Tuesday, August 5, 2008

I'm Not Sure I Have The Will To Go On...But Somehow, I'm Sure I'll Manage.

I realize I have failed miserably in my bloggerly obligations to provide entertainment on a daily basis, but since I feel a little like work slammed my head in a car door, I'm going to bear up under the guilt and persevere.

Hey, you got three entries yesterday. One of them oughta still be good for something!

Update: I've added a poll over there on the right. If you have other suggestions, put them in the comments here and if I like 'em I'll add them for consideration.

5 comments:

John the Scientist said...

You guys are practical Civil Engineers, you might want a T-shirt with the 3 Laws of Civil Engineering:

1. Water runs downhill.

2. You can't push with a string.

3. If it moves, it's broken.

John the Scientist said...

And here's something from the Naval Research Labs for your electricians: the 10 Commandments of working with electricity:

I. Beware of the lightning that lurketh in seemingly uncharged capacitors, lest it cause thee to bounce upon thy buttocks in an ungentlemanly manner.

II Cause thou the switch that supplieth vast quantities of juice to be opened and thusly tagged, that thy days may be long in this earthly vale.

III Prove to thyself that all circuits that radiateth and upon which thou worketh are grounded and thusly tagged, lest they lift thee to radio frequency potential and causeth thee to radiate with the angels.

IV Tarry thou not amongst those fools who engage in intentional shocks, for they are unbelievers and are surely not long for this world.

V Take care thou useth the proper method when thou taketh the measure of high voltage so that thou dost not incinerate both thyself and thy test meter. For verily, though thou has no serial number and can be easily replaced, the test meter has one, and as a consequence, bringeth much woe unto thy supervisor.

VI Take care thou tamperest not with interlocks and safety devices, for this incurreth the wrath of thy department head and bringeth the fury of his boss upon thy head.

VII Work thou not on energized equipment without proper procedures, for if thou dost so, thy shipmates will surely be buying beers for thy widow and consoling her in certain other ways not generally acceptable to thee.

VIII Verily, verily, I say unto thee, never service equipment alone, for electrical cooking is a slothful process, and thou might sizzle in thy own fat upon a hot circuit for hours on end before thy maker sees fit to end thy misery and drag thee into his fold.

IX Trifle thee not with radioactive tubes and substances lest thou commence to glow in the dark like a lightning bug and thy wife be frustrated and have no further use for thee except for thy wage.

X Commit thou to memory all the words of the prophets which are written down in the 300th chapter of thy Bible which is the Technical Manual, and giveth out the straight dope and consoleth thee when thou hast suffered a ream job by thy division manager.

Nathan said...

RE: # VIII

When one guy was setting up a tie-in to the power mains in a building, we used to have a second guy standing by with a 2"X4" to whack him away in the event of "misadventure".

Random Michelle K said...

John, there was a mine electrician who died earlier this year, because he went into a (non-union) mine, where multiple safety procedures were not followed.

I frelling hate Don Blankenship.

Jeff Hentosz said...

The mission statement I've been using for several years (it's displayed prominently on the side of one of my file cabinets) and which you're welcome to borrow is:

Mea ars gratia tuae pecuniae

...which I was told is Latin for "My art for your money." Don't remember where I found it.