That's life they say, and life goes on. So, I'm alone again. My commute is between the research facility in the sprawling suburban area southwest of Chicago and my small apartment in Orland Park. Since the divorce, I've pretty much just wrapped up my life in my job. My job at the research facility consists of unlocking the relationship between gravity, magnetism, and electric fields. We have a pretty good budget to work with... most of it comes from "black" sources that hide behind the mantra of "National Security". I'm not privy to the greater goal of the work. These goals are on a need to know, highly compartmentalized basis. Most of the research in our department generally seems to be investigating effects that would harness sub-atomic forces to generate power on a self-sustaining basis. I'm really not at liberty to discuss the details, but I think you get the idea of what we're doing here. This job is one I actually enjoy, and one that could make some big changes in the way we do things. A breakthrough in this area of technology would be a real benefit to the entire human race. I am of the firm belief that science has the answers to solve all the problems of mankind. If the finest minds from every discipline of science can work side-by-side, one only wonders what good could be accomplished.
Some of the practical day-to-day work in my department involves the upkeep and calibration of some physically large, high power electronic devices. Because of my electronics background, I've also been tagged with the responsibility of the care of the equipment. These devices are on the cutting edge of technology. Some of components used have not as yet been released to general industry. Most of the maintenance work is scheduled on the weekend, so that this valuable equipment can be available full time during the week. It was on this schedule that I missed so many weekends with Amy.
Actually, there is a silver lining with this weekend schedule. I'm nearly always alone in the department on weekends; the only other personnel out this way are security and the janitorial staff. Security is only concerned that the doors are locked from the outside so that no one but myself can enter. The janitorial staff arrives early in the morning and is gone by 8:00 a.m. The silver lining is the fact that I am free to spend a certain amount of time to tinker with this equipment while I calibrate and maintain it. By tinkering, I mean putting the equipment through its paces performing some of the exotic experiments I plan on my own. Nearly always, the equipment is processing experiments during the week that are devised by the small group of scientists, including myself, that make up our division. These experiments are generally the result of many months of careful and painstaking theoretical calculations. The equipment is too valuable to allow just one researcher to freelance on a whim, but like everything thing else in this physical world; the equipment needs some downtime.
To help relieve the loneliness of my single lifestyle, I spend some time most evenings after work thinking of experiments with the equipment when the weekend comes. My experiments are not necessarily along the energy agenda that the team works on at the facility. Sometimes my mind needs a break from traveling along the same line of thought that I need for the day-to-day research at the facility.
My latest diversion is a good example of breaking away from the usual experimentation at work and provides the alternate path my mind requires from time to time. The past few evenings I've been running a simulation in my mind that will consist of combining high power radio frequency pulses with a strong rotating magnetic field. I have a hunch I can produce some very interesting phenomena! The advantage of performing this experiment at the facility is two-fold. First, there's no way I could ever hope to build or afford the sort of equipment the lab has. Second, the power levels the equipment needs to operate are far in excess of anything a backyard experimenter could muster. Someone like myself can really appreciate this sort of situation. I guess you could call it one of the perks of the job... and a good reason for me to stay with this facility.