Interviews</h1> <article> <h1>Interviews</h1> <p>STLHusker — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:27:00 GMT</p> <p>Today we had interviews in our office...whew I forgot what that was like! I was so nervous for the interviewees I sometimes would feel the anxiety coming on. But, it was good to see some new folks coming through here and good to see people who are interested in environmental engineering as a career! One of them said that he read my blog, which gives me some motivation to keep it going :)</p> <p>Our day started easy enough, we started at noon with lunch and I gave a short presentation on what Trinity will be like for their first couple years. We talked about skills needed, what to expect on an average day, what clients we have in St. Louis, and many more things. After that the interviews started and they spent 45 minutes each between interviewing with Kristine (my boss), Arron (KC office manager), and John (Kristine and Arron's boss) and performing a writing sample. I think they were each pretty well wiped by the end of it, I am fully convinced that anxiety and nerves will wear out a person much more than a normal day will (even a half day of said anxiety, etc.).</p> <p>I sincerely hope that each of the interviewees finds the job they are looking for or are meant to be in. I liked each of them and it was kind of cool to be in on the interviewing process. I hope I can continue to be a part of it in the future because I really enjoy finding out people's passions and seeing where they could potentially line up in Trinity (or elsewhere if that is more appropriate).</p> <p>Well, that is all for now. Peace.</p> <p>-Josh</p> </article> <article> <h1>Big Time Changes!</h1> <p>mgoblue — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:49:00 GMT</p> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">A lot has changed for me both personally and professionally in the last month. A rundown of the main events:</span> <ul> <li style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">At the beginning of December I got engaged to my girlfriend of four years (who lives in Atlanta, GA);</span></li> <li style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">Received my semi-annual review; and </span></li> <li style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">At the end of December I officially said my goodbyes to the Covington, KY office and headed south down I-75 to start work at Trinity's Atlanta, GA office. </span></li></ul> <p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">Before leaving Kentucky, I had my third semi-annual review since joining Trinity. As a G56, you will receive a review from your immediate supervisor in June and December of each year. Every six months you will receive a set of goals that you are asked to accomplish. These goals can range from a target utilization (percentage of billable hours) to educational advancement (taking a modeling course). The review process represents an excellent way to assess what your current strengths and weaknesses are as a consultant and also represents the primary avenue by which merit increases are evaluated. As part of the semi-annual review process you will also be given the opportunity to do a self-review. These self-reviews are also reviewed by your immediate supervisor and can be a great way to remind them of what you have accomplished in the past six months or are hoping to accomplish in the future. </span></p> <p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';"></span> </p> <p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">Just prior to Christmas was my last physical day in the Kentucky office. I will always be extremely grateful for the great opportunity that office gave me by getting me started in my career with Trinity. The people in the Kentucky office are consummate professionals who I greatly enjoyed working with and I wish them nothing but continued success in the future. I am extremely thankful that both the Kentucky office and Atlanta office were willing to work with me to pursue the opportunity to transfer offices within the company. </span></p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';"></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';"> </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">I officially started in Atlanta on January 3rd, although throughout December my workload was split between Kentucky and Atlanta work, and I have to admit that I was slightly nervous walking into the office for the first time. It felt like being a new-hire all over again with that fact that I hadn't met anyone from the office in person. The big difference this time around was that I was armed with a year and a half of great experience under my belt and was much more confident that I'd be able to walk in and hit the ground running (unlike my first few weeks in Covington!). My nerves were quickly alleviated as everyone in the office was extremely welcoming and excited to have me on board. </span> <p style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';"></span> </p> <p style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">I will be able to transfer a lot of the skills (particularly Air Dispersion Modeling) that I learned in Kentucky down to Georgia. I've been able to hit the ground running on a few different modeling projects already. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">In the Kentucky office, we dealt nearly exclusively with Kentucky area clients (and occasionally Ohio and Indiana) so the main challenge was learning the state-specific air regulations for Kentucky. In the Atlanta office, I will potentially be dealing with clients from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. After spending a year and a half to get a truly solid grasp on the Kentucky regulations, I know I will have a lot of work to do to come up to speed on the state-specific regulations for all four of the new states I will potentially be dealing with. It will be a definite challenge, but one that I'm very much looking forward to!</span></p> <p style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';"></span> </p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">Even though all Trinity offices follow the same standards and procedures, as represented by our ISO 9001 certification (quality control), I've noticed over the past week that there can be many differences between individual offices. In the future I'll share a little more on this subject and try to give even better insight on what it is like to move from one office to another in the company. Thanks for reading!</span> <p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Say Hello!</h1> <p>UltimateNewbie — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:41:00 GMT</p> <p><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri">Hey everyone! Welcome to my first blog post at 56 Stories.</font></span></p><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"></span><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri"><br /></font></span><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri"> My name is Nancy Liang and I currently work in the Trinity Kansas City office. I grew up in China and moved here for college. In May, I graduated from University of Kansas with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Shortly </font></span><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri">after walking down the hill (KU graduation tradition), I joined Trinity and started my environmental consulting experience.</font></span><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri"><br /></font></span><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri"> Before I started at Trinity, I didn’t know the existence of 56 Stories (hopefully you will find it helpful!). Coming from Chemical Engineering background, I didn’t get much exposure to environmental consulting during college. The limited knowledge about environmental regulations is from the Introduction to Environmental Engineer class I took as an elective and Introduction to Environmental Law class I audited last semester. With these backgrounds, I still felt overwhelmed the first week of work. Environmental consulting is definitely different from chemical process design/simulation. I learned so much on the job and from my colleagues in the past several months about air permitting, modeling and other environmental regulations. I hope you will enjoy reading the blogs and gain a better understanding whether Trinity/environmental consulting is a good fit for you.<br /></font></span><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri"> Lastly, I’d like to share the story behind my user name “UltimateNewbie”… I started playing ultimate Frisbee the same week I started at Trinity. A good friend of mine introduced me to the sport, and so far, I had a great time playing on the summer and fall leagues. I learned some basic throws and strategies, but I am nowhere close to be a pro with an impeccable hammer throw. I am a newbie in ultimate and also in environmental consulting world. There is lots of space to learn and grow, and I am excited to see what the future holds for me!<br /></font></span><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri"> </font></span><span style="COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;"><font face="Calibri">I will try to update the blog frequently and thanks for your time : )</font></span> </article> <article> <h1>Staying Out of the Heat</h1> <p>STLHusker — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:37:00 GMT</p> <p>With a sigh of relief, I can say the St. Louis office is finally (Finally!) not incredibly busy. I can actually take some time to catch up on regulations, update my resume and training plans, catch up on email, and most importantly spend quality time at home! Recently, the St. Louis office hired a new consultant (we are up to 5 now!) and it really amazes me how far I've come in a year. In talking with him I can usually answer his questions or guide him in the right direction regarding regulations, forms, application advice, calculation methodology, etc. It has really started putting a nice package on things for me.</p> <p>The next thing on my list of things is to learn about oil refineries and how that whole process works. I think I should be able to do that since the guy in our office who normally works with refineries will actually be on-site the rest of the work (working at a refinery). I don't expect to become an expert on refineries, but I would like to know how the process works and what kind of emissions to expect from that industry. It also looks like I have some more federal permitting and possibly modeling out on the horizon, so I expect that I will be back in the game in short order.</p> <p>Being here for a year gets a guy reflecting on what it has been like and if I enjoy it here and if some of my fears have been either answered or heightened...and I can say that I am really proud of the progress I've made and even though I am not completely convinced that I am doing what I want to do for the rest of my life, I am enjoying my time here for now. I am starting to get into our SEM line (Sustainability and Environmental Management) and actually met the director at a class I went to. I plan on teaching some of my fellow office mates what the ins and outs are of Life Cycle Assessments...hopefully we can get a project and I can actually do some Life Cycle work! </p> <p>Well, that's about all I've got on my end, thanks for listening </p> <p>-Josh</p> </article> <article> <h1>1 Year Later</h1> <p>TrinityMechE — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:00:00 GMT</p> <p>I have officially been with Trinity for a full year. having my one year anniversary pass got me thinking to where I started a year ago and where I am now. I came to Trinity with absolutely no environmental background. I was a mechanical engineer who had never taken a single environmental class. In truth, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But one year later, I love what I'm doing and I couldn't be happier I took the leap in joining Trinity instead of going the traditional MechE route.</p> <p> On the day of my anniversary, I gave what we call at Trinity a brownbag. A brownbag is basically an internal, informal training session given by someone in the office to the rest of the office. I gave my presentation on the new NSPS and SIP regulations for commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators (the CISWI rules). A year ago, I didn't know what NSPS or SIP stood for (in case you also don't know: New Source Performance Standards and State Implementation Plans), much less what a CISWI unit was and somehow a year later I found myself giving a presentation about these regulations to people who have been in this industry far longer than me. Giving this presentation made me realize how much I have learned in this past year but also how much there will always be to learn. Environmental regulations are always changing. Even people who have been in this industry 20 plus years are continuously learning new things. I've enjoyed my first year at Trinity and have learned a lot, I look to this next year, excited about what I will learn this time around.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Here we (I) go</h1> <p>razorhack — Mon, 30 May 2011 23:27:00 GMT</p> <p>Today is a holiday: Memorial Day. Thanks to all soldiers - past, present, and future - who have served to protect this country. And thank God for the day off. This week is going to be a whirlwind. Tomorrow in OKC; Wednesday in Little Rock, maybe meeting with ADEQ (won't know until tomorrow); Thursday in West Memphis; Friday back in Little Rock (to help Chuck interview someone). The family is going along this time to visit friends :) ...while I work :(. Next week will be normal (I think), but then I'm back to Little Rock and Memphis the following week. Everything except for the West Memphis trip is related to one or more pulp and paper industry clients. I wish we had more than one integrated paper mill in OK so that I could exercise all the expertise I built up while in AR (which has a total of six integrated paper mills).<br /></p> </article> <article> <h1>Holy April Showers Batman!</h1> <p>STLHusker — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:01:00 GMT</p> <p>So...the reporting season...wow! I can't believe how busy life gets around here during the reporting season. Being a border state, we get the joy of both Missouri EIQs (Emissions Inventory Questionaire) and Illinois AERs (Air Emissions Report). Because these are due on the 1st of the month, life in the STL office is kinda high strung right now. We are all working our tails off to get all of this done on top of construction permits and operating permits that people need renewed right now. Not to mention it is coming up on graduations in my family so leaving is even harder.</p> <p>I am just now starting to get a little more room to breathe as I got my AERs and EIQs all done (as well as an Initial Title V for a Power Plant and a construction permit that required a lot of attention). So I'm just trying to assist my other office mates as well as catch up on the piles of emails and to-do lists that have accrued. </p> <p>But, I am finally getting started into some LCA stuff!!! I am super excited to learn more about Life Cycle Analysis as I only got a small taste of it during my internship a couple years ago. Basically, LCAs track how much energy, raw material, and pollution is used/consumed in the making/disposal of a product or good. This works best with an example. Take a paper clip...where does the steel come from? A foundry? A quarry? Ok so let's say the iron used to make the steel was quarried...we have to take into account the energy used to get the iron, the transportation pollution, the actual smelting and refining processing and finally the wire bending. Now the paper clip needs to be taken to your local office supply store to be sold. The consumer will then use the paper clip...but maybe it is disposed of by another consumer..is it recycled? Does it just sit in a landfill? All of these things have to be taken into account, and I am really excited to learn it, teach it to my co-workers, and actually pitch it to clients so that they can look into their supply chain or other sources of waste and then pass on that information to the consumer that their paperclip is now XX% more green...I'm not so big on the "green" part just more gettting rid of the waste and the pollution associated with it!</p> <p>Well, take care of yourself</p> <p>-Josh</p> </article> <article> <h1>Smoke School</h1> <p>TrinityMechE — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:48:00 GMT</p> <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;">I'm one of two people in the Maryland Office who is Method 9 certified. Basically, this means I am qualified to look at smoke coming out of a stack and say what the opacity is. We have a few clients who have us do this and we get to travel a lot for it which can be fun and get's me out and about which is always a nice change. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;">The bad side is smoke school. It's not that it is really hard or boring or anything likes that. It's just a nuisance. Every six months we travel to Virginia to pass the test that says we're certified. Here's how it goes. You sit in a parking lot at a park and they bring in a smoke stack that is on a trailer behind a truck. They can measure the opacity of the smoke using an optical device so they know it is accurate. There are fifty readings total (25 white smoke and 25 black smoke). For each reading, you have to circle the opacity (in increments of 5%). If you're off by more than 15% on one reading, you fail and have to take the test again. Oh yeah, and you only get about 3 seconds to look at each reading and then it's gone. Over the course of two days, they give 10 tests. That's it. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;">This may sound simple but somewhere between them showing you what the standards (25, 50, and 75%) look like and the end of the test, what used to be 50% has become 80% in your mind and it's all over. Luckily, I've passed on the second test both times I've gone. I say luckily, because I could easily have messed one reading up and ended up there in the rain. Because of course, both times I've been there the storm clouds have been rolling in making me even more desperate to pass. It's a nerve racking day of hoping to pass so you don't miss another day of work or fail all together and end up losing certification (it would actually be really hard to fail all 10 tests but I'm just not that rationale when faced with the actual test). Now it's over until September and that's a happy thought and Wednesday is supposed to be a beautiful day and I'll be outside reading smoke in a playground instead of sitting in the office looking at the great weather through the window so I guess it all pays off in the end.</span></span> </article> <article> <h1>Is there such a thing as a typical day?</h1> <p>TrinityMechE — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:54:00 GMT</p> <p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;">When people ask me what I do and I answer "environmental consulting", most people are confused and have no idea what I do. So, they ask the typical follow question and ask what a typical day is like. Recently, I was asked this question and had no idea what to answer. I never know what my day is going to be like when I head into the office in the morning. In my mind there are lots of different types of days, all of which are different, all of which have pros and cons, and all of which happen regularly. But a typical day? Besides "I get up, go to work, do stuff, come home", I'm not sure what's typical at all.</span></p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;"> First off, there's the really busy day where I work on tons of different projects (my record is 10 projects in 9 hours). This is the type of day where you constantly getting emails and doing lots of small tasks. The great part about a day like this is that the time flies. When each project is only taking an hour or so, everything keeps moving and before you know it, it's the end of the day.</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;"> </span> <p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;"> </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;">The next type of day is when you're working on a deadline. These days, you can spend an entire day working on one task, trying to get something done by the end of the day. These days can be stressful but it is so rewarding to send out that deliverable when it's done. These are the days when email is ignored and you actually say no when someone asks if you have time for a 15 minute QA.</span></p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;"></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;">Then there's site visits. On average, I go out onsite about once a week. This may be going to collect information for a project, doing visible emission assessments, having a meeting with a client, or doing pretty much anything a client wants us to do. I like site visits since they break up the week nicely. One day I'm sitting at a computer doing calculations and the next I'm walking around a plant. It's also great to get to talk to the clients in person. We spend so much time talking on the phone or through email that it's great to put a name with the face. These days can be long and may seem unproductive because you aren't in the office and things get put off until you're back, but they're fun and a great change of pace.</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;"></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;">Lastly, there's the day where you have a bunch of non-billable work to do. These are every consultants least favorite. Spending a day doing all or mostly overhead work just makes the day drag and I always feel unproductive at the end. These days are sometimes necessary but I try my hardest to spread out my overhead time throughout the week. However, these days can be necessary but thankfully, they don't come often.</span> <p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;"> So that's it, my life at Trinity. Even with these four types of days, I’ve had days that wouldn't fit in any category. So, I guess my answer to what my typical day is like would have to be, "I don't know because I haven't had one yet but I'll let you know when I do."</span></p><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;">Thanks for reading, see you next time.</span> <p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Back to Work!</h1> <p>STLHusker — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:26:00 GMT</p> <p>Wow...so much has gone on the past month it is hard to sum it all up for you. I think I can sum up my personal life with this little phrase... Being married is awesome!</p> <p> That being said, work has been a whirlwind. If any of you can avoid taking 7 workdays off please consider it...the massive amounts of email upon return will cripple you. Since my return I have started work on a few operating permit renewals and have started my first Title V operating permit project. It is for a coal-fired power plant and I am excited to see what challenges there are in the permitting phase of this project. It is hard for me to permit a coal-fired power plant when the energy I buy is 100% wind-powered energy from Missouri. There are a lot of control equipment and they get the coal from a very close source so I think that they are being as concious as a coal-fired power plant can be of the environment...but that still seems like an oxy-moron to me.</p> <p>Anyways, we have a new person starting Monday, his name is Mike and he is going to be a senior consultant hire. That's exciting because the office has been looking for a senior consultant since I was hired this time last year. It will be nice to work with another person in the office, especially when Kristine and Mark are out on site visits, meetings, time off, etc. Mostly I am just excited to meet a new person!</p> <p>Now commences the reporting season and I have already started working on many different reports required by the various agencies around the country. I have submitted to NV, IL, and MO already while supporting submittals to KY, WI, MI, AZ, OK, and others. I'm glad we have the resources in those states and that I am just an ancilliary part of their work because keeping up with all of that would be very difficult!</p> <p> Hope all is well in your world!</p> <p>-Josh</p> </article> <article> <h1>A Year Later</h1> <p>mgoblue — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:39:00 GMT</p> <p>Just over a year ago I interviewed with Trinity at the Greater Cincinnati (Covington, Ky) office location. </p> <p>Even though I felt good about my chances when I walked into the interview room, looking back now I can remember how nerve wracking it was to spend the day interviewing amongst a group of very highly qualified candidates. It can be a stressful time when looking for a job and especially for those with graduation coming up and not knowing what future plans are going to entail. I remember walking out of the interview process and replaying each answer in my head and questioning whether there was anything I had or hadn't said that I wished I would have slipped in. </p> <p> A year later I can definitely say that I am thrilled to be on board with Trinity. Trinity is an extremely organized and efficient company as represented by the ISO certifications that we currently hold. I've found that all of my coworkers in my office and around the country are always willing to lend a helping hand. </p> <p>I have had a tremendously positive experience so far and I'm really looking forward to continuing to grow as a consultant. It has been amazing the transformation that I've undergone since starting here last June. I feel like I'm definitely starting to get a solid handle on things and it has been very nice to be able to take a more active role in engaging directly with clients for certain projects. Even though I've learned a lot so far, there is so much still left out there that I do not know yet. The challenge with Air Quality work is that you can never be an expert in everything. There is just simply too much information out there. I've started to find areas that I've developed an interest in and I'm looking forward to cultivating my skills and knowledge as I move forward with Trinity. </p> <p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Hitting the Ground Running in 2011</h1> <p>TrinityMechE — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:52:00 GMT</p> <p>Well, January is coming to a close and what a busy month it's been. Clients were away for the holidays and returned to find they had new reporting requirements with due dates right around the corner. This means lots of work for Trinity and very quick turnaround times. I have been doing a lot of work related to the new greenhouse gas reporting requirements (GHG MRR). All sites with the potential to emit more than 25,000 tpy of CO2 equivalent are required to develop a monitoring plan and report emissions. I have been busy putting together plans for facilities in the natural gas, steel, and lime industries. Each industry has had its own subpart to the MRR with different requirements. SO there has been a lot of new regulations coming out and a lot of work for Trinity <span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:10pt;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;">deciphering</span> the requirements and passing the information along to all of our clients.</p> <p> In other news, I helped put together my first set of course slides this week. This may not seem exciting but it was a really interesting experience. I was pulling slides from old Trinity presentations, presentations which I had gone through as a part of my training when I first started. I remember feeling slightly overwhelmed by the slides and thinking I hadn't really retained that much information from the vast number of slides I went through. It was a pleasant realization to put these slides in a together and feel like I knew the information in them. The learning curve is so steep when You first start at Trinity. I didn't really realize how much stuff I had learned in the past 7 months until I saw it all together.</p> <p> That's it for now. Thanks for reading!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Fast Start to 2011!</h1> <p>mgoblue — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:14:00 GMT</p> <p>A belated Happy New Year to all!</p> <p>I took a week off over the holidays to head back home to Michigan to spend some time with my family. It was very nice to be able to relax for a bit and recharge my batteries! Since returning to Northern Kentucky, I think it is safe to say that 2011 has gotten off to a very fast start! This past week I've been spending most of my time working on a Title V Renewal Permit Application Package. Title V Sources are defined as "Major Sources" with regards to air pollution and these types of facilities are required to renew their permit once every five years.</p> <p>A typical Renewal Package can consist of an application, detailed emission calculations, forms, site plans, and process flow diagrams. Needless to say these applications require a lot of time and effort to make sure that everything is done the right way and in a high quality manner. As part of my work on the Renewal Package for the current facility I am involved with, I've had to work extensively with the lead engineer at the plant to ensure that we are properly quantifying their emissions and accurately describing the processes that take place at their facility. </p> <p>Client communication is one of my favorite things about consulting. It is great to be able to communicate and work with varioius people at different plants in different cities across the country. Every client is different but as part of the consulting business you have to understand what you need to do to keep your clients happy! I look forward to continuing to grow as a consultant in 2011 and gaining an even better relationship with some of my existing clients while fostering relationships with new clients. </p> </article> <article> <h1>Ready for a Break</h1> <p>STLHusker — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:45:00 GMT</p> <p>I have worked my butt off the past couple of months! I worked quite a bit through the holidays in order to get the bulk of the PSD permit done. Wow what a process that is! Actually I am still working on it now completing the Endangered Species Analysis ensuring that the emissions from the project will not adversely affect the threatened or endangered species in the area. It's been a really fun project!</p> <p> In 11 days I will be getting married, so I'm really excited to have a break from work and I think that spending a week with my new wife will really help my life out a lot! The reporting season is coming up and from about Februrary through June will be stress-filled with data gathering and reporting the amounts of pollution to the proper authorities. But I am glad that I will have my best friend here to help me and also to allow me to explore some of my creative avenues away from work.</p> <p> If there is anything I have learned from living alone in the past few months, it's that a balance is needed and too much "me" time becomes very detrimental to a person's social and spiritual health. So, while work has been an important factor in my life, I'm glad that it will be taking the backseat to my new life with my new wife. I'm just worried about finding the balance between work life and home life. I hope it doesn't take too long to reach an equilibrium to where I feel like both aspects are getting the proper attention.</p> <p>Until next time,</p> <p> Josh</p> </article> <article> <h1>Happy Holidays!!</h1> <p>TrinityMechE — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:09:00 GMT</p> <p>Well, it is my first holiday season with Trinity. Every year, each office has a holiday party. This year, the Maryland office went out to a nice dinner in downtown Frederick. We played get to know your co-workers games (which even though I have only been here 6 months I won, thank you very much) and holiday-themed games throughout the meal. It was a great way to get to know everybody outside of the office and to have some fun with the people we work with. </p> <p>I have been working from the parents' house in New York for the past two days. It has been a great way for me to be able to get to spend a lot of fun holiday time with my family and not use up a bunch of my days off. I love this flexibility, not to mention the fact that I have been working amidst the aroma of baking Christmas cookies (and performing the occasional taste test). I just brought my laptop with me and logged on to our messaging system remotely. I still have full access to email, messaging, and our office's network of files. I have used this option before when I was sick or needed to leave early for an appointment or anything like that. As long as you don't do it everyday, Trinity is wonderfully flexible and really tries to work with their employees to keep everybody happy.</p> <p>Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! See you in the new year!</p> </article> <article> <h1>A Little About Me</h1> <p>TrinityMechE — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:37:00 GMT</p> <p>Hello!</p><p> I am a consultant in Trinity's Maryland office in Frederick, MD. I have been there for just over six months. I am really enjoying my job and I look forward to sharing my experiences with you. Just so you have some background, here is a little about me.</p><p> I graduated in May from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA with a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering. I did undergraduate research in robotics and micro-mechanics. I had no environmental experience prior to coming to Trinity and I have been learning as I go. My MechE friends all think I bailed on mechanical engineering to go over to civil and environmental engineering but in truth, Trinity employs people from all different backgrounds and everyone finds a way to use their unique experiences.</p><p> I am originally from New York and I had actually never heard of Frederick, MD when I applied to Trinity. Frederick is a great city with lots of fun restaurants and downtown shopping. It is within close driving distance to Baltimore and Washington DC which not only makes it a cool place to live but gives our office a wide array of clients. Our office serves Maryland, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, West Virginia, and Delaware. Because of this, we deal with a very wide range of industries and every day is different than the last.</p><p> Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading. <br /></p> </article> <article> <h1>What a week!</h1> <p>STLHusker — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 15:05:00 GMT</p> <p>This has to have been my longest working week yet! I think I logged over 56 hours billing most (95%) of that time to my PSD project. For those who don't know, Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) is a federal construction permitting program. Basically if a construction project is big enough (there are thresholds for each criteria pollutant) then you have to go through a long and arduous process to receive your permit. Well we finished the draft last night and my manager (Kristine) should be sending it to the client today! Over 500 pages of forms, 50-60 pages of application, and a calculation spreadsheet that will make your head spin (I think we ended up with 15-20 tabs on that baby). Needless to say I have learned a lot about the process, but I still have a long way to go.</p> <p> Also, yesterday I received a call from a man who received my business card from a contact I made on a flight to Philadelphia! I had met a lady who is the VP of a company that builds large, natural gas, power generating turbines and she told me she was always having issues with air permitting...what a coincidence that is exactly what I do! That was back in July. So I was a little off-guard today when I received the call from a guy who was wanting help understanding air permitting for these things (which we do a lot of generator permitting so our office is pretty familiar with the smaller version of what they are installing). It was exciting to be able to know that a connection I made through a chance meeting could actually turn into client work and possibly into revenue! </p> <p>Well, that's enough from me for now, until next time!</p> <p> -Josh</p> </article> <article> <h1>Intro and Holiday Times</h1> <p>STLHusker — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:15:00 GMT</p> Hey all, first post and let me say...the environmental world is crazy! Too many issues to discuss with way too little space (and short attention spans too!). A quick introduction is due I think... My name is Josh Gardner, I am 22 years old from York, NE. York's claim to fame is that our water tower along the interstate looks like a hot air balloon...and that's about it :D Anyways, I just graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May with a BS in Industrial Engineering. I started coming over to environmental the summer before I graduated. I worked for Partners in Pollution Prevention, a service through my University where students have internships working with industry or the public to reduce pollution in all three of the media (air, water and solid waste). Needless to say, that propelled me into the environmental world and I haven't looked back since. My goal for this blog is for me to share thoughts and feelings about my job, personal thoughts about the industry, and to give potential future environmental consultants a peek into what my world looks like. I will try to keep the jargon to a minimum since I know how annoying that can be for people who are new to the field (hey I was there not too long ago and I am still very "green" in many ways). I was told that around the holidays is usually when we are able to "catch up" on work and admin items, etc. Haha, well not this year :D We have a lot of work, between a PSD permit, a Title V renewal, and also SO2 modeling for the 1-hour SO2 NAAQS...there is plenty to do in St. Louis right now. Well, I hope to see you all soon. Be safe and bundle up, it's cold out there! </article> <article> <h1>Hello to all future readers!</h1> <p>mgoblue — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:06:00 GMT</p> <p>To kick things off on my personal blog space, I thought I would give everyone a little bit of background on myself.</p> <p>My name is Jake Stewart and I currently work in the Trinity Office in Covington, Kentucky which is just outside of downtown Cincinnati. In fact, I am actually looking at the downtown skyling as I type this blog! I started with Trinity on June 1, 2010 as an air quality consultant. It has been a tremendous experience so far and it is nice to finally be getting to that poin twhere I am beginning to feel more and more comfortable with my job and responsibilities.</p> <p>Since a majority of my blogs will focus on my professional background, I thought I would use this initial entry to detail a little bit of my personal background. I grew up in a small town and ended up attending the University of Michigan where I majored in Chemical Engineering. I have a Bachelor's degree from U of M and I'm sure you can tell from my username that I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At Michigan I was heavily involved in with a variety of different activities but I was most passionate about intramural sports and Michigan football. Before interviewing with Trinity, I'd held a summer internship in the air quality consulting field prior to my senior year of college and decided that it was something that I was definitely interested in pursuing as I moved forward into my search for a full time job. </p> <p>Over time, I will periodically update this blog in order to best capture all that encompasses being a Grade 56 (entry) level consultant with Trinity. Thank you for reading and I look forward to posting again soon!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Office management is much different</h1> <p>razorhack — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 23:22:00 GMT</p> <p>I recently accepted a promotion to manage the Oklahoma offices. Technically we have only one office - in Oklahoma City - but I live closer to Tulsa and hope to open an office there soon. All that I've heard - that going from a project manager to an office manager (both at the "Managing Consultant" grade level) is the biggest step - is true. Client demands have not diminshed much, but managerial stuff sure takes up a lot of my time now...and it sure seems that there is a lot more travel. I'm thankful for the Arkansas office manager (my old boss) who is taking on many of my old clients. This allows me to focus more on the Oklahoma staff, for which I'm also thankful. They have welcomed me with open arms. It's been less than three months, but I feel very much at home.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Crazy Week</h1> <p>razorhack — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:11:00 GMT</p> <p>Wow, it has been more than a year since I last posted. To those depending on me to "keep it fresh," I apologize. I'm sure I have plenty of excuses, but probably no good reasons. Anyway, this week has been, and continues to be, crazy! We interviewed three people yesterday, and we are trying to set up interviews for others. All three that came to the office yesterday are well qualified - they all have Masters degrees (two chemical engineers and one civil engineer) - and I enjoyed meeting with them, but the process sure does eat up a day. I am anxious to see who might join our team. Today we have an ISO audit, an internal "brownbag" training session, and all company conference call from the CEO, and we have another executive in our office all day (partially for the ISO audit). In case you don't know what "ISO" is: International Standards Organization. To be ISO certified means that you have systems, procedures, policies, etc. in place to ensure that everyone in the organization provides "excellent work" with the "highest degree of integrity," that we "continually evolve so that our services and products are increasingly effective," and that we "continually improve" the very system we are working under. However, it is soon to be all a memory because tomorrow I'm taking off...to fish, have lunch with my daughter (her last day of school), and prepare for and have a picnic with my Sunday School class...and then Saturday we are going to Silver Dollar City and White Water in Branson, MO!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Missing Brandon</h1> <p>razorhack — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:21:00 GMT</p> <p>Today is the start of the first week in Little Rock without Brandon Mik. Brandon worked for the Little Rock office for more than a year, but he moved to our Albuquerque office last week. We will miss Brandon, and we wish him the best. We know that his transfer will be a successful growth opportunity for him.</p> </article> <article> <h1>A day to breathe easy</h1> <p>razorhack — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:21:00 GMT</p> <p>Yesterday was a big push to finalize a huge draft application. So today there is almost no stress. I'm just cleaning up a few things that slipped a little because of the big project and writing a few cost proposals. It's good that this day came. We are starting to run short on work. Hopefully these proposals will generate projects to keep us busy for a while longer.</p> <p> Also, today is the first full day with a new president. It's sort of like a birthday - I don't really feel any differently.</p> </article> <article> <h1>"Travelin' Man"</h1> <p>razorhack — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:21:00 GMT</p> <p>You're probably too young to even know the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, much less one of their songs. I don't listen to LS anymore, but I've recently been reminded of their song "Travelin' Man." The only part of the song that describes me is the title; the song is about a much different type of travelin' man. Regardless, lately I have been a travelin' man. Two weeks ago I had a day trip to West Memphis (about 2.5 hours one-way from the office), last Monday was a day trip to Blytheville (3.5 hours), last Wednesday I drove to Oklahoma City (5.5 hours) and then drove back on Thursday, and tonight I'm in Columbus, MS (6 hours). I go back home Thursday after two days of meetings at a paper mill and then a half day meeting with the state agency in Jackson, MS (the drive home will be about 5 hours). I was even supposed to fly out of Jackson on Friday for a day trip to Washington, DC, but that got cancelled - thankfully. This amount of travel is abnormal, especially right before Christmas, and it is about to wear me out. I'll be able to recoup once this week is over. The next two weeks include the Christmas and New Years holidays, and I'm taking some extra days off so that I'll only work two days per week. See you in January!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Looking back on my first 1/2 year</h1> <p>RagazzaDCitta — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:28:00 GMT</p> <span style="font-weight:bold;">My first ½ year</span><br /><br />When I read other people’s blogs, I notice that there are obvious differences among offices across the country. Each office is unique in its culture and people. The Dallas EC is made up of many young consultants who just graduated from school within a couple of years. I certainly like it that my first job in the real world is in a young and energetic environment I didn’t have a clear idea of what I’ll be doing when I accepted the job. I thought I’d be running models by clicking some buttons and reading books of regulations. That’s totally not a portrait of my regular day. Some of the excerpts of my first ½ year: walking through a plant where the air smells like ammonia, working for a few days in the colorful Albuquerque office, spending a whole day looking at many piping and instrumentation diagrams, staring at the computer trying to draw accurate buildings for models, getting excited in checking out model run results, doing millions of calculations using Excel, reading hundreds of MSDS and being shocked by some nasty species in chemicals, and sitting in on my colleagues’ brownbags while savouring my home-cooked meal. <br /><br />What I enjoy most in the past half year is the people I work with and the flexibility we get. We don’t have to come in the office at a certain time and we can make up a couple of hours if we go for doctor appointments, car maintenance, etc (not to say we can do this every day). And of course, with our jobs we are always learning. There are always things we do not know about. New regulations/guidance keep coming. Tricky problems that we need to tackle for our clients. Although I have not been involved with projects of high complexity, I know we do have a smart and dedicated group here<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What everyone is thinking about? The financial crisis…</span><br /><br />Since I started my job back in May, Trinity has opened a couple of offices. Whenever I heard of an opening, I’m pretty impressed that our company is expanding quickly despite the current financial crisis. This is not to say that we are immune to the crisis. But we are doing better than the norm. How are we affected? As a pretty new employee, I recently noticed that one of our client’s stocks has dropped to 10 percent of its level a year ago. When our client limits their projects, our business is going to be limited to a certain extent. Yet, this is not the time for worry. I'm curious to see how long it takes for the economy to bounce back. <br /><br /> </article> </main></body></html>