I'm a Bad Blogger

and I know it.

But quite frankly, as crappy as life has been over the last month, I just haven't felt much like talking.

A little update. 

In case you haven't noticed, the economy still sucks major monkey balls.  It is better, but unemployment is up around 10%, markets are still down, and the family business is still losing money.  FY2009 was a $300,000 loss on $950,000 in total revenue.  Then, we had been working since late August on preparing a grant application for ARRA funds to increase our efficiency.  Currently, our recycling center processes 2.5 tons/hour.  Originally, we thought we could find enough material to increase that production by 8-10x's.  A big key to this increase was the city of Peoria starting a curbside recycling program of significance.  That didn't happen.  The program that was selected is nothing more than a warm fuzzies program.  And after that, all the pieces of our program started to fall apart.  By the time we got down to a week before applications were due, we were planning to install a system that could potentially quadruple our through-put but we only could identify sources for a doubling, at best.  Finally, last Monday, we found a short sentance that derailed the whole plan.  Projects were only able to apply for 50% of total project costs, and costs had to be incurred after the middle of February, 2009.  Which for us, meant we only had $200,000 in equipment to put against the total project cost on our half.  This meant we would have to get financing for about $1,400,000.  Not a possibility.  So, we had to abandon applying for the ARRA funds.  This was a major blow to my folks.  First was anxiety, and then depression. 

And on the other side, the weather this fall SUCKS!!  Here were are at the 27th of October and we only have 82 acres of soybeans harvested and fewer than 40 acres of corn.  It rained all night Sunday.  There is more rain in the forecast. We still have over 300 acres of beans to harvest and over 200 acres of corn.  At this pace, we will be lucky to be done by Christmas.  We harvested Sunday, for the first time in a week.

Basically, please pray for my family.  And all the farmers right now.  It is going to be a really rough and long harvest.

Hiatus

I've been on a little bit of a hiatus for the last few weeks. Partly because I've been busy, partly because I've gone, and partly because I've just haven't felt like saying much.

So a little bit of catch-up.

July 11-18 was the Rocky Mountain National Rendezvous. A 15 hour drive. But worth the miles. There was a little bit of rain on Sunday evening, and Monday we had two wind storms come through. The first wind storm knocked down a teepee and a traders tent, a couple people got knocked on the head by poles, but nothing major.

Tuesday was probably the highlight of the week. Dragonfly, another friend from Northern Wisconsin, and I climbed to the top of the Grey Rocks formation at the North end of camp. I
don't the precise elevation, but it was probably 300-400 feet above camp.

Me and Dragonfly on the way to the summit

















On the way to the top, we found this hot tub with a view. Except the water was only about 70 degrees.
















Dragonfly by the world's greatest hot tub.

















View from the top. Worth every step.


















This is the rock face we went down. The picture doesn't really do it justice.

















View from the South end of camp looking back to the Grey Rocks. We were at the absolute highest point on those rocks.















Another view from the South end of camp. Our route of travel started all the way to the far left side of the picture, up the long slope.














We left Friday morning and headed to the Museum of the Fur Trade. We were not even 10 minutes from camp, still running on the gravel road with the windows down, when suddenly, we hear the horrible hisssssssss of air rapidly escaping. Cut a tire. Bad. So we pulled into a lane to ranch and changed to the spare. After a short delay, we were back on the road.

The Museum of the Fur Trade was awesome. I was particularly interested in their feature exhibit on the voyagers. In particular, the 36' birchbark canoe. All in all, I took over 230 pictures.

After the museum, we took 2-lane highway to Sidney, Nebraska and Cabelas. Saturday we returned home.



Once I returned home, it was catch up at work. Lots of deliveries to run, contacts to make.

And a project that I agreed to prior to leaving for the RMNR. A good friend from the Quad Cities, who was my canoe partner two years ago on a 3 day Maquoketa River trip, is leaving tomorrow morning (Tuesday) on the MR340. A 340 mile canoe race down the Missiouri River from Kansas City to St. Charles. The boat he is racing in is a 30' Chinook style boat named "Its Woot." The 4 man crew were all members of the 200th Anniversary recreation of the Lewis and Clarke Corps of Discovery. Well, my friend wanted to use a canoe paddle that I built. So the last two weeks were dedicated to making this paddle perfect.

I think it turned out alright.
Full view.























Close up of the Welsh Dragon I hand painted on the blade, with my touchmark above.















And finally, I threw in a great little canoe trip down the Kishwaukee River this last Saturday with Contagion, Ktreva, Wes, Wil, Red, and Dragonfly.

No wonder I'm tired.

Now, more paddles to make, and archery match to plan, and Rendezvous season is about to go into full swing.

Oh, and early goose season is less than a month away.

SUCCESS!!!

It's amazing what you can do with a little duct tape and a superball.







Like, keep 12 people working all day.

Friday the 13th for weeks

It's not ever Friday the 13th but our luck at works SSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But this morning may take the cake.


We have 4-5 trucks on the road every day. At least 3 curbside/commercial trucks every day and either a fourth curbside/commercial truck or a hooklift truck running as well, sometimes both.

A couple weeks ago we were having problems (again, we almost always seem to have a truck with a problem, but this one is much worse) with a truck not running right. We had it towed to the mechanic we use. They started trying to figure out the problem. The tube that suctions the oil from the pan to the head had broke off. At least one piston and rod are shot, and the crank needs turned. We have been trying to find a used motor, but it is just a different enough truck that no one has been able to come up with one.

Then yesterday, one of our drivers calls in saying that his truck is losing water and fast. We told him to take it to a shop in the town he was working in. But since the truck was a cab-over style Crane Carrier, and the lift cylinder had been taken out so it could be replaced, this shop wouldn't work on it. Damnit.

So we had to get it towed to the shop where our other truck was already being worked on and Dad and I headed to the Quad Cities to get a rental truck. Expensive as hell.

Then this morning, we get a call from the mechanic and there is a problem with the truck we just towed in. The part was to be delivered overnight and they were going to have us up and running first thing this morning, but sometime during the night the engine had a short and caught fire.

Yessireebob, fucking truck caught on FIRE!!!!

Burned up lots of stuff on the engine. Hoses, wires, oil lines. Filled the shop with soot all over everything. Shorted the wiring in the overhead doors of the shop. Melted light fixtures in the shop. Luckily, the shop didn't burn to the ground. The truck is totaled. We think we have found a cab and chassis that we will be able to mount the box off the existing burned truck onto.

On top of everything else, I thought the folks were going to have a meltdown.

Frankly, I am surprised it hasn't happened already.

Sensable.

Obviously, Omar the wunderpuppy has more sense than I.

Yesterday and today, I was delivering curbside recycling totes in a town where my company is preparing to start an new program. 239 totes in two days. The company CEO (Dad) assembled and I delivered. This puts my total of carts delivered somewhere in the 1500 range since the last week of August.

Anywho, I mentioned Sunday that it snowed here. Roads=CRAP. Interstate was clear, but most other roads had a least some problems. Roads in the town where I was delivering suuuccckkkkkeeeeddddd. Several times I had to put the truck in 4-wheel drive. For some reason fishtailing while trying to start moving up a hill with a trailer on is not such a great thing.

While I have been up doing these deliveries, Omar has gone up with me. Yesterday he spent most of the time in the truck with me. Today, I tied him out to the semi trailer we were assembling totes for a few hours.

I got back to the trailer for my third load of the day just as today's snow started to fall. In a matter of a couple minutes, visibilty was reduced to 1/4 mile. Me: Out in the snow, getting soaked as the snow covers me. Omar: went underneath the semi trailer and sat down, out of the snow, and watched me with a puzzled look on his face.

After I got the trailer loaded, since dad was going to go deliver a few other totes, I put Omar back in his kennel in the truck. Me: In and out of the cab, dumping snow on myself, hot and cold. Omar: sleeping in the kennel.

Lucky Dog.

Found the New Adventure

If you remember back in July, I told you about looking for a new adventure.

Well, I have found one. Sorta. It's not really new. Since I have been involved in it for over 15 years.

If you haven't caught on yet, I have rejoined the workforce and am off of stupid f&^king unemployment that paid crap.

I have gone to work full time in the family recycling business. My official position is Vice President, Sales, Marketing, and Safety. So far, most of my work has been distributing curbside tote bins in communities where we have programs. I am also going to be getting my CDL to be able to fill in running roll-off containers or evening doing curbside collections.

The business started 15 years ago chopping newspaper as animal bedding with our forage chopper and square baler in the farm machine shed. Now we have 25 full time employees, four curbside trucks, one hook-lift roll-off truck, and we have programs in all or part of 8 Western Illinois Counties.

The benefits package is pretty fair. 15 days paid-time-off. 6 paid holidays. Health Insurance. IRA. Plus, they are pretty much going to be paying for all my fuel since I am using my truck to do the deliveries routes I have been working on, which includes pulling a trailer and lots of stop and go. Of course the company should pay for the fuel and such doing this work, but I can also use this fuel to do my own running.

The only downside to this new position is the pay cut I took. To the tune of about $13,000/year. Now before anybody reading this flips out on me let me explain a little bit. My old job, I had a 100 mile/day commute which was costing me $100-$125/week in fuel, which translates to $5,500/year that I won't be spending just to get to and from work. And since I am also getting fuel put in my truck, that saves another probably $500-$1,000/year of personal driving. Plus, I don't have to spend 2 hours/day on the road plus do the job. Granted, I may have some 9 and 10 hour days, but the 5 minute commute is nice. So really, I have only taken a cut of about $7,000/year. Which requires more careful budgeting to make my truck payments and pay my other bills. Plus, I pretty much have to quit carrying my credit cards. Although, that is not all a bad thing. I had racked up a HUGE credit card debt. In the 5-figure range. Ended up cashing in a bunch of savings bonds, dating back to when I was just a really young kid, just to get them paid off so I wasn't paying $200/month in interest.

I also have some other flexibility in my schedule to get personal business done, like banking, attending civic functions for groups I belong to, and if I need some extra time off I can get it. Like this week, I was trying to get the ONW Newsletter finished and into the mail. I didn't get started running copies until 6:30 Tuesday night. I was able to work late Tuesday night to finish up the newsletter and start work late.



Anyway, I am a back to work and it is kinda nice. Although, I wouldn't mind being retired already.

Interview

Went to the interview.

Very Strange.

Two separate interviews. This company does a different style of interview than I have ever had. They called in a Behavioral Based. Both interviews went the same way. "Tell me about a time when x happened?" X could be "when you encouraged a peer to excel" or "when you got someone who is more timid to speak up" or "when your plan turned out to be wrong." I kinda knew this is how it would be, but it really threw me for a loop. Felt like I struggled more than in any other interview I have ever had.

Really, I have no idea how well it went. I can't tell if I nailed it, or if I came across like a fish out of water.

Really, I am up in the air as to whether I would accept a job offer or not. 55 miles each way. Plus some on call time. But 39 paid days off a year. 15 vacation, 5 sick, 4 floating holiday, 9 paid company holidays, plus 6 summer Fridays. And because of the type of work, they kept telling me the pay is supposed to be really good.

We'll see.



I am still thinking of doing a home business and just being self employed.

Job Interview

I am off to a job interview.

Can't say where, but if it turns into a job offer, it would interesting.

Interview scheduled to start at 2:00pm and last until 4:00pm. But it is at least an hour drive.


For some reason, I am nervous. I recall every being this nervous before a job interview. WTF?

Time for a New Adventure

I am joining the ranks of Quality Weenie and Tammi.

The ranks of unemployed.

That's right folks, I no longer have a job.

Tuesday afternoon I was called into the office of my company president along with the other 2 bosses in the office. Long story short, they were of the belief that what they have to offer in the long term would not be a good utilization of my talents and therefore, continuing to employ me would be a disservice.

Basically, I was doing two things. Estimating, which involved doing quantity take-offs (counting how much material needs to be used in a building) on a program run by an old computer with Windows 95 for an O.S. and the actual take-off program still ran in DOS. Freaking DOS!!!!!!!!!

The other thing I worked on was revising the safety program. The final incarnation was not completed prior to my exit.

However, there are some good points to this in the end. They promised they would not challenge me filing for unemployment and would provide a good reference.

Also, since it is still summer, there may be a better possibility of finding a job now than closer to the fall.



So today I filed for unemployment (I was unemployed for three months a little over a year ago and never filed and still haven't gotten out from under the debt of that mistake). And tomorrow I will be updating my resume and posting to career builder and monster. Also, going to start making phone calls and doing lots of internet searches, as well as visiting offices in the surrounding area.

If anybody knows of good job opportunities in either construction (management position) or firearms manufacturing between Peoria and the Quad Cities and Princeton and Monmouth, please let me know.


As for tomorrow. I need out of the house to just relax and refocus. I think I will either go golfing or hit some tennis balls around.

Bid Rigging

I am going to rant about some pretty bad bullshit.

A good portion of last week I was working on a bid for a local small town school district. The job was to remove 4 existing roof top Air Handling Units (heat and air condition units-packaged as one unit).

Since this is a public school, the project had to be advertised and bid publicly. I spent probably 20-25 hours preparing the bid for my company, including working 6 hours on Sunday (which I really really hate doing). One of my bosses took the bid to the opening and I called him there with our final price.

He turned the bid in and the bids were opened publicly. My boss stayed for the opening. There were only two bidders. Our bid was about $36,000 less than the other bidder's. So we thought we were in good shape and would be awarded the contract. After the opening, my boss was talking to the engineer, and told him our bid was based on a Lennox brand unit for the biggest of the 4 units. There was a schedule on the project drawings which listed this unit to be from Seasons 4, another manufacturer of mostly custom Air Handling Units. However, in the Project Specifications (a big fat book full of descriptions of every product to be used in the job and how to do the work), Lennox was listed as an acceptable manufacturer. We had a price from the local rep for Seasons 4, and the price they gave me was about$19,000 more than Lennox. And in our conversations with the Lennox salesman, he informed us that he had beem in conversation with the engineer as far back as January about this project and had been approved to bid their unit for the project (the other 3 units are listed in the drawings as Lennox).

My boss told the engineer we could install the Seasons 4 unit, just around $20,000 to our bid (cost of the unit, overhead, profit, labor, etc). We would still be $16,000 cheaper than the other bidder.

But no. Since we bid with the Lennox unit, the school district decided to throw out our bid. Effectively costing the school, and all of us the taxpayers, between $16,000 and $36,000. We are pretty sure the real reason our bid was thrown out is because the Superintendent is buddies with the other bidder. They do maintenance for the school and this whole thing stinks to high hell of a rigged bid. Besides the fact our bid was thrown out, the Lennox salesman talked to the other bidder today and was told that the difference in price between his Lennox unit and the Seasons 4 unit was only $8,500. So either the other bidder lied, or the bid sent to us for the Seasons 4 was jacked up to take us out of the bidding.

So needless to say, we are pretty ticked. But the Lennox Salesman is really pissed. He did loads of front end leg work and got screwed.

If it was in my school district, I would raise hell. In this time of tight budgets, slow or no funding coming from the state, and the school district is wasting the equivalent of a teachers salary.

No wonder the state is going bankrupt.

Tumbling down

As I am sure most of you heard, last Saturday at crane collapsed in Manhattan. And then yesterday we find out that a city building inspector was arrested for failing to inspect the crane.

This whole incident is a horrific tragedy. And there is a whole lot of information out there about what occurred. And since I take an interest in this sort of stuff (no I am not sadistic, (ok, maybe a little) but a big part of my job is in safety, including work around cranes).

The crane that collapsed was a tower crane, which has a vertical tower supporting a horizontal boom. It was being employed in the building of a new high-rise, that would be 40 stories tall when completed.

Common practice in the erection and use of a tower crane is to brace them back to the building for stability. This was the process that was being done on Saturday when the crane toppled. Workers were extending the erection of the crane.

The process involves the use of 6-ton tie-backs that attach the tower to building. While installing the tie-back at the 18th floor, somehow, the tie-back fell. At the ninth story, it struck the tie-back anchoring the tower and damaged it. When the 9th floor tie back was damage it caused the stability of the crane to be compromised and the counterweight on the back of the boom pulled the entire unit over.

The tower landed on top of the an penthouse condo, which is where the woman from Miami was killed. Several other building were damaged. 6 construction workers were also killed, and I have not been able to figure out what the circumstance was in their deaths from news reports I have read. I assume that they either fell off the tower or were crushed when the tower hit the apartment building.

Some people will try to blame the collapse on the inspector. The important thing to remember is, the inspection that should have occurred was on March 4th. The collapse was on March 15th, and caused because the crane was being built taller. The odds of seeing anything on the 4th that was tied to the 15th collapse are slim. As far as I can tell, it is a freak accident that ends in tragedy. Obviously, the inspector failed to perform his duty, but that is not what caused this incident.



The incident reminded me of the "Big Blue" collapse in 1999. "Big Blue" was a 1,500 ton lattice boom gantry crane, that collapsed in a 26 mph wind while lifting a roof section onto Miller Park baseball stadium in Milwaukee, WI. 3 iron workers were killed in the collapse. They were in a suspended man basket hanging from another crane at the time of the collapse. The boom of "Big Blue" hit the cable and basket as it fell, breaking the basket loose and sending the men to their death.

In a strange coincidence, OSHA inspectors were on site at Miller Park the day of the collapse and had a video camera filming the lift, capturing the horrific collapse.



The screeching sound you hear is, I believe, the brakes on the cables. The loud pop/bang is a pin shearing, which triggered the collapse. Right after the guys filming move and look back to the boom, look just to the right of the vertical cable in the center of the screen, you will see the boom of the second crane and the small black spot is the man basket. Watch the basket and the boom of the second crane as well.

This incident was preventable. The lift should never have taken place in those kind of conditions.

A Sad Memory, but with New Hope

I should have posted this Friday, but didn't get it done.

February 22. A bad day in 2006.

I graduated college in the summer of 2005 and got a full time job with one of the largest General Contractors in the Country. The first project I worked on was and new manufacturing facility in the city where I went to college. I would work on that project full time for 13 months when it was all said and done.

Some background. I interned on this jobsite as well as working starting full time after finishing my internship. When I started on site excavation was in full swing, the building bad was being prepped, and the auger cast pilings were just about to start being drilled. The only thing about the horizon on the site was the jobsite trailer, a power pole for the trailer, a storage container, and some big piles of soil. The general contractor I worked for was celebrating 150 years in business when I started with them. And they have a very good safety program. The Superintendent on the site where I worked had been to Las Vegas earlier that year to help make a presentation about the safety program at the company. They would win the Associated General Contractors of America award for the best safety program in there division, and would win the overall award as well. It is a company with a Safety Culture.

While I was in college, I received my 30-hour OSHA General Industry certification. While I was with the GC (General Contractor), I got my 10-hour and 30-hour OSHA Construction certifications and ARC First Aid and CPR Cards. I really got into the safety program. At one point a few months before we parted ways, they even talked of having run the safety on a $100 million jobsite in Bethesda, Maryland. It became a big part of how I worked.

Back to the story. While on the job in my college town, we (the Superintendent and I) managed safety very closely. More than once I would here guys on the site say "here comes that safety guy" as I walked up. Last Summer while taking measurements for a job at my new company, there was someone working there who saw me and asked "weren't you that safety guy at the ***** project." So I got a reputation.

Anyway, we had gone the entire project without a single safety incident on the site. Until the day we were supposed to have our final punchlist. February 22. I was checking thing in the plant to see that they had been done and could cross them off of previous punchlists when the owner's maintenance manager comes up to me and asks "What's going on." I replied "Not much." And he informs me that and Ambulance and Fire Truck had just pulled in with their lights going. So I immediately proceed to the front of the building to find out what is happening. In the main office, I see the paramedics coming in the door and a crowd around a conference room. I go to investigate and see an electrician's apprentice on the floor and CPR being performed. The paramedics intubate him and place the Defibrillator paddles on his chest. After a few more minutes, the paramedics loaded him on the stretcher and wheeled him out. I remember seeing his face and it was a blue-purple color.

The 911 call was placed at 8:46am by a carpenter who was working in an adjacent room. He along with another carpenter were the first to find the apprentice, as they heard him fall from the ladder he was on. The first carpenter had something like 25 years of experience and of all the people the site to be the first to arrive he was the best option. He had just taken a CPR refresher course the night before. He gave the apprentice his best fighting chance.

About 10:30am, we received a call from one of our guys who we had sent to the hospital, that the apprentice did not make it. 22 years old. His birthday was 364 days after mine. One day shy of one year apart. He had been on the jobsite since the very first day electricians arrived.

In the hours and days that followed, we had a mass influx of people to help respond. Three safety managers, including the corporate safety director, from our company drove the 4 hours in. The construction manager flew in, the project owner's PR rep and Vice President in charge of facilities, along with the owner's site staff-HR, facilities, engineer, Plant Manager. We brought in a couple of counselors. We conducted a investigation to try and figure out what had happened.

The official cause of death, from the Coroner's Inquest which I had to attend (and I hope to never do it again), was determined to be electrocution. The apprentice was on the very top of an 8' ladder (not a safe place to be), working above a 12' ceiling (should have gotten a 12' ladder-there was room), to rewire at lighting fixture after installing a trim escutcheon, on a 277-volt lighting circuit that he had not shut off, locked out and tagged out.

Then to top the day off. About 5:30pm, there was still a crowd of about 12 in out job trailer finishing up for the day and making plans for tomorrow when my cell phone rings. It was my mother. She asked how my day was, so I conveyed the horrible experience. She expressed sympathy, and proceeded to tell me she had to make it worse. A young man who I had gone to school with and had known since we were both in early elementary school, our families have bee friends for nearly 25 years. The young man at the age of 21, had died of an epileptic seizure in his sleep while in his room at his college fraternity house.

2 good young men, both younger than me, gone in the same day. 2 funerals to attend.

It was a terrible day. The worst of my career so far and I hope to never top it. I worked for the GC for another 13 months after that incident. And every single day, I would think about that day, the apprentice, and replay the incident in my head. It was part of why the GC and I parted ways.


Life is precious. We can never tell those close to us that we love them enough. Parents-let your kids know that you love them every day. Kids-tell your parents you love them and appreciate all they do. It may not seem like it now, but they have your best interest at heart. If you can't see it now, you will very soon. Our days on this planet are but few. We are born, we live, we suffer, and we die. Yes, we must all die, for it is a part of life. The key is to make the most of those precious days we have with those whom we love. Until we shall meet again at the spiritual building, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

But wait, for there is also hope in new life. While our days are but few, we pass to the next generation the wisdom of our days. While we all must die, we all can live. February 22 can be that day for us all. Take hope. For on this day there is New Life. The world can smile in the arrival of D.W. Congratulations to Wes and his wife on this Joyful occasion. Your Joy is a reminder to me that life goes on.


Thanks for listening while I get that off my chest.