Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts

Well I spent an "interesting" week in Nashville. I learned all sorts of things that I'm pretty sure I won't have many opportunities to use, but it's nice to have the information available to me.

So the plane flight was for the most part uneventful. I do think that the pilot in 3 of the 4 flights had to be a complete novice. They must have been practicing take off and landing on our flights, because it was pretty rough going up and coming down except for the first flight. Now that guy was a true pro and I didn't feel much beyond the surge from the jet taking off (yeah we all liked him the most).

I say I was in Nashville, but I only slept there. I spent my days in a lovely little town called LaVergne (or maybe Smyrna). They seem to run into each other, and I couldn't tell. But it sure was green everywhere.

Downside for us California bred people would be that humidity is our true enemy. That idea was reinforced all week for me. I can't really get used to the idea of getting out of the shower, getting dressed and going outside to feel like I'm just getting out of the shower again. It was horrible to say the least from that side of it. So I think that I will stay in California unless I'm forced to go again. Or at the very least I will pick a dry climate state to visit next time.

Now if I can just find a way to get those prices to migrate to California, I'm set. $2.45/gal for gas is a dream come true. I'm hoping if I do go back that Opryland will be dry and repaired , cause I didn't find a single country star (dang it).

So Lisa Marie I give you much credit for enduring the humidity and not to mention the thunderstorms.

Beautiful place to visit, but I couldn't ever live there.....

I was told that I'm going to receive some training this next week. The problem for me lies in the fact that it's in Tennessee. I don't have anything against Tennessee, except for the fact that it's so far from California. I'm not big on flying, and driving is obviously out of the question. So I am STUCK flying.

So I will be gone for a week, and my children are not all that happy about this development. They have told me in the past that I should just find a new job when I started having to work too many hours. So I'm hopeful that this job doesn't turn into another of those types where my kids are feeling like they compete for my time.

I'm a little excited because I get to learn some new things, and I'm definitely a student at heart. Never much of a student in the traditional classroom, but I've always enjoyed learning things in a less than orthodox setting. This week I'll learn how to save people using machinery, and some good ol' fashioned common sense too. I know the chances of me having to use this stuff will be slight, but it's a good feeling to know that it is something I'll be able to use if the need arises. Plus while I'm there, I can play tourist and look for all sorts of country stars :)

So everybody have a good week, and I'll holler when I get back, and maybe I'll even have a story or two about my little trip to Nashville. Take care and remember to be safe :)

I like the country song by the name. I don't think it really has much to do with the phenomenon of the summertime blues though. The original song (Eddie Cochran)is about teenage trials and tribulations. Funny that part of it deals with the inability of teens to vote. Back in the day here in the U.S. the voting age was 21, but thanks to the 26th ammendment it was dropped to 18.

Ok now that we have our American History lesson out of the way on to the point. Summertime blues are real I'm convinced. I don't think that they belong only to teenagers either. It's a feeling of "blah". Granted kids are more likely to feel the full effect, since they will be constantly telling their parents how there is nothing to do all summer long and they are so bored. Then school will come and they will tell their parents how summer flew by and they were just starting to have a good time. That's the normal cycle of things. How about the adults feeling it? I think that it's a reversal of how kids feel. Many parents feel overwhelmed at summer. The kids are out of school, and many parents are making a mad dash to find a way to watch their kids while still making a living.

So mom or dad have to adjust their schedules as much as possible. They have to call in favors to watch the kids, or if they are lucky enough to have the funds, get a babysitter or daycare. No longer is it acceptable for parents to leave their children home alone. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm just saying that johnny law (the popo) frowns upon it. My 12 year old is I'm sure quite capable of handling any situations that might come his way, but in today's world of home invasions I wouldn't even consider it an option. I like many other parents will call in favors and adjust my schedule, my wife will adjust hers and we will fumble and fall through summer.

In today's economy, two incomes are in most cases necessary. That means we do what we have to do. Some of us will take lesser jobs so that we are still getting a check and still able to watch our kids. Some will work out a deal with their employers and get "laid off" for the summer and draw unemployment. Not many options are available and most parents are resourceful enough to find everything available anywhere near them.

It makes me remember back to my childhood a little bit. As a young boy we had a day camp at our local school. High School kids looking for extra money would be "counselors" at the elementary schools. They would have games and activities, like arts and crafts, or if we were really lucky a movie reel on really hot days to watch a movie. There were usually about 10 High School students and there were roughly 75 or 80 of us at day camp. It was a good time, and even the counselors had fun much of the time. The school district doesn't budget for things like that anymore. I can't blame teen kids for not volunteering for it either. They are trying to figure out how they are going to pay for college, or gas, or any other multitude of things that mom and dad can't pay for them anymore.

So let Summer begin, and next week, let the full on effect of the Summertime Blues be here. I'm feeling it sneaking up on me, but I know that come mid August things will fall back into some sort of normal. Just like the song says....

"Sometimes I wonder what I'm gonna do cause there ain't no cure for the Summertime Blues."

50 years later it's still true................

On occasion (when my boss hates me), I have to drive to a few workshops or other informational seminars regarding some of the "stuff" I have to handle. Lots of regulations, policies, and procedures to remember and they feel that sometimes it's a good idea to have a refresher or two. I don't have a problem with the concept.

My problem starts when they inform me that I will travel a few hours for a class that is only a few hours. It's counterproductive in my opinion. I found out that my opinion doesn't matter all that much, so off I went. It was a shorter trip than some as I was only expected to travel up to the Stockton area which is only about 3 hours from where I work. No problem thinks me, I can get there, get er' done and get back by the end of the actual work day. I forgot to factor one thing in my equation that would have told me how long it would take.....The other driver.

We have all had our fair share of bad drivers I'm sure. Too slow, too fast, texting, talking on the phone. I have great luck in that I encountered all of these on the way. There were a few more as well. One bright guy was reading his newspaper that was sitting on his passenger seat as he drove 55 mph in the fast lane. A woman was putting on some form of makeup around her eyes or on her eyes or eyelashes, I couldn't really tell which since she went flying by me at about 85 mph and not more than 5 minutes later I was passing her because she was now doing about 50 mph.

I got to the point that I figured it was my duty as a good citizen to make these people aware of their thoughtless ways. I made a point of honking at every driver who was text messaging while driving. I honked at every driver who was talking on their phone. I honked at one guy who was taking a leak on the side of the highway...ON THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY in mid morning traffic...Are you serious??

I started to realize that maybe those 5 cups of coffee might be adding to my frustration, so I stopped at Starbucks for a 6th. I was back on the road and ready to face them all. By the time I reached my destination, I'm quite sure my battery was losing a charge from all the honking I did. I'm also sure that my finger was cramping from all the people I gave the #1 sign to.

My glorious trip was made complete by the fact that our meeting took exactly 25 minutes less than my drive to this place. Now that is some time management. I made sure that I called my boss on the way back (I use blue ant) and told him what a wonderful guy he is, and what a command management decision he made in having me "refresh my memory" on this particular subject.

So to hell with caution when you are buying, because we are all broke anyway. Be far more nervous when you are driving. I think that they need to take all these furloughed DMV people we have here in California and maybe have them give a workshop on how to friggin drive on the highway. They can get their Friday workday back and maybe just maybe one or two of these less than enlightened individuals will get a clue!

The only other option I have come up with is purchasing a tank with a working turret. Now let's see you cut me off while you are text messaging your girlfriend you snot nosed brat!

Well tomorrow bright and early I'm off to the state capital. I get to take some unbelievably long test to determine whether or not I should give the training that I"m now giving...(gotta love California). I've been studying for this whopper for about 6 months, and even though I think I'm ready, only time will tell. Guess at this point I'm a little bit nervous.

I never realized how much beauracracy is involved in chemical regulations. I have been around this industry my whole life. My father worked at this very same company before me, as well as when I did. He did basically the same job I am doing (except in a higher capacity). I've watched the EPA, OSHA (calosha especially), DPR (department of pesticide regulation) and a handful of other "environmentalist basically demolish my lovely valley with regulation after regulation. Now granted many of these rules are absolutely necessary and in fact are just good common sense. Others, well maybe not so much. I know that we take the good with the bad, but until I really read through all the laws and regulations I didn't realize just how restrictive this state is on just about everything.

So I've come to the conclusion that after this test, everything I do will be without excuse. I am now entering into everything with my eyes wide open. So the next time I "discuss" something that is irritating or just plain crazy and it relates to the job, you can remind me that I KNEW THAT ALREADY!!!

So wish me luck, and if you don't hear from me for a few days, it either means that I failed miserably and stayed drunk in a bar in Sacramento or, I passed with flying colors so I'm celebrating in a bar in Sacramento. Either way, I feel a bar in Sacramento is in my very near future. I wonder if they serve Castle Lite there????

It's a little strange how many of us arrive at our careers. I would venture to guess that most people don't end up doing what they planned in the early stages, you know when the world offered us everything and all we had to do was apply ourselves to it. I originally wanted to be a teacher. It was a strange goal considering I was in 5th grade when I was really thinking that I would like to help other kids, that might have some trouble learning the stuff we were learning.

I have jumped from what I dreamed of for what was realistic for my needs at the time. That doesn't mean that I couldn't go back and do it, I just decided that there are other areas that I could excel at which are of interest to me as well.

I will be the first to admit that what I do is not a beacon for a lot of people. Many of us found this type of job because originally they didn't have anyone else to fill it. Rules, regulations, health and safety just don't sound fun. Policy and procedure sound formal and uninviting. I understand that, but there is something to be said for it all. It ensures that people aren't worked to death, and I promise you it also means that a great deal less people are hurt and dying while at work. It also goes overboard in too many areas to cover here, but we take the good with the bad.

All of that so that I could get to the point of this. I was recently told I would be giving some training to a group of workers not employed directly by our company. I don't like to do this, because the possibility of liability is way to high. All it takes is somebody getting hurt and saying they didn't understand what I trained them and here comes a lawsuit. The boss wants it done and that is it. I have never had to do this as I'm new to this industry.

I have mentioned a certain person I am forced to work around that is less than helpful. He is in fact always looking for ways to make things difficult and has even tried a few times to sabotage what I'm doing. I understand it for what it is and avoid and ignore it when possible. He is the reason I'm doing this training, since he put the bug in the boss's ear. So I've begun getting all the training materials together and realized that this is going to be lengthy. Most of the other guys just gave out handouts and had these guys sign papers. I'm not inclined to work that way. I have studied some of this crap to death to make sure that I have answers for their questions. Even if I don't do this particular work I have to know how to do it because I'm starting to see that these guys are left on their own with a sort of sink or swim mentality.

I was preparing the lesson plan and my "friend" came in and seeing the paperwork, sort of laughed and asked what I was planning to do. I explained to him that they needed all this information and if they haven't been getting it in the past they will be getting it now. He told me that it's easier to just talk to them about it, and let them sign their papers. I see now who was giving the training before, even telling him that whoever did it prior was obviously not qualified to instruct. He got a little defensive and told me I suffer from OCD. I laughed at him (not in a friendly way).

I may have OCD, I'm not sure. I do believe in due diligence. I think that if somebody is expecting to learn something maybe they want to know all the ins and outs of it. I know I would. This is dangerous stuff and they have every right to know as much about it as I can find out. I guess in a way I became that teacher I wanted to be a long time ago. Just didn't figure it would be in this type of a class environment.

I love the term FTW!! I can't help it..I'm a video game junkie and that's just a popular comment... For The Win, for those of you not involved in all the new abbreviations out there...

That being said I was invited to a year end sales meeting this weekend in Santa Barbara. It was being held at the Biltmore which is a Four Seasons Resort...I have seen these places on TV and always thought how cool it would be, but never figured I would have the money to enjoy one. Well that all changed with this little trip.

The rooms are rather pricy...I was told that off season the upstairs rooms run around $450 a night...I spent less than that on a weekend in Monterey with dinner...
But it's a freebie, so hell yes I took it.

It was a bit surreal for a country boy like me. I'm well enough versed in how to act. I am told I clean up fairly well. I'm pretty sure that compared to some of the other rednecks that came with us I didnt' look to hillbillyish (that just became a word). The concierge treated me like I was royalty. They apologized about 100 times, because a vehicle had blocked their front entrance and we had to drive around to the back parking lot and walk. The poor guy that hauled all the luggage was the one that got the short end of that stick. He smiled the whole way and told us all about the things we could see in the town. Where we should try and get to. We also learned that he is in his 3rd year of college and working towards his pilot license. Nice guy. The room was amazing. The closet alone is as big as our other bedrooms in our home. It had as much hanger space as two of our closets as well. The shower had a seat and it took me about an hour to figure out all the places the water would come out in that damn thing. The tub was just as phenomenal. I had never seen an old fashioned free standing tub that had hidden jets in it...Until this weekend. Amazing as it was I never even got the chance to try it out. Three swimming pools and 3 hot tubs, a full service spa and gym. Guided tours, a putting green and crockett.

The food is where i encountered some discomfort. I am a meat eater. I'm a meat and potatoes kinda guy. They were making funky salads with names that I'm quite sure were made up. I love seafood, so that was a plus. Sea Bass, and salmon, crab cakes, and lobster (drooling a little). All I had to do for all of this was sit through an 8 hour sales meeting. I slugged down about 8 or 9 cups of coffee and smiled through my 8 hour punishment.

The last night there we had an awards banquet and I found out this was the real reason for me being invited. It turns out that our facility was 1 of only 3 that went then entire year without an accident. I guess I should mention that we have about 900 facilities nationwide. So we accepted our award and I patted myself on the back and managed a few drinks in celebration as well. (everything was free!!!)

I loved the weather and the scenery of that little town. I could do without the snobby people living there, but other than that this was 4 days to remember. I can hardly wait for next year. My boss told me that we might get to try that one in Hawaii.... Keeping my fingers crossed...

I'm definitely in a rut. I have tried and tried, but I just can't get past it. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it at this point.

No matter what I try, I can't get past medium difficulty on Guitar Hero III. It's very frustrating for me. My 12 year old son can play on expert and he is so patronizing as he tells me what a great improvement I've made since I started trying this obviously satanic game. Ok granted I can beat the 8 yr. old, and the 17 year old (yay me!). BUT my nephew and son continue to shame me at this and I'm about fed up.

So I have decided that from now on I'm going to practice in private. I'm going to wait till everybody is in bed, and then I'm putting on the headset, and playing for a couple hours until I can at least get to the hard level. I figure that within a couple weeks, I will be at least there, and then I've reached some level of accomplishment with this silly (did I mention satanic) game.

In other news....It's pouring rain. This is a totally uncommon thing in my neck of the woods for about the last 4 years. We have been in a drought according to the State Government (California). Farmers are happy, which means my boss is happy. unfortunately for all these guys that apply chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers), they don't have a whole heck of a lot to do at the moment. That means they are forced to deal with me, the friendly neighborhood safety guy. I have the pleasant task of catching them up on any safety related stuff they haven't been able to do over the past month or so. They are starting to hate me, which means that I'm doing my job fairly well at this point.

On a sad note. My cowboys were demolished this weekend. I mostly blame Romo, but I know that there were some breakdowns in the offensive line (He could have still held on to the stupid ball). So football season is over and now I just wait to see if my Dodgers will make a run for it this year or not. I'm starting to think that maybe I should just give up being a sports fan and focus on something else like....Well if I can't even think of something else to focus on then I'll remain a loyal (if ignorant) fan of my Cowboys, and Dodgers....

Story of my Life is now stuck in my head because of that awful awful game.

I realized that lately I've been sort of focusing on the negatives. It became pretty clear to me when I got so irritated by that rude little kid. I got to thinking that maybe I shouldn't let that kind of stuff get me down. My grandfather always told me that I will see in people exactly what I want to see. If I'm focusing on the bad stuff then I'm gonna see the bad in people, and of course if I start looking for the good then it's going to be that much easier to find.

I decided this morning that I was going to focus on the good stuff. So this is the middle of the month and for me that means Safety Meeting. I have to talk to people about the most boring drivel there is and I have to do it in a way that will keep their interest for at least 25 minutes. Any good presenter will tell you that the key is to make sure you get your information out there in a fashion that appeals to your audience, and do it in a timely manner. The longer you drag on the less they tend to remember.

With this in mind, I decided to go with a more humorous approach. I like joking around with the people I work around, and they generally like to joke back. I have some funny videos that I show from time to time to sort of lighten the mood while still offering up the information that they need to have. I chose one of these for this morning. So I got to the facility about 20 minutes ahead of time but nobody was there yet. I don't have the keys to unlock this place so I sat there and waited until 5 minutes before meeting time. Sure enough the guy shows up in the nick of time so that I can rush around and get everything in order before the meeting starts. Now normally I would have been a little irritated that he chose to show up to unlock at a few minutes before, but this is the new me. I told myself he probably got held up in traffic, or just dropped into the Mcdonalds on the way for a cup of coffee. No big deal right?

So I get the dvd player set up and the TV too. This only took an extra 15 minutes, because this same guy didn't bother to have anything out and available to get started. I once again told myself that he had probably just overlooked it, and it wasn't really him being difficult or anything like that. So I asked this guy where the DVD was that I left last night in preparation for this meeting, and he tells me that he didn't see it. He goes on to explain to me that it's not his job to have all this stuff set up and if I can't keep track of the movie I should hold on to it instead of leaving it in an unattended room overnight. Ok so maybe he had a rough night and just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I'm still looking for some good here.

The meeting has to go on, so I get a different movie for these guys to suffer through. It is about 15 minutes of pure boredom. I haven't even seen this movie before, so I can't offer up any additional information when they start asking questions. So now I look like I don't know my job but I figure it's not a big deal. This is just one meeting and these guys just want to get done and get out of here. So we finish up in a pretty good time only took about an hour and I'm thinking something is finally going right. So everybody is leaving and this one guy is walking out but he stops to tell me that I shouldn't let it bother me too much.
I have no idea what he's talking about, so he explains to me that this wonderful guy that has done nothing but cause me grief this morning has been sort of telling stories about the safety manager (that's me). He was teling the guys that i'm not ever prepared and then he went on to blame me for the meeting starting late (I guess I have phantom keys to unlock the door). He even went as far as to tell the guys that I chose this movie over the other, cause I didn't figure they would understand the other one.

So I decided that maybe you can't always find something good in somebody. I set this poor guy straight. I explained to him how things had really worked and that I had absolutely nothing to do with the late start or the crappy movie they had to endure. I then proceeded to walk over to this "supervisors" office to give him a piece of my mind. I walked in the room and closed the door. He told me he'd be right with me. I told him that he would indeed be right with me. Then next 15 minutes would be a series of @$#! as that was pretty much all that was said with a couple of "if I ever hear any of this crap again" thrown in for good measure. I decided that it would have better impact on mr. personality if I just left quickly before I overdid it. So before he had a chance to respond I turned around and out the door I went.

The rest of the day wasn't nearly as bad, in fact my second meeting was very successful and I managed to give out some gift cards in a drawing (because we had the extra time). I was driving home and slipped through the little town where yesterday the young man with the bad attitude was crossing the street. I was sure that he was going to rear his rude little head and I was going to fall back into the "funk" I seem to have been in. Alas he wasn't anywhere to be found which turned out to be a good thing since I didn't have my son with me like I told the little prince I would.

I realize that I have not followed my own rule now. I have made this post long and boring, but at the very least I got this off my chest. One more week and it's Thanksgiving and I'll be a happy camper. Until then I think that my best bet is to avoid the mean and nasty's of the world and like the Beatles said "Let it Be".

I'm a little ticked off. I had to get tires put on my truck today. I figured that it would take a couple of hours, so no problem. I had plenty of work to do in the area. So I drop the truck off and sure enough he tells me, "No problem it'll only take a couple hours." I'm thinkin' this is pretty good. I can finish up my paperwork at my office, get the truck and run to the next site and finish up all my paperwork and be home by 5:00. Sounded really good in my head, but unfortunately..............

The tires were the first problem. They didn't get finished with my truck for about 4 1/2 hours. So that alone threw off my whole getting home by 5 idea. Then I ended up fielding phone calls more than completing paperwork. Now I'm figuring maybe 6:00. So I finally get my paperwork done at office #1 and I rush to office #2 thinking "I can still do this." It's only 3:00, I can rush through and get out of the office by 5:00 and that means home by 6:00. Oops another rush of phone calls. I always wondered why these guys never want to know about the possible side effects of pesticide inhalation on Wednesday at 11:00? Why does it always have to be when I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off? So I finally get the answers they need to the people that need them and set off at mach 10 to finish up this pile of ....paperwork.

By 5:00, it's painfully obvious that I'm not anywhere close to being done, and I get to bring this stuff home. But I still figure it's not that bad I can be done in a couple hours and everything will be A-OK. Raining cats and dogs, so it takes about 1 1/2 hours to get home (a lot of people don't really know how to drive in the rain apparently). Get my kids and we realize that we have to go get some Dog House repair materials (small leak in the house.)

So finally, I sit down and get started only to realize that I didn't bring home all the information I needed to complete all of this boring safety material that I have to present tomorrow in a meeting. So now I'm fishing through the Internet for the information I need, and it's coming along at a really quick snail's pace. Low and behold I finished at about 11:55. Which is not too bad, except I realized that I have to be up in about 4 1/2 hours. Did I mention I suffer from insomnia...Yeah my day is now complete. I have 3 1/2 hours till I have to get up, I have no coffee (well I have coffee, but it's not the good coffee), and I'm going to present a safety meeting to 58 people, and about 50 of them don't understand English all that well (can you say hand signals and drawings).

Wow....I feel much better now that I have just unloaded all that on any poor unsuspecting reader that happened by. Now I can concentrate on the fact that, I am actually feeling pretty good, my kids are getting over their school induced cold. My wife is still getting almost 40 hours at her job (makes for much nicer weekends). And I am gonna have a really good lunch tomorrow.

Of course I am buying for everyone, because they always sucker me into lunch on meeting day...