Today I wanted to share a photo and story about the clock I keep next to my desk. In a couple of my posts I have mentioned that I work as a materials engineer. This clock dates back to my first few weeks at my job. I had a project that involved heating some plastic gears in a special oven. The oven allowed us to pump out the atmosphere and fill it with nitrogen. Nitrogen gas is inert and wouldn't damage the gears at high temperatures the way oxygen would.
What no one at work told me was that the temperature sensor was broken on the oven. As the new guy, I happily placed all my gears in the oven and left. The oven actually got much hotter than what I set it. When I came back, I found a puddle of plastic in the oven and that all the gears had melted together. At the time I was pretty embarrassed. Since the gears were ruined, I just kept them at my desk. I just liked the way the plastic had flowed and solidified.
While I was on sick leave, one of my friends took the melted mess and put a clock in the center. Now I proudly display my first mistake at work. To me, the clock serves as a reminder that we all make mistakes from time to time. The clock also reminds me that mistakes are okay and can even lead to some cool results.
