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When I was in college I spent a summer working in the fab shop where they built Rotaflex (PDF) oil-field pump units.  As the shop peon my primary job was to clean slag from the parts that had just been cut on the cutting table (not this exact model, but similar).  What this entailed was taking the parts (often while they were still hot) and using a big hammer to knock off the largest pieces, then using a grinder to clean them until smooth.

This wasn’t necessarily so bad in the grand scheme of things, or at least I didn’t mind it as much as when they had me “buff the beam” (*).  However, those Rotaflex pump units had a weight box inside that would hold between 8,000 and 15,000 pounds of steel plate in pieces.  These pieces were made by taking 2000-lb sheets and cutting them into rectangular pieces (about 12-inches x 16 inches).  Since these pieces were to be stacked in the box, the slag had to be removed from each piece by hammering and grinding.  Once cleaned, it was stacked on a pallet and then tied down using straps.  This whole operation was my domain.  On a good day I could clean and stack about 10,000 pounds.

Anyway, besides learning a few things about welding and fab shop operations, this experience left me with another lasting “gift.”  After a month or so working there I would wake up in the middle of the night with painful tingling in my hands.  It feels a lot like what happens when the blood comes back after circulation is cut off in a limb (like if your foot “falls asleep”).  It happens in both hands, but it’s worse in my right.  Often I will have trouble maintaining grip in that hand until I’ve used it for a while.

I hadn’t been bothered with this in a while, although it comes up every so often when I use certain hand tools and I aggravated it pretty badly this weekend.  I started out trying to trim an out-of-control bush so I could more easily get to my storage building.  However, I got tired of messing with it part way through and decided to just get rid of the damn thing.  This led to an extended bout with a shovel and an axe trying to get the stump out.  The ground underneath was hard as a rock since it was so dry and the stump was practically glued in.  Fortunately, the rain on Monday filled the hole and softened up the dirt underneath so that I managed to pull it out with a cable-puller (a.k.a “come along”) and some more judicious axe work.  But I’m still paying the price this morning, although it’s nowhere near as bad as it was on Monday morning.

I suppose I could see a doctor about this, but from what I’ve learned of RSI, it would likely require surgery and rehab to cure it, and even then I would likely still be susceptible to relapse.  Worse, someone I know who has had carpal tunnel surgery still has trouble with the grip in that hand, even after a supposed “full recovery” and rehab.  Given that my grip strength returns after a while, and I don’t want to risk weaking my stronger shooting hand, I suppose I’ll just keep dealing with it.

I suspect there’s probably a lesson in ergonomics somewhere in all this mess, though.  I know that repeated use of power tools (especially anything that vibrates) can cause permanent damage if you’re not careful.  I wonder if they’ve done anything about this since then?  I doubt it, though, since the job is generally handled by a temp or a college student working summers who won’t see the effects until a while after leaving the job.

* The frame of the pump unit is composed of two long steel I-beams, which were about 30 feet long and two or three feet wide.  When they start assembling a new unit, someone has to clean the entire beam with a grinder equipped with a wire-cup wheel to remove any rust, dust, or junk that has accumulated while the beam was in storage.  As the shop peon, it was my job to do this.  That wire cup wheel was a dangerous bit of equipment, and I treated it with a great deal of respect and never had an incident with it.  But still, I preferred not to have to mess with it.

The people at the shop called this operation “buffing the beam.”

Every time we get a storm around here, Boots worms her way under my desk.  It’s a little hard to work when there’s a dog cowering between your feet, squeezing you out from your own desk…

Kim du Toit recently created his “Nation of Riflemen” shirt, which is available through Those Shirts.  Mine arrived today.

I thought Kim might approve of my choice of weaponry to celebrate the arrival of the shirt:

Although I will spare my neighbors the happy dance…

I’ve been tired, congested, cranky, and irritable lately.  This is the main reason why…

Everything looks lovely outside this time of year, but it comes at a price for some of us.

This article on GM’s woes prompted me to write about something I observed to myself the other day.  Frankly, except for the Corvette, I don’t see anything in GM’s lineup that reaches out and grabs your attention.  It seems like GM cars have no soul anymore.  And I say this as someone who owns an Avalanche.  I like my truck (or SUV, or whatever it feels like being today ).  But Avalanche owners are a strange lot anyway…

As an example, consider Chevrolet’s lineup of (regular) cars: Aveo, Cobalt, Impala, Malibu, Monte Carlo, and Cavalier.  Whenever I see these cars the phrase “bland, dull, and underpowered” comes to mind.  These cars have no soul.  Now I will grant that the SS-R and the Corvette are nice and I’d actually like to have a Z06.  But these aren’t really “daily drivers.”  What I think Chevrolet really needs is something that is usable as a daily driver, adequately powered, and just, well…, different from the rest of what they’ve been putting out lately.  I will admit that I don’t know exactly what they need, but (like the courts have said of porn), I’ll know it when I see it.  I suppose a good example of this would be the Dodge Magnum.  Yes, it’s a station wagon, but it’s a cool station wagon.  For the first time in more than 10 years I considered giving up my truck for a car. 

It will take this kind of approach at GM before I would consider doing the same for one of their cars.

Last night I learned that it is possible to chamber and fire a .40S&W cartridge in a .45ACP handgun.  I certainly didn’t set out to do this on purpose, though.

Last night was range night for the Keller Citizen’s Police Academy.  The PD supplied the ammo for those of us using .45, .40 or 9mm handguns.  They also supplied a Glock to one member who didn’t own her own gun (as an aside, of the 10 people in the class all but one own at least one gun, and several of us own multiple guns; if we’re anything like the rest of the community, then I’d say Keller is well armed).

I was the only one shooting .45 last night and the Sgt. handed me a box of .45ACP.  I loaded up several mags from this box and had gone through two of them and was halfway through a third when I heard a “pop” instead of the usual “BANG.”  I also then noticed that the gun hadn’t extracted the previous round.  In fact, it was stuck pretty hard under the extractor.  The other Sgt. managed to extract the round using a knife and that’s when we discovered it was a .40S&W round.  While the cartridge case was blown to hell, it didn’t seem to do any damage to the gun (and fortunately the round exited the barrel).

It turns out that somehow a .40S&W round had gotten into the .45ACP box.  I’d never encountered this before, so it never occurred to me to check.  But from now on I’ll be doubly careful that the ammo that comes out of the box is really what it’s supposed to be.

Here’s a comparison image, for those who are not ballistically inclined…

I’m suffering from IMPD, which is a malady I’ve invented.  IMPD stands for Instant Message Ping Disorder.  IMPD is that twitch you get when you hear another ‘ding’ or ‘bling’ (or whatever sound your IM client makes) because you know it’s yet another interruption to the task at hand.

We’ve had a company-wide IM system for quite a while now and it has become a requirement to be online if you’re working.  If the IM system is acting up some people even send out emails to let people know they’re offline.  I’m sure it’s great for the project managers and other types, but it’s a real pain in the ass when you’re trying to get work done.  It’s even more annoying when someone wants to BS when you’ve got important stuff to do (or worse, when you’ve got three or four other IM sessions going on).

My most favorite annoyance?  The person who IM’s you to ask “Are you busy?”  They’ve already interrupted me so they might as well just ask their damn question.

I’ve tried changing the sound the IM client makes in the past, but I’ve learned that the new sound will eventually grate on my nerves just as badly as the original.  Unfortunately, these days I can’t just shut the damn thing off.  Still, I’d dearly love to take a fire axe to the server the damn thing runs on.

I don’t care much for Laura Miller, the mayor of Dallas.  She’s too much of a nanny-state type.  However, every now and then she does something right.

Black civil-rights activists asked Dallas Mayor Laura Miller on Wednesday to apologize for calling Terrell Bolton, the city’s former police chief, an idiot last week. Her response: “No.”

“It’s insulting to the whole African-American community,” Roy Williams said. “It seems as if you’re trying to play the race card in reverse.”

Ms. Miller brushed off that accusation, saying Mr. Bolton’s poor crime-fighting tactics hurt minority communities the worst.

“Everybody in the city knows how I feel about the former chief,” she said.

It really bothered me to see Williams playing the race card with regards to the former chief.  The man was incompetent at best and simply unsuited to the position.  It’s not racist to point this out.  Frankly, the black community only marginalizes itself further by getting so defensive about it.  They’d be far better served to let it go and admit that Bolton wasn’t cut out for the position.

I’m always a bit wary of new laws, since they often introduce more problems than they solve.  However, I could get behind this one:

As your attorney, I advise you to lay off those french fries.

That’s the message from state Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, a Houston-area lawmaker who has drafted legislation that would bar fast-food-loving plaintiffs from winning legal judgments after they get fat.

“This basically is supposed to shield folks who sell food or raise animals that are made into food … from having to defend themselves against lawsuits … over obesity claims from overeating,” said Van Arsdale, R-Tomball.

The idea that someone should be able to sue a restaurant or a food maker for getting fat is asinine.  People have choices in what they eat.  It’s not like McDonald’s is jacking people on the street and shoving super-sized Big Mac combo meals down their throats.

In our most recent Citizen’s Police Academy session we met the tactical operations leader, who is also one of their firearms instructors.  I was pleased to learn that the Keller PD has a pretty stringent shooting qualification program.

The Texas minimum standards only require a peace officer to qualify once a year on a static course of fifty rounds of fire with only one timed reload.  The maximum distance is 15 yards and only 70% is required to pass.  This is only slightly more stringent than the CHL qualification (CHL doesn’t require a timed reload).

Keller PD has instituted a program that is one of the strictest in the state:

• Officers must qualify four times per year.
• A minimum of 80% is required on the test.
• The test is not static.  It requires shooting on the move and from cover.
• The test requires shooting at longer distances (25 yards).
• Officers come in “cold” to the test (no warm-up allowed).
• Both a timed and tactical reload are included.
• An officer who fails to meet 80% has 3 days to take a retest and meet the minimum.
• Failure to meet the minimum on a retest results in an immediate suspension (on the spot, and the suspension goes on the officer’s record).
• After suspension, the officer has to attend an approved handgun course of at least 40 hours at his own expense and pass the class.
• An officer who is suspended a third time on qualification will be fired.

I suppose this is an outgrowth of the fact that the chief is a former firearms instructor and sharpshooter.  A lot of police departments don’t spend much time on firearms training and qualification, which has given police in general a poor reputation with regards to marksmanship.  It’s good to know that our officers are better trained than the standards require.