you know when..

.. your network administrator is on his Blackberry, frantically googling "how to reset DNS servers", that the likelihood is you will not have the internet at work on that day

money..

.. get back,
i'm all right jack keep your hands off of my stack..

'Money' - Pink Floyd

i don't want to comment much on the whole stock market fiasco from the last fortnight or so.. people don't believe my conspiracy theories anyways, but it is slightly fishy when the only people who walk away from all these crashes with their pockets bulging are the same people who make policies and decisions. is it just me who sees something amiss here?!

anyways, for people who have 401k and IRA accounts, you must be fretting and spending sleepless nights wondering if your mutual fund accounts are going to be decimated any more at this point. there are two concepts to keep in mind here:

1. Portfolio balancing act - depending on what stage of your life you are in, the mix between stocks, cash and bonds will vary. Cash and bonds are low risk, low return methods; stocks are high risk high return, and among stocks you have several sections: low, mid and high cap, foreign, growth, etc.
   
   The closer you get to retirement age the lesser chunk of your savings you want to be in stocks. What you have at this point is worth too many years of hard labor to risk frittering away in an attempt to gain a pittance.


2. Dollar-cost averaging - this refers to investing a fixed amount at regular intervals (e.g. monthly), regardless of market movements and, by doing so, more shares are purchased when security prices are low, and fewer shares are purchased when prices are high.
   
   This strategy is intended to moderate the volatility of a portfolio over time by minimizing one's exposure to the risk associated with investing a large sum of capital in one asset (or asset class) just prior to a sudden decline in the asset's value.

don't bother trying to predict the market's next upturn, or which stocks are going to rise tomorrow. what you want to look at is the bigger picture. emerging markets like china and india will slow down, but still have higher growth rates than the usa. russian markets will always be unstable. when investing in mutual funds, research as much as you can on the expense ratios, alpha, beta and r-squared values - these tell you whether the fund is flagrantly mismanaged or the account management knows what it's doing. remember, investment people have no obligation whatsoever to make money for you, even though you might be putting your entire life savings in his hands!

the stock market is cyclical, on a roughly five-year loop, but overall it will keep rising. it's hard to see that right now because we are at pretty much the lowest point of the cycle that started about 2002. so hang in there, read and ask questions. don't sit around passively thinking ol' uncle sam is going to save you. hold your local legislators accountable. ask them about their energy policies. ask them where they stand with subprime mortgages. your future is not in your hands now, you need to snatch it back.

there goes another manager

can someone say deja vu all over again.. at least this current boss of mine lasted into the summer, the previous one didn't even make it out of winter! but yes, that's the news.. my boss will be quitting soon. that just tells you how hard a man his boss is to work with! personally i have no issues with his boss, let's see how i feel after working directly for him this summer.

if you hadn't heard yet, the economy is in recession. as a direct result sales volumes are down for soda and other soft drinks, though bottled water is holding its own. this means that this summer might not be the busiest time of the year for the plant. let me take that back, all it means is that we'll probably not be running production seven days a week, but my maintenance dept. as always will be in fix and repair machines, and try to get some preventive maintenance in as well..

what i'd really like to see is if the people upstairs actually offer me his job straight up this time, instead of wasting everyone's time with trying to hire another underling manager!

up at Mile High

was up north of Denver some time ago to commission some new equipment we were buying.. that's beautiful country up there, east is flat all the way to Ohio, and looming large on the west is the Rocky Mountain range. the air is nice and clean, albeit thin.. not the best place for people with breathing troubles. of course, the altitude also means that the alcohol kicks you faster! is it a coincidence that there is a vast proliferation of microbreweries out there? there's a bunch of them, and many of them are pretty good too..




thanks to the Fleetwood-Goldco-Wyard-Ambec conglomerate, that took care of food, drink, travel and other entertainment while we were up there! ;-)


oh yeah, there was a small matter of commissioning a machine too.. well, we already own #001 of the line, and they put in whatever we learned on that into #002.. so that was that..

RoboMax 002

exit wounds

there's gotta be more to life than work > study > drink > sleep > work > study > drink > sleep > work..

cold already, brrr

whew, we hardly saw fall this time around.. winter has come blowing in pretty early this year, we're already getting sub-freezing temperatures, and now this weekend should mark the first snow of the season too

luckily i'm off to Denver on work next week for a few days, that'll be a good change as long as the weather holds.

#750 and other notes

for the last hundred or so posts, pretty much since i started working, updating this blog has been as tough as pulling teeth, kind of like that piece of leftover pan-fried steak from last night that you shoved into the fridge and were dreaming of eating this morning with eggs, but it was as chewy as Clint Eastwood's leathery hide in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.. and after you're done you spend half an hour picking your teeth and trying to elicit a half-satisfied burp. that's how i feel about this blog now, cos i barely have any fun stuff to say in it

• i could talk about air compressors at work failing and the winter rebuild program we're implementing, but who am i kidding, it's enough hearing about that at work every effin' day without bringing shop-talk home
• i finished part 1 of the project management degree, only eleven to go - heh! it was pretty hectic and quite tough, involved lots of reading and then some more for the exams and projects. the week break between courses is over, alas, so back to the grind we go
  
• there's the Sabres @ Bruins game i went to with my boss, who was good enough to buy me dinner and drinks too, but he spent most of the game heckling the Sabres and we did eventually lose in overtime so that was nothing to write home about (fantastic seats though, 9 rows behind the goal, right up in the slot). but i like that i can always get free tickets from Pepsi to go watch the Sabres everytime they swing by Beantown.
• and then this weekend is the supposed game of the century, the Patriots travel to the Colts.. but there is enough of that in the press to read and pick apart without sullying this blog
• fall is here and winter is close behind. summer daylight savings ended last night so i got to sleep in an extra hour, which is always great. fall is beautiful - the leaves on the trees vary from pale shades of gold to deeper shades of maroon. that's the good thing with being in the Northeast, and in my case living in central Mass., lots of nature trails all around and it's a great time to be up and about.
• i have been listening to loads of music, as there's lots of new stuff out. get up to date with who what when where at the rock blog..

out of context

ten things you say at work that would just sound like something else somewhere else

10. I need you to whip it out by 5!

9. Mind if I use your laptop?

8. Put this in my box before I leave.

7. If I have to lick one more I'll gag!

6. I want it on my desk now!!

5. Hmm.. I think it's out of fluid.

4. My equipment's so old, it takes forever to finish.

3. It's an entry-level position.

2. When do you think you'll be getting off today?

1. It's not fair.. I do all the work while he just sits back!!

sweat, glass fiber and mosquitos

my hands and arms are taking a real beating.. the combination of knurled wrenches, crushed PET, gooey grease, heated metal, harsh solvents and grit soap is giving me the calloused hands of a grizzled cowboy.. and the little nicks and cuts hurt like little electrical shocks

the weather has been incredibly inclement, the humidity and heat together make for a very hot and sweaty production floor.. a lot of the electrics on the machines are getting whacked, and it's a non-stop job trying to keep everything running at optimum speed yet cool enough so that pieces of circuitry are not melting off.. earlier this week the compressor room hit a record 165F (74C), it was difficult to do intricate stuff like rewiring a molten panel for longer than a minute at a time, not with that hot blast of air tinged with ammonia fumes making you dizzy

was reinstalling a heater blower motor for a shrink wrapper yesterday, and the ducting coming off it was wrapped in the insulation cladding.. this cladding was made of glass fiber, which has a nasty habit of sticking to skin, poking and prickling it like you're stroking a hedgehog.. the stuff does flake off and settles on any exposed skin, and all you wanna do is scratch scratch scratch like a dog in a flea forest

and then of course are the effing mosquitoes, who are a byproduct of the summer rains and countryside vegetation.. so any breaks outside the plant in the fetid night air is a slap-battle with a platoon of ravenous bloodsuckers. often you just give up and hope that only one or two will get you while you finish your smoke or fill your lungs with relatively fresher and cooler air before you have to head back to the production floor

this combo of sweat rashes, glass fibers and mosquito bites have left my arms a super-sensitive, red-blotched martian landscape.. only the calamine lotion is keeping me from scratching the death out of them!!

what are you drinking?

if you've been reading or watching on the news about the apparent scandal with bottled water.. then this should help clear your doubts. i had a couple of friends who came up to me with the news article they read, and were asking what it's all about.. (reference article)

Pepsi-Cola announced Friday that the labels of its Aquafina brand bottled water will be changed to make it clear the product is tap water.

The new bottles will say, "The Aquafina in this bottle is purified water that originates from a public water source," or something similar, Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman Nicole Bradley told CNN.

The bottles are currently labeled: "Bottled at the source P.W.S." Americans spent about $2.17 billion on Aquafina (14.7% market share, making it the leading bottle water brand) last year, according to Beverage Digest, an independent company that tracks the global beverage industry. The U.S. bottled water business in 2006 totaled roughly $15 billion, it said.

so all the fuss now is about the picture on the Aquafina label that has a mountain on it and this is apparently deceiving people into thinking that Aquafina is actually from some mineral spring somewhere.. bloody idiots, read the fuckin' label - its says purified drinking water!! there's also a PWS symbol on it on the back that means bottled from a public water source!

this really pisses me off, when people don't look carefully at what they're picking up, and then want to get their panties all up in a bunch cos there is no one but themselves to blame.

if you did have any genuine doubts though.. Aquafina is actually as pure as distilled water, cos it undergoes reverse osmosis, which takes all minerals and trace elements out of it, leaving you with just good ol' pure H₂O. so feel free to pick up a case of Aquafina any time you want, without wondering about how safe it is.. of course, if you live anywhere in the North-Eastern US then you can have the peace of mind knowing that all Aquafina has been personally passed by me.. lol (ok ok, terrible water joke, but it was begging to be told!)

a day off?

unbelievable, a day off! right in the middle of summer! well, it is the 4th of July, and that is the only reason why.. in bottling parlance, end of summer session 1, and beginning of summer session 2. the first part of the peak summer season begins in March and goes on until Independence Day, and the second phase goes on from now through till Labor Day, which in the US is the first Monday in September..

we did pretty decently for the first session of summer, averaging well over 120,000 cases daily of soda and Aquafina.. in between we got in some new equipment, got it installed and got it running too with very few glitches and very little down-time as well.. i did get tossed into the hot seat at a really bad time, during the transition just before summer session 1.. but by all accounts i accounted for myself really well.. i pat myself on the back here. handling both my job and my ex-boss's job with youthful aplomb and a cheerful vigor.. i am tooting the ol' trumpet, but that's cos i've had a few beers down me! hopefully all the hard work, dedication, commitment and long hours show up in my raise.. cos much as i love what it do, at the end of the day it's all about the benjamins.. hehe!

if you did get the day off, here's hoping you had a good 4th of July.. here's a pic from the fireworks display at Ayer.. it was a really good moment too, cos 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' - Pink Floyd was playing on the radio right as the fireworks were going off.. i guess you just had to be there to savor it.

chill, aka how dirty boys get clean

after a really hard thirteen hour day's work, with the summer sun heating the fuckin' plant to a mild floor temperature of 108F (42°C).. there's no better way to relax and slow down than a slow soak in the tub and a bottle (or three) of Molson's finest Canadian beer..

year one.. done

i completed one year at work over a week ago.. but things have been so hectic i barely noticed it. there are times when there's so much shit happening it feels like i've been here for years and years, and then there are the times when the one year feels like just over a week because there's so much to learn about all aspects of the bottling industry

finishing the last quarter of the year filling in my boss' shoes was like a chaser after the shot.. getting thrown headfirst into the workings of the plant was pretty insane, and then with the promotion thrust upon me, it became the mountain the molehill only purported to be

so pour out a glass of Pepsi, or Aquafina, Mountain Dew, Tropicana, Sierra Mist, Ginger Ale, Lipton Tea or any one of the numerous drinks we make, do feel free to spike it with any alcoholic substance as well.. and join me in a toast -

“Here’s to long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one.
A pretty girl and an honest one.
A good year — and another one!”

— Irish Toast

in-between

i don't blog much these days.. i don't find much to write about. feels like my creativity is being stifled and my energy is being sapped.

work is insanely crazy. the good days are when i can get out after 12 hours. i don't mind the long hours as much as the timing of those hours.. from 3am to 3pm and beyond does not allow the body to settle into either a day schedule or night schedule. it's an in-between schedule, and therefore i have become an in-between person.

i do things in-between nowadays. i sleep in-between the hours dayshift and nightshift people sleep. sometimes i prefer to stay at work because when i'm at home i'm getting calls from the plant. so actually i sleep in-between being at work and being on the phone to work. i eat two meals a day, in-between doing some desk work or falling asleep on the couch. i live on gravity, machines, steaks and Gatorade. in-between i try to spend some quality time, cook, clean and go grocery shopping.

the only thing that makes my eyes light up and brings a smile to my face is the Sabres. of course, i have to break my sleep time into two 3-hr shifts to catch their games, so i watch them in-between. such a pleasure to behold the Sabres in full counter-attacking flight, silver skates glistening as they leave molten ice in their wake, the puck caroming in-between their sticks like a pinball.. then a quick flash and the black disc whirrs into the net past flailing goaltenders and flaming defensemen.. only to nestle safely in-between the goalposts, setting off the goal buzzer and a million blue-and-gold Buffalonian hearts. let's go Sabres!

this is turning into an "i this.." and "i that.." post, the kind i don't like. oops, i again. it is ridiculous the extent of punishment the human body can take - the people at work don't ask me what shift i am on nowadays, cos i answer "all shifts". almost two months into doing both my job and my boss'job, i do feel like i'm growing older much faster than i should be, in no small part due to the hedonistic college lifestyle i had adopted before i started working.

pretty much the only positive point here is that i'm keeping pretty fit n' trim. i cycle to and from work, am on my feet for most of the hours at work, and a quick romp or three in the sack never hurt anybody.

there is no point, moral, lesson, purpose or wisdom in this post - it's just in-between.

yup, still here

got back from New Orleans on Sunday, and dived straight back into the deep end. i had an absolutely awesome time, as the pics i will post soon shall attest. as will all the stories. some of them at least, heh!

will upload the pics and type out a few posts soon.. hang in there

interim

that's the key word nowadays.. cos i'm interim Plant Maintenance Manager.. working for the interim from 2.30 am to 4 pm.. getting stuff done in the interim.. youngest manager in company history, for the interim.. no raises either, in the interim..

i'd like the permanent promotion, i think i'm showing i can deal with it pretty well.

the tempest

i think i've mentioned many times that i've had the 'week from hell'.. but this last week gave the phrase a whole new meaning. when seasoned managers and grizzled mechanics say they've never had a week that bad, it does give a fresh kid like me some perspective. and the week ended just like it started, with a resounding bang. friday afternoon my boss, the Maintenance Manager handed in his keys and walked out! just like that. then i got a call from the Plant Manager saturday telling me that he needed me to step up a few notches and help him run the department now!

i know you're thinking that this is a great chance to prove myself and all that happy crap, but this is like going from cooking at home, to being an assistant chef to Bobby Flay on the Food Network for a few months, and then hearing he quit so now you are expected to run the whole shebang! i've never been one to back down from challenges, but i was already struggling to juggle multiple responsibilities and tasks, working slightly insane hours and now graduating to being thrown a few firebrands to juggle as well, with fully insane hours - i'm gonna be working 3am to 2pm now, 6 days a week!

luckily all this work is keeping me from starting to wonder about my position here in the firm, since the guy who hired me is out now, and the other Supervisor got transferred to a different department. it's pretty clear that i'm not gonna be named manager any time soon, even though i'll be doing most of the dirty work.. i just hope they remember that when annual review time comes around in a couple of months!

i'm not supposed to be scared of anything
but i don't know where i am
i wish that i could move but i'm exhausted
and nobody understands how i feel

'Changes' - Three Doors Down

so, i got a little story for you

yes i'm back.. unfortunately. actually i was back on sunday afternoon, and even went into work on sunday night. work has been so hectic this week that i haven't really been able to revel in the memories of the now-distant florida trip, let alone type out a few lines of the blog..

i'd like to give you all the details of the trip but what happens in vegas florida stays in vegas florida.. heh! i will admit a few things though - yes, i had lots of fun, a bit too much fun if you ask me! the meetings were great too, lots got dicussed and the positive contribution of the junior members of staff was duly noted.

heartfelt thanks and sincerest apologies to two particular establishments that we haunted.. Flanigan's and the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, both in Deerfield Beach. we would love to be back next year, as long as you promise to make the same awesome wings and ribs, and let us commandeer your bar and ballroom again!

to AirTran.. your cheap fares and on-time flights are negated by your refusing-to-recline tiny seats and poor baggage handling staff. the only reason you are still in business is the free XM Satellite Radio and the fact the other airlines can be equally horrendous!

the 7-Eleven franchise, especially in florida - kudos for being open to sell beer until 2am, just when all the bars are closing. and for having my favorite Hall's cough drops too. and also for acknowledging that by no figment of the imagination do i look under 21 and therefore not bothering to card me.

mom-n-pop diners, non-chain rib shacks and other small eateries - you guys are the best.. for honest to goodness food at ridiculous prices, even in tourist-dense markets like florida.

casinos in florida suck. they only have slot machines and poker tables. what happened to the craps, and the blackjack, and all the other traditional casino attractions like cabarets? the Seminole Hard Rock Casino was especially bad! i'm glad i didn't throw away too much of my money on you!

airboat tour operators in the sawgrass area - your loud boats are still an environmental pestilence, despite all your bragging about ecotourism. what is described in this article here has to be the biggest crap ever, as the boats are so loud that they frighten all living beings in the vicinity deep into the 3 foot tall sawgrass or the 2 foot deep swamp.

riding down the intercoastal at night on the GM's 48 ft yacht, looking at the huge houses and boats of the rich and famous has to be one of the most inspiring and awesome things i have ever done. when you're done slowly rolling up your tongue and lifting your lower jaw from the deck, you have to wonder how people make so much money as to be able to afford such lifestyles!! kudos to anyone who did it, even if it took selling drugs to get there!

boy i'm glad i don't tan/burn easy.. cos hanging out at the beach was a lot of fun. the jury is still hung whether watching beach volleyball is better than playing beach volleyball, but the verdict is definitely all in that bikinis were made with brazilian women in mind. yum.

getting drunk might be overrated, but there is a particularly morbid entertainment in getting drunk with your colleagues and superiors. that is taken to the next level when you end up taking full advantage of the open-bar, to the tune of 20+ drinks. the pretty bartender sure made a lot of tips, i felt i owed her after emptying two bottles of her finest rum, and all the shots she's making here. oh yes, that's my boss on the bar, trying to upstage me at my not-so-finest hour! i was told the next day that i had sat his boss down too and explained very loudly what my master plan was to knock the place shipshape again. i'm only glad he holds grudges as often as i hold hangovers! i am still amazed at how it took only two Tylenol and a bottle of Gatorade to get me bouncing back to form at 5 the next morning!

finally, one thing that you cannot ever get over is how beautiful the sunrise can be. this shot below is worth slogging your butt off now so that you make enough money to be able to wake up to this every morning..

to warmer climes!

maybe this is where my year takes a turn for the better.. am off to florida in the next couple of hours for some seriously needed r&r.

it's not actually a holiday.. the company is having the annual offsite managers' meeting down there, but hey, i just need an excuse to get out of these -2F° temperatures we've been having here! deep-sea fishing, casinos, drinks, sunshine and hot chicas.. all on the company tab.. cannot complain!

the year so far

i hope the year 2007 is working out for you cos sure as hell it ain't working for me! this is the third time i'm trying to write this post and it would sure as hell help if damned Firefox wouldn't keep crashing and not allow me to recover post either.. *(&*^$%$%^#.. sure as hell, this year has not improved at all from how 2006 ended.. if anything things have just gotten crappier! ok, now no more hell metaphors.

work-wise this year officially sucks. every day in every way things do not improve. with the last couple of four-day weeks we've had, production runs twenty two hours a day, so the 3rd shift maintenance team that i head has had no time to do jackshit! so much work to do, and funnily enough even in winter, which is the down season, no time to do it in! every day i plod into work before midnight, readying myself for yet another night of misery.. sometimes i've been so busy that between getting to work and hanging my jacket on the coathanger and leaving some 12 hours later, all i get time to do is grab a polystyrene cup of not-so-fresh java and a quick couple of puffs on Mr. Camel Lights..

with the holiday mentality still in the air, plant efficiencies have gone to crap. sometimes i've had to crack the management whip.. but if you know me, you also know that i'm not the kind of manager who tries to wear the do-what-i-tell-you-to-do suit, but unfortunately there are times i have to..

my health has gone for a bit of a toss too.. i've had a lingering cough and cold for the last couple of weeks, and sleep has been an elusive mistress, even more elusive than usual. i've even stopped smoking everything for a bit, but yet as soon as i lay my head down to sleep every day the coughing fits that kick in have been keeping me restless. during the night at work i keep hawking up gobs of nasty phlegm, but it's only when i hit the bed that it really buggers me. and not only has sleep been affected, but whenever we're in the mood for some horizontal salsa, the humpin' n' pumpin' has been tainted by stops for huffin' n' puffin' as i try to catch my breath and keep up the pace!

in fact, i barely managed to do any partying during the new year's eve and the subsequent happy birthday's celebrations.. which kinda sucked! i didn't really feel like i was dying, although i was really glad to cross the threshold of 27 and move into 28.. considering so many of the icons of the rock n' roll lifestyle kicked the bucket during that fateful twenty seventh year.. Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin..

so that's that, i'm still waiting on this year 2007 to turn a new leaf and better itself and my life too.. how's your year looking so far?!

winding down?

what happened to this being the end of the year? when things are supposed to be slowing down, and mellowing out? work has just been getting crazier as the holiday season goes on! the week before Christmas was horrific, and this week, even though only four days long, has had enough drama in it to suffice for a seven day week and has been actually worse than last week, if it were possible.. random acts of mindless sabotage, unfortunate machine breakdowns, frayed and short tempers, frustrating lack of communication between shifts.. i saw it all this week, and with one night yet to go i'm just about to collapse dead

work work work..

the boss was out on vacation last week.. so of course, it meant more work for all. had to write double the amount of regular reports so that the bloke could stay up to speed when he got back. but i did get a taste of upper-level management, and it tasted good i must say.. want some more of that definitely..

and now this week he's back, and spending all the time catching up on what he missed.. so much happens in a couple of days here at the plant that when you get back it's quite unnerving, you wonder if you were away a few days or a few months!

in other news, we had the office Christmas party last Saturday at the nearby Marriott.. that wasn't too bad at all, good food, good dancing and a good time overall. it was pretty interesting to see the other halves (and in most cases, the better halves) of some of the guys i work with..

on the job humor

there are some things i hear at work which i just take as a matter of fact way because of the settings.. but when you take them out of context, then it's just plain hilarious and it's a real challenge to keep myself from bursting out!!

like this time i was discussing disciplinary issues with the assistant production manager about one of her staff members..
Her: "I have to push the team, even give an oral if need be, and you should do the same"
Me: (almost sniggering to self) "Yes definitely!"
of course, we were discussing an oral warning as opposed to a written one

or when you hear me in the morning saying..
Me: "End CIP, run flush and start Line 4 on half Splashes for six thousand, run color label on old Krones and fighter-pack through Kayat with registered film, 42-stack on a GMA pallet then changeover to Hicone shell on the Hartness, both on the 920"
it's nothing to be jaw-dropped about, it's just informing someone about the day's start up schedule

i like factory lingo and atmosphere, it's very relaxing to work in an atmosphere where your boss says to you "The damned Kister discharge shit the bed last night.." and you reply "That's fucked up!" and no one bats an eyelid!

the key theory in management

i have a theory, that when you are in management, especially at a production facility, the number of keys you are straddled with at your workplace has a direct relationship with where you are and where you are going on the corporate ladder.

lower management - no one trusts you, yet. so you only get the basic keys, outer office, supply room, etc. it will take you a while, or a few promotions to start becoming responsible for more.

middle management - you are becoming a more important cog in the machine, so you carry more keys. there are the master keys to all outer doors, machine operations, training and meeting rooms, records office, etc. an unfortunate fallout of this is that you are expected to be on call much more in case the plant needs to be shut down on vacations and things like that.

upper management - you are back to minimal keys again, as you are not encumbered by carrying big bunches of keys. when you need the keys you can always get someone who works for you to open stuff up, so you are back to carrying a couple of masters, that's it!

the number of keys on my bunch keeps increasing by the week, so i guess i can say i am headed up the slope now.. let's see how far this goes.

labor day weekend

boy am i glad for this long weekend.. with the monday off it gives me 24 hours more to rest and recuperate from what has to have been the week from hell! the older mechanics were saying never has there been a summer like this one at the plant, and definitely never a week like this one in my life!

had to go in for a few hours for saturday startup at 5 in the morn, which turned into the worst saturday ever, with all sorts of shit going wrong every few minutes and the radio crackling incessantly in my ear. it also didn't help that the day before my *&!@^#&*%$ boss totally crapped all over my review which led into a huge argument and i was THIS close to telling him to stuff his crummy job where even the retarded fish don't swim!

am glad the gf is over for the long weekend, helps having her patient ears and comforting hugs when the big bad world get's too big and too bad. yes, i do sound like a little boy.. but i have to say, nothing prepares you for real life quite like real life itself. more on that as life unfolds i guess.

i have dedicated the labor day weekend to the shrine of labor, i.e not doing anything at all! the only time we've even left the bed has been to make some delectable yummies.. pork rib roast, tuna fried rice and my latest creation - king crab in coconut milk gravy.. and to get refills for the vodka, wine and beer. so now i head back to the bed in front of the tv, and some more sleep. have a great week everyone!

perseverance

the persistence of human will is not a force to be mocked. actually, some animals have demonstrated that kind of resolute determination as well, but it's found more often in humans. some people can stick to their guns once they have decided their goals and are virtually immovable after that, while others tend to be a little more fickle and waver ever so often. most of the population is covered by that second demographic - as am i.

there is no point talking about that first group, cos as i said, they are set in stone and prove no inspiration whatsoever! okay okay, i exaggerate. but honestly, i am inspired more by a human than a humanoid - humans being the type who occasionally make mistakes as opposed to humanoids being the kind who do not let themselves make mistakes.

why all this talk of perseverance? cos when you wake up every morning (or night as it is in my case), and sit on the edge of the bed, staring at your feet while yawning, wondering why you're here, then perseverance is the only thing that gets you to work. the frustration can be infuriating at times - twice the last week i have had to go back in to work after leaving in the morning. the exhaustion can be killing - some times i am so tired that i can't sleep, just lay there staring at the ceiling too tired to roll over. the rewards can be unsatisfying - i am still waiting on my review and i work far far harder and get way more results than my paycheck shows.

so why do i do it? well, cos i am hoping and waiting that things get better. it's my first job out of college, things could have been much worse. the responsibilities i hold now look really good on the resume - they are the kind of things that would push me higher up the engineering management ladder when i look elsewhere. for now, i stretch, bide my time, and go back to work.

sleepless

i really envy people who can get their heads down and get some sleep.. cos hell i can't just.. sleep! there's always shit running through my head, things i have to do, bills to pay, people i have to speak to, etc etc. and no it doesn't end there, after that there is the continuous self-assessment and judgement of how, what and when i did whatever i did. there are people who tend to be hard on themsleves, and then there's me - ever-critical and always dragging myself down.

once upon a time i could meditate to clear my mind, but these days concentrating for periods longer than a deep breath is almost impossible. just need to find that flow again, a set routine which allows me to get 6-8 hours of good and uninterrupted sleep, as well as getting at least two solid meals a day. as far as exercise goes, the menial nature of the work i do and the cycling to and from work adequately makes up for that category!

so now i end up trying to beat my insomniac tendencies by listening to ambient music, cooling the room and darkening it, and hoping fervently i will nod off and not have my eyes fly back open after a couple of hours! any advice you good folk might have?

suit yourself

i've been an erstwhile reader and follower of Dale Carnegie's principlessince i was twelve. honestly speaking it changed my life, helped me become more outgoing, made it easier to communicate and to understand fellow members of the species. there have been very few instances that the lessons he taught have been found coming up short - in my experience very rarely has that happened.

people management has never been a difficult task for me, especially after Mr. Carnegie. even in my present job, i have found that paying a little extra attention, looking people in the eye and calling them by name has worked pretty well for me to delegate work etc. the one place that my method has come a cropper though has been with my superiors. i can honestly say i have tried to be civil, respectful, obedient and all that, and it's led to situations where i distinctly feel that i have been taken advantage of, or taken for granted.

nothing pisses me off more than being taken for a ride - i'm a very pleasant, run-of-the-mill type bloke, but when people start fucking around with me then i tend to get fucking irritated, and then i can get fucking cold and business-like too. it's not how i like being nor how i like conducting business, but i guess if the suit fits the occasion, then it must be worn.

backhanded pat on the back

funny how professional life tends to treat you.. i can truly say i hauled ass in the three months i've been working - putting in place new systems, preparing new documentation, improving production and efficiency numbers. and what do I get for all that? a promotion that sure as hell doesn't feel like one!

i go back to the nighshift starting sunday, but this time as 'Maintenance Supervisor - Changeovers, Startups & Sanitation'. i'm not really happy about going back to the midnight-morning schedule, but hey who knows, it might mean less hours.

isn't this typical of life - the harder and better you work, the more you get piled on you. i can deal with that, but what really gets my goat here is that in my case i am getting the distinct impression i'm getting the garden-variety unglamorous responsibilities!

the Pepsi Bottling Group is trying hard to move away from the philosophy that Changeovers are the most difficult part of running a bottling operation, and i'm glad to be at the forefront of that. Startups are a related issue, and we're getting better at it.. with me around at the crucial hours of 3am-7am, we'll only get better. then they throw me a curve ball by adding Sanitation to my plate! since you definitely want your Pepsi to be brewed and bottled under the most hygienic conditions possible, guess what.. keeping the bottling environment as clean and tidy as possible is now my responsibility! muhahahahah! blame QC though if you don't like the flavor of your soda!

like when i started, am gonna be all gung-ho about my job.. that doesn't mean i'll stop griping about it! and oh yes, the raise after my review better be a good one, i need a new ride!

needed yesterday

have you ever felt you're always running behind life? that you're always trying to catch up?

work has been like that, as we try to overcome years of mismanagement and neglect, and then implement a better system. however, we spend so much time running around 'firefighting' - repairing, correcting, amending, changing - when do we ever put in the new system? most work-orders and purchase orders we write come with the tag - needed yesterday!

now my life is becoming like that too. i'm running around trying to get to so many things that i had to do yesterday! i just wonder where my time has gone. i used to be a very laidback person, 'take it easy' was my catchphrase in life. but now, i look in the mirror and i am not that person anymore. is this what having a professional career does to you?

i mean, look at me, up at 7 on a sunday morning, getting ready to go to work! but i have no regrets, the experience i garner here will definitely set me up for life, i just have to remember at what point to not be overwhelmed and let career rule life.

a break, my kingdom for a break!

the last two weeks have been really tough, you can tell from the infrequency of posting.. days have melded into nights and back into days again, and when i am not slogging away at work i'm either eating or asleep! i haven't been the best company either for that period, as many of you who have tried to talk to me will testify.

if it sounds like i am complaining then i am really not, though my weary bones will scream otherwise. work is alternately fulfilling and frustrating, satisfying yet exhausting. it's always good to see little things you do make a positive difference, and at the same time it hurts when changes you try to make are received with a derisive snort not because they aren't good but because they are different from the old-school methods that people have become used to.

i have my 3-month review coming up, and it's a shot in the arm when the Plant Manager takes a couple of minutes during a management meeting to say a few words about your work. the plans we have to improve the production are good, but things were bound to get worse before they got better. right now we're pretty much hitting rock-bottom in that slump, the super-hot weather, extra-high demand for our products, temperamental machines and frazzled nerves have ensured that this low is a pretty bad low. i've already hit 60+ hours at work this week, and am yet to go in for at least another 10 this weekend - damn i wish i was getting paid overtime!

no promises about more regular blogging yet, who knows what this coming week will bring.. but you can do me a huge favor - go out there and buy more cold drinks.. Pepsi, Aquafina, Mountain Dew, Tropicana, Sierra Mist, Schweppes, Lipton, Crush, Brisk, Flavorsplash, Sparkling or whatever - you will make me work harder, but make me a tad bit richer too at the same time! ;-)

hot, hard and tiring

now before you start getting any ideas about the title of this post, it refers to the weather, work and hours that i am at work respectively.

the summer has kicked in and its hot and humid all the time, even in the dead of the night. not a pleasant thing at all i must say. luckily the town i live in is a bit in the sticks, so there is a pleasant breeze coming through the windows at night, though life is only possible because of the ac.. damn i wish i had an ac in my dorm room back in undergrad!

work is.. (insert appropriate, wait.. inappropriate abusive language and other choice phrases, preferably from sailors' vocabulary).

i've been back on day-shift this week.. which means i can live normal people hours. but at the same time, the normal people i try to associate with do not work 12-13 hours a day, so not so normal i guess!

will try to read peoples' blogs again this weekend.. note emphasis on try. for now i'm jumping back into bed.. see ya!

the art of management

the last few days i have been working much more closely with my boss and his boss, and picking up lots of tips from them. work had been getting more and more hectic, and we felt that we had been working harder instead of working smarter, and that is a very irritating feeling. so we sat down and made out a few plans, so as to not fall in the 3-P trap.. piss poor planning.

thing is, i've been bombarded by so many cliched phrases which are actually very true.. "work smarter, not harder", "don't set yourself up to fail", "respect must be gained", "keep communication lines open always", "leadership cannot be taught" etc, but my favorite by far is
"you must be ready to kick someone's ass and buy him coffee, not necessarily in that order, and not always either"

not another work post..

apologies, but this will be yet another work post. i've had one of those monster weeks, being at the plant 11-12 hours every night.. and could not be more grateful that the weekend is finally here! but here's the thing, you know you're spending way too much time at work when..

• you turn to the babe basking in afterglow and half-asleepily smirk ".. and that is what a Line 1 changeover is all about!"


• you're talking on the phone with your parents and catch yourself using walkie-talkie lingo like: "what's your twenty?" and "ten-four, copy that"


• you are shopping at the store and every bottle in your cart has been carefully inspected to see if the cap went on right or if the torque needs to be adjusted


• on the weekends you find yourself staring bug-eyed at the clock at 4 a.m. cos the body can't adjust back to normal-people-time from nightshift-time


• you calculate and start drawing spreadsheets in your head every time you open the refrigerator and look at the food and drink, and their quantities, expiry dates and when you will need more

would you believe it?!

what's the worst that could happen? i was about to start telling you about a day not so long ago which was such a bad day at work that i was left shaking my head in disbelief that it could be so crappy! anyways, water under the bridge now, and i'm sure you've all had days where you didn't think that it could actually get any worse, when the fates combine to make it another step closer to purgatory on earth. work as we all know can become a trial in drudgery, so go ahead and tell me about your worst day ever..

after the fact

man i hate going back to work after such a long break! i always hated going back to school/college after a long weekend, and after starting work nothing's changed. the 4-day holiday was awesome, and dragging my sore/sorry self back to work on monday evening was one of the hardest things i've ever done! especially knowing the a.c and the comfy bed were awaiting..

time off

took the last two days off from work, and added to the weekend makes for a nice long rest n' relaxation period. work has been crazy hectic and i just needed some time away from the craziness. every night i step into work and there's always a huge pile of crap in the 'IN' tray and after chipping away at it for ten eleven hours i look at the pile and it has only been promptly refreshed! i guess better lots of work than getting bored, but still, it does tend to get overwhelming at times..

make no mistake, i love work and what i do, and taking breaks from it only makes me appreciate it some more.. i really need this thursday-sunday to just lounge about the apartment in shorts, drinking beer for breakfast and cooking fancy food and watching World Cup and doing absolutely nothing.. hope y'all enjoy your weekend too!

mark of the beast

you heard it before, that '666' is the number of the devil.. in fact yesterday being 06-06-06, a couple of channels were carrying lighthearted specials on satan, hell and and the ilk. the remake of the cult classic 'The Omen' also opened yesterday, the premise of which was the antichrist son bore the triple-six tattooed into his scalp! i loved that book, the original movie was the bone-chilling kinda scary, and this version should be just as baaaad!

not that i'm superstitious or anything, but i did think it would be best to tread gingerly on this day. half of a man's paranoia is based in his brain, and i try not to disturb that half too often! so i stayed in bed pretty much all day, which is what i do anyways, ever since i started working the nightshift. coming in to work i was hoping that whatever ills had to happen had already befallen whoever was slated to next face the wrath of the demons. strange how no politicans or lawyers die in bizarre accidents on such days.. tells you something about who their souls have been leased off to!

of course, when the bogeyman wants to get you he will find you no matter where you hide! he decided to sneak into the plant at 1.30 am when honest people are a-soundly asleep, the fiendish are plotting dastardly deeds, and the rest are busy working hard making sure you get your daily supply of cola and other cold drinks. a quarter-million dollar machine came to a shuddering halt, cos a link on a chain broke. and no surprise, the last spares we had were just used up the previous day!

things being the way they are, this happened at a time when no hardware stores are open, none of the plants in the immediate vicinity run that size of chain, the chain is too small and in too sensitive an area to be jerry-rigged, welded, mickey-moused, remodelled, or any number of ways we mechanics make things do what they aren't made to do.

as i left work, i marvelled how a piece of metal worth 10cts shutdown a line (that goes at the rate of 900 bottles per minute) for six hours.. you just know that bears the classic hallmarks of the devil dropping by.

quandary

you are on the lower rungs of the management ladder and still a rookie, so basically you follow what you are told when implementing procedures and managing the staff. a mistake comes through undetected, trickling all the way down to your level. a big mistake actually, hidden in the guise of a misprint, which could cost almost 10% of the daily efficiency statistic.

you don't pick up the mistake, thinking if it has passed through so many hands before yours everything must be pretty correct. at the last second the mistake is detected, and there is a loss of time as the procedure is corrected. you being on the lowest level, naturally take all the fallout. is it your fault? partly yes, cos you should have seen it.. and partly no, cos you would never have known.

i am furious, both with myself and with where the mistake originated. i feel it's a no-win situation, cos everyone takes a dump on those below them, and i am not the kind of person who likes shifting blame. i guess the only way around it is to try to be sharper at what i am doing.

odd isn't it?

isn't life the strangest thing? when you have nothing, then you really scrape the barrel, cos you got nothing at all. not too long ago, my thesis research was stuck at a dead end, i had been on a couple of job interviews that returned negative, had no more job prospects on the horizon, was spending days and nights doing nothing, and my life was turning into a personal living hell.

a few months down the line, and i will add that all i say here is strictly touchwood; i am very grateful for all i have, for i feel i really paid my dues. after defending my thesis and getting out of grad school, now i have a good job that pays well. i moved away and started life pretty much anew, and banished quite a few demons from the past. i settled into the community here, met new colleagues and friends, and am generally happy.

and now that i have all i wanted, the fun begins.. i received a call from one of the companies i interviewed with.. asking if i could join them post haste! it seems suddenly they need someone like me, and were willing to negotiate terms etc too. in the depths of my depression this would have been like the lighthouse leading me to safety ashore.. but now i am not moving, i am too well-settled here, and have already started planning my future around what i have and the job that i do. isn't it strange though how these things work out.. that i get this offer now, when i don't need it anymore?

welcome to real life

gotta say i am loving and at the same time a little nervous about the job.. certain aspects of it are certainly very scary in that these are huge machines, and safety is always an issue. then there is the responsibility too! decisions i take make huge immediate impacts.. every minute a machine goes down and stays down is 850 bottles we aren't putting out! every hour that it stays down the line efficiency goes down by 5%! i guess these are the pressures of being in a results- and goal-oriented private enterprise. luckily there is a strong supporting cast of supervisors and managers who are always on call so that these decisions are usually well-planned as much as possible.

on the night shift, i have to marshal the resources.. making sure the mechanics we have get out there and get the work done. often certain machines take precedence, and certain products do too! and it's not just repair work.. years of inefficient use mean machines are breaking down more often. so not only are we being reactive, by repairing them.. we have to be proactive, by maintaining them up to scratch so that they don't break down. and that is only part of the job. this is completely aside from the regular running problems that you will always have with machines, which we dub line calls.

another aspect to the job is to watch changeovers. this happens when we have to change the production line from one product to another, maybe a different bottle, and a different package. this often means starting right from the filling room and umpteen machines later the packaging. certain changeovers take three mechanics up to five hours to do that.. fifteen man hours. considering we have 5 production lines, that is quite a hefty chunk of manhours going to changeover work.

then you always have the ego-clashes, between the machine operators and the mechanics, always fighting about who knows better. it does get to be a pain trying to teach teamwork to wizened old men and cocky young high-school dropouts! sometimes the radios we wear on the lapels are so full of people yelling that it's all gobbledygook, and this is beside all the hellish noise the machines make!

so the management part consumes most of my time at work.. and the remaining time is for me to do what i love most about this job - greasemonkey work! i can get out there with one of the mechanics and learn about the equipment while i repair it! that summed together accounts for the 50-55 hours a week that i work. i'm getting used to the jet-lag effect of working night shift.. these days i just lay my down and catch my sleep whenever i can!

nightshift

this week my work hours moved to nightshift.. i.e. 10pm to 8am. i'd like to tell you i settled right into it, but i can't cos right now i have no idea whether i am coming or going, about to sleep or about to wake up. even though its Tuesday morning, but by work-time it's still Monday night. my body tells me it's late and i should sleep but my head says no it's morning and i have errands to run and things to do.

i started digging up info on shift workers, and turned up a whole Pandora's box of information. tips on sleeping, diet, activities.. and then some tips for management too to make sure they have happy shift workers, which i am going to be looking at implementing at some level too! finally here are some pretty interesting facts about the night shift workforce, in case you're wondering what i am going on about!

i'd write a more coherent blog, but now i really need some shuteye.. besides my tummy is rumbling like a leopard snoring, and i dare not wake the beast lest he eats too much and then i can't sleep! see y'all later, good night!

Week One - check!

so that was that for the first week. i think i made a pretty good impression too. the Plant Manager told the GM some nice things about me,and when he took me to meet him, the GM immediately offered to look around his house and see if he could rustle me up a TV and some assorted furniture!

work is tough, but fun too. after so many years i get a chance to be a grease monkey again! in case i hadn't mentioned this before, a long time back, just after i finished high school, i took a year out and worked in a garage. i absolutely loved pottering about as a mechanic, and learned boundless amounts about cars, customer service, people skills, leadership and all that. when i went into college after that i felt like a much more mature person.

now i find myself in a similar situation. i'm fresh out of college, and know little about the machines on the production line. but i do know a bit about working as a team, and being humble and not a know-it-all. i work on the second shift with three mechanics, and i am really happy that they call me their supervisor of their own volition! in fact they come and check with me what's going on, if i have work to give them, or if i wanted to come on a job with them cos they had something to show me there. i won a whole bunch of friends on the spot when word got out that the clothes i had ordered for myself at the HR Dept were not the management uniforms but the mechanic workshirts!

of course, this week has been rosy and all that i said goes out the window as soon as the proverbial shit hits the fan.. hehe!! but all in all it's been a very nice opening week, and i am very relieved that it wasn't unpleasant or uncomfortable at all!

first week almost over

lest i start sounding like a broken record (or a broken depalletiser should i say!), i will try not to write yet another post about work stuff.. or i might risk being pelted by bottles of xxx-cola by you lot! and yes kfarmer, i have to keep them earplugs on, it's really noisy out there, even more so near the filling and capping machines.

in case i didn't mention it before, i moved to a little town a bit out of Boston. the factory is located here, and so i can avoid the daily grind of a commute to and from work, especially since i don't wanna invest in a car just yet. also, after getting off a twelve hour shift it's in my best interests to have the shortest possible time to get home and hit the sack!

i really like this town, with it's five thousand people.. it's tiny by any comparisons, with the main street being two blocks long, and two pubs book-ending it. there is no 'downtown'.. it's just 'town'! the commuter rail runs through it every couple of hours, and two state roads lead back to civilization. there is not much nightlife, which works for me cos i don't have nights to have a nightlife with, hehe!! weekends i can always pop down to Boston if i feel the pressing desire to see masses of people, or maybe some eyecandy!

anyways, the hump-day of the first week has passed, and we're nearing the end of it.. the folks at work seem happy, also i haven't goofed up big time yet (that will happen, i know!), and things are looking good.. *fingers crossed*

busy?

i was a bit nervous going into work today.. didn't want to disappear into the system, and the same time there are so many people at work, with shifts changing all the time, i don't really know what i have to be doing half the time! but then the second day went really well. i met the people who i will be working second shift with, and it was good talking to them. most of the maintenance team are really friendly, and very helpful teaching me the ropes and things. it's amazing when you're working at the palletizer, with it packing crates and crates of xxx (name withheld)..

ended up working a pretty heavy 12 hour shift.. but enjoyed it all the while. at the risk of sounding like a stuck record, i really am enjoying the job, and hope it's a sign of even better things to come! thank you all for your best wishes and blessings again! :-)

day one

it has been a pretty eventful day one. started off with me getting back late on sunday night from an awesome trip to Cape Cod with friends, will have the pics up soon. so here i was trying to set up home at 11pm on sunday night, at which point i decided how worthless that was, and instead settled down to sleep. it was a pretty restless night, nervousness really got the better of me.. i found myself waking up every hour to check the time. when morning broke, i was still pretty sleepy, having not had much sleep! i called the office to let them know that i was busy trying to sort out the cable, electricity and gas connections (which i was).. so i didn't show up at work until 10! but i made sure that i repaid that time, more on that later.

work was good.. it's a pretty hectic time right now. after thursday a lot of things should be clearer, with a referendum coming up. often today i did feel kinda forgotten, a little bit lost in the shadows of the big production lines which keep churning out bottles and bottles of cola and lots of other products.. by the way, in case you're wondering which cola company this is, we're the guys who make Mountain Dew too. you will not believe how thirsty it makes one to stand by in a hot, noisy factory with hundreds and hundreds of bottles of cool refreshing beverages passing you by every minute!

work was pretty damn hectic, what with my boss giving me first day targets and mini-projects to handle.. but i think i acquitted myself pretty well. when i got out of work at 6.30 i was really bushed, having been on my feet all day, and a 20-min walk back home still ahead of me. luckily my neighbours in the apartment complex are a pretty friendly bunch, and one even took me grocery shopping! so i got back home, ran a bath.. and then opened a couple of Killian's Irish Red beers, and sat and soaked in the bathtub.. hehe! this is the life i tell you!

i get the feeling i'm really gonna like this job.. that might change once i start working the second and dead man's shifts, i.e night-out.. but for now it's all looking good. thank you all for your good wishes and blessings :-)

Good Morning..

.. here is the news, read to you by your friendly, garden-variety Blogger.

Confirmed reports coming in say that the erstwhile blogger known as 's!' (aka The Outlaw Torn) has gotten a job. He has been hired to shore up the Maintenance Division with one of the two major cola-making corporations; at this time this site is not at liberty to disclose which one. He is reported to be elated, but at the same time wistfully rueing the ending of his party-filled and slothfully lazy days at grad school. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

In related developments, The Outlaw Torn will be leaving Buffalo immediately, and relocating further east to the city of Boston, MA. Although the weather there will be quite similar, it is thought that the biggest challenge will be to maintain his loyalty to the beloved Buffalo Bills in the heartland of the hated divisional rivals, the New England Patriots.

Stay tuned to this space as it follows The Outlaw Torn on his new adventure. Thank you.