Eh. I could die.

Seriously I've caught ill (stealing Logan's phrase), I haven't been so icky-sick since the Palms. Not happy. I think it stems from working in that tiny half-frozen room with Drew on Thursday. The first thing we did to set up that filter was run the MC, which involved me trying to drive the scissorlift all about without crushing anything, and these immense vents were blowing frigid air on me, so by about break time I had a pretty decent sore throat.

One upshot of the day was dealing with the panel. I had to bend some 1/2" conduit and mount a box...Drew has the ability to teach without condescending, and I appreciate that. So he helped me with the pipe, which was nice, and then we had to swap breakers and all that good stuff, including using a unibit to create a 1/2" hole into a hot 480-volt panel. I watched Drew stand in front of it once the dead-front was off, sighing, carefully stuffing some foamy mat into the top so metal shavings wouldn't explode into the bus. I honestly didn't want to do it, it's dangerous and I get nervous. But I went slowly, and Drew stood about five feet away with a massive piece of wood, ready to beat the hell out of me if something went wrong. Happily, he didn't have to use it, and we got most of the project done.

I forgot to mention, I found a lovely new drink: Guinness mixed with Sprite. I'm told it's better with Sierra Mist but I think it's incredible, like alcoholic candy, and I don't get toasted that way, so it's doubly good. Of all addictions, this is the yummiest.

Okay yeah, and now I'm feeling the Nyquil kick in, wanting very much to sleep. I really would like this to pass before work on Monday, I have to be in by 05h00 and we have to finish that filter which includes hot work and ladder work, so Dayquil is out of the question.

La vie est très...

...Belle!

Je suis heureuse, vraiment, et d'abord je n'ai pas notée que c'était vrai. Mais c'est maintenant tellement bonne: J'aime mon travail, mais pas en raison du type de travail. J'aime travailler pour Drew (mon contremaître), et pour Gwynne (mon agent de maîtrise général); ils m'enseignent beaucoup, comme Snow, qu'il est un ami très bon là qui m'aide tellement souvent. En fait, j'ai beaucoup d'amis: Sanj, Stacy, Marissa, Ayla, Ryan, Lee, Cliff, et ma cousine, naturellement...trop d'amis...je suis bénie. Tannah et moi nous amusons, ma famille m'adore. Mes classes sont presque accomplies, et je me sens calme. Puis, choses supplémentaires: j'apprends plus au sujet d'électricité photovoltaïque, et j'apprends plus au sujet de l'autre énergie renouvelable également. Et le Code, parce que je vais prendre mon examen du comté, probablement cet été. Et demain, Drew et moi vont installer des choses! (Je pense que c'est un filtre.) Demain--c'est jeudi, mais aussi mon "vendredi"--j'apporte lebkuchen pour célébrer.

Thoughts?

Quotes from Brent R. Goodin:

"Faith is characterized by an unconditional trust or confidence in something, whether it is inanimate or animate, abstract or concrete, physical or spiritual."

"Religion does not prerequisite trust; in fact it is much more than trust or a belief, but a way of life. Religion is the enactment of one's faith."

I think I like that alot. Faith and religion, to me, never really seemed to join flawlessly. There was always something keeping one from the other: zealotry, intolerance, misinterpretation, government, arrogance.....ad infinitum. It makes much more sense now; Logan used to say that religion was a virus, and I see his point. I'm not saying I'm abandoning my faith but honestly, it's frustrating, trying to find a home-church that feels right. Interesting enough, Tannah and I both liked l'Église Eau Vive but, aside from it being conducted in French, it's in France, so attending would be difficult. So we found another but...things changed. I don't know. And it irritates me that to so many, not attending church means we aren't "good" Christians.

When I wrote the subject of this post I meant it: I'm looking for thoughts, opinions, insight. Not "You're wrong, you're going to Hell, you're blasphemous" because that attitude wastes my time and it'll waste your time to write it when it's not going to be read. :)

Renewable energies rock!

The Solar NV meeting was yesterday night. Lots of apprentices (yay for field trips), a guest speaker who I really want to talk to 1-on-1, plus there's a member who specialises in green loans. Maybe grid-tied PV is in our near-future! It's going to happen, it's just a matter of when, really. Tannah and I both want it, and Snow is already locked in, so aside from his personal experience in installations and legality of how to go about it, he'll have insight to give us on the process of having it set up. He said he'll stop by and go over it with Tannah even. Very cool.

There were 43 in attendance, an awesome thing. Legislation is really moving too, another great thing. I'm going to look into "Solar Today" and get that coming, so I can geek out even more. Who knew that being green could be so much fun?? All we need now is bale-hay insulation, veggie-fueled cars, and of course the Tagaki, then we'll be good to go.

For those into all types of renewable energies, there's going to be a Green NV summit the last weekend on September, and a Solar Home Tour the first weekend of October. I'll update as I learn more.

Ouch.

I did an awful thing.

Most of you who know me are aware that I'm terrified of bugs of all kinds. Just too many legs or something. Anyway, the family was together for Father's Day and while I wasn't looking, my husband placed a plastic spider on my shoulder, and then feigned shock while pointing at it.

Now, it's said that in a moment of panic, one's true self emerges: I screamed, picked up the plastic spider and flung it at my brother's preggo girlfriend. I am like some kind of evil bitch, I swear...

As for Father's Day, it was great. My dad got his Wii, plus an extra controller and a nun-chuck addition. He was so stoked. Tannah helped him set it up, and they transfered Mii's, also. Even played it a little. It's cool because my mom and sister can play it, too. We also saw Tannah's family, and did Father's Day with them as well. Sometimes I hate holidays because of the hectic time constraints and sometimes I love them because everyone's in a laid-back mood. This was one I loved.

On a side-note, Tannah's cousin re-dyed my hair burgundy. Now all I need is the tattoo and I'll be reinvented. Yay for body modification!

Just one year left.

In a sense, showing up to class tonight was kind of lame. The final exam was last week, and the final is always the easiest exam of the entire year. But Javier promised to bring us food, and of course one last night at Bonanza, so it wasn't comletely useless.

Honestly, I'm terrified. I'm not nearly ready. Just a year left for training? There's so much to learn yet. Every journeyman I've spoken to says he felt the same way at turning out, so what makes me different, any less qualified? Yeah, well, believe me. Gwynne is under the impression that I don't give myself enough credit, he's been asking me things to assess my skill, and he said I made a "pretty sharp four-bend saddle" but in reality it was so hideous I had to crush it and throw it out before anyone saw it. Yeah, if I'd tweaked it, it may have worked but I wasn't satisfied. He's told me that after the remodel he wants to get me into more conduit bending, switchgear, all that fun stuff. I'd like that.

But back to the point.

Javier showed up with pizza and soda, and that was cool of him, though I wish he'd brought tamales, and we went over our exam scores, then he met up with us at Bonanza and bought everyone a drink. Sweet. I had Guinness of course, and Ryan offered to buy me a shot of Patrón (my God is that smooth); I've been really trying to stick to one drink a night but hey, last night of fourth year. Mostly I sat with Sanj, Ryan, Theresa, Javier, Mark...anyway, a lot of guys from class, just bullshitting really. And it's odd, I'll have this bizarre little empty place once school's out for good. Nowhere to be for five hours a week. I've wanted to take classes at uni for awhile, I guess I can do that. I don't know, it's all strange.

And before I go, the thing that regally pissed me off: fifth year's been moved to Wednesday night. WEDNESDAY. This will be my fourth year on Wednesdays, I'm sick of it, now that I finally joined Solar NV I'll have to miss nearly every single meeting. Damn the luck.

Back to Diversity...

Today after work, I got pierced again. Love it. A pretty strict healing regimen but hey, alot of it is common sense and just being clean. Very very happy.

I went right after work so I wouldn't lose my courage. I found out later that Tannah kind of wanted to be there, but by the time he called me, I was already on my way in to see the piercer, Jason. He was rather professional, and I loved that he had an apprentice, because as he was explaining to the apprentice, I was getting a better idea about what to expect. He marked me and laid me down, and I was so so nervous so I held the apprentice's hand--well, kind of crushed it--but it didn't hurt nearly so much as I thought it would. Sure, a few curse words were forced from me but I was suitably calmed.

And Sanj, I got the barbells. :)

Kickass!

At about 09h30 today, Henry and Matt came to my work area and told my foreman to send me and my tools to Gwynne, a general foreman for the Venetian remodel. (I knew the transfer was coming, but I expected a little advance notice.) When I got down there, Gwynne paired me with Drew, and at that Drew (apparently) made foreman.

So aside from working four-10's, and not having to wear a hard hat, and working inside, and being allowed to wear my Converse All-Stars to work...as it turns out, Drew and I walk around with our radios looking important, flipping and resetting breakers all day. It's so sweet. One can only wonder how long that will last.

Now granted, there's some downtime. But that's been accounted for, and Gwynne already talked to Drew, so during slow times we go onto the floors and troubleshoot issues for the other crews. Further that, I got a small set of prints to look over, to familiarise myself with more than just basics: it's the first time I have ever read anything on the specifications. Luckily, Drew has no issue with teaching me, so I keep asking questions and if he can't answer them, we take "field trips" to find out. He seems exceedingly shy but also like if he came loose he'd be alot of fun.