BUSY BUSY BUSY - The Rest of Sophomore Month

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