When I was in grad school I learned that it was 't uncommon to identify ones self with your occupation. As I have had many and varied occupations I guess the closest that I can come to this is in the title of this blog. The 'iron' part reflects the fact that I am currently an Iron Worker through local 720 out of Edmonton. I say currently because at 46 years of age I have only recently begun this trade at an age where a lot of my union brothers retire. I am currently a pre-apprentice making a modest wage of $20/hour. But for now I am satisfied with that.
I currently work in the oil patch several hours north of Edmonton. It is north of Fort McMurray in an area called Kearl Lake. I am indentured to Waiward Steel and work for the welders (also part of IW 720) fabricating the surge bins that are the middle units between the crusher and the foam plant for extracting the oil which is captured in the famous tar sands. It is interesting work and I am sure that the bins will still be in operation long after I have passed away. Welcome to Kearl
My purpose in writing this blog is twofold. First I would like to look back over the crazy course of my life and figure out how I got here. Secondly I would like to make notes on both the process involved in this work and in the process of passing through my apprenticeship. I am doing this for me and me alone so if you are reading this enjoy it but know that you are not my most important audience. I am.
I want to keep this short and as I will be doing my writing on the bus ride to and from work it may end up a little choppy. My type writer is my iPhone 4s so the spell check often changes things that my old eyes don't catch. So be it. When it doesn't make sense use your imagination to figure it out. Looking at the layout of an iPhone keypad may help too.
Have a great day! I will add more later. :)
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