Good Ole Rocky Top...

So last weekend, I took a trip down south for a few days with some work friends...

One of my newer coworkers graduated from the University of Tennessee. And a couple of other coworkers graduated from the University of Cincinnati. And these two schools just happened to be playing each other in football last weekend! So what better way to spend the weekend than with my friends watching these two schools fight it out on the gridiron?

Of course, since I have no loyalties to either side, I was the unbiased observer. But the two parties made a few friendly bets as to who would win the game. Whichever team lost, the loser had to wear the winning school's colors to work on Monday. It made for a very interesting build-up to the game and a lot of smack talk during the game!

So we had reserved a cabin near Gatlinburg for Friday and Saturday nights, and we spent the weekend down in the hills. We got in late Friday night and set up shop in the cabin. We played a few friendly games of pool and air hockey and then rested up for the big day on Saturday.

On Saturday morning, we drove to Knoxville for the big game! It was warm, no doubt, with temperatures around 85 degrees. But as my UT friend claims, normally early September is much warmer in Knoxville, so it appears that we got a very nice day of weather. We milled around campus for awhile, soaking in the game day atmosphere and then headed over to Neyland Stadium. Our seats were really awesome, as you can see by my photos.

The Bearcats took an early lead with a sweet 65-yard scoring play from running back Isaiah Pead. I got a few good photos of him as he ran it in and scored right in front of us. Up until that point, the UT crowd had been pretty loud, but that score quieted them down a bit. Of course, the Volunteers came right back, scoring back-to-back TD's to take a 14-7 lead. Then, UC quarterback Zach Collaros threw a touchdown to Adrien Robinson to tie the game back up at 14-14 after one quarter.

After that, the Vols started to pull away. They scored two more times in the second quarter to take a 28-14 lead into halftime. It wasn't looking good for my UC buddies, but there was still a chance for a comeback.

But in the second half, the Vols started to wear down the Bearcats. Tennessee scored twice more in the third quarter and led 42-17 after three. Then they put the finishing touches on the victory, kicking a field goal late in the fourth quarter to come away with a 45-23 victory.

While UC came out firing, they were simply overmatched in this game. While the UC offense is good, their defense simply could not stop the Vols' attack. UT quarterback Tyler Bray had a career day, going 34 of 41 with 405 passing yards, 4 touchdown passes and no interceptions. He also added a rushing TD for good measure. The UT receivers also had great days. Justin Hunter had 10 catches for 156 yards and a TD. Fellow wideout Da'Rick Rogers had 10 catches for 100 yards and 2 TD's. The Bearcat defense just could not stop the UT passing game.

For UC, running back Isaiah Pead had a good game, gaining 155 yards on 14 carries. But his 65-yard TD run accounted for a large portion of those yards in only one play. Quarterback Zach Collaros was 21 of 34 for 230 yards with 2 TD passes and no interceptions, while receiver D.J. Woods had 9 catches for 111 yards.

Here are some photos from the game:

All-in-all, an exciting game and a good time had by all. It's always fun to get away for a weekend and do something fun. I had never been to a college game other than at Ohio State, so this was a pretty cool experience. Granted, the game day experience in Knoxville was pretty impressive. There were about 94,000 fans at the game, and the fans are passionate. But give me a game at the 'Shoe any day. It was good to experience another team's home field, but it just doesn't feel right to hear "Rocky Top" all the time instead of "Hang On Sloopy."

But regardless, the mountain scenery was pretty cool. Check out this sweet panorama photo I took from our cabin on Sunday morning:

747-8F Visits CVG...

So last week, we had a special visitor come to the Cincinnati area...

One of Boeing's new 747-8F flight test airplanes made a stop here at CVG, and a lot of us GE folks were able to go out and see it up close and personal.

You may remember me sharing a similar story a few years ago when Airbus flew their A380 flight test plane out here for us to see. This time, Boeing granted the same favor to us. So last Thursday afternoon, I got to go out to CVG with a few busloads of my coworkers and we got to see the fruits of our labor.

We arrived at the airport before the plane had landed, so we got to see the airplane make an approach and landing, which was pretty exciting. Then we got to walk around the plane and tour it, an opportunity that very few people get!

The 747-8F is a freighter version, so it is basically intended to carry cargo. But there is a similar model out now (the 747-8 International) that is intended to carry passengers and compete with the A380.

The new 747-8I can hold between 400-500 passengers when fully-loaded. The new 747-8 models are essentially modernized versions of the original 747 design, with new engines, avionics, and wing/body improvements designed to increase fuel efficiency and decrease maintenance load. At GE, we are proud to supply the engine for this airplane, the GEnx-2B high-bypass turbofan engine. On the 747-8 models, there are 4 engines, each capable of producing about 67,000 pounds of thrust.

The model I work on is actually the GEnx-1B, which powers the 787 Dreamliner. But the two models (GEnx-1B and GEnx-2B) are very similar in design. I hope that one of these days, the good folks at Boeing will fly a 787 out here for our enjoyment!

Enjoy some photos from the afternoon!