Car Trouble?

Something that I've noticed around here....there are broken down cars EVERYWHERE. I literally mean EVERYWHERE. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't see some poor, lone car parked on the side of the road, on the off ramp, on a median between 3 roads, in the grass on the side of the road, somewhere. At first I just wrote it off, oh that car has trouble, no big deal. Then it came to my attention, they are everywhere! Either Shreveport has horrible mechanics, the upkeep habits of this city are below standard, or all the lemons are shipped here, but this seems to be an epidemic. I just hope I won't become one of those people.

Work is about to be shaken up again. One of our key guys, who is full of knowledge, is leaving. The worst part of him leaving is the experience he is taking with him. The rest of us will be picking up the slack and working on team work. Things go easier when we all help each other and this location is still working on that concept. Things are really going great though and I love being here and watching all of these transitions take place. It is a great learning opportunity and I am so thankful to be part of it.

Less than a week until one of my best friends from Germany arrives. Evi is flying in on Monday and I am so excited to see her. It was a bit of a last minute, impromptu trip but the timing couldn't be better. We are headed home for Labor Day to work on our tan at the lake, then back here for a few days so I can work, then we are on for a weekend in New Orleans. We are going to have a blast and you will probably hear about it in the next few weeks. Be excited!

I'm Melting!!!

This past week has been a blur. Business has been slower than preferred, but I will say it is a bit of a nice break. Things have been pretty crazy since the day I got here so a quieter week was very welcome.

Last week I was on call for the first time ever. I would love to say it was uneventful and boring, but I'd be lying. There were "misunderstandings" that resulted in one of our customers "hating" us and somehow I was in the middle. I was mostly a casualty of war, but it was still frustrating and I still get mad about it any time any one brings it up. Most people don't but there is this one fellow who does. I would like to say he tries to be ornery but he just doesn't pull it off very well. My grandfather is much better at it, which is probably also why I seem to handle this fellow pretty well compared to others. I've had a life time of practice.

I spoke to the poor on call guy today, he was lucky enough to be running around all night and didn't get home until 7am this morning. He then has to work all day but hopefully he will get tomorrow night off. The way they do on call around here is interesting. Sometimes people alternate, such as one guy does it Monday and Tuesday, the other guy handles Wednesday and Thursday, the other one Friday, both on Saturday, then the last one on Sunday. That seems pretty complicated to me. The other way that people will do it is that one person handles the phone calls the other person drives. This only seems semi fair, but I don't think any one person should have to do all the driving. These rigs can get pretty spread out and you can easily travel an hour and a half in one direction for a single rig. I know it is part of the business, but I think trying to keeps peoples continual subjection to such trips should be kept to a minimum. It makes it a little less painful if people trade off.

The upside to all of this hard work is the wonderful weather. Yesterday the thermometer across the street on the bank like building read 101 degrees. Thats not counting the humidity. The radio has been saying that the heat index has been up around 114 degrees which is insane. Blond haired people who freckle and sweat a lot are not made for this climate. That translate to "I hate it." The upside, people pay good money to sit in saunas...all I have to do is walk into the warehouse. It's almost like a day at the spa....almost. Today there appears to be a bit of breeze out and the humidity doesn't seem to be so bad. I thought I would go lay out for a bit and see if I can get some color. I never last long, which is probably for the better since there is nothing worse than dealing with a sunburn. I better take lots of water with me!!

I hope everyone is doing well, and I will keep working to get better about my blogging. I do enjoy it and I have missed it.

I'm Connected!

I am once again able to connect to the world again. It is fantastic having a computer again. After work took back my laptop because I didn't need one any more (who doesn't need a computer?) I was too cheap to get a new one. My old one from college is in desperate need of some TLC and it just wasn't hacking it in this day and age of computing super power. I upgraded to a Mac. I'm still terrified and trying to get used to it. A little exposure every day and I'm sure I'll have it down before too long.

Shreveport, the update on my new home. From what I've seen its a fantastic little city. I've been out once, and dinner twice so I wouldn't yet consider myself a pro. I live in a fantastic area called Broadmoor that has tons of old houses and beautiful big old trees. I need to do some walking around and taking pictures so that you all can see what I'm talking about.

Work is really busy. It makes the days fly by and I can't believe I've been here almost a month now (just a few more days). In a way it seems like I just got here but it also seems I've been here forever (minus me not knowing where anything is). I really like everyone I work with and those stories will come soon....as well as my first on-call experience.

That is just a little blip of what is currently going on. I will now be better at posting and keeping you all involved in my not so exciting, but definitely different life.