Wow, it’s Sunday already… I feel like a daywalker, I’ve almost forgotten what the sun looks like. I’ve been going to bed around 6am and getting up when the phone calls start (10-11am). By the time I head in to the airport it is already dark. I’ve been keeping the curtains closed so I could try to nap between conference calls and writing reports. I made the mistake of trying to look outside once (…once). The sunlight physically threw me back on the bed and I was snowblind for twenty minutes. Lots of little things like that I’ve forgotten about living in a snow region. The 30′ mountains of plow snow in mall parking lots was another memory I’d forgotten.
I had planned to make regular updates through December. In one of the posts I said something about me being the “advent calendar of hate” and I thought that was cool and I’d put something up here every day. Then, life happened. Work has been high pressure, high scrutiny, no room for error. “Someone” promised DC we’d install 21 machines before the Christmas break. They actually used the word ‘guarantee’! Of course problems do come up and that’s my job to solve them. This roughly equates to no sleep for me. The difficult part is now behind us and we only have 4 machines left to go for Monday and Tuesday. This means everything will go wrong on Tuesday because I’ll be in the air on the way home. Even worse, if everything goes right, I won’t be there for the handshakes and afterglow.
But my plane reservations were made before I was put in charge so leaving a day early wasn’t such a big deal when I was just one of three techs. But now I’m the lead tech and I feel weird about not living on a cot by the checkpoint 24/7. I could change flights for the next day but Teresa would kill me. I think she’s counting the seconds by now. Dale can handle the final push without me. To be honest, if we’ve done our job correctly, most of what we do happens before we get on site. The nights are spent watching the contractors and making sure they do it how we planned and answering all their questions.
This job would be great for a single guy, or someone who didn’t want to be around his family as much as I do. I want to be home with them as much as I can. I mean, I’m only out here for them, if I never see them it’s not really worth it is it? It is scary hearing all the stories from some of these guys out here on the road that just love it and don’t care if they ever get home. I’m just not that guy I guess. I’m a big sappy guy who really loves his family and misses them so much it hurts. So I’m coming home. I think…
It finally got warm this weekend. It was in the mid 30′s yesterday and today. It feels like summertime!!! Tomorrow it’s dropping back to normal. 22(F) for a high, -459(F) for a low… and snow. Lots more snow on the way. I figure it’s an energy conservation idea. Chicago imports the cold weather so it only has to light up one digit on all those signs that report the temperature. Brilliant!
The worst of the snow is coming on Tuesday. My flight is at 8:55am. Let’s hope I make it out of here…
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