A way better day today.

Everyone was in a great mood (including Papa G, and that's rare for him these days), no one gave me hell for my switch issue, and it's Worker Appreciation Day...AKA pay day.

One thing that made me laugh for about half an hour was a new issue with my switches. And this time, it wasn't even my fault. Papa G --my general foreman, for those that don't know-- came up to see what I'd accomplished in the past week. He asked questions and I answered them, just the basic weekly deal. He came upon my switches, which I had just finished completely. After some of his queries and my explanations, he realised that I had put two circuits from different panels in the same junction box, and that one of them was an emergency circuit. That used to be acceptable by the NEC (National Electrical Code) so long as there was a divider present in the box, separating them. However, either it's changed in the 2008 edition or our inspector doesn't like it because I was told this morning that they needed to be in separate boxes regardless of what the prints say, and also the lights connected to the emergency circuit cannot be switched, they've got to be hot at all times...also regardless of what the prints say.

So here's the deal: I installed these switches originally as two in a 4-square box, one pair of switches per room. It was hard to cram it all in there but I did it, and without cutting my wires short, simply because the specs called for a 4-square box. One box containing two switches in two separate but adjacent rooms, equalling four switches total. Got that? Okay.

Was told to remove the switches and re-install in a 4-11 box. This was because my foreman thought it was ridiculous to squish so much into that size j-box when I could go a size bigger. I was just trying to go by the specs but whatever makes everyone's life easier, I'm okay with it. (No sarcasm there, I'm serious.)

Then, after being re-installed to a larger box and pulling my home runs, I made them up incorrectly, and I'm not going to repeat all that bullshit here, it's in the post immediately preceding this one. But anyway, I was so upset because I really got it so incredibly incorrect, it blew me away that I had to re-do it all...again.

And now, today. I had to take it all apart --again!-- cut into the metal framing members to make room for my second box, retrace everything back, then reroute it --again!-- shove all those wires back into the tiny 3/8" MC connector (and this is 10-3, people, it's a tight fit), make it all up --again! but correctly this time-- and have it all back together by the end of the day.

Needless to say, it was a bit frustrating, but not as much as yesterday was, and at least I'm employed which is more than some have going for them right now.

Also, today was International Talk Like a Pirate Day: "Yar, there be termites in me leg!"