7 posts tagged “overtime”

well, i'm kinda tired already, but i have a long way to go....  so i worked last night with a couple of hours nap between the day shift and last night. then came right in here and worked today. when i get off today i'm going home to shower and then drive to Sterling VA for the Terry Taylor house show. after that i go right to work again.... that's a long couple of days! but after i get through with work tomorrow morning i'm heading home to sleep because i took Wednesday off. so i got up last night at 9 to go to work and i won't be in bed 'til about 5 or 6 tomorrow morning... so unless i keel over in the mean time, i'll have about three hours sleep in about 50 hours.... i'm not too bright, but i'll be entertained, and making two days of overtime pay.

sorry blog... i haven't been talking to you here lately. i've been playing on FaceBook more.

i guess i can update a few things for you. my dad is doing well. recovering nicely. i take him to see his doctor this Thursday for a check up.

Norman did come back and fixed the dryer. it works great now.... but as i said i was afraid that the landlord would come and see it all apart.... well. Norman came over Friday night and worked into Saturday on it. and the day after Norman made the repairs, Sunday morning, the landlord unexpectedly knocked on the door and wanted to go in the basement to see the water heater. the dryer is right next to the water heater and i had not been down in the basement yet to see if Norman had even finished the job or not. or if it was a mess down there. i didn't know what shape the basement was in right then... so i told the landlord that i'd walk down with him, hoping i would not have to explain a big mess or a half put together dryer. but to my great relief it was all clear down there and the dryer looked good. later i tried it and it works great. yay. :-) 

so that was good, but my landlord when he was over, seemed very anxious to come back and talk to me about some "other things." that didn't sound like a conversation i wanted to have. ;-]  so i was avoiding it.... but he caught up with me yesterday. he came knocking on my door unexpectedly again and came in with a new lease to sign. and he raised the rent by 50 dollars. :-[  not happy....

another new development i think i'll bring up here, is at work....

the scuttlebutt around here is that my supervisor is getting promoted. so rumors are starting that i'll be taking his job. the problem with that is that Metro is not filling empty jobs right now. they're looking for other ways to fill spots, or just eliminating them altogether. we're in a budget crunch and Metro is laying off, or not filling about 900 positions. they let 300 people go last week and the General Manager says it's not over... so, what will happen here with my crew and the supervisors job?? i heard another bit of gossip, that one of the other supervisors will be moved over our group and bring most of his guys with him. ok... but, then, as the talk goes, that will put too many men under him so the locksmiths will be moved to another crew. even though i'm officially a "leadman," i'm still considered a locksmith, i believe. so i may be moved to another crew too and i don't know what that will do to my status as "leadman" at that time.... so, i may be moving up, or moving out. i'm unsure about anything right now.... that's one thing that is frustrating me right now....

another situation has to do with a co-worker i thought i was fairly tight with stabbing me in the back. it's about overtime (most tension around here is). my "buddy" Bobo went upstairs to the bosses and tried to get me cut out of an overtime project that we're working on right now - supporting the platform edge at a station (i've talked about that before), saying that i'm not a carpenter and that only carpenters should be working on this job. well, what i am is the leadman over a crew of carpenters and locksmiths and my plan was to bring everyone in that i could and as many nights as i could so everyone makes out as well as we could.... that plan got revised and now i'm on a list of labor-help that gets called in to help on the job only as needed. so the carpenters are working overtime 3 to 5 times a week, and i might get 1 to 2 nights.... as i've said here before, we've done four other station's platforms and i've worked right along with my crew... so, that's another frustration right now...... 

oh well. it'll all work out in the end. sorry i've been ignoring you....  ttyl blog... 

this video has some shots of the Metro station platform that we were working on this week, Minnesota Ave Station. my crew has been installing supports under some of these cracking, deteriorating platforms... not great for Metro, but i've been getting a pretty good amount of overtime work from it....   we think the platforms are cracking up because we used to use some strong chemical salts to melt ice and snow on some of these outside stations. so in some of the older stations, the concrete is breaking up. local radio WTOP has been running these short audio reports on Metro, sensationalized for sure, but interesting. hmmm.... although i don't think Metro would admit it, but i kinda think that Metro is giving this reporter access because we're looking for big time funding to do repairs and clean ups around here....

... one of the audio blurbs is the reporter standing on the Shady Grove platform and after he says that we're supporting the platform edges with whatever we can find laying around, he tells some customers waiting for the train that the platform is being held up with 2x4s. they believe him and think that's a bit shaky support...  of course...

of course that's ridiculous. we actually had engineers go under there first and draw up plans and decide what materials to use and we installed the supports as directed. they are made with pressure treated 2x8s and 2x6s doubled up to make the upper framing and lower base, then we're installing heavy metal screw jacks to actually shore up the platform edge and hold any weight. that should hold up for quite a while. but all this temporary anyway... they say we'll be doing replacement and repairs to the platforms in the next couple of years....

anyway, here's the video... it starts with some bus garage stuff and then you'll see the subway stuff....

i ache, and i'm tired...

i worked five nights and days in a row this week. i don't think i've ever worked five nights of overtime in a row like that before. it's exhausting. i'd try to skip out of work a bit early each day so i could get some sleep, but i only got about four hours, maybe five at the most. that builds up through the week and by today i am sleep deprived and i don't feel that well. hopefully i'll catch up tonight on my sleep and feel better tomorrow.

whew! i'm glad it's the week end. i'm gonna clean off the Harley and take a ride up through PA today to a one day music fest called Vertical Fest. i'm probably most interested to see Chris Sligh from American Idol....

so, last week i worked overtime four nights out of five. sunday, monday, wednesday, and thursday nights. that equals: darn tired on Friday evening... i fell into bed almost as soon as i got home last night and slept for a few hours, got up and ate in front of the tv and went back to bed. but i feel pretty good today. and so we start the prossess again on Sunday night.

i've also been worried about my pregnant daughter-in-law. she does not feel well at all and i've been praying for her. hopefully she and Sean and Jesus will pull all things together and get her better soon! amen

i feel like i've been up for days, 'cause basically.... i have been.... i worked night shift and day shift the past two days in a row. so after a full day already on wednesday, that night i didn't get to bed, then i worked all day thursday. then i came home and went to bed for a about four hours, got up and went to work again. worked last night and then today. came home and i'm getting ready to hit the hay for the night. whew! i'm pretty tired....
i was suppose to write about last week ends Purple Door Festival this week and i didn't get to it. ...shame on me.... but i've been busy, and tired. i hope to get up tomorrow refreshed and ready to write. :-)

see ya then.

sorry blog. i'm a lousy friend. i never update you do i? ....

well, i've been working late night over time the past couple of weeks and it's pretty draining. now i'm sick with a cold-flu-y thing. cough cough. sore throat. just about everyone here at the job has it. the "creeping crud" as Elvis would say. so i may just not work any more of this OT so i can go home and sleep every night. i don't want to be sick the week of Christmas to New Years. Linda is coming to town and i hope to be in good health.

we're trying to plan out our week now. i pick her up at Reagan Nat'l Airport on Saturday morning. i think we'll spend some time in DC that day. see the Nat'l Tree and Nat'l Firepit that day and then we don't have to go back to DC the rest of the week. we kinda have a tradition of visiting the National Firepit every year. it's actually the Yulelog at the National Christmas Tree, but i guess we call it a Firepit because it sounds more like camping and reminds us of Cornerstone. i'm really looking forward to spending a week off from work with Linda. it'll be very nice....

speaking of Christmas; i'm the worst Christmas shopper ever. i dont' like going shopping anyway, and especially at Christmas time. i love Christmas, giving and getting gifts is awsome; just not the shopping part... but i have to, so then i sit and stress about it instead of getting my butt in gear and shop. i wish i could get myself together and shop on line in October or something but i'm not that organized. so, truth is i haven't bought one present yet. :-[   so, i'm going to have to go out this week end and get something bought! sick or not!

later, T