I felt like a real he-man today. I got real greasy, troubleshooted a grinder and an auger, tightened a belt, and did a routine fix on the boiler. Couldn’t’ve done it without a couple of calls to dad though. But actually, as far as mechanical aptitude goes, I grew today. It wouldn’t take much, because I’m generally inept. Today was a positive thing.

Whenever I’m overseeing the mill and something happens--the solution to which is not immediately obvious--I face a dilemma. 1. Call dad and likely get the problem fixed in short order, or 2. Try to fix it myself which will take quite a lot longer (and I’ll probably end up not being able to get it fixed anyway) and (you never know) could end in disaster.

I’ve tended toward the first, but I’ve decided to take a swing at the second. 1 encourages mindlessness, while 2 encourages critical thinking and problem-solving. There comes a point when you’ve got to bite the bullet and make a phone call because of a lack of knowledge of the system itself or the related tooling. I did that today, called him a couple of times, but not before I thought about the problem and made some progress toward solving it.

It’s really not all that different than school. You must have an understanding of the system, though, that’s the key. If you don’t know how the equipment works, you have virtually no chance of solving the problem. Once you know what you’re looking at, it’s just a matter of thinking it through, experimenting, and seeing if you can make something work.

The problem is that I have no true need to go through that problem-solving process at the mill because the answer is just a phone call away. At school, on a test, you have no choice. But it's just a matter of doing it, it's really all the same, whether at school with a paper problem or at the mill with a mechanical one. I'm learning.

I really enjoy talking to myself. I really, really do. I’m somewhat unashamed of it too. A little, if I don’t realize someone’s there. But mostly, I love—really love—talking to myself. Is that a sign of genius or insanity?

From bro Randy, though I generally concur:

Overrated: Florida

Underrated: Pac-man