I just got back from a job in Germany on Thursday afternoon. Since I've been back, I have felt like there are a thousand things to get done. I have developed a way of thinking recently which I'm not excited about.....when I get home from a job I have about 2 weeks to cram in as much stuff as possible, whether that be spending time with friends, cleaning the house, paying bills- whatever. Yesterday, I had a list in mind of things I wanted to accomplish before I left to go on a date with K. One of those things involved walking to the store and gettng some things.
The walk to and from the store was gorgeous! It was sunny and the temperature was perfect,and I thought to myself....I don't want to be stuck inside all day! I totally abandoned my list of things to do and left for K's place.
This morning I woke up around 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. The list of things that need ot be done popped back into my mind. Because I'm tired and lack the motivation to start cleaning and doing other things that need to be done, I thought what would happen if I didn't do any of the list today? What if I just enjoy the afternoon I have planned with a friend of mine?
I'm trying to figure out why, if I'm not doing something that 'needs' to be done, do I feel guilty about it?
I have decided this morning that for these few weeks I'm home I'm going to change how I do things. I'm not going to try and cram every little thing that 'needs'
to be done, and every activity that comes up into the time I'm at home.
I barely had a break before leaving for Germany, worked a ton of overtime before leaving for Germany, worked my ass off in Germany, and I think it's time I let myself off the hook a little.
That is the conclusion I have come to this morning.
I will post some road notes from TX and Germany later.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Notes from the road: St. Louis, MO
I am behind on road notes!
I flew to MO August 3rd I believe, and flew out August 6th.
The first night we were there we went to a modern/fusion restaurant where we ordered about 10 different plates of food and they were all small and came out at different times. We all shared everything. It was interesting, but not very filling. I saw the arch that night, but didn't get a picture:(
This job would have been flawless had in not been 112 with the heat index the first day we worked. I have worked in weather like that before, but when I did I had also lived in that sort of weather for years. For a little over a year now, I have been living in a dry climate...I'm not used to the humidity anymore. It was so still and opressive at times it was difficult to breath.
That day was my bosses birthday. It wasn't very festive, we were all pretty zombie like at dinner. Luckily, my boss got a real celbration about 2 weeks after his real birthday at home.
The next day was cooler, and we got drizzled on the entire 4 hours we worked. My shoes and socks got soaked :/ Luckily we weren't working a whole day or my feet would have had more blisters than I could count!
After working that half day my boss and I flew back to Denver. Or, we tried anyway. There were bad storms around the Denver airpoirt so we landed in Colorado Springs to refuel. We sat in the Springs for about 2 hours waiting for the weather to clear up. We got back 3-4 hours after we had originally planned....I think my boss dropped me off at my house around midnight. We had both been up since about 5:30 am that morning so we were both exhausted. I babbled the entire way home because I was trying to keep both of us awake.
I was about to say that was it....but wait!
I started brining cold packs on the jobs I go one so that if I pull something I have a way to relieve some pain. So, upon entering my hotel room and unpacking a bit, I grabbed my cold pack and went to the little fridge. I opened the little door to the freezer, and saw a big blue mound. I started to pull the mound out, but it was sort of frozen to the freezer compartment. It took a few seconds, but I finally pried the blue mound from the icy grip of the freezer. To get a better look, I threw the blue mound on the counter by the sink. And that's when I realized.....the blue mound that I had been manhandeling was a pair of boxers!
I promptly threw the boxers in the trash, then washed my hands (but not before I got a picture!).
The next day I was walking around in the room and kicked something...it turneed out to be a little 8 ball that was about the size and weight of a ping pong ball- I kept that to eventually put in a geocache.
I think that is it for the notes on this job.
I flew to MO August 3rd I believe, and flew out August 6th.
The first night we were there we went to a modern/fusion restaurant where we ordered about 10 different plates of food and they were all small and came out at different times. We all shared everything. It was interesting, but not very filling. I saw the arch that night, but didn't get a picture:(
This job would have been flawless had in not been 112 with the heat index the first day we worked. I have worked in weather like that before, but when I did I had also lived in that sort of weather for years. For a little over a year now, I have been living in a dry climate...I'm not used to the humidity anymore. It was so still and opressive at times it was difficult to breath.
That day was my bosses birthday. It wasn't very festive, we were all pretty zombie like at dinner. Luckily, my boss got a real celbration about 2 weeks after his real birthday at home.
The next day was cooler, and we got drizzled on the entire 4 hours we worked. My shoes and socks got soaked :/ Luckily we weren't working a whole day or my feet would have had more blisters than I could count!
After working that half day my boss and I flew back to Denver. Or, we tried anyway. There were bad storms around the Denver airpoirt so we landed in Colorado Springs to refuel. We sat in the Springs for about 2 hours waiting for the weather to clear up. We got back 3-4 hours after we had originally planned....I think my boss dropped me off at my house around midnight. We had both been up since about 5:30 am that morning so we were both exhausted. I babbled the entire way home because I was trying to keep both of us awake.
I was about to say that was it....but wait!
I started brining cold packs on the jobs I go one so that if I pull something I have a way to relieve some pain. So, upon entering my hotel room and unpacking a bit, I grabbed my cold pack and went to the little fridge. I opened the little door to the freezer, and saw a big blue mound. I started to pull the mound out, but it was sort of frozen to the freezer compartment. It took a few seconds, but I finally pried the blue mound from the icy grip of the freezer. To get a better look, I threw the blue mound on the counter by the sink. And that's when I realized.....the blue mound that I had been manhandeling was a pair of boxers!
I promptly threw the boxers in the trash, then washed my hands (but not before I got a picture!).
The next day I was walking around in the room and kicked something...it turneed out to be a little 8 ball that was about the size and weight of a ping pong ball- I kept that to eventually put in a geocache.
I think that is it for the notes on this job.
Hilarious.... egg-actly what I thought!
I am in Levelland, TX for work. At the moment, I am the only one of my crew that is here. Around dinner time I googled restaurants in town and decided on a japanese hibachi place by the walmart. They sat me at my very own hibachi table, where I read the news on my phone. About 10 minutes later, they sat 4 guys at the end of my hibachi table. They were speaking spanish to each other and didn't seem interested in conversing, so I kept reading the news on my phone.
The hibachi chef soon showed up and I put my phone away so I could enjoy the chefs antics. He started off flipping his spatula and fork around. The next thing he did was take an egg and toss it around with the spatula. I had seen this before...I knew at some point he was going to flip the egg into the hat he was wearing. Except, when he went to toss the egg in his hat, it bounced off the hat and landed on the counter right in front of one of the guys sitting at the table. The egg cracked on the counter, then slid into the guys lap. Everyone looked at each other stunned for a moment before we all erupted in laughter.
It was freaking hilarious!
The hibachi chef soon showed up and I put my phone away so I could enjoy the chefs antics. He started off flipping his spatula and fork around. The next thing he did was take an egg and toss it around with the spatula. I had seen this before...I knew at some point he was going to flip the egg into the hat he was wearing. Except, when he went to toss the egg in his hat, it bounced off the hat and landed on the counter right in front of one of the guys sitting at the table. The egg cracked on the counter, then slid into the guys lap. Everyone looked at each other stunned for a moment before we all erupted in laughter.
It was freaking hilarious!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
generic drugs sometimes aren't worth the discount
I have been pretty emotional for the last several weeks. I thought it may just be all the traveling and being tired and what not, but then I started wondering if it had something to do with the generic birth control I started taking. I mentioned to a friend of mine that I thought the generic bc was messing with me, and he told me that generic forms of drugs DO NOT have to be the exact same as the name brand drugs. He also mentioned that it doesn't take much of a change in drug levels to effect the endocrine system. I hadn't really thought about it for a week or two until today where I had a teary emotional outburst. I just googled Ocella (generic bc)and this is what I found:
http://boards.webmd.com/webx?THDX@@.89a1e9db!thdchild=.89a1e9db
Apparently, there are quite a few women out there that have been having very noticable side effects from Ocella. I have definitely been more emotional, have had fairly regular headaches (I almost NEVER have headaches!), and I have noticed a slight increases in my appetite.
I think I will be switching back to Yasmin (brand name bc) the next go around, even though I will no longer be saving $15. $15 isn't worth all the side effects.
I was originally going to write about how I think that I have some abandonment issues, but I'm know begininng to think that the only reason I started to think that was because of my messed up horomones. Yay.
http://boards.webmd.com/webx?THDX@@.89a1e9db!thdchild=.89a1e9db
Apparently, there are quite a few women out there that have been having very noticable side effects from Ocella. I have definitely been more emotional, have had fairly regular headaches (I almost NEVER have headaches!), and I have noticed a slight increases in my appetite.
I think I will be switching back to Yasmin (brand name bc) the next go around, even though I will no longer be saving $15. $15 isn't worth all the side effects.
I was originally going to write about how I think that I have some abandonment issues, but I'm know begininng to think that the only reason I started to think that was because of my messed up horomones. Yay.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Ancestors
During the NH job, I started doing genealogy research. I am addicted.
I never knew much about my ancestors at all, not even my grandpa on my dad's side. All I knew is that he died 4 days after I was born and that he could be mean.
I have traced my ancestry back to the late 1550's/early 1600's to Eiserfeld, Siegen, Germany. I don't know much about those early ancestors, but I'm finding out little things about the more recent ones, like my great grandfather owned a little store across from a methodist church and he played the organ.
My great great grandfather was a highly respected farmer.
My great great great grandfather was a pioneer of Jefferson County, Illinois.
My great great great great grandfather I don't know much about, but my great grandfather x5 served in the revolutionary war. He supposedly came to the US from Germany around 1767....I'm still trying to figure out his story.
I never thought about my ancestors much before, but now they are a passion. I'd like to find out more little stories about them. My dad and uncles and I are in the midst of trying to locate the family bible, it holds a ton of info, and probably the little stories I want to hear.
I'm starting to babble....must go to sleep!
I never knew much about my ancestors at all, not even my grandpa on my dad's side. All I knew is that he died 4 days after I was born and that he could be mean.
I have traced my ancestry back to the late 1550's/early 1600's to Eiserfeld, Siegen, Germany. I don't know much about those early ancestors, but I'm finding out little things about the more recent ones, like my great grandfather owned a little store across from a methodist church and he played the organ.
My great great grandfather was a highly respected farmer.
My great great great grandfather was a pioneer of Jefferson County, Illinois.
My great great great great grandfather I don't know much about, but my great grandfather x5 served in the revolutionary war. He supposedly came to the US from Germany around 1767....I'm still trying to figure out his story.
I never thought about my ancestors much before, but now they are a passion. I'd like to find out more little stories about them. My dad and uncles and I are in the midst of trying to locate the family bible, it holds a ton of info, and probably the little stories I want to hear.
I'm starting to babble....must go to sleep!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Burning Out
I haven't been home for more than two weeks since Memorial day. I think I have mentioned that before.
When I am home, I have been trying to do too much I think.
I have put off things I have NEEDED to do for things I have WANTED to do.
I was told today I may be going on 3 or 4 jobs in July. This is stellar for the compnay, things I really taking off, and I think I have had a lot to do with that.
However, is this sometihng that's good for me?
I normally rack up overtime hours on travel jobs, which is good
I don't have to pay for anything while I'm gone, which is good
I spend all my time with people that are very different from me, which is fine.
They tend to be kind of cynical, I think it damages my aura/psyche/whatever- not so good.
I come home feeling totally deprived of affection- not so good for me.
I worry about the ferrets while I'm gone. John (my landlord) takes great care of them, but I still worry.
The answer I' am coming up with is that going on jobs all the time, while advantageous monetarily, is not so good for ME.
I think part of it is me still adjusting to traveling every few weeks and trying to figure out where my limits are when I come back.
I think part of it is being tired all the time. We've been working mostly night jobs, and switching back to day time isn't always smooth.
I do not feel right today. I think that may have had to do with my 2nd Gaurdasil such. That shit F**king hurts. My arm is still sore today, and I"m wondering if my funk is somehow tied to the shot.
I want to believe it is, I don't want to feel funky of my own accord.
I'm not going in to detail of why, but I found out today I'm quite afraid of and facsinated by cancer. Afraid because it strikes regardless of pretty much anything, facsinated because it has to do with cell mutations in our own bodies and how cells decided to mutate.
That added to my funky-ness.
ALSO, then train came by about 6am this morning. I went back to sleep. I slept through the alarm and woke up at 8:20...10 minutes before I normally get to work. While I was oversleeping, I had a dream that I went down a little alley way in my car, and that the end had been blocked off by a couple of open gates or something. I started to close the gates so I could get past, and this women came out of a house and told me to come inside. I had to wait arounf for her husband to come out so he could yell at me for moving the gates. I think everytime the alarm went off, I tried to leave in the dream, but someone kept telling me I couldn't leave. It took me all day to figure out that's what actually happened. I was somewhat amused.
Anyway, that's it.
As usual, I didn't spell or grammar check.
When I am home, I have been trying to do too much I think.
I have put off things I have NEEDED to do for things I have WANTED to do.
I was told today I may be going on 3 or 4 jobs in July. This is stellar for the compnay, things I really taking off, and I think I have had a lot to do with that.
However, is this sometihng that's good for me?
I normally rack up overtime hours on travel jobs, which is good
I don't have to pay for anything while I'm gone, which is good
I spend all my time with people that are very different from me, which is fine.
They tend to be kind of cynical, I think it damages my aura/psyche/whatever- not so good.
I come home feeling totally deprived of affection- not so good for me.
I worry about the ferrets while I'm gone. John (my landlord) takes great care of them, but I still worry.
The answer I' am coming up with is that going on jobs all the time, while advantageous monetarily, is not so good for ME.
I think part of it is me still adjusting to traveling every few weeks and trying to figure out where my limits are when I come back.
I think part of it is being tired all the time. We've been working mostly night jobs, and switching back to day time isn't always smooth.
I do not feel right today. I think that may have had to do with my 2nd Gaurdasil such. That shit F**king hurts. My arm is still sore today, and I"m wondering if my funk is somehow tied to the shot.
I want to believe it is, I don't want to feel funky of my own accord.
I'm not going in to detail of why, but I found out today I'm quite afraid of and facsinated by cancer. Afraid because it strikes regardless of pretty much anything, facsinated because it has to do with cell mutations in our own bodies and how cells decided to mutate.
That added to my funky-ness.
ALSO, then train came by about 6am this morning. I went back to sleep. I slept through the alarm and woke up at 8:20...10 minutes before I normally get to work. While I was oversleeping, I had a dream that I went down a little alley way in my car, and that the end had been blocked off by a couple of open gates or something. I started to close the gates so I could get past, and this women came out of a house and told me to come inside. I had to wait arounf for her husband to come out so he could yell at me for moving the gates. I think everytime the alarm went off, I tried to leave in the dream, but someone kept telling me I couldn't leave. It took me all day to figure out that's what actually happened. I was somewhat amused.
Anyway, that's it.
As usual, I didn't spell or grammar check.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Notes from the Road: NY x 2
The boys and I went to New York for two jobs. The first day of the first job was on the summer solstice.
The trip started off with me worrying we wouldn't get to the rental place on time. I then got to drive a cargo van (with no side windows)through New york city. During rush hour. I can't remember the last time I was so stressed about driving. Especially cause I tend to use my blinker when I change lanes or try and merge. Apparently that is a sign of weakness in the Northeast. I decided the Northeast in general should be called 'the land of many merges'.
Anyway, we got to the hotel in one piece. It was not the best hotel...a little on the scary side.
That night at dinner we had indian food. The next morning I had a little bit of an allergic reaction...the whole left half of my bottom lip was numb.
The first job was spread out on different roads. we had to jump around alot with the land surveying equipment. About halfway theough the surveying I screwed up and ended up having to redo half of it. That's when I fried myself on surveying.
The only thing that shuts us down is lightning. There was lightning and pretty heavy showers on this job.
The next job was about 1.5 hours North of the first job. The site was sort of out in a little rural town. It cracked me up that one of the roads we turned on to get there was called Shivertown Road.
Part of our work area included the foundation of a building that had burned down. We had to run our survey lines inthe foundation and up over the walls. It was logistical nightmare of sorts.
At night at this site there was just a TON of fireflies. It was awesome. Kind of like at the olymnpics when everyones camera flash is going off- that was about the number and frequency of the fireflies.
The consultant on this job was a female geologist. We got along great and talked about all sorts of things. It was really nice to have another girl in the field. I think her being there made the guys realize there are just some things girls DO and it's not just ME.
Those were the highlights that I can remember....it's been a few weeks.
The trip started off with me worrying we wouldn't get to the rental place on time. I then got to drive a cargo van (with no side windows)through New york city. During rush hour. I can't remember the last time I was so stressed about driving. Especially cause I tend to use my blinker when I change lanes or try and merge. Apparently that is a sign of weakness in the Northeast. I decided the Northeast in general should be called 'the land of many merges'.
Anyway, we got to the hotel in one piece. It was not the best hotel...a little on the scary side.
That night at dinner we had indian food. The next morning I had a little bit of an allergic reaction...the whole left half of my bottom lip was numb.
The first job was spread out on different roads. we had to jump around alot with the land surveying equipment. About halfway theough the surveying I screwed up and ended up having to redo half of it. That's when I fried myself on surveying.
The only thing that shuts us down is lightning. There was lightning and pretty heavy showers on this job.
The next job was about 1.5 hours North of the first job. The site was sort of out in a little rural town. It cracked me up that one of the roads we turned on to get there was called Shivertown Road.
Part of our work area included the foundation of a building that had burned down. We had to run our survey lines inthe foundation and up over the walls. It was logistical nightmare of sorts.
At night at this site there was just a TON of fireflies. It was awesome. Kind of like at the olymnpics when everyones camera flash is going off- that was about the number and frequency of the fireflies.
The consultant on this job was a female geologist. We got along great and talked about all sorts of things. It was really nice to have another girl in the field. I think her being there made the guys realize there are just some things girls DO and it's not just ME.
Those were the highlights that I can remember....it's been a few weeks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)