Hello again!
I think it’s
been 3 months (that’s a quarter of a year!) since I’ve posted so it’s time again to fill you in on my very exciting life.
My complete
aversion to travelling has worn off and I was able to go to on a few trips,
nothing foreign – unless you count New Mexico.
It’s good to get out because here I still spend 98% of time with
relatives. I got a job, but that didn’t
really help with diversifying of my social network (more on that later).
This has nothing to do with travelling, but last weekend I went on this hike thing to some local sand mines. Here is a picture of me, my sister, my dad and some niblings in the mines.
I was
working on a project of organizing my parents’ pictures and have lost all
momentum. I realized I like tasks with
hope of a clean finish but sorting 100 years of pictures is really hard. And when I ask my mom if a baby is me or my
sister she only knows sometimes. So what
hope is there of her knowing which baby is which in the box of Eklund black and
whites my dad found in the garage. Label
your photos folks.
I’ve been
cooking more, it’s a lot different cooking when you a) have other people to eat
your food and b) have other people paying for the ingredients. I had some expired airline miles that I was
able to cash in on magazine subscriptions (a fair trade) so now get Southern
Living and Cooking Light. I like to pretend the recipes in Southern Living are
from Cooking Light and are secretly healthy.
When I last
wrote I was applying for a job that required heavy lifting and forklift
driving. Then my cousin-in-law informed
me that it actually would require me to lift heavy things and drive a forklift so
scratch that. So we were back to another
2 months of sporadic emails and then they created a new job for me. Then I had this “interview” (with a different
relative-through-marriage that works there) and then I went on vacation and
mid-April I became InSite Administration for Clean Harbors Industrial Services (actually
there seems to be some discrepancy on if it’s Industrial or Environmental
Services). One day someone asked me what
division I was in and I said, “This one.” Now I know “this one” is material
processing.
A big part
of my first few weeks was watching training videos, approximately 40 videos in
I got to the ones titled “Who We Are” and learned about what this company
actually does. A direct quote: “What
does Clean Harbors do? Plenty…in a bunch of industries.” Well, if that doesn’t clear things up, I don’t
know what would. The “Who We Are” videos
did not cover names of people working in my office but I’ve learned that Tony
or Brian are normally pretty good guesses. Another big video topic was safety. If you’re driving a truck in a snowstorm, be
extra careful. I don’t think that
knowledge is directly relevant to my job but it will help if I’m ever called on
to life coach a truck driver (except one in California, we’re in a drought). Also keep in mind that the main cause of
fatigue is lack of sleep (not lack of caffeine).
Up to this
point in the email I have been at work waiting for my next task, and don’t feel
guilty because I already color coordinated my files. Here comes the switch to
personal time
Now that I’m
done with training videos, what I do is a little bit of a mystery. Basically I ask people if they need any help
and then I sit in my office, with my space heater on, listening to podcasts,
drinking tea/water, and doing whatever data entryish project someone needs help
with. Drinking tea/water is great because it gives me an excuse to get up from
my desk more frequently (either to the kitchen or bathroom). And has fewer
side-effects than smoking.
But
sometimes I do have stuff to do and I fail- really this job is keeping my
humble. Yesterday I had to cover the phones
for someone who was out. Let’s just say
if I received a performance review based on how long someone was on hold before
getting directed to the proper person, I would be fired. I was literally walking around the office
inside and out trying to find anyone to help me figure out who the call was for
and how to use the phone to transfer calls.
In general
the people I work with are very nice, except for the few that walk around
scowling. The woman I work with the most
is super chatty, like ask me anything about her and I could tell you. What kind of socks does her boyfriend wear? How
often does she wear deodorant? SERIOUSLY I NOW KNOW THESE THINGS (although I
just realized you’re probably thinking you know too much about me too-it’s
different though). Also one day she told
me about her boyfriend’s friend smoking pot in the back seat of her brand new
car, which was just super rude. I told
her about my one friend whose dad smokes cigars- we really had a bonding
moment. But really she’s wonderful and
has been gone the last few days and it’s been rough.
OK, I could
tell you even more about this but you’d probably read too much into it and
think I’ve gone completely crazy. So
here are ten straight-up great things about my job.
1) As of
today I have health benefits including dental and vision. I was thinking I’d need to use the vision
right away because my eyes were killing me at work but…
2) I got my
very own office with a window offering tons of natural light and I can see
again! And my mom gave me a plant. Here is a picture of the view out of the window.
3) My
commute is always less than 30 minutes and very pretty. And during this commute I hear the traffic
reports for my old commute to San Ramon and I rejoice a little more.
4) I get
paid
5) I get to
listen to lots of podcasts and sermons, so I’m up on all sorts of things. Maybe I’ll move to books on tape or whatever
we call them these days. Recommendations?
6) I can wear
jeans everyday, or not. No one cares. Side note- I found 3 pairs of jeans last
weekend for $2.50.
7) I have
flexible hours.
8) It’s
drama-free. I was talking to someone from my job in NM yesterday and am really
glad to not be there.
9) My bosses
have great wives.
10) It’s
very clearly God’s provision and gives me hours of stand up material.
In one of my
podcasts (NPR’s How To Do Everything) someone called in to ask how to make
small talk with children. A 10-year-old
consultant said that she thought a good question is, “is there anything
important happening with you?” Because that opens it up from birthdays to
really anything that important to the individual (like the junk this email was
filled with).
Anyways, anything
important happening with you?
