Day 49 7/10/13 (A slow morning, rain, that centrifuge, another working piece of equipment from the neonatal room, fried fish, changing bulbs and good bread)

Today was the normal wake up at 6 AM. Check my watch realize it’s 6 AM. Sleep until 7 AM. Get up shower. Eat egg thing, B&R and some type of bread (today it was mini-pieces of toast (like croutons)) and some milk. After that Dan and I headed to the “pharmacy” across the street from our hostel to try and buy some 99% alcohol for cleaning, but the place turned out to be a mail store (despite having a sign for the pharmacy). When we first arrived we cleaned the workshop space for a bit (as it was pretty dirty and we were having a difficult time finding tools). Work was pretty slow in the morning (Rambo (one of the ambulance drivers let us in the shop)) and we started putting the centrifuge from Monday back together (this was the old centrifuge that would not turn without assistance and needed brushes). After we put the motor back in we had to screw it in and then put the rotor back on and I put the test tubes back in. 

The wiring of the centrifuge (timer in the background with the light in amber and the speed dial PCB)

I tested the centrifuge and it turned on and worked pretty well (although it stays on when the lid is opened (due to a fault in the original manufacturer design where they did not have a mechanism to stop the rotor (the only way to add one is to drill through the centrifuge and put wire mounts all around the rotor area (not worth it)))). 

The motor upside off the bottom of the centrifuge for testing the motor and light a bit

Anyways after that it was back to work grinding away at another IV stand (which Dan started work on) while I checked out the syringe pump from yesterday. 

The IV stand from yesterday in action (or at least in the room) (from yesterday)

After a little bit, I got to grind away some of the IV stand while Dan looked at the pump. After that we eventually got a chance to work more on that pesky lamp from the neonatal ward (the lamp whose base nut was tighter than anything else it seems in this world). With Popo’s help, yesterday we got the base off (including the concrete part), but today he helped us build a larger washer with an old grinding wheel and we put the makeshift unit back together and had a tight base for the lamp! BAM! Fixed with the help of Popo and his resourcefulness! Also in the morning we got to test out the syringe pump a bit (which happends to be set in English from the factory (which was donated to this hospital why then? (but to be fair the pump still has quite a few visual instructions (especially this really cool screen that shows what part of the syringe is not in the correct holder (sensor position) and ensures the syringe is fully correctly situated in the pump)))). Also the pump alarms if the flow rate is too high (as we didn’t have the tubing to try that aspect of the pump), but the low flow setting actually works quite well for the pump (again a piece of technology the guy in the neonatal unit said did not work (which it probably didn’t as the battery wasn’t charged)). BAM! Fix? We even set the syringe pump up to put out 4 mL of air per hour (before we left for lunch) to see if it was close to that value (which indeed it happened to be correct (for the unit of time lunch was)). Also during this time, Popo wanted to see some photos from the States and I showed him my iPod photos (everything from Guin in Oregon to Prom to graduation (everyone down here thinks that white dresses immediately mean my wedding photos with Guin (which is not the case thank you very much)). Anyways also during this time I put a preliminary coat of paint on a wheelchair hand hold area (that mount on the wheels and allow the person to roll the wheelchair around) with the last little bit of paint from the dark blue can (and a tick of another can) before lunch. I also started to change a few of the 24V bulbs (which just happened to pop up in our shop (which we needed three of to put into the theater lamp in the maternity ward/room)) which were the correct bulbs, but unfortunately the wrong connector for the bulb holder. It was a pretty simple task however (as it only involved cutting off the old connector, either crimping on a new connector (or opening a previously used one and then crimping on the insulation and wire and putting the bulb back in the box for later). I did this for two of the three bulbs I needed, but I only had two of the new crimp connectors, so I sought out more of them during lunch. Also this morning was the downpour morning as it was raining quite hard.

I think it's raining

 Anyways Dan and I thought of going to lunch at the pizza place and we tried to sneak out without Barney seeing us, but we couldn’t so we went over to the café place (run by Marlon’s wife) next to the hospital shop and sat down and chatted with Barney and the engineer for 25 minutes or so (and had this really good almond cake thing) before we headed over to the standard lunch place (on the side street). Today’s lunch was B&R, the warmed/slightly thick and hard to eat plantain and fired fish (which was actually quite tasty) with this good mango juice to drink. Solid lunch meal today (and it was “free”). Anyways after lunch I headed home to the hostel really quickly and found Sol and Luis asleep in the lobby while the doors to the rooms upstairs were wide open (to air out), but I thought it was a tad strange. I also stopped by the different hardware stores (Constrúmas hardware store and the Castillo place to find those connectors, but neither stocked them) so I settled on buying some needed 500 grit sandpaper instead.

Maybe not a clover, but still cool! 

            Upon arrival back at the shop at like 1:47 PM, I found that I was the only one back (and the place was still locked from before lunch). After lunch I worked on the last bulb’s connector (for which I had to open up one of the older crimp terminals by using a small jeweler’s screwdriver and a pair of pliers as a hammer, but it worked and I fixed the last connector). 

Prior to opening that jawn up

With the old connector still on the bulb (from the factory that way)

Success! Newly installed like factory!

After returned the lamp to neonatal room (and had the bulbs and tools to install the three new bulbs in the lamp in the maternity wing, but it sounded like there was a mother in there with multiple nurses and a baby crying, so I was not going in there (a nurse also told me not to enter)). Anyways I decided to check back later when there wasn’t a birthing happening in there (or something like that). Also during this time, we found the pump worked well (although the battery was discharged quite a bit (but it’s a NiCd and had 7.88 V on the terminals (so it’s still good, but needs a charge)). We had it charging all day and it only seemed to reach like 54% (which is pretty standard for NiCds from my experience). Also during this time I asked Popo if we could do an inventory of the pediatric ward (as this is one of the few remaining areas we have to inventory), and he took me to the ward, where I spoke to one of the nurses about coming back tomorrow when the boss was in (so she could tell us about the tech and describe what was functioning etc). I also asked if Dan and I could meet with SILAIS (as Dan was busy working on another IV stand during this time), so Popo took me over to the SILAIS hive behind the hospital (it was like crossing a bayou with all the rain water and puddles on the trip there) and I met this woman who took our names and phone numbers (but wasn’t a secretary, but really friendly and told us to stop by tomorrow afternoon). After that I returned and took the bulbs to make a second attempt at installing the bulbs. The same nurse told me that I couldn’t go in (but the room seemed empty and I must have looked confused because one of the other doctors said she was joking and I went in the empty room). I turned on the lamp to see which ones of the 6 bulbs I had to change (3 were dead) and then I turned off the lamp and unscrewed the first one (the one I thought we had left in from the last check of the lamp). I pulled out the back tong of the light (the part that completes the bulb circuit) and immediately felt the metal burn the skin of my thumb and index finger as I dropped that futzer to the ground. It turns out that was one of the bulbs that was good (hence why it was so hot) and I had missed the dead bulb by 1 bulb (-.-// hot objects (far away)). I got away with only ever so tiny of a crescent on my finger (which seems to have gone away now). Anyways after that I got the other two bulbs in without issue and returned to the shop. Dan was working on painting the stand and it was going quite well. Not much else happened during this time and I also painted the other wheel chair hand assist railing for the wheels (with my super epic spray painting skills (which resulted in only part of my hand being blue)). 

To allow the person in the wheelchair to roll around

After leaving early we headed to the bike shop which told us we have to bring the wheelchair down to the shop (for them to see what they can do). We also stopped at the bakery and I bought this small-fist sized bread that is like the Nicaraguan equivalent of Challah bread from the States (and it was delicious) for only 5 Cordobas (a whole loaf was 25 Cord and I should buy more). It had only the slightest sweet taste with a fruit esque tart thing in it too. IT was good though. After that basically just chilled and crafted an attempt at a card for my sister’s birthday today (SHOUTOUT TO LIZ FOR BEING THE BEST SISTER EVER AND BECOMING A 16 YEAR OLD!). After that had some carne for dinner with B&R and plantains.

Been chilling since and it’s now like 10:21 PM. Whew! Busy night. Tomorrow should be interesting (at night at least because we’re going to Koama (the other dance bar) for Karaoke night with Marlon and Barney). Anyways gonna sign off for now! Peace!