Day 15: The Last Men Standing

Quinn and Griffin went to Melissa Christiansen's cabin today...random. So they were gone. Brad's still in Flaming Gorge, so he was gone. And Jeff randomely never showed up. The word was that his Heritage Tour friends out in the boonies wanted to play with him. Instead of waiting until work was over and going up tonight, he just decided to take the day off...without letting us know--or so we think. We never actually got a hold of him, so we still don't know where he is or was.

So it was Brady, Skye and me at work today. I got to spend the whole first shift until the 9am break by myself, trying to install hardware on the grids. With Brad we can usually get a whole grid (three sets of hardware on each grid) done in about 3 or 4 minutes. We fly down the row and get them done incredibly fast when we work together. It's really hard to do with only one person and required both hands and usually at least one knee, or sometimes two, depending on your level of retardedness. I was really close to using two today. Assembling the hardware is a lengthy process (if you do enough to cover a whole day's work), and it's usually split up into 4 or 5 different times, in between installation and other projects. This morning, working by myself, I only got 6 hardware peices installed on grids (making up only two whole grids) and then assembled an additional 8 corner hardware peices. That took me from about 7am to 9am. Embarassing is the word that comes to mind.

Skye told me to "quit my biotching"--"biotch" being the term Brady suggested, after Skye used the word "witching" and the both of us were like "what the heck are you talking about?!"--cause I wouldn't stop complaining about how tired I was and how I kept dozing off in the middle of working, and how I've been doing a crappy job on a two-person task all by myself. I deserved it, but I was miserable. Skye, on the other hand, had been flexing his spanish skills for Josefina, who moved here from Mexico and only speaks spanish. He explained that she was about to pass something through into the clean room, and he wanted to check it or something and said quite determinedly, "¡Espera!" Josefina looked shocked and began to blurt out spanish, under the impression that Skye actually spoke and had been holding out on her forever. Skye quickly corrected her with a look like "no, that's the only word I know besides 'hola', and 'adios.'"

Brady was raving about his dominant job outside the clean room, supplying the workers inside with materials to clean and distribute for constructing the different areas. He bragged about how he was able to keep five workers busy cleaning the supplies he brought them. Huzzah for Brady.

But seriously folks, my job is getting to be mind-numbing and I am dying for Brad to come back! I hope monday comes soon, but not too soon, cause I want to enjoy my weekend.

Nearing the end of the second shift, and all throughout the third shift after lunch, Daniel Ellis kept me company. A return missionary who served in Mexico, he can speak spanish very well and we conversed about it, and the ideas behind becoming fluent, for a while. The two of us spent the time assembling hardware, installing hardware and helping Lawrence with hoisting the grids and spotting the grid fitters while they attached them to the ceiling. One of the most amusing things about working with the ceiling crew is my close proximity with Ron. He's one of the coolest guys I know. Most of the entertainment comes from his happy-go-lucky attitude and funny disposition. For example, I'll be working on installing some hardware components on a grid and he'll walk up behind me and start saying "Richard.......Richard.......Richard" in a high voice. I dunno why he really does this, but I think it's hilarious. He's great at making my day run smoother.

Skye left after lunch to go to the Rocky Mountain Review. Some basketball Jazz thing. I dunno what it is really, and I don't really care to know much. I just know that he left us, and by the end of the day, Brady and I were the only two to actually make it through the day. We gave each other stones for that.

At one point during the day, Daniel was trying to explain to Arturo and Luis that the particular grid that we were about to raise would buckle and twist because of the gap it had to fit around a support pillar. He was arguing with them in spanish, trying to get them to see exactly what he meant, and they were taking two separate stances and arguments to further their ideas. I concentrated really hard on understanding what they were arguing about and I must have looked pretty dumb, because suddenly, in the middle of the conversation, Luis smiled and looked at me. He basically said something referencing the blank look on my face, they all turned, and started to laugh together. I hadn't really followed the sudden turn in attention and thought I was expected to say something about the grid, but missed it cause it was in spanish. Dang! I was so close to taking the Steven Shelley approach and just shrugging my shoulders with a large cheesy grin, and saying "¡AMIGO!" I didn't, and finally talked to Daniel afterward to figure out exactly what was so funny.

Despite it being the longest shift, I enjoy the post-lunch working time because I'm finally awake and can work the best. We also get the most work done after lunch for some reason, and I always have something to do, which helps the time go by faster. This morning I kept falling asleep, with no one to talk to or anything, and I was going crazy by the beginning of the second shift, but luckily Daniel came to the rescue.

Although there was like, nobody at work today, we still managed to have a good time, and the best part was that I got another paycheck. Woo hoo!


Quote of the Day:

"My bladder is about to, like, explode! And at my age, that's not a very good thing."
-Lawrence