My prior Jekyll setup was as such:

1. Jekyll installed on Amazon EC2 instance.
2. Template/files generated on EC2 instance.
3. Uploaded content to template/work directory as needed.

I’ve since decided that was “A Bad Idea™”, and have chosen to offload the work from the EC2 instance to my FreeBSD machine instead, updating content with rysnc as it’s generated. This poses a few minor annoyances for the moment. First, the DSL I’m connected to is currently crawling at a snail’s pace. However, the nice thing is that you, the reader, don’t see all my ugly fuckups as they happen. Instead, you only get to see the pretty pre-formatted pages as they’re ready for print. That’s a major advantage. As I learn Maruku, you’re not forced to watch me painfully learn it’s syntax. Good stuff, huh?

Things seem to be moving along. I’m working now, as you may already have noticed from blog posts. I’m working midnights, though. Pretty terrible shift, I’m hoping I can find something, whether at the same place or not, that’s days. Hopefully I can arrange something soon that will cease to destroy my ability to sleep. Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. I’ve been busy as hell. In the very least, I have money in my pocket and a place to go every day. I’ll be grateful for the good things and wonderful people in my life. I’ll make sure to show them every chance I get, too. That said, I suppose I’ll trail off with a youtube video.

I was uncertain when I wrote the first blog post about my new job, but I’ve found out that CNC machines are rather diverse and quite complex. It would seem that numerical control panels and machines are actually interchangeable to a certain extent. The machine I’m currently running has a FANUC 18i panel and it’s attached to an Okuma 2SP-35H dual-spindle lathe.

The one in the image I found is fitted with a FANUC panel as well. I hope to learn more about CNC as I go along, machining is actually pretty fascinating to me. It also seems to be a pretty lucrative trade to get into.

Most of my life, I’ve either worked some stupid “McJob” or behind a desk. I’ve never had what you’d deem a real gritty job before. Until now. Now I come home every morning covered in carbon dust, coolant, and grease. It’s insane. My arms are sore every day, and are getting… Gruesome.

I work in a “cell” that consists of a grinder station, six-axis FANUC robotic manipulator, and dual-spindle FANUC CNC lathe. The grinder does exactly what the term I used implies, it grinds the raw material down to size. The manipulator takes the properly sized material and loads it onto the lathe chuck, which then uses tooling to shape the material into the finished product. The manipulator then sends the finished piece on down to me, where it’s gauged for accuracy and I can make corrections near the end of the line when necessary. The cell produces about a hundred pieces an hour. It’s overly complex for what’s actually happening, and has a tendency to reflect that in what can (and does) go wrong. I’ve noticed two tandem PLC’s, one to direct the manipulator and another that apparently controls the lathe. The cell used to consist of two manipulators, two lathes, and four spindles. It has since been found that it’s a freaking mess for just one person to handle with just one series running. I think I’d die if both were ever running cooperatively.

This might get long-winded. Here we go.

First of all, I don’t agree with the whole bullshit “You have to be an anti-semite to not side with Israel” argument. If you’re pulling that out of your ass, you can go die in a fire right now. If you’re of the open-minded sort, please do read on.

The Jewish population in the Israel/Palestine area, before 1918, was roughly 10% of the population of the entire area. In that period, Jews suffered a great deal at the hands of anti-semites. They began migrating to what was then called Palestine. By the 50’s, Israel (as it was called after the UN partition plan), housed 7% of the Jewish population.

As all five of you (the people who read this thing) may or may not have noticed, I tweaked the layout a bit. I’m the kind of writer that can just shotgun a bunch of entries and fill up a front page easily, none of my content is really worth clicking links to get to- I figured I’d make it all up front for you. All the newest and freshest shit is right there on the front page. If you want anything else, it can be obtained via links. Not sure why I didn’t tweak that in the first place, I just figured I’d be content for the moment to learn Maruku and Jekyll and be done with it. Probably not the wisest of moves, I guess. Not like it really matters, though, as I don’t think there are masses screaming for what I have on my brain at any given moment.

It’s going to rain soon. I can smell it. Summer is finally coming, and I have some damned fond memories of summer. My last one was a mind-blower, that’s for sure. Certainly can’t take summer for granted anymore. Too many fond memories, too much to look forward to. The Drive-in used to be a cool thing I did, I guess not many people really did it. These days, it has some significance to me. It will be a place my mind goes, whether times are bad or times are good. That place will always make me smile. I’m overly eager to visit again soon.