April 2007 – lee-lawmaster.com

It’s Just a Little Work

I thought I would give the maybe 10 people who look at my blog an update about my job. I had a rough start, but I think things are starting to come together. I am starting to really know my fellow co-workers, I am starting to understand the hierarchy of Sternberg’s and I am starting to really learn what is expected of me.

Some interesting things have happened in the last few days. I will start with my new title, Independent contractor. It may sound weird, but I am now also a contractor for the same place of my primary employment. It all started with the grass (not marijuana) the real stuff. They expect me to mow a small portion of grass along Dillman road, no problem. The other section of grass is along highway 37, and they wanted to hire this job out, as the terrain is somewhat rough. The problem is they didn’t want to pay the minimum someone would come out for, $100. When I heard of this situation, I immediately jumped to action!

I told my boss, Ron, that I had the capabilities to do it, but no way to transport my mower to the location. I also stated that I would do it for what they were willing to pay, if the company would work with me on finding a suitable trailer. I guess Ron had an old trailer lying around and he asked me if I would buy it on the cheap, and on payments. His only request is that when the company pays me for my services, I pay him some of it until his price is paid.

I have wanted a trailer since I purchased my mower for this house. It is almost impossible, and very impractical to move my mower places with my truck. But the “boss” says no. She couldn’t refuse this one though. We are picking it up tomorrow. I am expecting something that is usable, but needing work. The only thing that matters at this point is that it is usable. I will work on it as time and money allow.

In other “work” news, cleaning the floor is one of my biggest duties. Currently I use a floor scrubbing machine to handle most of this task. The only major problem is that this machine is on it’s last leg. It doesn’t scrub that well, and it doesn’t wet the floor (I fill a 5 gallon bucket with a soap solution and pour it onto the area to be cleaned). The last estimate to return it to total working condition was $1500. Because of this, my boss and his boss had a company come over and demo some new floor scrubbers for us. I happily got to use one of these models. The one that was the “fan favorite” was a newer generation of what we have with 2 differences. It is a little smaller (which is a good thing) and it uses a different brush system which sweeps instead of scrubs. Working in a truck shop, this is critical as dirt, dust, grease, oil and many other objects get compacted into the pavement.

I have made a big difference in the appearance of the shop thus far. I have all of the small things done, now it’s bigger things, such as painting that need to be done.

Work Work Work, When Do I Rest?

I finished installing the new door we have had for months now. It didn’t turn out like I had wanted to, but the door is installed “correctly.”

The major problem is, 1. I had never installed a pre-hung door before and 2. I discovered our walls are not level, as they should be.

This created an “interesting” situation. The new door jamb is flush with both sides of the wall at the ceiling, but stick out a little bit (1/2″ or so) at the base.

I haven’t installed trim yet, so I hope that it will hide this defect somewhat. If not I might need to call in an expert.

On another note, I did some maintenance on my chainsaw and lawn mower. Now I can finally cut up the broken limbs that fell from our pine tree.

Then I can start mowing again. Many people have told me being a homeowner means constant repair and work to maintain. It’s starting to kick in. It’s not that I don’t enjoy these things, it’s just the amount that is bothering me.

After these items are done, I am hopefully going to start on my tedious garage/basement remodel. I only have a year left (the wife told me so). 🙂

Thanks to Freecycle, we have been unloading gravel and sand by the truckload lately. Almost all of our gravel is gone, and some of the sand has been taken. If you live in B-town, and need sand, CONTACT ME!

Such a Hate/Love Relationship

5 things I hate about my new job:

1. I have to work 8.5 hours instead of 8, with only a 30 minute lunch.
2. I am continusly wondering what to do, it’s getting crazy.
3. I wonder how long this can last.
4. I often feel alone in this job, as the shop is much larger, with less people.
5. I get the feeling from a few people that they think of me as someone to clean up “their” messes. I am not a maid.

5 things I love about my new job:

1. I am working day hours.
2. I no longer have to work weekends.
3. I’m in a much friendlier environment.
4. I’m not as tired all the time anymore.
5. I get to spend quality time doing things besides sleeping.

Nothing a little compare/contrast won’t bring out.

Project Complete, What’s On Deck?

I finished the trim and insulation on our new attic stairs. I’m providing these pictures to show what a “proud papa” I am.

The trim isn’t perfect, as it was my first time doing “trim work.” It was especially difficult due to it all being overhead work. With the help of my father on the longer pieces, it came together though.

These new stairs are quite nice, as they are steel, fully adjustable and actually seal the ceiling.

The old ones were wood, and didn’t reach the floor. Some of the treads were loose and you never knew if you were going to make it up there, or if you were going to fall.

We of course have much, much more work to do before we are even close to finished.

My next project: New interior doors. We have one, once I teach myself how to install it, the rest should fly by.

We’re Number 6

Here’s some facts showing how Bloomingtonians are still being “raped” by big business.

In todays newspaper, an article states how Forbes has ranked B-Town the sixth best place in the country for business and careers among smaller metro areas.

If you notice, “business” is the first listing there, as this is why we were ranked 6th. Here are the complete listings.

Bloomington was sixth overall. It ranked ninth in cost of doing business, 19th in educational attainment, 25th in cost of living and in culture and leisure, 44th in crime rate, 80th in colleges, 90th in income growth, 92nd in net migration and 115th in job growth.

There were 179 other “small metro areas” in this study.

Such a great place to live, but I am by no means proud. The rankings in income and job growth disturb me deeply.

The Last Shift

Tonight as I sit here I am trying to figure out an ingenious way to say “goodbye.”

I am due to start at Sternbergs on Monday, and didn’t have time to give an official notice.

I left many, many jobs as a teenager by interesting means. When I was a landscaper, I really wanted out. I called my mom and told her to come where I was and tell the supervisor that I had a doctors appointment. She came, we left and I never looked back.

I feel as if I need to “leave my mark,” but I’m not sure how. I thought of leaving the manager a note. It would read: I wanted to write a poem, I wanted to write a letter. In the end, f*** you sounded much better. Thank you for the 5 months that I appreciated so. I have come to find that my family means more to me than any job. Of course, you don’t have to worry about such things.

What repurcussions might I face? This place is a customer of my new employer. Could I be “haunted” from beyond? That’s the only thing holding me back from performing this deed.

Free At Last, Free At Last

Those very famous words, spoken by the immortal Dr. Martin Luther King are exactly what I’m feeling now.

Today, I accepted an offer for a new job. I finally get to leave my horrible work hours, days and conditions behind. Thank God!

The new position is at Sternberg, an International truck dealership. They are headquartered out of Jasper Indiana, with locations in Evansville and Bloomington. The position isn’t glamourous by any means, I will be simply cleaning up the shop. The best part is I can have a life again, as it is Monday thru Friday (with some Saturdays) and 7:30 to 4:30. Small world, my wife’s hometown is 10 minutes away from Jasper!

It is in a place with the same atmosphere as where I’m currently working (a truck shop), but there is room for advancement within the company and other “normal” benefits. What’s normal you ask? Try holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving.

All I feel is joy, I never realized how better I would feel about a new job.

The person hiring me has done a very quick job. I applied to the position last Thursday, had an interview Monday and was offered the position today! He called here and spoke with my wife first thing this morning and said “he wanted to talk to me.” She immediately called me and told me to call him. I was still at my soon to be old job, so I went and hid and started calling. Their automated night time system was still on and I couldn’t get a hold of anyone for a while, once I did I told him I would be there asap.

I will miss my co-worker CJ, as he has become a dear friend. I told him this morning about everything before I left, as I am on my weekend now and wouldn’t see him again until Sunday night. He gave me his digits and told me to call him. I told him the same. I’ll miss you CJ!

Things at FirstLease were getting to a breaking point, and I’m glad to be gone. I was a temp there the whole time, 2 months after I started they hired another temp. Just a week or so ago they hired him as a permanent employee, but didn’t mention a thing to me. The climate there is very hostile, and discrimintory. There are a select few who can do no wrong (but do all the time) and then the rest are always “on notice.” CJ has a picture and sign on his toolbox, that are quite funny. The picture has 3 people figures of different colors and it says, “equal what???.” The other is a sign made out of cardboard, it says “Discrimination Lane.” I think that paints the picture of how he sees the place.

Thank God Almighty I’m Free At Last.

Think Globally, Act Locally

After becoming a homeowner, I have acquired many things I do not need or want. All of these items were on my property at the time of purchase.

Rather than throwing away many of these items, which are mainly in decent shape. I decided to try to give them to other deserving homes. These items aren’t new, or fancy. Their just items I don’t need or want.

The only outlets that I knew of, until now were the local newspaper and a “trading post” at the local trash site. Yesterday I discovered an amazing way to relinquish these items, and make a larger audience aware of them. It’s called Freecycle.

It was started with the old saying that “one mans trash is another mans treasure.” Keeping unwanted items out of our landfills is a great way to help the enviroment, which is the main scope of freecycle.

I immediately signed up, and added some posts for items I have been tirelessly trying to eliminate from my land. When we removed the hideous pool from our backyard, it left a big pit with sand and gravel in it. I have placed free ads about it, and let my neighbors have all they want. It hasn’t even put a dent in the sheer amount of material there.

2 hours after I posted this entry, I had over 20 responses asking about it, and when they could get it. Hopefully we can get our yard back in some order now.

Check it out, if you have workable items you need to get rid of, you never know who might want them!

www.freecycle.org

So Many Mickeys, So Little Time

While at Disney, we got to meet Mickey in all of his different attires.

Our first day, at Animal Kingdom, we met Safari Mickey. He’s my favorite.

Our second day, at MGM Studios, we met Sorcerer Mickey.

Our third day, at The Magic Kingdom, we met regular Mickey.

We also met many other characters. Here’s the list: Goofy, Pluto, Minnie, Donald & Daisy Duck, Chip & Dale, Rafiki from The Lion King, Baloo from Jungle Book, Friar Tuck from Robin Hood, Briar Bear (movie or show unknown), Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story, a cat from Aristocats, Sully from Monsters, INC and Abby Mallard from Chicken Little. Taylor was very excited about getting their autographs as well.

We could have easily spent our whole time at Disney just getting pictures and autographs with characters. The lines to see the princesses was 80 minutes long!

Attic Access

I spent all of my day replacing our attic stairs today, with the help of my wife and father.

Our existing one was in bad shape. It was warped and wouldn’t allow the door to close completely, it was ugly and allowed our A/C or heat to simply “run away” as it was. Some of the stairs were loose as well.

The first step was removal of the old unit, which was quite fun. I enjoy anytime I get use my recprocating saw! The unit was nailed in, and it was impossible to get them out. I simply sawed around the frame of the unit and let it fall the 8 feet or so to the floor!

Poor Rachel seemed to get hurt everytime she lended a hand, as she hit her head a few times and even was shocked by an exposed switch. This added tension to the situation, and we argued most of the day. I’m sorry baby.

Installation was simple, but very drawn out due to the heat of the attic (which I was in most of the time). I had to add some framing to the existing opening, as it was too large for the new stairs.

Everything but the finish work (trim and painting) was completed in roughly 5 hours. I plan on completing this tomorrow.

I broke one tool, which was a cheap thing from big-lots, but it did bring up a possible new tool purchase. My drill was pushed to it’s limits and may need to be replaced should I do anything as heavy as this in the future.