When I got back from New Zealand and started up again at the mine after a 2 1/2 year layoff, I found an old counter in one of the trucks and took it home to count the number of four-shift rotations I did. This past week was the 200th. Pretty crazy. 800 (give or take, since sometimes I work less than the four shifts and very very occasionally I work more) 12 hour shifts and who knows how many loads of rock hauled or dug. I feel like I should write a list of Things I Learned From Coal Mining but like when Hobbes asked Calvin what he learned from the killer snowgoon fiasco, I prefer to learn lessons that have as little application to real life as possible. "Snow goons are bad news!"