Zen and the sticking RG-45 rod

It would seem that my last post drug out every old lurker that's ever
been on RAH (except Chuck... what's he up to these days?) Even BWB
sent me an unearthly vibe the other day.

But now that I have the torch, I've got a serious welding question.
Two actually. Number one is: anyone ever get firebrick from the Borg?
I've looked, but not scored any.

Second question: It seems that every time I dip the filler rod into
the puddle (shuddup and think about welding for a minute), every time
I dip the rod into the puddle, it sticks to the base metal and I end
up melting it off with the torch which I know isn't right based on the
shower of sparks. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? For the record, I'm
using the standard H-F torch, thier size "0" tip, and I've had the
same experience on both 16 ga. flat sheet (just trying to run a bead,
not joining) and on 2" square tubing (butt joint). I've got less than
15 minutes experience so far, but it would be helpful to know what I'm
doing or not doing wrong.

Thanks in advance,
Harry

BTW, Veedub, I'll add those practice exercises to the program. Sounds
like good advice. In a few months I'm hoping to have enough skill to
weld a few old bicycles together. Boulder has its own Kinetic
Sculpture race/challenge that we're trying to save from the scrapheap
of yuppiedom. I'm set to become the treasurer and accountant of a non-
profit we're in process of forming to administer the event. I'm
thinking of a steampunk dirigible theme for my sculpture. Something
like LZ-5, but with twin 14" battleship guns and a pipe organ! moohoo
hoohoo haha haha.

I'll get to airframes soon enough. Mebe a Wilden 9 or a Vuia monoplane?