Yup. Back. Better than ever. So what’s happened over the last month? Well, not many major things have happened, but many minor things have occurred. For instance, at the time of writing the last blog post, I was in distance learning, struggling to keep up with my grades. (They're back up now). I went back to in-person learning in January.
There have been only two times ever that I was happy to go back to school. The first time was when I came back from my personal quarantine last fall. The second time was that Thursday in January when we returned after our ski trip. To me, there is something about learning in person that just feels so much more effective than learning from home by myself. Immediately, once I got back into regular school, I was again the once-known “smart person” who had all the answers to the homework.
In January, I also played piano for Festival (a judged music event) for which I received a Superior rating. (The highest rating you can get.)
Another thing that happened was that I learned more ways to weld. Over the course of January, I learned how to weld in a vertical and horizontal position using a stick welder. With a fast freezing rod, and if you’re being fancy, the stick welder is called SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding). Later in February (the day of writing this), I tried overhead welding. Fun fact: Having sparks fall down on you isn’t fun. I’ve learned from experience.
The topic of welding leads me to the next topic. When I came back to school, I joined the FRED Robotics Team. Why? Well, my older brother and older sister are/were in Robotics (my older sister graduated so she’s not in it anymore), so I decided it would be a good idea to join. I tried many different areas of Robotics - Chairman's award, electrical, programming, drawing - but building seemed to be the area that I really enjoyed. Because robotics events are canceled due to Covid, our team is competing in smaller virtual challenges.
And on the topic of extracurricular activities, Robotics wasn’t the only one. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I was also in One Act.
Was? Wait a minute, you're not in it anymore?
No, what I mean, is that I was in it and it ended a couple of weeks ago. We wanted to go with a theme that sort of centered on Covid, so we did our play in a virtual format. Yesterday, I got an email that contained one of the best versions of our play. Yes, it has technical issues, but we couldn’t fix them. It’s still a decent play. I really liked it. You can watch it by clicking on the word "here" 🠊 HERE
I had a very lazy Valentine's Day. (All I did was play video games). Then a very, very productive week after that. I've noticed that I have been on my phone too much, so on Wednesday, I decided to limit my time on it to about thirty minutes a day. Since then I have read three books.
Other than that, nothing else really happened. Lots of minor things, not too many major things. Probably the only major thing happened Thursday night when my mom asked and convinced me to do the post for today.
Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday, and until next time.
- David, aka WAKWIR (Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-in-Residence)
P.S. Was anyone else one of the 1.2 million people were watching NASA’s live stream of the Mars Perseverance Rover on Thursday? I was. To me, that was a super cool experience.
On This Day
Remembering You
Kim
I didn't read far into your blog before I read that you tried overhead welding and found the experience 'uncomfortable'. It's too bad that you didn't meet Jerry Solom, or if you have, you weren't as old as you are now and had an interest in learning the ins and outs of the trade. None were better than Jerry Solom.
ReplyDeleteThe Almanac's Tuesday writer, 'Mr. Cocoa' was Jerry's son-in-law, and he'd agree with me 100% as would Chairman Joe and so many other people and businesses across Roseau County who employed Jerry when they needed to get something fabricated or welded right the first time. They may have tried others, but learned who was who when it came to welding.
Even the Minnesota DNR hired Jerry. Back when they were shearing deciduous trees down during the winter months to create clearings and encourage new growth for reforestation and to benefit wildlife, they hired Jerry to resurface their bulldozer blades or repair broken parts on the dozers. One spring they hired him to repair a steel dam in Beltrami Island State Forest that was leaking. As I remember, flood waters had washed out the dam; and the DNR had pushed it back into place and shored it up the best they could, but it leaked like a sieve; river water shooting from holes in the face of the dam the size of a hardball. Jerry's job was to plug the leaks.
I went with him to be his 'go-fer' (go for this and that) He had devised a plan of attack that he knew -- and his DNR handlers knew -- really had no way of succeeding, but the effort had to be made to satisfy the powers that be that held the authority to purchase materials and replace the dam. All Jerry had to do was try, and of course he gave it his best.
Laying on his back, on 2x10 planks, that laid on supports he had welded to the face of the dam with water shooting out over him. He hammered plugs of oakum in the smallest of the holes to slow or stop the water altogether, and in turn welded repair plates that he had made for the job in his shop, over the holes. Obviously, it wasn't the answer, but he had tried -- and was subsequently rewarded for his effort. The man knew how to weld. and it wasn't just 'that'. Many people have learned how to do it -- even me (I took classes) -- but Jerry's gift was that he could see how to fix something right, the first time.
He was a 3rd generation blacksmith/fabricator, and so was mechanical savvy. Many people weld parts in factories; doing the same thing over and over, but when it comes to knowing not only what to do but how to do it, Jerry Solom took a backseat to nobody.
If you had expressed an interest in learning the skill, and worked for him a while, you would've learned from a master. Opportunities like that had hard to come by now. You've written another good blog post, Hruby. Hang in there.