Work Progress

When my account got hacked, it sent out a spam email to a bunch of random people on my mailing list. Most of them were to employers. This isn't surprising, since, if you search "job application" on my account, you get "1-10 of hundreds and hundreds" from back when I was doing my stint of unemployability. However, there were a few relevant addresses, such as an old friend, a Katima-enemy, and my sensei. My old friend sent me a message saying she thought someone hacked my email.

My dojo sent me a message saying they had found enough interest to do daytime classes. I might still be sunk, though, since my shift has been moved two hours back. 1-9 PM instead of 3-11. But that's only so I can work an extra two hours without missing my bus! I'm being worked like a dog... ten hour shifts, and an eight hour shift on Saturdays.

I'm still being trained, by the way. I'm going into my fourth week. I'm good enough that they ask me to come in even if my trainer isn't available, and if there's three people working at that station, they'll have three machines going. I Don't need to have anything double-checked. I have my own stamp of approval now. I can't fill quota, though. I can make maybe 90 parts. The expectation is 180. I feel like I slow everyone down and get paid for it.

My brother's birthday was last March 12th. I guess it got swallowed up by the time my hacker took from this blog.

It's harder to think of things to write for this blog. I've crammed so many numbers into my head, and there are so many new numbers constantly coming, that it's pushing my normally philosophical and analytical thoughts out of the way to make space.

I was never good at math, technical stuff, or numbers in general. I failed grade nine applied math (the easier branch) TWICE, and had to switch over to the barebones minimum branch that you need to fail hard enough to get permission to attend. Coming back from Katimavik, I didn't memorize my own phone number for six months, and only finally got around to it when somebody I called once memorized it and I felt I needed to get on that before I was the last person not to know it. My own mother didn't tell me about the tricky placement and timings of the buses coming home from work, even though she knew there was a trick, because she felt it would be useless to try and explain it to me and I could only learn through failure. I couldn't operate a coffee maker until after I'd graduated high school. I told someone I knew pretty well that I had a literal brain malfunction that caused me to be unable to solve simple math equations, and he TOOK ME SERIOUSLY!

But now I'm all, "The grooving is Operation 20, Tool Life 506, Insert 2. Change if Tool Life exceeds 50. The nominal is 18.20. We are allowed 20 micros on either end. For this column, minus adds and addition subtracts. If I'm changing the grooving, I need to switch the Roughing (Insert W01, W02) to 200. Don't forget the number it was before you changed it. Alright, switch to MDI, click L, PROG, type T0600 EOB, Insert. After changing the Insert, return the Roughing back to what it was, and add 70 to the Grooving. Only enter the amount in increments of 15. Change the Grooving's Tool Life to 0. Don't forget to update the tool change log..."

Etc, etc, etc. Honestly, I'm not sure if that was 100%. I don't remember if I got the Tool Life limit right, or if it's the number 6 command... I could check on my cheat sheet, but you get the idea.

They're all tricks like that, and if you miss one thing, BAM! You get a scrap part and have to report it.