August 2004
OH NOOOOO!!! YESSSSS!!! Moved again!!! Now live just SW of Chattanooga, Tennessee, still working for Phelps Dodge Wire & Cable, but now as the Metallurgical and Senior Process Engineer in their High Performance Conductor division in Trenton... Georgia. Not to be confused with Trenton, NJ - thank goodness! Now in the land of caves, hills, streams, hollers, moonshine, and warmer weather - very similar to the beloved Ozarkian turf.
Will write more when time allows! Ain't ya glad you visited?!?!
May 2002
ok then... THIS is by far the latest and greatest news... figured since its only been like ~3 years since updated this here thang, must be time to dust off some of the, ummm, dust and say whats like new here. After 3 years at DRC, the last couple being the Plant Met, I decided to live amongst abunch of hoosiers, errr, I mean Hoosiers... yes, I have left my beloved Ozarkian hills, hollers, caves, trees, clear and cool streams, ferns, mosses, springs, and rocks for the North-Eastern section of Indiana. Yea, I realize its flat, windy, colder, tree-sparse, ~5.5 hours away from my beloved Blues, friends, family, and prior co-workers, and did I say flat? here... however, whenst ya are an engineer, ya must go where the grass [i.e.: dolla] is greener, and safer.
So, far, will have been here 2 years this June 2002. Hate to admit that do miss the DRC - heck, nothing like working around them furnaces... they truly are unique, and alive in their own way. The job was interesting and very challenging, while stressfull, being on call 24/7, having to make changes at all hours that would hopefully change the process in a positive way... how many times did I call the lab to check on an assay from the furnaces and/or sintering machine at midnight, while driving somewheres, and then figuring out with my trusty HP what changes to make to the sinter bins and/or furnaces, and then callin the poor souls in the control rooms to make these changes... was always interesting to talk to them at that time of night... ;)
Anyhows, what I do now is very different - gone is the bibs, full-face respirator, meta-tarsel boots, company clothing, and the showers at the plant end of the work day to wash off the Lead, Zinc, Cadmium, Arsenic, and other fine and friendly elements, all while trying to control a process which t'aint been changed in decades - of course, the mentallity of some workers and managers haven't either... was good tho' to have a direct, physical, hands-on feel and control of the process. Do miss that. Now, all that gone for sitting in a cubicle, wearing much nicer clothes, working in a lab, visiting other plants, dealing with customers and suppliers as I look at ways to improve the incoming material, the process, the product, and its performance. Seems that have gone from the physical met, to the extractive met, and now to the process met... and to think that I slept through the classes in the latter two fields... ;)
So, in a nut-shell, I'm either leading or highly involved in a few teams that analyze various processes and/or products, analyze various samples, and I interact with both suppliers and customers on various factors. Has been a very good move professionally. Lead industry is facing a very critical juncture, especially at Herky... sad when politics and emotions and lies overrun facts and science and truth. Too bad - 'tis gonna be not a good day when the US loses the world's largest Lead smelter. True, there are problems. However, its my opinion its mostly a matter of perception, or rather, misperception. Enough of that, for now.
Well, that's all the time for now... will be adding/deleting/rearranging as time permits. For now, enjoy. Its your life... ;)
January 1998
Well, hello there! Yes its been awhile since I have typed anything new in this part of the web... good to be back it is! So, newest info is that I am the "Plant Metallurgist" for the Doe Run Company's Herculaneum Smelter. pffttt... like what does that mean you ask? Well, you silly person, let me tell ya...
What this means is that I am responsible for the chemistry and amounts of all materials coming into the plant and used within the plant, along with the chemistry of the sinter and of the blast furnaces' slag. Main materials are the lead concentrate ("dirt"; Lead sulphides {PbS}, mainly) that is mined & shipped from various locations around the world, the "sinter" (Lead oxide {PbO}) which is the feed for the blast furnaces, and the slag, which is the glassy by-product of the furnaces. All of these materials are checked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And I am the guy who combines all this lab data, and then creates a "recipe" for the sinter plant machine, and then the blast furnaces - each and every day.
It is truly an amazing facility - the sintering machine and the furnaces are truly "alive"... they eat, breathe, and... well, you know... ;) In any case, it is awesome to watch the blast furnaces especially consume and discharge their molten lead and slag products. Interesting (& highly frustrating too...) that you can feed the two furnaces the exact material, and one will run like gang-busters, while the other can be sickly... :) Makes the life of a metallurgist fun, to say the least - especially when the president and manager are demanding production...
Miscellaneous tasks are working on some special projects (Oxygen & natural gas additions to the Blast Furnaces, for example), along with editing & publishing the DRC Herky Newsletter. Will write more later as time permits... now that I have refound my web site! :)
OLDER FRONT PAGE INFO
August 1997
I accepted a position with a company known as
Doe Run, in their
Herculaneum facility on June 2nd, 1997 [exactly 1 year and 3 months to
the day that the Bureau of Mines was killed by Congress]. Anyhows, I
will be one of four "crew chiefs", supervising ~20 workers in the blast
furnace operations; where the lead oxide ["sinter"] is converted into
mostly pure lead metal. I will also be doing some process extractive
metallurgical engineering. This means that I will help develop and find
ways to improve the blast furnace process. My office phone number is:
636-933-3184. I'm usually in 7:00am-4:00pm, if not, leave a message.
As to the above, those of yas that know me may be slightly surprised that I have taken a job in the extractive metallurgy field. Well... so am I! To be honest, I have always ran away from this. Never had any interest whatsoever in it - have always been physical met [metallography especially] since me days w/ the Burro. However, since being here, I love the excitement, change of pace, doing physical werk, and learning something new. Will have to admit having to shave sortof sucks... ;) Anyhows, its an exciting opportunity and fun challenge. [gosh, wasn't that just sooooo interesting?!?! ;)]
One thing tho', yeap, I have still not graduated as of yet [7/97]. Have two measley classes left - Physics 24 [second one] and Mechanics of Materials. I will most likely finish these two off up here at a St Louis Community College sometime w/in the year.
*update 4/98* HEY!!! I just mite graduate - yeap... w/in a month me days as an undergrad at umr will maybe possibly could be finished... wow... an undergrad met eng degree in less than 20 years... ;) actually, don't know what the university will do w/o me here... think they should name a building, or maybe a room, heck, maybe even a window ledge after me... ha, now i can just hear me fone a'ringin fer them donations durin pledge tyme... I DON'T THINK SO!!!! You silly, silly people.
August 1996
Well, as this site is still being produced, ya aint really gonna find
much here to do nor see besides that which is of interest to me... it is
after all my homepage... ;) However, if ya are foolish enough ta be here
once, maybe ya will come back sometyme later for some more punishment ta
see what may be new here...
As to who or what sortof beast I be... I'm a senior [yes, stillll] here at lovely ol' Missouri School of Mines, or UMR as they nowadays call da place, majoring in Metallurgical Engineering with an emphasis in Physical Metallurgy. Minors are in Geology, Mining Engineering, and in History. I'm also involved in caving, somewhat... ;) Until the old, senile, stupid farts in our country's congrass did yet another bone-head deal, I was employed at the US Bureau of Mines Rolla Research Center as their Metallographer, preparing & analyzing various metal & geological samples. To see whats left of the ol' burro of no-minds, ya can go to their new page. As ya'll see, nothin' much is left of the old Bureau; this link just shows that which was absorbed by the Dept of Energy for mining safety & health. Stinks... However, I am working on a page that is devoted to the old Bureau, with an emphasis on the Rolla Research Center.
Anyhows, I can now be found roaming the basement of McNutt hall, with me office being in B19; me fone number there is (573) 341-6461. I'm helping on some research for a couple profs and doing some TA in labs. On Wed nytes, I recover at the grotto, playin foosball and dwinkin from a pitcher of colorado's finest goat wee, after the MSM Spelunker Club meetings for our weekly after-meeting-meetings...
Weeeeeelp, until I've more tyme on me hands, this will have to suffice.
Altho', if you are feeling a tad brave, come in
here and take a look... if you dare... ;)
Also, if interested in me family's twisted history, look 'e here at me genealogy page. Aint much, but be a start...
If needed, here is my schedule for the spring of 1997. If I'm not in B19, might try B16, B18, B5, 7, 9, 246, or 234.
Lastly, hey, if ya wanna hire a good ol' Ozark boy ta polish, analyze, and take sum fotomicrographs of yur preety little specimans, take a look see here at me resume.
{this page was born on 8/16/96; length to be determined; mostly weightless}
This Document is maintained by me! thats rite, buster; me...
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