Super Bowl Sunday

At the end of December, I bought a new 47" HDTV and I was jazzed that I was going to be able to watch the Super Bowl with a huge screen and surround sound...Up until about 5 days ago when it dawned on me I'm working days that weekend.

I get to sit in my crappy office with a 13" POS TV with lousy speakers having to scoot in and out to deal with the facility.

Sometimes life just sucks.

A Dear Old Friend Retires (Updated)

After 8 years of dedicated service and support, an old friend is finally being put out to pasture. He sheltered me from heat and inclement weather. Let me know when something was going to whack my head unexpectedly. He's been run over by vehicles and skittered across the ground in sudden gust of wind. He and I have taken a lot of verbal abuse over our dedication to each other. I will miss him.



We stuck together longer than we should have, but it is hard to let go of a relationship that has, over the years made us just fit.

Now I have the "new guy", he looks just like my old friend did all those years ago, but we don't have the familiar comfort that existed before. At least not yet. Perhaps in a year or so we will find that ease of fit.



Update: Funny, but I was just on my Facebook page and realized my avatar is a picture from right after I first started working with my friend.

I Want My Job To Go Union

So I don't have to care about it anymore.

The other day I worked my normal 12 hour shift, got off, went home feed the dogs and, being it had been a busy day, went to bed early. An hour and a half later, my phone was going off. The power had gone off at work for about five seconds and when it came back on, the surge from one of our pumps blew a hold in a 8 inch pipe. A pipe that the site cannot run without.

So, it was back to work I go on a wet drizzly night.

My company lacks basic tools and supplies. In order to prop up the pipe that needed fixing, I had to pull the jack from my truck out to hold it in place and get to where the work needed to be done.

It took 7 hours to get the site back up to speed then I was able to go home, feed the dogs and get about 3 1/2 hours sleep so I could go back for an 8 hour shift. I even juggled the hours on my time sheet so that the company wouldn't get nailed for my working 20 hours in a day.

I really don't want my company to go Union, but after a day like that it would have been nice to just say "I can't help, the rules won't let me. Take it up with the Shop Steward". My co-worker and I were quit proud of getting everything running again and knowing that the company didn't lose too much production, as we were able to keep half the site running during the disaster.

STARK RAVING MAD!!!

This is a personal rant about what a WONDERFUL day I had today, so feel free to skip it if you like.

AN OIL FIELD PRIMER:

The production site I work at has been having problems for about the last 3 1/2 years. The oil wells that bring fluid up have an average cut (water to oil ratio) of 97%. For every barrel (42 gallons in the oil field...I don't know why), we get 32 barrels of water that we have to do something with. Normally we shoot this waste water down another non-producing well at about 1100 psi with the idea of flushing oil through the zone towards some of the producing wells...at least that's the theory. The ideal thing is to produce the maximum amount of oil while being able to get rid of the water so everything stay balanced.

MY COMPANY:

We have severe injection limitations.

The owner wants to produce a sh*tload of oil, as do we all, but he always wants to run the wells that bring the most oil which also bring up the most water. We Operators have come up with 9,000 combination's of maximum oil production and still get rid of the water, but he keeps insisting that "ON PAPER" we should be able to run this new combination that he's worked out.

It doesn't.

WHY I'M STARK RAVING:

Yesterday, the day Operator decided he would run over balanced and "hide" some of the water productions by shunting some of it to a stock tank, thereby getting the production numbers up for his last day on shift.

Well, he forgot to close the shut at the end of his shift, and the night guy after about two hours noticed the production for those two hours was equal to what we normally do in a day. It took him about an hour to find the valve that was cracked.

When I got to work this morning I had 417 bbls (17,514 gals) in the stock tank and and an unknown amount of water that had skimmed from the stock tank to our shipping tank, contaminating the oil (we cannot ship oil that has more than 3% water).

That worked out to another 123 bbls (5,166 gals)...that means I got stuck with 540 bbls (22,680 gals.) extra water to get rid of...and still try to produce oil, so shutting all the producing wells down is out of the question.

My Foreman called in sick this morning (good thing...bad thing?), so I got to make all the decisions about what wells to keep running and what to shut down. I managed to get rid of about 200 bbls but I left my relief right on the edge of disaster, and that is something I just don't like to do.

As an extra added bonus the company that handles our pipeline wasn't completely happy with the accuracy of the machine that records how much oil we ship out and wanted to run another test...out of any day to do this they picked a damn good one. I got us passed even though the bastards showed up 2 hours before they said they'd get there. (Damn, I'm good!!!)

This is not the first time that that Operator has pulled this crap, and I got to talk to the owner about what happened during our morning telephone report. This Operator is the first to talk about "team work" and is also the first to leave you hanging and the first to complain about others not doing something HE feels should have been done. I hung his ass this time, he screwed three people trying to make himself look good. He even left a note saying he would work OT during a guys vacation, not a full shift, but he'd come in for two or four hours....to help out. Damn, if I'm there for 8 to 10 hours, I might as well work the 12.

There...I feel better, tomorrow is another day with more problems and I'll get through it just like I did today.

Red Sky In The Morning

I was sooo!!!looking forward to getting home this morning. Last day of work for four days, and last night was busy. We added another well into our overloaded system and trying to re-balance all the vessels,tanks and pumps is labor intensive, a lot of walking in circles and trying to read gauges and site glasses in the dark.

This is what I came home to in my beautiful little valley.



This is 7:30 in the morning. There is a rather large fire burning in the mountains above me and there is no wind. You should see large mountains in this picture, but hell, I can barely see across the street. It kind of reminded me of we I was growing up here in the early '60's, only then it was smog.

My house in is no danger down in the slums of La Crescenta, but I think I'll just hang indoors until this dissipates.

Chris went to the "Blue House" (the Korean version of the White House) today on a "field trip", but I haven't heard from him to find out how it went, but it's Saturday there, so I think I'll jump on AIM and see if he's around.

Must Be Another Of Those "Rights" Things

JOBLESS GRAD SUES COLLEGE FOR 70G TUITION

She has given new meaning to a class-action lawsuit.

Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn't find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn't worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back.

The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found gainful employment since earning her bachelor's degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24.

Three whole months!!! I just can't imaging how in this economy that someone who is fresh out of school and no hands on experience in her field couldn't land a job right off.

/sarcasm

The 27-year-old alleges the business-oriented Bronx school hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain, and has not done enough to find her a job.

The information-technology student blames Monroe's Office of Career Advancement for not providing her with the leads and career advice it promised.

"They have not tried hard enough to help me," the frustrated Bronx resident wrote about the school in her lawsuit.

I don't know all the details involved here, but it's my blog and I can opine.

Could be she does a lousy interview. Could show up late, not dress up. Or it could even be that the college didn't prepare her adequately for the job.

I went to a Trade/Tech school "Valley College for Medical and Dental Assistants" and learned Respiratory Therapy. The school had a "Career Service", but you find out quickly that the businesses that contact these schools usually have some minor problem with holding onto employees. They either pay to little or they're just crappy places to work ("We've placed lot of graduates with this company" is a clue) and they need a constant flow of new people to replace the ones that leave after a year.

I got my job by networking on my own. Apply everywhere, use any "in" you can through teachers, family, friends, friends of friends. I had a job 2 weeks after graduation that I held for 3 1/2 years, and only left to go back to school (which is another story "The Wasted Year(s)").

There is no guarantee of employment and sometime finding a job is harder than doing it.

Maybe Life Can Be Good

Damn! I was PO'd yesterday. I'm usually very easy going, but yesterday just seemed to be one turd piled on another...I'm much better now!

It turns out I got all worked up over things that settled out on their own. Two "Good News" things greeted me this morning. We start the 4/12 schedule next Tuesday (although that means I work five 8 hour day shifts then go right into four 12 hour night shifts back to back).

The other "Good News" thing is I am now straight Night Shift. (YEEEEHAAWW!!!) I have always been a night person. Even when I was young (6-14) I would stay up and watch Johnny Carson. I just like being up at night. 3:30 AM is when I thing about going to bed, not getting up.

I'll be working with the Foreman and he needs to be there on daylights, so this is Nirvana for me. The other crew rotates day and night. It'll probably change if we get our finances straightened out and they can hire another Operator, but today, I revel in my luck, due I'm sure to my clean and upright living. (Mheh)

It's always said that it's always darkest before the dawn, and that may be, but I do know that it's always coldest between 3:00 and 3:30 AM.

OK...Now I'm Getting Pissed!!!

Did you read yesterday's post?

If not you may now.

I was almost in a good mood about work. Now I'm just pissed and don't want to deal with two of the three guys I work with.

The guy I relieved this morning is the only one against going to a 4/12 shift and he moaned about it all though shift report. Not what I wanted to deal with at quarter to 5 this morning. When the Foreman came in, his understanding was one dissension and no schedule change (crap!). Later, when the Foreman talked to the owner, it was the guy will have to deal with it or he can quit. We'll hire back the guy we just laid off.

Fine.

Then my relief shows up and announces that he's not doing any work anymore and is not supporting the sked change (that he's lobbied for over the last year) because our health insurance is only going to cover the employee, dependents are out of pocket.

It's not fair (to him) because if he has to pay for dependent insurance, I'll be making more than him. He doesn't seem to grasp that because I'm single (separated) and my boy is Gov't property, starting this year, this bozo has been getting a yearly bonus that works out to him making a hell of a lot more than me over the last 5 years.

My company kept us on for over 6 months with no production, another year and a half when we couldn't produce enough to pay the bills and right now we have an income that can buy chewing gum OR baling wire...but not enough for both at the same time.

I am a human float switch!

I've effing had it with people that can't bend a little or grasp the reality of what's going on around them. I don't like the (lack of) Business Plan that our company operates under any more than they do, but I here I am, and I'm going to give my time on the job to making money for the company as best I know how. I'll carp as much as the next guy about how it would be better if I ruled the world, but I don't! So I get up at 3:30 AM tomorrow and drag my butt into work again.

Could be worse.

How?

Could be raining.

Good News...Bad News

I've still got a job for the time being.

That's the good.

The bad...I can't be sure for how long.

My company laid off one guy today, which sucks, but they are curtailing operation hours at our other sight and sending one of the Operators over to our yard (my sight produces more oil and gas).

A little more good news is that we're going on a shift schedule of 4-12's. Four days (7AM-7PM)--four days off--four nights--four days off. This has got to be better that the rotating shift I've been on for the last 5 years.

This is the schedule I've been living with (click to bigifiy if you want to see hell):



I'll still need a printed schedule to know when I'm where, but the 4-12's should simplify things a bit and I won't have to radically alter my sleep cycle on a weekly basis anymore.

Last night I was flopping from right side to left at least until 1:30 AM. I do remember watching "Red Eye" from 12 to 1, then dozing off after that, but I had to get up at 3:30 AM to make work by 5 AM. That makes for a llooonng day.

More bad news is that a percentage of our medical insurance is going to be shifted to the employees. The amount hasn't been set yet, but rumor is 20%. I can't say I'm thrilled about this, but I do still have a job.

Good News: I'll be working my shifts with someone I get along with. We know what's expected of the other and can hash out problems.

Bad News: My concern is our opposite shift. Are we going to walk into 4 days of the things that should have been done being left for us to do? I won't worry about it until it happens, but it's floating around in the back of my mind.

Unknowns: For the first time in my working career, I've got 3 weeks vacation..there is a rumor that we will be limited to two weeks. I'll find out tomorrow. The other unknown is I'm bottom of the list seniority-wise, unless they decide to count the 2 years I worked as a contract worker. In that case I'm 2 months ahead of the next guy. That will depend on who the owner and Foreman consider the most expendable.

If I get laid off, that's just the kick in the butt I need to get the hell out of California. I can be broke anywhere and I know I'll find another job somehow.

Just Music

Long night at work. Not much happened, so it was just boring and cold. I tried to watch the replay at 1 AM of the USC/Notre Dame game, but I knew the outcome so it wasn't very exciting. I read the blogs till my eyes blurred, so it was Spider solitaire and KROQ to stay awake.

When I hooked into the radio station it was playing some sort of techno/rock/rave stuff that I almost turned off, but I kept listening and kind of enjoyed it. Thought I'd give it a listen next week and see if I still could take it. Turns out it was the guys last show and he thanked all his listeners and signed off before I got any of the artists names.

The next DJ payed some good stuff. Here's a couple that I like.



Foo Fighters - Everlong (live on Letterman)

I listen to "Talk Radio" during the week, so music is only a weekend thing. This one I've heard a few times and I just like it.



Shiny Toy Guns 'GHOST TOWN'

P.S. You guys that post music videos on your blog...give a title or group. If I like it, I hate having to search for it.

Feh!

The last two days at work have been...frustrating.

Not bad, not good. Not getting ahead, but not falling behind. Just a lot of walking trying to figure out an adjustment to make on some piece of equipment that would at least let me feel like I accomplished something beside maintaining our meager status quo.

I was talking to my relief tonight about the work we use to do 20-25 years ago in the oil field (I still have all my fingers)and while this job can be a bitch, we wouldn't want to go back to "the good old days", but it got me thinking about "those days" on my drive home and it made me remember this song by Madonna.

I'm not a Madonna fan, but I like some of her songs and don't think about her politics when listening. The exteriors of this video were shot on property that belonged to the company I worked for. As a favor to the employees, the owner would insist that a company rep (me) had to be on site during filming paid by the filming company. Long hours of boredom watching them shoot the same scene over and over (the kiss at 3:24...I watched them film it about 5 times, then went to dinner...good food...sat around and BS'ed with the cops on "crowd control", went back....and they were still filming the same kiss), followed by intense chaos of the crew moving everything for the next shot. I talked to Madonna, she just showed up next to me before I realized who she was (she's a dink, I'm 6'2" and she didn't even come up to my shoulder). The closing scene of her and the kid dancing up the street, if you look at the trees on the right side of the street, you can see some movement. There were probably about 50 people from the neighborhood behind those trees.

Our big starring moment comes at 3:45, that's our oil well.



If you ever rep for a company during a film shoot, bring a lawn chair and a book. I've worked a few and it's boring as hell.

Rip Van Winkle Impersonation

After the fine welcome back the site gave me, things just got better.

I didn't disappear over the last couple of days, I was asleep.

We had to take a 3 day HAZWOPER class to be certified as first responders to any oil spill. Normally I don't mind taking a class, but this time it sucked. I'm working graveyard so my schedule Sunday though Thursday was this:

9PM to 5AM: Work

5AM to 8AM: Sleep in my truck on site.

8AM to 4PM: Class

4PM to 9PM: Drive home, grab something to eat, sleep, get up and get stuff together for work, go back to work.

I got about 4 1/2 to 5 hours sleep broken up, which didn't seem to do any good. I use to be able to do things like this, but no longer. When I got home Thursday morning, I was so tired I couldn't go to sleep, so I goofed around until about noon, then laid down and left the world for 24 hours straight.

The problem with sleeping that long is that you want to keep on sleeping. Saturday was a total waste as I couldn't work up enough energy to do anything. So today, it's catch up day. Laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning, bill paying.

I don't return to work until Tuesday afternoon, so life may return to what I consider normal by then.

Why Did I Come Back?!!?

I had a marvelous vacation! More things to do than we had time for, but 6 days with my two closest friends and their overly understanding wives. Typically we guys acted like we were back in college again and I'm not sure about them, but I'm still sore and tired three days later.

An added bonus to the trip was I got to see my godson who was, by luck, out for the holiday from New Orleans. He was safe in Phoenix while hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana. Of course he was suppose to fly back on Monday, but with the airport closed and the city still shut down, he couldn't get home until Thursday night (broke his Mom's heart having him home three extra days).

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had driven to Phoenix until I got outside of San Bernardino and the speed limit jumped to 70 MPH. Last time I drove, we were still stuck with the 55 limit. Arizona had to do us one better and when I crossed the state line, their limit was 75 MPH. With the truck on cruise control and staying around the speed limit, I was there in 6 hours, including one stop for breakfast and one stop for gas.

My hosts had just had a pool installed that is 4 1/2 feet deep...designed for pool volleyball, and did we play a lot of volleyball. I can hardly lift my arms over my shoulders. The night my godson had all his old friends over and they forced me to drink to much and insist I get involved with their game didn't help this 50 something old man. Fun, and the patience of a cagey dink shot just over the net can throw off the power game of twenty year old's.

The drive home was boring,but I did stop by a Indian casino and donate some funds to the tribe. Doubled my money in the first hour, then gave back my winnings plus the initial bet in the second.

Went back to work last night (graveyard), and was told everything was running smoothly and it should be a quiet shift. Two hours in and I get an alarm. A valve blew on something I had walked by 35 minutes before and water and silty mud was ankle deep in one of our containment basins.

I diagnosed the problem, figured out how to fix (bypass) it...but...for lack of a 15/16" box end wrench and/or a 1/2" drive ratchet (found a socket), I couldn't break the bolts to isolate the leak. I kept the site running for another 2 hours until my tanks were full and I had to shut the entire site down.

It was a fine "Welcome Back!", but it is what I've come to expect in my life.

Numb II

To all my friends who have stopped by and checked on me, "THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!"

Of course I have to get a Smog Check on my truck, she'll pass, but just another hoop that life is going to make me clear before a semblance of sanity returns.

Oh, yeah...I managed to lose my ATM/debit card. Life is....interesting.

I'm still in a pissy mood, but there is always a sliver of optimism somewhere on the fringe. It's just my nature.

If I live through this week (ending Tuesday, Aug. 25th), I'm taking a weeks vacation and driving to Phoenix to see two of my closest friends and their wives. With the weekend days, I'm away from work for 10 days. YEEEHAW!!! And when I go back, I'm on graveyard, so nobody bothers me, then my 5 day "long change" off. This would normally mean I wouldn't see anyone for three weeks, but I'll wait and post about the interesting twist, dropped on me today, of when I have to be at work for another post (hint: lotsa easy OT).

You knew it was coming. So I won't disappoint.

News...Good Or Bad?

I just got the true story on some scuttlebutt that has been bouncing around the last few days. I'm working graveyard this week, so I didn't have contact with anyone who knows.

This morning I was relieved by the Foreman and got the facts (as much as he knows).

My company is in escrow and being sold.

THE BAD:

I've only met the guys that are buying the company once, briefly, about a year ago, so I have no idea if we'll get along or have the same goals.

I make an appropriate salary, but ...new peons are cheaper, or the owners can just say "This is what we'll pay you."

They plan on me doing the work more fitting for a 20 year old.



THE GOOD:

They've got a reasonable budget to start correcting the ongoing problems with the facility and expanding production.

I have over 25 years experience in the oil field, I'm worth the money.

The budget (initially) sounds like they plan on using contractors to do the heavy work.

These are just my initial thoughts. I'm not going to go into panic mode just yet. It will take at least 3 months to get all the details worked out(permits, royalty contracts, etc.).

The only thing I know about the "possible" new owners from when I met them a year ago, is that they are that they are Iranian, they drive Benzes and one of the brothers has hair longer than I do.

One other piece of good news is that they have oil sites in Texas (and some other state that I immediately forgot because I just went "No way I'm going there"). So I may be able to transfer to Texas with a job in a couple of years. YeeeeeHaaaaw!!!

Or I get "let go", have to sell my house (with a 400% profit), and move to Texas. The Emperor just bought big new house, he must have a room to let.

Do You Sell Used Cooking Oil?

Since the price of gasoline crossed $4.00, I have been getting an increasing number of phone calls that are just annoying the hell out of me!

Phone Rings...Most likely this occurs when I'm at the farthest point in the yard, so I walk quickly (no more running for me, that ended about 3 years ago when I tripped over my own feet and went down. Took me two weeks to work all the pains out) hoping whoever is calling will let it ring more than 6 times.

[Note: I am polite throughout the conversation, just getting a little exasperated as it progresses]

ME: [answering phone] "Name of Company" Oil.

CALLER: Who's is this?

ME: "Name of Company" Oil, may I help you?

CALLER: Do you sell used cooking oil?

ME: No. This is a crude oil facility.

CALLER: You don't sell used cooking oil?

ME: No, sorry.

CALLER: Do you sell new cooking oil?

ME: NO, as I said this is a CRUDE OIL facility.

CALLER: So, you don't selling any cooking oil?

ME: No.

CALLER: Do you know someone that sells used cooking oil?

ME: No, sorry.

CALLER: You don't know anyone?

ME: NO! I told you this is a CRUDE OIL FACILITY. What makes you think I'd know where to buy cooking oil, used or new, outside of a supermarket? [then being helpful] Maybe you can try "restaurant supply" or "recycling services" in the Yellow Pages.

CALLER: Do they sell used cooking oil?

ME: I haven't a clue, perhaps you should call them and ask.

CALLER: So, you don't sell used cooking oil?

ME: [AAARRGGHHH!!!] No! I hope you find what you're looking for, good luck.

CALLER: [click]

I admit, to a certain degree, I milk it. Most of the callers seem to be in their late 60's+, but they made me drop what I was doing and scurry across the yard, so I'm willing to sit for two minutes and go through the routine...again.

For most of these guys I'd be willing to bet that if they converted their vehicle over to running on used cooking oil, the cost of conversion added to the price of used cooking oil these days (nobody gives it away anymore), they wouldn't outlive the the investment costs.

Where Did Hell Did I Go?

Twelve days since my last post. I knew five had gone by, but the other week is just a blur.

The first five were my long change and I had made plans with my boy to get a jump on cleaning out the storage shed that my garage had become. In 1996, when the new guys bought my old company and I was made manager, I ended up working 14 to 18 hours per day, seven days a week, During this time, when my wife wanted to move something out of the house, it got stuck just inside the garage door. As the front got blocked, the stuff got pushed back until there was just a path around the table saw and over to my completely cluttered work bench or past the table saw to the back down the right side.

Typically, the time I decided to do this project the temperature went from mid 80's the day before to 105 to 112. I figured getting going around 7 AM would be good to beat the heat, but have you ever tried to get a 19 YO at that time of day? We'd be going by about 8ish and by noon to 1, I'd call it quits.

He did work diligently and we made a major hole in the stuff. It was a lot of sorting and the pile of crap to keep or toss was growing faster than I could make decisions. I'm a pack rat. but know from experience that the thing that has been sitting around for 4 years taking up space with no idea of what the hell you're ever going to do with it so it gets tossed, is the exact thing you will need in two weeks to complete a project.

Returning to my regular job, the temps dropped back into the mid 80's. I had one regular day, followed by a non-relief day where I had a twelve hour shift. On this day, the Division of Oil and Gas (DOG), after a year, decided to change some of the requirements for operation of a couple of our injector wells (the two best of course), the foreman was busy with a guy trying to get our pipeline plan up to date, so I had to figure out which wells we could keep running and still get rid of the water using the formulas of which wells produce the most oil and least water, balanced by which wells that produce enough gas to keep the that system flowing so our LTS (Low Temperature System) didn't freeze up. Then just to make life interesting, the Gas Company got pissed at us about something and turned of the readout that tells us the readings on inerts in the gas.

In order to sell gas, we have a ranges set to keep their automated valves open. The are parameters for BTU's and inerts (must be monitored closely), and CO2 and H2S (not usually a problem).

Without the reading on inerts (Gas CO) and wells getting turned off (DOG), it's been this was a fun week where intuition and juju played a big part in keeping things going.

It's been a fun week.

When I go back on Thursday, the foreman is on vacation so I get to look forward to two weeks of 12 hour shifts, being one of the guys from our site has to go over to our 23rd St. site to do line integrity testing.

Some good news, Thursday (float) and Friday are HOLIDAYS....double time shifts with 4 hours OT each day. The two things that suck are 1) I'm working days, so no shift differential and 2) by the time taxes get figured in, I'd probably take home more with just two straight eights.

For anyone who comes by on a semi-regular basis, thanks for not giving up. I really lost track of the time.

Drugs!!!

Had to go yesterday to get my "random" drug test. Outside of the fact that I had to drive 16 miles to a site right next to the entrance to LAX, it really wasn't a big thing. I haven't done drugs in a long, long time, hell, I'll try to tough out a headache before I'll take an aspirin. With my consumption of beer at times...well I feel sometimes you just have to pay the piper to play.

The reason for the snide quotes around "random" is due to a mid-life crisis, or some other reason like I just felt like it, but for the last 7 to 8 months, I've let my hair and beard grow. I now have a full beard and a really cute ponytail.

I'll post pics sometime before I mow it all down because I'm thinking it will most likely be clean shaven and 1/2"(max)on the hair.

I did this as an experiment to determine if the hair growth of hippies caused any of the brain defects that seem to crop up with the look. It doesn't seem to have any effect on my generally pissed off view of the world in the sense that I despise Commies, Socialists and all the posers that believe that "Big gov't is stealing our freedoms...but, if elected, I will make sure gov't cures your ills if you pass this law".

I really believe that I got called in to "piss in a cup"...again, is that my foreman seems to think I'm a threat to his job. I DO NOT want his job. The foreman doesn't do much except dump the blame on the Operators for things not working right, so I just sit back and wonder how long the owner can delude himself that there are 7 people that don't know their ass from a hot rock and maybe, just maybe, someone needs to come up with an actual business plan.

My job this weekend was suppose to paint a tank, but I pointed out (on Thursday)that we had no rollers to complete the job. I was told there had to be rollers out there as he had just bought some (4, about a month ago and used). The foreman didn't come in on Friday, so I now get to assign jobs to myself (no problem), but on Monday, I'll get bitched at for not doing the job HE wanted done.

I've managed a small oil company...when we were getting around $6.00 a barrel way back in the '90's...we'd lose money in the short run, but with 4 generations of experience, knew that it would cycle and eventually come out ahead.

If there is a plan for Monday, outside of complaining about the tanks not getting painted, I'd like to see or hear about it

Maybe I should start using drug again, that would give me a reason for MY failure to get the job done.

Nope, I think I'll fight it out to the end.

Damn...I Think I'm Getting Old

It's April again. I've almost completed one more cycle around the sun in a couple of weeks and I'm staring to think that gravity has gotten the upper hand on me. I'm not just grunting when I stand up, I groan when I sit down.

It's not just the pains that I expected at this point from growing up...motorcycle "accidents"...Cadillac v 450 Honda, dirt bike riding (I can make that jump), hiking (I can make that jump), all the way back to jumping off the roof of a house onto a concrete patio (I was 8 and only minor damage ensued), because I knew I was invincible.

Well, maybe I am invincible, but I ache.

At the moment it seems I'm either trying to stretch out some bastard knotty muscle, or trying to find the back-scratcher so I can get to that fraking iItch in the middle of my back.

I figured it out today, I really do walk at minimum 5 miles a day at work. During these miles, I have to bend waaay over and around to reach valves, tighten leaky things and read gauges somewhat accurately that can be anywhere from mid-calf level to 8 feet in the air.

My company is on the verge of making a comeback, and I'm trying to use all my abilities to get us over the edge, but I get no respect from my "foreman" and two of the guys (out of four) don't give a shit about anything but having the "job" to come to.

The other guy seems to think that (even though he's been there a decade) that things will change and we'll get the basic tools and supplies we need.

Mwhaahaaahaa!!

I do know that the company has massive debts (due to lack of maintenance), but at $104 a barrel, when the industry ideal was $30, I think there may be money to mitigate some of our dilemma, or at least correct existing problems to stave off future disasters.

I wonder how many of my aches are because of my age, or how much I hate my job?

Zzzzzzz...

Woke the boy up yesterday to do his brakes, but he hadn't picked up the parts yet and then I couldn't get to sleep. Not usually a problem with me. If I can lean against something and close my eyes, I can nod off if I want.

Back in the days when I worked a normal schedule, I would watch the end of 11 o'clock news, slide down in bed and be asleep before the "Tonight Show" theme would play.

I use to have a Boss/friend that would suffer from insomnia, but I believe his problem was when he couldn't fall off, he would seriously worry about not falling asleep, thus sending himself into one of those vicious cycles that feeds off itself.

I never really worried, figuring that when I get tired enough, I'll fall asleep.

In 50+ years, I can only think of, maybe, 5 or 6 times I really couldn't sleep for more than one or twos days.

I did get to sleep for about 3 1/2 hours, but as I said yesterday, today was a nonRelief Day (12 hour shift) and I have one more night to go.

I did luck out. When the foreman moseyed in around 8 this morning, he laid out all the big projects he had planned. I just said "Bob will be very excited about getting these things done when he come in at 9, I've got to go do my final rounds and oil up the equipment".


I did get a chance to cruise the web last night, but to tell the truth, I can't remember a whole lot of what I read.

If I can't sleep today, it'll most likely be one of those times tomorrow that I'll get home and sleep for 18 to 24 hours straight.

The only problem when this happens is 1) I lose a whole day of the five I have off, and 2) when I wake up, I am STARVING and either will find that everything in the house must be eaten now, or just the idea of eating anything makes me want to puke.

Thank G-d for beer, "liquid bread" it always seems to fit the bill, however, drink one or two beers on an empty stomach and you want to go back to sleep.

Ahh well, I've managed to survive five years on this schedule, I guess I make make a few more.