|
| Fooled you!All you suckers thought I updated this. Gotcha!
echoechoechoecho
| | |
| All American RoadtripSo I just got back from vacation, where I helped a friend of mine move out to AZ. He got a job out there and needed to get himself and his car across the country.
Recognizing the possibilities of a cross country roadtrip I quickly volunteered.
Many pictures were taken. I got a smokin' tan. I ate alot of buffalo burgers.
I just may blog about it.
| | |
| Sooo...Even though I haven't updated in like 3 months, I see I still have some stalkers. Thanks. 
| | |
| April Fool Motherf#%@er!So no one got me with an April Fools day joke yesterday. But I think God had one at my expense today.
This morning I had a football scrimmage, which was basically a tune-up for next week's season opener. Things went ok there.
I got home and it was just such a nice day that I felt compelled to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather. So after I ate and showered, I went out to Saratoga Springs for a nice long walk w/ my iPod nano. This turned out to be a great move, as I walked all around town for 2 1/2 hrs. Then I just walked into the park, found a nice place in the sun and laid there for a few minutes while listening to Led Zeppelin IV. I did wind up with a very mild sunburn (thanks for the rediculous fair complexion Mom! And while we're at it, the very fine hair too!)
So on my way back home, I started to give my car a little stick on some backroads near my house. Wheeeeeee! 
Seeing as my car went over the 20k miles barrier recently, I decided I needed to rotate my tires (every 5k miles people!). This is where things got interesting. I moved one tire to it's proper new place before things went SNAFU. After loosening two bolts, I got to the 'safety bolt'. Without thinking, I wrenched on that with the breaker bar to loosen that. And then SNAP!
I broke a 1/2" -> 3/8" adapter. Seeing as I needed this tool to do the job, I let out a Clark W. Griswold-worthy string of curses. After I got the necessary therapy out of the way, I went about thinking of another way I might be able to loosen this bolt. Voila! I'll just grab the 3/8" breaker bar. While I won't be able to get the necessary torque as easily as before, I should still be able to get the job done. And then.....SNAP!
I broke that one too. I thought about this for a second and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Two weeks ago I had a leaky tire plugged at the local tire/oil change place. Well, the guy who plugged the tire torqued the snot out of the locking lug, which has more gripping power than a normal lug. I fucking hate those damn places and the monkeys who work there.
Thankfully, these are both Craftsman tools, so I'll get no questions asked replacements. And I'll also be able to purchase the 'proper' tool so that this will never happen again (a 1/2" drive, 17mm deep well socket). Those of you who've read this trash before, know that I like to buy tools.
Hank__Scorpio's greatest hits
As I was looking for the 'tools' and 'Saratoga' blogs I went waaaaaay back into my archives. As I was digging I came across some of my favorite blogs:
My Favorite Movies
5 People I Would Have Dinner With - Looking back this is especially funny because a pre-crazy Tom Cruise got an honorable mention.
*Pokes Subscribers with a Stick* - After a couple days of lots of traffic but very few comments, I got fed up. So I wrote this. I'm only including this because of my last several sentences and kmarie's like minded reply. Where did she go?
Aforementioned 'Saratoga' Blog - A listing of interesting things that've happened in and around my sleepy hometown in Upstate NY. One of my absolute favorites.
'Bad but Good' Movies
Caption contest involving the late, great pope John Paul II
Movies that never happened - They really DID happen, but I blocked those parts of my brain out so that I don't go on believing humanity is too sick to survive.
Hank Non-Geek blog - Once upon a time, I made fun of Nina for being on the math team. She made fun of me back for going to a geek school. This blog was the result.
Aforementioned 'Tools' blog
Fear & Loathing in Rochester - Not a terribly well written blog, but I looooooove the 'Clerks'-esqe sign in the first picture.
Castration! Double Castration! - I thoroughly enjoyed writing about my time in traffic court.
Waddaya think? I'm no great writer, but some of those are pretty entertaining. The 'Non-Geek' and 'Traffic Court' ones are my personal favorites.
| | |
| The JobSo here is the long awaited (by someone anyway) details on the new job.
So when I went in at 9 am last monday I was led up to my new semi-boss' office (more on the semi-boss later). And he layed down a course of action for the coming week as well as bringing me up to speed. But the first thing to come out of his mouth was: "First things first. Lora isn't here yet, and she won't be because of this." And threw the front page of the previous day's (Sunday's, please read the whole article. Much of this blog won't make sense without it) paper onto my lap. I scanned the page and came across the story I linked to. I was obviously more than a little surprised to see something so surreal (is that really the word I want?). I was hired to basically do the same job as Lora, because the company is growing and my department needed some more people. So basically, the person I'm gonna work with most closely just had a rediculously fucked up experience.
After that, things got a little more normal for a first day of work. I filled out the required tax forms and benefits paperwork, got introduced to a metric ton of people. I was also given a ton of reading material on our products. At 1:00 there was a company meeting (held monthly) to introducce the new people, make announcements, etc. And I stood up, gave a little blurb about me and sat back down. The company provides cake and fruit (for birthdays). I generally got the impression that everyone liked each other and was fairly enthusiastic. The semi-boss wasn't able to attend (and was kinda kept away from me all day) because he had to entertain a client from Germany. At the very end of the day, the (real) boss came in.
My reporting structure goes like this: I report directly to my real boss. But he's based out of Houston, TX. Since we do most of our buisness (currently) with the oil industry, this is a pretty logical location. But as the company is based in upstate NY, this isn't the most practical for day-to-day supervision. Thats where the semi-boss comes in. He's Dutch (although his accent is so slight you might think he just has a slightly odd way of speaking) and pretty enjoyable to work for thus far. Quite an odd sense of humor, so we're getting along quite well.
The next day I got an in-depth tour of the production process here. So I got to meet and spend a decent amount of time with the people responsible for putting the product together and getting it shipped out the door. The last couple hours were spent in the final testing and QC areas, where I'll do most of my interfacing with the people on the floor.
And today was Lora's first day back in three weeks. I was kinda holding off on this blog to get an impression of her. In short she was a very smart, very nice, very pretty, very slight (although somewhat tall, she's terribly skinny) girl who's pretty emotionally worn out. I introduced myself first thing this morning and we hit it off pretty quickly. She made sure that I knew she might be a little moody for a little while, and considering the circumstances I was more than compliant. I had to really watch my step in the usual 'getting to know you' chit-chat. That said, without thinking I let a slip a 'So what do you like to do with yourself?' to which she replied with something that unintentionally made me feel like a dick. (Along the lines of 'Thats changing now'). But on the whole I think we'll get along just fine.
In short, I like the company and its people a lot. I think I'll do OK in my job once I get the hang of it. And this company has the potential to do gangbusters-type buisness in the coming years.
Next blog: What my company actually does
| | |
|
