As many people who write these things probably do, I had grand schemes of posting more consistently, and further even having compelling things to blog about. And here we are 3 weeks in to the year, and I've failed miserably in both aspects. Even tonight, I really don't have anything of interest to talk about. I just felt compelled to put a little bit up here since it's been right on a week since I last updated. How lame.
The past week has been busy as well. The job is continuing nicely, although today was quite slow. I put together a long string of left-over paperclips from all the paperwork that I go through while I'm there, I read the news (a lot), I went to a training meeting which lasted for about 30 minutes, and then I started playing around with new computers and equipment trying to get it working. I also saw how you etch a surface of a metal (you get cool chemicals like HF, HCl, and HNO3) and place it on top of the metal, and let it eat it away. It's used to see the grain boundaries (the way the material is fitted together I believe) in a failure analysis, since they're investigating a piece of something that broke during use. Pretty intriguing stuff. Tomorrow morning we're bringing the heavy-duty stuff. I've also been sick with some sinus/head cold symptoms, although it has finally passed I believe.
On a pretty exciting front, our small group is putting on a dinner (for Valentine's day, but not until the 24th) for the 55+ group at church. We're cooking for them (there's a professional chef in our group), and having some games, a slideshow, and pictures of each of the couples that comes that night. I think that it will turn out to be pretty cool stuff. Mandi and a couple of the other people in the group are planning, and I'll be helping out with some of the slideshows and game things. Speaking of games, we're putting on a Newlywed Game type thing with a few of the couples, and a couple from our own group and seeing how they do. So if you can think of any good questions to ask either the husbands or the wives, let me know.
It's been bitterly cold here the past few days. Really since about last Thursday. I know, it's really nothing compared to those northern states, but for getting down to 12 and 13 degrees around here, it's getting pretty cold. I envied the Murphy's in AmSam when they posted the other day about the temperatures. Those were days that I wished I lived on an island as well...Hopefully, in the next few days, I'll have a post of substance. But until then...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Say All I Need
It's been hectic. I've felt as if I should put something on here many times the past few weeks, but just haven't had the time/energy to do so. Work has been going exceptionally well. In the past 2 weeks I have learned how to use a plasma etcher, coat samples in carbon, prepare samples for viewing in a TEM (transmission electron microscope), prepare bulk samples of asbestos (which comes in a variety of sizes), get some basic introductory walk-throughs on using the TEM and the SEM (scanning em), basic training in working with hot (in the nuclear sense) materials, as well as some of the entry-level stuff of logging samples, and handling the paper-work. It has been action-packed almost every day...except on those days when they're working on the classified work they are contracted on...in which case there are some interesting articles on Google news, and some not-so-interesting articles that hold some special kind of appeal on those days. All in all though, it's been a lot of fun.
I had another company calling today wanting to talk with me about possibly working with them, and I've been trying to interface with them, but with being at MCL from 8-5, it's hard to find a time to contact them. We're working on setting up a phone interview I think, but given the relatively short amount of time before my trial period is over...I don't know what will happen exactly. But I guess it doesn't hurt to keep the options coming until I've got something firm. I feel like we're just about there though...
I'm signed on to once again coach the Cedar Bluff Middle School Giants Soccer Team. Man, that's a long school name. But if it's anything like last year, it should be a blast. The only difference being that this year I'm working at a real job, which I don't know if they'll allow me to take off at 3:30 on practice days...hopefully I can find some kind of schedule that will allow me to leave early on those 2 days of the week and let it work. If not...I guess I won't be able to coach. It would be a shame as well, since I really did have a lot of fun last year, and there will be a number of the same kids coming back to play since I think that we only had 3 8th graders. And we've apparently got some incoming 6th graders that are pretty good and have played competitive for a number of years...so we should hopefully have a very good pair of teams. I'll just need to find a way to bargain for my working hours.
Last night was fairly interesting. As I think I've mentioned before, I've been playing basketball fairly regularly (at least once a week) with some people from church and elsewhere that play in a 3-on-3 league. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am absolutely awful at basketball. I have managed, however, to see some signs of improvement. Yesterday was a fairly significant step forward, as I managed to score about 10-15 points per game (we played 4 on 4 full court to 50), and was fairly consistent at hitting my lay-ups off of steals and quick breaks. You may laugh, but those lay-ups were pretty dang hard to hit...when I was all by myself...standing still beneath the basket...and had about 3 attempts before someone caught up to me...yeah... But last night I was actually making them on the dribble, and I even got my 3-pointers to go in. Now, I have a terrible shooting technique, since I shoot from my shoulder. I think Mandi told me that I shoot like a girl...and I probably do. But I make it work, and nobody outside of brother has blocked me yet, which is strange since he's the shortest person that I've played against. At any rate, my "signature shot" is dribbling across the top of the arc from left to right and putting up my shoulder-level shot which banks in off the backboard. I guess it's pretty unconventional, but I get it to work about half the time. That's about what MJ shot from behind the arc, right? I actually have no idea on that one... At any rate, it is turning out to be a lot of fun, now that I can actually contribute in some way besides turning the ball over after missing easy shots.
I'll try and update the rest of the stuff on the page over the next couple days as it is fairly dated, but for now, I've said all that I need to say. Enjoy the new song by OneRepublic.
I had another company calling today wanting to talk with me about possibly working with them, and I've been trying to interface with them, but with being at MCL from 8-5, it's hard to find a time to contact them. We're working on setting up a phone interview I think, but given the relatively short amount of time before my trial period is over...I don't know what will happen exactly. But I guess it doesn't hurt to keep the options coming until I've got something firm. I feel like we're just about there though...
I'm signed on to once again coach the Cedar Bluff Middle School Giants Soccer Team. Man, that's a long school name. But if it's anything like last year, it should be a blast. The only difference being that this year I'm working at a real job, which I don't know if they'll allow me to take off at 3:30 on practice days...hopefully I can find some kind of schedule that will allow me to leave early on those 2 days of the week and let it work. If not...I guess I won't be able to coach. It would be a shame as well, since I really did have a lot of fun last year, and there will be a number of the same kids coming back to play since I think that we only had 3 8th graders. And we've apparently got some incoming 6th graders that are pretty good and have played competitive for a number of years...so we should hopefully have a very good pair of teams. I'll just need to find a way to bargain for my working hours.
Last night was fairly interesting. As I think I've mentioned before, I've been playing basketball fairly regularly (at least once a week) with some people from church and elsewhere that play in a 3-on-3 league. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am absolutely awful at basketball. I have managed, however, to see some signs of improvement. Yesterday was a fairly significant step forward, as I managed to score about 10-15 points per game (we played 4 on 4 full court to 50), and was fairly consistent at hitting my lay-ups off of steals and quick breaks. You may laugh, but those lay-ups were pretty dang hard to hit...when I was all by myself...standing still beneath the basket...and had about 3 attempts before someone caught up to me...yeah... But last night I was actually making them on the dribble, and I even got my 3-pointers to go in. Now, I have a terrible shooting technique, since I shoot from my shoulder. I think Mandi told me that I shoot like a girl...and I probably do. But I make it work, and nobody outside of brother has blocked me yet, which is strange since he's the shortest person that I've played against. At any rate, my "signature shot" is dribbling across the top of the arc from left to right and putting up my shoulder-level shot which banks in off the backboard. I guess it's pretty unconventional, but I get it to work about half the time. That's about what MJ shot from behind the arc, right? I actually have no idea on that one... At any rate, it is turning out to be a lot of fun, now that I can actually contribute in some way besides turning the ball over after missing easy shots.
I'll try and update the rest of the stuff on the page over the next couple days as it is fairly dated, but for now, I've said all that I need to say. Enjoy the new song by OneRepublic.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Here It Goes
Usually, when there is a long break in posts by someone on a blog, it means that they have been exceptionally busy. For me...that usually just isn't the case. However, in this one particular instance, it really can be attributed to that. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
About 3 weeks ago, I sent in an applications on the recommendation of a friend. While I was doing that, I happened to see another position that I thought I might be semi-qualified for. So I sent one off for that as well. I wasn't expecting to hear much, with the Christmas holiday coming up, and figured they would end up like many of the other things that I've sent off. I'd picked up dog-sitting for a family from church for the Christmas break as they were going to be in Europe, so we (my brother and I) head off to go to the house and see the dog and let them explain to me everything that they're going to want me to do while they're gone. While there, I get a phone call, and it happens to be from one of the employers that I had just sent a resume to. They wanted me to come in the next day and meet with them to discuss possibly working with them. Of course, I'm thrilled, so I go in the next day, and after about 3 hours of talking with a number of different people, they say that they want to bring me on. It's a small company, and so they want to have a trial period to allow both of us to feel out the position and see if it would work. They ask me to come in on January 3rd to get started, and I agree, going away happy.
The next morning, I wake up and get a phone call from the other company wanting me to come in for an interview with them as well. This position is with a large coke-producing (the burned coal variety, not the beveridge) company called SunCoke. I went in for my interview with them on the 2nd of January, which worked out nicely. I would be working with them as an enviornmental engineer, doing some management work, and travelling to their sites in Indiana, Virginia, Ohio and Brazil to see that everything is being done correctly and that everything is being done in an enviornmentally safe way. They said they'd get back with me in a couple weeks time either way. At this point, I don't really know what I would do if they offer me a position as well...it's kind of a good position to be in I guess.
The small business is called Materials and Chemistry Laboratories (MCL), and they are a small forensic research company. Basically what that means is that they find out what things are that people don't know. Or maybe people do know what it is, but they want to know the exact composition of the materials. Really, it's just a bunch of work to tell people that they have certain metals, radioactive elements, asbestos, or whatever else they can manage to fit into things these days, inside of their buildings, samples, or any other thing that they send us. It's a bunch of chemistry (I know, I'm a physics major...), but it's been enjoyable for the past couple days. I've already prepared samples for a TEM (transmission electron microscope), which is a multi-step day-long process, I've atomized carbon to coat samples, and of course I've done the grunt-work of logging in samples and updating the computer files. But it's been fun, and I think that I would enjoy working there for the next couple years.
The reason for going to the second interview is that the position at MCL that I'm in currently is classified as a temporary full-time position. As I said, it's about a month-long trial period, although I really feel as if I've fit in over the past two days. The people are also training me on just about everything, and not just having me log data, which I would have thought would have been the majority of the work if it was more trial than just a safe-guard for their overall business and everything. I guess you can't really hire on full-time with a substantial salary if they're not sure the person will stick with it or work well for them. So it does open up the option of taking the other position if they decide to hire me...it's really a tough call. Mandi and I had a good discussion about it the other night for a couple hours just weighing everything, and didn't even really get to a conclusion. It's just a lot to think about, and will be even more to consider if it does end up that I get an offer for the other one. I guess that it's a lot better position to be in than I have been for the past 6 months though.
Throw in New Years Eve celebrations (I'm going to have to get pictures off Mandi's camera of our "Ugly Christmas Sweater Competition" sweaters and put them on here), time with the family, hanging out with Dustin, playing some volleyball, Mandi's upcoming birthday, and just all around general holiday craziness, and it's not all that hard for me to see where the past week has gone. It's been a good Christmas/New Years, and it's been a good week, albeit a very busy one. A belated Happy New Year to all who read this. I, for one, am looking forward to what 2008 has in store. So, here it goes.
About 3 weeks ago, I sent in an applications on the recommendation of a friend. While I was doing that, I happened to see another position that I thought I might be semi-qualified for. So I sent one off for that as well. I wasn't expecting to hear much, with the Christmas holiday coming up, and figured they would end up like many of the other things that I've sent off. I'd picked up dog-sitting for a family from church for the Christmas break as they were going to be in Europe, so we (my brother and I) head off to go to the house and see the dog and let them explain to me everything that they're going to want me to do while they're gone. While there, I get a phone call, and it happens to be from one of the employers that I had just sent a resume to. They wanted me to come in the next day and meet with them to discuss possibly working with them. Of course, I'm thrilled, so I go in the next day, and after about 3 hours of talking with a number of different people, they say that they want to bring me on. It's a small company, and so they want to have a trial period to allow both of us to feel out the position and see if it would work. They ask me to come in on January 3rd to get started, and I agree, going away happy.
The next morning, I wake up and get a phone call from the other company wanting me to come in for an interview with them as well. This position is with a large coke-producing (the burned coal variety, not the beveridge) company called SunCoke. I went in for my interview with them on the 2nd of January, which worked out nicely. I would be working with them as an enviornmental engineer, doing some management work, and travelling to their sites in Indiana, Virginia, Ohio and Brazil to see that everything is being done correctly and that everything is being done in an enviornmentally safe way. They said they'd get back with me in a couple weeks time either way. At this point, I don't really know what I would do if they offer me a position as well...it's kind of a good position to be in I guess.
The small business is called Materials and Chemistry Laboratories (MCL), and they are a small forensic research company. Basically what that means is that they find out what things are that people don't know. Or maybe people do know what it is, but they want to know the exact composition of the materials. Really, it's just a bunch of work to tell people that they have certain metals, radioactive elements, asbestos, or whatever else they can manage to fit into things these days, inside of their buildings, samples, or any other thing that they send us. It's a bunch of chemistry (I know, I'm a physics major...), but it's been enjoyable for the past couple days. I've already prepared samples for a TEM (transmission electron microscope), which is a multi-step day-long process, I've atomized carbon to coat samples, and of course I've done the grunt-work of logging in samples and updating the computer files. But it's been fun, and I think that I would enjoy working there for the next couple years.
The reason for going to the second interview is that the position at MCL that I'm in currently is classified as a temporary full-time position. As I said, it's about a month-long trial period, although I really feel as if I've fit in over the past two days. The people are also training me on just about everything, and not just having me log data, which I would have thought would have been the majority of the work if it was more trial than just a safe-guard for their overall business and everything. I guess you can't really hire on full-time with a substantial salary if they're not sure the person will stick with it or work well for them. So it does open up the option of taking the other position if they decide to hire me...it's really a tough call. Mandi and I had a good discussion about it the other night for a couple hours just weighing everything, and didn't even really get to a conclusion. It's just a lot to think about, and will be even more to consider if it does end up that I get an offer for the other one. I guess that it's a lot better position to be in than I have been for the past 6 months though.
Throw in New Years Eve celebrations (I'm going to have to get pictures off Mandi's camera of our "Ugly Christmas Sweater Competition" sweaters and put them on here), time with the family, hanging out with Dustin, playing some volleyball, Mandi's upcoming birthday, and just all around general holiday craziness, and it's not all that hard for me to see where the past week has gone. It's been a good Christmas/New Years, and it's been a good week, albeit a very busy one. A belated Happy New Year to all who read this. I, for one, am looking forward to what 2008 has in store. So, here it goes.
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