements in operating condition was paramount to their survival, so their family cars and trucks were almost always in need of repairs. I can’t count the number of times one of them would either call or come by and ask if I could get their vehicle off the side of a road where for no apparent reason, it just stopped. I’d jump in my truck and drive to wherever their vehicles were and see what was wrong. Most of the time it was some fairly simple problem that could be patched long enough so they could drive it back to the shop to fix it properly. I’d replace the defective part and fix the vehicle knowing that they didn’t have the money to pay for it until they sold their cattle or fruit, so almost everyone sort of had a running tab at the shop. And every year they would “settle up” when they sold their cattle or fruit or produce. Same went for the retirees as well. They would have to wait until their retirement money came in on the following month or maybe three or four or six months before they could save enough. We charged $5.00 an hour labor and sold the parts at cost, so in a good week if you got in 8 hours labor you could make $40 bucks a day or $200 per week. Gas cost between $0.18 to $0.30 a gallon but the cars back then got maybe 10 to 15 miles per gallon. Little repairs like replacing a 35 cent light bulb or replacing a 10 cent fuse wasn’t even worth writing out a bill, so we just fixed ’em and sent them on their way. Their kids were all driving old worn out cars to get to school, which was 18 miles away and I can’t tell you how many times we’d give them a buck or two worth of gas, or fixed a broken fan belt for free or replaced a tail or headlight so they wouldn’t get a ticket. I think I must have repaired a million flat tires or patched a broken muffler or tailpipe and it never even crossed my mind to charge them, cause it wasn’t really a repair, just a patch until they could afford to actually get it fixed. “I’ll bet you’re asking yourself how could I keep doing all this for little to nothing and stay afloat? By keeping large corporations like Minute Maid and Florida Power and Light and Florida Power Corp. equipment running.Those massive 392 and 426 Hemi engines that powered the irrigation wells for Minute Maid’s groves and repairing the power line trucks with the 60 and 80 foot long hydraulic booms were constantly breaking down and the expense to have them towed 140 miles to get them repaired, and then waiting for days or weeks to get the parts was becoming exorbitant. So I outfitted my shop with some machine tools that allowed me to fabricate the things that usually wore out. Like hydraulic lines and spool valves that took weeks to get shipped. Almost every day between 3 and 4 pm, there would be some line truck being towed to the shop, usually by another line truck and they would just drop it off and say, “It’s broke, fix it!”. And I did. Sometimes until 3 or 4 in the morning. And at 5 am they would pick it up and head back out until the next time. Since I had never worked under a contract with a large company before, they told me what they had been paying for their previous repairs and asked if I could beat or match that price. It turned out that they were more concerned about how quickly their trucks could be repaired more than the price. So I just told them I would match the price they had been paying. At the end of the first month I sent them a list of all the repairs I had done and figured I’d make maybe five or six hundred bucks. Two days later I received a check for $8,000 dollars and almost fell out of my office chair. It turns out that hydraulics repairs were waaaaay overpriced.About three days later one of the Florida Power corporations exec’s stopped by the shop and we had a little discussion. I seemed they wanted me to sign a contract that I would place a priority on their vehicles because they were extremely impressed at the unbelievable turn around times I was doing. It turned out that it cost them over a thousand dollars a day for each truck that was out of service, and I had managed to see to it that not a single truck was out of service for a single day, because we worked on them at night. Hey, it is Florida and it’s 20 degrees cooler at night. They said if I agreed to the contract deal, they would pay me $8,000 a month, even if I never had to fix a single truck, so long as I’d make their vehicles a priority when I did. So hell yeah, I signed the deal. The regular maintenance was handled by their own maintenance crews like tires and brakes and oil changes a stuff, but the hydraulic booms and heavy metal work for the huge tool boxes and pony motors that powered them was my job. He told me that the five trucks that I had repaired the previous month would have been out of service for two weeks each at a loss of 14,000 dollars per truck. So I had already saved the corporation over $70,000 dollars. I took the payment of 8 thousand for the repairs and the additional 8 thousand for signing the contract and spent over 90% of it on new machine tools and hydraulic hose and line couplings and fittings and welders and lots of steel etc.. Within six months I also had contracts with Florida Power & Light as well as their subcontractors who cleared the tree lines, like Asplundh and Davy Tree service and Farrens tree surgeons to name a few and they also paid me between 3 and 5 grand a month for similar contracts. This went along for the next several years until the state and governor’s office decided to allow Minute Maid to divert the St. Johns river through their groves to increase the available water for the rabid overpopulation of south Florida. They turned off their pumps and a few weeks after that, the river, which used to be crystal clear for over three hundred miles turned into a polluted black water mess. And to this day, if you place your arm into the water, by the time it’s six inches below the surface, you can’t even see your hand.Anyway, back to the Op’s question. It was because of those large corporations that allowed me to be able to do so much free and at cost repair work for my neighbors, the people I grew up with.There were also many times that tourists would stop in with overheating or sputtering or smoking cars and I would do my best to get them back on the road without bankrupting their vacations. I remember the look of disappointment on their kids faces as their parents tried to explain to them that since their car had broken down, they probably weren’t going to be able to go to all the places they had planned. Lucky for them I’m a sucker for a brokenhearted kid. I would arrange a hotel for them to stay a that had a pool and then fix their car as soon as possible and get them back on the road for crazy stupid cheap repair bills. I even sold one family a set of 4 brand new tires for 10 bucks a piece. And over the years, those same people would make a point to stop by on their next vacation just to say hi and thank me for bailing them out of trouble. It’s kind of what gave me faith in the human race. Unlike today when I see so much of the “me first”, bull-crap that the country is turning into.Rant is over, Nuff said!

I was working as a junior engineer at Florida Power & Light who was paying for my last 2 years of college. I was bored and went to see my favorite professor and complain to him. He was gone for the day. I walked by the Student Union and there was a display table with a large red blanket that said, "United States Marine Corps" and a young officer answering questions. I went to the table and began looking at the great photos of Marines, airplanes and helicopters. The Marine asked me, "What did you do interesting today!" I said nothing. He asked me when would I graduate and I said I had already graduated and working as an engineer at Florida Power and Light. When I was looking at the flying pictures he said the magic words, "If you qualify you can get a commission and go to flight training and then we will pay for your last 2 years of college." What?! I do not need 4 years of college to get into flight school!?!?!? I took the written test and he said, "I have not seen such a high score since I have been recruiting!" Swell. The next weekend I met with the recruiter and about 20 other applicants and passed the physical tests with no problems. I then was scheduled to take a bus ride down to the Naval Air Station at Key West for a complete flight physical. The physical took all day Saturday and most of Sunday. At the gate the Navy bus driver asked me where I wanted to go and I said, "The Visiting Officers Quarters, please." The driver looked at me from head to toe and just shook his head in amazement. At 20 years old I only looked about 17 years old or less. I was wearing a dress shirt, sport coat and tie and felt very grown up. Standing in lines and talking to doctors all day Saturday. Saturday evening all of us taking physicals met for dinner at the Key West Officer's Club. It was a beautiful old southern building with white linen and crystal glasses on the table. This was the life I wanted to live. Flying and officer's clubs, great uniforms. Wow, what a contrast to Florida Power and Light!In a casual conversation with a girl at Florida Power I mentioned that I had talked to a Marine recruiter. She said, 'My uncle is in town and is a Marine. You should talk to him if you are thinking about the Marines. He is coming over to dinner tonight, please join us!" I thought it might be a good idea to get some more perspective and I went to her parents home that night and met her parents and a Marine introduced to me as Van Bell. He was maybe 45-55 years old. Tough as nails and solid as a rock. Everyone listened to Van tell of his experience in Viet Nam. There were few questions, Bell told of story of great sacrifice, great heroism, and even greater loss in personal terms. He spoke of young helicopter pilots risking their lives again and again to resupply and extract his men. I don't remember him ever talking about himself. I asked him if he thought I could get through the training and he looked at me and said, "No way to know unless you put your 110% effort into it." I thanked him and his family as I left around midnight.It was much later that I learned that I had spent the evening with one of the few living 'Marine Corps Legends'. His name was Van D. Bell called 'Ding Dong Bell' by his many friends.Before this meeting Col. Bell received his second Navy Cross, America's second highest award, for "extraordinary heroism". Bell had enlisted at the age of 17 in the Marine Corps and served in China as an enlisted man serving with the greatest Marine Corps legend, Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller. He was commissioned before the Korean and earned his first Navy Cross for rallying Company A, 7th Marines during a bayonet attack in the spring of 1951.The next few days were filled with study, reading and thought about the evening spent with Bell. My expectations of what I could do with my life seemed to lose all perspective when the measure of a man is compared to the passion, intellect, and power of Bell. A week ago I would not have considered the Marines, then I accidentally returned to school on the day the Marine Officer Selection team is visiting and then by chance happen to meet one of the living legends of the Corps just back from serving in combat. Out of nowhere a new path and direction appeared. Chance?A week later I met with the recruiter to review my application. He had official transcripts, mental and physical test results, and everything looked perfect. He explained the deal, "12 weeks of Officers Candidate School and then 18 months of flight training at Pensacola to become a Naval Aviator and after serving 36 months I would receive a 2 year scholarship to finish my college." I signed my paperwork, raised my right hand and took the oath. I would begin Officer Candidate School in 7 weeks on June 13.I drove back to Florida Power and Light and told my boss I had just joined the Marines and gave 2 weeks notice. He was so upset; not about losing me, but that I was certainly going to get my young ass killed. Nobody at Florida Power thought it was a good idea. To them I had the perfect job, plenty of pay, safe air conditioned office, and I was giving it all up for 'the Marines'. They thought I was smart; and I proved them wrong. Sad.The next 2 weeks was spent trying to think of how I was going to explain this to my parents. No luck being clever; this would be ugly.I was asleep on the couch in the living room and my father came home. He asked why I was not at work and I replied, "I got a new job, better with more pay."He was immediately curious as he thought my Florida Power and Light job was the best place in the world for me. He was sure I had the world under complete control and still only 20 years old. "What kind of job?""Well, I am going to be a 'leader of men'."What kind of job is that?""I have joined the Marines and in 3 weeks will head to Quantico for officer training.""You are joking right?""Nope, not at all. Why do you think so?""Well because in case you have not noticed we are in a full scale war and the war is being fought mostly by Marines.""I worked and sacrificed so you would not have to go to war. I served in enough wars for this family so you would not have to go. I did not work this hard for you to die in a rice paddy!"He then explained why he hated the Marines. "Why not the Air Force? Why not the Navy? Anything but the damn Marines...."He remained very angry for a long time.Over the next few weeks I ran every morning and evening to get into better physical shape. Sit-ups and push-ups again and again. When not exercising I read "Battle Cry" and "Baa Baa Black Sheep" stories about the Marines and everything I could find on Marine Corps history. This was going to be more serious than anything I had attempted in the past.My father took me to the airport and asked me to be careful and told me to "keep that wise ass mouth of yours shut; and those damn big ears of yours open." When I said good-by I knew if I failed I could never face him again. I had not considered the impact of my decision on those around me or the consequences of my decision on my own life.Why did I join the Marines? Luck in running into the Officer Selection Team and then meeting Col. Bell. The more I studied the Marines the more I wanted to be a Marine and nothing else mattered to me.Valor awards for Van Daley Bell , Jr.What is your MOS in the Marines? Do you enjoy it?

It would be a really big disaster, because the US doesn’t share a single unified electrical grid. We actually have three:The electric grid is not even a single network of power lines. Each grid is in fact several small networks that work together to send power where it’s needed from where it’s cheap, but even then a power plant in New York can’t send power to Florida. It simply wouldn’t be economical. Instead, a power plant in Georgia might have a slack in their load, and sell power to the Florida power companies. It’s a very complicated network that works most of the time, but you’re asking what would happen if the entire system went offline all at once. There’s really only one way that might happen, and that would be an EMP, or Electromagnetic Pulse. There are other methods but since an EMP would probably be the start of a nuclear war, let’s assume that it’s some thing more mundane like hackers or just a cascading overload that knocks out one of the interconnects mentioned above.So what happens?First thing to happen is a lot of automatic systems kick in. Hospitals, data servers, anything deemed essential kicks in. Emergency lighting in grocery stores, generators, anything designed to automatically kick in when the power goes out. All around, small lights shine just bright enough to get you to safety for about 90 minutes, more or less, and then, well, things just… settle in.Major power outages are going to have an adverse effect on a number of things. Office buildings are going to shut down. The loss of traffic signals will cause cars to crash, and people will instinctively panic. The hospitals, running on emergency power, are going to see an influx of patients from wrecks happening all around. Police are going to call in every available unit to stop looting from happening in the dark, and fire fighters will be ready for the inevitable fire caused by a lack of power causing someone to drop something flammable. If people are lucky, natural gas will allow them some heat during this time, but for others, it might be a cold wait depending on the time of year.Meanwhile, at the power plants, emergency systems are up and running as people scramble to get power back on. The power plants didn’t all go down at once, but instead cascaded as one plant went down, then another, then another, like dominoes. As each system failed, the fuses and relays would protect a system from drawing heavily on a nearby network, so each system is effectively isolated. Each power plant is going to try and get back online as soon as possible, hopefully before anything drastic happens. This will mean any systems that failed safe, such as automatically dropping the rods to stop nuclear reactors or cutting off the fuel to natural gas and coal plants, will need to be restarted. As the systems come back online, the load must be carefully added, because too much at once would overload the system again.The loss of the entire interconnect would be drastic, and would likely take days, possibly weeks to get back online. Millions, possibly billions of dollars will be lost in that time as companies are unable to operate. Most people will find some way to a shelter, even if it’s simply staying at work. The influx of people from the initial panic will slow, so hospitals will be better able to handle anything else that comes about. The problem will eventually be sorted out and the lights will blink back on, and people in that area will rejoice. It will take time for everyone to get power back, but it will come back eventually.And then finally, approximately 9 months later, the last effect of the sudden power loss will come around. There will be an uptick in the number of babies born around 9 months later, the result of people getting bored all alone in the dark.Thanks for reading.