Day Thirty Six /through/ Fourty Two
Temperature : Averages of 30 in the A.M / 55 in the afternoons
Mood : Classroom...no dive all week....uh oh.
This week was Hyperbaric Chamber Operation and Orientation. Pretty nifty class as we learned how to properly operate a chamber with a person inside and how to diagnosis what injury the diver sustained during the dive and determine which treatment table to initiate to save his/her life. *On a side note I learned how to cure a hangover within 30 minutes. A copy of the method is available for sale for 5 dollars each* Monday and Tuesday was all classroom days and Wednesday and Thursday were chamber days where we actually ran the chamber with people inside. Friday was Neurological day and the practical test for giving a neurological. Now if you get hurt, I can make sure your not too messed up.
The highlight of my time here at CDA so far definitely occured on Wednesday when the new freshman had Team Building with Dusty. I was lucky enough to be a safety swimmer for this occasion and I enjoyed every second of it. The 10 of us in the water as safety swimmers are the ones who get to have the most fun because we try to screw up the freshman on how they're suppose to do their bridge jump. We had them jumping everywhich way but the correct way. The entire thing this month turned out to be the worst showing the school has ever seen, but it was by far the funniest. This weekend I stayed in, due to the fact the Freshman brought whatever devil plague they carry called sinus infection / colds has reach the rest of the classes and we're all sick as can be. LAME
Day Fourty Three / through / Fourty Nine
Temperature : Beginning of the week was about 45 / Friday was 65
Mood : YAYAYAYAY!!!! We get to dive this week!!!
This week was spent with Grant for Inland/Coastal and Ship Husbandry which is also pretty neat. We learned about different tools we'll get to use underwater, different types of water gate's and valves that are used, different structures to control water level among other things. We also learned about the different parts of a ship, different protection methods to prevent corrosion, and where everything is located. Monday and Tuesday was spent in the classroom and Wednesday through Friday was spent in the river doing a 2hr and 30 min dive. There, we got underneath a boat and found the various parts of the boat, we also got "hands on" with a Gate Valve by removing and re-installing the valve. Then we swam over to the piling's supporting the Main Street Bridge and inspected those.
The weekend consisted of another trip home for 36 short hours. It was nice seeing everybody again. Sucks I ran out of time and didn't get to see everybody I wanted but there's always next time. Which will probably be after I graduate. I'm cool with it though.
Day Fifty / through / Fifty Four
Temperature : 30-35 in the A.M / 45-55 all week in the P.M
Mood : It's way to cold for Florida
Monday was spent in Travis's classroom giving us the "quick and dirty" on NDT (Non-Destructive Testing), the various levels of inspection, the different method's of testing, and various piece of equipment we might use. Basically we learned how to take Ultrasonic thickness readings, find minute cracks using an Electromagnetic Yoke via the flux leakage field and search grid patterns to find items that are on the bottom of the seabed. Tuesday and Wednesday was spent in the river for another two and a half hour dive where we dive a Hull Inspection on a boat we have floating around and then we worked on line sweeps using line pulls then we swam over to the Piling Cluster to do our inspection for our report. Thursday was our NDT final which I got a 94% on, which was the highest in the class! It's a damn hard test by the way. We also did a 10 minute tank dive in the morning where we used the Electromagnetic Yoke and the Ultrasonic Transducer. Today, we studied during the morning. Brushing up on everything we've learned so far. Graduation started at 1200 and we sat through that, ate some decent food of ribs and fried chicken then took our Sophomore Midterm which I got a 97% on. Who knows what the weekend will bring.
I would mention that my birthday was on the 23rd but seeing as how it turned out to be a total bust and everybody bailed on going to the bar, this is the only mention it will get...maybe next year. haha
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sophmore Week 1 - Underwater Welding
Day Twenty Nine : 0800
Temperature : Not too bad
Mood : Monday again...&Fht@1s5^
Spaghetti Monday, lunch is about the only thing I'm looking forward to right now. Well it's the start of my Sophmore Month and to kick things off, it's starting off with 180 amps being run through the water. However, before we can get to that point...it's time for some classroom teaching. Nothing too special, basically just gave us a brief overview on how to set up the welder and check connectivity, check for bad spots in the cable, how to splice welding cable, etc.
Day Thirty : 0800
Temperature : Cooling down slightly
Mood : Inbetween Want to Kill somebody and I just won the lotto
Tuesday, is another tuesday, in another week. But this Tuesday, we're welding. Topside that is, which is interesting considering that I've never welded in my life. haha. My goal : Successfully tact weld 3 pieces of 2 inch by 8 inch mild steel together for tomorrow's actual welding. Good thing I don't mind getting hurt since this has "uh oh" written all over it.....The good news is, that after what most would consider a circus act, that the pieces got welded together. The bad news is I managed to catch the bench on fire and light the entire 7014 electrode completely on fire. Don't know how I did it, but I did. Since we didn't have anything else planned for the day, I figure I'd try to actually weld something. Definitely interesting, took me a few tries to get the hang of it, they don't look pretty at all, but they would work. I am pleased with my success.
Day Thirty One : 0800
Temperature : Cold...again
Mood : I just want to go back to bed
Wednesday, is a good day, because I know that today and tomorrow are going to be dive days. I get to dive first so after we get everything set up, I take my project to the deck and dress out. I climb down into the tanks and set up everything. Ground Clamp, Check. Four Electrodes, Check. Electrode, Check, Balls of steel, Double Check. Time to go to work, I set my angles and yell "make it hot" and let the bright white glow do all the work. 49 seconds later it was all over and that was it. I did that 3 more times, climb to the surface and walk straight into the second tank to run the chainsaw. I'm singing the song quote "anything you can do, I can do underwater" to myself at this point. It's official. I have lost my mind. After another minute, I was done and I climb up and out. I dry off, inspect my welds which turns out we're some of the best in the class, (everybody else couldn't keep it in the groove) and spend the rest of the day back in the Welding Shop. I'm determined to run at least 1 good bead by the end of this school.
Day Thirty Two : 0800
Temperature : Windy, 50, Sunny, Cloudy. MAKE UP YOUR MIND!
Mood : Headache
Today, I got the pleasure of being stand-by diver...except its just sit around all day diver since the tanks are partially covered by grating and if there is a problem somehow it's easier to just pull them up instead of splashing the diver. So today is full of antics, laughter, bullshitting and telling people they shouldn't put "underwater welder" on their resume. Superglue expert is a better title for most of them. haha
Day Thirty Three : 0800
Temperature : Rain
Mood : TGIF. I'm getting hammered.
Today we started off by reviewing any questions we had with Walt over the welding and went over the entire question bank for the test. Took the test at 1030 and reviewed it all before lunch. I got a 94%. I'm happy with that, puts my lowest grade on a test so far at 88% with Anatomy and Dive Medicine ( which was still the highest grade in the class, so take that for what it's worth). After lunch we started Walt's version of Dive Charts and Hyperbaric Chamber Operation and Orientation. So it was note taking for the rest of the day till 1530 when Friday Cleanup proceeded to take place. Muster at 1645 and at the bar by 1700. I've earned it this week
Day Thirty Four / Thirty Five : 1030-1200
Temperature : Defintely Chilly
Mood : UGH! what a good night but my head hurts
The weekend can be summed up into a short statement. "Sleep all day and Party all night. Enough said. ( School work comes first Sunday Night - Thursday Night )
Temperature : Not too bad
Mood : Monday again...&Fht@1s5^
Spaghetti Monday, lunch is about the only thing I'm looking forward to right now. Well it's the start of my Sophmore Month and to kick things off, it's starting off with 180 amps being run through the water. However, before we can get to that point...it's time for some classroom teaching. Nothing too special, basically just gave us a brief overview on how to set up the welder and check connectivity, check for bad spots in the cable, how to splice welding cable, etc.
Day Thirty : 0800
Temperature : Cooling down slightly
Mood : Inbetween Want to Kill somebody and I just won the lotto
Tuesday, is another tuesday, in another week. But this Tuesday, we're welding. Topside that is, which is interesting considering that I've never welded in my life. haha. My goal : Successfully tact weld 3 pieces of 2 inch by 8 inch mild steel together for tomorrow's actual welding. Good thing I don't mind getting hurt since this has "uh oh" written all over it.....The good news is, that after what most would consider a circus act, that the pieces got welded together. The bad news is I managed to catch the bench on fire and light the entire 7014 electrode completely on fire. Don't know how I did it, but I did. Since we didn't have anything else planned for the day, I figure I'd try to actually weld something. Definitely interesting, took me a few tries to get the hang of it, they don't look pretty at all, but they would work. I am pleased with my success.
Day Thirty One : 0800
Temperature : Cold...again
Mood : I just want to go back to bed
Wednesday, is a good day, because I know that today and tomorrow are going to be dive days. I get to dive first so after we get everything set up, I take my project to the deck and dress out. I climb down into the tanks and set up everything. Ground Clamp, Check. Four Electrodes, Check. Electrode, Check, Balls of steel, Double Check. Time to go to work, I set my angles and yell "make it hot" and let the bright white glow do all the work. 49 seconds later it was all over and that was it. I did that 3 more times, climb to the surface and walk straight into the second tank to run the chainsaw. I'm singing the song quote "anything you can do, I can do underwater" to myself at this point. It's official. I have lost my mind. After another minute, I was done and I climb up and out. I dry off, inspect my welds which turns out we're some of the best in the class, (everybody else couldn't keep it in the groove) and spend the rest of the day back in the Welding Shop. I'm determined to run at least 1 good bead by the end of this school.
Day Thirty Two : 0800
Temperature : Windy, 50, Sunny, Cloudy. MAKE UP YOUR MIND!
Mood : Headache
Today, I got the pleasure of being stand-by diver...except its just sit around all day diver since the tanks are partially covered by grating and if there is a problem somehow it's easier to just pull them up instead of splashing the diver. So today is full of antics, laughter, bullshitting and telling people they shouldn't put "underwater welder" on their resume. Superglue expert is a better title for most of them. haha
Day Thirty Three : 0800
Temperature : Rain
Mood : TGIF. I'm getting hammered.
Today we started off by reviewing any questions we had with Walt over the welding and went over the entire question bank for the test. Took the test at 1030 and reviewed it all before lunch. I got a 94%. I'm happy with that, puts my lowest grade on a test so far at 88% with Anatomy and Dive Medicine ( which was still the highest grade in the class, so take that for what it's worth). After lunch we started Walt's version of Dive Charts and Hyperbaric Chamber Operation and Orientation. So it was note taking for the rest of the day till 1530 when Friday Cleanup proceeded to take place. Muster at 1645 and at the bar by 1700. I've earned it this week
Day Thirty Four / Thirty Five : 1030-1200
Temperature : Defintely Chilly
Mood : UGH! what a good night but my head hurts
The weekend can be summed up into a short statement. "Sleep all day and Party all night. Enough said. ( School work comes first Sunday Night - Thursday Night )
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