Internship

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to visit Mapleton Foundry, where all CAT engine blocks are poured (including the race car engines, pretty cool). It was pretty amazing...a fun tour and a day to spend somewhere new. Peoria is a 2 hour drive, so I got to leave the Decatur office at 10:30 that day. It was cool to see how the foundry worked, but the best part was when we were watching the furnace and something went wrong. There was too much scrap metal in the furnace (magnesium in this instance, I think) and the electrical cord caught on fire. We got to see them extinguish that fire, and then they had to pour the ladle of molten metal back into the furnace, which is unusual and difficult to do without spilling. Another fun part of the tour was when we watched the crane operators break the metal parts out of the sand castings on a vibrator belt. The operators have one hand in a sleeve, and whatever their hand/arm does, the crane arm does as well. It was amazing! One operator used his crane to wave at us, which was neat to see.

I visited Grace Baptist Church today. It was alright, but I think I will look around some more. The people were very nice, but they don't seem to have anyone around my age, which is a little awkward.

Next week I am going to Peoria on Wednesday for a business etiquette seminar. Business suits are required and from the agenda it looks like the meal is going to be very formal (completely foreign to me, in other words). I'm excited to try this! It's going to be very new and different.

Mom and the kids came to see me Friday/Saturday! Thanks, guys! I really enjoyed having some visitors, especially on the first weekend with nowhere to go. You all really filled up the apartment, it was a nice feeling! Alright, it's primetime tanning hour. Later!