>>111044
Ever since this was pointed out to me, I get self conscious everytime a black customer asks me "where you from?" It happens a lot. Three times just tonight.

My year contract isn't getting renewed with the university I work at. Reason being a "business decision" probably means they're on a stricter budget now. I either have 3 or 6 months left depending on when they give me a final notice. Shit sucks because I was a week away from moving out finally and now I can't afford to. The apartment hasn't given me an answer on getting my security deposit back but knows I'm canceling my lease.

>>112095
Damn dude.

>>108836
> get email from boss
> fw: kentucky
> watch out for food borne and sexually transmitted disease outbreak
> Hep A

> Symptoms
> Hepatitis A signs and symptoms typically don't appear until you've had the virus for a few weeks. But not everyone with hepatitis A develops them. If you do, hepatitis signs and symptoms can include:

> Fatigue, Sudden nausea and vomiting, Abdominal pain or discomfort, especially on the upper right side beneath your lower ribs (by your liver), Clay-colored bowel movements, Loss of appetite, Low-grade fever, Dark urine, Joint pain, Yellowing of the skin and the whites of your eyes (jaundice), Intense itching

Emperor damn it.

Four days off. Flying back to Oklahoma to see my mom and brother. Everytime I go home, it hurts.

>>112095
Where've you been looking?

>>112097
I applied to one local here in NY but I applied to a few in PA, OH, one in TX and one in NC. I'm going to try to use this to get out of NY for good. But if no one wants me out of state in the next 3-6 months I'll only stick to local applications. I look about every day on indeed and linkedin.

I'm getting sick of this shit.

>>112064
>>112066
>>112067

So because it would be rude if I were not to share after receiving solid advice, here's what I was going to do with it:

The ring is/was made of surgical titanium and also involved in the project, had it progressed to the actual making, were really, really tiny neodymium magnets.

1/4

Seriously these things are the smallest things

http://zigmystermagnets.com/product-category/rare-earth-magnets-ceramic-magnets/micro-magnets/

2/4

So I was going to adhere the magnets to the ring to make basically a homebrew magentic earring. Why? 'Cause shit would have been cash, to put it succinctly. For reasons, I was going to roll down my right ear and secure with two attracting magnets to resist the force of the ear wanting to unroll.

I was actually going to get a legit piercing, had the dosh, and went around asking piercers what they thought. I In my mind, the force from the ear-in-a-blanket wanting to unroll would have been negligible; every piercer I asked said, no, that's a terribad idea because the force against the thin piercing surface will probably tear through your cartilage. Hmm.


3/4

And pic is what I ended up doing because not only was it easier but I just so happened to have this thin-gauge copper lying around the garage. And no I abandoned the ear-in-a-blanket idea but wear the earring pictured at my forward-most helix.

4/4

>>112112

> last night
> boss calls: Hey can you go to Baldymore tomorrow and fix their display computer?
> sure thing boss
> today
> probably fix computer, bullshitting with customer
> boss calls: Hey, can you go down to Southern Maryland, their generator dun work
> sure thing boss
> raining like hell
> traffic sucks
> go through security
> view data log
> normal procedure: unit starts, has some voltage from residual magnetism as generator speeds up , hits 80% speed, energizes field, voltage quickly ramps to 14,000 volts
> log data: start, some voltage, 80% speed, still same voltage
> no excitation
> check fuse, blown
> replace fuse, starts unit successfully

One of the site guys was troubleshooting it earlier. And by troubleshooting, I mean just guessing and replacing parts randomly. He replaced the relay and had the original in his pocket. I think he was pretty embarrassed that I fixed it in 5 minutes.

I don't really care though, I'm just glad it was an easy fix.

I had an interview for a company in PA over a week ago. Drove down after 2 phone interviews. They seemed to like me and it was more of a getting to know my personality type interview instead of hard-line technical questions. I really hope I get it. But as for my current job, our second most experienced analyst in my group resigned overnight, so with him gone I might not lose my current job. However I'd take the one in PA in a heartbeat since they seem like a great place to work.

I was booking a hotel in Manasses VA and everything was full except for the King Whirlpool Suite, so got that. To my surprise, this also included two showers... that faced each other. I'm not sure what the intention was putting two shower heads in one shower, but I feel this is something few people really get to experience. Naturally I set one to cold and the other to hot, and turned around after like two minutes on a side.

Achievement Unlocked: Took two showers at once.

>>112126
So these guys called back.

> Customer: Hey our shit broke what are you going to do about it you didnt fix it
> Me: ... hmmm, well what else was going on?
> Cust: Oh, we lost the whole plant and generator tripped on reverse power
(Oh, SLIGHT, VERY MINOR DETAIL THERE.)
> Me: Send me a picture of your fault log.
> literally nothing wrong with the generator, an oil pump was getting weak so a switch didn't transfer
> talk site guys through adjusting the switch, and ordering replacement pump for later
> unit fires right up

> finish up easy maintenance, go help other guys
> back breaking work through Memorial Day weekend
> shoot 3-gun on Monday, Memorial Day, did pretty well, rifle worked this time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIPzjJBj3HU

> tuesday back to easy maintenance
> trouble call tuesday night at 2030
> customer pissed, unit doesn't accelerate in hot weather
> another guy was there recently working on it
> get there, different problem all together
> unit hot shutdown and physically locked up
> 3 hours later when I arrived, it'd cooled down enough to turn over with a ratchet
> roll out and get home at 0100
> backing into driveway, rear view camera looking down
> ???
> oh fuck, left the tail gate open for the 1.5 hour drive home
> and didn't lose anything!

> more maintenance
> friday, same customer, unit doesn't accelerate
> call engineer for help, gives pointers
> roll over there, turn some turbine shit
> unit fires right up in even hotter temperatures
> get home at 2200

> saturday
> scheduled replacement of lube oil regulator block
> it's never the regulator block
> it's always the air-to-oil cooler
> but we pay for the block, they customer pays for the cooler
> do it anyway

> sunday
> pass the fuck out

> monday
> tuning giant fucking engine
> software is bugged
> in automatic horsepower control, the unit can decrease speed to match the setpoint, but it wont increase
> have to increase manually
> wtf mate
> user interface screens are confusing as shit
> second shift calls me at 1904, 4 minutes into their shift asking what the hell to do

> tuesday
> rewrite horsepower control software and redo the screens
> no calls
> no news is good news

> wednesday
> new startup project
> unit sitting on jacking bolts on a concrete cube in the middle of an open area
> standard practice to pour the foundation, drop the unit on it, then build the building around it
> level the units to within 0.005" per foot

> thursday
> me and another guy use the sweet ass laser alignment tools to position the equipment to within 0.002" of bore and face of rotating shafts
> guy running a excavator with a jackhammer attachment about 30 ft away from us
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Excavator_jackhammer.jpg/1200px-Excavator_jackhammer.jpg
> can see our alignment numbers changing as he hammers
> uh, hey man, can you go hammer somewhere else for a little while? thx
> finish alignments
> 1700, boss calls
> hey can you head up to the middle of PA to fix some computer shit, if you don't fix it the customer is going to call the Director of our company
> sure thing boss

> friday
> more driving
> really confusing ass software
> toggling a fan on and off 30 times a second
> event log entirely filled with FAN ON - FAN OFF - FAN ON - FAN OFF - FAN ON - FAN OFF - FAN ON - FAN OFF - FAN ON - FAN OFF - FAN ON - FAN OFF...
> event log so full the display computer grinds to a halt
> put deadband on fan activation
> turns on at 5% command, off at 1% command
> the valve control screen for unit 2 doesn't work
> turns out it's controlling unit 1
> whoopsie
> fix dem pointers

People make careers out of single things I do.

>>112205
Did you have a shower beer while in it?

Place I interviewed for in PA called saying they filled the position with someone internal. I'm not too bummed since it wasn't another external applicant who got it seeing that companies generally like to promote internal people. Anyone happen to know of any networking/VOIP related jobs in the Pittsburgh area or western PA in general paying $56k/year? The reason I'm looking there is I already know the area pretty well from visiting a friend for a few years when he was living there.

So, been a spell since I posted here. Got trained and certified as a heat treater for our facility. I don't ever do the job but to cover for the night shift heat treater when he's on vacation or out sick or something, which is to say, twice in the last five months, but it's something. I'm actually in a really good position right now because both of our bid-holding heat treaters are nearing retirement, and there's only me and one other guy who is on day shift who have the certification (who aren't also supervisors). So...I'm very likely to get into that bid here in the next couple years if nothing goes awry....or unless I get lucky, because...

I'm in the early stages of selection for our electrician apprenticeship program. I have a spacial awareness test later this week, and a math test the next day. The math test has me a bit worried since I haven't studied math since high school and have never really studied it at the level I'm seeing on some of my study guides. But, studying I am and hoping I can at least get a score that doesn't immediately disqualify me. And if I dont' get it this year, there's always next year, and I will have a better idea on the algebra they're looking to have me know and I can study more effectively.

On an unrelated note, I shot a pistol competition on Saturday and had a blast. No scores yet, and there were some serious team shooters and very accomplished SWAT cops and what not in the mix. I know I didn't win by a long shot, but I'm hoping to be in the top 20% or so. 150 shooters, spread across Limited, Open, and PCC categories.

I sold beer and vodka to a guy I think may have been on coke. Maybe it was the sniffing, or the sweating, or the way he said "Damn! That's good fucking coke!"

Ironically, I am the only motherfucker here that works sober. Pack of fuckin' degenerates.

>>112250
Man, you really need to get out of Vegas. Any word on the military thing?

>>112250
I've been going around dropping off resumes at local places that do manufacturing. Last week I went to one place in a industrial park that makes greenhouses while trying to find a aquarium supply place that had posted a assembly job, and wandered around their building like 10 minutes trying to find somebody to see if they knew where the aquarium place is. Then I finally found two guys smoking weed on a loading dock while watching another guy, also smoking weed, unload stuff from a truck with a forklift. They directed me to the actual manned part of the building, which reeked of marijuana. I finally found two secretaries working in what I could only describe as a jury rigged clean room with multiple air purifiers running. On the way out I also saw somebody smoking a bong in a kitchenette.

>fairly well settled in at new job across the country
>new part, fairly complicated
>program is shoehorned from a similar part by previous employee that left yesterday
>the similar part was itself shoehorned-programmed off a previously similar part from a previous-previous employee
>programmed got multiple levels of shoehorning by at least three different machinists
>literally everything and the kitchen sink is happening in this program
>spend hours untangling mess of toolpaths
>shop has mastercam X7
>it's old
>kinda buggy
>will spit out a wrong tool height number for no fucking reason
>catch wrong-tool-heigh-number bug before any accidents happen
>roz_from_monsters_inc_saying_im_watching_you.face
>cut a good 15 minutes of machining time from stupid shit out of program
>run test part
>looks good, needs minor tweaks here and there
>tweak shit to be better
>check for usual bug bullshit in code
>keep in mind there's 1.7 megabytes of G-code here
>looks ok
>run test part
>middle of finishing tool path
>spindle buries itself into part at full ramming speed out of fucking nowhere
>keep in mind this is a machine with 2000 inch per minute rapid axes
>in the middle of thousands of lines of code, mastercam decided to slip in a G43H0
>since our tools are measured with a renishaw probe, our tool lengths are positive
>H0 = zero tool height = spindle going down as if tool was of zero length

motherfucker

Thankfully it only broke the tool and splattered the tool holder with molten aluminum, it could have been worse. Still, this is a new machine, crashing it is a fucking tragedy. brb gonna drink on an empty stomach and pray to machine spirit.

>>112254
>fairly well settled in at new job across the country

Did you go east or west?

>>112255
I moved away from humidity, because fuck rust.

>>112254
>everything good now
>tuning roughing cycle in 7075 aluminum
>spindle at 110% load
>material removal rate only 0.75 cubic inches per second

damn I really wanted to break 1 cubic inch per second but she just don't got tha powar.

>>112258
What condition is the 7075 in? If it hasn't been so already, you might be able to squeeze some more removal volume/second out if you re-solutionize and quench with no aging (i.e. 7075-O).

>>112259
Billet 7075-T6, and we're really not set up to do any kind of heat treatments on over a hundred blocks of 6"x8"x2".

I know I could get 1 inch^3 by getting a corn cob endmill, but all I have is a generic 1" diameter 4 flute HSS endmill.

As I type, a coworker is fucking some dude on the roof of the building.

>>112311
> a coworker is fucking some dude on the roof of the building

Is the coworker male or female? In either case it sounds gross. But different kinds of gross.

>>112313
Female. Short, about 80 pounds, long brown hair, crazy eyes, perky b cups.

Left my big box retail gun counter job last week after four and a half years. Completely soul crushing working at a place like that at this point and it was getting much worse. I know every version of retail has it's horror stories, but gun people are absolute fucking garbage. That fun "hey I'm a normal dude or lady looking for a gun to carry in the woods for self protection" is about one in twenty if you're very, very lucky. Technically I was in charge of ATF compliance and shipments, but being shitty corporate retail with no hours meant I had to race through that to deal with the butthurt baby boomers. I was the only guy of 4 to not be fired from the job and we were one of the best stores.

From the crusty old fucks that have all the time in the world, but not 5 seconds for you to figure out which .22 mag ammo is on sale in two weeks that you have to honor early (therefor pissing off the other old fucks that come in sale day) to the tactical Timmy sheepdawgin with his Canik in a bulldog holster that need to look at every gun in the case that he won't buy and has to be right about everything. Or maybe the new age of 1,000 yard 6.5 creedmoor elk slayers (you would not believe how ballistically retarded these people are) because they saw some Kuiu covered dudebro clip one on a hunting show. FUCK.

Don't get me wrong, I worked with mostly amazing people that understood. I met my wife working there, I met my best friends working there. I will always have extra patience and respect for retail workers (within reason), but I am never going back unless I really fuck up.

Anyway, finally enlisted in the army after being a moron for the last like 8 years. Flirted with Cavalry Scout stuff, but no slots available so infantry it is. Obviously anything can happen, but I'm planning on at least 20 years. This is what I always wanted to do, and I settled. I know it's a shit show in it's own way, but at least it serves some kind of purpose and has some cool moments.

>Initially had 20k quick ship bonus back in May
>doc found benign lump in balls at MEPS, verified fine by consult where other fat old doc squirts ultrasound gel on my balls
>requires waiver on top of overprotective mom childhood asthma waiver
>waiver paperwork gets screwed up with new system, sent back 3 weeks later untouched
>resubmit
>finally comes back approved a month and a half after meps
>original contract and bonus lost, Ash and Dallas dead, cargo and ship destroyed
Just means more bugs for us to kill.

>>112315
Cool shit, dude. Good luck. You trying to do a full 20 in the infantry?

>>112317
I'd like to try to get a little fancier some day, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

Flying to Georgia this week. Never been on a plane befo...

>>112322
Good luck.

Slow day at work, I honed a carbide engraving tool with a fine diamond file to a very sharp point and engraved pic related on a firearm receiver. The whole thing is 1.125" in diameter, took me a bit to program the engraving toolpaths just right to have the various "shapes" at certain depths for more or less texture.

Then I hit it with just a tiny bit of sandblast and almost erased fucking everything. What did I expect, I'm an idiot. I'll re-run it just before sending it out for anodizing, hopefully it'll be okay.

If not I can run it again after the anodizing and just give it the lightest and most diluted dab of a deep red-colored paint...

>>112331
How'd it come out?

>>112336
Haven't rerun it yet, I got like 50 guns to make before the end of September so the little cosmetic side projects are taking a back seat for a bit.

Walked into two coworkers kvetching. Don't know why, but I told them how amused I was hearing them bitch to each other when yesterday they spent all shift bitching ABOUT each other and expecting me to pick a side. "But jokes on you fuckers. I hate you all." I hope I'm not here much longer.

> racemixer post
> have to google search some term
> <3

I've been busy, as is pretty normal for this time of year. All of our customer do maintenance in the spring and fall when energy demand is lower and they can shut down the turbines. But then fall is when construction is finishing up and the commissioning starts. So maintenance and commissioning.

> random job
> customer's exhaust system cracked and broke
> customer wants us there when the exhaust is bolted back in to verify the turbine doesnt get fucked up
> talking with welders about how turbines work, dude doesn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed
> welder is really impressed with the turbines
> "Wow that's cool. You seem like a pretty intelligent human being."
> the ruse is working

> few days into the job of me sitting around watching them install exhaust ducting
> all the welding is done, they're bolting shit back in
> some of the bolt holes don't line up
> see genius welder dragging Argon bottle over
> Me: "Hey man, you gonna weld something?"
> Welder: "Yeah, this fuckin' stupid ass duct looks like it was drilled by a fuckin' teenager. A few of the bolts don't line up, so we're gonna fuckin' weld a bracket to it then use a come-along to bend the duct so the bolts line up."
> Me: "Hold on, lets do something different... How about using a grinder and just oval'ing out that hole a little bit."

I guess when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

>>112375
Don't know many jews, huh?

>>112376
I probably have heard more Jewish terms from TV than IRL. That said, I have been to a couple of bar mitzvahs and taught a rabbi how to shoot. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

> work talk
Today's objective was to not shit my pants.

I mean, that's on my list every day, but today it was my top priority. For reference, the Holiday Inn on Balls Ford Rd in Manasses VA fucking sucks. My key card didn't work and so the manager had to come fix it. My plan was to take a shower then get dinner because I was so dirty from work that I couldn't go anywhere for fear of leaving a muddy ass print on anything I touched. After waiting for an hour and a half I was starting to get pissed and got up to go to the front desk. Right then the front desk guy comes over to tell me it was straightened out. Alright whatever. I showered then got some shitty azn food and watched The Great War on youtube for a while. Went to work the next day.

Last night after work it was raining like fuck, so I hit the hotel restaurant and got a burger. The meat tasted like it had been in the freezer a year too long, but whatever. At 05:38 this morning I rocket out of bed and straight to the toilet. On the ride to work, the bubble guts hits me and I pull over to another Holiday Inn near by, and destroy the toilet by the dining area.

Work was going fine but by lunch time my colon started to remind me of the war crimes brewing in my intestines. I go to a nearby restaurant and give my waitress my order without sitting down and then proceed to blow up their bathroom. There were a few more close calls throughout the day, but I made it back to the hotel to once again unload the brown bounty.

So achievement unlocked, another day without shitting myself or having to shit in a porta-potty.

On a side note, my greatest fear in life is being pushed down a hill in a porta potty. If a turbine explodes or you get zapped by 13,800 volts, at least you die from it. With the potty, you may survive, but there's no hope of living after be deluged in trabajador diarrhea and blue juice.

> text my buddy with the short version
> he pooed a little while trying not to slip off a ladder
> cut off his underwear, wrapped it in paper towels and a cardboard box
> left it in neighborhood dog poop clean up box to confuse them

Fucking savage.

Why do baby boomers talk to me like I'm retarded?
>"Do you have corkscrews? For wine bottles? Corkscrews?"
>Whilst making corkscrew motions with her hands, lest her technical jargon lose me.

>>112380
Oooooohhhhh those things.

lol

Update. >>112378

I've moved to a Marriott hotel. It's probably the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at. It has fast internet and there's a mall across the parking lot with lots of awesome food, so I'm set. The manager was personally greeting all of the guests as I was checking in...

> So will you be staying with us for a while?
> Yeah, all month.
> What really?!?

All of the other people in the lobby looked like business professionals, while I looked like I had spent the day wrestling livestock, so maybe he was trying to figure out if I stole the credit card or something? (Joking. The manager was very pleasant.)

Marriott seems to offer a long term stay rate that's pretty good. Normal nights are like $190+, while the long term was $130. I think I (the company) was paying more at that shitty holiday inn.

So far the only downsides are that my optical mouse doesn't read on the shiny white table, and I haven't figured a way to rearrange the furniture to use the room TV as a second monitor. I wonder if they would notice if I grabbed the 4ft long folding table from my truck and put it in the room.

I also realized today was my 14th work day straight, and 7th of this job. No wonder I've been tired as fuck.

>>112331
>>112336
Turned out okay. There are black oxide solutions for touching up aluminum, but are there dark red/rust color options out there? I think paint would really cover up all the details.

>>112383
This phone is shit for macro pics... I'll have to take some at home with the DSLR.

Welp that's what I get for not buying a macro lens. It's hard to show the various features like how the gear is embossed on one side and recessed on the other. The whole thing is 1.2" in diameter so you can easily cover the whole skull with a thumb.

I'm wondering now if I could send it out for anodizing in another color only on the engraved portion, so it would be black and the adeptus mechanicus engraving would be rust red.

>>112385
Fuckin' sweet dood.

>>112383
Sure is purdy.

Now we're cooking with gas.

> working on new startup project
> all of our customers have the same "drop dead" date of nov 1
> a million dollars of penalties, per day, if they're not online

> week 4 of job, worked a full week prior
> had 2 days off in 5 weeks, 70-80 hour weeks
> (For reference, my longest week was that hellish job last year, 92.5 hours)
> going pretty well otherwise, good contractors
> working in northern VA, nice hotel, good food

> sunday, manager sends out a "Great Teamwork" email
> coworker A was having a meltdown from overwork
> coworker B spoke to mgmt about the meltdown
> coworker A got a bit of time off
> we had to acknowledge the group email that we can have days off if we're melting down

> last week
> boss A calls: Hey man, are you available for maintenance next week?
> haha no
> next day, boss B calls: Hey man, you working Saturday?
> uh yeah
> today, boss A calls
> B-A: Hey, I've got you scheduled for an engine exchange starting the end of the month, are you going to be done by then?
> me: Maybe? I don't know if we'll be done by then. I'd rather not go from working solid into an engine exchange...

> yesterday
> get into argument with paint morons
> they started disassembling shit that was VERY PRECISELY installed and aligned to slather some paint on it
> "But we never had a problem befo"
> normally I'd shrug it off, but my fuse is short to the point where I'm getting mad at fire trucks
> I explain that there's a chance we're already fucked, so paint away
> ride home, getting more and more pissed about it

> had enough of this shit
> working on my escape plan
> have the company buy me a 9oz filet mignon for dinner
> really damn good

> still pissed about argument
> sleep like shit

> today was "Fuck off Wednesday"
> did site report and expenses all morning
> took a long lunch, back to hotel, watched some The Great War
> rolled back to site, did a few small things
> go back to hotel, do some more paperwork and call the IT help desk for computer shit

> life of a field tech

One of my coworkers just called. He often calls me for technical help, and being 19:30 at night, it might be bad.

> CW: Hey man, I fucking love Mission BBQ. I just tried it for the first time like 2 weeks ago and I just get the ribs and the fries, and the pie is so good....
> goes on 5 minutes about smoke meat
> CW: Oh yeah, sorry I got side tracked. Can I get that laser alignment tool off you?