funny moment at work today

To start things off I and Walt went in an hour early to get a head start. As it turned out later, there was a problem at the AOD vessel with the heat I was supposed to get and I stayed over even two more hours and finally got home near 7. Plus, I got my pay stub in the mail and I was gypped out of two days pay. I know what went wrong and will explain that later. It involved me getting put in for vacation days and was given one too many. When I called the boss last week about it, I was told it was all taken care of but still they did something wrong and they took off two vacation days. Long story, but it will work out in the end when I see him tomorrow. Now for the funny part.

The second shift crew came in and there was not a whole lot to do right away. Then we saw his guy walking toward our "pit office" and my pitleader made the comment, "Who is this clown coming?" The door opened and this guy came in we never saw before, carrying a camera bag. I knew right away what I wanted to say, but kept silent. The guy just stood there, looking at us, didn't say anything and as quick as he appeared, walked out the door. As soon as he left, I shouted, "Marty, get into the time machine, we have to go back, back to the future. It's not you but your kids, your kids, Marty!" Everyone busted up laughing, as this guy was a definite cross in looks between Einstein and that Doc guy from the Back To the Future movies, tall, skinny and gray stringy hair poking out from his hardhat. Everyone knew what I was shouting and this was the appropriate crew for all this. Every three weeks when this crew is on second shift, they have what they call "movie night (s)". The main computer has a DVD drive and when things are slow, they pop in a DVD, turn out the lights and watch movies in the comfort of a melt shop. This was the crew I and Walt were on before we volunteered for the all dayshift 9 to 5 thing. The pit leader does his best to manipulate the strip times the best he can so he and the rest can catch up on a few good flicks. Do we have it made where I work or what?....lol.

Anyway, I got to see this man in a action on one of the heats, manned with his camera on his tripod. He was told to come into our department and take videos (he was using a digital high speed video that also takes still photos, which I was drooling over) to capture the stream that flows out of the bottom of our ladles open (when the steel begins to flow). It seems sand is getting into our steel and our management is trying to find out ways to prevent that. Here is how it works. Our ladles open at the bottom through a small nozzle about 35 mm in diameter. When we get a ladle ready, the ladleman pours (from the top) some sort of zircon sand into the bottom of an empty ladle, blocking the hole (the nozzle)where the steel will flow out of. Without putting in the sand, the steel would "freeze up" when the ladle gets back to us when full and nothing would come out. In the ladle, the steel is on the bottom and the slag floats on top, thus the steel has to come out of the bottom of the ladle. The ladle goes up to the AOD vessel and the steel is poured into the top of the ladle. When the ladle comes back to us, the ladleman opens the gate and the sand comes out of the nozzle before the steel. We have what we call a sand deflector on top of where the steel enters the molds, but somehow the deflector is not doing the job and sand is still getting into the molds. Did you all get all of that?...lol Welcome to steel making 101...lol.

Anyway, I got to see the videos this guy was taking. He told me he just picked up the camera yesterday and still didn't know how to use it. He goofed on something so simple as forgetting zoom in on the one I was watching him take. But he got a good image earlier and he showed it to me frame by frame and could easily see how the sand was getting into the molds. I told him that even though he goofed on this second attempt, he really got a good shot on his first one and I explained to him why. You could see the sand pouring out before the steel, but as he went frame by frame, you could see more clumps of sand. Our eyes don't perceive these things at normal speed, but when you see things slower at something like 100 frames a second, you see it all. He was happy with the first results, but said he will be back to try again to confirm what he got the first time. I may not have gotten any brownie points, but was fun to witness something the other guys I work with didn't see.

So I'm going to slip soon into my own time and space nature's way and wake up tomorrow into the future. "Marty, quick, get to bed. Don't let you see yourself as if you do, there will be consequenses greater tan you can imagine." Good thought. I'll just refrain from looking at myself in the mirror in the morning...lol.

Love you all.