...for the Birthday Wishes. Blog-Poppa Harvey sent out the call, and a few that know me, and some that don't responded. Sincerely, many thanks for the kind words.
How did I spend my Birfday?
Well the better question is...How did you spend your Birfday Weekend?...as I actually had two day's off in a row (without bitching to get it. WOOT!). Thank Goodness, that the city of Knoxville has a Clerks Office open on Saturday, or else I'd have started today driving on an expired license. I dragged my carcass out of bed, and tried to do something with my straggly hair. I'd planned on going to the barber on friday evening, but got trapped helping out my brother in law replace a pump motor that burned out in a hotel. Didn't hit the house until after everything was closed. Clerk's office opens at ten, so it was too early to go in the morning. Ah well, I guess I'll have to make do.
The pitcher didn't turn out too bad, alhtough it does look like a mug-shot. I have a problem smiling for "Official Photographs", so they all turn out the same. Atleast it only took me 15 minutes to get it "did". That was nice. Went to my local waterring hole to visit with my favorite Beertender (the same one who expressly told me to show up, and she'd get me a big slice of cake for my b-Day) and she wasn't there! I certainly plan on letting her know how she "ruined my birthday" the next time I see her. She'll understand. Went and got my "ears lowerred", and I must say that a #4 clipper-cut does me some justice. Even though it rarely is...my hair looks much better when it's on the short-side.
Then I went looking for a "toy" to treat myself with. I went to a couple of hobby shops in search of a radio controlled Airplane. I figgerred it would be fun to fly a miniature aircraft around the park or whatnot. After realizing what it would cost me to get something cool (around $500) I decided that I'd better look elsewhere. Went to the music shop, in hopes that I'd find a marvelous deal on a stratocaster, but was unable to justify the expenditure on same. I continued my travels, and found myself at the local Best Buy. Maybe I'd find a video game, or a CD that would please me enough that I could call it a Birfday present.
I was wanderring the aisles, until I came across a playable display. It was of a game that I'd heard about, but had never ever seen. I played "I Love Rock 'n Roll" by Joan Jett and the BlackHearts, right there in the store, and I was hooked. I immediately paid the $70 frieght on the item and carried it to the house. I've been enjoying it ever since.
I went on the Auspicious Day to visit with my Family and have a repast. The fellowship was the best part, and the meal would have made me "smack my momma" if she'd not been the one to prepare things. My Brother In Law did the cookin' and I commenced to eatin'. A grand day was this, and the gifts were more than I'd wished for.
Let's say that a good day was had by all...
Things around here are pretty-much the same as alway's... Way too many hours at work, exhaustion when I'm at home, and no rest due to chores that didn't get done through the week hadda get done on my only day off. Standard Operating Procedure around here anymore. I started to post something on Sunday, but it was way too depressing to complete, so it now languishes in the "Draft" folder.
The main thing that's been a little different around here lately is that the rest of the household has split for Hilton Head and a nice weeklong vacation. They left out last Friday, and are not to return until this Friday. Things were quite hectic at the end of last week, as the mere preparations for their sojourn provided for drama after drama... Shit that I wasn't prepared for after working 68 hours last week. Needless to say, the quiet around here has been a welcome relief. Unfortunately, I've been left in charge of six animals, that all need to be fed and waterred, and nurtured, and loved on, and all that namby-pamby shit that I ain't real good at. We've still got all the animals that we started with, so I guess that's something.
(brief pause while I go chase down the Beagle and the Puppy who've just made a run for fun.)
As I knew would happen, tonight the quiet has gotten to the point that it's nerve-wracking. The lack of a hojillian kids, another couple of adults, and the common little idiosyncracies of a household, has gotten me down. It's kinda like those old "jungle" movies where the hero states "Why don't they stop those infernal drums!!", only to proclaim "It's quiet out there...Too Quiet" when he finally gets his wish. Alas, it's another cross I bear.
The main difficulty is trying to find something decent to eat of an evening. It's not that I can't cook, nor even that I won't, it's just a cast iron bitch to cook for one, without wasting an assload of food in the process. I'd like to think of myself as not such a wasteful person, so the fast food establishments have been frequented often this week. After today's 12 hour shift, I just didn't feel like any kind of quick meal joint, but I'm too tired to bother to get cleaned up and go to some sit-down place.
As I got closer to the Crib, the solution finally hit me, and I esed the shop van into the Weigel's (Local convenience store that you can't swing a dead cat without hitting four of.) and procured this evening's victuals. Waht a fine repast it was... A twelve-pack of Coca-Cola, a 7 1/2 Oz bag of Doritos Tortilla chips, a loaf of "Light Bread", and a tub of Weigel's Brand Pimento Cheese Spread. Yeah I know, but it's what I had a craving for. Sometimes an honest workin' redneck has just got to git him a piminter cheez an' light bread sammich.
Hell, I'm Batchin'. That's my excuse.
Over the course of my apprenticeship with a few of the "Old Dog's" UI've picked up a few bad habits. The biggest one was learned from Ford... and it's a doozy. Ford's been building elevators for nearly as long as I've been alive, and he was a bit burned out by the time I showed up to help him. His attitude was along the lines of "close is good enough". "Agh, Phill'll get it" was a phrase commonly heard. (Phil is the Adjuster, and a true anal retentive... it's gotta be perfect.) Ford would cut corners, or overlook things that were wrong to advance the job. Recently I found myself doing the same thing.
I'm kinda "under the gun" on this job, and the stress has been getting to me. A large factor of it has been the fact that I can't smoke cigarettes inside the building. I'm very accustomed to having a wrench in my right hand, a bolt in my left, and a smoke hanging off my lip. Now I hafta go outside to have a butt, and it adds to my stress because I feel guilty that I'm "wasting time" outside. (getting the nicotine I need to deal with the stress... You can see the Catch 22.)
This machine is one of the most challenging, as it has both front and rear opennings. The entire elevator MUST be perfectly centerred in order for it to work properly, but there was a variance down on the lowest floor that threw me off. Thereby, the entrances on the upper floors were offset by about 3/4 of an inch. The "front' stuck out too far, and the "Rear" was pulled in. I was going to fob it off on the contractor to fix it. He can make adjustments to his walls to compensate for the mistake. Today, I got "Busted".
The Big Boss, came by this afternoon to show a new salesman what a working job looked like. After perusing the alignment of things for awhile, he revealed my miostake to me (that I already knew was there) and gave me the proper impetus to fix it. I shouldn't need that. I should be prepared to correct the problem on my own, and I put it off.
I've made a point to put a little mnote on every surface that I can think of... "Be your own Adjuster". Just a freindly reminder that I'm better than my Bad Habits. It'll work.
By the end of this month, I've gotta go into the damned Ole DMV and get meself another Driver's License. For some reason, they think that after ten year's of using the same pitcher to portray my own beauteous visage that I need a new one... Or is it fifteen years? I forget.
Now I'll be the first one to admit that I need a new ID placard, my current one expires on 06-25-2... Very appropriate as it was Issued on 06-15-2. Yeah, the latter portion of this poor defiled document has snapped off. It was a poor wallet decision, but I've since modified it to accept a normal sized Identification Utensil, so the replacement is bound to last weeks, MONTH's Even, before sufferring a similar fate.
I'm hopeful that my new pictuer is matched up with the old, as I've received a missive from the Department of Veterans Affairs reminding me of the theft of 25.6 million names and SSO's of former military that was stolen. I can only hope that Enrique and I don't look enough alike to cause a problem. I'd hate to think that I'd be toted across the border 'cuz I was mistaken for a fuckin' illegal. It'd ruin my birthday.
I really had a nice and restful weekend... I only did a couple of chores, mow the lawn, do my laundry, clean all the elevator stuff out of my minivan and put the seats back into it... Nice and relaxing.
As I stated previously, I was looking forward to a 50 hour workweek this week, well that plan's now shot. The day started out fairly well, did the sefety meeting at the shop first-thing. Got a few things unloaded off my truck, and headed for the job. This install is in a nearby Presbyterian Church, and when I got there, I was informed that they were holding a funeral service this morning "So, No beating and banging until 11:30 or so." "Beating and Banging" is pretty much what I fucking Do, so I was pretty much stopped all morning. I went and got an oil change in my shop truck, and fetched a few fasteners from the Home Depot, and got an early lunch. By the time I got back, the service was complete, so we commenced to work.
Long about noon, I got the call. Instead of having two weeks to complete this elevator, I've got one. This thing needs to be ready for the adjuster come next Monday come hell or high water. 50 hours? More like 75 or 80. Weekend too, most likely.
Ah well. I did get some rest, but I fear it mightn't been enough.
Well... I put my foot down today 'cuz somethin' hadda give. I had to explain to several people (Contractor, Office staff, Bitching to my helper, etc.) that I have only had one day off in the last three weeks, and I'm fucking tired. This week, I only put in 33 hours on a job that is to be completed in three weeks. Sure, the rest of the job is waiting on the elevator. Right, the timetable is close. Correct, the office promised them 40 hours this week. Unfortunately, I spent a half a day (four hours) on Monday running around procuring oil pipe and other sundries for a job up in Kentucky, and all day (12 hours worth) of getting some oil pipe in the ground before a concrete pad is laid. By my math, that's 49 hours this week.
I'd like to mention that I'm not afraid of work. Nossir, I'm actually quite proud to do a "Job O' Work" every day. Even the dreaded Overtime doesn't scare me. I've worked a hell of a lot of it over the last I don't know how many months, but there comes a point. Sure, the money's good, but I've got to have a little downtime. I've gotta recharge my batteries.
I've done some stupid shit this week, processes that are normally simple, have been complicated by several mistakes. Mistakes take time to correct and that's time I don't have. I've grabbed the wrong sized pipe fittings, and that's cost nearly three hours. There's more of this type of thing, but I've forgotten all the details. My helper just started with the company on Manday. He's an 18 year old kid, a good one, but still a kid. It ain't his fault, but he just don't know nothin'. I've been teaching him all week, and that takes time.
This afternoon, I had to explain to everyone involved, that I was taking this weekend off. In no uncertain terms. I hadda get "Short" with a few folks, and I feel bad about that. I feel pretty good about the fact that I'll get some rest this weekend. I'll do my job much better come Monday. Hell, I've got a fifty hour week starting monday... Gotta make up the time.
I was thinking about doing a long drawn-out diatruibe about the tribulations of my weekend, but I've decided to just give a quick synopsis: did a lot of sitting and stareing on Friday night. I took a short power nap during the Nascar Truck race, and then wound up staying up 'til 1AM.
Saturday was to be a bit of a day of rest, but I wound up mowing the lawn anyway. The minivan's been giving me a lot of grief here lately with the starter, so I figured that I'd get a new one before heading down to the marina for a fish fry. Got a call from my sister to call her husband. He was "On Call" this weekend, and was up trying to fix a problem with the elevator I installed last weekend. Long story short... I got back to the marina at around 10PM... missed the fish fry, and left the elevator not running.
Today (well, yesterday now) I got a new starter installed in my minivan, cleaned up my living room, and did a couple of loads of laundry. So much for my little bitchfest... I've gotta be at work at 7 in the morning.