Sunday is Ronny's birthday. He told me Monday he wanted a party. I invited some people over. But, I have a horrible track record for getting people to attend parties, so it will probably about 5 or 6 people. Ronny apparently ordered a wedding reception's worth of food... I offered to make the cake. I was thinking something I was familiar with. He followed "OK" with "I want bolo prestigio"! It's a Brazilian recipe. I looked it up online. It's a chocolate cake with coconut filling. They LOVE coconut!! Now, Ronny has told me before that he doesn't like American cakes because they are too dry. The Brazilian cake I've had was basically soggy tasting. Being the baker has given me the insight into how this all works. The cake part is rather dry. The batter has no butter or oil. The only fat content is the eggs. It has water in it. The cakes come out of the oven rather dry. But then you take a can of soda, pour it into a spray bottle, and soak the thing down! Voila! Instant moist. I had little pieces of stuff left over, so made a mini-cake on the side that Ronny got to taste last night. He said it was better than some Brazilian-made versions. (If you know me, you should not be surprised at that.)
Ronny told me the other day that Cris doesn't love Brad as deeply as Brad loves him. Kind of like me and Ronny. (He pointed that out himself!) It lends an odd overtone to my preceptions of Cris. (See the dream sequence below.) Ronny once jokingly suggested we should all have a 4-way some time. Somehow I think that would be a BAD BAD BAD idea... People do notice when you react more favorably to some than others, and feelings get hurt easily. Doing something like that with people you are already friends with can just open all sorts of Pandoran boxes. And we're all going to Disney together!
That trip is this coming Thursday. Wednesday I get to play ill at work all day so I can take two days off as sick time instead of as vacation time! ("Ughhhhhh, I need to feel bedder before the trip tomorrow...")
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Monday, February 13, 2006
Whoopsie
This can get a little technical, so I’ll try to keep it jargon-less. I had a little goof-up at work. Luckily, not too many people were involved before I cleared it up. It could have been a big mess if I had handled it differently.
We have a customer in Germany who buys our bearings. Years ago we sent them a batch that was heat treated badly, and they were failing. The customer sent everything back and stopped ordering from us for about 5 years. Shipping about 1600 pounds from Germany is expensive, so the owner here was not too pleased. As part of winning orders from them again, they required us to life test our parts before shipping them.
(Bearing primer: Two metals parts rubbing against each other create a lot of friction, which causes heat, which melts metal, which causes the motion stop, the friction to stop, the heat to dissipate, and the melted metal to cool back down as one solid lump. Not good. If you’ve known someone who never checked their engine oil and seized the engine, you have an idea… Putting little balls in between the two parts so that they roll against each other reduces the friction. Using a lazy-susan is SO much easier than sliding things around the table. The simplest bearing is two rings of metal with a little groove in them called raceways. This holds the balls in the right place, kind of like with toy slot-cars. The top ring will now spin quite easily on top of the balls. The bearings we make for Germany are just like this. You put a “jacket” over them to hold everything together. Fill it with grease - I trust you understand the Lube concept - and away you go. If you bake steel, you can make it harder. Harder rings are less likely to wear out, making the bearing last longer. Life testing means to put a bearing in a machine that puts a LOT of pressure on it, and spins it for several hours. The excess pressure makes it wear faster, so you approximate a longer life in a shorter time.)
I am in charge of running the life tests. When the parts come back from our heat treater, I wanted them tagged so people would Tell Me the parts were here. I was told this was a horrible idea, it’ll happen properly anyway. Well, I discovered two weeks ago that we had Thousands of parts in inventory from last October that were just put away with nobody telling me they were here. I was too angry for a proper “I told you so” response. But I started hunting down lot numbers, and testing parts.
Friday I put the last of the samples in the test machine. This morning I went up to take it out of the machine. The computer screen showed this one FAILED. I took the bearing apart and saw one ring was all chewed up and cracked. Not good. Worst case would have been that we shipped a whole batch of parts again that would fail, and it would be a repeat of the 5-years-ago situation. But I seemed to recall this batch showing up after we were done building bearings, and just going into inventory. The engineer suggested testing a second sample. I went to go take another piece. I couldn’t find them. Looked everywhere! Asked the material handler for help. Nothing.
I sent an email to the heat treat place asking for some info on the heat treat lot number. I wanted to verify that these were made after we finished the bearings, so there would be no chance of having sent them to Germany. He wrote back and said that lot was a completely different part number than what I was looking for. Uh oh. I took my one sample piece and measured it. He was right. I had the wrong part number. This part was larger, wasn’t supposed to be tested, and didn’t even fit right in the test. So, of course it failed! Grabbing the wrong part was all my fault, too. I thanked the heat treater guy for his help, told the material handler everything was OK, and then had to fess up to the engineer. Luckily his boss wasn’t in, so he hadn’t told anyone else. If the alarm had already been sounded, it could have started boiling a lot of hot water that nobody needed to be in. But mostly, it just made me feel (and look) like a dumb-ass!
We have a customer in Germany who buys our bearings. Years ago we sent them a batch that was heat treated badly, and they were failing. The customer sent everything back and stopped ordering from us for about 5 years. Shipping about 1600 pounds from Germany is expensive, so the owner here was not too pleased. As part of winning orders from them again, they required us to life test our parts before shipping them.
(Bearing primer: Two metals parts rubbing against each other create a lot of friction, which causes heat, which melts metal, which causes the motion stop, the friction to stop, the heat to dissipate, and the melted metal to cool back down as one solid lump. Not good. If you’ve known someone who never checked their engine oil and seized the engine, you have an idea… Putting little balls in between the two parts so that they roll against each other reduces the friction. Using a lazy-susan is SO much easier than sliding things around the table. The simplest bearing is two rings of metal with a little groove in them called raceways. This holds the balls in the right place, kind of like with toy slot-cars. The top ring will now spin quite easily on top of the balls. The bearings we make for Germany are just like this. You put a “jacket” over them to hold everything together. Fill it with grease - I trust you understand the Lube concept - and away you go. If you bake steel, you can make it harder. Harder rings are less likely to wear out, making the bearing last longer. Life testing means to put a bearing in a machine that puts a LOT of pressure on it, and spins it for several hours. The excess pressure makes it wear faster, so you approximate a longer life in a shorter time.)
I am in charge of running the life tests. When the parts come back from our heat treater, I wanted them tagged so people would Tell Me the parts were here. I was told this was a horrible idea, it’ll happen properly anyway. Well, I discovered two weeks ago that we had Thousands of parts in inventory from last October that were just put away with nobody telling me they were here. I was too angry for a proper “I told you so” response. But I started hunting down lot numbers, and testing parts.
Friday I put the last of the samples in the test machine. This morning I went up to take it out of the machine. The computer screen showed this one FAILED. I took the bearing apart and saw one ring was all chewed up and cracked. Not good. Worst case would have been that we shipped a whole batch of parts again that would fail, and it would be a repeat of the 5-years-ago situation. But I seemed to recall this batch showing up after we were done building bearings, and just going into inventory. The engineer suggested testing a second sample. I went to go take another piece. I couldn’t find them. Looked everywhere! Asked the material handler for help. Nothing.
I sent an email to the heat treat place asking for some info on the heat treat lot number. I wanted to verify that these were made after we finished the bearings, so there would be no chance of having sent them to Germany. He wrote back and said that lot was a completely different part number than what I was looking for. Uh oh. I took my one sample piece and measured it. He was right. I had the wrong part number. This part was larger, wasn’t supposed to be tested, and didn’t even fit right in the test. So, of course it failed! Grabbing the wrong part was all my fault, too. I thanked the heat treater guy for his help, told the material handler everything was OK, and then had to fess up to the engineer. Luckily his boss wasn’t in, so he hadn’t told anyone else. If the alarm had already been sounded, it could have started boiling a lot of hot water that nobody needed to be in. But mostly, it just made me feel (and look) like a dumb-ass!
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Actor Waiter
I know I have withheld retellings of my dreams from you for a long time now, and I apologize. But I had one last night worth capturing!!
First, a little background:
1) Back in the Alberto days, I met his friends Brad and Cris. They are dating, Brad is from Mass, Cris is from Brazil, reminds me a little of Sergio, and is quite attractive. I have a little bit of a thing for Cris. But he is with Brad, so is off-limits. Turned out that Ronny and Cris are good friends, so we spend a fair amount of time hanging out with them. In fact, the four of us are going to Disney in about a month together, for a week. It may have been my imagination, but I thought that (pre-Ronny) Cris was a little flirty with me - WHEN Brad was not around.
2) Last night I caught Sex and the City on TBS. It was the episode where Samantha meets a waiter/actor-wannabe and they have a lot of role-play sex. That is also the episode where Carrie's boyfriend (the guy from Office Space) introduces Miranda to the "He's just not that into you" theory. The waiter guy was not that cute in the face, but had a nice body.
Second, a disclaimer:
This is just a dream I had. Please do not confuse it with anything that I or Cris or Brad have done, would do, or will do at any point in real life.
Now, on to the dream:
I was on vacation with Brad and Cris and my friend Amy. Amy and I were both single, and in Will&Grace mode. I'm not sure where we were, per se, but we were staying at a hotel, yet it was road-trip distance.
There was a really hot guy who worked downstairs at the hotel. Kind of a concierge, bartender, belhop amalgam. Really hot, tall, dark hair, muscular. I was being a little flirty with him, and he was being a little flirty right back. This went on for a bit, to the point that I thought that maybe there actually was a chance of hooking up with the guy.
Then, I'm back at the room. Which is apparently more like a suite, and all four of us are staying there together. Brad is taking a shower, I'm in the living room area, and as I'm about to head to one of the bedrooms, Amy says not to go in because Cris is having sex in there.
"But Brad is in the shower."
"He's not with Brad..."
"So - uh - who?"
"That hot guy from downstairs."
Oh My God. I went in the room "accidentally" but they were playing around underneath the sheets, so you just saw gyrating bedsheets. I headed back out. In a little bit, the shower ended. Brad eventually came out and headed into the room. I didn't want to miss out on anything, so I headed into their room, as well. The bed is made. Cris and the hottie are sitting there, fully dressed, on opposite ends of the bed, just chatting. Apparently they had been going at it every time Brad wasn't looking for most of our trip. Brad had no idea...
The thought runs through my mind that I guess I didn't really have a chance with the hottie.
Little bit later, we're heading back home. I drove separately from Amy, or Brad and Cris. As I'm going along, my car dies. So, I start walking home. I have NO idea how far that would have been. All of a sudden the traffic starts backing up, horns are honking, something's wrong. Walking up a bit further, there's a big pickup truck that had been pulling a trailer with some farm equipment on it that overturned in the middle of the intersection (Hwy 165 - wherever that is). As I'm walking by, trying to decide if I should try to hitch a ride, I see Brad. He had pulled over to help out. On the OTHER side of the mess, there's Cris and the hottie (who apparently came along with them, for Some Odd Reason) goin' at it right on the side of the road.
May I point out that when TBS showed Samantha doin' the hottie, you didn't see penis. My dreams are not so censored!
As I walk past them, Cris grabs my leg (yea, he's on the ground). I stop and turn to him. He starts saying something in choppy English about when we get back home... I say "Nao falo com Brad" which means literally "I don't talk with Brad" but was meant to say "I won't tell on you." Cris says thank you and starts in on something relating to how Brad would be really upset if he found out. I reply "Eu sei" (I Know) and head out. But Brad catches up with me, and invites me to ride along with them. But the cops are still dealing with the overturned farm stuff, and we end up inside some house. As I'm looking for a cup to pour a glass of milk, the thought crossed my mind that Cris wasn't staying faithful to Brad, so he wasn't avoiding me out of courtesy to Brad. He just wasn't that into me...
First, a little background:
1) Back in the Alberto days, I met his friends Brad and Cris. They are dating, Brad is from Mass, Cris is from Brazil, reminds me a little of Sergio, and is quite attractive. I have a little bit of a thing for Cris. But he is with Brad, so is off-limits. Turned out that Ronny and Cris are good friends, so we spend a fair amount of time hanging out with them. In fact, the four of us are going to Disney in about a month together, for a week. It may have been my imagination, but I thought that (pre-Ronny) Cris was a little flirty with me - WHEN Brad was not around.
2) Last night I caught Sex and the City on TBS. It was the episode where Samantha meets a waiter/actor-wannabe and they have a lot of role-play sex. That is also the episode where Carrie's boyfriend (the guy from Office Space) introduces Miranda to the "He's just not that into you" theory. The waiter guy was not that cute in the face, but had a nice body.
Second, a disclaimer:
This is just a dream I had. Please do not confuse it with anything that I or Cris or Brad have done, would do, or will do at any point in real life.
Now, on to the dream:
I was on vacation with Brad and Cris and my friend Amy. Amy and I were both single, and in Will&Grace mode. I'm not sure where we were, per se, but we were staying at a hotel, yet it was road-trip distance.
There was a really hot guy who worked downstairs at the hotel. Kind of a concierge, bartender, belhop amalgam. Really hot, tall, dark hair, muscular. I was being a little flirty with him, and he was being a little flirty right back. This went on for a bit, to the point that I thought that maybe there actually was a chance of hooking up with the guy.
Then, I'm back at the room. Which is apparently more like a suite, and all four of us are staying there together. Brad is taking a shower, I'm in the living room area, and as I'm about to head to one of the bedrooms, Amy says not to go in because Cris is having sex in there.
"But Brad is in the shower."
"He's not with Brad..."
"So - uh - who?"
"That hot guy from downstairs."
Oh My God. I went in the room "accidentally" but they were playing around underneath the sheets, so you just saw gyrating bedsheets. I headed back out. In a little bit, the shower ended. Brad eventually came out and headed into the room. I didn't want to miss out on anything, so I headed into their room, as well. The bed is made. Cris and the hottie are sitting there, fully dressed, on opposite ends of the bed, just chatting. Apparently they had been going at it every time Brad wasn't looking for most of our trip. Brad had no idea...
The thought runs through my mind that I guess I didn't really have a chance with the hottie.
Little bit later, we're heading back home. I drove separately from Amy, or Brad and Cris. As I'm going along, my car dies. So, I start walking home. I have NO idea how far that would have been. All of a sudden the traffic starts backing up, horns are honking, something's wrong. Walking up a bit further, there's a big pickup truck that had been pulling a trailer with some farm equipment on it that overturned in the middle of the intersection (Hwy 165 - wherever that is). As I'm walking by, trying to decide if I should try to hitch a ride, I see Brad. He had pulled over to help out. On the OTHER side of the mess, there's Cris and the hottie (who apparently came along with them, for Some Odd Reason) goin' at it right on the side of the road.
May I point out that when TBS showed Samantha doin' the hottie, you didn't see penis. My dreams are not so censored!
As I walk past them, Cris grabs my leg (yea, he's on the ground). I stop and turn to him. He starts saying something in choppy English about when we get back home... I say "Nao falo com Brad" which means literally "I don't talk with Brad" but was meant to say "I won't tell on you." Cris says thank you and starts in on something relating to how Brad would be really upset if he found out. I reply "Eu sei" (I Know) and head out. But Brad catches up with me, and invites me to ride along with them. But the cops are still dealing with the overturned farm stuff, and we end up inside some house. As I'm looking for a cup to pour a glass of milk, the thought crossed my mind that Cris wasn't staying faithful to Brad, so he wasn't avoiding me out of courtesy to Brad. He just wasn't that into me...
Just Super
I invited a bunch of friends over to watch the Super Bowl. Technically, I invited them to watch the commercials, but you know what I mean! By Saturday morning, I had three confirmed Yes’s: Rob, Tim, and Nishith. As I was looking through recipes that morning, I settled upon Green Stuff and Bagel Dip. Green Stuff is a total trailer trash concoction based on Cool-whip and mini marshmallows. Bagel Dip is slightly classier, but still a little hick. Sour cream, mayo, and dried beef are the base ingredients. Sliced up chunks of bagel do taste really good dipped in it, though!
I should have made a half batch of the dip. It’s an extremely easy recipe to halve, and I knew the confirmed list was pretty short. Stupidly, I made a full batch. Sunday I got a cancellation from Rob, who said he was sick. I was counting on some of the Maybe’s to show up, or this would be a pretty boring party. As it turned out, one did. My friend AJ lives right around the corner, so he came over. (I always thought it was “AJ” but Nish said “Ajay” is a common name in India, so he was convinced I had it wrong. Since then, I’ve gotten emails that were signed “AJ” so I guess I was right. Or, he Americanized it to prevent hassles.) Turns out AJ is being a vegetarian again. Apparently, it has a close tie to his weight more than anything. If he wants to lose weight, he goes veggie.
For anyone who saw the Steelers/Seahawks match, you already know how boring the game was, except for some intriguing calls that helped Pittsburg win. And the commercials were just as tiresome. Last year seemed a lot more exciting, though I was doing jello-shots. This year was pretty quiet. Maybe with one exception…
I had the food set up on the table, and we were casually munching. Shortly after Nish came over, he wanders over to the food and starts nibbling. I’m on the couch, watching the TV. Then I hear Nish say, “Ooh, this dip is really good.”
I replied with a polite “Thanks” followed briefly by a rather emphatic “Shit!”
Ronny gave me a fairly harsh what-was-that-for look. I continued, “Don’t eat that!!”
Nish got a little confused, and asked why not.
“It’s got beef in it.”
“Really??”
Uh huh. I made a quip about going to hell. Then the thought ran through my mind that Hinduism doesn’t really do it that way. I asked if Hindus have a hell, and Nish said no. Catholics used to be told they would go to hell for eating meat on Friday, but I guess the sacred cow thing doesn’t have quite the same punishment system behind it.
So, for those of you who missed the Super Bowl, the most exciting moment of the game was when I tricked someone from India into eating dead cow! (ABC bleeped it, though.)
I should have made a half batch of the dip. It’s an extremely easy recipe to halve, and I knew the confirmed list was pretty short. Stupidly, I made a full batch. Sunday I got a cancellation from Rob, who said he was sick. I was counting on some of the Maybe’s to show up, or this would be a pretty boring party. As it turned out, one did. My friend AJ lives right around the corner, so he came over. (I always thought it was “AJ” but Nish said “Ajay” is a common name in India, so he was convinced I had it wrong. Since then, I’ve gotten emails that were signed “AJ” so I guess I was right. Or, he Americanized it to prevent hassles.) Turns out AJ is being a vegetarian again. Apparently, it has a close tie to his weight more than anything. If he wants to lose weight, he goes veggie.
For anyone who saw the Steelers/Seahawks match, you already know how boring the game was, except for some intriguing calls that helped Pittsburg win. And the commercials were just as tiresome. Last year seemed a lot more exciting, though I was doing jello-shots. This year was pretty quiet. Maybe with one exception…
I had the food set up on the table, and we were casually munching. Shortly after Nish came over, he wanders over to the food and starts nibbling. I’m on the couch, watching the TV. Then I hear Nish say, “Ooh, this dip is really good.”
I replied with a polite “Thanks” followed briefly by a rather emphatic “Shit!”
Ronny gave me a fairly harsh what-was-that-for look. I continued, “Don’t eat that!!”
Nish got a little confused, and asked why not.
“It’s got beef in it.”
“Really??”
Uh huh. I made a quip about going to hell. Then the thought ran through my mind that Hinduism doesn’t really do it that way. I asked if Hindus have a hell, and Nish said no. Catholics used to be told they would go to hell for eating meat on Friday, but I guess the sacred cow thing doesn’t have quite the same punishment system behind it.
So, for those of you who missed the Super Bowl, the most exciting moment of the game was when I tricked someone from India into eating dead cow! (ABC bleeped it, though.)
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