some firsts.

I built my first piece of equipment today. that may sound impressive, but it's not. we had two to build. one of the shop guys had the first one done in under twenty minutes. it was two gauges and a ball valve being screwed into a fabricated unit. it took me about 45 minutes. mostly just to clean up the pipe dope... anyway, I'll probably get out on the shop floor to help out a bit more.

my boss gave me an attaboy. first one since I started. that was hallowe'en. others had told me I'm doing a good job, but that was the first from my boss. it kinda creeped me out. he came up to me as I was leaving (I drove today), and told me through an open passenger side window.

I also realised that this is the first time I'm not among the smartest of my colleagues. most jobs I've had, I've been the smartest or damn close to. not anymore. there are seven engineers here... maybe eight. there's some seriously smart people. it's kinda sad. I always used to be able to just coast, knowing if I hit a snag, I could think my way through it quicker than anyone else. now, if one of them calls me on something, I'm boned. it's a new feeling for me. not that I'm a genius or anything.... all of my work experience just happens to be in somewhat, erm, not-so-intelligent industries... doesn't take a lot of smarts to be a plumber (don't get me wrong, there were smart ones, but also VERY stupid ones), nor does it take much brainpower to sell toilets... even going back to flipping burgers and library jobs... not rocket science.

but seeing as I don't plan to quit anytime in the next thirty years, I'm just gonna have to get used to being average...