This is more of a place holder blog. Skye's going to update me on the goings-on of yesterday while Quinn and I were at the University of Utah, registering for classes and going to the freshman orientation. It was way fun!
Coming Soon:
Skye's info on Brycon Clean Room progress...
Friday, July 14, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Day 13: No Brad, No Fun
I didn't do much talking today. That's because Brad was gone to Flaming Gorge, and I worked with Jaime. I mean, I talked a fair amount, but nothing compared to when Brad's there to chat with and sing about idiots like Colby with.
Jaime, despite being sorta lazy and not a very hard worker, worked pretty well. He never complained about anything; just silently did whatever I said--being the one who's done this job for the last week--and worked at it all day. I jumped around a lot between grids and gasketing, cause once again the gasketeers don't know how to work in order. They just randomely gasket any old grid and then Lawrence needs grid 247 and not only is it in some remote corner of the FAB, but it's also devoid of any gasket whatsoever. It's quite frusterating when I'm the one who has to listen to Lawrence complaining about it all day. But it is a nice relief from his normal topic--advice about how to not screw up my life (which always consists of telling me to go to college and get an education, altough I assure him every time that I intend to do just that).
I felt bad for Jaime when he walked off to help bring a grid over for the ceiling and Lawrence started to talk about how he was going nowhere and he wasn't going to last long on the job. Apparently he's pretty lazy, gets to work late all the time, and just has this "aura about him" that gives the impression that he'll never go anywhere in life, according to Lawrence. I can see it now, but I really didn't even look for it. I didn't work with him for very long, and he's a nice guy...so I had no disposition to ever think ill of him. Lawrence, on the other hand, is paid to spot people who don't work as hard as they should and make them. I did begin to notice, once i started to jump in and gasket, that Jaime just stood there and watched. I wondered to myself if he knew how, but how hard could it be? I taught myself.
With Brad gone, I was driving myself crazy with want of somebody to talk to and commiserate with, but alas, there was nobody. I found myself working like Brad rather than myself. I mean that Brad's just go go go, nonstop. He'll always be saying "let's go over here and make more hardware" or "we need to roll this grid over now, so run over there." It's not that I don't like to work, it's just that he's more hop-to than I am usually. I dunno if I was more efficient today than before, but I found myself saying what Brad would say all day, and keeping myself busy when I could have just stood around like Jaime. He got away with it, and if I played it right, then I could have gotten away with it too. But then again, I guess I had to step up cause if I didn't take Brad's place, then we would have done nothing all day, or been yelled at by Lawrence...one or the other. Lawrence wanted to hang like, 18 grids today, but we only got off with about 15 or so. He was annoyed with it because he really wants to hang 20 a day. We blamed it on the gasketeers, and rightfully so. Alex definitely doesn't keep them on a tight leash.
Jeff was working on gasketing again today, but he needed to move due to his back. I guess he has problems hunching over all day--not like nobody else wouldn't have them, but he's got extra problems or something. Anyway, he disappeared after a while and when I went to gasket one of the other guys was like "one guy was here, but he said he had back problems, so Alex replaced him with this guy." It was Christian, and he sucked at gasketing; it was actually turned sideways at one point.
Griffin and Quinn worked with Cowboy taping the new area or something. I think they were putting up new walls for the new section of the FAB or something. I didn't inquire into it very far, and all they said was that they were taping walls--which usually means a new section is nearly cleaned and ready to be opened up. It's exciting cause our clean room is about to get 33% bigger.
Brady and Skye worked at the pass-thru again today. They were just cleaning stuff and transporting it again. Same as it ever was. At lunch today Brady greeted me with some crazy random word, which he claimed to be the Navajo word for "hello," although I'm sure it meant something like "I'm a dufus." If I spoke Navajo (or any foreign language) and Brady asked me how to say "hello" I would definitely tell him something that we could use to laugh at him (me and my Navajo buddies, that is). I guess I shouldn't discriminate against Brady, but it'd just be funny to watch him, cause if you know Brady, then you know he gets way excited about foreign languages, and he'll overuse his new words.
After Lawrence got done complaining about how slow the gasketeers were, near the end of the day, he sent me and Jaime to find some tape and scissors to lay out the grid on the floor. Like I mentioned before, the ceiling is lined with holes 8 feet apart in every distance (except diagonally). Well, I said that there's tape on the floor lining out the grid, whereon the exact measurement is eventually made, followed by a laser which projects onto the I-Beam and recorded. So Jaime and I spent about a half hour scouring the newly assembled tiles in the recently opened area a mere three weeks old.
Following that we rearranged the grids for tomorrow--none of them had been gasketed completely or even close to halfway--and perhaps Lawrence will reach his goal tomorrow. But I doubt it, as both Brand and I will be gone from the ceiling crew, and Quinn's going to be gone also, so there are less people to pull from other areas. Tomorrow Quinn and I will be registering for the University of Utah Fall 2006 Semester. We're extremely excited to go to college and we're staying the night in our new apartment, which is also way fun. We've started to move stuff into it, but there is basically no food to begin with. There's hardly any furniture besides a card table we're bringing up tonight and like, five chairs.
Aside from working kinda slow and quietly today, it was pleasant. I had a fair amount of energy in the morning, although after 9am break I started to get really tired. For the most part I was attentive and didn't feel like crap--which is always a plus when working construction.
I can't wait for tomorrow. Two good things: No work, and finally picking a schedule. I'm gonna officially be a college student.
Quote of the Day:
Jaime, despite being sorta lazy and not a very hard worker, worked pretty well. He never complained about anything; just silently did whatever I said--being the one who's done this job for the last week--and worked at it all day. I jumped around a lot between grids and gasketing, cause once again the gasketeers don't know how to work in order. They just randomely gasket any old grid and then Lawrence needs grid 247 and not only is it in some remote corner of the FAB, but it's also devoid of any gasket whatsoever. It's quite frusterating when I'm the one who has to listen to Lawrence complaining about it all day. But it is a nice relief from his normal topic--advice about how to not screw up my life (which always consists of telling me to go to college and get an education, altough I assure him every time that I intend to do just that).
I felt bad for Jaime when he walked off to help bring a grid over for the ceiling and Lawrence started to talk about how he was going nowhere and he wasn't going to last long on the job. Apparently he's pretty lazy, gets to work late all the time, and just has this "aura about him" that gives the impression that he'll never go anywhere in life, according to Lawrence. I can see it now, but I really didn't even look for it. I didn't work with him for very long, and he's a nice guy...so I had no disposition to ever think ill of him. Lawrence, on the other hand, is paid to spot people who don't work as hard as they should and make them. I did begin to notice, once i started to jump in and gasket, that Jaime just stood there and watched. I wondered to myself if he knew how, but how hard could it be? I taught myself.
With Brad gone, I was driving myself crazy with want of somebody to talk to and commiserate with, but alas, there was nobody. I found myself working like Brad rather than myself. I mean that Brad's just go go go, nonstop. He'll always be saying "let's go over here and make more hardware" or "we need to roll this grid over now, so run over there." It's not that I don't like to work, it's just that he's more hop-to than I am usually. I dunno if I was more efficient today than before, but I found myself saying what Brad would say all day, and keeping myself busy when I could have just stood around like Jaime. He got away with it, and if I played it right, then I could have gotten away with it too. But then again, I guess I had to step up cause if I didn't take Brad's place, then we would have done nothing all day, or been yelled at by Lawrence...one or the other. Lawrence wanted to hang like, 18 grids today, but we only got off with about 15 or so. He was annoyed with it because he really wants to hang 20 a day. We blamed it on the gasketeers, and rightfully so. Alex definitely doesn't keep them on a tight leash.
Jeff was working on gasketing again today, but he needed to move due to his back. I guess he has problems hunching over all day--not like nobody else wouldn't have them, but he's got extra problems or something. Anyway, he disappeared after a while and when I went to gasket one of the other guys was like "one guy was here, but he said he had back problems, so Alex replaced him with this guy." It was Christian, and he sucked at gasketing; it was actually turned sideways at one point.
Griffin and Quinn worked with Cowboy taping the new area or something. I think they were putting up new walls for the new section of the FAB or something. I didn't inquire into it very far, and all they said was that they were taping walls--which usually means a new section is nearly cleaned and ready to be opened up. It's exciting cause our clean room is about to get 33% bigger.
Brady and Skye worked at the pass-thru again today. They were just cleaning stuff and transporting it again. Same as it ever was. At lunch today Brady greeted me with some crazy random word, which he claimed to be the Navajo word for "hello," although I'm sure it meant something like "I'm a dufus." If I spoke Navajo (or any foreign language) and Brady asked me how to say "hello" I would definitely tell him something that we could use to laugh at him (me and my Navajo buddies, that is). I guess I shouldn't discriminate against Brady, but it'd just be funny to watch him, cause if you know Brady, then you know he gets way excited about foreign languages, and he'll overuse his new words.
After Lawrence got done complaining about how slow the gasketeers were, near the end of the day, he sent me and Jaime to find some tape and scissors to lay out the grid on the floor. Like I mentioned before, the ceiling is lined with holes 8 feet apart in every distance (except diagonally). Well, I said that there's tape on the floor lining out the grid, whereon the exact measurement is eventually made, followed by a laser which projects onto the I-Beam and recorded. So Jaime and I spent about a half hour scouring the newly assembled tiles in the recently opened area a mere three weeks old.
Following that we rearranged the grids for tomorrow--none of them had been gasketed completely or even close to halfway--and perhaps Lawrence will reach his goal tomorrow. But I doubt it, as both Brand and I will be gone from the ceiling crew, and Quinn's going to be gone also, so there are less people to pull from other areas. Tomorrow Quinn and I will be registering for the University of Utah Fall 2006 Semester. We're extremely excited to go to college and we're staying the night in our new apartment, which is also way fun. We've started to move stuff into it, but there is basically no food to begin with. There's hardly any furniture besides a card table we're bringing up tonight and like, five chairs.
Aside from working kinda slow and quietly today, it was pleasant. I had a fair amount of energy in the morning, although after 9am break I started to get really tired. For the most part I was attentive and didn't feel like crap--which is always a plus when working construction.
I can't wait for tomorrow. Two good things: No work, and finally picking a schedule. I'm gonna officially be a college student.
Quote of the Day:
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Day 12: Sing Like You're In A Musical Day...Kinda....
We found out today that Whitlie and Reagan showed up and applied for the job, but were turned away. Brycon's excuse was that they weren't looking for any more workers that would be leaving at the end of the summer. It's a perfectly good reason, but we all think that there were other reasons. Whitlie and Reagan are, of course, girls--good looking girls--and we think they might be distractors to the other workers. Sad as that is, Brady made a good point when he mentioned it. I still think that Brycon was perfectly honest, and it's acceptable that they had a good reason, but it just sucks that they can't work here...for us, at least.
This morning I could not wake up. No matter how hard I tried, no matter what I tried (cold water, walking around in circles, caffeine, working, etc.) I couldn't keep my eyes open. I would get these bouts of extreme sleepiness, followed by a somewhat alert and awakened state, but only for a slight period of time. Brad seemed tired too, and verified it. We were tired.
Quinn, Griffin, and Jeff spent the whole 10 hours gasketing again...boring. I feel bad for them, but not really, seeing as Brad and I were so tired and bored with our job. I would have given anything to gasket today. Brady and Skye also continued to work in the same area as before, cleaning and passing materials through into the clean room. Another job I would have probably enjoyed more than my own today.
Anyway, Brad and I actually spotted the hole-punching crew until lunch (and after break, worked on the grid hardware in between moving the scaffolding to a new area). It was pretty boring, and loud, so we had to wear ear protection, which limited conversation, thus resulting in an ever-increasing blanket of drowsiness invading our bodies. The little booties that we were wearing were horrible on the tile floor. We couldn't get a firm grip on the ground and slid all over, rather than push the scaffold anywhere--this was also due to the massive amount of weight on the scaffold (Alberto, Cecilio, the air compressor, hole-punch, and other tools).
On the way to lunch, we had an argument with Quinn about listening to music. It's frowned upon while working...actually, if I remember correctly, they prohibit MP3 players. Quinn didn't care...he'd prefer to get fired, and it makes work go faster. Haha. Well, he got away with it, apparently in front of "Supernintendo" Steve (our Superintendant).
At lunch, Thomas (Renae Cowboy's husband) threw his garbage into one of the cans from like 20 feet away and totally nailed the shot. We just happened to be looking over there at the time and when he made it we were all like "OOOOOOOH!" and saluted him with a follow-through hand signal thingy. It was funny, but I don't think he heard us. He did it again, but only Brady was looking.
After lunch it was back to full-time grids for me and Brad. The only good thing was that the gasketeers were actually finishing them up relatively quickly, and wheeling them over in order and stuff--so Brad and I only had to install the hardware and roll them up to the forklifts. It made the job run so much smoother, and Brad and I weren't sweating profusely for the first time in a week. We were grateful, but I think that goes without saying.
Brad and I had an argument about who said "I keep my friends close, and my enemies closer." He said Albert Einstein said it, but I just didn't think it was something Einstein would say. Maybe he did say it, the point is, Brad had a dumb argument, which was Einstein was involved in politics...which I am kinda doubtful of, he being a scientist and mostly predisposed with questions of life and the "equation to everything." Anyway, I still haven't verified that he said it...and conversely, I haven't raised a countersubject or proven him/her any more likely to have said it either.
For the last hour and a half Brad and I amused ourselves with singing songs to the tunes of Les Misérables songs, Goofy Movie songs, Phantom of the Opera songs, and "Heigh-Ho" from Snow White. Most of them were either about how Colby is and idiot, or how Ron is the coolest guy we know, or how Brad is gonna take a dook in Flaming Gorge. Haha...wow, they were clever.
"Colby's A Ho"
Sung to the tune of "Heigh-Ho" from the Disney classic, Snow White
He's a Ho, He's a Ho
And it's not to work he'll go
Cause he got terminated and he's an idiot
And a ho....a ho.....a ho....a ho......
(repeat)
Um, there were others, but they were random and really we only sang them once. We also fantasized about Jaime rapping and Cowboy backing him up "Bas-sic-cally" style. Speaking of Cowboy...we decided that if he wears Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle shirts and pants to work construction, then his nice clothes must be incredibly amazing and expensive. What a funny guy.
Anyway, so to sum it all up, we're bummed that Reagan and Whitlie can't work, but it's probably for the best. And Brad and I are going out of our minds, fantasizing about Jaime rapping and Brad taking a dook in Flaming Gorge.
Quote of the Day:
Grant: "Brad, the Atomic Bomb wasn't a political project, it was scientific."
Brad: "Yes it was. It was scientifical and political"
This morning I could not wake up. No matter how hard I tried, no matter what I tried (cold water, walking around in circles, caffeine, working, etc.) I couldn't keep my eyes open. I would get these bouts of extreme sleepiness, followed by a somewhat alert and awakened state, but only for a slight period of time. Brad seemed tired too, and verified it. We were tired.
Quinn, Griffin, and Jeff spent the whole 10 hours gasketing again...boring. I feel bad for them, but not really, seeing as Brad and I were so tired and bored with our job. I would have given anything to gasket today. Brady and Skye also continued to work in the same area as before, cleaning and passing materials through into the clean room. Another job I would have probably enjoyed more than my own today.
Anyway, Brad and I actually spotted the hole-punching crew until lunch (and after break, worked on the grid hardware in between moving the scaffolding to a new area). It was pretty boring, and loud, so we had to wear ear protection, which limited conversation, thus resulting in an ever-increasing blanket of drowsiness invading our bodies. The little booties that we were wearing were horrible on the tile floor. We couldn't get a firm grip on the ground and slid all over, rather than push the scaffold anywhere--this was also due to the massive amount of weight on the scaffold (Alberto, Cecilio, the air compressor, hole-punch, and other tools).
On the way to lunch, we had an argument with Quinn about listening to music. It's frowned upon while working...actually, if I remember correctly, they prohibit MP3 players. Quinn didn't care...he'd prefer to get fired, and it makes work go faster. Haha. Well, he got away with it, apparently in front of "Supernintendo" Steve (our Superintendant).
At lunch, Thomas (Renae Cowboy's husband) threw his garbage into one of the cans from like 20 feet away and totally nailed the shot. We just happened to be looking over there at the time and when he made it we were all like "OOOOOOOH!" and saluted him with a follow-through hand signal thingy. It was funny, but I don't think he heard us. He did it again, but only Brady was looking.
After lunch it was back to full-time grids for me and Brad. The only good thing was that the gasketeers were actually finishing them up relatively quickly, and wheeling them over in order and stuff--so Brad and I only had to install the hardware and roll them up to the forklifts. It made the job run so much smoother, and Brad and I weren't sweating profusely for the first time in a week. We were grateful, but I think that goes without saying.
Brad and I had an argument about who said "I keep my friends close, and my enemies closer." He said Albert Einstein said it, but I just didn't think it was something Einstein would say. Maybe he did say it, the point is, Brad had a dumb argument, which was Einstein was involved in politics...which I am kinda doubtful of, he being a scientist and mostly predisposed with questions of life and the "equation to everything." Anyway, I still haven't verified that he said it...and conversely, I haven't raised a countersubject or proven him/her any more likely to have said it either.
For the last hour and a half Brad and I amused ourselves with singing songs to the tunes of Les Misérables songs, Goofy Movie songs, Phantom of the Opera songs, and "Heigh-Ho" from Snow White. Most of them were either about how Colby is and idiot, or how Ron is the coolest guy we know, or how Brad is gonna take a dook in Flaming Gorge. Haha...wow, they were clever.
"Colby's A Ho"
Sung to the tune of "Heigh-Ho" from the Disney classic, Snow White
He's a Ho, He's a Ho
And it's not to work he'll go
Cause he got terminated and he's an idiot
And a ho....a ho.....a ho....a ho......
(repeat)
Um, there were others, but they were random and really we only sang them once. We also fantasized about Jaime rapping and Cowboy backing him up "Bas-sic-cally" style. Speaking of Cowboy...we decided that if he wears Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle shirts and pants to work construction, then his nice clothes must be incredibly amazing and expensive. What a funny guy.
Anyway, so to sum it all up, we're bummed that Reagan and Whitlie can't work, but it's probably for the best. And Brad and I are going out of our minds, fantasizing about Jaime rapping and Brad taking a dook in Flaming Gorge.
Quote of the Day:
Grant: "Brad, the Atomic Bomb wasn't a political project, it was scientific."
Brad: "Yes it was. It was scientifical and political"
Monday, July 10, 2006
Day 11: The Boringest Day
Today was slow, at least in the morning. I must have had a crappy night, becuase I was dead tired all day. It wasn't much yawning, just no energy. I remember waking up three or four times in the middle of the night, which I believe contributed to the lack of drive I had to work. Brad and I worked on the grids, installing hardware, again.
It wasn't that we didn't get much done; I mean, we hung 16 grids...a new record for us. Plus, we had the weekly safety meeting this morning, which probably put us back to starting work at like 7:45, at the earliest. I just had no desire to work--let alone live, because of the horrible headache and stomachache that I had from no sleep--and I felt horrible about it, cause Brad was trying so hard to get me to focus and work. He kept saying, "Grant! Let's go buddy...you're taking forever." Oh well...so much for that.
We did get a lot done though, so I don't really think anybody had much license to complain about my crappy performance today. Thanks to Brad, we got more than usual done.
The safety meeting this morning was a joke. No donuts. No juice. No coffee--not that I would actually drink coffee...but it pissed off a bunch of other guys who would drink it. When the head Hoffman guy apologized for the lack of refreshments, I heard one guy "Boo" him. I laughed, cause even though I would never have the gall to do that--at least in a silent room--that's exactly how I felt.
Besides moving grids, there wasn't much going on today. A pretty boring series of events--if you can even call them events. Jeff, Griffin, and Quinn worked on gasketing today, along with the other 500 people. Holy crap! I kept having these familiar recollections of something every time I saw them all hunched over between the rows of the grids. It wasn't until I actually helped at the end of the day, that I realized it. They looked like the African plantation slaves you always see in historical movies and stuff. It was pretty creepy.
Brady, Jaime, and Skye all worked at the pass-thrus, cleaning and sending grates into the new section of the clean room. They've been working on starting a new section...covering the holes and crap.
Brad and I were talking to Ron today and we found out that Colby got fired. Hooray Fired! We were excited, cause he's an idiot. Always swearing and never working. Sometimes he'd work, but when he was with his buddies, they'd slack. Plus, he apparently hardly ever showed up--something I started to notice in hopes that he had been fired. Ron said he had shown up for a few hours on Saturday and then he was gone, and wasn't there today either. Although I'm not completely sure that he really is fired, I really hope so. Ron seemed pretty certain about it, so whatever.
Anyway, so our day was pretty uneventful. Nothing really exciting happened. Nobody died. Nobody joined the crew. I guess the most exciting thing was when Lawrence gave Brad advice on how to not screw up his life. Lawrence has done a lot of things he's regretted, and every day he thinks about them. Poor guy. I really like Lawrence. He's a really sincere guy, who always is looking to help you out. Never wants you to do something you'd regret...like working in construction. Ha Ha...
Quote of the Day:
"You're wearing your Kevlar underwear, right?"
-Quinn
It wasn't that we didn't get much done; I mean, we hung 16 grids...a new record for us. Plus, we had the weekly safety meeting this morning, which probably put us back to starting work at like 7:45, at the earliest. I just had no desire to work--let alone live, because of the horrible headache and stomachache that I had from no sleep--and I felt horrible about it, cause Brad was trying so hard to get me to focus and work. He kept saying, "Grant! Let's go buddy...you're taking forever." Oh well...so much for that.
We did get a lot done though, so I don't really think anybody had much license to complain about my crappy performance today. Thanks to Brad, we got more than usual done.
The safety meeting this morning was a joke. No donuts. No juice. No coffee--not that I would actually drink coffee...but it pissed off a bunch of other guys who would drink it. When the head Hoffman guy apologized for the lack of refreshments, I heard one guy "Boo" him. I laughed, cause even though I would never have the gall to do that--at least in a silent room--that's exactly how I felt.
Besides moving grids, there wasn't much going on today. A pretty boring series of events--if you can even call them events. Jeff, Griffin, and Quinn worked on gasketing today, along with the other 500 people. Holy crap! I kept having these familiar recollections of something every time I saw them all hunched over between the rows of the grids. It wasn't until I actually helped at the end of the day, that I realized it. They looked like the African plantation slaves you always see in historical movies and stuff. It was pretty creepy.
Brady, Jaime, and Skye all worked at the pass-thrus, cleaning and sending grates into the new section of the clean room. They've been working on starting a new section...covering the holes and crap.
Brad and I were talking to Ron today and we found out that Colby got fired. Hooray Fired! We were excited, cause he's an idiot. Always swearing and never working. Sometimes he'd work, but when he was with his buddies, they'd slack. Plus, he apparently hardly ever showed up--something I started to notice in hopes that he had been fired. Ron said he had shown up for a few hours on Saturday and then he was gone, and wasn't there today either. Although I'm not completely sure that he really is fired, I really hope so. Ron seemed pretty certain about it, so whatever.
Anyway, so our day was pretty uneventful. Nothing really exciting happened. Nobody died. Nobody joined the crew. I guess the most exciting thing was when Lawrence gave Brad advice on how to not screw up his life. Lawrence has done a lot of things he's regretted, and every day he thinks about them. Poor guy. I really like Lawrence. He's a really sincere guy, who always is looking to help you out. Never wants you to do something you'd regret...like working in construction. Ha Ha...
Quote of the Day:
"You're wearing your Kevlar underwear, right?"
-Quinn
Friday, July 07, 2006
Day 10: And Then There Were Three...
Basi-cally, nobody came to work today. Brad, Griffin, and I were the only ones out of our little group that showed up today. Brady is still gone to scout camp, Quinn went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and Skye called at 5am to confess that a bout of severe vomiting had overcome his person. On top of half of our crew missing, Griffin was the only one who got to work on time, as Brad slept through his alarm--shutting it off and thinking he had hit the "snooze" button--and Skye woke me up at 5:10 to ask for Jeff's cell number so he could call Jeff to let him know not to pick him up.
Thanks to Skye, I was able to get to work only 5 minutes after 6am, and thanks to Griffin, Brad was woken up and got to work a few minutes after me. Wow, what a morning!
Anyway, the day started off like any other...except like, everybody was gone! Renae was gone, Quinn, Brady, and Skye were gone, and some other people turned up missing too. We were short-handed and didn't end up getting any grids today. Something that would have been an insult to mine and Brad's name, except we were given a brand new task this morning. Brand new to us, that is. Dex, a coworker of ours that we actually met just today, trained me and Brad on how to measure and mark the I-Beams on the ceiling for the hole punching crew. To hang the grids in the ceiling, we actually punch holes into the I-Beams and bolt a short rectangular tube of steel to the beam. The grids are then attached to that steel tube with the long and thick bolts that Brad and I were previously engaged in installing on the grids for the last two days. Before our task began this morning, Alex approached Lawrence and apparently tried to pull Brad away to help clean or something. We heard her say his name and I was like, "See ya, Brad." Brad cringed, not because he doesn't like Alex, but because cleaning grids and tiles is so freaking boring. Alex, however, walked off a minute later and never came to get Brad. Apparently Lawrence had talked her into taking Ron instead.
The process, although sort of tedious and actually quite important to the entire layout of the floor, is very fun and time seems to fly while you're doing it. Brad and I took turns up on the scaffolding, marking the points where each of the holes would be punched. The floor of the FAB (clean room) is hidden underneath an artificial floor of steel tiles (so wires and other such things can be run accross the room without the clutter of such a large computer dominated aread. There is a largely invisible grid layed out on that floor, with peices of tape layed out every eight feet in all directions, marking the corners of the grids on the ceiling. On each peice of tape is an X, where we line up a laser-level to project a dot on the I-Beam overhead. The man on the scaffold marks a dot with a Sharpie marker and then measures out with a square, one and a half inches on each side, where the holes are to be punched. That's what we did. It's a long process for each one, but for some reason, doesn't get old as quickly as cleaning tiles or assembling grids. We spent our morning until lunch doing that.
Brad said to me, as we walked out of the clean room to lunch, "I feel like an engineer."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Because those dots we put on the ceiling are so important. We have a job that if we didn't do it totally correct, could ruin the whole ceiling. That's kinda cool."
"Yeah, it is," I said.
At lunch, Jeff showed up. He had just gotten out of Orientation and looked tired. He informed us that he was running off an hour and a half of sleep, because he had to work until close last night. He got off at 2am or something, after the midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ended. Then he woke up at like 5am to go to work. After work he would go straight back to the theatre to work until close tonight, and unless he passed out from exhaustion, I believe he's still there. Poor kid. I now have very little sympathy for poor Quinn, who figured he'd be too tired to come to work after seeing it at midnight. The only thing that Quinn had going for him, was the fact that he had been working for the last 2 days and I knew just how tired he already was, and how tired he would have been with only 2 hours of sleep last night. Oh well, it's not a big deal, but Jeff impressed me that he could keep it up.
After lunch, and after the afternoon "Stretch & Flex," Jeff left again to go to Protocol Training. Brad and I gowned up and spent the rest of the day moving grids that had been delivered out of order, which was basically all of them. We moved like...ten grids, and they were HEAVY. After a while, Jeff and a new guy named Cody joined us in the FAB and Alex put them to work gasketing. We finally started to get the 170's in and we can probably start on the grids again fairly soon. I don't think anybody is going into work tomorrow, cause it's a saturday, but Skye might, since he missed today. Hopefully he doesn't go in alone, but he may anyway. I'm definitely not going...I've got sleep to do.
Oh, and poor Griffin spent the entire day cleaning grids...not much to say really. Only that he needs to get transferred or he's going to lose his mind. Maybe I can trade him for Brad...haha.
Quote of the Day:
Lawrence: "You're lucky! Alex wanted to take you, but I told her she could have Ron instead."
Brad: "Yes! Take that Ron!"
Thanks to Skye, I was able to get to work only 5 minutes after 6am, and thanks to Griffin, Brad was woken up and got to work a few minutes after me. Wow, what a morning!
Anyway, the day started off like any other...except like, everybody was gone! Renae was gone, Quinn, Brady, and Skye were gone, and some other people turned up missing too. We were short-handed and didn't end up getting any grids today. Something that would have been an insult to mine and Brad's name, except we were given a brand new task this morning. Brand new to us, that is. Dex, a coworker of ours that we actually met just today, trained me and Brad on how to measure and mark the I-Beams on the ceiling for the hole punching crew. To hang the grids in the ceiling, we actually punch holes into the I-Beams and bolt a short rectangular tube of steel to the beam. The grids are then attached to that steel tube with the long and thick bolts that Brad and I were previously engaged in installing on the grids for the last two days. Before our task began this morning, Alex approached Lawrence and apparently tried to pull Brad away to help clean or something. We heard her say his name and I was like, "See ya, Brad." Brad cringed, not because he doesn't like Alex, but because cleaning grids and tiles is so freaking boring. Alex, however, walked off a minute later and never came to get Brad. Apparently Lawrence had talked her into taking Ron instead.
The process, although sort of tedious and actually quite important to the entire layout of the floor, is very fun and time seems to fly while you're doing it. Brad and I took turns up on the scaffolding, marking the points where each of the holes would be punched. The floor of the FAB (clean room) is hidden underneath an artificial floor of steel tiles (so wires and other such things can be run accross the room without the clutter of such a large computer dominated aread. There is a largely invisible grid layed out on that floor, with peices of tape layed out every eight feet in all directions, marking the corners of the grids on the ceiling. On each peice of tape is an X, where we line up a laser-level to project a dot on the I-Beam overhead. The man on the scaffold marks a dot with a Sharpie marker and then measures out with a square, one and a half inches on each side, where the holes are to be punched. That's what we did. It's a long process for each one, but for some reason, doesn't get old as quickly as cleaning tiles or assembling grids. We spent our morning until lunch doing that.
Brad said to me, as we walked out of the clean room to lunch, "I feel like an engineer."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Because those dots we put on the ceiling are so important. We have a job that if we didn't do it totally correct, could ruin the whole ceiling. That's kinda cool."
"Yeah, it is," I said.
At lunch, Jeff showed up. He had just gotten out of Orientation and looked tired. He informed us that he was running off an hour and a half of sleep, because he had to work until close last night. He got off at 2am or something, after the midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ended. Then he woke up at like 5am to go to work. After work he would go straight back to the theatre to work until close tonight, and unless he passed out from exhaustion, I believe he's still there. Poor kid. I now have very little sympathy for poor Quinn, who figured he'd be too tired to come to work after seeing it at midnight. The only thing that Quinn had going for him, was the fact that he had been working for the last 2 days and I knew just how tired he already was, and how tired he would have been with only 2 hours of sleep last night. Oh well, it's not a big deal, but Jeff impressed me that he could keep it up.
After lunch, and after the afternoon "Stretch & Flex," Jeff left again to go to Protocol Training. Brad and I gowned up and spent the rest of the day moving grids that had been delivered out of order, which was basically all of them. We moved like...ten grids, and they were HEAVY. After a while, Jeff and a new guy named Cody joined us in the FAB and Alex put them to work gasketing. We finally started to get the 170's in and we can probably start on the grids again fairly soon. I don't think anybody is going into work tomorrow, cause it's a saturday, but Skye might, since he missed today. Hopefully he doesn't go in alone, but he may anyway. I'm definitely not going...I've got sleep to do.
Oh, and poor Griffin spent the entire day cleaning grids...not much to say really. Only that he needs to get transferred or he's going to lose his mind. Maybe I can trade him for Brad...haha.
Quote of the Day:
Lawrence: "You're lucky! Alex wanted to take you, but I told her she could have Ron instead."
Brad: "Yes! Take that Ron!"
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Day 9: Ah, Nuts!
They have these dumb latex gloves in the gowning room that aren't like the other latex gloves--in fact, I don't even think they're latex, to tell the truth. They dont' stretch and they hardly stay on your fingers for longer than a few seconds. Brad and I had a heck of a time trying to screw in the bolts for the hardware on the grids today. Actually, I had a heck of a time, since I had to hold the nuts, while Brad screwed in the bolt...a task that didn't require the use of fingertips. I had the hardest time getting the nuts into the little grooves to line up the holes for the bolt. More than half the time--way more than half--the gloves would get stuck between the grid and the nuts or inside the threads of the nuts and bolts. Every once in a while, Brad and I would find real latex gloves and the work would proceed a million times faster.
Today we basically just did the same thing we did yesterday. Brady was gone--that was the only difference. Everyone went to the same places: Brad and I were fastening the hardware to the grids while Quinn, Griffin, and Renae cleaned them and rolled them out to us. Skye was still cleaning the material that passed through into the clean room. Alex came up before Brad and I really started assembling the "y-wings" and pulled him over to help with pass-thru. So I worked alone for about 3 hours, just standing at the cart, putting the hardware together. I didn't try to put them onto the grids cause none of them were ready to go really, and I didn't dare try myself--Brad and I tried that before we found out we could fly if we teamed up.
I knew that it'd be more trouble than it was worth to try to teach someone else how to work the way Brad and I did yesterday, and it wasn't like there was anybody willing to...everyone else on the ceiling crew was busy working on the grid that we brought over first thing. We only ended up getting two grids up before morning break, and I was falling asleep on my feet, which ached like crazy.
At morning break I confessed to Brad that I desperately needed him and that he'd be a much better help with me than just standing around cleaning stuff. The cleaning crew had about four people, maybe five, and were not really in any position to give one up. But then again, Brad and Skye were both outside, and the outsiders really don't do that much--they can't clean materials because the insiders have to clean it anyway; it's a waste of time. Skye could really handle it himself if the need arose. I felt bad trying to get Skye to work by himself, cause I obviously knew what that was like. My job was really a two-person job, while Alex's cleaning crew really only needed one person outside the pass-thru--any more than one was really just a comfort worker...not extremely necessary. We decided that Brady pretty much ruined the whole system cause he was gone and everyone was getting switched around...dummy.
Brad asked me to work on getting him back. Alex only wanted Brad because he was could "hustle," which is nice, but who needs to hustle when you're wiping down floor tiles...or just standing outside handing floor tiles to the cleaners, who can't go fast or it's pointless anyway?
As soon as I got a chance, I asked Lawrence (our supervisor, and head of the ceiling crew) if I could have Brad back once we started to move tiles. The gasketeers had finally started to come around, and had gotten at least some of the 170's done, so we could continue to roll them over and hoist them up to be placed. Lawrence wasn't happy at losing Brad in the first place, as he knew how well we had improved the efficiency yesterday. We placed ten grids for crying out loud! The average was like, five, before we started. So Lawrence was more than happy to approach Alex about getting his second-best worker back. Only kidding...I'm second, Ron's first.
Anyway, like Lawrence said, Alex wasn't happy about losing Brad either, but the minute he got back inside, we started assembling the grids and pulling them over to be placed. We had a lot of ground to make up--Steve, for some reason, had said something about placing 20 grids today, and we'd only placed two, with only 7 hours left. Over the next few hours we placed probably 3 or 4 more before lunch break.
After lunch, Brad and I, despite having to wait for the gaskets to be done, got even closer to the day's quota. I even gasketed for a while and I thought it was fun. We had, like, ten people gasketing but it still took them forever. The people outside kept sending in grids in the wrong order and we were missing like half of the ones we needed, and we couldn't continue to place them. The gasketeers, under the direction of Alex, randomely gasketed any old grid and we found ourselves with grid number 95 done way ahead of schedule, along with 159 and other grids that shouldn't have been brought in for at least a few days. Lawrence, needless to say, was pissed. Luckily we had ordered the ones we needed before lunch, so we could plan on getting them afterward.
We got our grids and work continued. Brad and I intalling the hardware non-stop, and rolling grid after grid over to be raised to the ceiling. The work, as it did yesterday, became mind-numbing and Brad and I were exhausted by 3 o'clock. We had moved nine grids already, and were well on our way toward getting three more done by 4:30.
We finished the day with 12 grids moved and placed in the ceiling--many more than I had expected before Brad came back. Today ended up better than expected, but I'm so tired. Quinn is going to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, so he won't be at work tomorrow, and neither will Brady, who is gone to a scout camp. The only good thing about tomorrow is that Jeff starts, along with (hopefully) a bunch of other people to lighten the load a bit more. We never found out if Whitlie or Reagan actually applied, and Griffin and Quinn are talking about persuading them not to...I don't blame them. They'd both hate it, but I admit it'd be fun to have them around.
I'm going to bed...
Quote of the Day:
"Does Pedro look like Saddam Hussein to anyone else?"
-Skye
Today we basically just did the same thing we did yesterday. Brady was gone--that was the only difference. Everyone went to the same places: Brad and I were fastening the hardware to the grids while Quinn, Griffin, and Renae cleaned them and rolled them out to us. Skye was still cleaning the material that passed through into the clean room. Alex came up before Brad and I really started assembling the "y-wings" and pulled him over to help with pass-thru. So I worked alone for about 3 hours, just standing at the cart, putting the hardware together. I didn't try to put them onto the grids cause none of them were ready to go really, and I didn't dare try myself--Brad and I tried that before we found out we could fly if we teamed up.
I knew that it'd be more trouble than it was worth to try to teach someone else how to work the way Brad and I did yesterday, and it wasn't like there was anybody willing to...everyone else on the ceiling crew was busy working on the grid that we brought over first thing. We only ended up getting two grids up before morning break, and I was falling asleep on my feet, which ached like crazy.
At morning break I confessed to Brad that I desperately needed him and that he'd be a much better help with me than just standing around cleaning stuff. The cleaning crew had about four people, maybe five, and were not really in any position to give one up. But then again, Brad and Skye were both outside, and the outsiders really don't do that much--they can't clean materials because the insiders have to clean it anyway; it's a waste of time. Skye could really handle it himself if the need arose. I felt bad trying to get Skye to work by himself, cause I obviously knew what that was like. My job was really a two-person job, while Alex's cleaning crew really only needed one person outside the pass-thru--any more than one was really just a comfort worker...not extremely necessary. We decided that Brady pretty much ruined the whole system cause he was gone and everyone was getting switched around...dummy.
Brad asked me to work on getting him back. Alex only wanted Brad because he was could "hustle," which is nice, but who needs to hustle when you're wiping down floor tiles...or just standing outside handing floor tiles to the cleaners, who can't go fast or it's pointless anyway?
As soon as I got a chance, I asked Lawrence (our supervisor, and head of the ceiling crew) if I could have Brad back once we started to move tiles. The gasketeers had finally started to come around, and had gotten at least some of the 170's done, so we could continue to roll them over and hoist them up to be placed. Lawrence wasn't happy at losing Brad in the first place, as he knew how well we had improved the efficiency yesterday. We placed ten grids for crying out loud! The average was like, five, before we started. So Lawrence was more than happy to approach Alex about getting his second-best worker back. Only kidding...I'm second, Ron's first.
Anyway, like Lawrence said, Alex wasn't happy about losing Brad either, but the minute he got back inside, we started assembling the grids and pulling them over to be placed. We had a lot of ground to make up--Steve, for some reason, had said something about placing 20 grids today, and we'd only placed two, with only 7 hours left. Over the next few hours we placed probably 3 or 4 more before lunch break.
After lunch, Brad and I, despite having to wait for the gaskets to be done, got even closer to the day's quota. I even gasketed for a while and I thought it was fun. We had, like, ten people gasketing but it still took them forever. The people outside kept sending in grids in the wrong order and we were missing like half of the ones we needed, and we couldn't continue to place them. The gasketeers, under the direction of Alex, randomely gasketed any old grid and we found ourselves with grid number 95 done way ahead of schedule, along with 159 and other grids that shouldn't have been brought in for at least a few days. Lawrence, needless to say, was pissed. Luckily we had ordered the ones we needed before lunch, so we could plan on getting them afterward.
We got our grids and work continued. Brad and I intalling the hardware non-stop, and rolling grid after grid over to be raised to the ceiling. The work, as it did yesterday, became mind-numbing and Brad and I were exhausted by 3 o'clock. We had moved nine grids already, and were well on our way toward getting three more done by 4:30.
We finished the day with 12 grids moved and placed in the ceiling--many more than I had expected before Brad came back. Today ended up better than expected, but I'm so tired. Quinn is going to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, so he won't be at work tomorrow, and neither will Brady, who is gone to a scout camp. The only good thing about tomorrow is that Jeff starts, along with (hopefully) a bunch of other people to lighten the load a bit more. We never found out if Whitlie or Reagan actually applied, and Griffin and Quinn are talking about persuading them not to...I don't blame them. They'd both hate it, but I admit it'd be fun to have them around.
I'm going to bed...
Quote of the Day:
"Does Pedro look like Saddam Hussein to anyone else?"
-Skye
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Day 8: Donut Day
I got the lecture today. No, it wasn't a bad lecture. Just kinda...unusual. I was assisting Lawrence with lifting one of the grids, and he said, "Careful, I don't want you to hurt yourself and ruin the rest of your life. You need to use your back... You going to college this fall?"
I said, "Uh, yeah."
"Good," he replied. "Cause you need to go to college and get an education. Don't waste your time here. Don't get into this kind of job. Go and make something of yourself. That's the best advice I can give you."
"Well, thank you," I said. "I plan on it."
It was nice of him to say that. Means he really cares about helping other people make something of themselves. He knows the value of avoiding a bad injury and a bad career. Maybe he made the mistake of staying in construction his whole life, but he obviously doesn't want anybody with a mind to make the same mistake. I thought it was pretty cool of him.
Anyway, it wasn't really donut day...kinda. We had a safety meeting this morning at 7am, and there had to have been, like, at least 200 dozen donuts. We scarfed them down and saved two boxes for lunch and stuff. Those donuts were weird though, cause Brad and I both got heartburn from them...yes, that's right, from a freaking donut.
Bas-sic-cally...my feet are throbbing from today. 10 hours of work is so long, and Brad and I were walking back and forth ALL day. He and I were fastening support plates to the ceiling grids, preparing them to be connected to the ceiling, of all places. Up and down and up and down...then lifting them onto wheels, then rolling them over to the guys who were lifting them up to the ceiling and bolting them to it. 10 hours of that went relatively quickly--seemed a lot quicker than the last few work days, cleaning materials at the pass-thru's.
Quinn and Griffin spent the day with Renae, cleaning the grids for us to prepare to be assembled on the ceiling. Brad and I were both grateful to be doing something closer to real work, only because it made the hours crawl along a bit faster. Cleaning materials is so mind-numbing is so mind-numbing is so mind-numbing....
While Brad and I worked on the grids, suffering from heartburn, Brady and Skye were at another pass-thru, cleaning pedestals and tubes, and other crap that just continues to appear in front you, and multiplies when you blink. Blah blah blah, you get the point. I don't need to ramble any longer about how monotonous it is to clean materials.
Anyway, as Brad and I got progressively more and more tired, we got progressively more and more giggly. Well, actually it was more Brad than it was me. He laughed at everything, and I felt great cause they were my jokes and silly remarks that he was cracking up about. But I won't really attribute it to my hilarity, seeing as we were both tired and had reached terminal laugh-point a good 12 hours earlier than normal. It usually comes around at like, 1am, but for us, who were exhausted, we found ourselves laughing at the dumbest things even before lunch at noon.
While Brad and I were assembling "y-wings" (one of the types of support plates that we fastened to the grids...Brad named each type after the manner of Star Wars, cause we're geeks)...while we were assembling some "y-wings," Brad totally clocked himself with a wrench he was trying to loosen a lug nut with. The reaction was immediate, and the humor was intensified by the fact that it happened at the same time that Quinn, Griffin, and Renae had come over to get a drink at the water fountain a mere 15 feet away. They also happened to be watching us at that exact moment, and I was pleased to not only have someone to laugh at, but also have someone to laugh with. I did feel awful for Brad though...after my initial chuckle at his facial expression, I asked him if he was okay. If he did say he was, then I didn't hear it. I decided just to laugh with the rest of them, since he seemed to not be able to respond quite yet.
The remainder of the day was virtually eventless, besides the fact that Ron was very pleased that we were able to assemble a whole ten grids of the ceiling today--completely shattering the average of like, five or so. At that rate...well, we might be done with the ceiling in like, a few months. Yeah, it's not comforting, but at least we picked up the pace. Hopefully we'll be working with the ceiling team again tomorrow. It was pretty darn fun. Ron laughed at our jokes and seemed to really like me and Brad. He's a way cool guy.
Oh, and we found out today, that Reagan and Whitlie, because they can't find another job this summer, are both applying to work at Brycon! Exciting! Not only are they girls, but they're our friends, and they're super fun. We're all excited, and they might even start on Friday, we're thinking. That's when Jeff starts, so it'll be a really fun day.
Cheers to Brycon! And here's to donuts and Ron, the funniest guy on the ceiling crew!
Quote of the Day:
(15 minutes after Brad's accident, we were still struggling with the "y-wings," getting the lug nuts to turn on them.)
Brad : These stupid lug nuts!
Grant: Yeah, these lug nuts definitely aren't "luck" nuts. In fact, they're not the only unlucky nuts...
I said, "Uh, yeah."
"Good," he replied. "Cause you need to go to college and get an education. Don't waste your time here. Don't get into this kind of job. Go and make something of yourself. That's the best advice I can give you."
"Well, thank you," I said. "I plan on it."
It was nice of him to say that. Means he really cares about helping other people make something of themselves. He knows the value of avoiding a bad injury and a bad career. Maybe he made the mistake of staying in construction his whole life, but he obviously doesn't want anybody with a mind to make the same mistake. I thought it was pretty cool of him.
Anyway, it wasn't really donut day...kinda. We had a safety meeting this morning at 7am, and there had to have been, like, at least 200 dozen donuts. We scarfed them down and saved two boxes for lunch and stuff. Those donuts were weird though, cause Brad and I both got heartburn from them...yes, that's right, from a freaking donut.
Bas-sic-cally...my feet are throbbing from today. 10 hours of work is so long, and Brad and I were walking back and forth ALL day. He and I were fastening support plates to the ceiling grids, preparing them to be connected to the ceiling, of all places. Up and down and up and down...then lifting them onto wheels, then rolling them over to the guys who were lifting them up to the ceiling and bolting them to it. 10 hours of that went relatively quickly--seemed a lot quicker than the last few work days, cleaning materials at the pass-thru's.
Quinn and Griffin spent the day with Renae, cleaning the grids for us to prepare to be assembled on the ceiling. Brad and I were both grateful to be doing something closer to real work, only because it made the hours crawl along a bit faster. Cleaning materials is so mind-numbing is so mind-numbing is so mind-numbing....
While Brad and I worked on the grids, suffering from heartburn, Brady and Skye were at another pass-thru, cleaning pedestals and tubes, and other crap that just continues to appear in front you, and multiplies when you blink. Blah blah blah, you get the point. I don't need to ramble any longer about how monotonous it is to clean materials.
Anyway, as Brad and I got progressively more and more tired, we got progressively more and more giggly. Well, actually it was more Brad than it was me. He laughed at everything, and I felt great cause they were my jokes and silly remarks that he was cracking up about. But I won't really attribute it to my hilarity, seeing as we were both tired and had reached terminal laugh-point a good 12 hours earlier than normal. It usually comes around at like, 1am, but for us, who were exhausted, we found ourselves laughing at the dumbest things even before lunch at noon.
While Brad and I were assembling "y-wings" (one of the types of support plates that we fastened to the grids...Brad named each type after the manner of Star Wars, cause we're geeks)...while we were assembling some "y-wings," Brad totally clocked himself with a wrench he was trying to loosen a lug nut with. The reaction was immediate, and the humor was intensified by the fact that it happened at the same time that Quinn, Griffin, and Renae had come over to get a drink at the water fountain a mere 15 feet away. They also happened to be watching us at that exact moment, and I was pleased to not only have someone to laugh at, but also have someone to laugh with. I did feel awful for Brad though...after my initial chuckle at his facial expression, I asked him if he was okay. If he did say he was, then I didn't hear it. I decided just to laugh with the rest of them, since he seemed to not be able to respond quite yet.
The remainder of the day was virtually eventless, besides the fact that Ron was very pleased that we were able to assemble a whole ten grids of the ceiling today--completely shattering the average of like, five or so. At that rate...well, we might be done with the ceiling in like, a few months. Yeah, it's not comforting, but at least we picked up the pace. Hopefully we'll be working with the ceiling team again tomorrow. It was pretty darn fun. Ron laughed at our jokes and seemed to really like me and Brad. He's a way cool guy.
Oh, and we found out today, that Reagan and Whitlie, because they can't find another job this summer, are both applying to work at Brycon! Exciting! Not only are they girls, but they're our friends, and they're super fun. We're all excited, and they might even start on Friday, we're thinking. That's when Jeff starts, so it'll be a really fun day.
Cheers to Brycon! And here's to donuts and Ron, the funniest guy on the ceiling crew!
Quote of the Day:
(15 minutes after Brad's accident, we were still struggling with the "y-wings," getting the lug nuts to turn on them.)
Brad : These stupid lug nuts!
Grant: Yeah, these lug nuts definitely aren't "luck" nuts. In fact, they're not the only unlucky nuts...
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Day 7: The Shortest Day Ever
I didn't go to work today. Neither did Brady, Quinn or Brad. Griffin and Skye went, though. Skye decided against going on a boating trip with his ward cause of the weather last night. The lightning storms that dominated Utah Valley seemed to him, that they may continue today.
Skye and Griffin worked until morning break, which started a half an hour earlier because the particle count was high again. Once work resumed, the Protocal people denied entrance to the clean room, so everyone got off at 9am. That sucks for me, cause it wouldn't have been a big problem working for 3 hours...dang.
This also sucks for Skye, because once he walked outside to chirping birds and shining sun, he realized his big mistake. But alas, it couldn't be helped because his ward left at 8:30, and he got off work at 9:00. Ouch.
I dunno if Griffin missed out on any cool boating trips or anything, but he must be freaking confused. The fans inside the clean room aren't working, and we can't work inside until they're fixed. Griffin's not seen a normal day of work yet, so who knows if we really work as long as we say we do. Hopefully Wednesday will be normal, because Jeff just got hired and he's starting work then.
Our numbers are growing my friends....
Skye and Griffin worked until morning break, which started a half an hour earlier because the particle count was high again. Once work resumed, the Protocal people denied entrance to the clean room, so everyone got off at 9am. That sucks for me, cause it wouldn't have been a big problem working for 3 hours...dang.
This also sucks for Skye, because once he walked outside to chirping birds and shining sun, he realized his big mistake. But alas, it couldn't be helped because his ward left at 8:30, and he got off work at 9:00. Ouch.
I dunno if Griffin missed out on any cool boating trips or anything, but he must be freaking confused. The fans inside the clean room aren't working, and we can't work inside until they're fixed. Griffin's not seen a normal day of work yet, so who knows if we really work as long as we say we do. Hopefully Wednesday will be normal, because Jeff just got hired and he's starting work then.
Our numbers are growing my friends....
Friday, June 30, 2006
Day 6: Griffin On Board
The morning started off slow...me still without my orange sticker, and everyone else working inside the clean room. Brad and I stayed outside, receiving the grids (for the fans) that will eventually be installed in the ceiling. That's a tedious and boring job, cause we gotta get it lined up to go inside, and then cut it out of the shrink wrap. After that, we wheel it inside and then we wipe down, before it enters the inner chamber of the clean room. It takes forever in between grids, and Brad and I honestly fell asleep on our feet. I couldn't keep my eyes open and it was really creepy, since I've never been that tired and not been able to even sit down before.
It seemed like forever before the first break came, and Brad and I were so happy. I bought a Coke and we ate plenty of food to keep us awake. It was Griffin's first day today, but he wasn't done with orientation by the 9am break. Brady was gone too, cause he volunteered to translate for two new employees who only spoke spanish. He said he did alright, but had to talk around some things cause he didn't know the technical words in spanish. We all thought he was out of his mind when he offered to do it, as there were at least 2 people we know of that speak both languages fluently. He came out seemingly unscathed, so whatever. Our first break didn't last long enough and it was back to work.
Alex, our supervisor, sent us to work at the other pass-thru station, cleaning white tiles and pedestal heads for the workers expanding the platforms inside. It might have been the fact that we were all together, (Skye, Brad, Quinn and I...Brady showed up later) that made it go faster, but from 9:30 to 12:00 seemed infinitely shorter and more enjoyable--not to mention we actually stayed awake.
At lunch Griffin joined us and we talked and joked around, and we were all happy he'd decided to work with us. Lunch, although short, was much better than 9am break, and we left the lunchroom preparing Griffin for the crazy guy in the scissor-lift and everyone else we thought he should at least know about. By the way, the crazy guy in the scissor-lift, on Brad's first day as we were walking past, yelled down to Brad, "Hey Sunshine!" and we were like, "Uh...hello." Besides random stuff like that, he enjoys passing the time by just yelling...nothing specific--probably nothing more than a one-syllable random note. Brady calls him the Troll, just so you know. I forgot to mention the guy yesterday, who while we were passing hollered, "HEY!" like he wanted our attention, but when we turned to see what he wanted, he said "Hi." And that was it...
I lose track of the time we spend laughing about the crazy people we work with, but it's time well-spent...trust me.
Anyway, we prepared Griff for the experience ahead of him, and witnessed the afternoon "Stretch & Flex" firsthand. Always a good time, and in the running for the most enjoyable 5 minutes of our day. After the "Stretch & Flex" I went to ask Steve if he had gotten any more orange stickers. Unfortunately he hadn't, but Aaron was standing right there, and so Steve took Aaron's badge and ripped his sticker off, putting it onto mine. I felt bad for Aaron, who is kind of a right-hand man for someone. I dunno quite what his position is, but he sort of works with hiring through Brycon and associating with newer members. He's a cool guy and didn't mind. Now I have an orange sticker, except it's ghetto, cause it's like not even a whole sticker and it's in two pieces. I still have to find a new one, but odds are, I'll never get one.
After working a long time, while Brady went back to translate for the new workers in the Protocal Training session. Griffin went too, as he needed to be trained as well. Once he got back, I showed him around the workplace and told him just what we were doing. After a while, I finally got to gown up and go into the clean room. It's massive! And it's so cool inside--cool as in awesome, but also cold, since we need to keep fans going and keep it cool to maintain a low particle count. I helped wipe down tiles as we passed them through the station, and despite my minimal movement, it was unusually warm.
Jacob, an idiot friend of our idiot coworker, Colby, was forced to work with us, cleaning tiles. Alex brought him over and she told him to help. He wiped down like 3 and then disappeared for like 20 minutes. He randomely poked his head around the wall and said "I'm going to the bathroom, okay?" as if we really believed him...or cared. Then five minutes later Alex shows up looking for him. From what we gathered, he was not working like he should, and was giving her trouble before she placed him at our pass-thru. We told her that he had disappeared for like 20 minutes after wiping down a few tiles and then had told us he was going to the bathroom five minutes before she arrived. She looked perturbed and left. 10 minutes later she returned, asking us if we had a watch...we confirmed that we did, and she asked us to let her know what time he got back. Like 15 minutes passed and suddenly everyone was leaving the clean room. We were told that the particle count was way too high and that we needed to evacuate it immediately. The normal is like 65,000 particles or something like that. Skye said he had heard it was like 45,000 over...which is huge. Brady said he heard like 150,000 over, which is like...I dunno....just really not good, since it's like three times the regular count.
We thought it felt hot. Turns out the fans stopped working, and thus stopped ventilating. That was one of the problems, and we don't know if it was the only one or not. It was like 3:30 when we evacuated and were told to leave cause there was nothing left to do today. We got to go home a day early, but it was pretty crazy. Probably had something to do with Colby and Jacob...idiots. We're just waiting for them to get fired.
Great. My first day in the clean room was spoiled, but the blow was lessened by the fact that we got to go home an hour earlier. Woohoo! Today was good, I guess.
Quote of the Day:
"Almost all trolls are evil, Brady."
-Skye
It seemed like forever before the first break came, and Brad and I were so happy. I bought a Coke and we ate plenty of food to keep us awake. It was Griffin's first day today, but he wasn't done with orientation by the 9am break. Brady was gone too, cause he volunteered to translate for two new employees who only spoke spanish. He said he did alright, but had to talk around some things cause he didn't know the technical words in spanish. We all thought he was out of his mind when he offered to do it, as there were at least 2 people we know of that speak both languages fluently. He came out seemingly unscathed, so whatever. Our first break didn't last long enough and it was back to work.
Alex, our supervisor, sent us to work at the other pass-thru station, cleaning white tiles and pedestal heads for the workers expanding the platforms inside. It might have been the fact that we were all together, (Skye, Brad, Quinn and I...Brady showed up later) that made it go faster, but from 9:30 to 12:00 seemed infinitely shorter and more enjoyable--not to mention we actually stayed awake.
At lunch Griffin joined us and we talked and joked around, and we were all happy he'd decided to work with us. Lunch, although short, was much better than 9am break, and we left the lunchroom preparing Griffin for the crazy guy in the scissor-lift and everyone else we thought he should at least know about. By the way, the crazy guy in the scissor-lift, on Brad's first day as we were walking past, yelled down to Brad, "Hey Sunshine!" and we were like, "Uh...hello." Besides random stuff like that, he enjoys passing the time by just yelling...nothing specific--probably nothing more than a one-syllable random note. Brady calls him the Troll, just so you know. I forgot to mention the guy yesterday, who while we were passing hollered, "HEY!" like he wanted our attention, but when we turned to see what he wanted, he said "Hi." And that was it...
I lose track of the time we spend laughing about the crazy people we work with, but it's time well-spent...trust me.
Anyway, we prepared Griff for the experience ahead of him, and witnessed the afternoon "Stretch & Flex" firsthand. Always a good time, and in the running for the most enjoyable 5 minutes of our day. After the "Stretch & Flex" I went to ask Steve if he had gotten any more orange stickers. Unfortunately he hadn't, but Aaron was standing right there, and so Steve took Aaron's badge and ripped his sticker off, putting it onto mine. I felt bad for Aaron, who is kind of a right-hand man for someone. I dunno quite what his position is, but he sort of works with hiring through Brycon and associating with newer members. He's a cool guy and didn't mind. Now I have an orange sticker, except it's ghetto, cause it's like not even a whole sticker and it's in two pieces. I still have to find a new one, but odds are, I'll never get one.
After working a long time, while Brady went back to translate for the new workers in the Protocal Training session. Griffin went too, as he needed to be trained as well. Once he got back, I showed him around the workplace and told him just what we were doing. After a while, I finally got to gown up and go into the clean room. It's massive! And it's so cool inside--cool as in awesome, but also cold, since we need to keep fans going and keep it cool to maintain a low particle count. I helped wipe down tiles as we passed them through the station, and despite my minimal movement, it was unusually warm.
Jacob, an idiot friend of our idiot coworker, Colby, was forced to work with us, cleaning tiles. Alex brought him over and she told him to help. He wiped down like 3 and then disappeared for like 20 minutes. He randomely poked his head around the wall and said "I'm going to the bathroom, okay?" as if we really believed him...or cared. Then five minutes later Alex shows up looking for him. From what we gathered, he was not working like he should, and was giving her trouble before she placed him at our pass-thru. We told her that he had disappeared for like 20 minutes after wiping down a few tiles and then had told us he was going to the bathroom five minutes before she arrived. She looked perturbed and left. 10 minutes later she returned, asking us if we had a watch...we confirmed that we did, and she asked us to let her know what time he got back. Like 15 minutes passed and suddenly everyone was leaving the clean room. We were told that the particle count was way too high and that we needed to evacuate it immediately. The normal is like 65,000 particles or something like that. Skye said he had heard it was like 45,000 over...which is huge. Brady said he heard like 150,000 over, which is like...I dunno....just really not good, since it's like three times the regular count.
We thought it felt hot. Turns out the fans stopped working, and thus stopped ventilating. That was one of the problems, and we don't know if it was the only one or not. It was like 3:30 when we evacuated and were told to leave cause there was nothing left to do today. We got to go home a day early, but it was pretty crazy. Probably had something to do with Colby and Jacob...idiots. We're just waiting for them to get fired.
Great. My first day in the clean room was spoiled, but the blow was lessened by the fact that we got to go home an hour earlier. Woohoo! Today was good, I guess.
Quote of the Day:
"Almost all trolls are evil, Brady."
-Skye
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Day 5: Where Is My Dang Orange Sticker?
I honestly feel like a train hit me...in the foot. There's something wrong with my feet, and standing on them for 10 hours straight everyday couldn't be the best way to treat them. Speaking of treating them, my foot doctor, Mark Rogers, is the best. He's giving me an anti-imflammatory which, should help to kill the pain.
Today we began the day by standing around after the "Stretch & Flex" and waiting for one of the supervisors to make us work. Brad and I got left out, cause Jayson took all he needed, and Alex only took the ones who had the orange stickers and were thereby "qualified" to work in the clean room. Brad and I took the class and are actually certified, but since we don't have the orange sticker on our badges, we're not allowed in, according to IMFT. So we spent the whole day standing outside the clean room wiping down object after object. Then we'd move to the other side of the room and wipe down some other stuff. Everything we wipe down is then allowed to enter the clean room environment. We wiped down, among many other things: pedestals, steel grate floor tiles, large fan-holding metal wall thingies, buckets of bolts, screws and nuts, and Gypsie Runabout (lift machines). There were more, oh yes...many more things.
The times before and in between the two breaks went by relatively quickly, with some drudgery and monotony. But after lunch it seemed as though it would never end. I was so dang tired. Then, while we were wiping down a Gypsie, "Supernintendo" Steve (the Supterintendant) came over and only had 2 orange stickers with him. We hadn't received them yet, cause the lady yesterday sucked and forgot them. There were three of us there who didn't have stickers: Brad, Renae, and me. It was just my luck that when I turned my back they got the only two, and I'm still here, sitting before you, without a sticker. Steve said he would get me one, but yeah....like that was gonna happen.
Basically I'm dead on my feet, or was by the end of the day. We spent so much time standing, since were not allowed to sit. Brad, on our 50th trip back from the garbage at like 4:15 said, "Funny how you can tell it's the end of the day by the fact that NOBODY is talking cause they're so tired." I laughed....in my head.
I just can't wait for tomorrow. That was kinda true, cause Griffin joins the ranks, making our little crew, six men strong. That was kinda not true though....since I can barely stand. Well, hopefully tomorrow ends up being fun and less tiring. Maybe I'll even get my freaking orange sticker so I can see what the clean room really looks like.
Quote of the Day:
"Woah, that was the weirdest feeling of my life. My left cheek (butt cheek) was, like, vibrating. There must be something going on underneath the floor, making it shake."
-Brad
Today we began the day by standing around after the "Stretch & Flex" and waiting for one of the supervisors to make us work. Brad and I got left out, cause Jayson took all he needed, and Alex only took the ones who had the orange stickers and were thereby "qualified" to work in the clean room. Brad and I took the class and are actually certified, but since we don't have the orange sticker on our badges, we're not allowed in, according to IMFT. So we spent the whole day standing outside the clean room wiping down object after object. Then we'd move to the other side of the room and wipe down some other stuff. Everything we wipe down is then allowed to enter the clean room environment. We wiped down, among many other things: pedestals, steel grate floor tiles, large fan-holding metal wall thingies, buckets of bolts, screws and nuts, and Gypsie Runabout (lift machines). There were more, oh yes...many more things.
The times before and in between the two breaks went by relatively quickly, with some drudgery and monotony. But after lunch it seemed as though it would never end. I was so dang tired. Then, while we were wiping down a Gypsie, "Supernintendo" Steve (the Supterintendant) came over and only had 2 orange stickers with him. We hadn't received them yet, cause the lady yesterday sucked and forgot them. There were three of us there who didn't have stickers: Brad, Renae, and me. It was just my luck that when I turned my back they got the only two, and I'm still here, sitting before you, without a sticker. Steve said he would get me one, but yeah....like that was gonna happen.
Basically I'm dead on my feet, or was by the end of the day. We spent so much time standing, since were not allowed to sit. Brad, on our 50th trip back from the garbage at like 4:15 said, "Funny how you can tell it's the end of the day by the fact that NOBODY is talking cause they're so tired." I laughed....in my head.
I just can't wait for tomorrow. That was kinda true, cause Griffin joins the ranks, making our little crew, six men strong. That was kinda not true though....since I can barely stand. Well, hopefully tomorrow ends up being fun and less tiring. Maybe I'll even get my freaking orange sticker so I can see what the clean room really looks like.
Quote of the Day:
"Woah, that was the weirdest feeling of my life. My left cheek (butt cheek) was, like, vibrating. There must be something going on underneath the floor, making it shake."
-Brad
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Day 4: Brad Joins the Crew, and Grant Realizes His Mistake
Today was, at best, enlightening. Not in the academic and fully-uplifting manner I have come to associate the word with during our frequent intellectual discussions in AP Literature this year, but enlightening in the sense that I now understand the meaning of "an honest day's work."
I knew it'd be hard...I just didn't know it'd be that long. Ten hours, yeah, I knew it was ten hours; but I assumed that if I was busy doing stuff, the time in-between breaks would pass seemingly quickly. Nope. And it didn't help that I had periodic bouts of complete bodily shutdowns, where my mind wandered and seemed to leave my body altogether--then I'd be awakened by someone saying, "Hey, Rich, would you lift that please?" sounding kinda annoyed that it had taken three times asking to get me to respond. I only hope that I'll be able to eat a better breakfast and possibly get some caffeine into my body's circulatory system earlier.
I couldn't help wishing I was in Brad's shoes, no matter how bored and tired I knew he was. Although an hour early to Orientation, he was able to sit in a chair until like 10:30am, and then tour the facility and eat lunch all before 12:30pm, when he met up with us at our second daily "Stretch & Flex." He got an easy, though mind-numbing, morning, while I stood (because Steve doesn't like us to sit, even for the shortest time) and carried giant pieces of plywood and large steel grates to cover big holes in the ground, until lunch.
Lunch was good, but the fact that my lunchbox was a complete joke compared to everyone else's lunchboxes, which were like cooler's and stuff that could hold like three of my-sized meals. So I went and bought a bigger one today at Wal-mart, so I wouldn't fell emasculated anymore...at least in that sense.
Basically, after lunch, Brad and I headed over to Protocal Training, so we could work in the clean room that we're constructing. We'll just be wiping stuff down, you know, keeping stuff clean for the clean room...to be more clean. That was boring and I kept dozing off...so did Brad. So now we're "certified" to work in the clean room, though I don't really remember anything from the presentation. Eh, you learn more stuff onsite than in a classroom anyway.
After that, we headed over and spent a while wiping stuff down for the clean room, outside the clean room, cause the lady who certified us didn't have the authorization stickers, so we weren't really officially allowed, and we still aren't yet. After that, we went and caulked for like fifty years...or maybe just like, an hour and a half, but it was so dang long. We caulked those fallback grates that we had previously installed that morning.
Once we were finally done, and had cleaned up, we headed home and after Brad and I showered, we met at Panda Express to talk and eat a hearty dinner. Oh man...bliss. I was so full. Brad was exhausted, and I was like, "You're exhausted??? You sat in a chair for like 6 hours!" And then he said, "Well, I was in sleep mode those 6 hours, and then I had to try to wake up and it didn't work...and that caulking was crazy." So I took his word for it.
Hmm....I'm definitely ready for bed. Yep. Until tomorrow.
Quote of the Day:
Brady: "Grant, you're a Dick."
::Grant hangs up on Brady without saying goodbye::
Brad: "Woah there..."
Brady: "His first name's Richard...so he's Dick."
Brad: "Oh yeah."
I knew it'd be hard...I just didn't know it'd be that long. Ten hours, yeah, I knew it was ten hours; but I assumed that if I was busy doing stuff, the time in-between breaks would pass seemingly quickly. Nope. And it didn't help that I had periodic bouts of complete bodily shutdowns, where my mind wandered and seemed to leave my body altogether--then I'd be awakened by someone saying, "Hey, Rich, would you lift that please?" sounding kinda annoyed that it had taken three times asking to get me to respond. I only hope that I'll be able to eat a better breakfast and possibly get some caffeine into my body's circulatory system earlier.
I couldn't help wishing I was in Brad's shoes, no matter how bored and tired I knew he was. Although an hour early to Orientation, he was able to sit in a chair until like 10:30am, and then tour the facility and eat lunch all before 12:30pm, when he met up with us at our second daily "Stretch & Flex." He got an easy, though mind-numbing, morning, while I stood (because Steve doesn't like us to sit, even for the shortest time) and carried giant pieces of plywood and large steel grates to cover big holes in the ground, until lunch.
Lunch was good, but the fact that my lunchbox was a complete joke compared to everyone else's lunchboxes, which were like cooler's and stuff that could hold like three of my-sized meals. So I went and bought a bigger one today at Wal-mart, so I wouldn't fell emasculated anymore...at least in that sense.
Basically, after lunch, Brad and I headed over to Protocal Training, so we could work in the clean room that we're constructing. We'll just be wiping stuff down, you know, keeping stuff clean for the clean room...to be more clean. That was boring and I kept dozing off...so did Brad. So now we're "certified" to work in the clean room, though I don't really remember anything from the presentation. Eh, you learn more stuff onsite than in a classroom anyway.
After that, we headed over and spent a while wiping stuff down for the clean room, outside the clean room, cause the lady who certified us didn't have the authorization stickers, so we weren't really officially allowed, and we still aren't yet. After that, we went and caulked for like fifty years...or maybe just like, an hour and a half, but it was so dang long. We caulked those fallback grates that we had previously installed that morning.
Once we were finally done, and had cleaned up, we headed home and after Brad and I showered, we met at Panda Express to talk and eat a hearty dinner. Oh man...bliss. I was so full. Brad was exhausted, and I was like, "You're exhausted??? You sat in a chair for like 6 hours!" And then he said, "Well, I was in sleep mode those 6 hours, and then I had to try to wake up and it didn't work...and that caulking was crazy." So I took his word for it.
Hmm....I'm definitely ready for bed. Yep. Until tomorrow.
Quote of the Day:
Brady: "Grant, you're a Dick."
::Grant hangs up on Brady without saying goodbye::
Brad: "Woah there..."
Brady: "His first name's Richard...so he's Dick."
Brad: "Oh yeah."
Day 2 & 3: Brady, Quinn and Skye Survive
On Tuesday and Wednesday (June 20 & 21), while I was sitting comfortably in my chair at Allen's Camera, and chatting away about photography, my friends were enduring their first few days of grueling construction labor. They came out of it both tired and laughing about lots of new people that they'd met.
They seem to be enjoying their new coworkers, despite their foul mouths and bad habits. I must admit I'm a little jealous because of their new secret talk, while I'm left out of their chats about work...even though I was the one who found them the job...ironic.
Anyway, today is actually the day I really started (June 28), and I'm just catching you up on the job. Now I'll write about today.
They seem to be enjoying their new coworkers, despite their foul mouths and bad habits. I must admit I'm a little jealous because of their new secret talk, while I'm left out of their chats about work...even though I was the one who found them the job...ironic.
Anyway, today is actually the day I really started (June 28), and I'm just catching you up on the job. Now I'll write about today.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Day 1: Orientation
Today we have been officially tagged as "young pups."
Starting a new job can sometimes be difficult. I mean, it's hard for me to leave Allen's Camera, after having worked there for just over a year. But I'm basically getting screwed over, making only $6/hr and working just as many hours a week as I was during high school when I had 4 AP classes and very little time for work. However, I am leaving and moving on to bigger and better things...namely: construction.
A job that was advertised as "Light General Labor" has transformed before my very eyes today, into something of a huge undertaking. What I felt assured would be a good day's work, yet still not too intense, became something very different as I sat in the orientation room this morning at 6am.
Brady Rice, Quinn Robbins, Skye Larsen and I all applied for work, which we all deemed appropriate for a summertime job. What was advertised as 40 hrs/week + 15-20 hrs/week overtime, evolved into 60 hrs/week (Monday - Saturday) faster than we could blink, during our first interview. We were all hired, of course, as Aerotek seemed unusually happy to have us aboard.
The highlight of my week was peeing in a cup, awkwardly enough. It was the first drug test I'd been required to partake in, and I admit, it was an enlightening experience. I got yet another witness to the stupidity of drugs and those who do them. To urinate in a little cup is demeaning enough, but to actually go through that all and test positive for drugs...that's just sad. I'd hate to be caught that way...through my urine. I'd much rather go down in some sort of heroic and rebellious manner, clutching my cigarette as the police haul me off the to slammer...or something like that. Not that I would ever smoke or use any sort of drug...I'm against that. It's just that peeing in a cup seems like the loser's-way-out.
Anyway, the four of us show up today, bright and early, groggy-eyed and wondering when the next break would be. We sat down in the front row, and were issued a hard hat and safety goggles, which we promptly put on. We must have looked pretty goofy up there in the front (obviously sucking up) with our hard hats and safety glasses, ready to sit there for three hours and listen to a guy tell us all about safety. The room was full of experienced veterans of construction, averaging about 35-40 years in age. You could tell that these men were going to hate us by the end of the summer...in fact, I wasn't too sure that they didn't already hate us. We were laughing and joking around, just enjoying ourselves the whole morning. I mean, we really must have looked as though we had no idea what was about to happen--and I honestly still don't, cause I had to leave early to get to my other job (Allen's) for one of my last days.
They gave us this book, put out by Hoffman, about safety around the workplace. It had all kinds of stuff, but we found a couple interesting pages with drawings, and since we're graduated, we're going to avoid reading as much as is humanly possible. One page had the hand signals for communicating with a Boom Operater. We quizzed each other on the different signals, just for fun. Thumbs-up meant Raise Boom, Thumbs-down meant Lower Boom, Rotating your hand in a circle with your index finger pointing up meant to Raise Load, the opposite indicated that we wanted the load lowered. There were some other weird ones that meant some other crazy stuff. Anyway, we messed around with that a while before the Orientation started.
Partway through the orientation the speaker, Michael, started to talk about misconduct, and horseing around--you know, how it is prohibited and stuff--and the following scene occured:
Michael: Now if you walk in and start messing around someone's gonna drop the boom on ya.
Me and Quinn: ::thumbs down::
I could only assume he was using some jargon, rather than referring to an actual boom, but whatever. We giggled about it, though, as it was funny at the time. You know that point at about 1am, when you and your friends are so dang tired, that everything anyone says is extremely funny, and laugh at the stupidest things? I usually refer to it as "laugh point." Anyway, I think that if you wake up early enough, laugh point can actually occur in the early hours of the morning, rather than late at night. We sure were close, if anything.
I think that the hardest task I had to deal with today was where on my helmet I should place my Hoffman sticker. I didn't actually see any action, like my peers. I've been sitting at Allen's all day, wondering what happened. I actually just heard from Quinn that the work is pretty hard, but at the same time...not. The impression that I got from the orientation was that the "Light General Labor" that we signed up for was actually hard-core, real-life construction. Like, this is the real deal...the big time. From what Quinn described, it's not that bad...but you never know what tomorrow holds in store.
I just pray that this doesn't turn out to be some huge Civil War situation, where the young and innocent teenagers sign up, thinking that it would be kinda fun to see some action, and that anything is better than sitting at home doing nothing. The last thing I'd want is to find out, like those boys who ran off to sign up for the army to have an adventure, that this is something much bigger than any of us ever could have expected. No, wait...I guess the last thing I'd want to happen is that I get killed like most of those boys did...the other thing would probably second to last.
Quote of the Day:
"Yeah, they told us that our number-one priority is to be safe...and our number-two priority is to get paid...so I'm just gonna go and stand around, and when they ask me what I'm doing, I'll tell them that I'm staying safe and getting paid, and that's all I need to worry about."
-Quinn
Starting a new job can sometimes be difficult. I mean, it's hard for me to leave Allen's Camera, after having worked there for just over a year. But I'm basically getting screwed over, making only $6/hr and working just as many hours a week as I was during high school when I had 4 AP classes and very little time for work. However, I am leaving and moving on to bigger and better things...namely: construction.
A job that was advertised as "Light General Labor" has transformed before my very eyes today, into something of a huge undertaking. What I felt assured would be a good day's work, yet still not too intense, became something very different as I sat in the orientation room this morning at 6am.
Brady Rice, Quinn Robbins, Skye Larsen and I all applied for work, which we all deemed appropriate for a summertime job. What was advertised as 40 hrs/week + 15-20 hrs/week overtime, evolved into 60 hrs/week (Monday - Saturday) faster than we could blink, during our first interview. We were all hired, of course, as Aerotek seemed unusually happy to have us aboard.
The highlight of my week was peeing in a cup, awkwardly enough. It was the first drug test I'd been required to partake in, and I admit, it was an enlightening experience. I got yet another witness to the stupidity of drugs and those who do them. To urinate in a little cup is demeaning enough, but to actually go through that all and test positive for drugs...that's just sad. I'd hate to be caught that way...through my urine. I'd much rather go down in some sort of heroic and rebellious manner, clutching my cigarette as the police haul me off the to slammer...or something like that. Not that I would ever smoke or use any sort of drug...I'm against that. It's just that peeing in a cup seems like the loser's-way-out.
Anyway, the four of us show up today, bright and early, groggy-eyed and wondering when the next break would be. We sat down in the front row, and were issued a hard hat and safety goggles, which we promptly put on. We must have looked pretty goofy up there in the front (obviously sucking up) with our hard hats and safety glasses, ready to sit there for three hours and listen to a guy tell us all about safety. The room was full of experienced veterans of construction, averaging about 35-40 years in age. You could tell that these men were going to hate us by the end of the summer...in fact, I wasn't too sure that they didn't already hate us. We were laughing and joking around, just enjoying ourselves the whole morning. I mean, we really must have looked as though we had no idea what was about to happen--and I honestly still don't, cause I had to leave early to get to my other job (Allen's) for one of my last days.
They gave us this book, put out by Hoffman, about safety around the workplace. It had all kinds of stuff, but we found a couple interesting pages with drawings, and since we're graduated, we're going to avoid reading as much as is humanly possible. One page had the hand signals for communicating with a Boom Operater. We quizzed each other on the different signals, just for fun. Thumbs-up meant Raise Boom, Thumbs-down meant Lower Boom, Rotating your hand in a circle with your index finger pointing up meant to Raise Load, the opposite indicated that we wanted the load lowered. There were some other weird ones that meant some other crazy stuff. Anyway, we messed around with that a while before the Orientation started.
Partway through the orientation the speaker, Michael, started to talk about misconduct, and horseing around--you know, how it is prohibited and stuff--and the following scene occured:
Michael: Now if you walk in and start messing around someone's gonna drop the boom on ya.
Me and Quinn: ::thumbs down::
I could only assume he was using some jargon, rather than referring to an actual boom, but whatever. We giggled about it, though, as it was funny at the time. You know that point at about 1am, when you and your friends are so dang tired, that everything anyone says is extremely funny, and laugh at the stupidest things? I usually refer to it as "laugh point." Anyway, I think that if you wake up early enough, laugh point can actually occur in the early hours of the morning, rather than late at night. We sure were close, if anything.
I think that the hardest task I had to deal with today was where on my helmet I should place my Hoffman sticker. I didn't actually see any action, like my peers. I've been sitting at Allen's all day, wondering what happened. I actually just heard from Quinn that the work is pretty hard, but at the same time...not. The impression that I got from the orientation was that the "Light General Labor" that we signed up for was actually hard-core, real-life construction. Like, this is the real deal...the big time. From what Quinn described, it's not that bad...but you never know what tomorrow holds in store.
I just pray that this doesn't turn out to be some huge Civil War situation, where the young and innocent teenagers sign up, thinking that it would be kinda fun to see some action, and that anything is better than sitting at home doing nothing. The last thing I'd want is to find out, like those boys who ran off to sign up for the army to have an adventure, that this is something much bigger than any of us ever could have expected. No, wait...I guess the last thing I'd want to happen is that I get killed like most of those boys did...the other thing would probably second to last.
Quote of the Day:
"Yeah, they told us that our number-one priority is to be safe...and our number-two priority is to get paid...so I'm just gonna go and stand around, and when they ask me what I'm doing, I'll tell them that I'm staying safe and getting paid, and that's all I need to worry about."
-Quinn
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