An acidic day

It started like a normal day, a Monday that is. After I got done with my testing, I was going to set up the pump on the new barrel of Nitric to add to the Deox tank. I turned it on and next thing I know, the side of the Etch tank was smoking. Apparently there was a hole in my Nitric hose so I had to reinstall new hose for that. Didn't take as long as I had thought, I must be getting good at this stuff.

After that, I went to make my adds. Because of the lack of a barrel pump, still, I was using the method of using a manual barrel pump over to the 5 gallon bucket and then submersible pump from the bucket to the tank. I had to add a bunch of Sulfuric after decanting 3 of the tanks. I had filled the bucket and pumped it out 5 times already and was on my last tank. I got the bucket about half way full when I saw the manual pump hose bouncing around. I didn't want it coming out of the bucket and since I was using my hands to pump, I pinned it against the barrel with my knee. Which worked great, until it didn't. When I pinned it, I either caused a hole or there was one I hadn't seen and with every pump I made, more Sulfuric was going onto my pants. I didn't notice it right away, I was thinking my knee was hurting a bit from holding the hose. I finally pulled my knee away and looked at it and realized there was a streak of Sulfuric running down my knee.

I stopped the pump and set everything aside then walked around to the back of the line. I knew there was not a way to get to my knee without taking my pants off and I didn't want to do that in front of the line. By the time I got back there, I could really feel it, I kicked off my shoes and socks, then my pants and grabbed the hose and started spraying my knee. I was doing that for about 5 minutes before one of the girls came back there and I hollered at her and asked her to go get someone. A little bit later, the safety guy comes up and starts helping me as I stand there in my underwear and lab coat.

They eventually ended up sending me to the med clinic. They were worried because the (M)SDS sheet said third degree burns can happen within 3 minutes of not getting treated and since I wasn't positive on how long it was on my knee before I got the water on it, they sent me. I didn't want to go but since they were saying I had to, I didn't really have a choice.

They basically wrapped it up and gave me some cream in case it starts to blister tomorrow. It's not a big deal to me, once I got the water on it, it started feeling a lot better. I sat in the office (in my underwear) for about 20 minutes while my boss ran to Walmart to buy me a pair of pants since I couldn't put mine back on and it didn't really hurt that whole time but they sent me anyways.

After I left there, I headed back to work, mainly to check in and clock out because it was past quitting time. I went into the Anodizing office to gather some of my stuff and the group leader was in there. We were talking about what happened and she informed me that the person I asked to go get help, ran up and interrupted a meeting with all the management in a panic saying I was burned. That was completely on her because I was not panicked at all so we'll see who all comes and checks on me tomorrow. I know one good thing that will happen, the safety guy already purchased 3 barrel pumps. WooHoo!

I came home and chit chatted with the wife who had to do an MRI today. They are doing one to see if the MS has progressed any more. It'll take a bit to find out her results so now it's wait and see.

Samantha went to the high school basketball game and we've been chilling most of the evening, watching a couple of Michigan basketball games I had on the DVR. One men's and one women's game. Cheri has already crashed from the valium they gave her to calm her for the MRI. I've been fighting sleep all night but of course, am now wide awake. As I type this out, I'm listening to the storm outside. Thunder, lightning and rain for sure, almost sounded like a little sleet at one point but I'm not sure it's quite cold enough for that.

I'll catch you on the flip side tomorrow with an update about my knee.

Slow Sunday

Not much to say today. Woke up later than I would have liked but then again, I do love to sleep in so I won't complain. At least not until I go to bed tonight.

Been chilling, doing my internet stuff and watching shows off the DVR most of the day. Other than running out to pick up Trevor from his mom. It was extremely foggy again. I don't remember having this many really foggy days and by days, I mean in the daylight and not the morning. Don't know if that means anything or not.

I guess since I don't have much else, I'll update you on the walking progress.

Day 385 - Sutton, NE (1248.2 miles)

I had a pretty decent week, well up until today, which I guess is technically next week. I've been trying to walk after work, if anything, walk in place at home. I had 3 days in a row that I had over 10,000 steps and since my goal is set for 8,000 a day, I'd say I made up for today.

Goal = 1,500 miles (4.1 miles a day)

Currently = 69.41 miles (3.47 miles a day)

Last week my current pace was just over 3 miles a day so I'm getting a little better. I know the beginning of the week is supposed to be decent so maybe I'll get out and walk outside.

Slow Saturday

One nice thing about working Saturday is there is never any traffic on the way there. The other nice thing is I get a better parking spot because there is less people there.

I didn't really do much as far as my usual job. I did more paperwork and work on the computer than anything. Because of that, I ruined my 3 day streak of 10,000 steps.

I did get some free breakfast though.

I avoided making adds again since the barrel pump still isn't working. I'm not going to be able to do that Monday when the Sufuric I ordered comes in.

I came home, showered and have been fighting sleep in the recliner most of the night. I know, exciting stuff isn't it. No plans for tomorrow either so more excitement to come.

Better late than never

So I woke up this morning when my wife tapped me saying, Jeff, it's 5:51. Now I'm supposed to be at work by 6 and my alarm is set for 4:45 so needless to say, I was late. I rolled over to grab my phone to find out why the alarm didn't go off only to grab my charger with no phone attached. Apparently when I went to bed last night, I left my phone on the table between our chairs in the living room. I've never done that before. It was just odd that I did it at all.

We have personal time so I can call in and still get paid for it but you can only take it in 2 hour increments so I text the boss and told him I'd be in at 8. He text back that they were rubbing off on me.

Because I generally have damn near perfect attendance, I make fun of everyone who calls in or is late. So you know when I showed up, they harassed me big time. That's alright though, because my response was usually, would you like to compare attendance records. Yeah, I didn't think so.

Since I was already late, I stopped and hit the McDonalds drive-thru for some breakfast. Might as well. I got there even earlier than I normally do because I left earlier. The nice thing about showing up late though is I got a great parking spot.

I got my new barrel pump in today, only for it to stop working so we'll see what happens with that. The boss says he's going to try to fix it. Other than that, it was a pretty quick day since I skipped the first 2 hours.

I got home and was going to walk Milo but our neighborhood streets are still icy and between me slipping and Milo paws getting really cold walking on it, I decided against it. I was going to pull out the Wii again but yesterday, I pretty much stuck to the walking so I decided to just walk in place in the living room. That may actually be more physical since I tend to exaggerate my arm and leg movement. Hey, at least it's something. It's put me at over 10,000 steps for 3 days in a row.

After that, I took Trevor to meet theEx so he could spend the weekend with her. It wasn't a pleasant trip because of all the idiots on the roads. I had to lay on my horn 3 times and I only use the horn when I have to. I don't use it when someone pisses me off, I only use it when an accident is barely avoided.

Yes, I stopped and got gas, then hit Taco Bell, then home. We've been watching TV ever since. I'm working tomorrow so I won't be up real late, although it's already 20 till 11 and I just started an hour show so we'll see.

No snow yesterday

Today was the first time in about a week that I took the back roads to work. We didn't get any snow finally so the roads were dry which means even though the temperatures were still low, there was nothing on the roads to freeze. Woohoo!

Another average day at work. Not having a barrel pump is really cramping my style but I get by. I checked the order of chemicals that came in and couldn't find my Sulfuric Acid which I would need by tomorrow. Come to find out, I didn't order it. I ordered the Sulfuric for waste treatment and for some reason, thought it was mine so I didn't order any. So now I can't decant the tanks all week so I can get by with what I have. The bad part is, now my aluminum levels on those 3 tanks are going to gradually go up which I've been trying to lower since I started.

From a friends Snapchat

That's me, sitting on my barrel of Nickel. I'm sitting on it because the manual pump is filling up my 5 gallon bucket, slowly. In my hands, not sure if you can really see it or not, I have the plug to the extension cord and the plug for the submersible pump. Once the 5 gallon bucket is full, I plug it in and pump it to the tank, unplug it, then wait for it to fill up again. I got tired of standing so I sat.

I headed home and actually took some time to work out on the Wii. I just played around a little then I kept redoing the walking section until I had to go pick up Trevor from the school.

Trevor stayed over for what's called J-Club, which is an introduction to some kind of academic team which I'm really excited for him. I'm not looking forward to going to the matches, but I'm extremely excited for him. I hope he really likes it because it will be good for him.

Nothing else really going on, been sitting and watching some TV.  We've been watching Undercover High and it's scary if you have kids in school. They sent in adults (low to mid 20's) undercover as high school students. You couldn't pay me to do this, I would hate everyone and wouldn't be able to make friends, which is what you need to do to get in for some information. The way the one girl is talked to is ridiculous. The sexual comments just when she walks the hall. It makes me scared for my daughter. One of the undercovers said this that I never thought about. He said that when he was in school, you were judged by your character, now it's judged on your social media presence. That's just scary to me.

There's about 10 minutes left on the show we're watching then I'm heading for bed. It's after 10 and I do best when I'm in bed before 11.

I screwed up

I missed posting yesterday which means I probably won't remember everything, if anything.

At work my barrel pump stopped working so now to add chemicals to the tanks, I have to put a submersible pump in a 5 gallon bucket, then use a hand pump to pump from the barrel to the 5 gallon bucket. Not good times. I'm trying to make as little adds as possible but I have a feeling that will bite me in the ass before my new barrel pump comes in.

My group leader bought me Jimmy John's for lunch though so there was that.

I got home and headed for the shower. Once Samantha got home, we headed out to the gun range. We mainly shot my 9mm handgun and I fired my friends a few times.

He also brought a 38 revolver that I tried, holy crap did that thing have some kick for a handgun.

We used our hour and went through 250 bullets between the 2 of us. It was good to get out and do that again. Although I did have an issue. My contacts have been adjusted so much to see far that I have trouble seeing close now so I have trouble lining up the sights.

We had fun which is all that really matters. I let Samantha drive us home. She did alright except we were at a light where there was 2 cars in front of us. They both turned right on red and I'm pretty sure Samantha was just going to go right threw that red light to go straight. Just as I hollered at her, it turned green so we would have been ok but it was definitely a teaching moment.

This morning started off like a normal morning but just before lunch, I had put a hose in one of the tanks and I knew it was going to be 20 minutes or so before I needed to shut it off so I figured I'd grab the forklift while the drivers were on lunch and grab my barrels from where we store them so I could make my ads when I was done. I went looking for the forklift and couldn't find where our guy parked it so now I was annoyed. I looked around bit and then ended up just sitting there waiting for him to come back from break so I could tell him to get my stuff. The problem was, because I got annoyed, I completely forgot the hose. That is until my boss called and said he just got a call that one of the tanks was overflowing. I was pissed at myself. It was the first time since I started that I overflowed one. What's worse is you have to use a wet dry vac to clean up the overflow because there is no drain in the floor. Luckily one of the guys helped me out otherwise it wouldn't have taken the whole afternoon to clean it up. We'll see if there are any consequences tomorrow. I'm not expecting any but if they did, I would sit and take it.

When I make a mistake, I beat myself up over it. I still get mad about it and it was almost 9 hours ago.

From a friend's snapchat

The funny thing that happened today was they started a swear jar at work. We are pretty much keeping tally's at this point because most of us don't really carry cash, let alone a quarter for each cuss word. We've even added a bunch of people that if they are in our department, they are liable to follow the swear jar as well.

I was going to take a photo at the end of the day but I forgot, I just wanted to get the hell out of there after my mistake. How much do I owe you ask? Not a damn thing. My mom raised me right, I know when I have to hold my tongue. I'm sure I'll slip up here and there in the future but it shouldn't be a problem. Me and a couple of other people still cuss in front of each other, we don't care, we just don't do it in front of certain people who will ding you.

Last I heard, the money was being donated but I'm not positive about that. So if I do get caught cussing, it'll be for the kids, which is what I'll say.

I'm currently sitting in the car outside of the therapist office. I brought my laptop so I'm just chilling in the car, in my pj's and typing up this blog. Although she should be just about done so I may finish at home.

I am home now but I'm done for the day. We'll see if I post tomorrow. I don't think anything is going on after work but we'll see.

Real duties to Call of Duty

As per my usual Sunday night before going to work on Monday, I couldn't sleep. It probably has to do with the sleeping in till 10 on Saturday and 9:30 Sunday. I did that Snap above as I was going to bed, it was well after 1 before I actually fell asleep. Needless to say, I was sleepy today.

I took the main roads to work today as we got a couple of more inches last but I made good time as those roads weren't to horrible. I finally got some filters at work and was able to do the correct test on our etch tank today and found out it was way lower than I had thought so I had to boost it up. Other than that, nothing to exciting.

For the first time, I took the main roads home because it pretty much snowed non-stop today. I figured there would be a main difference between coming and going to work. I thought it would be traffic as in way more on the way home. I was wrong, traffic wasn't much different but I got stopped by light after light after light. I pretty much did speed limit most of the way but with all the stopping, it still took me over 40 minutes to get home.

I came home to a clean driveway though because I texted Trevor and told him to shovel it. I told him he could blame Martin Luther King for giving him the day off school. Samantha had her last driving lesson today as well. She said they went downtown so the roads stayed decent.

After I got settled for the evening, Samantha asked me to play Call of Duty with her. I said sure but only for a short time. I suck at those kind of video games, way to much going on for me to do anything. I got killed 17 times and had 0 kills. I sucked. She made fun of me, but when I said fine, let's play Madden, she declined. I said I couldn't play those games, I didn't say I couldn't play any games.

Not much since then, I've been watching the Michigan/Maryland game while I type this so it's taken awhile to get it out. It's close to being done as am I with this post.

Sunday Thoughts

You can see above about when I got up. Which isn't great because I probably will have trouble going to sleep tonight which means 4:45 am is going to come awfully early tomorrow morning.

I have no plans today, sit on my laptop and not do a damn thing. Cheri left not long after that photo was taken above to meet our oldest daughter in Indianapolis so it's just me and the kids. I'm sure they'll play video games most of the day but I don't have any extra money this week to go do anything. I do have some plans Tuesday that will take a little cash so I have to save what little I do have. Right now, I'm in my recliner, on my Chromebook and listening to my playlist.

I was going to mention this yesterday but I forgot. I keep track of who I listen to as far as music go, I do this for my stats as well as my Last Song of the Day blog. Last month, Taylor Swift was my most listened to artist. Why? Well because she released a new album and my wife if obsessed with her and will listen to it over and over for a few months. I get stuck in her car occasionally and she plays it.  Yesterday, we went shopping and once again, I got stuck in her car again. So guess who has a huge lead in this month's list? Cheri can't stand the type of music that Taylor plays now (Pop) other than a few songs but because it's T-Swift, she loves the album. I don't get it. I did add some of the songs on my playlist because a few of them weren't bad but to listen to that album over and over, I'll pass. I might have to start carrying headphones with me.

Day 378 - Friend, NE (1218.1 miles)

Since there is nothing going on today and usually most Sundays, I thought I would give a minor update on my steps for the year on Sundays.

You can see above that I'm still in Nebraska but I am heading West for the mountains. Good think I'm not actually walking in the mountains, I'd be dead. Here's some stats so far this year.

Goal = 1500 miles (4.1 miles/day)
Currently = 39.33 (3.02 miles/day)

That's not going so well. The 1500 miles a day goal is rounded up from 8,000 steps a day but because I've had more days off work than normal, I'm still quite a bit lower. A couple of Mondays off because of New Years and a court date as well as I have only worked one weekend so far, also because of the holidays. I generally average around 8,000 on work days so it'll be a matter of making up for my lazy weekends which in most cases will only be Sundays because I generally work most Saturdays. I imagine the miles per day will gradually go up as it gets warmer as well with home projects, mowing the lawn, ect. I won't be quite as lazy. Who knows, maybe I'll get out and walk the neighborhood occasionally.

After blogging the first half of this post, I took a break and got around to putting away the cards I've picked up the last couple of months. I tend to let them stack up until I get around to putting them all away. They are out of sight, so the wife doesn't usually complain but the drawer I keep them in was getting full.

I don't remember what she did to be a pain in the ass. We ended up hooking the Wii up because I had brought it up from downstairs. Cheri and I have talked about doing the yoga and stuff on the Wii Fit. We used to do it a few years ago and we both felt better, had a little more mobility so we thought we might try it again. Samantha and I got it set up and ended up doing a the balance games before starting to do the games. Trevor joined in after awhile and we ended up being on it until Cheri got home.

Slow Saturday.

I slept good last night. Went to bed about midnight and didn't wake up until 10 this morning. It was nice.

We watched a show or 2 then Cheri was falling asleep so I put on the Michigan woman's basketball game I had on the DVR so she could nap. About the time that ended the Michigan men's game was coming on so we watched that.

After that, we headed out to do the grocery shopping. It was interesting shopping trip. We shop at 3 different places for groceries. Aldi's, where we try to get most everything because it's the cheapest. Then we go to Walmart to get what we couldn't at Aldi's and then to Martin's where we get mainly the meat and if there was something else the other 2 places didn't have.

At Aldi's, we witnessed a girl drop a bottle of wine. Accidently and she didn't run or anything so it was a mistake but it's not something you see everyday. Then there's Walmart.

It was packed since it was a Saturday afternoon, we were walking down the main aisle and this idiot lady, talking on her phone while her toddler was running around came out the aisle. I kept walking, I was in the main aisle she just slowly came out and I didn't stop, I had right-a-way. I started to say something to her because I could tell she wasn't going to stop and she didn't. "What the hell lady, are you going to fucking stop" I said as she bumps me. She stopped her talking on the phone long enough to apologize but we kept ending up in the same aisle's. Her kid kept trying to get her attention but she just kept gabbing away. I'm all about my phone, I couldn't go without it anymore but I'm not on it 24/7. When my wife and I eat out together, our phones are out on the table and we occasionally look at things but it's not out all the time so it drives me nuts when people do that. Especially when there are things going around them that they should be paying attention to.

After that, we went out to head to Martin's and it was snowing again. I checked and we were supposed to get a couple more inches. We hit Martin's and CVS to pick up some meds and then headed home.

That's an exciting non work weekend day for me, usually we don't leave the house. Tomorrow, Cheri is heading to Indy to see our oldest daughter and is bringing the dog back for us to watch again. You should get a post tomorrow because I plan on updating my walking on Sundays and since the wife isn't going to be here, I should have the time.

60 to 20

My morning started off as usual, I grabbed the bag of trash off the garage step to put it in the trash bin on the way to the car but I had to break the ice off to open the lid. After our almost 60 degree day yesterday, it dropped in the 20's last night with some freezing rain.

I backed out and the neighborhood was a solid sheet of ice, which wasn't surprising. I pulled out on the first main road and it was pretty much wet but not frozen, so I was thinking I'd take the back roads. I got about a mile down the road and it was blocked out with emergency vehicles everywhere. I had to detour around it which wasn't real far out of the way but I had to go on less traveled roads which were frozen slushies. I decided the accident, or whatever it was, was a sign that I should take the main roads.

Most of the way was pretty clear, just wet but once I got into the city where I work, it started sleeting big time, roads were getting nasty. I was just a mile or so from work and still had 20 minutes so I decided I wanted some McDonalds for breakfast. I'd been hungry since last night. I pulled up behind a car and waited a couple of minutes before pulling up to the order microphone. "I'll be with you in a minute." Alright, no big deal. Until 5 minutes later and I was still sitting there. Screw that, I had to go to work so I just pulled away. I head down to work and as I'm pulling in the industrial park, once again, I'm met with emergency vehicles completely blocking the roads. This time, I had to turn around and go to another entrance to the industrial park. By the time I get to work, it's already time for me to head in. No getting to hang out and listen to music.

   

Not to much happened at work, pretty boring day. Someone brought in tamales so at least I didn't starve without McDonalds. Had a usual day, I had a boost a couple of tanks up because there is production tomorrow but our shift isn't working so I wanted to make sure there wasn't any issues.

The drive home was better. I took the back roads home, they weren't great but driveable. I normally do about 60 mph and I kept it around 45ish most of the way. The open areas were the worst because of the snow blowing into the road but it was fine. I stopped to fill up the gas tank about half way and headed home with the rest of the drive on main roads. 

Cheri was having lunch with her sister and niece and the kids school was cancelled because of the weather so I came home to my daughter sitting in the living room, jamming her music and talking with someone on the computer which is what she usually does when no adults are home.

I showered and plopped down to watch some of my shows before Cheri got home. I got through one (pic above), then fell asleep during the 2nd. I woke up when Cheri got home. Been chilling as usual since.

We have no plans this weekend, just hanging at the homestead. Cheri didn't go get groceries this morning like she usually does so some time we'll probably go and do that. Other than that, I'll probably be right here, in my recliner with my laptop on my lap.