Well... as weekends go, this past weekend was a total bust! No, I wasn't drunk, blitzed, sloshed, or however else one could put it! LOL! I call the weekend "wasted" because I spent 75% of it in bed! And NOT doing what I wish I could have been doing, either! Instead, I spent almost all of Saturday, and over half of Sunday lying in bed with a hand over my eyes trying to avoid any movement, light, sound, etc... my head hurt so bad! I went to my chiropractor this afternoon and he said there was so much tension in my shoulder and neck, it's no wonder I was having so much trouble. I left work at noon today because of the pain. I'm just not used to all this physical labour!
Today I felt like I was auditioning for a job in the monkey house at the zoo! I was HOPING to just go in and install the two panels I built at the end of last week and get out before anyone really noticed I was there, but no such luck! The project leader AND my boss both saw me and told me I had to help the project leader wire up some new door switches on some machines that were installed last week. "OK" I said, thinking it wouldn't take too long. Boy, was I WRONG! I ended up clambering back and forth OVER the machines in question, running cable, then wiring those cables to the door switches. On one of the safety gates that I was wiring, the gate lock and accompanying push-button switch hadn't even been installed yet! So I had to take apart the lock, take out the damaged old cable and replace it with new cable, then mount the lock in place and then the push-button box in a place where the operators can get to it if they need to gain access to the robot working area. Wiring the lock was the easy part. The mounting of the two items was the hard part! Both parts were to be mounted on the safety cage surrounding the robot work area and both areas were 10 feet off the floor! I had to climb up a greasy ladder, swing through a 4 foot high door which was 2 feet higher than the top of that greasy ladder and somehow manage to accomplish this with a bulky tool belt around my waist, my feet not sticking to anything, and the only handholds located OUTSIDE the cage! The fact that I didn't slip and fall is a miracle in itself! I was so glad when the noon buzzer went off! I had told my boss that due to my headache, and the fact that my wife needed to get to work for 3, I was leaving at 12 today. He wasn't happy, but what could he do? I'm basically doing him a huge favour by being there, anyway!
One bit of good news, my chiropractor agreed with me that the job demands are causing most of my neck and shoulder problems, so I can go back to my boss tomorrow and tell him that 5 hours a day is my maximum for this week. After this week, the plant goes back into production mode, so we won't be able to install any more panels during the weekdays. The project leader hinted at doing the installs over the next several weekends, but I'm NOT going to be giving up my weekends! I just hope that he gets the schematics for the last 9 panels done soon, so I can get back to working from home, building them. Once those are all done, it's back to the job hunt for the Phoenix! I just wish I could figure out what it is I'm supposed to be doing!
On the subject of job hunts, my brother-in-law told me yesterday he had just gotten his DZ license and loaned me his air-brake book because I had indicated I might try for my AZ license. An AZ license would allow me to drive a tractor-trailer rig and I've heard that it pays pretty well. It would mean that I would be away from home a lot, but since my girls have reached their teens (one has, the other will next year) maybe it won't be such a problem. I used to be away from home a lot when I worked as a professional photographer, but my youngest was just a newborn and I didn't want to miss that. I'd go back to that photog job if it paid better! Long hours and dealing with bratty kids for $300 a week (plus commission... if you're lucky) just isn't what I call a good deal! I'd love to be able to afford to purchase a good digital SLR camera and some studio lights and open up my own studio. I'd like to focus on commercial product photography, but do some portrait and "fashion" stuff on the side. Dreams... that's all I have these days!
Well... I've done enough whining for one post! Hopefully my next one will have some lighter stuff in it!
Have a good week everyone!
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2 comments:
So sorry to hear you are in so much pain my friend. Hope the chiropractor can help. Luckily I have yet to have to go to one of them. My sister swears by them, but all that cracking and twisting makes me nervous..lmao. Hang in there and feel better soon.
I love my chiropractor, I would be crippled for life without him.
Gigantor has his CDL commercial drivers liscense. he needs it for driving the trash truck. But it opens so many doors, he can apply for so many things if he wanted to and a better chance to get it.
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