so this week was pretty rough– I almost got fired …of course, I am in the Air Force and they can’t just “fire” you in the typical sense…however they can take you from your current position and make you do something else if you’re not doing your job the right way …well, I wasn’t doing my job right–lucky or me we are the only mechanics here and they can’t really fire us…there are only 3 of us in the shop and the trucks seem to be just breaking down left and right…so, I was focusing all of our attention on turning wrenches so the shop looked like shit…the floors were dirty–really dirty, the tools weren’t put away, the paperwork had slipped, and the shop was in general disarray..plus, I happened to come in late on the day this all started…my boss was walking around the outside of the shop at 0715 and I came in late…he was pissed…so, we were not to work on any trucks for the day, we are on 12 hour shifts until further notice and the shop needed to be in inspection order that day…so, we worked all day on the shop and got it back in order…my priorities are based on my past 17 years of experience in the AF–FIX TRUCKS…of the shop is overflowing with broken vehicles, we work on them, everything else gets put on hold…now, don’t misunderstand, I know the shop is supposed to be cleaned up and I know I wasn’t enforcing the rules of every shop in the AF…but I didn’t think it was that big of a deal… my boss, and the rest of the people on this base are all Munitions guys–they deal with bombs all day, every day…they do everything by the book without question…I know this is important, and it is necessary when dealing with explosives…the problem is that they expect us to be as anal as they are– well, that isn’t how Vehicle Maintenance rolls…anyhoo…I have go back to making sure ALL shop jobs are being accomplished instead of just turning wrenches… that’s how the military works and, as they say, the job isn’t done until the paperwork is done–and in our case, shop clean up is part of the job….so, whatever, we’ll be working 12’s and keeping the shop straight and fixing trucks…the week wasn’t too bad, even tho I did nothing but work, eat dinner, and sleep…Friday was a Commander’s Call and promotion ceremony, so the promotees bought some beer and we hung out at the club on base for a little bit in the afternoon…then we decided to head to Jeff’s house to party it up for the night and then we would all leave from there to go snowboarding…of course, we all woke up later than planned and we didn’t get to the slopes until around 1130…the parking lots were completely packed and there were lots of ticket cops walking around–a few cars had parking tickets, but I don’t think people here really care…it tooks us a while to find parking, but luckily we both have 4×4 vehicles and we found a nice snowbank to park on… my Jeep was leaned to the side so much that I pretty much just fell out when I opened the door…it was a good day of boarding –the snow was nice and sft, but not wet, the sun was shining and the sky was clear…Jeff and Rudy are just learning–I am teaching them, and they are doing pretty good for it only being their second day on the mountain…we all had a good time — the new guys got a lot more enjoyment today because they weren’t falling as much and they didn’t hurt as much…again, the ride there and the ride home sucked…2 hours of crap roads is not fun…but, the boarding on the mountain is all worth it…ok, well it’s late, I am wore out and the Superbowl party is tomorrow night–oh yeah, we get a “down day” Monday because the Superbowl doesn’t come on until midnight here…so, I am gonna get some sleep to be prepared for tomorrow night’s festivities…party at Jeff’s house, BBQ, some Rock Band, and betting–Rudy told everyone to bring lots of one dollar bills…they want to bet on EVERYTHING…the next pass, the yardage of the next run, the possible fumbles, who’s getting the ball, whatever… ok…love you and miss you all, I will talk to you again soon
OOL
B