Appreciation

Joe is a great guy, but he's not much of a photographer. Here's the one picture that looks okay after a ton of post-processing in GIMP.



What I'm doing here is clamping the barset to the shell of the rotor. Once the barset is clamped, I weld it to the shell through those slots you see on the inside. Today I finished attaching the barsets, sealed gaps at the top and bottom, squirted brazing paste in all the right places, and crossed my fingers. It'll go in the furnace tomorrow and we'll see how it comes out on Monday.

Today's conversations with the supervisors made me feel even better. They really, really like me. They said things like, "the next time we have a meeting [with the bosses] about this project, you're going to be there. We want your input."

I told them about three weeks ago that I'd like to switch to second shift after I graduate in January, and they're fine with that, but they said they hoped I'd reconsider. They really want me on first shift so I can work with them instead of just finishing up whatever the person I train will have done earlier in the day. They even said that they could work out a special schedule for me (because my primary reason for wanting to go on second shift is so I don't have to get up before dawn... it's bad for my brain function, which is screwy as it is) so I can come in at, say, 9am and stay until 5 or 6pm. That's how much they want me on this project.

I have never felt so appreciated. It's awesome.

I promise to stop gushing soon. Really.