PAUL MUDHAR dot COM

I’m a Steel Fabricator (a dummy), and god knows I need to know Trigonometry.  As a Steel Fabricator I need to utilize some basic Trigonometry ratio’s (or functions) to help in some everyday fitting to very complicated fitting which have multiple angles involved to create the finished fabricated product.

I use the Tangent of a rise to run ratio to get angles for cuts I burn on a beam , to bends to be made on a plate and the angle to which I fit a plate to a beam. That is the BASIC trig I would use at work during the fitting process, should an angle or dimension not be provided and I have only the working bevel to get the desired angle. A framing square doesn’t always work for all fitting applications. So we have to fall back to our days in class during level 3 and 4 to help us recall how we figured out these angles.

While in school, (the 5 week in-class portion of my Apprenticeship program) I need to combine all 3 basic Trigonometry rules for the questions and exercises and eventual test we are given. While in high school we were taught the old trusty mnemonic, SOH-CAH-TOA (pronounced “so - ka - toe - ah”) to allow us to remember these functions of the SINE, COSINE and TANGENT, of an angle.

Using the above picture we come up with the following.

The SOH stands for “Sine of an angle is Opposite over Hypotenuse.”

The CAH stands for “Cosine of an angle is Adjacent over Hypotenuse.”

The TOA stands for “Tangent of an angle is Opposite over Adjacent.”

I came up with my own version of these that apply a little bit better for the math for a Steel fabricator, which brings us to my Sac(k) of Tab (cola) on the CBC. “Canadian Broadcasting Corporation” you say? well no not quite ‘that” CBC, but I figure if I was going to make up some sort of mnemonic of my own, CBC will have to do. I hope my own version will help out future Apprentices to come. So here we go.

My version also uses the right angle triangle and “always” works off of angle (A).

I just drop the old Hypotnuse, Adjacent, and Opposite tags to form my own, which uses the letters of the sides “a”, “b” and “c’.

Along came my SAC(K) of TAB (cola) on the CBC.

The SAC stands for Sine of angle (A) is side “a” over side “c”.

The TAB stands for Tangent of angle (A) is side “a” over side “b”.

The CBC stands for Cosine of angle (A) is side “b” over side “c”.

I hope you are with me so far. These are the only equations you need to remember for the problems we encounter in class and I suppose if we really need, to apply to our problems in the shop too. The other thing that I found which was confusing some of my fellow class mates was when do we use the 2nd Function and when do we use the first functions of these SIN, TAN, and COS buttons on the calculator. Yet again there was a simple thing to remember, to help you when to use which button. As a rule remember that the 2nd function button is used when finding Angle (A), and the first function used when finding the length of an unknown side. The last item I will leave you with to think about and apply in your calculations is a simple little visual that should leave no questions of when to Multiply and when to Divide by the SIN. TAN or COS of Angle (A). I leave you with the following.

Using the grade 3 math, that 6 divided by 3 equals 2. Just change the numbers around to know that 2 multiplied by 3 equals 6 and also 6 divided by 2 equals 3. I know some of you are probably laughing at this and I understand why, but not everyone was or is a math Whiz-kid. That simple little visual at the top of your questions paper allows you to exchange the numbers for the letters in the Trig equations and solve for each unknown a little easier because of the relative easy math involved with 6/3=2. I Hope this helps some of youthat are struggling with the basics of the Trig we used in the class portion of the Steel Fabrication Apprenticeship program and I wish you all luck with your time with Trigonometry.

You gotta love Friday!!! Just had to say THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY!! Johnny when we finding another Matches.????? I mean seriously don’t ya miss going out Friday and Saturday nights like we used to.??

Maybe a mind fart isn’t all that bad after all!! I did get the results of my Plate development test from yesterday, I assume not only was my fart odorless but it couldn’t have made much of a fart-like-sound either. After all the complaining and worrying I did over yesterdays test, I was very happy to receive a 93%.

Four drawings… each worth 10 marks each. I was very pleased to see my 37/40 marks and we also learned that the instructor doesn’t hand out 100% to anyone. So to base his highest possible mark to be a 9 1/2 out of 10, the highest anyone could have received was 95%. With that said did I get 93% out of 95%.? if that holds true I did way better than I thought I would. A 2% off of the highest mark he would have handed out to anyone sounds like a great accomplishment to me. I just wanted to let you all know (to the ones that care to know) and share with you the results so far. Our first weeks shop project was also marked and I have my marks for that too. I will take some pictures of that and make a new post for it soon too.

Now I am wondering how he will mark the math test we have scheduled for the end of next week. or the first week of April. I’m glad April 1st is on a Sunday so no April fools will be made of us in class….  WHEW!!! does a 100% mark in the math test mean 100% or just 95%.?  hmmmm….  I hope I can remember my Sac(k) of Tab (Cola) on the CBC. I curious if that has anyone wondering what I am on about?…. Ok it’s time to go Study for the Safety test on Friday. Thanx for dropping by.

Why does the mind fart now and then.?  Here I am in the 2nd week of my 5 week Level 3 Apprenticeship at B.C.I.T. and we had our first test.  We worked on plate layout and we basically draw out the project we are working on, be it a cone with a square bottom with a round top or both top and bottom are round,  to an offset opening from top to bottom. I know not a lot of you have a clue as to what I am talking about, but I’m sure some of you do. Anyway why do our minds fart??

I have done countless drawings since my first level class in Spring of 2005.  I understand them, and then I stop practicing them. I was so confident going into my test this morning and then I get to the last of the 4 drawings we had to do. and My mind goes FART!!!  I must have tried the same part like 4 times all to no avail. I forgot one small element of the drawing and the shape I should have had was just not coming out in the drawing.

So I ask, Why do minds fart when you least expect it? This whole week we’re working on Trigonometry. I hope my mind doesn’t fart when I recall my Sack of Tab Cola on the CBC when I have my Trig test. I have to save that for another days Post, but I’m happy to say, even though the Mind can FART!!! they are odorless and not quite as noisy as those from the exhaust end of the human body. 

Here we are again with another addition to the “DOT com PHO Saturday” report! It has been a few weeks now that My Dad and I have made it out for the weekly get together recently dubbed the “DOT com PHO Saturday”. Today I also learned I missed out on a Bluefur Monster picking up the tab at last weeks….  hmmm… “DOT com DIM SUM”? yeah well I guess that’s what we’ll call it. Too bad I missed out on Gary Picking up the tab, but I have had DIM SUM before and to me it’s an acquired taste. As is Sushi, specifically Sashimi….. nuff said. Anyhow back to today’s report.

My Dad and I showed up a little bit earlier than usual today 12:15PM, and we were able to get seats for us and the other 7 that would show up at the regularly scheduled time of between 12:30-12:45PM. Some of the faces weren’t there today, apparently Michael chickened out from showing up because of ED’s threat of kicking his ass was looming over his head.  The Usual Suspects attended (No,… Keyser Soze wasn’t there).  Although I’m sure one of us could have come up with a crazy enough story like Kevin Spacey’s character-Roger “Verbal” Kint did in that movie (ok wow!! talk about going off on a tangent, must be all the trigonometry in my head, I will be going through a lot of it next week in school, it’s haunting me).

As I mentioned my Dad and I showed up first and ordered a table for 10 and we sat patiently as others finished their meals and seats came available. Once we had a table for about 6 we sat down and waited some more for the adjacent tables to empty for the 3-4 other seats we will need. instead of just telling you in words who came today I took my camera along today and lets instead do a picture show-n-tell of who came today.

Lets Start off with the Menu! as it’s always there and without it we wouldn’t know what to order (well ok we been going there long enough maybe we don’t need the menu anymore).

  You can click on the image to get a full sized view and you can actually read it if you zoom in a bit.

Next lets introduce my Dad, when we arrived it was just the two of us. You can see how the Menu’s are at every seat in the restaurant under the glass tops.

Just after 12:30PM Stephen showed up followed by Sarah, Sally and John, trailing behind was Ed.

Finally Greg and Wolfgang showed up and the full Gang was present.

Here’s a picture of ED, My Dad and Sarah.

Here’s a pic of the whole Gang together sans me *taking picture remember* (as best I could with my outdated camera).

Next we learned that Sally is now learning to sit. She starts rocking around and I guess will fall backwards but Mommy Sarah made sure to watch her back.

Here’s one of baby Sally crying.

When Sally cried, Ed would also follow her tears with tears of his own. We never did find out what made him cry when Sally did.

Stephen came to the rescue and stopped her from crying by mesmerizing Sally with the condensed milk for the Iced Coffee.

Greg and I tried to see what was so mesmerizing with this stuff. Greg seemed more involved than i could understand.

Next we have a proud Daddy. Sally is so adorable. John are you sure you are the father.??

Adorable even when she cries.

Last but not least!! The owner of PHO LAN and our host for our “DOT com PHO Saturday’s” Lan.

Next time you are in and around Richmond and are looking for some good eats make sure you come by PHO LAN and enjoy some Noodles with your host LAN.

Pho Lan Vietnamese Restaurant
6950 No. 3 Road, Richmond
Tel: 604-273-1583

OMG! yes I totally recommend you take the time and spend some hard earned cash and watch “300″. it was a GREAT movie…..  No I won’t give it away or anything. but wow what a rush! I heard it was done with  A LOT of CGI, but I thought it was done very well.  To make sure I don’t say too much about it I will Just leave it at…

GO WATCH IT!!

Yep…  “300″. If you watch T.V. then you know what I am talking about…..  if you go out to watch movies then you definitely know what I am talking about. Yes “300″ the movie, I know it was released last week but I hate the rush when a new movie starts. Some movies are worth it but some can wait and will be around for a few weeks so why rush to watch it? Anyway I haven’t seen it YET, but I am heading out in about 10 minutes to see it with my dad. He saw the previews a while back and has been now hounding me since last week to go watch it.

So here we are just sitting around on a Friday night and my Mother tells me she has some coupons for a $10.00 value to a movie. Well why not enjoy a free movie? I said to myself.. be back later and will try to tell you all I can about the movie, if I recommend it or not. I’m no critic, but any movies that the critics praise I avoid. I haven’t heard anything about this one yet (on purpose) so off to the Movies I go……

A whole week later and it still hurts like a Son-of-a-B*ee*p! I have changed the Bandage once now and tonight I am airing it out. OMG!! it hurts when I try to move it…. My Doctor told me to move it around and bend it at the joints as much as I can, but with the bandages, I can’t bend it much cause the bandage holds it so well that it just holds it straight (like it’s in a cast).  When I was moving my thumb from the joint connected to my hand (so I move the WHOLE Thumb) it seemed to be healing and feeling much better as the days went on.  Little did I know the LACK of my moving the joints was actually making my thumb all stiff and the bandages just acted as a second skin so I couldn’t really feel how it really feels without a bandage.

Now with the bandage off and my allowing the wound to get some air, I realize just how much it can and does hurt.  Without the bandage I tried to move all the joints around, (my doctor told me to) because he said if I keep it all bandaged up for 4-5 weeks without trying to move it, it will be harder to get motion back in the joints for a lack of use for so long. I want to scream! cause it’s only been a week yet, when I try to move the knuckle joint, I can’t!

I’m not sure what’s going on with my WCB Claim now either cause of me being in School for my Apprenticeship.  I’ve applied for E.I. and WCB and from the sounds of it I will only get WCB for the Friday after my injury and E.I. for the 5 weeks I am attending School. well something is better than nothing I suppose.  I might have made a bit more income on WCB but seriously beggars can’t be choosers. (I’m the beggar at the moment). in the mean time here is a picture of the healing process after a week in a bandage! Stitches come out Monday the 19th! Looks gross EH!?

*Click here for Picture* if you really need to see..

Did I get your attention.?? Well WOW!! When did this happen.?  OH YEAH!! it was today!! What a great idea!! Canada coming into 2007 finally!! they talked about it (it seems) for years!! but today we finally have Wireless Number Portability (WNP).  What a great way to increase competitive pricing and packages within the Cell Phone Market in Canada!

Oh! I have looked into going to another Cell Phone provider for a few years now.  Especially since I have and will plan to visit abroad more often. Mainly back to India and when I am there my Telus Phone doesn’t allow me the same freedom as does a phone from say, Fido or Rogers their GSM System which uses a SIM Card (Subscriber Identity Module)  is what I would need to have local cellular phone service visiting India or other countries using GSM. Not forgetting to mentionBell Canada. but both Bell and Telus are on a CDMA System. which seems not be too widely used in India as it is within North America. Sure they have companies that use the CDMA System in India but none have any support for a Phone from Telus and most likely Bell. Besides who would want to pay the Roaming Charges when over seas using your local number from Canada within India. I have been there done that..  will never do it again!

I’m not saying I dislike Telus I have been with Telus now since the mid 1990’s and I first had service with them in the early 1990’s too with a pager and 3 cell phones.  But where I am not happy is with the limitations in the Phone we are offered with Telus. the Asian and European Markets get WAY better phones with WAY better service plans than we do currently in Canada. I was about to say “better service plans than we do currently in North America”, but I know the US Markets have way better plans than we do in Canada. I could go on and on about what I don’t like about each of the Cell Phone Companies I mentioned in this post but I will save that for another post. For now I will leave it on a good note and close with…..

WE FINALLY HAVE WIRELESS NUMBER PORTABILITY IN CANADA!!

p.s. Now lets get the companies competing to keep their customers and see if we can’t reduce that 60% higher rate we pay for similar service than in the USA and even more than what they pay in Europe and Asia!!  For more information on this Please visit Wireless Number Portability in Canada.

In My Opinion , I am glad they finally brought charges and hopefully very soon to justice those involved with the cowardly murder of a very caring and loving person we all knew as Bubbles…. I’m glad the police didn’t rush to place blame and lay charges on just anyone and in fact took their time to make sure they may have the right people that were involved and make sure they pay for what they did.  The worst thing that could have come out of all this is to have finally charged someone and they getting off on a technicality as we see so often on the news and TV shows all over the networks these days. Have a look at how I tried to put it all together in the early months here. and where it all started for me here.

Mukhtiar Panghali and his younger brother have been Charged with 2nd degree murder and accessory after the fact *respectively.   I think many of the public had their money on the husband right from the start.  It must have been a shock of all shocks for the family of Manjit Panghali to come to have to face the sad reality that their Son-In-Law may in fact be behind it all along.  My heart goes out to little Maya who will grow up to hear and read the stories of how her father may have been behind the murder and charring of her mother’s body.

I pray for all your souls and especially for the ones accused of these crimes to motherhood and womanhood all over the world.  I pray for your souls and hope you will find ’some” place to spend the rest of your lives thinking about what you have done.  We live in a civilized country a simple divorce would have allowed Maya to have both a mother and father to grow up with, now she will only grow up to learn the sad stories about her father.

Read more Here. and Here!

I hope you can finally REST IN PEACE Manjit…..