Amazing!

Hey all, hope the sun is shining on your spirits!!

First; the dog is loving being able to go outside on her leash and just lay in the grass or under the deck. She is addicted to being outside the way I was to beer, every chance she gets she is outside as long as there is no rain or snow which hasn't been too much of a problem. Glad I rented this trailer for her:-) Her dad is comfortable with it as well. Most of the stuff is put away, like 95%. I have 1 room for storage, a room for my library/desk and then my bedroom, living room and kitchen are decent enough.

Second; I friend of mine in recovery died, he had rectal cancer plus his liver was shot from chronic alcoholism. He was one of those chronic relapser's who most didn't give a chance in hell he would die sober. His last relapse was a dozy, his skin was yellow, he wore heavy clothes even when it was warm, he was drinking cooking sherry and mouth wash when he couldn't get booze. He died with about 2-1/2 years of sobriety. We can never give up on someone, we can never refuse to accept the hand that reaches out to us. He will be missed, he was a unique character, a definite presences in the room and a miracle. RIP Jimbo my friend, glad you shined your light on my life.

I am finding the new job totally amazing, not so much the work but my attitude and serenity. For 15 years I have pretty much done clerical work, purchasing, helping others and tons of documentation. I thought this was the kind of work I needed to find again, hey I am a manager, a people person, this is my destiny! Funny how our God laughs at what we think is best for us and moves us in an opposite direction.

I am training to operate a press brake. This is a machine which bends steel, most of the bends are 90 degrees although we do get into so 45's, 120's, even funky stuff like 68 and 25. One of the irony's is, I suck at math or did in school and math still doesn't come easy. The machines are old so even after you program your degrees and length into the computer you still have to use your tape measure and protractor make adjustments, you start off light and work your way harder. This is one of those jobs you can't rush when setting up the machine. The guy training me is very good, he explains taking your time, it is easier to make adjustments by going slow rather than banging the bend and having to straighten the piece out or scraping it. The blue prints can also be insane, lots of different lines and measurements. The prints are set up for all operations, so you have markings for where the holes goes for punching plus shear dimensions, you have all these lines with different measurements and you have to know which ones apply to you. Reading the blue print hasn't been too hard since I have done this in the past but I have to read it correctly to know how the piece goes into the machine so my bend is in the right place, you can easily bend a piece backwards if you aren't paying attention to the print; the other new guy did this to 39 pieces last night. Once again as the trainer says take your time, pay close attention, the speed will come in time. So my whole problem with not being mathematically quick comes down to taking it slow, looking at my measurements and radius's, thinking about how to adjust them by adding or subtracting. I feel I am catching on fairly well, thanks to some previous experience and hereditary mechanical aptitude.

I am liking the job, for one we don't do the same parts over and over like a lot of manufacturing jobs, reason I applied at this company was I knew they didn't run the same parts all shift long. Last night I took pieces of 3 inch by 39 inch and bent two 90 degree angles in them, making a J form, for example, ran 100 pieces. In the same night I could be bending 48 inch by 48 inch sheets or 6 inch by 10 inch with 3 bends, you get the picture. This job requires thinking but different from clerical or managerial. It is fairly physical, lots of lifting and moving of upper torso, plus standing for the whole shift. My feet kill me by the end of the shift, need to get some gel insoles for my boots to see if they help, probably it is just going to be a case of my feet getting use to it. My shoulders have burned from pain too but I think this again is just a case of the muscles building strength and endurance, I stretch my muscles a few times a night which helps a bit, trying to stay away from popping too many Aleve, just take 1 or at most 2 a day if I really need to. I am handling working until 4:00am fairly well, grant it the last hours are a bite but if I am busy they are not too bad and no I am not drinking a bunch of energy drinks, can't and won't do that, just my coffee or maybe a Dew. I have been going to bed around 5:00am and getting up about noon or 1. The dog is adjusting to the shift as well. We are working 6 days of 11-1/2 hour shifts and I am working Sunday noon to 6pm as well, the press brake has a large backlog so we need to get caught up. We have next weekend off due to company audit. The other new guy says he refuses to work 7 days a week, I hope I am not stuck working too many Sundays because of him, if it starts to look this way I will tell the boss I am in recovery and would like to make my Sunday morning meeting every once in awhile. Of course part of the game in getting good raises is to work when asked without bitching or making an excuse to why you can't work, so I will keep my mouth shut for a bit. Once I get a sleep pattern down and get rested up, I can get up earlier a few days and hit the noon meetings, for the sake of fellowship and hearing and carrying the message, basically remembering I am a hopeless alcoholic and can't forget it. Oh yeah, the 70 hour work week won't last for ever, just a few months, with this industry it flexes up and down, some months full throttle, other months cruising at 40 hours.

I find the work environment amusing. Most of the guys are basically friendly in the acknowledging your presents sort of way. It is cliquish like most work places, like jail every group has there own table to sit at on lunch break. The Latino's have been the most friendly over all, just idle chit chat while smoking. I don't go out of my way either to make friends, I am not one to force myself on others to prove my worth or be part of the boys club, in time I will get to know them and they me, there are only about 15 guys on second shift anyway. The other thing I find highly amusing is the cell phone addiction! Most of the guys are on their phones during breaks, checking messages and talking, this even happens at 1:00am, it is just not the younger guys either, the guys in their 50's are doing it too. I always assumed the cell phone addiction was a younger person thing since I am not a cell phone freak but I was wrong.

To sum things up; I am glad I got this job considering it wasn't what I was wanting. It feels good to be working again, sore muscles/feet and all. I am amazed how easily I have adapted back into this type of work, guess I am not as single minded career orientated as I thought I was. Yep my Higher Power gave me what I needed. Right now I need to pay my bills, pay mom back, build my checking account up, it is a bonus I have inter peace and serenity with what I am doing. Not blowing smoke up my butt, I know there will be days when I am unhappy, when I make mistakes and kick myself in the ass over and over for them, when I take others inventories to the extreme and seriously dislike a coworker but I hope when these happen I open my spiritual tool kit and bring myself back to balance. I will also have to working on finding time for Mich, mom, babies and fellowship. Since this is a new start, it will take some work on my part to level out the Yin and Yang but it can be done, I can't allow work and money to replace the other important things in life.


PEACE LOVE AND LIGHT FROM NEBRASKA
Scott