What-evvvvvverrrrrrrrrr!

Wanna hear a joke? There once was an ingenuity contest where they were comparing the skills of professionals from different occupations. Each round they brought in 3 professionals and gave them the same test. On this particular day they had an Astronomer, a molecular biologist and an Ironworker. Each person was given 3 balls of various sizes and was put into a room with the instructions to build something. After an hour the astronomer came out. He had the biggest ball in the center with the smaller two balls spinning around it in elliptical circles. 'This' said the astronomer proudly, 'is a solar system!' The judges were impressed as they equally were when the biologist came out. He had the big ball in the center with each of the two smaller balls sticking out symmetrically from the sides. 'A water molecule!' he announced. With the first two candidates doing so well the judges were anxious to see what the Ironworker would do. They waited. And they waited some more. Finally they opened the door to see what he was up to. One ball was broken. One was lost and one was in his lunchpail! God I love Ironworkers! Yesterday I was on cleaning crew but at one point had to move a large table made of steel plate from in the guts of the surge bin out onto the deck. It had been there a while and the surge had experienced a lot of growth since it was first put in there and the passageway out was far more narrow then it had been. Did I mention that the table was made of steel plate and weighed close to 400lbs? (I Agine my Superman voice here...) 'This looks like a job for Ironman!' of course Ironman was nowhere to be seen so I got my hulking Ironworker buddies to come and help. I have great faith that Ironworkers can do anything so I had no fears. We started by putting our shoulders to the back of the load and speeded it down the passageway until we hit the door frame. Thank god that frame was made of steel too or we would have destroyed it! But the table wouldn't go through. It was much taller than it was wide so turning it on its side wouldn't help! A conundrum to be sure! Having spent the past 3 months working with welders I suggested we get and Oxy Acetylene torch and cut it in two, push each half through the doorway, and weld it back together on the other side. I'll admit now that wasn't the best suggestion. Fortunately the Ironworkers ignored it! Being Ironworkers (which means they are a combination of Mcguiver and Mr. T) they looked around and found a steel pole to use as a lever. It didn't work. Then they found some wooden dunnage (6x6 wood used to hold heavy loads off the ground so that they can be picked up again without difficulty) and set it on the ground beside the bottom of the doorframe so that the table could slide out at a higher level than the moulding at the bottom of the frame which was stopping us. Again, it didn't work. Finally one of them noticed some short, round poles which we slid under the dunnage so that when we set the table on top of it we were easily able to roll the table out through the door. So what is my point? No matter what the problem is Ironworkers solve it. They work together and talk out their ideas so that the group IQ is higher than the sum of the parts. They work together as a team and they get the job done. And then they forget it and move on to the next problem. I am so glad to be an Ironworker! It reminded me of a story my Dad told me 30 odd years ago about the head of a fortune 500 company who gave a speech. He said the biggest mistake he ever made was leaving school in grade 5. Instead he should have left in grade 3 because by then he could add, subtract, multiply and divide as well as being able to read and write. Ironworkers have a higher educational requirement than that but it made me think how the best solutions are often the simplest. I used to teach grades 2 and 3. So I know for certain that 'simple machines' including levers, pulleys and rollers, are a taught in those grades. and with those simple tools, a couple of spud wrenches and a sleever bar Ironworkers have been building the world since the advent of using iron in building construction. So despite the tongue in cheek joke I started this out with I am glad to be a builder in a world made of iron! :)