Monday was normal first day overwhelming. Filled out paperwork, she introduced me to the computer system they use, the different kinds of bottles they use for sampling, where to find cheat sheets when I forget stuff, etc. Tuesday I was already starting to get the hang of things. I read the Standard Operating Proceedures for some things and the MSDS sheets for the chemicals in the bottles. We went to Sam's and WalMart for some supplies and shelving and such. We moved things around the office so we could put up the new shelves but we didn't have a rubber mallet. Wednesday I worked on lining coolers with insulation (very messy job!) and we packed up supplies for the road trip on Thursday. I also learned more about the computer stuff.
Yesterday we took a trip to Pryor. First we stopped at a drinking water treatment facility to get some monthly samples and I met those guys. They're cool. Then I drove while M did some reports and stuff on the computer. There's lots of documentation at this company. It is owned and managed by scientists. We stopped for lunch and visited with M's DH (C) because he was in the area as well. Then we went on to the facility. It is an activated carbon plant! It was really cool. The whole place was black and sooty from the tiny carbon particles they make flying around everywhere. They make a gargantuan amount of this stuff both from coal and recyled carbon filter material. They service some pretty big name clients too. I'm willing to bet most of the people in America have consumed a product that was filtered through this carbon. It was neat and the guy we talked to was very knowledgeable and answered a lot of questions. He's been there for 20 years so he knows a lot about carbon.
So the main question on everyone's minds is: How do you make 'activated' carbon? What does that even mean? Well, I know that now! Or at least the very basic process. First it gets crushed into a fine powder and there are some chemicals that leach all the extra stuff off of the carbon atoms. Then they compress it into tiny cubes all the same size and density. Then they run it through a series of heat treatments, like a kiln or something and it makes the cubes of carbon look more like a lava rock. Full of holes. That way it is 'activated' and ready to absorb practically everything that it touches. One tablespoon of activated carbon has the same surface area as a football field. Pretty cool, huh!
Another interesting factoid. M said that the drinking water facility we visited that morning was the cleanest place we'd go, and the carbon plant was the dirtiest. Good thing they're 150 miles apart.
I got home about 7:30 last night. I was very tired. This morning I took DH to work and came back home and slept. I was still asleep when he came home at 1:00. I keep dreaming that longtime friends and family members hate me or think I am lazy or do bad things on purpose. Not sure what my subconscious is getting at there. Maybe it's getting all that stuff out of my brain for good.
So it looks like my job includes the following: going to various public and private facilities to test their drinking and/or wastewater, being friendly and shooting the breeze with the lab guys at the facilities, bringing them cookies maybe (grin), packing the water samples for transport to the lab in Texas, writing detailed notes about my escapades, responding to phone calls and emails from clients who have questions or need quotes, making sure we have proper inventory, researching stuff for M or clients, improving current practices to save money or increase efficiency, writing reports about what I did this week. Maybe other stuff that I don't know about yet too. I do have a nice long list of projects to work on to make the office better and more organized and stuff like that. I kind of wish I was salary like M so I could work on stuff as I think about it instead of only during specific work hours not to exceed 35 per week for 3 weeks in a row. Oh well, it'll get done. Just not as quickly as I'd like.
Next week is also going to be a doozy. Monday we have some samples to pick up, and Tuesday through Thursday I'll be on the road in Arkansas with the special projects guy learning stuff and getting my HAZWOPR training. Once again, more than 35 hours. We'll have to be very careful the week after so I don't go over. But hopefully things will be settled down enough that it won't be too bad.
So needless to say, I haven't done much at home this week. I did get the shelves painted and the carpet stapled on them. I also plotted out where the shelves will go on the wall. Yesterday morning I put most of the plants outside to get some real sunshine and I need to bring them back in because its supposed to get cold tonight.
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| My daffodils on 3/1/12 |
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| The houseplants enjoying a warm morning |
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