Holy crap wow.
Where have I been? It’s been well over a month and a half since I posted but it seems like just yesterday to me. There have been some major changes to my life and none of them are in regards to the book.

I’ve pretty much quit that because it was hard for Mike to get the task of the day to me. It was fun while it lasted, but oh well. I still get a chuckle out of it every now and then when I see Mike and he tells me what the task was of some previous day.

Right now I’m excited because in 17 days I go to Myrtle Beach. Being able to go is another story in itself, which I’ll get to later.

So right now it’s 7:35AM, and I just had a shower and breakfast after work. Yeah, after work. I guess the biggest change that has happened lately is that I’m now working with my dad (technically with him, I suppose) at a place called Cast-Fab in Cincinnati. No more Wendy’s! As the start of a new term at school approached, the info for my financial aid hadn’t been processed and I knew I’d either get stuck with crappy classes again or not be able to go back at all. That would just be flat out dumb, because I’m NOT going to waste money taking classes that suck. So it just happened that as that whole “ecomony” thing started to pick up, so did Cast-Fab. My dad had been searching for help to do all the work that they had, and offered me a job. I figured as long as I was going to be off another term, I might as well make it worth it. So I’m working third shift on the Melt Deck right now. If you don’t know what that is, it’s okay, I’ll explain later. I’m making GREAT money, getting AT LEAST 40 hours a week and I’m caught up in my primary bills (school loans not included.) I’m starting to get a good amount of money in the bank too. The whole third shift thing kinda sucks, but it isn’t bad. I don’t have to worry about traffic, and I can easily sleep in the day because most days no one is home. The only BIG downfalls are that it kills my already small social life, and that I’m usually asleep while everything is open during the day. So if I gotta go to the bank I either have to wait to go to sleep for a few hours or wake up early.

The job itself, again, isn’t bad. For those who have no clue what my dad or Cast-Fab does, they are an iron foundry. They do a bit more than just make things out of iron, though, as I saw today. Bust mostly during my shift, we melt iron and pour it into molds that were made the during the day. I have no clue what the things are used for, but from all I can tell is that most of them are machine parts. They are usually well over a ton or two, and I’ve seen one as big as 45,000 pounds! But my part in this is minimal. I actually work in a lab.

As the guys on the melt deck get the molten metal ready, they need to check the content of the iron, because it’s not 100% iron. It actually contains a good amount of carbon, silicon, and small portions of things like copper and magnesium. I’d imagine that some of these things help it cool properly or make it stronger or whatnot. I’m not too certain. Anyways, when they need to check the content of the metal, they give me a sample that includes a coin-like piece and a pin. I break those away from a base, then I smash up the pin, and sand one side of the coin until it is shiny and flat.

Then, I take the coin and put it in a spectrogram.. or spectrograph.. maybe it’s a spirograph… ehh.. we just call it the “spectro”.. anyway, this burns the shiny surface of the coin and (I assume) based on the emissions can determine the content of about 30-40 different metals.

Normally, I would put the pin in a machine that we call the “Leco” (called so because of the manufacturer of the machine.) and that melts the pieces of the pin that I weigh out. The emissions from the pin are tested, then based on the weight the Leco will calculate the carbon and sulfer content. However, the Leco was the devil and was broken every other day, so we are either getting rid of it or getting a new one. It’s being shipped out today. The Leco is more accurate in determining the sulfur and carbon than the spectro, which is why we used it in the first place, but now we have to rely on some other sources to know if the spectro is coming out correct.

Anyway, when I get the info, I pass it along to the guys on the deck and they take care of the rest. Then I get ready for my next sample. I have to take samples both before and after they pour the iron. Like I said, the job isn’t bad. The place is a bit dirty and I come home with my hands dried out and covered in crap, but for the money I can deal with it. The downfall here is that it is entirely male workers. Come to think of it, that REALLY sucks.

But yeah, as far as Myrtle Beach goes, I was pretty scared to ask my boss for the time off. I mean, when you are working a job for (as far as anyone knows) 10 weeks, asking for one week off probably isn’t too good. Factor in that you were hired because they started getting pretty busy, and that your dad is the plant manager and you don’t want to spoil his reputation in the slightest. There were 2 real reasons I asked against those “odds”. For one, I figured that giving me the job was as much of a favor for them as it was to me, as they needed the help enough for my dad to consider me and have a tough time keeping employees. Secondly, I haven’t been out of Ohio (save for a few family functions just inside Kentucky) in about two and a half years. Uggh. I needed this vacation, so I asked.

When I asked, much to my surprise, my boss said it probably wouldn’t be a problem. See, since it was only a ten week position, they knew they’d have to replace me soon anyway, and that same day my dad had already hired my replacement, which I wasn’t expecting to happen until the week I was gone. (which the reason of “me having to train my replacement” wasn’t as big of a reason that I wouldn’t have been able to go as the rest.) But he started last Tuesday, and I’ve managed to get him ready to the point where he could probably keep up on his own if he had to. Which is good, because now, short of him quitting, there is no reason I couldn’t have the time off. :) :)!!!

I’m so excited to go to Myrtle Beach. Mike and I have watched the tapes from last year’s trip (which if you recall, I didn’t get to go on because of another temp job [the great oaks co-op]) and have been getting antsy to go.

So yeah, up until this point I wrote the first part of this and then saved it. Cause I got really tired and didn’t want it to get lost in my tiredness. It’s now 12 days until Myrtle Beach.

I spent the night at Mike’s last night. No reason in particular. But it seemed like everything we talked about ended up coming back to something about Mrytle Beach. We’ve been talking over some of the specifics, mostly about when we leave because everything else will just be a whim of the moment sort of thing. As it stands we will be leaving sometime around 6:30 on Saturday the 20th. Mike said last year it took 10 and half hours to get there, and if that is the same this time, we should be there just in time for dinner.

SO yeah, other than Myrtle Beach and Work, there have only been a few things worth dragging out and talking about again.

Sarah got Married on the 27th of last month. Two weeks before the wedding, her brother Jared was supposed to be hospitalized for a month. So she asked me to take his place as a Groomsman. It was pretty sweet because all the girls said I looked so good in my tux, especially with my beard. The entire night was a good time, and it put a smile on my face to see Sarah happy… not only that but all the bridesmaids looked hot

But anyway… I suppose I’ll go ahead and post this before I wait another day to update the site.