Living with MCL

I had to go into work today (I normally have Wednesday’s off) to cover for our sales manager, who had two customers visiting at the same time. I had to entertain one of the customers who wanted to watch some parts being forged, and expose a summer intern to exactly what is involved in the manufacturing of the products they produce.

For those unfamiliar with what I do, I work for a small aerospace manufacturing firm which produces forgings used primarily in jet engines and for aircraft structural parts. We manufacture the parts using large hammers, which for lack of a better description, think of as a process similar to a blacksmith making horse shoes. We just do it on a much grander scale, with our largest hammer rated at 50,000 pounds.

It’s dirty, noisy, and it is a lot of hard work for the guys who do the actual production of the parts. Fortunately I only have to tell them what temperatures they have to heat the material to, in order to obtain the desired mechanical properties, which I do from a relatively clean and quiet office.

But for some reason today, as I was escorting our customer through the plant, it really seemed to hit home just how hard those guy work, and the environment they have to endure, 10 hours a day, 4 and sometimes 5 days a week. I’m not sure I could have survived very long doing what they do.

Fortunately I don’t have to do that, and I sense most people reading this post don’t either. But there are many in society who do, and I think it is important that we don’t lose sight of just how much every American has and still contributes to the well being of society.

I was going to say a lot more on this subject, and even started a little political rant, but I decided against that, and instead just wanted to thank all those who do the physically demanding, nasty and dirty work which has made my life and everyone elses a lot easier and enjoyable.

Thank you!

Last Saturday was a beautiful day. I woke up at my usual time, around 6 AM, it was 67F (20C for you foreigners), and beautifully clear. It was going to be a great day, or so I thought.

The old gang decided to get together again for a bike ride. It had been a long time since we had all ridden together. Only Garry, Amy and I had been riding consistently, while Naomi and Jim pretty much stopped riding, and Rene, who is in the best shape of all of us, only teaches spinning classes. He’s single, and loves the attention of all the women.

Anywaze, we went down the coast about 20 miles into Newport Beach, then turned around and stopped for coffee and donuts at the coffee shop in Seal Beach. It just started out being a perfect day, and from the perspective of most people in the world it probably was just that, a perfect day, except……………

Living on the coast in southern California (SoCal), you get used to the early morning fog (we call it the marine layer) and the cooler temperatures it brings. It’s usually the heaviest in June, and we even give it a name, “June Gloom”. But the sun usually shines through some time in the day, and it warms up into the 70′s. What’s so funny is, I used to think I didn’t like that, but now I’m not so sure.

That same afternoon I went to hit some golf balls at the driving range, intending to maybe even play 9 holes or so. But when I got there, it was so freaking hot and humid, I could barely grip the club with all the sweat pouring off me. I still managed to hit a few, after all, I have to maintain my Long Beach Senior Men’s Amateur Championship caliber play, but I was very sweaty and uncomfortable. I was thinking were’s that June Gloom? Well, as it turned out, it must have just overslept.

The next morning when I woke up it was again 67F and beautifully clear, but as we went down the coast (we didn’t dare go inland for fear of the heat), the fog actually started rolling in, and the temperature started cooling down. The remainder of the ride stayed that way except for a few patches where we had to do some climbing. The sun did eventually return late, and it turned out to be a beautiful day, from a SoCal perspective, with temperatures only in the 70′s.

So all those fears about there being no June Gloom this year have completely dissipated. Everyday so far this week, the mornings have been foggy, in some areas actually damp, and the sun doesn’t come out until after 3 PM, if it comes out at all.

Even this AM at the house, it was so damp outside, I thought it was raining, so I didn’t go for a bike ride. I will have to make up for that tomorrow. Anyways, it’s turning in to be a typical SoCal June, and I love it, or at least I think I do. I’m not really sure anymore.