Wing's B day Bash!

Freezing rain & snow in P-town!

Friday nite was fun!....
Saturday... cruz'g in the valley in search of W-Valley wineries with A... then P-town, jolly time!
Grandma: there is white ppl talking...why?
Boringfish: Yes granny.. I am having dinner in a restuarant.... I am ordering water...sorry
Sunday.... was wanting to go to Hood with Dave, then snow & freezing rain stopped me. It turned out not too bad cuz I just slept all day! Getting ready for another hectic week with process and foreman work....white top & PMP & DAFing are the bulk of it.. probably catching up with HH. 4 days week is always rad, no to mention free food from work all week long. Goodies from farmhouse and maint feast... JOY and fattening! 2 more work weeks... then the new year!

W-Valley Wineries

Friday... I finally will have a break!

The weather in C-town has been very chilly. ICY!

Things are on the upside again in my papermaker world. It turned out that the cull rolls that we made yesterday were salable for specific application. They will make coffee cup holder and box divider....

I finally feel great being a junior foreman..making contribution that impact production positively. They listened and excuted my ideas today...FGS, Sweet! Bill is fun to work with, he is so easy going. We had another incident with the polymer again this evening.. this time, the chemical froze! I think I handled the whole ordeal really well... at least I hope. I thinks foreman job is a piece of cake on a GOOD day. However, you never know when that is in a paper mill.

JK continued to be around... things are doing ok, I feel comfortable that I am being watched...This is just a heck of the week for a new guy to show up. We sure did hell to welcome him. Are we a bunch of fools? 36 hours boiler outage, 24 + hrs for PM2 and 12 hrs for PM3 & AFL downtime, contaminated condensate as filtrate in washer definitely was impressive.... black liquor pulp, pH 12 in HD6, foamy party in APM. I definitely put on lot of mileages to my feet, well my jaws dropped a lot too! The mill will need its healing time and get back to normality. White top could be a challenge.

Tonite was fun with A. I gonna miss him...or maybe NOT, if he won't call me from corn central... yeah... I am 'mafan'.
Weekend should be a blast.... no work......

Congru to Peter, he is getting married today, hurray!

FOAMy Bubble bath & SNOWING!

Just a quick log before I return to the world of paradise.

I showed up to work this morning to find that the mill was at a worser shape than it was as I left on my 14 hours day yesterday. It was liked we made pulp-snow in the mill. Everywhere, and (I mean it) was covered by FOAM... I soaped myself into the foam pool as there was my ONLY way to get into the machine building. AFL, PM3 were down already, then 6:10, PM2 went down as well....this is the worst week ever. we gonna make cull paper and be rid of all the bad stock all day long... no production at all! It all started from contaminated condensate.

JY made it to town yesterday, I finally got to introduce myself as we were trying to thread PM2 around 8. With the mill upset condition from the 2 weeks, it was a great way to impress your manager, and we all need to avoid the execution room and may as well start looking for employment somewhere else. So far, the impression from my peers was disappointing. Effective leadership is the concern!

W just announced permanent closure of 2 machines.... we need to reconsider our position in the organization.

It's snowing outside... Let's get a snapshot!.. Boy are we in trouble? Most outside equipment got frozen up! SF got a recordable injury because someone slipped and fell. Water on the ground turned to ice... we could skate out here! Clean up, clean up, clean up. The bugs in the pond are not doing so hot either, they have been swimming in pulp, foam and liquor!

Sweet hours!

It was another long day...14 hours...but I survived my first shut as a mini-F, I even completed my first lockbox at PM2 Quill Inspection & got a foreman lock key. (I probably will need to return that). We were losing steam and running out of stock, they have to shut AFL down for WL inventory, PM3 were making culls most of the afternoon (4 breaks)
The pic were taken outside the PM3 CR as I was on my way to Farmhouse lunch.... I was still in good spirit at that time. Barry was taking pics on the damage press ceramic shoe and he took a snapshot of me.... OH NO!

Tickle my Feet

First, work: I survived my 73 hour work week, and I feel very good about my performance, in spite of physical exhaustion. My 'B' crew day was alright. I was mostly puzzled about the direction of the mill because of the mill manager's announcement of his December retirement. Maintaining high morale is crucial in this kind of situation. My 'D' crew day was very good - I felt very confident, and enjoyed the busy foreman day. My 'C' crew started with a great learning experience -the machine was hay out twice with a total of more than 3 hours. Frustration, fatigue, rushing, definitely set in amongst my crew. It was stressful trying to get the machine rolling again. Thursday morning I got a chance to chat with Fred for a couple of minutes. He was complimenting me for doing a great job - that certainly eased some of my anxiety. I took a couple hours off on Friday to finish some process projects. Saturday was pretty good - things were running pretty well, and I felt I was doing well as a foreman. Now, the fun stuff...

Thursday my mom came down from P town to deliver me my uncle's used dining table. Very nice of them to do that for me. A got to meet with my mom as we all went out to dinner afterwards. Saturday afternoon I went hiking after work in McDonald Forest. It was good to catch the last of the daylight, before it got freezing. I am jealous that Dave got to go snowboarding on Sunday - I would have liked to go, but I was needed for some festivities in Portland - Wing's Birthday. We went shopping at our regular spots, Woodburn and Fry's - and we both spent some money. For dinner we met up with Sylvia without our designated waitee, and we pigged out at Todai. It was not as good as I remembered, but they did have some cake for the birthday girl. Austina is on her way to HK now. Have fun there! & party on.

Emily will be traveling back to huskies state for awhile. She is going miss her boy.

25F..(-4 c)... icy!

Happy Birthday to Wing!

Long Day, many more to come.

Today was my first "official" day shadowing the foreman - they get good exercise, and cover a lot of ground. Making the rounds, fixing problems, and always thinking 'saleable tons...saleable tons'. I had a thirteen hour day today, and that 13 hours consisted of a half hour lunch, two fifteen minute breaks, and a brief stop to use the phone (and another one for email). I am more tired than I expected, and I was planning on being pooped. On top of that I have been discouraged by the sudden retirement of our mill manager at the end of the month. I am more upset by his departure bacause he was a big piece of my introduction to Albany, and I felt that he was watching over me. The new manager, from OK, has already been announced. I had a chance to meet him on my job hunting trip, but I never did - I guess I will get my chance soon. Looks like changes have finally begun to touch Albany - we will see how this may change my training, and the general state of the mill. I have been making some big progress lately, and I hope he will not interfere with my advancement. Hopefully his W background will not clash with the leftover w folks.

Today we had an equipment shut, with lots of lockout and tagout, and a minor injury. The PM was doing poorly when I arrived, but at least I got some ideas for improvements from my talks with the tenders. My DAF was 'ill', not taking the wet strength well, and the poor thing was overwhelmed. There was a silo leak, a crack in #2 hiD and a number of leaks in the dryer section (apparently they think I am the only staff member small enough to fit in there with the moving rolls and high temps). Both winders were acting up - I don't totally understand the pump speed variation theory for energy saving. I attended the PM3 shut meeting, and my project on #3 HB was canned - it was too much trouble to add the jet vel. scanner rather than to do without. Tomorrow I will be meeting a new crew, I think I was well received today, and those will be my crew members for my foreman trial - hopefully they will help me along the way. In 30 days, I will be the person in charge - there is a huge amount to keep track of, and I think it might be a little overwhelming. Deep breath. Lots of safety talk, and it is hard to see how they can compensate foremen for the stress. I learned a little lesson about privacy... and how to be supportive of the crew in their daily ops.


I miss Emily! My doggie misses me! Emily is back in P town as of this weekend. She is going to get fat without enough exercise and eating too much human food. I went to Portland and spent time with my mother over the weekend. It was a good visit, and productive. Last friday I went to a play. It was a wordy play, but generally enjoyable.

Set back! Step back!

I had some conversations with my confidants over the weekend.....then I had some conversation with A tonight. I am NOT obsessed about what we have right now, but he sort of upset me. I wish things are simple and I am not jealous of some imaginery competitions.

I will write more later, probably after my first day in charge of the machine. I am anxious in all aspects of life... Need to calm down and slow down... Take a deep breathe.

Boringfish
PS. Early Happy Birthday to Abbie, Melvin, Sherry, Wing, Fiona & Pauline! Party on Dude and Dudettes!

Date Night

It's new for me to have one of this...
so another one tonight to a play at Albany theater.

Fake date/ real date...so complicated

Cutie!

Nov30


Yes..Emily is much prettier, she knows how to open her eyes and look at the photographer....


My lovely companions! Coffee is wearing his MJ's gloves.


Coffee and Boringfish in snowland, he is looking for big foot!


Coffee and Boringfish were smooching. Coffee: I am embarrassed that you caught me kissing her!


Techie Doggie! Smartie! Emily: I am a graduate.


Pic was taken on 10/26 by Wing. Emily and Boringfish were smooching. Boringfish: You look tasty!

Late August

Boringfish is trying to sort the jpegs from my trip to the South, found them and will post them at a later time: hush puppies, memphis ball game, AK, OK, TX & LA, CA....Yipee!--Please go to Archive May/05 .. It has been updated.

Dave & Chris

We miss you, Chris!

Time to say thanks and reflect a year in passing

A 4 days weekend was a very nice break from the paper world. Too bad that I can't match my schedule to volunteer at St. Francis or other places on T-day. Besides the regular turkey day festivities, I went to Newport for the day with A. It was fabulous time. We even cooked dinner together; well, we attempted. Food was saturated with black pepper. It was HOT. I would say we are going well and it has been wonderful for a change. Time to say thanks and see what will come of it. I definitely have my worries as this relationship grow, meanwhile, let's just go with the flow.

I was a home body on weekends, chilling with Dave, Wing & Emily. No golfing though and I am still in search of my dummies book... where did that go? Kung Fu Hustle is so-so, Stephen Chow is still pretty good with his HK style humor, but it could be tiring sometimes.

Monday started on a sour note (work week 48, 4 more to go). As the 4th quarter at work has been rough; the economical time just couldn’t allow us to end the year with a cheer(depressed market conditions and the surge in transportation and energy costs). (They might shut down my DAFs for energy saving?!) We had been plagued with power generation, liquor and recaust and pulp problems. We have been slowing down in pulp production and machine speed and made grade pattern adjustment to adapt the shortcomings in operation. In the midst of this, PM dept continued to focus on building a stronger team. I am part of the change as I will be starting my temporary foreman training in December of 05, straightly on days, with the intent that I will alternate my roles between process engineering tasks and foreman duties in the first 6 months of 2006. This is absolutely a big deal to my career development. Some folks started to congratulate me as it definitely perceived by others as I am climbing upward in the world of papermaker. Don't worry, I am still the grunt of Horace. We are still partners and we will have each other's back! I don't know how I will work/sleep/eat/fun *wink*, but I will manage with my superb multi-task talent.

I got a present from a vendor today, WOW. I am worthy now!

Today, more dampening news has announced from SMT, they have decided to sell MDF operations in Albany and Eugene, OR and indefinitely idle-ling NO 1 containerboard machine in Plymouth, NC (I was trying for a position, back in April) . I have been very optimistic in the past to encourage folks from Albany not to think of us as the next news clip. I still believed that we will be around making paper for many more years to come. We worked hard to show that Albany is a world class mill and we are among the best workforce in W. “In response to fundamental market challenges, W has recently announced the indefinite closure of a pulp and paper facility in Saskatchewan, a box finishing operation in California, a sawmill and pulp mill in Washington, and a plywood mill in Oklahoma.”

PM2 shut today went long...lots of appointments (will get a new set of ear plugs)....December... here we are. Time to start on my x'mas letter, what an eventful year, don't you thinK? I want to go snowboarding.... Pink Martini... white top/PM3 HB/foreman training... hmmm! HELP!

The better I know you, the happier I get

Last friday night was quite a surprise. My gathering plan with the coworkers did not fall through; instead I was chilling with A. A dinner and a movie afterwards, the chemistry was here. Folks, I am happier!

Weekend:
A big day to get all errands done in P-town before the homecoming of my mom. Things went well as it was hectic as usual, stopped by all my regular places. The break at downtown was refreshing, we went to saturday market and Powell's Bookstore. Sunday was a good day to catching up on sleep & chores. Doggy Park with Dave and Emily was a big plus. Emily & Dave got plenty of exercise; I too, was doing some running & walking. The service on Sunday night was fine.

Work Week 48:
Monday was miserable for my stomach. I suffered through the combination of anxiety and abdominal pain. At least the work week will be short, just 2 days for me! That evening, I watched 'mail order bride', it was pretty funny as it was a fake documentary.

Tuesday, we went to MU for a performance of belly dancing. At work, I was told that I will start my temp. foreman training in December. I will be doing 12+ hours of shift work! Lucky me! No seriously, I am looking forward to that assignment. A great learning opportunity for my paper maker world!!! The work day ended with a hello wish from Scott. It was nice.

Wednesday, I was so focused on my engineering tasks, that I didn't even notice I was wearing my shirt backward until a vendor asked innocently if I had any particular reason for my fashion statement. I was a little bit embarassed, and as soon as I had some privacy, I made sure to turn my shirt back to the standard orientation. I started my foreman work a little bit early as PM2 was taking downtime to change press felts, prior to the next scheduled shut. It was a very good day for learning and running up and down from wet end to dry end. Jones refiner is back from the shop and we had to cut Horace's lock! I am a bad girl/partner as I have his dirty evidence in jpeg. He will get a ear full from Ted.
Cheesecake!

Happy Thanksgiving to y'all! Mine should be interesting!

Quantity vs Quality?

A question from another blogger:

Would you like to be with someone everyday, see their face everyday, but never do anything special together, or would you like to meet someone only once in a while but when you meet, everything else is dropped and you have the time of your life?

Boringfish wants both in moderation and in balance. Just being with someone you adore is priceless.

Is it Friday yet? oh IT IS

Work is full of surprises as always. Drainage study was waiting for me yesterday as I walked into the mill. It turned out the application engr was the same guy I worked with 3 years ago at NBend. It was a busy day anyway. Jack and Dan are a handfull but they are great guys to work with. A few follow up items for me to tackle today and possibly next Monday.

Horace and I will be visiting with a press expert today; Mr. Woo, a native from Korea is a research scientist at corp. He is interested in mill daily issues.

I watched Napoleon Dynamite last night; it was funny and very quirky, but cool.

Friday is here, well let's see if some co workers of mine will wanna go have dinner and drinks tonight?

Shout out to Die hard fish ball gal!

Folks,

Just wanna give a shout out to FionA.
Congratulations on her transition to a new job! May the opportunity grant her a fresh breath of air for professional and personal growth.

You too Richard!

Gotta get back to work.

Boringfish

PS Hey girl, what happened to that phone call?

Oh... It's November already

Hey Folks,

Long time no chat. Work week 47 is here! I am still the DAF/Kajaani/spill control gal. PM3 shut today, Fiberline shut yesterday. HB project will be pushed to December. White top will be there too. 5.5 weeks till the end of the year! So little time with lots to do! I have been working on my 5 steps program in SPILL & SWIMS control. So groovy. There was a minor spill again on the 8th, so folks are taking my tests and responding well to the steps. Holidays are around the corners! I will try to do my best to update folks on what happened to me for the past couple months.

Emily has been staying with me for the last month or so. It's been wonderful to have another femme company around, a feisty and very naughty one too! Coffee is being stubborn and continuously refusing to show his face. I am worrying sick about him and wish every second of that he will turn up and give me plenty of loving. Fish are doing fine. Ultimately, survival to the fittest is happening to my household as the residents in the fish tank have gradually shrunk from 8 to 2 now. We have had them since September 17th. New addition to the aquarium is in planning.

What’s cooking? My newly adopted phrase. Well let's see, I am on my uphill ride in my social roller coaster, don’t have much to share at this point. I will keep you posted, I am sure of that.

Veteran’s Day weekend wasn’t too bad, I was on call for work and it was a pretty low-key time. I was watching a lot of TV, Beavers lost to Stanford and Ducks won! Go Beavers in the civil war!

Fiona and Richard are in transition to their new employment. Hur-ray! & sucker, welcome to the cruel real world.

I have on call duty on Oct 1-6, 14-20, 28 to Nov 3, Nov 11 till present. After the 17thof the week, I will have a long deserved break from weekends stuff. I won’t be on till February. Richard, are you ready for some on call actions?

OUCH, a broken wrist!

Last weekend, Horace and I were both on call. A serious mishap resulted in a mill employee concluding his work day and his probationary period with a broken wrist. The event triggered several minors and near misses. I am assigned to develop machines spill control plan as the outcome of this unfortunate event. We were 3 days short of celebrating the mill’s 1 year with no lost time injury record. It reflected badly upon Horace and me as we were the chemical duo at the mill. Go wet end!

Sylvia’s birthday, no bowling for us in this celebration. We went out for dinner! Instead of the usual hour long wait at the Red Lobster, we had a designated waitee, who provided us a choice table, and saved us an hour of waiting in the cold. And then he didn't even stay for dinner! What a sacrifice. Thanks from the three of us! The day went by fast as Wing and I spent time at outlet and Fry’s.

Halloween was uneventful. I had 5 young adolescent trick-or-treaters. WOW.

I went to mass for all Saint’s day on Wednesday. I missed my grandpa and coffee a lot and I hope they are happy.

On Thurday I went to my first APM career counseling section, the experience was positive, encouraging and frankly, I am more confused then ever. It raised a lot of questions and my prospects got cloudier. We will see what’s cooking, later that evening, I went to Bio-diesel seminar in Salem; it was hosted by the AICHE Pacific section. It was a fascinating topic and I have so much more to learn.

Friday night was little nervous, Too much going on to explain. Just take my word for it. On Saturday, Scott, Jenny, Emily and I went to the coast. What a lucky guy when he was accompanied by 3 pretty girls. I had fun even though it was pouring rain in Florence. I would like to hang out with him and Jenny more before they decide on their move to Central Oregon. On Sunday, I went to Portland for the day, a lot of errands.

Maple trees are shredding skin, lots of leaves to rake for the handy man. I continued to have headaches caused by trees in Portland, gutters /fence/water spot/plumbing, the joy of being a house slave.

Flu shot was given out at work...hm....Ouch, needle!

Maple Tree in my front yard

11/4

A new hair cut & hot pot dinner!

My long hair


YUMMY!




I got a new hair cut... Austina and Wing put on a production and it turned out great... but they cut off about at least 8 inches of hair. They tried to get me to do some highlight... well they tried!

Just a quick update; Whitening and DAFing

Continuing to go DAFing this week. I gave a presentation last week about the path forward and training documentation. We had a mini shut on D3 to fix a broken flange and to mount additional paddles to 2nd rake. I like it. White top has been ok so far. The aged pulp/Clay combination presented a challenge to production. I am getting the hang of the white top though. This is like my 5th or 6th one now, 1 order in December before I call it a wrap for 2005.

Farm house lunch was interesting: visitors from Valliant. On call weekend for me, yeah!

Gotcha... heck I am confused too!

Feeling confused? Renee & Hunting? Yup, I went Elk hunting in this past weekend at Vida. More like Cruising in the wood in a truck in the rain, trying to search for that heart shaped white target in the sea of green.

As I was on call, I felt the urge to go to Fiddler’s Green to spend some hard-earned cash on some golf accessories. Afterwards, I decided to give Scott a call and see what he was up to. Drum rolls, please! ELK hunting, here we went. It was interesting, let's leave it at that.

Same night, I went to see Dave, the drummer with Dave, the bassist. Confused again? Mare Wakefield band was in town for a show. I know Dave, the band’s drummer, so I met Dave, the bassist of NERO at the bar to give out my support to Dave, the drummer. The last time when I saw him perform, he was playing with Love, Death and Agriculture in 2002?

Autoline is here. What should we do? DAFing has been going well. I like the process, now the problem is to make it better with no money for limitation improvement. Individual DAF Level Control Please! On a similar note, I was informed that my interns won’t be coming back in the winter and next summer because the funding of my proposed projects did not get approved. It was a pity and I was having a tough time to break the news to them.

Emily is coming home… She is a lucky doggy, traveling to Sequim, BC, Alberta. She even made it to Fort McMurray! Can you believe that? What’s next, HK? She probably will go to Calgary next Spring as my cousin is getting married. Coffee, where are you? Man I am confused! Can you come home now?

Speaking of the Maple leaf land, Michael is doing well, he is taking classes in welding and fabrication, maybe he can be a ME? And he is looking at buying his first home. He was visiting Nick, Lawrence and Ngai with my mom. Happy Thanksgiving to them! They also get to call grandma and wish her a great birthday. I thought that was awesome! Eric and I did the same! Pretty impressive.

Speaking of work, Prince Albert & Cosmopolis came to mind. They are facing difficult mill closures and I wish them well. Fred was my opportunity; Tram was my mentor at North Bend and good luck to Bob.

Medium ran well and we are still waiting for the feedback from the corrugators… Meanwhile… I am THE ONE, THE ONLY DAF person, the land/process of no man.

Time to take a deep breathe! Things can get stinky!

After an aggressive and vigorous preparation for the highly anticipated medium run, the medium was a successful qualified run. Since I got back from my trip to China, I have been working day and night to get the medium work done. After getting multiple planning meetings and crew meetings into the wee hours, the work is over and I have many binders and paper to show for it. The experience was a great one, not to mention, I got to work with my fave scientist again. Dwight. He is one smart man and I have learned things from him every time I talked to him. He gave me a copy of a computer model that can predict strength in STFI and Concora, geometric mean based on machine jet to wire: rushing or dragging. Ok, a pat on the shoulder to Horace and myself and PM3 folks, as well. We all worked hard together.

OK now, what’s next? Fiberline ops class is coming up. I definitely want to take that class on Friday to expand my horizons in the land of the cooking vessel.

Horace left for the corrugators last Friday and today, so I was liked the Lamby person.
Hambybond has been re-named to Lambybond. The medium run wasn’t too bad. Now with the completion of the medium run, ha-ha, no breather for me, I will dive right into DAF and white top and maybe some Autoline & wet strength. I have been assigned to look after the DAF process area. D3 just experienced a costly failure and needed a new person in charge. DAF stands for Dissolved Air Floatation. It’s cool if you can imagine that waste treatment facility use that principle all the time. But I am not scooping poop, I am doing fiber! LOL!

On the side note, I decided to do something with my social life, starting in early October, let see what will come out of it.

Coffee is still on my wish list, but I haven’t been able to make my way up to the Peninsula for obvious reason. I am swamped with work; never ending work. That’s terrible, and I need a new life.

Andy Lau is going to be in Vegas on x’mas eve, I want to go to that. But then, my budget for a piano or ski trips will be over…… decision!

Happy B to Mike & Grandma!

Happy B to Mike & Grandma!

Cousins from summer trip to hk & mainland!

Mike, Ngai, Lawrence, Lois, Boringfish, Vincent

Pinki got hitched!

My friend, Pinki got married this past weekend... Wish her and Devon a happy life together!

HK Street scene

Happy Birthday to Dave!

Coffee was spotted at Pt. Townsend!

Coffee has been spotted again... I will be heading to the Penisula.

Work week 32 was hectic, especially when I am on call for week 33 and Horace is on vacation.

I worked hard cleaning up the house mess on Saturday afternoon to get ready for the night of Majhong party. It was a lot of fun. We had Mahjong, Karaoke, X-box. I was glad that Colleen, Austina, Gang and Adam could come.

Hopefully, the electrical upgrade can be completed this week. Tree Trimming and plumbing will be next.

Emily is a Benton doggie now.. she just got her license.

White top run is coming, get ready to be dizzy!

Next week, I will be seeing 3 cousins from the North of the border, the Maple-leaf land. Can't wait to chill with Ngai, Lawrence & Michael.

It was nice to hear from Richard. Go Annette! (to Russia)

Continued Coffee Rescue

We are still hoping that Coffee will turn up some time before winter - he has been missing for almost seven weeks. We have tried hard to find him, and he still refuses to show his face. I miss him dearly, and hope that he will turn up safe and sound and make his way back to us. I worry that he is too cute - someone may have decided to keep him.

On the other hand, I threw myself into cleaning up the house (bit by bit), and progress is slow and steady. I am not wearing myself out, so I can keep up the constant progress. I am still working on taxes (my extension is almost over!).

There were a few episodes with my roommates, but in general we are getting along well, and learning to live with each others' odd habits. We had a mah jong party/dinner finally in July, which was a good way to make the house more of a home. That party was also a goodbye party for Angela, who has moved back to Taiwan to pursue her PhD in Computer Enigneering. I did not know her very well, but I am happy that I did get to know her for the limited time she was here.

2005 definitely has been quite a year - my beloved Grandpa passed away on Saturday morning (HK time). It has been difficult to accept that he is really gone, but I am beginning to learn how to cope with it. At least I did get to visit him not that long ago, and I spoke to him even on my last day in HK. He will be missed very much. Meanwhile, I guess I will be heading to the far east to pay my respects and love to him.

That is it for now - thanks for taking the time to visit me!

Robbie and the gang

July Update

Since I last wrote in the blog, life has been busy.

For starters, I played in the 3rd annual Golf tournament, where this year I managed to win a prize - for highest score. I received $25 as consolation for my more-than-average performance. I was inspired to purchase a set of clubs to prepare for next year - in hopes of Wie-like prowess (just kidding). I do hope to take some lessons this summer, though.

The other major news has been the search for Coffee. My beloved doggie has gone missing - somewhere in the olympic peninsula he is searching for his humans. We have been to search for him, and have tried a lot of publicity, but so far we have not located our favorite pup. I became devoted to the search, and purchased a tent and flashlight for camping out in the woods in hope of attracting Coffee - however, no luck finding the doggie so far.

In other developments, I now have 2 years of injury-free work, and received my "no injury" safety sticker for my helmet - it will be proudly displayed.

4th of july was ok, and the house upgrade has been a headache - we are still working on getting the first big project finished. I also have been entertaining 3 summer student at works - and have been told what "I played a vital role and resource to them" I am. I am only a junior mentor, but I have made an effort to be very helpful.

While searching for Coffee, I did spend time on the Olympic peninsula - appreciating my mom's new home-to-be in her retirement. I can see that she will have much to enjoy there.

I also just went to my first Country Fair - I loved it - it was a different and interesting experience, and I would like to go back again in my little tie-dye dress. It is a good place to be a hippie child.

Oregon has been blessed with a lot of sunshine lately - we tied the record yesterday at 100 degrees F. On that note, I am going to open a window for some fresh air and call it a night.

The Price of Climbing up the Corporate Ladder

Hello everyone, again. I am back on the blogging circle. Since my last entry my life has been about two things: work, and more work (okay, elecrtical on the house, too). In my professional development it is all about how to multitask when there is only one of you and you are supposed to handle more than 7 projects at all times, not to mention unexpected upset conditions and specific grade runs on the machine that pull you away from what your are supposed to be doing each day. Don't get me wrong, work is still very satisfying mentally, but physically it has been a strain on my body. I got sick with a prolonged cold compounded by allergies, and was told that I had a severe upper respiratory infection. A few bottles of cough syrup later I still feel like a plague victim. I still have a stuffy nose and hurting throat all the time.

The latest challenge at work aside from multitasking is being multitalented - I am learning to accept that I am Horace's sidekick on all fronts. I get comments from superintendent that say we are a good team, and I guess we are. A lot of times, if Horace cannot perform the task (due to time constraints), I am here to pick up the slack (we are a team, and he does the same for me). The summer season is here, and I am working with an intern - kind of like a junior mentor. I think this will be cool, and an opportunity to be the mentor that I wish I had. It seems like the Kappa analyzer has gone full circle - probably it will be back to me again. I cannot seem to get away from Metso. It's funny how that works.

The farmhouse continues to be the biggest headache I have - I moved in on memorial day weekend, finding roommates has been a horrible experience, and very frustrating. I finally realize what a good tenant I have been. Okay, I am getting tired - I will post more tomorrow. Good night!

Bay city, CA

Nice view of the bay from the 22nd floor of the hotel room.

Renee from the South

Catfish, prawns & Hush Puppies... I made Horace proud!

LA

AR

OK

Big W ppl

Memphis' Beale Street

Where was I?

Ok, finally I am back to my blogging schedule... sorry folks, life has been about the T, traveling. Let pick up where I was before.... oh hey the South.

Anyway, the trip to LA, OK, AR and TX were great, it opened doors for me BUT I am not moving to LA. I will stay in Oregon in my fixer-upper. I am moving into the mansion this weekend.

Work week 20 was disastrous. The appetizer was the unexpected total mill power outage that has pushed my Monday into a 17 hours work day. Main course: the twice delayed but highly anticipated White top run with 4 set of trials planned, 4 sets of trials request, 5 group of interested visitors strolling in (SP, Wilsonville, chemists, paper makers and WY-WTC) and multiple operation and quality constraints. The side dish was: Friday when it was all about the fixer upper, mom visit and white top filler trial. Last but not least, the dessert: working on Saturday with unusually high pond level and water consumption condition. Sure look at me.

After packing my bags into the twilight hours, I got on the road to the quest of the Elvis’s land.

Memphis, Tennessee is the house of the blues. Horace explained that people are in misery and feeling blues at Memphis. Anyway the week was uneventfully in the entertainment prospective, but definitely an eye opener and mind blower for my intellectual capacities. I highly recommend ppl to go to that machine optimization seminar.

San Francisco is always a treat to go to. It was a stressful start but I had a good time eating and shopping. The view from the hotel was amazing, overlooking the bay. I even went to a service Sunday morning.

Here I am back to work with a Monday filled with BASF work, PM#3 production episode and refiners plate change out. Adios! Can't wait till June for b-day, July for wedding events....

PS.. Dave has a farmer tan and Wing is going to San Francisco!

Back from Dixie

I was cruising along south dixie in my prius hybrid, enjoying the trees and the fancy car, making my way deep into the heart of Dixie. I had a chance to try out some southern specialities, including catfish and hush puppies, which were not terribly impressive, but made my mentor proud and made for some good conversation at work.

The drive from Dallas to Campti was not too bad, and I made good time (though I could not keep up with the crazy drivers in Dallas), so I had a chance to explore the area. There is not much to keep a person busy around Natchitoches, although I can see how it could be an attractive place for a southern raised family to settle down. Quiet, peaceful, and definitely out of the way. Finding decent chinese food, however, was basically impossible.

After Campti, I made my way via Shreveport and Arkansas, back through Texas, and into Oklahoma. It was hot, and fairly uncomfortable, and there was still no sign of good chinese food. Valliant is an enormous mill, with quite a culture, and they are very proud of their operation. They did not seem very enthusiastic about Louisiana, and discouraged a culturally sophisticated person like me from making a home there. They mostly said they would rather come home with me.

After acquainting myself with the operation in Valliant, I made my way back to Dallas for one last day of entertainment and eating. It was another long drive to get there, but I still had some time to go out on the town.

After making the most of Dallas, it was time to head for the airport, so I packed up the Prius and headed out on the crazy Texas freeway. Just four miles from the airport, I experienced one more little piece of excitement - the Prius turned out to be more than just a fun car. It became a car that kept me safe in a dangerous situation. Driving down the road, cruising along with all the crazies, I saw something fall off the undercarriage of the car in front of me. I had no time to avoid it, so I ended up running straight into the muffler that had plopped onto the road in front of me. It took out the tire of the Prius, and left me stranded on the freeway with a flat, all by myself. Thankfully, my cel phone had enough charge for one call to the rental folks, who promptly came to rescue me. They were there in less than 15 minutes, and had me on my way to the airport right away.

Since Friday I have been learning to utilize my negotiation skills, and at this point I feel happy with the rewards and experience that the trip provided. It was a valuable learning experience for me, and also gave me some more tools to help open doors for my future.

Red river here I come!

Hi you all!

I will be traveling to the south in a week of time. 4 states in 7 days. Cowboys here I come!

TMO diary! & The Grunt of the Year!

TMO was a great learning opportunity! On the first day I was panicking about fellows from Metso and looking forward to meet the Steiner group. Anyway, there were a lot of foot shuttling between AFL and PMs throughout the day between the analyzers. After lockout chaos, PM update meeting, samplers’ un- attachment chaos in the afternoon, I was in my jumpsuit and harness, getting ready to dive into the chip rocket, being dripped and covered with black liquor. Quite an adventure. More great news coming my way as the Finnish Metso specialist cured the tumor that has been hurting Cati for months. It was all about the defected circuit board. On the other hand, Kappa has 3 error messages, erratic reading and a contaminated level sensor.
I gotta talk to Margaret too. She is from corporate. (Saw SU from SP and had dinner with him).

Confusion and panicking continued on the second day of TMO as Metso work continued. Teflon tape and light issues were causing some bums. By 2, I almost had a nervous breakdown since my vendor has a tendency to play hide and seek with me. He was nowhere in sight. After attending update meetings of PMs and AFL, I chased him down and got an update. More panicking set in as I was finding out how I was failing my project. He was running out of time and out of parts and I felt I was being cheated out of my service contract (rebuilt 2 samplers and analyzers). I wanted the job done. I learned a lot about the rocket though, esp. the lower screens and I got to visit with some of my fave AFL operators. So after all, the day was another A+. After work, I visited the carriage house.

Third day, I changed my battlefield from AFL to PMs. The very hectic day took my mind off of some VERY unpleasant family time. Meanwhile, I was hoping that Kappa would be fully serviced. I did not get the actuator for Kappa. I guess I will wait. My day was all about headboxes and graphite sheets. Horace and I were checking out all the cool blisters on the sheets, but blisters are not really desirably cool. I also got to learn a lot about apron and slice lips from the Steiner group. They even enjoyed my oriental style chili with the Mexican twist for lunch. Also, my Barbie outfit was well received. Those were the jokes of the day. At the end of the day. I was told that I will be going to Memphis TN for a week in May. HEE_HAW. Oh.. Oh Oh … and my new name of the day is GRUNT or the assistant of another assistant!

Fourth day, I spent time in trip-planning (TN and CA), PMs and recovery. In the morning, I was at PMs, doing blister counting. (Scott stopped by to talk to me about red river, a mystery will be revealed shortly.) In the afternoon, I was able to climb inside the fire box, the 7th and the 12th deck of the recovery boiler, not to forget about the lime kiln. That was pretty awesome. (I had dinner with SU again. It was a lot of fun.)

The fifth day was all about harmony and good news (NC called back). Everyone is ready to go home and be happy. “This is a friendly mill.” Quote SU. Horace liked that. What SU should have said but didn’t is: “I like to work with you all, fine ppl”. Bright and early, I was hanging with SU in the lime kiln. It was awesome to be inside one of those, checking out the bricks, lime mud and the chains. Then he came and visited at 10:15 AM. (oops he had a little run-in with the lab ppl, I hope it was just a misunderstanding) Then I had lunch with SU, Horace and a bunch of maint folks. I even got him to hang out with me till 1. In the afternoon, it was all about start up and just trying to survive.

The weekend is around the corner and let see what kind of torments are waiting of me.
I am physically exhausted and emotionally strained. White top (brightener, white fiber), Metso, PI are all coming my way, and Oh I forgot ‘the fixer-upper” . When will I be on a sandy beach?

TMO Saga!

The first day of TMO was awesome!.......

I was in a harness and in a the chip rocket... IT WAS SO COOL!

A nightmare!

Friday night and Saturday were the worst time I can have in the past year or so.
I was heart broken and now I lost faith and trust in certain individual. It is sad that how people transformed into a wicked domain.

For me, life goes on...... I learn that other's stupidity should not cause me pain, because they ain't deserve my attention and love.

A house ownership is on the way!

Nerve-wracking... I am very nervous, anxious and excited.

Another week in progress!

Another week closer to the TMO!

Work week 14 was alright. Busy as usual, especially when TMO is approaching. Hanging out with Richard last Monday night was great, he is a good friend; I always enjoyed his company, too bad that I was too tired for some chess.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I visited with A.

Wednesday after work was OSU recruiting night. It was somewhat weird to run into past professors. My orbit-liked drink is still sitting on Skip’s shelf. Hackleman still has the funky hairdo.

I spent Thursday night with tech dept. It was a dinner get together for Zane. I drank some Riesling; tried some dirty Martini for the first time. it smelled like disinfectant and tasted liked very nasty alcohol.

April's fool day! Friday evening, I went to dinner with Kamichia and A. It was fun except I was disturbed by A a little and hoping the weekend would get better. (I guess it was a little better, what can I say? I was hoping for too much.) I ended up not visiting with Laura while I was in Portland. The weather was nice, no rains, and we went to the Portland Chinese Garden. It was “mamatei” to hang out with A. He was feeling bored and uneventful. On the upside, I got to know the person a lot better.

Sunday was about my day and my space. I get to relaxed and be lazy. It was very comforting to attend mass Sunday evening. I miss going to that for the past month.

Week 15 starting with a stressful vibe so far. I was very irritated by certain someone; dang it, talk when I can and don’t play stupid with me.
Anyway, today is A's Birthday. Wonder if he cares to have dinner with me sometime this week. I haven't seen him for awhile... a few months now...not even in church.

Wing's insight was right on about such and such. Know what I meant?
Let see if I can get off work at a reasonable hour and do some volunteering tonight?

Just some random thoughts!

Things that I want to do this year:

1. Get hitch.
2. Move to the tropical island with 'sandy' beaches.

Just plain being insane.
'you are the life-saver'- Eric H. and all I did is having dental floss on my desk.

Sleep deprivation!

Friday night was super fun, chilling with my homies: Wing and Dave. We went out for dinner and killed somtimes in a mall. I did not drink at all, so I wondered how and why I turned into a sleeping beautyfor the next 48 hours afterwards! Wing and I were glad that Dave was having a good time with us since he was experiencing a family loss.

The weekend was all about recovering from the sleep deprivation I had during the work week 13. I basically did the following from Friday night on: sleeping, eating, sleeping, showering, TV, sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating, TVs, eating, TVs, sleeping, showering and then going to work… its Monday! I wonder how one could sleep so much. MacD breakfasts and easter breakfast were some of the eating. Motor cycle dairies and Makeover home edition were some of the TVs. WY was showcased in the show.

Highlight of the day at work: I am running the show in the Monday chemical meeting. It felt great. I liked the dialogue that we were having and it was a productive meeting.

Tonight, I probably will see Richard and he could tell me all about his spring break in Florida. Beaches and the sunny weather.
Ciao!

Sad News!

Dave's greatgrandma passed away last night in Cali. It's so sad.
She was a very cute lady.

Wild week at W mill.

This week has been crazy, it has been filled with fun and 'friendly' actions in our paper mill.

Turning in my R & D statement on time was great. A few folks at work are still working on that. They are pretty stressed out right now. My counterpart was upset about the extra work. oops. He got emails to remind him. But he didn't open them.

Yesterday, a broke pusher accidently fell into the dry end pulper, it added a lot of excitement to my morning. It became a quiz for me on how to handle such an event if I am all alone. Safety first! I got visitors, too. Metso service folks stopped by again for more work on the analyzers [get the analyzers, ABB and PI talk to each other] oh and Cati. In the afternoon, more emveco on white top and we got to meet with Nalco folks and it was great learning about felt wash. Quote Horace "no guts no glory" in applying caustic in the application.

Quite another paper mill day for me, first thing in the morning, I was informed with the news that white top run was cancelled for next week and will be postponed till late April. I will have more time to prep for that, maybe additional chemical for brightness: FDA-approved optical brightner??????? More Metso, Nalco and BASF folks in. I got to sit in a meeting about PSA and billing with Metso managers in the morning, also gotta push thru the PO for April TMO in the pulp mill. New CO2 system is being tested at the moment.

The mill got a more than one noise complaint last night about some alarm noise; funny thing was some lady decided to take the matter into her own hands. Nightshift forman found her trespassing onto the mill site and standing looking at the alarm/tank/building. That was extremely nutty. Not sure what she planned to do about the alarm...? Maybe stuff a sock in it? Or give it a swift kick? Some people seem unsatisfied with a phone call (or seven).

WW solids, polymer system, felt wash system are the highlight of the day!

Blue Sky is not so good - call me picky all you want but I would rather eat at Fung's. Just me. I am not impressed with my meal tonight. Food, ambience, companion... not working for me. Oh well. Blossom is good. Buzz

What the heck is a staph infection? Glad I'm not the lucky one!

A paper mill day!

There were quite a few excitment in the last couple days. During the weekend a vacuum truck rolled into the settling pond - someone forgot the e-brake, and a simple pond clean-up became a salvage operation. Big fancy crane.... to rescue wheels flying in the mid-air.. "who wants to swim in the settling pond?".

Monday there was an emergency shut on #3 - burned felt and drives issues over the weekend. Nalco folks were here for some special audit. They will be around for a few days. Today we had PM#2 scheduled for shut down. Metso paper folk were here for the headbox. The shut went well - I devoted my whole morning to a PM3 amico chase. I won't share too many details, as it was not pleasant to the machine and personnel. I had visitors today from Springfield. 'Genius' Dave and Scott 'Junior' were here for TMO prep. I got to visit with them and four of us went to lunch (& Wayne). During lunch we realized that only one person at the table was married. With 31 years of experience, Dave helped explain to us the wonders of married life. He also let me in on a little known secret - it is not a good idea for woman to get married in Arkansas. They do things a little different. Dave also explained the 'point' system - you could learn a lot guys! I found out that one of our foremen is battling cancer. Good luck! God bless him, and he was still working hard today!

My afternoon was about follow-up items: Learning, sharing, updating (all about 90#), white-top prepping, white water solid consistency in ABB and PI. Tomorrow will be busy, since I am now falling behind on my regular duties after all the excitement. This evening was good - I had dumplings with Wing (they were so yummy!) and got a chance to watch 2 episodes of cruelty ding - an HK version of Idol. I also got to scream my lungs out for half an hour while singing along to Andy. That was my big day today. Now it is time for bed...

No spring break for me!

Spring break is for kids.... no days off for me!

What is TMO?
Total Mill Outage.

Another awesome week

Last week ended with a good note. A great safe work well done on the installation and the start up freeness analyzers. They were the bomb!
A quote from Dave H. "Keep an eye on Horace. I’m concerned the machine will need to go through “drug rehab” if he gets his way with the chemistry." That was awesomely funny and classic.

I got to talk to grandma a lot in the last few days. I got updated of all the family gossip. A cousin of mine is getting married in June. That would be pretty cool if she is coming over for the wedding. Another cousin of mine is graduating college in April. He should be coming thru the Pacific NW for a road trip. Can't wait to hang out with him. Hope he gets the job with WY.

The weekend was all about the queen. Mom's birthday celebration. The morning was fine at RMH, the house was busy at time. There were quite a few premies. As usual in weekend, I pigged out on food. Along with that, I was being a impulsive shopper. I bought shoes. Dave was in town to join part of the festivities. That was great.

Spending time with A was alright. We were being home bodies and chilled at home. Mr. Bill was purring.....I am afraid of Coors light though.

This week is gonna be another fun one. Everyone is loaded with work up till TMO and even many more after that. I will be focusing on trial report: WS, DS, Clay and specialty grade paper. I will be doing some lab work as well, gotta have my white lab coat ready. After that, white top trial next monday! BRIGHTNESS and COBB! Oh yeah. It is a long term study. And it will never end till we beat the competitors. I guess that's good for me.... never ending work, job security.. you think.

As I was typing this, I was on the phone with my bud, Fiona. Here is her quote:
"I have finished croping my head out of the pic for you"

Freeness analyzer is very cool!

Metso folks are in town for the start up of 2 freeness analyzers. They are VERY cool instruments for pulp quality analyses.

Pretty hectic and stressful week up to date. I am loaded with work......
TMO is coming in 3 weeks.... it will be very interesting, busy and long days..

Love....

Say Cheeze.

The mystery was solved on Sunday in a park in the Willamette Valley. Hsha, very hidden messages here. Anyway, I had a fabulous weekend and As usual, I am recharged.

Odor complaint was interesting on Sunday. It came from a neighbor, sounds familiar?

Work week has been slow...surprisingly. I was expecting otherwise. Anyway, I think the workload will pick up later this week eventually, Metso are in town. There will be lot to do.

Sunny day!

Another meaningful Friday night of volunteering with my special friend.
I feel that something is in the making between us but still very uncertain.

After that, I got to hang out with Wing and watched some funny and cruel TV game show. It was called "The cruelty ding". It was hilarious. It ws liked the HK version of American Idol. The kids from the show are very talented.

I will be spending my morning at work... then... maybe then off to the park... who knows? Too many possibilities.

What a day!

NO condensation class today, I will do that training some other time. I was on the trail of EMS and ABB/Polar angle. IT was a super hot one!It was all about TSO action plan and PI profile, it was so grilling that I am having a hugh headache right now...I did not work on any trial reports of last week....hmm...
On call weekend for me! yeah meaning my Friday should be pretty busy.

The evening was fun. Thanks, A. You were making my Wednesday, a better day.
Thank you, styrofoam tuna.

Tony, you will be missed....

The weather this week in Oregon is super nice...so sunny.........

Sad news from work, Tony S. passed away last night.
He was a super nice guy, always smiling and being cheerful.
He will be missed dearly from everyone......

Wow, it's been awhile. Work, Food, Fun and more...

Wow, it's been awhile since I last blogged. Here are the updates of my life from the last two weeks...You may need to take a nap after reading this.

Playing Chess with Sir Richard was mind-boggling.... it was a lot of fun though!
I am still feeling fortunate that A ran into me on Tuesday..what a coincidence!

Work week 9 was all about white top report and polar angle. It was a very productive week.
I was really embarassed to be so late to my lunch date.... pretty sad.

Jim's funeral on the 26th was very sad. He was a very nice guy and I remember that he made a flower balloon on my birthday. Best wishes to Sherry. For the rest of the weekend, I was staying indoor with a lawn chair. Laura came over and we watched Infernal Affairs II. It was a pretty good movie, very suspenseful!

Emily graduated {with honors (i said so)}! *grin* She did a great job, meanwhile Coffee was very obnoxious in petco. He had issues, you know what I mean? The awesome duo portrait will be posted soon!

Week 10 at work was hectic and rewarding. TRIALs dominated my work life. Chemical additives trials came along with white top and superboard grades. The trips to the principle and vice-principle offices made the week even more memorable! Luckily, I delivered and was praised. NCNC and PRC: when can I go?

Chilling at Soup Kitchen during the week was time well-spent. A even came with me, which I really appreciated! It has been a fun week for work and personal growth.

Then the weekend came and it was even better. It was filled with all the unexpected. RMH was a breeze. Traffic flow at the house was heavy. My special guests showed up and we had a blast. Hot pot, mahjong, congee, carrot cake, bowling at 7:30 AM, dimsum, sushi, nap time, more hot pot, mapo tofu, french toast with ham and cheese... you name it, we did/had it.

Week 11 at work: Trials aftermath, and I will have a condensation water-hammer class on thursday....and next week, start up of the freeness analyzer. I...can't... wait...

Did you actually read the entire post, or did you just skip to the end to look for the good stuff? FYI, check paragraphs 5 and 8 for the juiciest details. Thanks for your dedication in learning all about the boringfish.

Hitch

Saw Hitch last night. It wasn't really good, and it wasn't really bad. Not worth $5.75, and very predictable... the formula is so old, it seems to need life support to survive this film. Not recommended, unless you are a real Wil fan, and you are advised to wait for the DVD. Cheezy, though not to the point of being disgusting, and predictable.

Work was okay this morning.. having network and MSAccess problems! SPOC is not helpful. Thanks Jim for help with my morning report and pi report today - could not have done it without you today.

I had some bad news about Grandpa to share - the hospital seems so fond of him, they would like to keep him. I am worried he will be badly neglected in the public hospital, given his old age. I am tempted to take a leave of absence from work to tend to him at Ruttonjee Hospital(geriatric care)

Coffee is itching!

Coffee (my adorable rott/aussie mix) but is itching, has been at the vet all day going thru pain and suffering.....I am not kidding! Poor guy was at the doc all day! Someone in the lab would look into his poop, very interesting!
Meanwhile, he will be put on medication for parasite.


My grandpa is in the hospital as well..... so far, I don't have much information to share except he is having high fever again, my guess is infection.

Jenny is a Cutie

I met Jenny the black lab today. She is adorable and playful, but poor girl - she had to sit in the truck for eleven hours today. Very sad. At least the owner took a few breaks from class to play with her and let her run around.. so she would not be too lonely. I met another junior engineer today. He is really cool. He was into ChE, metallurgy, and glass blowing, AND he is a Beaver. He knows "genius Dave", too! I got off work late, and I did not make it to my Wednesday night dinner. It has been a few weeks since I last attended. Maybe next wednesday?

I am still dealing with the mess JC is leaving me... boy am I mad at him.. he is such a scam.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi

Treat others as you would like to be treated.

This is part of my mission statement.

Seven Habits

Seven habits is a cool class.

Paper machine meeting is interesting. Can't say much here yet. New technology... lots of $ ... Have to do chores tonight and finish up some leftovers. Ain't I having an exciting life?

Valentine's Day Sucks

I hate this holiday. It is not because I am miserably single and alone at this moment. Why do guys have to go out of their way on this one day, and look on it as if they will be in trouble if they fail to perform. Every day should be like valentine's day.

Food, Fun, and more Food

Friday night I had two gigantic classic margaritas, and I was buzzed. The shrimp monterey was yummy - big , bacon wrapped and shrimpy.. it was a good night out with the finest people from Albany. Saturday I restrained my eating schedule, laying in my couch potato position. I was saving my appetite for the banquet at 5pm.. strangely some people arrived as late as 7! Sunday I woke up at 6:30 AM and went bowling at 7 AM. No I am not crazy (I am insane - see first post). Then the rest of the day I was good. I was cooking with mommy for four hours to cook one dish - kind of like Iron Chef in slow motion. Got my hands dirty cleaning the house sunday night, and had chinese food for dinner. New Years lasted all weeked - and my tummy was full to prove it. I missed mass on sunday night. Looking forward to another work week with 7 habits. That's all folks...

Chinese new year

It's been a week since I last blogged. Let's see.

After my stomach episode, I have been slowing down on my FOOD consumption, NOT.
With the celebration of the rooster year, I have been feasting liked there is no tomorrow. Oh boy, oh boy!

RMH was fine, 3 families checked out that day. I am glad that they could go homes with good news. TRI-lingual skills came in handy. I wish. I showed off my Spanish oral skill and that was pathetic.

Playing mahjong on last saturday night was a blast. Thanks Devon, Pinki and Jon for those yummy hamburgers. Bacons rock! Thanks my mom to have the most awesome M table in the world!

What's the big deal about Superbowl? I do want to confess that I watched the half time show with Sir Paul on Richard's Tivo 5 days after.

Someone was hurt at work over the weekend. 7 stitches on the head, OUCH!!

HD6 consistency was the highlight of the week, not to forget the black liquor solids analyzer and QIS lablink, processlink....I know I know, When will I do something else? As Horace put it this way: It's very important that we get this right, even though we did not plan to spend so much time on these!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chinese new year, I talked to grandma multiple times. I am the champion and first runner up for the "who call grandma? contest! I represent!

What the heck am I doing at work on Friday at 5:15 PM? oh I forgot, I am so behind at work! White top is gonna burned me alive with clay ! (yes I am over dramatic)
Ok it's Friday. Chao!

Diarrhea is Fun

Today was a good day to poop. In my case, a lot of poop. Thin, runny, wet and sloppy poop. What an entertaining event! Next time I am tempted to get Indian food, I may think twice. Curry has certain strange properties when combined with the human digestive tract. Of course, when you are sick already, the effect is simply amazing. I don't think the toilet will ever be the same. My apologies to anyone who may have been offended by my description.. but I want you to appreciate the gravity of the situation. Splash!

Million Dollar Baby!

The weekend was ending too soon. I wish I am on vacation in some tropical island.
RMHC is great! Million Dollar Baby was a great movie, and I recommend that you should see it - it made me cry. Clint, HIllary, and Morgan all deserve oscars to take home. I did not get to do as much as on my usual weekend. For dinner, I had camarones mojo de ajo. Yum.

Sitting in the park on a sunny day is a very nice thing - refreshing and peaceful.

Fiona, where is your new picture? Why do people get depressed? Why can't they just appreciate the fact that they are healthy and living in a not so oppresive country? Life is not so bad! But, don't feed potatoes to dogs, or one might wake up in the middle of the night to puke on your bed for you. Depression is a bitch!

Volunteering at RMHC helped me to realize that a lot of what people worry about every day is just a waste of time. Every day is precious, and we must be thankful for the time we have to share together. It is irreplaceable.

I did not make it to my spiritual moment this evening - missed mass. Meanwhile, I had better get ready for another exciting week in the pulp & paper industry. Let's run some export! and prepare to be the junior member of the staff. New Year is coming - maybe I should aim to be in a better mood for the rest of the week. A new excuse for shopping? Maybe some red clothes? red red red...

I miss the "even better than the real thing"...

It's the end of the week!

Janet is coming to town! Yeah!

The machine shut went well yesterday and everyone responded to the roll failure with safety first.

I am getting ready for another great weekend!

My thoughts and prayers to Gloria.

Horace shared his secret to longevity in the paper industry - run like hell when you need to!

ENP tandem felt wormed leadout roll Shake Rattle and Roll

Weather in Oregon was good. It was like springtime at work. I was looking forward to my first paper machine meeting, but then BAM!, a loud noise while I was in PM3 control room: and there were rolls in the press section vibrating violently. Then followed the emergency shut in PM3. As I went to the platform to survey the damage, there was the ENP tandem felt wormed leadout roll fractured right in half. The top felt, the tandem felt and the ENP blanket were replaced as well . What a day! Luckily no one was hurt from the fiasco. I continued to devote my day in testing and tweaking the consistency meter. The progress has been encouraging. I will continue to work on that tomorrow... Meanwhile I am behind on my whitetop clay trial work.

Michael found a posting of a job on Moster with WereHowzer. I hope he will apply and move to Beavertown.

Gotta head home now and catch up on my booty sleep. Hasta la vista loca.

HD6 saga!

It's all about HD6 consistency! My vendor took me to get fishy. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day with HD6.

Tofu Day!

Work is all about white top/pulp brightness. HD6 is tripping and giving everybody headaches. "Robert Payne is in a lot of pain... " Quote Karen & Bruce (broke his knuckles and hand today) boringfish is learning more -
Oregon Mutual sucks... Tofu was yummy today... not much else.. Harold and Kuma go to White Castle rocks. Please check out my html progress, "that would be great" oh, and I had a kick ass weekend: sushi, bullseye, garden state movie on the town, hefeweizen and hickies (not, I wish though.. why? go figure)..... Laura and Sierra at Zells, hangin' with mom, brownies....chilling with Pinki.. and then MASS.

Welcome to my domain

This is my first entry in the boringfish blog. This website was partially created because I wanted one, and I wanted to practice my html skills. I am new to blogging, so bear with me as I get the hang of it. If I feel adventurous, I'll even post some pictures...