Friday, March 15, 2024

Workplace Stories (24): Nice but Stupid

The most important factor in being successful at work, after having enough knowledge, is being able to build relationship with everyone. Was I able to do that part of the job? I can't say that I always have been. It's mainly because there're assholes that you can't level with them in any possible way, no matter how hard you try. 
Now I'm five months to this job, things haven't been so great: I still have the long commute, long hours, endless undertakings and like any other job, dealing with assholes! The latter, though, only takes a small part of my time. However I come across an issue of different nature: How to deal with people who make detrimental mistakes but they're nice?! Here's what happened a few weeks ago and I was quite shocked to see this:
The groove weld that bonds the 4" pipe, vertically, almost, to the 24" main pipe, from inside the big pipe. That is basically the only weld which you need, if you are planning to put a plate around the 4" weld, later.
One of the welders asked me to do a a Visual Inspection on one circumferential semi-horizontal(!) weld on a part. I normally don't do that. This is not common. I usually wait for a number of welds to be deposited and then the supervisors called me to go. This was an exemption because the weld would have to be covered by a plate. However, that was the problem. The plate would have to be flushed with the horizontal pipe that the welded pipe, the vertical pipe had been welded to! So, technically, the only weld you would need to deposit, for the small 4" pipe attached to the gigantic 24" horizontal pipe, is a groove weld. In order to do that, you would bevel the 24" to the point that you can deposit a good amount of material to provide sufficient strength and that would be it. The plate lands on the 24" horizontal pipe and a weld-all-around fillet weld would finish this part. The guy, instead, has deposited a big fillet weld right after the groove weld and now he had to grind it off to be able to put the plate on and weld it!!
This picture shows the plate before being pushed down to flush with the big pipe and welded. Notice the pig filler weld all around the 4" pipe? That needs to be grinded off before the this plate can be installed!
It was not entirely his fault because that how it was shown in the stupid drawing but as an experienced welder he should've either held the operation and ask or simply ignored the fillet weld but he didn't and that was where I was very surprised by the stupidity! I discussed the issue with both the drafter and the engineer and they accepted my point but I told them that I had left the guy on his own, mainly because bringing such a problem up would not do anything but damaging the relationship which I certainly need for a long-term career, to my retirement, a good position somewhere else or to the Government job!
(Photo, top; The 4" pipe after the plate is also put around it.) 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

When a Thunder Strikes

There's nothing more pleasing to me while I'm on the road, rather than seeing people are pulled over by the authorities. I think there have been days that I saw at least once a day! In winter when it's dark, it's very easy to get caught. You're driving and you don't even see the car in pitch dark and all of a sudden you see the beacons. 
Now that it's bright, especially in the afternoon, starting this Mon. that he Daylight Saving was started, it's become easy see the police but there's idiots who are blind as well as being stupid. I was heading down the road this afternoon and at a merge of another road saw a truck sitting there. I always drive between 100 Km and 105 Km per hour and am never worried. So, when I was passing him I was able to see his camera installed on the dash. I didn't care much because I was within the speed limit as always. Just a few kilometers down the road I saw the beacon flashing! That was him! It happened so fast that I didn't get what had happened first! Just so a few cars passed me and then there were the lights! He truck on a drive like thunder on an early spring day! I'm sure he even didn't have to react. Enjoy the ticket, moron! 
(Photo: The moment of truth! I don't know how much this violation costs because the last ticket that I have received was in 2012 but I assume it cannot be less than $150 CAN. The funny thing is a drunkard stupid donkey asked once on the net whether he has to pay his ticket!! I honestly think, at times, that these people have concrete, dog poop and cat piss mixed up and placed in their skulls for brain!)

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

On the Road to Recovery

I don't know if you believe in this or not but I have a saying for myself which goes: Once a Loser, Always a Loser! And in that I'm talking about myself! After my separation from my wife, 8 years ago, I never was able to get myself into a meaningful relationship, despite the opportunities and trying. There has been always a problem or an excuse. And will be like that probably until the day I die, unless there's an extraordinary situation! 
With that in mind, I talked to The Chef last Saturday and we ended up getting a couple of nice Fishes and going to my place. Of course I paid for that and I picked him up at his place. He's broke as a homeless but considering all the times that I went to his place and he provided food and booze, this was nothing. 
The fish this time came out very nicely, especially because I was very hungry, I think. We finished two medium sized Salmon but not the top rated ones but not too cheap either. 
The difference this time was the Wine. This was given to me as a Christmas gift by the company. It obviously was not an expensive one, probably $15 or so for a 750 ml bottle but because of its low percentage of alcohol, only 10%, it tasted really fine. A white Zinfandel from California which was a little bit sweet and went down smoothly. 
I do not call The Chef by this name. It's because he's always awesome when it comes to cooking. The nickname, of course, is not known to him. I never use it to call him. Here he has used a mixture of herbs and spices to coat the pieces before they are fried in another mixture! 
My only worry was The Chef getting drunk and get me in trouble but it didn't happened due to the low amount of beverage and being low alcohol. I think he hasn't learnt his lesson yet even after this last time that he almost lost an eye and hasn't been recovered completely but who am I kidding?! Once you're addicted to alcohol or any substance, there's barely any return!
(Photo, top: The glasses contain the nice pink wine)

Saturday, March 09, 2024

My first Apple Pie

Winter is the proper time for backing. At least for me. I turn the oven on to make something delicious and make the house warm as well! Sounds cheap? It's not! Home baking isn't cheap, if you use the proper or perhaps I shall say good ingredients. This time I decided to make Apple Pie and the result was spot on! As always I used Whole Wheat Flour which is way healthier than the cheap item they use in massive-backing factories. I used Granny Smith Apples and a little, probably only three tablespoons, of Brow Sugar. My way of preparing the Crust was just following the same method as preparing dough for the Flat Bread, which worked fine. I must add that I do not peel the Apples because that way, if you chew completely and properly(!) it is way better for your stomach and generally the digestion system. When it came out of the oven hot, it was amazing! I think not using much sugar it gave it a little bit taste sourness but that was still okay.

A closeup of the pie shows the texture and the pieces of apple with the skin on
Next time I might use one extra tablespoon or simply use another type of Apple. I was going to offer a slice to The Old Gal to reopen the negotiations(!) since she dodged me the last time I was approaching home, and I think it was because I have not contacted her since last Nov. but then I said F*ck it! I don't need her! I've lived my life alone for the mist of my life. I'm not going to beg a women because I feel I need someone physically or emotionally!

Sunday, March 03, 2024

SALT

 
This post is about three different types of salt: Salt, the mineral, which is used for cooking. SALT, the movie and S. A. L. T. a treaty between the US and former Soviet Union and I'm sure this is the most understood one, amongst the three. Not that it is important.
I wrote an e-mail to Health Canada with the hope to make them understand that when they use the term Sodium to address Salt, they're wrong! Sodium is an element in Periodic Table with Atomic Number 11 and Na as its symbol and is considered a metal! Salt, on the other hand is a mineral and its formula is Na Cl, meaning it is composed of two elements Sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl)! The only thing that Sodium as an element and Salt as a mineral share is Sodium (Na) but they neither look alike nor taste the same! In fact you cannot taste Sodium because it's a soft, silvery and highly reactive metal! 
Why a Government organization makes such a silly mistake, remains a mystery to me!
Richard Nixon left and Leonid Brezhnev during SALT I meeting. The one next to Nixon is the long-time serving Foreign Minister of the USSR, Andrei Gromyko. 
SALT, in all capital letters, or S. A. L. T. was a treaty between the US and former Soviet Union to limit the development and usage, later, of the strategic weapons. In fact S. A. L. T., stands for strategic arms limitation talks. This meetings originally took place between Nixon and Brezhnev (or as I would write it in English as Brezhnef, because v at the end in Slavic languages or Cyrillic script pronounces as f but in English doesn't!) and was continued to the time that Ronald Reagan was the president. Did it do any good to the international peace? Probably! But that is not what we're going to discuss here. It was just a brief reference.
Sodium is a silvery and soft, highly reactive metal. Only stupid and ignorant people use this term to address salt that we add to our food
SALT, which in fact shall be written Salt but might confuse people with the mineral, is a movie after a person's surname: Evelyn Salt, with Angelina Julie as the main character. This was an enjoyable and very entertaining movie with great cinematography, acting and story. Many people praise Julie for her performance in different movies. This was my second one from her after Girl Interrupted and she's phenomenal in both, particularly the first. I'm not going to spoil the movie for someone who hasn't seen it yet but have to say that it was unique in story. Probably one of the movies that I easily would give 3.75 out of 5
(Photo, top: Evelyn Salt as a CIA agent is interviewing a defector who later blow her cover!)

Saturday, March 02, 2024

Is Restaurant Industry about to Die?

Éclair called me to go for lunch with him a few weeks ago, at work, again and on the way he said he wanted to have Egg. We went to a local restaurant and he ordered a couple of Eggs, Toast and Hash Brown. I ordered the similar dish. Nothing more. Not even a beverage. Since he had paid all the time we had lunch together, I decided to pay this time, despite the fact that he had told me that he would have put it on the company's tab. 
You would not imagine to have a big bill for a couple of Toasts, two couples of Eggs, a handful of scorched(!) Potato cubes and some garnish. Would you? You should! It cost me exactly $51.89!! It is very easy to calculate how much such meal cost the restaurant and then add the other cost:
1) Two Eggs. I think you can buy a dozens of Eggs for as low as $4.5 these days and I'm sure that restaurants have access to bulk food and wholesale. So, the cost of the eggs would not be more than $1, at the most!

2) Toast. Cheap sliced Bread of different kind is available in the country which is amongst the 10 biggest producers of Wheat. I do not buy anything baked, at all, because of all the disgusting shit that the bakeries of the major supermarket add to the ingredients to increase the shelf-life, not to mention the fact that most of the bread out there is made of White Flour and is bad for the digestion system and generally, health. So I don't know how much a bag of sliced bread is these days but I think they can buy a cheap one as low as $3. Considering a bag of sliced bread could contain as many as 10 sliced, the cost of this part of the dish would not be more than $1, maximum, again. 

3) Hash Brown. I think restaurants buy frozen bulk Hash Brown and dip fry them in 1-week old oil or something like that. No one in any restaurant sits to peel and cut potatoes! Everything is done by machines. It is not easy to calculate the cost of this item but looking at the pile of Potatoes in the above picture, I'd say it's a large potato, probably a quarter pound and shall cost something around ¢50 and now because it was partially ready, before it entered the restaurant, I would give the same value to it and will say the Hash Brown cost $1, as well! 

4) There's nothing more in that plate rather than some garnish. The whole meal must not have taken more than 15 minutes to make, including plating. Do you want me to calculate the remaining of the cost, now?!

I know no one thinks about these details but I know that eating out has become difficult for people, particularly Canadians because they barely cook at home. Perhaps this has changed now after two years that inflation has been killing everyone! I wonder what the reaction of the restaurant would be, If I send this to them! Charging $25 for a $5 meal! I will never, ever go to that place and similar ones!
(Photo: My expensive meal at a local Alberta restaurant which cost me $25!)

Monday, February 19, 2024

Who was Targeted in Top Gun: Maverick?

When Top Gun: Maverick was about to be realized, two years ago, I think, there was all trailers, teasers and such to market the American propaganda enough, so it will not become a failure after spending millions of dollars on it. Hollywood was in such a deep shit that Spielberg later said that Cruise has saved it by this movie!
I never was excited by the movie because I knew what it would be and that is why I didn't watch it until just recently, last week! I have to say that I saw the original Top Gun shortly after it came out on VHS in the old country and didn't understand much! As a young man, my English was not to the level to understand what they were saying. So, the story was not clear to me but as a young fella I wanted to show to the others that I, too, have seen this blockbuster and enjoyed that! I didn't even bother watching the movie here now that I've been living for over 20 years. This is despite the fact that I bought many DVDs when they were popular or rented them to re-watch the movies that I had seen them but they were either in low quality VHS or Betamax or I had not understood the plot, completely or entirely. To name, Basic Instinct was the first movie that I purchased and that was in Sunridge Mall back in, probably 2002! There were many more but we're going too far away from the subject. I never watched Top Gun, the original film| because it's not appealing to me and I know it would only be a propaganda that the young beer-drinking, weed-smoking, foreigner-hating, casual-sex-loving, Westerners would like. With that said, I decided to watch the new Top Gun and immerse myself to the world of a backward Baseball cap wearing, McDonald's-lover, weed-seeking Canadian/American teenager or average Joe! 
The result was not too bad, I have to admit. But here's the thing about sequels in Hollywood: The majority of time the sequels turn into shit! Why? Because the stupid writers do not use much creativity or maybe they're all out of ideas! The other possibility is that the producer simply wants to show the new generation what this movie was 25 years or so, ago! But that is not always the case. There has been sequels just a few years apart. Otherwise why the hell would you repeat the same stupid shit?! Let's look at a few examples together: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. An identical copy(!) of the previous one. In fact it was version 1 turned to version 1.00001! Alien Covenant and Pretentious: For years they were advertising on the sequels to the amazing Alien franchise then it was finally here: Despite millions of dollars spent and some good performances, Ridley Scott's new hit was nothing but a disappointment! He even brought the great Charlize Throne to make it more attractive for the movie fans and all she did was a few minutes of appearance and bursting out a few pieces of dialogue such as saying " Shit "! I think she wanted to indicated what the the movie would be eventually! Now going back to Top Gun: Maverick, the story is the exact same stupid shit! They even used most of the characters that they had in the original movie: Maverick, the son of the mustache guy, who was killed in the first movie and looks quite similar to his Dad and is probably even better than him at what he does and few other coloured and non-Caucasian actors, including a cute little girl to say that they are inclusive, probably! The acting are mediocre, mechanical and emotionless! 


This is the moment that Maverick's old F-14 loses the right engine while trying to land on the career
These are all good actors and actress whom I have always enjoyed their performance, though: Cruise was amazing in American Made, Valkyrie, Collateral and a few more. Jennifer Connelly's performance in The House of Sand and Fog and Dark Water is superb but they both was just acting like average performers. The other guys are just extras! The idiot writers even used the scenes of the previous movie here: The football scene, the piano playing scene and the bar beer drinking scene! The character of Kelly McGillis has been completely removed and now Maverick has a new love! 
Then they have a mission which is the start of the controversy and no one, as far as I know has mentioned that: Destroying an uranium enrichment plant! What country has uranium enrichment in process? Iran! I don't know how someone from, for example, China, would feel, if a movie was made to show that they were going to attack Shanghai! What would be the Chinese government reaction be? To confirm that later, when the attack takes place, Maverick and Goose's sun, who are both shut down and magically survived and miraculously find each other, despite being miles far away, in such a short time, they go to the destroyed runway and find an F-14 Tomcat in one of the not-destroyed bunkers! Another miracle which only happens top Americans! But here's another question: What other country, in the history of military, ever had F-14s rather than the US? The answer is Iran
I'm no supporter of the Government of Iran but certainly do not like to see the country being attacked by any foreign forces. There was a war once and the country was destroyed so badly but Americans think that every other nation in the region can have nuclear power but Iran, although I doubt that their aim is the bomb. 
The opening scene of the movie is good two. the interior design of the plane and the whole test is great. Also the parts that Maverick teaches them how to fight is filmed very nicely. I would rate the movie a 3.5 out of 5 and that is for the good cinematography and scenes. It's got nothing else.   
(Photo, top: An IRIAF [Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force] F-14 Tomcat, in an unidentified Iranian airport. It is not known what model of Tomcat it is. An F-4 Phantom, a passenger airplane and a Russian-made jet are all seen as well. No doubt that all the F-14 were bought by the Shah of Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and given to IIAF [Imperial Iranian Air Force] the department which was renamed to IRIAF, later)