You might remember this note from the inside of my co-worker Grant’s locker. Today I discovered what exactly happened to his health. I had known previously that it had something to do with his lungs and painting (what he used to do at Heidt) but it turns out it was isocyanates.

Isocyanates are the evil, dangerous things I worked with when I worked in a lab doing polyurethane foam research. They’re compounds that contain the isocyanate group (-NCO) which reacts with a hydroxyl group (-OH) to produce polyurethane polymers. Other than foams, these also produce spandex fibres, elastomers and polyurethane paints (more relevant here).

They’re a possible carcinogen, cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose etc. as well as breathing problems. Direct skin contact with them can sensitize workers so just being around them causes a reaction. And that’s where Grant is. His lungs are crap and if he’s at all near them, he starts reacting to them. Very shitty that Heidt didn’t bother giving proper safety equipment back in the day or even tell the workers what they were working with.

I made myself some gourmet hot dogs for dinner tonight: Pan fried in barbeque sauce. Surprisingly tasty. I took pictures but well… they don’t look so tasty.

I don’t often get to really talk with Shawn but when I do get a good conversation going, it’s usually late at night when we should both be heading to bed before work. So times like tonight when he gets home from the bar, we get a chance to catch up that we wouldn’t get if we weren’t living together. I guess that’s why I really like living with him, for the spontaneous stuff that can occur without requiring any advanced planning.

The others in my life are so social and active. I’d say the closest people to me are Laura, Shawn, Ryan and Dennis. Shawn and Dennis go out with coworkers once, twice or thrice a week now. Ryan’s out with people from his program a couple times a week and Laura manages to go out once or twice a week with school friends (I’m talking about weekday activities here). What do I do? Nothing. The friends I have are all busy with their replacement friends and/or have moved away.

Weekends are different, of course. Ryan, Shawn and Dennis still do their active stuff and Laura gets to continue doing stuff but it’s really the only time I get to do anything but sit around playing games, watching movies on my computer and falling asleep.