Layoffs

So this past Friday a mechanic whom I had been working for a few months was laid off. It's been about a year since I've actually seen somebody get laid off so I had almost forgot the gut wrenching feeling. It's a crazy feeling when you work with someone everyday get to know them and a little about their lives, goals, family and than all of a sudden their world get changed. I made me realize I'm very fortunately to be in the apprenticeship at this time because until we graduate we have kind of a bubble of protection. My prayers go out to all of those who are having a hard time finding working. Sometimes I really concerned for my own future. I have no doubts that I'll make a good mechanic and be a productive worker but I wonder will that be enough in the future to keep me employed. I'm not a guy with a many connections so all I really have is my work to speak for me. But I'm sure just about everyone knows a good worker or two that are unemployed. Well I hope everyone enjoys their holidays, and may the new year bring better fortune.

Checking In

It's been a little bit since I posted but I'm extremely happy to say I am done with my motor control project. We handed them in yesterday and every time I got next to the computer that thing was just staring me in the face. Just felt like I was being harassed by relays and floats and solenoids. As far work goes somethings have changed I think my mechanics are starting to see and respect my abilities more. I just been taking the initiative whenever I'm given a task. When I'm told to pull the mc for fixtures I'll do that plus wire all the 3 ways and junction boxes and just starting completely the whole task rather than focusing on the piece. I try to make sure by the time the foreman comes back to tell me what's next he gets lost in what's been done so he either has to talk to me and give me the whole picture or give up and leave the rest to me. It's a risky strategy because if things don't work you take all the blame but it's been paying off and time goes by a lot faster plus I either learn from my mistakes or become more confident. I try to take more risk while I'm an apprentice in the learning process because I have a little more job security right now and if I mess up they'll just say well your only an apprentice. When I'm a mechanic I think I'll probably stop just jumping in random equipment that I don't know how to operate yet and jumping into work I'm not completely comfortable with, but the way I see it if I do all that now when I'm a journeyman I won't have to.

Getting Adjusted

So I've been with my new contractor for almost 2 months now and it definitely is a different experience. This week has kind of been the lows of my experience thus far. Today after driving to about 50 miles to Quanico marine base we worked about 2 hours only to find out rain was going to prevent us from being able to work the rest of the day. So we spent more time traveling to and from work than we actually spent working which was definitely an unexpected pay cut. This is my second experience with rain causing a pay cut which is beginning to make me not to fond of working outside. Not that I mind the actual work but the rain doesn't stop the bills from coming. Another thing I've really had to adjust to is getting used to different peoples work methods. It seems like a lot of older mechanics have the mentality that all "helpers" were created equal and won't really let you exercise some of your abilities. Now I know there is a lot in this trade I still have to learn but at the same time I feel given the opportunity I am very productive. When a mechanic tries to turn me into just a tool passer my mind begins to go numb and I lose motivation. Don't get me wrong I don't mind taking a backseat when working with something new I might not be unfamiliar with, or working with someone on the same task together. But when there's ways I know I can be productive and I'm prevented from doing so because of someone's preconceived doubt in my abilities I can't help but to feel a bit salty. I'm hoping things change a little more for the better, but I know you have to take the good with the bad.

Just another aspect of the trade

I've been with my new contractor for about a month now and it's another completely different experience not only working for a smaller shop but type work I've been doing. In my first year with Perl I did a little bit of outside work on rooftops and a little lightning protection but for the past months just about everything I've done has been in the ground. Most of the work consist of running pvc, getting boxes in with the masons, setting up pole bases, and finding pipes that have already been buried in the ground which happens to be one of my least favorites. You can say this is new to me but I've noticed that it's all still pretty much the same thing. I've dug dirt before I've ran plenty of pipe and I've set wire and pulled pipe before so the different circumstances of which they are done doesn't really take much time to adapt to. I kind of expected to feel green again and take a while to get adjusted so I feel much better than I've gotten a chance to get my feet wet in this part of the trade. I find myself talking to a lot of guys about their different experiences and not being able to find envious thinking that I might be missing out on some of the good experiences I need to make myself more valuable. I guess in due time it will all come so I try to breath easy but sometimes my nature just won't let me. All and all I'm enjoying my experiences with the new company and once my raise finally comes which it seems I missed somehow by 40 hours :-\, I'll definitely be a much more happy camper.

On to the next one

So today was my last day as a Mona employee. I'm kind of excited and about transferring and getting a change of scenery but at the same time I still have my reservations. I'm going from a very large contractor to a much smaller contractor and I've been told a lot of different things some good and some bad but come Monday I'll find out for myself. It's funny how things work out though, it seems like every time I feel i start to get good and comfortable at a task my new contractor throws me for a spin by doing something completely different. This definitely isn't a bad thing though my goal as an electricity is to have a pretty solid foundation in every part of our industry. At my first contractor Perlectric it was mostly tenant work with a little with a little bit of base building. At Mona I worked on existing fire alarm systems in completely occupied buildings with a good bit of preventive maintenance and occasional general electric work. Now as of Monday I will be running bus duct and from my understanding basically be setting up from the utility to the building outside in the dirt. Honestly I've been kind of anxious to do some deck work just because I've heard so many mechanics speak of it in their experiences as if it was some right of passage, so I'm excited to get my hands dirty and acquire one more stepping stone on my path to becoming a knowledgeable worthy mechanic

Finally finish with multilink

So for the past few months I been strictly on a wire mold crew installing raceway for the outside hallways of a condos. Now the first few days actually were cool dealing with multilink which we don't typically install too much of to my knowledge. But after about 30 floors of doing the same thing over and over again with no deviation and the same crew it was a bit tiresome. I am happy to say today we finished the last floor and I will be more than happy to get back to running some pipe and trading in my tinsnips and razors for channel locks and a hacksaw. Don't get me wrong I am appreciative to have acquired a new talent and been working steadily but what can I say I'm a young eager apprentice who wants to learn it all.

Things to look forward to

Well 3 books down and 2 more to go until night school. School really slowed down my class but we've finally made it. I kind of glad we're done with our more OSHA dominated curriculum, and I'm hoping to see some more theory and technical stuff and I'm pretty anxious to learn about motor controls. But most of all I can't wait for the upcoming raise when I transition from a 2nd year to a 3rd year in a few months. This will be my biggest raise up to date. One cool thing is I was so focused on the 3rd year raise that I completely forgot about the contractual raise that just kicked in. So that was a little nice surprise. Lastly I'll be transferring in August. It was cool to learn fire alarm but I'm looking pretty forward to taking on some new and old responsibilities. I can't wait to see what the up coming months bring I just hope things continue the way they've been going.

My thoughts on fire alarm

I've been in Mona's Life Safety division now for about 9 months and it's definitely been different been different from my previous construction job experiences. We have generally been replacing old systems so I've been in nothing but exist businesses during business hours. Working around finished carpets and walls and clients means you have to be a lot more conscientious of your environment so not to be intrusive or disruptive. The crews also seem a little more reserved than what I become accustomed to. I think as an electrician though fire alarm has really helped further my understanding of circuitry. In fire alarm you have to be able to identify characteristics of circuits pretty easily in order to function. Mishaps such as ground faults, reverse polarities, missing devices, troubles and dreaded false alarms that dump the building can easily turn a good day real bad. Right now I'm trying to make the best of my time here and absorb as much as I can but every now and again I do miss being surrounded by nothing but concrete and guys you might not find in an office building.

Life after work

I think I'm finally adjusting to this new 8 to 4:15pm work schedule. I used to be home around 2:30pm everyday and be able to lay down, go to the gym eat maybe watch a little tv play a game or 2 and it still felt like my day after work went by fast. Now I'm home usually around 5:30pm and now time really flies. At first I'd just lay down or chill and relax and before I knew it, it was bedtime. I recently started to go to the gym on the way home from work and try to avoid the little nap, and also cut down on the tv and computer time so my days are starting to feel a little more balance.

Rough Month

The past month it seems like I been out of it. At work it sometimes feels like I'm just going through motions, days just drag on and I can't tell the difference between Friday and Monday. Not exactly why that is I'm sure getting off at 4:15pm oppose to 2:00pm and getting home with just a few hours before bedtime has a little something to do with it but o'well that's life. Through I do find when I'm allowed to just work on my own plan my own pipe runs and things of that such the day does go by much faster. Hopefully some warm weather or something will help me pick things up :-\

Unpected Pay Cuts

It feels like the expenses that we least expect hit us the hardest. I couple of months ago I ended up out of work for about 4 days due to tonsillitis. And let me tell you there's no worst feeling than seeing that check or should I say lack there of the following week. This week I'm sure a lot of people are having a similar experience as I am once again. I happen to be working on a job that starts at 8am which is blog worthy in it's own right. Well this snow has heavy impacted our schedule and I haven't been to work since Thursday. I've been able to make due but over the past few years I've really learned the importance of tightening my belt and having back up plans in case of situations such as these. I hope everyone is safe and maintaining out there.

Easy Money

So I think today might have been one of the easiest days of my career. You know you're in for a treat when you're foreman says nah you don't need your tools but you might want to grab your ipod and some headphones. This morning for the first time I did something called a load bank. In nutshell you hook the generator up to these massive heaters that you can adjust the wattage on and slowly increase the load until it is at 80% of the generator capacity and hold that for 3 hours. Well basically what that amounts to is hooking up some heaters, sitting in a lawn chair and getting up every so often to turn up the heat lol. On a side note I must say I'm pretty pleased with the diversity of work I been seeing with Mona. During the week I work on fire alarm which is pretty technical and a specialty not every mechanic can say they have training in. And on the weekend I usually do prevent maintainenance which consist of tightening and clean panels, switchgears transformers, disconnects and all that that good stuff. The work can get a little mindless sometimes but the overtime is great and I get to see different equipment set ups in a variety of different buildings from old to new. I think if things keep up I might end up a pretty well rounded journeyman in 3 years.

Practice Makes Perfect

So last week finally came of course some of my favorite work which happens to be running pipe. It's been a couple of months so I was pretty excited to show myself because I consider myself pretty decent when it comes to pipe. Everything started off nice and smooth than for some reason I came across a back to back 90 that I just could not get right. At first I thought maybe I measured wrong and after the second one came up short I started feeling a little pathetic. Than after bending a 90 and having it come up a little short I said OK somethings off. Well after taking a look in my trusty pipe bending text book I realized I was measuring centers the whole time instead of back to back. I had a little duh moment with 90s you always have to measure from the back of the bend and if you measure centers you have to account for the diameter of the pipe. I didn't have a problem with my saddles or offsets so it just goes to show how just a little lack of practice can make something so simple so difficult. I was kind of a good reminder for me though to stay focused and not get to complacent.