The Man Outdoors

I was sitting in a nice, warm cafeteria on the second floor, eating my sandwich. It was stormy outside, and i was glad to be indoors. I had just finished reading a story (Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck if it matters) on my iPad. I leaned back and looked around. Next to me, rivulets of rainwater caught my eye, cascading unnaturally fast down the outside of the window glass. The windows must have been treated or cleaned with something that made water bead off them like silicone. It made the water speed downward quickly.

I looked across the way. Outside the next building over, three floors up, was a window-washer. I watched him for a while, watching and thinking about how nasty it was outside.

Just because it's raining cats and dogs outside doesn't mean outside jobs don't get done when they have to.

I don't have to tell that to the man standing in that little steel cage at the end of a boom lift. He held a long-handled window squeegee in his hands, methodically sweeping it up and down, side to side. No doubt wearing waterproof winter clothes, he's probably one of those guys that considers his glass as half full. Glad to be alive. He probably tosses little 'isms' around in his head as if to give credence to being on what many people would consider to be "the wrong side" of the wall. Maybe he's thinking such positive things as:

"It's pretty warm outside for this time of year."

"I love being outside on a day like this. It makes me feel alive."

"Mmm, the air smells good out here today--fresh from the rain."

"Look at those people inside that office--stuck sitting in their chairs all day long. Probably stressed out about some kind of report or deadline. Poor suckers."

He probably knows all the right things to wear and all the right ways to wear 'em. He probably has the art of layering down to a finely-tuned science. Wearing his brightly-colored safety vest, he was probably indifferent or uncaring to the additional layer of wind proofing that it affords him. Most likely a job requirement, he wears it because he has to.

Who knows, he may have aspired to be a window washer just so he could operate a boom lift. Looking through little boy's eyes, I can see him riding his bicycle down a cracked and uneven sidewalk, zig-zagging back and forth and doing wheelies off the broken edges of concrete. Occasionally he would loop way out to roll his tire over an empty can or some other crushable object. Suddenly, he rounds a corner and there it is: A brightly-colored boom lift with a man in the basket at the end of the long arm. It looked like he was a hundred feet up in the air. He was enthralled as he watched the man, rising and falling, sweeping back and forth as he pressure-washed the flaking paint off the dull yellow building, each time hearing the motor of the lift whine as he did so. The boy thought to himself, "Wow, that is the coolest job ever! I want to do that when I grow up!"

Or, I'm totally off the mark and he just got hired as a general laborer.
Boss:  "Hey Joe, take the boom truck over to that building and clean the windows. Don't give me any crap about the rain, just do it."

Whatever. I was just romancing the water running down the outside of the window.

Non-Events of Epic Proportions

A milestone of sorts went by uneventfully this week:  My first Boeing paycheck.  Well, sort of a paycheck.  Well, the first one since 2001 (when I got laid off from Boeing) anyway.

It went by uneventfully because physically it was a non-event.  There was no actual paycheck in my hand--it's directly deposited into the bank (hence, the 'sort of' paycheck remark).  There was no creditor waiting there behind me with an outstretched hand turned palm-up, waiting for me to place some cash onto it.  On Thursday there was not a single mention or acknowledgement by anyone around me at work that it was payday.  I guess when you get paid as much as they do and never actually hold a paycheck in your hand it becomes a non-event.  Still, I mentioned it.  "Hey, today is my first paycheck!" I said aloud to no one in particular.  I don't think anyone responded.  No, I may have gotten a murmur or two.

It was a great feeling to log onto the pay system at Boeing on Wednesday and see all of my pay info already up for me to peruse, even though payday was the following day.  They put a PDF file of the complete electronic 'pay stub' there for me to read, print, or save if I so desired.  Nice feature.

All this time I've been biding my time at work, earning money for doing not much of anything.  I have been getting things set up, and meeting some learning and access requirements, but not much of anything really constructive.  When I left them yesterday I bade them farewell until December.  I'll be going to classes in the South Seattle area for the rest of this month.

I'm getting more comfortable around everyone there.  Although I've been there for three weeks, the Two-Week Rule applied to me there just as I thought it would.  That was when I found myself becoming more tuned-in to the 'goings-on' there and found myself talking more to people.  I found myself being involved in conversations instead of just overhearing them.

I'm getting cubicle things in order too.  This week my phone was installed, so now I can order my Friday pizza from Papa Murphy's.  My name-plate showed up yesterday too, so now I actually have an identity of sorts.  I also got a visit from a gal from the Boeing Ergonomics department yesterday, and got myself a new chair, keyboard, and trackball ordered.

Like I told Suz a while back in a text message:  "Hear that?  That's the sound of things clicking into place."

Flushing Facebook

I've been a member of Facebook for what seems to be a long time.  I checked and the date I joined was August 17th, 2009.  At the time, Facebook was well on its way to super stardom.  Everybody was getting on board and wondering what all the fuss was about.

Early on, I was leery.  I resisted for quite a while.  I had been a member of MySpace in its heyday, and it turned to total crap in a very short time.  It ended up being riddled with a mass of blinky crap, and links that led you to viruses.  As I said--I resisted Facebook for a long time but I eventually got caught up in it.  It was different than MySpace because it was instant.  Everything you posted on Facebook was practically like you were there in the same room as the other people.  You would hit the enter button and BLAM--it was instantly on someone else's screen if they happened to be looking.  It was fun.

We didn't care that our personal space was in jeopardy because they knew what we were doing, and we could see what everybody else was doing.  It seemed to be justified somehow.  It didn't matter then that people knew when and how long you were online and that they could see what you were posting about other people.  It was entertainment, sharing, and even like having your own private detective that could track people down.  It was amazing!  Here you were--able to connect with people you hadn't communicated with since who knows when?  Wow!

Sometimes when I would connect with someone from my past, I'd feel all warm and fuzzy for a short time, then reality would hit me:  Why did I connect with them?  If we were really friends we would never have lost touch to begin with.  Other times I would request to be 'friends' with them and never hear a peep back.  I would wonder WTF?  I would be miffed for a short time then in no time I'd be over it.  What the hell--they weren't real friends anyway, right?  Coincidentally, it took about the same amount of time to get over that as it did for the new 'friendships' to become uninteresting.

I only reached out to touch them because I could.  Not because I wanted to.  I wanted to see what they would say.  Maybe I thought they would hold their arms wide open like a long lost relative.

I look at all my local friends that are on Facebook and do I share anything meaningful with them?  Hardly ever.  An email would be much more personal and to the point.

I watch other people that will post something just to cause trouble.  Antagonistic trolling seems to be their M.O.  If they can stir up some trouble within their circle of 'friends' then their meaningless lives are somehow more complete.  In the meantime I see the ripple effect that such crap causes and I hate it.  Why?  Because Facebook has just made it too easy for them.  If nobody was listening to the drivel and stupid comments that spew forth from their keyboards they wouldn't feel complete.  Because there are 'friends' in their Facebook circle, there is someone "listening" to them any time they log on.  People like this cause a lot of trouble, and everyone in their wake is constantly having to do damage control.

Then there are the times when something just plain goes wrong.  Someone means well but a voice inflection is not there to clarify their point.  People get upset and it spawns a whole new pile of grief and reactive communication while they're trying to sort the mess out.  When its all said and done, it should have never happened in the first place.  But it did.  Because Facebook made it too easy.  Again, damage control needed.

Then there is the Big Brother syndrome.  Does anyone really ever stop to think about how many people that are not even in their circle of 'friends' have access to their lives through Facebook?  It became more apparent to me when I was job searching.  Stories of people that lose their jobs because of a Facebook post, or those that were denied a potential job because of the overall "flavor" of their Facebook pages.

You know what else angers me about Facebook?  The way "Like" has taken over the internet.  Every single time I have to wait for a website to load you know what the last item to pop up is?  The item that the webpage was waiting for before you could actually scroll it around and use it?  It was the stupid little line that says, "Like us on Facebook".  Try watching for it sometime.  It's not always plain to see, but if you're scanning the page while waiting for the activity icon on your browser to stop turning, most likely you'll see that little Facebook addendum pop up to complete the page load.  Apparently, it has to get that line of code from the Facebook mother ship.

Screw it.  I'm done with Facebook.  I downloaded my entire history of posts from them and my account of 3+ years is closed.  I encourage others to get a life and do the same.  I just feel it's time to get our lives back to the roots.  That means meeting face-to-face, calling on the phone, and sending an email when you need to.

It would cause their lives to be a lot less dramatic.

Twiddling for Now

It’s weird being employed at Boeing again. It’s been years since I was here last, and yet—it’s the same culture, the same friendliness, the same group mentality--the same place it was last time I worked here. And I’m only two buildings away from where I worked when I was laid off in 2001. It’s kinda weird how many familiar faces I've run into. When I walked into the place on my first day I knew both of the guys sitting there in the first couple of seats, and they remembered me too. I've since seen quite a few people I know from back in the day--a few of which even remember me.

I was telling Sue a few days ago, “Here I've only been working there a little over a week and I've already gotten a free backpack and two t-shirts.” Well, now I can add something else as of today: a free, full-course prime rib dinner with dessert. One of the guys here went over the 30-year mark, so Boeing bought he and his group a catered dinner. He also got to bring his wife. Apparently, you get to choose from a listing of meals, and he chose prime rib. Good choice, Bill.

It’s been weird sitting doing “not much of anything” for two solid weeks. It’s not that I don’t want to do anything--I do. Trouble is, I can’t until I've completed the required three training classes, and they don’t start for another week. They will take two weeks to complete, so I won’t even be able to even attempt to do my hired job until the first of December. Even then it’ll likely take me a good year to actually gain some measure of competency. The first day I was there they found me a spot to sit and handed me a bunch of boxes. My new computer system. Putting my new computer station together was a pretty fun way to start the day actually.

What have I been doing? I've been setting up the many software applications and shortcuts that I’ll need to do my job, and getting the required accesses that I’ll need to run them. I've been learning about and signing up for the savings plans, medical and dental plans, and all that kind of stuff. I've been watching Boeing videos, reading Boeing stuff, and basically web-surfing Boeing. Sure, I can surf outside of Boeing from there too but I’d rather keep things on the straight and narrow. After all, the Boeing web is huge in itself. There is lots to explore and learn. I've also been taking web-based courses here and there--some of which are required, and others not. They all go on my training record though, and they’re all legit and good resume’ material. There are also lots and lots of good videos to watch.

It took me a few days to get over this overwhelming feeling of guilt that I had for just sitting here at my desk in the middle of all these people that were doing their jobs, just twiddling my e-thumbs. After a week or so, I heard the same thing from enough people that I finally relaxed a bit. They all basically said, “Hey, you've got another two weeks of doing nothing, so get used to it.” It’s almost like punishment.  Maybe it’s my hazing ritual. No, it was just a matter of dates. I had to wait for the next class opening.  They all went through pretty much the same thing.

I was lucky I got in when I did. Hiring every year ends at the end of October. Nobody gets in again until the first of the year. I barely made it, as did a couple other newbies in our group. I feel lucky about the timing of the whole chain of events that led me here. I was telling Sue the other day: If any one thing had gone differently I probably would not be employed there right now. Believe me, it feels good to have full benefits for me, Sue, Sarah, and even Keith at no cost. Who can argue with that?

I wonder what free stuff I’ll get next week?

The 2-Week Rule

Suzie and I were sitting in the hot tub last night when this topic came up.  It's a thing that I've observed over the years.  I'm sure it's already noted by anyone that studies such things, but I'd like to think that I'm the one that really noticed it.  If nothing else, I'm the one that blogged it.  That makes it official.

What is it?  It's the 2-Week Rule.

When I count the things that have happened in my life that revolve around changes of one kind or another, they all have one thing in common:  They all seemed to take two weeks to become workable or come up to par.  Everything we do seems to have a learning curve or adjustment period.  Everything seems to have a hump that you need to overcome before things start clicking or start working correctly.  A certain amount of time has to pass before enough confidence, understanding, or ability trickles into our heads that it tips the scale in our favor.  Oddly enough, it seems to always be two weeks.

For example, anything we do that is physically strenuous but is also repetitive seems to be subject to the 2-Week Rule.  When I used to be a runner (that's right--I haven't always been just sitting here at my computer!) I noticed that it was a full two weeks before my body stopped complaining at my sudden overuse of previously inactive muscle groups.  After two weeks had elapsed things got much easier and more predictable.  I could run without stopping or collapsing.  I could breathe without worrying about dying from lack of oxygen.  I'm not saying it stopped being hard, I'm saying there was a definite point that things got easier and more predictable.

Any time I have gotten a new job or a new position I was again subjected to the 2-Week Rule.  For the first two weeks I muddled through--taking notes, listening to whoever was teaching me, reading instructions, or what have you.  It was never until two weeks had past that I ever felt that things finally started to "click".  It always seemed to take two weeks to learn the traffic patterns going to and from work, and the best place or area to park in.  It took two weeks before I felt like I could actually recall someone's name.  It took two weeks before I felt like I really learned the "lay of the land" as far as where things were, who did what, and what happened when.  As far as the job itself went, it was always the same amount of time before I really felt almost like I knew what I was doing.  How long?  You guessed it--two weeks.

Is it any coincidence then, that employers want you to give them two weeks notice when you're leaving a job?  Of course not.  They and everyone else that remain behind are on the receiving end of our job being passed on to someone else.  They are just as subject to the 2-Week Rule as we are.

Suz commented last night how she's starting to become pretty confident about things at her new job.  It's a temporary job, but she's had it longer than most temp jobs she's had.  She's had it long enough for the 2-Week Rule to come into play.  It's two-sided too:  She has had enough time to learn what needs to be done, how to do everything, how the others like it to be done, and it's been long enough that her coworkers know her capabilities.

I don't know about you, but even if I buy a used car it's also subject to the 2-Week Rule.  It takes me that long before I stop listening to every little noise, and evaluating every little thing it does.  It takes me that long to really learn the car and be comfortable with it.

Think about it.  Isn't everything that has ever changed in your life taken two weeks to notice results?

That Travelin' Bone

Sue saw this past weekend as sort of a 'last gasp' opportunity, so we just had to take it.

I'll be starting work this Friday, so who knows how my scheduling will go?  Plus, she had a green light to take Friday off.  Those two things together are a perfect excuse for a photography excursion.  The topic?  Fall colors.

The famous North Cascades Highway was our destination.  For traffic reasons (and the fact that I'm a contrarian) I opted to do the loop kind of backwards.  Most everyone (for whatever reason) always seems to do the loop clockwise.  Maybe it's because everyone seems to live along the I-5 corridor and they figure it's the logical choice.  Trouble is, for us to go up the freeways to our starting point on a Friday morning would have put us in pretty heavy traffic all the way up.  Instead we opted to go over Snoqualmie Pass and turn north.  In retrospect, it was a pretty good choice.  We had zero traffic issues at all anywhere we went.

The fall colors were rampant.  Our state isn't heavily into the red spectrum as far as tree varieties go but there were still quite a few of them among the yellow-colored ones that made up the majority.

Our 600+ mile trip took us on some pretty nice roads as well as some that were more suitable for a 4x4 truck.  It's not the first time and it won't be the last.  Some of the best photography roads are the least traveled ones after all.  We seemed a little more in tune this time than some during some of our other road trips.  Lots of times I get the "Never mind--it's too late now... You passed it" remark as as far as the repeated stopping for pictures.  This time we were both zeroing in on the same things for the most part.  Lots of stopping is our M.O. when we're out on these junkets.

Its kinda funny the things you see when you're out driving.  Like a giant, hand-scrawled sign next to the road inviting hunters to stop and remove the clothing from their deer.  Then, when you look down the road there's a nice vintage Ford truck repeating the message.

As per our usual experience when we're out on one of these photo trips, the "I wonder what's up this way?" roads we wander down turn out to be our favorites.  We find some of the most scenic stuff that way.  If nothing else, the roads are usually way less traveled, and in many cases, pristine.  This trip was no exception.  We really enjoy the "road less traveled" and we also look forward to those kind of pathways.

Sue always loves to make fun of me when we're in stores about how easily distracted I am.  "Ooo... Shiny things!" I'll say and wander off.  During one of our photo stops this weekend she wandered up the highway a little ways taking pictures.  I put on my long lens and managed to catch her having a 'shiny things' moment when she was on her way back.  Ha!

"Dum de dum..."

"Ooo... a piece of firewood!!"

"Oh shoot--he caught me."

Besides traveling well together, we also give each other the utmost respect when it comes to shooting.  I always give her lots of time to make the shot she's after, and if I see her shooting something really interesting, a lot of times I'll leave it be--sort of giving her an "exclusive" on the picture.  Likewise, she always gives me plenty of respect when I'm shooting too:

Not Dead Yet

"Are you finished blogging?"
"Don't you blog anymore?"
"We haven't seen a blog from you in a long time."

These are just a few of the things that have come from people that are used to seeing the awkward glimpses into my life and times.  Yes, plainly, they miss me.  They miss being able to compare my amazing life to their mundane meanderings.

The 27th of August I said goodbye to my previous job of over 10 years.  They hated to see me go, as did I.  After all--I was there over 10 years and had earned a fairly good reputation for jobs well done.  (When you get raises without asking for them there ought to be something to that, right?)  Anyway, it was a good run and they are a good reference in my work history.
What kind of idiot would jeopardize his family and his finances by leaving a job in this economic climate?  Me apparently.  It wasn't a great move, and guilt overwhelmed me.  I jumped into working here at home with gusto.  Guilt is a strong motivator.  I worked hard.  We got a lot of things done around here.  The 'honey-do' list got whacked down to nothing.

I also applied for lots of jobs and attended workshops at the Auburn Worksource place.  I learned a lot about interviews and resumes.  What to do and what not to do.  All sorts of things.

In the end, the bottom line is that I have accepted at offer at Boeing as a Manufacturing/Engineering Planner at their Auburn location.  It's the same job I did when they laid me off back in December of 2001.  The difference is that it's a lot more money.  More than I made at Boeing and more than I made at LaCroy (not the real spelling--I modified it for search engine reasons).  I start next week.

This whole thing has had way more positive than negative.  The negatives?  Leaving my job and having a negative cash flow.  The positives?  Several:

1. Left the old job.  After wondering for a few years whether or not the company would actually last until I could retire, I can put that behind me now.  I hope for the sake of everyone else that works there still (which are lots of great people) that it continues to last a long time.
2. The weather.  This has been an unbelievable streak of fantastic weather here in western Washington.  Record-setting weather.  What nice conditions to not have to get up to go to work.
3. Chores completed.  This was a lot of stuff.  The weather played a major part in it as well.  We split wood, finalized the stump removal/tree planting that had stared at us since the winter storm that inundated us with ice.  We moved beauty bark, trimmed things, cleaned things, and built things.  Lots and lots of things got completed.  It was good.
4. New, better job.  Obviously, this is a big one.  Will I like it?  I'm optimistic.  I'm really looking forward to it.  In the last 10 years, I've come to miss the team environment at Boeing.  Nothing at LaCroy went that way.  It was very fragmented.  It was a whole company with stand-alone people that were excellent at their jobs, but that not many other people knew how to do.  When you take a vacation from a job like that, the company is crippled while you're gone, then you're crippled when you get back and try to play catch-up.  This job and its benefits mean more opportunities for us to take the trips that we love to take.
5. Count my blessings.  The whole process of losing my job caused me to do a lot of soul-searching.  When you go from provider to embarrassment it causes you take stock of your life.  I wanted to turn back time and undo the whole thing, but of course that is not possible.

When I left LaCroy, I clamped down on my interaction with people.  I killed almost all of my Facebook friends that weren't part of my immediate family.  As a matter-of-fact, I'm this close to killing my Facebook account completely.  It's just too public.  Anyway, I just had a real introspective look at myself.  Sue and I are both looking at this whole thing as a new beginning.

Keep an eye on me everybody--this is my last run until retirement.  Don't let me screw anything up.