I am my Fathers Son

Interesting Title eh?

Just some observations for you all

You all know Dad has this bad habit of hurting himself when he is working right? Well it seems the older i get the more i seem to hurt myself.

Tues we got wire in. Well even though my boss' operation isn't that large but when he gets wire he gets a lot. We had at least 45 rolls of 14-2 (guage 14, 2 wires and a ground.) Most of the stuff got moved by the forklift but all of the 10-2 (larger still 2 wires and ground) had to be moved by hand. Now you would think wire would not be heavy but remember that it is copper so when you wrap it around a spool multiple times.... its like a large billet of copper. I should have used my legs but because the area was tight and I am tall I could not. All I could think about was "the best way is to lift with your back in a jerking, twisting motion." Needless to say my back was killing me the next day. Ah well. at least the wire got moved.

On Thurs I was working in the shop moving boxes and sweeping. The secretary was waiting for a shipment of supplies (things like plugs, fittings, weatherheads.) but it didnt show.... till 3:30. The Guys get back at 4:00 and it's not a small shipment. So we are working hard to get this stuff put away so the trucks have room to park. One of the last things off the truck is the conduit. This is some hefty conduit. its 2 in and schedule 40 (thickness). Really heavy plastic pipe 10 ft long. There was 42 of these things. Because they are taller on their end then the rack they are suppose to go into you have to lift them in sideways like _ /|. I'm trying to hurry and Ive got 2 people feeding me with the pipes. Because im hurrying I put the pipes in willy nilly and they fill up the space fast... i need room so i drop my shoulder and WHAM smash them together football style. As we continue I repeatedly smash them whenever i need more space. Now i have a nice bruise on my shoulder.

So I think I'm becoming more like dad in which i have no care for my self as long as the job gets done. If this is a good or bad thing is yet to be seen but I do find the comparison funny. Sorry DAD!

(I better get big Muscles for this!)

Have fun peoples and don't work too hard!

Lessons from a week.

A week has gone by since I started this job.. so I thought I would share some nuggets of wisdom from an electricians point of view.


The moment you take off your gloves, you get splinters.
Ladders help a lot
If there is no breeze, it's going to be a hot work day
Water + wood makes a smelly humid house
Ask if you don't know, 'cuz you don't want to do it over again
2 story houses are good, unless your going up and down them repeatedly.
Large lunches are awesome
Don't sweat the small stuff 'cuz your gonna sweat all day
Sandy soil is awful to dig into
You will be sore
Under the sink outlets are of the devil
No one will notice if your light isn't actually in the middle of the room
Always have something to write with
If your hands don't have an owie.... your not working hard enough
Always make sure your circuit is OFF
Who needs a 3rd hand, you got a mouth
You cant do construction and not get dirty
Use your cell phone calculator if you cant do math in your head
Shower so the rest of society can deal with you
Don't force it, use a longer screw
Cold water has never tasted so good
Watch your head
Hammers are dangerous and malevolent

As you can prob figure out each of these has a story behind it and if you are interested I can share the stories.... but I think your imagination makes them much more funny.
Heres some pictures for your enjoyment

The undersink plug of doom..... and The kitchen of my first house
sorry i dont have more but I dont really have time to take pictures while working.

Work

So for all those who dont care i have a job now doing electrical construction. (I think that is what it's called) and sadly for those who had high hopes.... i am coming to the reunion. (haha I think I'm sooo funny)

Jared asked me why I wanted this job so I'll answer here. I thought it would be good experience and help me get big muscles like Nate (the great) has. Also if I need to in the future I can fall back on it. And it will feel good to know how to do this stuff.

I was really apprehensive on the first day (today) but it turned out ok. I made sure i had a good breakfast and took a large lunch as I was sure i would need it. Got there early and of course the boss (Dave) was late so I'm wating at the gate twiddling my thumbs thinking of all the negative things that could happen like I always do. Well we get into the building and clock in and I'm standing around feeling useless and Dave tell's me to go with Nick in the company truck (which like all construction trucks was dirty but I expected this) I soon learned that it was just Nick and I going to do finishing work on a house. We drove out to the eastern part of Las Cruces were the new developments are. (There is also a brand new Ele. School so I'm guessing the projected growth of the area is large) After bringing in gear Nick showed me how to do plugs.. so I did plugs

After a few questions (like why does this one have 3 lines in it? Oh thats GFI and the wire that is twisted is your line) I got busy. I was SOO glad for my MP3 player. Nick had a radio playing rap, the plumber had spanish Polka, the tiler had country and while I usualy dont mind country.... adding it with the other 2 just makes me cringe. While i was doing plugs (much more slower then when Nick did it) Nick worked on the outside plugs, stand thingy where meter goes, AC. And got a lot done.

We had lunch and I sat down the entire time trying to rest up knowing my body is not happy with me.. (trying to do plugs over a counter that was just glued so you cant lean on it is REALLY tough!) Thank Goodness i packed a large lunch and lots of water cuz i needed all of it.
around 1PM I started to notice getting a little tired and 2pm I could really start to feel it and I started watching the clock. By now I'd finished the plugs and started working on Switches. Now I cant sit down and do them I have to stand. Nick had already switched to doing lights and fans... he hates fans. Can't do them fast or you break something (the last one he did he broke the glass covering the lights on it.)

3pm i was really starting to lag. So I'd do things "as soon as i finish these switches then ill take a drink of water" which worked pretty well. Finally 4 came around and we started to clean up.. holy cow going up and down is really tough! We got the fixtures we hadn't put up away and drove back to the office... whatever you call it. WHEW I survived! It felt really good to sit down.

Got back home took a shower and i know Im going to hurt tomorrow!

anyways thought you might be interested in my first day.

And i think this house would look much better with white instead of ivory plugs and switches and if it had a LOT less Brown! (but then I'm colorblind..... oh well)

Hope your all having fun and I'm REALLY looking foreward to teh reunin......

i am going to fire my keyboard.

MMMM....meat

So.... Sorry i haven't done anything in a while but then it wouldn't be acting like me in my blog if I didnt.

So a couple of stories for you all. A couple of weeks ago I was alone in the apartment working on my computer. There was a knock at the door and so I used the peephole to see who it was. There was no one in sight so I promptly ingnored it. We have door to door magazene/books and other stuff come often so I kinda expected it to be somthing like that or someone playing pranks. Again there was a knock at the door so i peeped out again. Still nothing. I was getting rather annoyed by this so I just stayed at the peephole for a while to see if they'd knock again. After a while someone slipped into the corner of my vision but all i could see was black clothing...and a badge. OH SHOOT! I was a little nervous as I opened the door for the police. Turns out a couple of years ago a guy lived in our apartment and he recently got into trouble with the law. The last address that they had of him was here. So it was a little nervewracking... why does your brain automatically assume or imagine a bad situation. dern brain. So i let them look around and told them we havent had mail for this guy either. Anyways i felt bad for letting them see my room.... but then again I bet they've seen worse Haha!

While Bill was home one of our old friends was there, David. He recently went hunting with his dad and they got 2 large elk. David asked if Bill wanted any meat from it (please!). Guess he was a little tired of eating elk. So we have lots of elk in our fridge.So far we've been eating really well. Thanks for the Grill Mom! Makes great Elkburgers. (hey if you know any other good recipes let me know!)

Anyways hope your all doing well and eating lots of good food....yhea.
PS for those who want to know the white hair is almost gone.