It sure has been a busy weekend! Well deserved too... I've been studying for my 'C' Phase test at work for the past week. Took it last Tuesday and passed! Although we are given 12 hours to complete the test, it took me almost 11 hours. Now, I'm studying for my QRB (Quality Review Board). It's scheduled for next month and we need to have everything we ever learned in the past year memorized... well, at least it's open game to the interviewers. So I've invited my 8 immediate supervisors and they will interrogate me on how well I know my job including procedures, emergency shutdowns, laws/ rules/ regulations, how a piece of equipment works, how I would isolate the equipment, etc. Definately much more difficult that going to the Soldier/NCO of the Month board while in the military!
We have these tests as competence training as well as formal operator training. In my area, there are 5 positions so once we complete the first job position, we'll have to start all over with the A, B and C phases as well as and QRB on the next job. With 5 positions, my area has a 5 year plan on making it to the first line supervisor's job. Idealistically, it is roughly one year per job but some people have taken longer - most people have taken longer due to not wanting to go to the next job and partially from the trainer being backed up in training so there is a waiting line on who gets trained next.
I've also been going to a chiropractor these past few weeks. It's a bit different going to her since she's also an applied kinesiologist. She's fixing my feet but also other things and says everything is related to each other. I just came to her to have my feet fixed - my feet are getting flatter and flatter. I thought I would give her a try first before a podiatrist. But since everything is connected, she's also working on knee, shoulder and back pains. And even more so, ever since I started working at the oil refinery I've been lacking sleep. As a result, along with stress my eyes have been twitching. I thought it was okay for a while that I just needed more sleep but now - well, lets just say it's a male dominated field and they think I'm flirting with them! Seriously... But I told the chiropractor about the twitching and she did some massage thing to my head amazingly the twitching has gone away about 90% of the time!
And the massage thing... that's an understatement. It's more like torture. It really hurts alot and told her so! She just said I could call her Dr. Pain... but I told her I'd call her Dr. Torture instead... and the sadistic thing is, is that she likes her job! It's a good thing this pain stuff is actually making me feel better. She stated it was better than her last job... while in school she needed some income so she was an autopsy assistant and got to drill holes in people's skull. I think I picked a really strange doctor. :(
On the other hand, there is a foot bath available. It's recommended and part of the package you purchase. It's interesting. It's called ionic foot detox where you put your feet in this tub of salt water and the machine detoxes you. I wasn't sure if it was real or a hoax since there are several scams out there stating that this really works. There are 8 colors on the spectrum and each color represents various problems within your body. Everytime I go in for an appointment, I get a foot detox... so the first time the water was extremely colorful. The second time I wasn't sure if it was real or a scam so for 2 days prior, I ate bacon for breakfast... and sure enough the water turned black. Which means my liver is having a difficult time processing that bacon and of course, there were other colors present.
It is interesting to see. Although I'm still kind of amazed at how it works - or if it really is working. Part of the scam is there are various dyes in the probe and spits out the colors only pretending to work. Which I guess is why I ate so much bacon! I guess it does work I'm just not sure if I'm all the way convinced it is actually working... if that makes any sense.
Friday, April 16
Now you can see I needed a well deserved weekend of fun. Work offered all the employees tickets to see the grunions. Every year little fish called grunion swim up to shore from Santa Barbara all the way down to Baja Mexico to lay eggs. I'd never seen a grunion before and wanted to check it out. Grunion look similar to smelt and there are open and closed seasons to catch these fish. It was closed season when I went but I had heard grunion tastes like smelt - which I've eaten sashimi style growing up as a kid.
Literally, hundreds of grunion come to shore to lay egss. It takes 9 days for the eggs to hatch and they come to shore at the full moon when the waves are high and the eggs hatch right before the new moon high waves return to shore. If the grunion lay eggs any time before or later, the waves will wash all the eggs away. One female will lay about 3,000 eggs over a 2 month time frame.
Grunion are noctural - at least they come to shore later at night. We got there around 8PM and we didn't get to see them until midnight and later. They can remain out of water for about 20 minutes but by that time a wave would come up and return them to the ocean.
In this picture, you can see the female laying the orange colored eggs (fish on the left). The only people that could catch the fish out of season were the researchers. And even they had to follow the fishing rules... grunion can only be caught by hand - no nets, buckets. The researchers came from couple of Universities to finish their dissertation.
The female grunion come to shore and dig themselves into the sand. They will only lay eggs when males are present. If no males are present, the female will catch the next wave out and come back to shore and try again.
The female digs itself into the sand while the males will surround her and release their sperm, called milk. It sure was dark out there. I had to be alittle bit coordinated to hold 2 flashlights and the camera... one flashlight just wasn't bright enough. Most of my pictures turned out really dark like in the first photo.
Saturday, April 17th
A friend of mine and her kid have never been to a Renaissance festival. This is similar to the ones I've attended in Gilroy, while attending school in San Francisco. This fair was alittle more boisterous that I'm used to and alcohol was flowing. People dress up in old Rensiassance type clothing and vendors sell swords, battle axes, clothing, various foods, etc. It's kinda neat to go to if you've never been.
This guy was making thread to weave into a carpet.
Lots of people were present - this is the second weekend it has been open. Various food booths offered lots lots food choices.
They all liked to parade around together.
There was even a Queen that was carried in the parade.
And a jousting match and sword show.
My friend got caught as a chicken thief.
We spend the whole day at this event watching the shows, eating various foods - regular fair foods and checking out the vendors. Then as a treat, we all went to a close by drive in movie theater. A definate 'oldies' day!
Sunday, April 18
Can't say it was a great weekend unless there has been, yes, you got it - a bike ride! I realized in my procrastination in studying moments that I haven't really had a chance to ride my bike very much this year. Just alot of work and even more studying and finishing school course work. (Yes, they also have classes for us to attend as well - lots of training!) We followed Pacific Coast Highway all the way down to Dana Point then onto Ortega to a place called Tom's Farm. Leaving the house, there was a 20% chance of rain today but no drops actually falling on the ground; therefore, perfect riding weather! It was alittle cold along the coastline and I had brought all this extra warm clothing but didn't need it. It was my first time going from start to finish on Ortega highway with 30 miles of curves and twisties. There are two biker bars along the way and we usually end of stopping at one of them but this time around, we went straight through. With the perfect pace, no cars in front of us... what a ride!
Tom's Farm used to be a big biker hangout but not so much anymore. There are alot more families that attend. It's a large place but seems like on the weekends every parking spot of full. There are usually arts, crafts, snack shops, petting zoo, live band, a train that takes you on a ride through the property, a horse and carriage - a pretty neat place to hangout for the day. It's really hot in the summer months with little shade.
The ride started off with cool weather on the coastline and heated up quickly in the inland empire area. When we got to Tom's Farm the water fountain sure looked like a nice spot for a swim!
