Where's The Fire??

I really get irritated by impatient drivers. Yes I admit I also get impatient when following a complete moron who dares to go 10 miles below the speed limit when I'm running late, but that at least makes sense. What I hate is the guys who ride your bumper while you're already driving 15 miles per hour over the limit and you have nothing but traffic in front of you. Listen buddy, even if I were to let you pass me, where do you plan on going? If I was able to move faster I would but I can't so just chill the hell out!

The other day I was driving down a winding country road when sure enough some asshole gets right up on my ass like some horny blood hound. I decide that no matter what, under any circumstances, that I will not let this guy irritate me to the point where I'll do something stupid or where I have to pull over onto a very narrow shoulder just to let his impatient ass go by me.

Well, as it turns out this guy is anxious for front row seats to my next colonoscopy, or is interested in the serial number on my rear bumper. He starts to swerve back and forth as if he's checking for traffic in front of me and I just say to myself, "Stay calm Brian, don't let him get to you". He then starts blowing away his horn like he's trying to play Yankee Doodle Dandy and flashing his lights like a slot machine. I could tell he was obviously getting severely pissed at me but I didn't care, I was just going to go about my business as usual.

But this guy was relentless and really wanted to get by me. He continued to honk his horn, flash his lights, and he even added the dreaded "waving of the fist" routine to his arsenal but it had no effect on me. Again, he kept trying to weave back and forth and look for an opening to pass me but I held my ground. I was firm, brave and I was determined to make a statement that life was just to short to be rushing through and not enjoying it. The horns, they kept blowing. The lights, boy oh boy did they ever continue to flash. The waving of the fist had now made way for the "white knuckled fist punching the dashboard while screaming at the top of his lungs" routine and his face was going beet red.

"Fine", I thought to myself, "Just go already!". I slowed down and started to pull over to the side of the road when he revved his engine to about 9,000 RPM and sped by me while cussing so much it'd make a sailor blush.

Man I hate ambulance drivers......

Back To School

I did something last Tuesday that I swore I'd never do again, and that was go back to school. It's only a night course one day a week but I'm hoping it opens doors to a new career change and a better future.

From my previous work experiences I have developed the skills to work a lot of woodworking machinery and it has paid off well so far. But when I moved down to Connecticut I noticed that the majority of the manufacturing jobs with lots of potential are in the metalwork industry. I tried breaking into this new territory with my woodworking background but I haven't had any luck in finding someone who is willing to train me from basically scratch. The knowledge that I have doesn't have the potential to pay off in the long term like I want it too so I decided to invest a little money and time to upgrade my skills. There has been a constant steady stream of metalwork jobs available since I started looking for employment prospects in this area about two years ago so I'm going to change directions while I'm still young enough to do it.

I'm enrolled in a class that is introduction to CNC Milling and Turning. We are being trained to use computer controlled machines that the industry is always looking for operators, programmers, and set-up people. Fortunately for me I'll be learning how to do all three. So far the language is very similar to what I learned back home while working with wood and the first class was just basically a refresher course for me. Everything started to come back really quickly and by the end of the class I could tell I was already light years ahead of the other students. Some of them are completely lost and some I swear don't even speak English. This one black guy has an accent so thick it sounds like he came right out of the movie "Cool Runnings".

But the teacher was nice and he actually owns his own company in the local area so hopefully he can guide me in the right direction when this course is over in 12 weeks, perhaps even hire me :) He offered to come in on extra days and do some more one-on-one teaching if we feel we aren't grasping the concepts or would just like some more time on the machines. He seems really determined to have us feel we got full value for our dollar and is genuinely interested in seeing us succeed.

I'm looking forward to diving into this new challenge. I'm getting bored at my current job and I find it's hard to stay motivated when I work everyday with people who honestly could give a rats ass about anything that goes on. I'm the only guy that always puts in a 40 hour week and looks for overtime and it's hard to deal with "part timers" on a daily basis with nothing positive to say. But, it's paying the bills for now and supplying us with medical insurance which I realize is a very valuable asset, so I won't let myself put down the job itself or the owner.

I'll look for a new job once I finish this course and after I return from my trip back home in February. I'm looking forward to the next few months. :)

Breaking In The New Girl...

Recently we've lost a couple of co-workers down at my job, either by being fired or just quitting. One of the newly hired people is a 23 year old girl who happens to also originally come from Canada but unfortunately, hails from Montreal and moved to the States when she was about 5 years old. I've already given her the ultimate test to see just how Canadian she is. "Do you follow hockey?"
"Nope, not really"
"Bah, you're useless then"
So anyway, the whole crew had to go and make a delivery for one of our jobs which include all the cabinets, counters, wall trimming and etc, etc, etc. This particular job was on the 5th floor of a 12th floor building and we were working in two teams taking all this stuff upstairs through the shipping elevator. On one of trips up we pushed buttons 9,10,11, and 12 as we exited the elevator and as Rachel was getting on to go back down. We went and unloaded the cabinets and stuff then headed back to the elevator and by that time she had finished her unscheduled tours of floors 9 through 12. Man was the owner ever surprised to see her standing in the elevator still when the doors opened. "What the hell are you still doing in the elevator?"
"Some asshole pushed all the buttons and sent me to the top floor!" she replied. We all just laughed.

Later in the week while working on some projects we had her searching all over the shop for such things as the "Board Stretcher" because a piece of wood was cut too short, a "crab hammer" which of course has no head for hammering nails but rather two ends that pull nails, and a cordless drill that only runs in reverse for people like her who are left handed...lol.

Aww man, if it wasn't so funny it'd be cruel.

No Pain, No Gain

Man am I really starting to hate that phrase, especially since the second week of July when Julie and I signed up for memberships at the local gym. It was something we talked about doing for quite some time and it has really been going well so far.

Aside from many family functions and other minor life obstacles, our schedules were pretty empty in the evenings and we found ourselves spending most nights watching T.V. We were eager to make a change in our lifestyles for the better so we took the plunge, and to tell the truth it was long overdue. I realized one day while weighing myself that the number on the scale was only three letters away from being the V.I.N. number on my old '88 Chevy Blazer. I was also tired of buying clothes "by the yard" so motivation was easy to find.

I used to hear people say all the time, "Oh my God I lost 10 pounds!" and I would think to myself........ "so?" 10 pounds doesn't sound like much but it came into perspective for me recently. Over an 18 day period I lost three pounds and wasn't all that excited about it. I think what got me really opening my eyes was remembering what I did over the last 18 days just to lose three measly pounds, and then realize how much farther I want to go before I consider myself in the "ideal weight" range. If my math is correct I should reach my desired weight roughly three weeks before my 97th Birthday, at which time I'll probably win the lottery and have a heart attack.

Four nights a week, and sometimes five, Julie and I are heading for the gym in the evenings. We've met with a personal trainer and he has us doing a whole bunch of strength training and then we finish off the night with a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio workout. We usually end up leaving the gym and arriving back home at around 10:00pm. I just find this whole concept a little ridiculous and the guy who was able to convince people to actually pay to go torture themselves on a daily basis has got to be the most clever man ever. As I'm on the treadmill at night I look all around me and all I see is people suffering. Painful expressions on their faces as they climb step after step, loud grunts and yelling as they try to do just one more repetition, or sweating with exhaustion and they limp their sorry asses out of the gym. The funny part is when you actually start to talk to them and their faces light up and say, "Yeah, I feel so much better since I started working out!!". I have to admit, I do feel better now that we've been doing this for over a month but damn, why does it have to feel like hell as well? When I get up in the mornings to turn off my alarm clock I can barely move at all. My feet ache, my hips are sore, my knees crack as I move and it sounds like I'm walking on packing peanuts. Then I get the joy of my lovely wife telling me that I "look like a duck" as I waddle around the room first thing in the morning. And all this for only $110 a month!

Oh well. Julie and I have been very supportive of each other and for the first time in my life I actually feel very confident that this time around the working out and watching what we eat is really going to work. Either that or it's going to kill us so we'll lose the weight one way or another.