Mindless Drivel

pissed off addendum…

so later on in the night after i wrote the last post, darrell pissed me off even more.  while i was on break, he was supposed to be covering for me and keeping an eye on my machinery.  thats part of the reason we are able to take such extended breaks.  needless to say he did an extremely poor job of it.  at one point, one of my presses went down for a jam that is extremely easy to fix.  it doesnt take but a second and less than an couple brain cells.  well, maybe he didnt realize that the press was down?  yeah, because he wasnt even on the floor.  when a machine goes down theres a big, flashing red light that goes off.  well, when this particular jam occurs theres also a very loud buzzer to alert you to it, so that you can catch it before it ends up shutting the press down.  the only way you will miss it is if you arent on the floor, and he wasnt.  the temp was looking for darrell for 15 minutes so that he could clear the jam.  then when i confronted him with the issue, he had the nerve to lie to me about where he was.  at least get your story straight so that youre consistent.

last time i lift a finger for him.

-b

work has been getting me down this entire week.  ive finally coming to realize what all my friends have been telling me for the last two  years…i dont really belong in this environment.  its not that im smarter than this or dont have anything to learn here, because reality is quite the opposite.  what it comes down to, is that my work ethic is soo much better than this place, and its finally starting to frustrate me beyond belief.

one of the other two people on my line is all about taking his breaks.  these come before anything extra that he is asked to do in a shift, and when we are talking about breaks we arent talking about an hour lunch with a couple 10 minute smoke breaks.  we are talking about 3 one hour breaks.  yes, folks, thats 3 one hour breaks in an 8 hour shift.  when he and i are alternating breaks in a night, and im the first one to start, he will usually shove me out the door onto my first break after ive only been here 30 minutes (which by the way is barely enough time to get the bare minimum done at the start of my shift).  you see, the reason he wants to start so early, is so that he can get an extra 10 minute smoke break in at the end of the night, even though he doesnt smoke.

this example with the breaks is just one of many that i could pull out to show how lazy people are here.  instead of fixing a problem with a piece of machinery to make sure that the quality of the ends is good, people will just choose not to run that particular machine and ignore the fact that there is any kind of problem.  this way, you dont have to do any extra work…in fact you can do less, because now you are running less than the full line.  cracks me up really.

what i really need, is to find some kind of work situation, where its with a small group of people that i get along with and all share the same work values.  people that actually care that they put out an effort and do a good job…even if it is just making the tops of beer cans.

-b

good things

1. Curb Your Enthusiasm (especially the episode where larry uses his recently deceased mother as an excuse to get sex from his wife)
2. Free Diamonds - There Should be More Dancing (the first album of 2006 that ive purchased, and on the way to being my album of the year)
3. Silver Three Sound Recordings - a label created by some of my old buddies from tower records in the dc days.  nice website and some good bands on board already.  my personal recommendation would be to check out the new one by Mock Orange.
4. sleeping at night - do i ever appreciate sleeping on fridays and saturdays because those are my two days a week that i get to sleep without that silly face mask covering my eyes.
5. snow
6. 69 degrees fahrenheit
7. kishore and eileen just had a baby girl
8. winning the lottery (or so ive heard)
9. the one year anniversary of the frankenfinger (not really a good thing, but its good that i can look back on it and laugh)
10. the new smoking ban law in colorado

randomnese…

went looking at new sleeping bags the other day.  the marmot bag that i have now has lost too much of its loft to even be considered a 3 season bag anymore, and since i bought it as a second, im unable to send it back to marmot to restuff.  so, i gotta buy a new one.  anyway, when i was at rei checking out the new marmot line of bags (and shopping for a backpack with brenda) i learned that marmot had recently purchased dana designs.  this bummed me out…another good outdoor gear company gone.  all marmot did was buy them and dissolve the dana line of backpacks.  now im not convinced that they made the best packs, but mine fits me like a glove, and i know three other people that love their dana.  i had noticed that marmot had gone through some changes (new logo, a new line of packs, and a slightly changed line of sleeping bags), but i didnt realize that they had been purchased by K2, the company that makes skis and snowboards.  apparently they then acquired dana designs and merged them into the marmot line, or something like that, maybe it was in a different order, i dont know.  if you want more details, you can read about it here, or do your own web search…

co-habitation is nigh…we got the keys to our new place last night, and will start to move stuff over shortly.  actually, brenda has already started to move stuff and is a bit on the stressed side, because shes afraid that im going to wait till the last minute to pack my stuff and move it.  i have no idea what gave her the impression that im a procrastinator…

still trying to write an article for babblog on my top 10 indie albums of ‘05, but i keep forgetting when im in front of my computer at home (im at work now)…

still trying to finish up my seedymix cd.  the list is made, the covers are printed…all i have to do is put it all together and drop them in the mail.  my goal is to put them together today and get them in the mail tomorrow.  no, really.  sorry seedymix group members that are reading this.  im lame, i know.

still trying to clean up that mess that sits on my desk.

still trying to come up with that cure for cancer.

still trying to…oh, forget it.  you get the picture.

one of the nice perks of working on graveyard is that there isnt any management on site during our shift, at least not until the last hour or two.  this allows us to take some pretty nice long breaks if everything is running smoothly, which gives me a bunch of free time to work with.  yes, it is while im stuck at work, but ive gotten a ton of reading done along with posting a little more frequently - assuming that there is a computer free, and no one is around to watch what im doing. 

recently however, my time has been taken up by a puzzle that someone got me hooked on.  its called a sudoku.  one of the guys here goes to the daily sudoku website and prints it out for a few of us.  the basics of the puzzle are fairly simple.  you are presented with a 9 by 9 grid, and the entire grid is composed of 9 different 3 by 3 grids.  in each row, column, and 3 by 3 grid each, there are the numbers 1 thru 9 - only one of each and not in any particular order.  each puzzle is slightly different in that you are given a different number of starting numbers in different locations.  some puzzles are incredibly easy while others are much more difficult, but they are all still quite entertaining. 

if you do decide to try one at some point, my only suggestion is this:  if you find that youve made a mistake somewhere and have two of the same number in either a box, row, or column, dont try to fix your mistake.  wad up the paper and throw it away because it is extremely difficult to find where youve screwed up.  you are better off printing another copy and starting over or just waiting till tomorrow for the next puzzle.

nor is it brad

or brian or brent

or grant or even brandt.

and its most certainly not frankie.

-b

things im enjoying right now

1. the new matt pond pa album
2. my new computer - which isnt all that new anymore
3. paydays
4. warm weather (60s - whoohoo!)
5. not being sick
6. my girlfriend
7. battlestar galactica - oh.  my. god.  if you arent watching this show, i dont know what youre doing with your television
8. its only 2 more years till 2008!!!