A new blog entry has been added:

Tragedy

This is something I am afraid of every workday. We have a table saw, two miter saws, jigsaws (suprisingly the jigsaw is least scary), a band saw (Most scary), and a router table. All of this is very dangerous, and your fingers are very close to the cutting end of every machine.

I have somehow managed to never cut myself badly. At most, I've gotten deep splinters of wood in my finger.

The only injury I am ashamed of that happened at work was I accidentally shot my thumb with a nail gun. I was holding a board down, and it was warped, so when I was pushing, it pushed back, and when I tapped the nail gun down, the board moved, my hand moved, and I was shot.

My coworker tried to pry it out of my thumb with a pair of pliers. It was jammed in between or next to a bone, and would not move at all. My thumb was numb, so it didn't hurt, I just wanted it out. I also had a glove attached to my hand with a nail, so I looked like Michael Jackson.

All this pales in comparison to your coworker's accident, I know. But I was hoping to lighten the situation somewhat.

I can only hope that tools become safer to use as technology progresses. They do make a table saw now that immediately stops if it senses a finger in it's blade path. They tested it with a hot dog. It barely knicks it and the blade stops instantly. I wish I had that saw, it is much safer than any you can buy in a retail store.

sorry mate thats awful wish him all the best and try to riase his morale we got told to do this with amputee's in the army just keep their spirits up and keep your friend smiling. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

Ouch...that's not good at all and I'm amazed your mate is cracking jokes. I'm producing a newsletter linked to my website, can I use your blog entry as a bit of a tribute to your mate and how he is showing all of us how to keep our chins when we're feeling down... wish him all the best from Camstar's World....

Chris that is an awful thing to have had happen - but your friend seems to be in the right frame of mind to deal with this. Is is too something i worry about with my Chris as he and my cousin work in a industrial environment such as that,

He is very lucky to have friends like yourself!!! And as his hand his healing his positive attitude is the best meds ever


I really hope he starts to feel better and have him and his family in my thoughts

Chris,

I couldnt help but feel awful about what happened to your co-worker. We can all learn that lesson of keeping our spirits up when things get tough. It's also good to know that he has friends like you around to help him through. I commend you on that as well. Here I sit, looking at my right pointer finger which was almost lost due to a forklift of all things. Just knowing that they were discussing the possibility of amputation pretty much brought me down to nothing. Just as sombody else mentioned. This was nothing compared to what your friend went through. I'm glad that was all he lost.

Nec

Thanks to everyone who took time to say a few kind words.

Bo came to see me last week. It was a pleasant surprise! He isn't actually driving yet. His daughter has to chauffeur him around. But the point is he is getting out and about (besides just seeing the doctors)!

It was great to see him out of the house. He said for the first time since the accident, he has really felt like getting out and doing something. I am so glad to see my friend recovering and returning to his old self... as much as he can, all things considered.

Again, thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers!