Gather 'round yon formwork, all....

This was a post that I meant to write at the end of last week, but have been too slammed/stressed to do it justice.

I needed some fresh poured concrete to get my term research project up and running; fortunately, the professor directed me to one of his students who was doing a big pour (~2 yards)--the six test cylinders I needed would be less than what they threw away. So I stopped by the structures casting lab on the day of the pour. Of course, the mix truck was late--remember, it only shows up on time if you're frantically finishing off your formwork.

One neat thing is that whenever a grad student in this lab has a pour, the rest of the group shows up to lend a hand--kinda like a barn raising. The group gets together and works hard for a morning, and then the guy running the experiment buys lunch or coffee or something. It was just neat to see.

So I got my samples, and one of the students who is in my concrete durability class helped me prep them (I have a six-pack of beer in my office fridge to give him next time I see him). Then the lab tech yelled, "Hey K., can you give Han a hand screeding?" Of course, when put into that situation, you grab the other end of the concrete screed and pitch in. I spent maybe a half hour there, shovelling off excess concrete, cleaning up, and generally helping--seemed like the least I could do. It was fun to be useful. Also, it was kinda funny to see all of these big brained professors, PhDs, and doctoral and masters' candidates shovelling and troweling concrete in lab coats. It was a nice bit of reassurance that yes, a bit of real work does get done at Universities.