THE RELUCTANT ELECTRICIAN

We have been working in the soccer / track and field stadium, upgrading power so the concession stand can operate both of it's fryers without tripping breakers, we're also adding
some additional outlets. So far we have added a new, bigger transformer, that because of space constraints had to mounted from the ceiling. Did I mention it weighs 364 pounds?
Suspended from the ceiling. 364 pounds...man. Then we added a new panel box, right under the transformer, and next to it a sub panel. All of this will allow the concession staff to make funnel cakes without tripping a breaker.
Then, there was the 300 foot wire pull from the main electrical room. And then we had to hook everything up. I had the honor of wiring the transformer, the panel and the original panel
to meet the new configuration. This involves running conduit up out of the panels, across the ceiling ( already a mess of conduit ) with a variety of kicks, offsets,3 point saddles and 90 degree angles going in a variety of directions on one piece...and, here's the kicker...it has to look uniform. Forget that my journeyman and my foreman are sticklers for continuity, I am too. I learned that from them. The only problem is, I have been doing this for 11 months and they have been doing it for years. And I constantly second guess myself when it comes to bending conduit.
Imagine my panic this morning when my journeyman did his ever increasing " this is your project...what do you need to do"? routine in regard to the measuring and bending of some 3/4" conduit travelling from a panel on one wall to another that is perpendicular to the source. This involves navigating around existing conduit...and it has to look good. And my journeyman is not helping, at all. I'm on my own, after all, it's "my" project. I'm staring at the mess on the ceiling and my brain starts to swim. And then I remember a trick...take a piece of wire and make a model of what you want to do on the ceiling. The model looks great, "it'll work" I say, "get er done"! responds my journeyman, "Times a-wasting"!
Now bending 8 inches of 12 gauge wire is easy, you can do it with your fingers, but bending 3/4" pipe involves turning it in the bender ( in the right direction ) and do you bend off the floor or flip the bender over and bend down ? One wrong turn and or bend and you've wasted a 10 foot piece of conduit.
My journeyman was gleefully anticipating watching me : A: waste conduit, B: sweat and cuss and C: give up and let him bend the pipe (without that pesky thing called measuring) once and have it fit like a glove, first time out. He said so...as in "I can't wait to watch this hee hee hee.
Well, Guess what? I got it right the first time out and only had to shorten the final bend by less than an inch ( off a measurement given to me by my journeyman, go figure ).
It looked awesome, and when we fired it up, nothing blew up.
I pulled it off.
And what did my journeyman have to say about it?
" Even a blind pig finds the acorn sometimes " And then he smiled. I guess I'm getting it.