I met an awesome girl last week.  Her name is Freda.  We met at a bar through some friends.  Hit it off right away, wasn't 30 minutes before we were smooching out back.  She is about 15 years older than me, but she is very attractive.  We went out again last night.  Went to a bar for a few drinks, back to her house to watch a movie, made out for about an hour. 

She's a really great woman, I met some of her kids.  One of them ( a girl) is in high school.  The other (a boy) is in middle school.  I can only imagine what they thought about their mom going out with a dude like me lol.

Anyways, I hope to see her again soon.

I had an allergic reaction to my flu shot today.  It was horrible.  For the second time this year, I truly thought I was going to die.  Fortunately, epinepherine, along with prescription strength anti-histamines and some other stuff helped me pull through.  Now I'm running a +1 degree temperature, and I have to drive to Knoxville, TN.  This sucks.

Getting my flu shot tomorrow.  For some reason, I am pretty concerned about the H1N1 virus.  The CDC released a report estimating 90,000 Americans will die from this virus.  For complex reasons*, most of the deaths from H1N1 have been from people 25 years old and younger.  One doctor explained the way it worked.  The virus invades cells in your lungs, reproducing itself with the cellular machinery.  As the cell explodes and spreads many more viruses out, it in essence bores holes in your lungs.  Then your own body tries to attack the virus.  Unfortunately, the immune response is more damaging than the virus.  In what is known as a Cytokine Storm, your own immune cells destroy the cells of your lungs, leading to death.

*It's hypothesized that the deaths relate to the levels of Vitamin D in the body.  Vitamin D is a very important factor in your immune system, especially in the generalized first response.  But if you have moderate levels of Vitamin D, its not enough to stop the virus from invading your body, but its enough to cause the cytokine storm that kills you.

So my brother has acquired himself a full-time position in Canada now.  He's working at the refinery in Fort McMurray.  Three weeks on, three weeks off.  Tons of money.  He wants me to come up and work there too.  I'd have to pass my Canadian certifications tests in order to go to work there.  They are desperately lacking in ultrasonics technicians.  The only allure for me would be the money. 

It will take a lot of studying and hands on practice for me to pass the certification tests.  I passed the GE Inspection School's tests, but the harder part is the hands on practical test.  I do have some extremely good literature on the subject, and my brother told me he'd pay for me to take another ultrasonics class. Might have to take him up on that offer.

Just got back from Springfield, Illinois.  Went there to take a radiation safety test.  It was pretty straight-forward, though my boss and I did find some questions that were completely wrong.  I am sure I passed though.

Heres some things to know about radiation:

-X-rays and Gamma rays do not build up in your body, but they do cause damage.

-Naturally radioactive substances emit alpha, beta particles, and gamma rays.  The alpha and beta particles (which are highly energized protons/neutrons and electrons, respectively) do cause contamination.  They can be stopped by something as thin as a paper suit though.

-You cannot see, hear, feel, or smell radiation.  If there is a major radiation exposure though, you will be able to smell the ionized air.

-Radiation workers, such as myself, wear a rate alarm, film badge, pocket dosimeter, and carry a survey meter.  These instruments are used to detect radiation and measure how much I have been exposed to.

-Standing 1 foot away from a new industrial radiographic source, it would take less than 15 minutes to get a lethal dose of radiation.

All this being said, there are extremely few deaths in the industrial radiography community.  Even though we do have some buffoons working in this field.  Federal law dictates that we work in two man teams, for both our safety and the safety of the public.

To put things in perspective.  Cars kill more Americans each year than the entire Vietnam War did (around 60,000 per year).  I didn't hear of one radiation death last year from an accident.

Been going down to a friend's lake house for the last few weekends.  This is the big weekend though, Labor Day.  My dad is being nice enough to let me take the boat with me.  He taught me how to drive it.  Believe it or not, it is very difficult to drive!  The throttle is not linear, low speed handling is horrible, the engine requires a special procedure to start, the outer-unit must be in the water at all times while the engine is on.  Almost as complicated as flying a plane.  But I managed to get the basics down.  Its a Rinker 181, just like this one media.nautibarcos.com/fotos/2009/04/rinker-rinker-181_9015_1_700.jpg  So hopefully all will go well.  Been having a blast with my friends down at the lake the last few weekends.  Cornhole, tons of fishing, drinking, great food, etc. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE57Q5L420090828

Stuff like this makes me sick.  I am sure the girl is super traumatized.  I was traumatized just from reading the article. 

Went to the lake with some friends.  Stayed in the nicest lake cabin I have ever seen.  Looked better than most houses.  Caught tons of fish.  Best time I've had all summer.

In other news, I'm still having acute dyspnea.  What that means is shortness of breath.  The smooth muscles in my lungs and sinus begin to constrict.  I can't breathe out of my nose, and it harder to breathe through my mouth.  Its a really bad problem.  One of the triggers for it is stress.  But shit, I do stressful things several times a day.  Really interfering with my job.  Anti-histamines really seem to help.  But why is my respiratory system producing histamine?  Strangely enough, if I really concentrate on something, it goes away. 

Yesterday I went to a facility in Indiana that produces pelleted turkey feed for 40 million turkeys a year.  Production rate is 8000 tons of feed per week.  My job was to inspect part of the boiler system.  Specifically, I was to go inside of a 4 foot diameter by 10 feet length tank.  The opening to this tank was oval.  It was 12 inches tall by 14 inches wide.  My partner, who is the same height as me 6'2. but 40 pounds lighter, made it in.  He did his stuff inside the tank, then came out.  Then it was my turn to go inside to do a corrosion survey.  I made it halfway in.  I couldn't get my butt inside, literally.  But fortunately I was able to take the readings I needed, stretching as far as I could.  I was also able to look around, so if need be, I could send my partner in to take any additional readings.  But it worked out.

People are evolving.  When Europeans first came to the New World, average height was 5'4.  Average height (globally) was 5'10 in the 1990s.  In the United States, it's even taller, mainly due to good nutrition.

Oh man.  Back into the belly of the beast.  My brother handed me a book today and said "I think you should take this course".  It is an adult continuing education course in the basics of welding.  Held at my old high school.  One night a week for 3 hours, for six weeks.  I have to do it.  I'm going back to high school, and at night.  Its my dream come true.

As for my courses online through Oregon State University, all I have to do is write a paper on Micropterus salmoides (the Largemouth Bass).  And there is 6 more credit hours towards my degree.