Gobsmacked

There are times I am open-mouthed with astonishment. Even though I consider myself a reasonably well educated person, have experience working all kinds of jobs with all kinds of people, have traveled through lots of Canada, USA, and bits of Europe, there are times I shake my head at things, and marvel that I was there to see it.

There's been a few experiences at work like that lately at the state of data in a particular database. It would take a long time to explain, and only the database geeks among you would really get it. (They know who they are, and will remain anonymous.)

Lately the sunsets have been amazing. I got another set of great shots tonight waiting for Linda to get to the car, and posted one of them on Facebook. No Snapseed, no nothing. Here it is. Pity I hadn't got there a few minutes earlier and had the wit to set up a time lapse move.

As some of you know, lately I've been struggling with fitness. No injuries, just sick for a while, and low grade nagging stuff that makes me not want to do stuff. The more I think about it, the more amazed I am that I ever got through IMC. I don't dare sign up for that sort of distance again. Right now I'm not even feeling the race love for Oly distance.

But the biggest bit of gobsmacked I get is when I think about our world just now. We have these amazing toys to play with. The iPad and iPhone and their ilk are just one example. So now, just so you all know, I now assume "I am bored" = "I am stupid". If I hear those words, that person gets dropped, and I'll try to avoid them. Stupidity is contagious, sort of like the flu or common cold. You never know when some aspect of stupidity will stealthily invade you and take over. Next thing you know you'll be going to Walmart wearing things most people wouldn't wear on Halloween for a dare.

Of the 28 words that my readers gave me, I had to look up 3 of them, and one of those was because I didn't believe it was spelled that way. Research is ongoing. Caddywhompus was one of them. But today I learned a totally new word, and interesting set of concepts.

I know that a couple of my readers will know what a salt bath heater is. For the rest of you, it's a piece of oilfield equipment, where a flame passes through a firetube. The firetube is immersed in molten salt. Also immersed in the molten salt is a coil where the process fluid picks up heat from the salt bath. They could use many heat mediums to transfer the heat, but salt is good for a bunch of reasons. I just assumed it was regular salt. The word is eutectic. The salt bath is an eutectic solution. I hadn't known that. And subcooling, just figured out some of the fine details there too. Fun!

Even though I've been in the industry for mumblty years now, I'm still learning new stuff, especially when it comes to the exact terms that things should be called, and why. I normally have tried to enforce data  consistency, even if it might not be exactly the right terms, but at least it's what the other people understand. My office roomie is a journeyman parts man, and he's a stickler to have things named correctly. Naturally the databases we've been looking at have been driving him crazy. Who knew there could be about 2 dozen different ways of saying Flare Knockout Drum? And don't get me started on compressor vessels.

Even with McLeod Trail being partially closed between Talisman and my office, I went to the pool anyways. That's the most convenient route, but there are others. I knew it would take time, so I took my time in the pool, and tried to be calm. 45 minutes swimming. 1K 19 minutes, 6x50 on 60, aiming sub 50 seconds. Some dolphin kick and lots of pull. Backstroke to cook down.

Had to laugh as I was getting in. I was arranging to swim up the rope and down the middle with the guy that was already there. He looked a bit dubious and said, "Ok, but I swim pretty quick so I might lap you." Unfortunately for him I'd seen him swimming. Frothy shite all the way. He started right behind me and I lapped him on the 5th length. Given lots of the people at Talisman are rockets in the pool, much faster than me, I can't imagine where he got the idea he was a fast swimmer.

One last bit of gobsmacked. As I was getting out of the pool, one of the snynchro teams was working on a routine. At one point a girl appeared from underwater, and it looked like she ended up being entirely out of the water to wave all her limbs in what is undoubtedly an artistic manner. Pity I wasn't wearing my glasses to properly appreciate it. Anybody that thinks these girls aren't athletes should try it.