Today started off decently well with a solid
breakfast and a cold shower (as per the norm here). After that Dan and I headed
off to work at like 8:30 AM. The first major project I started working on was
the baby incubator relay connector (which I had epoxied on Friday). Note here:
that epoxy seems to have basically no strength to it as it didn’t really hold
the connecter together at all (but I’ll blame that on the small surface area of
the crack). Anyways I had to reinsert the connection pins into the base of the
connector before putting the relay back in. This was merely a matter of
swapping over the nice silver connectors from the old relay to the newer one
and making sure the pins were connected properly. After I did that and checked
the connections twice I put the relay in and set the unit aside to get a power
cord and test it out. During this time Gato also gave us access to the large trailer
of machines and old junk (the one that is usually locked with tons of old ECGs,
defibs, O2 bottles etcetera (pinky raised while typing that). This
proved to be a virtual treasure trove for much junk. Want a thoroughly dead air
conditioner or a power backup? Here’s the place for that. Want an ECG that
looks like it was thrown into a mud pit and then rescued several years later?
Perfect. Anyways Dan and I pulled out a couple of ECGs and some pumps and set
to work on them (Dan working on the pumps and I on the ECGs). I discovered that
both ECGs I pulled out worked well (and turned on and functioned! (although one
has an awful battery)). The one even has paper in the printer and prints
(albeit a tick off on the page, but s’all good)! The one mud caked ECG was
missing some leads that feed into a parallel port on the side, so I’ll have to
get those to test it. The other ECG (a Philips machine) has the leads, but
those leads have no electrodes and look like small ear buds without the
speaker. This machine only runs with 3 wires and is an interesting piece of
equipment. The mud caked machine is interesting because it not only turns on
but prints and has a good battery too (one that lasts probably close to like
2-5 hours). Anyways the problem with this ECG (besides the lack of leads) is
the fact that the printer is missing a roller and only has a pencil as the roller
(which causes the paper to be off I believe). Gonna have to custom machine that
jawn (with some wood and a utility knife). Dan and I were struggling a bit with
the pump trying to remove the front cover to expose the motor for cleaning
until Gato basically told us to slowly pry the cover off with two straight head
screwdrivers on either side (which actually worked). We looked at the motor and
then decided to clean it later. Anyways around this time one of the lab techs
had brought us a balance used for measuring babies etc that wasn’t quite
working and was sticking at the top or bottom. We thought we could just add a
bit of oil to the connections on the balance and fix the problem, but due to
their construction that wasn’t exactly feasible although Dan tried and tried to
calibrate it a bit (so we’ll see if that works for them). Alex also showed up
at this time and we headed out to lunch. We had decided to spend out good lunch
budget of $10 per person at this seafood joint near the pier. This place was
legit. It actually was a tony restaurant like in the states (complete with the
expensive menu and folded napkins). We were thinking of ordering the river
shrimp which are supposed to be the size of lobsters, but the shrimp were all
gone, so we ordered separately (Alex and Dan both got variations of the ocean
shrimp (tiny jawns)). I ordered Hawaiian chicken and a coke (they got iced tea
and lemonade). Anyways when my meal arrived it was a huge slab of chicken and
this smaller piece (both boneless) with ham and pineapple rings on the top with
cheese. It was delicious (and quite filling as well) with this good rice and a
small salad. By the end of the meal I had ordered 2 cokes and a water (as I was
pretty tired and dehydrated (not that coke would help me out with that any)).
Anyways the check came and my meal came out exactly to $10 with the 3 drinks and
the chicken feast. Bam! Perfect! Except for tax and tip -.- Futz I was so
close. Anyways I only had to pay another 20 cordobas for my meal (so I’m
happy). We then walked back (more like I need a wheelchair (Jim Gaffagin
reference)) to the hospital and bid Alex well on his journey northward (he had
visited us just to check on us and talk about the hospital and progress etc).
Back at the hospital we talked to the lab manager who wanted us to check a centrifuge
(but we ended up being around this mini-spat between one of the head women in
the lab and the lab dude and we ended up being put in an AC cooled room with
two centrifuges (neither was the original one) to work on (we were also told to
keep the door closed so that other people wouldn’t just wander in as this is
kinda like a storeroom for specialized materials for the lab (no chemicals))).
Anyways we grabbed our tools and set to work with this random friend of Barney
(not even a tech dude) just chilling behind us (waiting for us to ask him to
get Barney or something like that).We tested the first centrifuge which would
spin lopsidedly with the rotor being out of position and being extremely loud.
The natural solution was to dismantle the centrifuge and look at the motor
which was conveniently closed off with an external pressure closed casing.
Anyways Barney brought us some 3 in 1 oil and we lubricated the shaft bearings.
We also looked at the underside of the rotor to realize that the support pin
(to hold the rotor onto the shaft) was missing and someone had improvised
something with some sheet metal which held the rotor askew (also one of the
plastic test tubes was busted (probably from being spun at the high speeds with
the askew rotor)). The sheet metal had worn away the motor shaft so the rotor
would sit askew…we’re still working on getting that fixed (tomorrow?). The other
centrifuge just needed some oil (as it was a micro hematocrit one for
separating capillary tubes) in the motor bearings. The first centrifuge was
much quieter after the lubrication (the second one, not so much). Eh whatever.
After working on the centrifuges for quite some time it was basically the end
of the day so Dan and I packed up our tools and moved them all back to the main
workshop. I also tested the infant incubator and it actually worked! BAM! Fixed
that shiznit at least enough for the coil to heat up (better than that danged
futzing piece of junk hotplate (which I tried to test the voltage on the leads
of the heating element (this morning) and it gave me a shock of 110V AC as I
dropped it (futz you hotplate you’re done. Trash))). Anyways as I went to
return the parts to Barney I got roped into working on the ultrasound unit for
quite some time (which I didn’t really mind as it was testing a power supply
(but I have no schematics and nothing to test against, but s’all good)). The
part I minded was the chat I had with the other engineer in the room.
Apparently this dude is trained in EE and is working somewhat with Barney, but
he’s just a strange dude (speaks a bit of good English too). The weird part of
our conversation about how he says I need a Nicaraguan woman (women). He
basically then started profiling me based on what type of woman I would want
for the time of night and for here. I told him that I have the most incredible girlfriend
already in the ‘States (Love you Guin!), but he was waived if off. He even at
one point asked if I wanted a woman for tonight (as he referenced the non-tech
dude from earlier could get me a nice brown haired woman for the night (maybe
the first pimp I’ve ever met?)). He also mentioned even more sketchy stuff; it
was pretty awkward and I wanted to ask what the futz he was smoking or
thinking. I told him I would only want some chicks to talk to or perhaps dance
some salsa with and he thought that was kinda of strange and even asked me if I
wanted a dude (and I was like FUTZ NO) but I think he vaguely understood what I
was talking about with just chilling with the chicks…think he still might try
to get me a woman, so I’ll have to watch out for him. Later as I was leaving
Barney said that he is crazy (don’t doubt it). Anyways getting home (after
being at the hospital till like 6 PM was uneventful although I had to go find a
toothbrush (as the last one I owned had been claimed by a mouse). After that it
was some chilling and some dinner (of B&R, salsa and these odd
plantain/cheese nugget/pocket jimmy jawns that were interesting and the dreaded
oatmeal drank made a surprise entrance again (-.- // Quaker Oats)). I had also
found this Epson projector in the scrap trailer and had tried to start it, but
the power light and temp light would flash red (which I later looked up and
realized it means that the temp sensor and/or the board is dead (CRITICAL
SYSTEM FAILURE (the solution is to contact Epson for technical support (this
unit is discontinued on their site so I doubt that the limitless hotline of
waiting would be any help)))). Today is day 40! So only another like 27 days of
this adventure and then continued adventures in the ‘States! Can’t wait to see
all of you guys in the ‘States again! Peace! Chill and carry upwards and
onwards!
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