Pendulum effect !

 How great is it to act out situations that you have read about in your text book?
 I give you - the pendulum effect. Please tie off everyone. And hope that they get you down in twenty
 minutes or so...
You think you are lookin' good? Have lost some weight? Strap yourself into one of these. The real test. A harness will bring to your attention and highlight....well...everything...Every little bulge will...no longer be little. Like it or not.

 

There is no freak in french fries

Well its still safety week in the classroom. We get fall arrest trained tomorrow and that will be it.  I'm good till about 1:30. Then I have a hard time sitting still and having to pay attention. Today I watched a video about a steam fitter who ended up with a 65% burn on his third day of work. He was 20, Sean George. I'm going to look him up and try to e-mail him. It was hard to listen to and watch but at least it was him giving the speech and not his parents like from the past safety videos I've been forced to watch.

This is the view from my seat. Second row. We had to make name tags. I think I did a pretty good job.

The teacher handed out photos of people at work and it was our job to make up a caption regarding the safety hazards in each. This was mine :

The pen in the photos is a pen I bought for my sister. It is from the Museum in Drumheller.  I got in the first time I visited that town. It has a dinosaur on it, I guess she doesn't like dinosaurs. It's a good pen...and its black. Most of them are blue....but you probably know that. I actually returned twice more to that little town. Its a nice place to stop for lunch and to take your photo by a huge dinosaur. Its just like the ones from that Pee -Wee Herman movie....oh Large Marge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzDaygiHM80

This is a page of me using my right hand. I'm left handed. By 2:00 this is what it comes down to. 
Don't worry, I can listen and draw at the same time. I can tell you a ton about the following subjects :

PPE (stuff to wear to keep safe)
scaffolding
trenches
hand tools
keeping a work place safe
how not to get shocked or electrocuted *very important (I now understand 'ground')
how to read that little green book
fall arrest
ladders
a ton of other things




cool photos

Been there, done that!

 Just a few shots of the coupons. I took a few of mine home with me. The ones that looked perfect.
 This week we are in the classroom doing safety. It's pretty hard for me to listen to all the fatal or near fatal incidents that could happen to me so I tend to eat or preoccupy myself with making a drawing so that I don't barf while listening to the million of ways I might accidentally end my precious life.

It was another day where I feel that the sum of my learning experiences have paid off. I'm so glad that I am not learning everything for the first time...I've done WHMIS, I've spilled acid on my leg, filled out the msds and called hazmat. I've talked to the calm voice on the other end with a heavy southern draw telling me to remove my pants. I've been to chemistry and learned that hydrochloric acid will burn your skin, and the shirt off your teachers back...And you would be surprised at the number of chemicals I read about that frequent beauty products and soaps.


It turns out that my dad isn't the only guy who likes to recall the many jobs hes had in life. My teacher sat back with a smile as he claimed how he had been on top of the world at the age of 16 with a job. Who needed school? He speaks softly and has trouble hearing..he has a hearing aid but he said its at home in drawer...also he once rode a wrecking ball and was probably one of the last people to do so... I was able to stay awake all day, only four more to go.

Because Tiggers are wonderful things

 Just kidding, I have photos!! Common' who do you think this is.

 Here are everyone's coupons getting all shiny and pretty for the test. Also, you have a better chance with the more imperfections you can grind out. As long as you keep it flush.

Malibu Stacey

 I have this week off so I don't have any photos to post at the moment. The inspector was in this morning and so I had to call in after 1:00 to ask my teacher how I did on my tests. As if waiting wasn't stressful enough I had to make this call. It turned out alright, I passed 3 out of 4 of my tests. I passed both stick (flat and horizontal) and my flat flux. I might have a chance to re-test soon so it will be alright. I am super happy about getting these three, I really had no idea what the outcome was going to be. I have confidence but I also realize the disconnect in the relationship between hands to tools to material.
Thanks for the support and please keep reading!

This wrench is for Ron. Ya know, laterRON

Sorry for the hiatus but I didn't want to talk about my tests in case I fail them, but the process is quite lengthy.

[n. pl. hi·a·tus·es or hiatus 1. A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break]
...pun or happy accident?

It involves an Inspector who over looks your first passes on each plate, milling off the backs of the plates, cutting them, sanding them and then having the inspector back to put them in the bend machine and either pass or FAIL them. I did four tests, = four plates. Each place is cut into three and all three must be ok to pass that test. I believe you are allowed a mark 1/8th of an inch in size, I think anything bigger then that would result in a total crack anyhow. I have to grind them, coupons, the pieces are called coupons. (not the newspaper kind...good thing I didn't ask the question out loud and just figured it out)  and if the welding wasn't enough stress in the first place, the grinding seems to be. At least I've stopped calling it sanding....
So each piece has a special stamp on it and if you grind if off you FAIL. That is why you will see tape on my coupons. I find it hard to tell what exact spot is actually being touched by the grinder in the first place. The goal is to grind the piece flat. If you go below flush, you FAIL. If you leave any marks you FAIL. As you do this, any imperfection comes up and rips your heart out. Unfortunately doing this with your eyes shut is not an option.
4 plates = 12 coupons, I finished today, now we wait for the Inspector.