Today’s accomplishment was getting bitten by the Evil Blue Monster.
Over the last few months, I’ve been working on assembly instructions and drawings for a manufacturing company. Their products are manufactured in China and are the very same color as an ill-fated Chinese tractor we bought when we first moved here. The color "Rhino blue" is looked upon with scorn and derision in our household. The Rhino tractor experience — most notably it’s expensive mechanical implosion — was one of those awful experiences you really want to forget. For the record, we have a *green* tractor now, which starts every single time. It’s a wonderful machine. (Like they say, nothing runs like a Deere!)
Anyway, returning to the Evil Blue Monster, maybe the manufacturers in China had a lot of leftover paint, since you can’t buy Rhino tractors anymore, as far as I know. So they are using Rhino blue for the products that I now have to explain how to assemble. I’ve done assembly instructions for three products so far and they keep getting larger and larger. The first instructions I did were for a simple hand held product that had three parts. When assembled, the latest product takes up half my office. Along with the many metal blue parts, it came with a huge baggie filled with clips, doo-dads, and other random hardware. The thing is sort of disturbing in much the same way gargantuan SUVs are disturbing.
The company ships me prototypes of the products, so sometimes the tolerances aren’t exact and pieces are missing. Thus, assembling them can be a challenge. Fortunately, James’ woodshop is nearby, and spare parts and tools (like a hammer) are available.
So this afternoon, I was busy whaling on a big, ole Rhino-blue part with my rubber hammer trying to make it fit where it was supposed to fit. And then the Evil Blue Monster BIT me. (Okay, really, I’m a klutz and I wonked my hand on one of the the metal parts.)
So now I have a big welt on my right hand. And I feel really stupid. Hey, who ever thought technical writing could be dangerous?