Social Life of a Technician

Social life? Ha. That is a joke and a half. Let's break this down. Monday - Saturday I am "on the job" from 11am to midnight or later. Thats every day except Sunday. Now when does most social interaction between college kids happen? In the afternoon/evenings. I'm always working. So my social life is nonexistent. I could hang out from like 9am to 11am but I haven't had any time to find morning friends... I'm totally fine with it however. I do get to spend quality time drilling holes in walls with customers, hanging with the three other techs, and "the black brothas" living in our hotel. It's very nice.

Sunday is my 5 hours of social life a week. I now attend the West Lake YSA ward and I love it. The ward is full and the people were very loving and welcoming my first week. I actually made some friends and was invited to a quesadilla party right after church. The average age of the members are around 24 so I'm a few years behind but I like it. I'm surrounded by law students, accountants, and future doctors and dentists. I feel a little under qualified but I love it. I look forward to sunday and those few hours of social interaction that I need.

So yep, thats my social life. No parties, girls, hangouts, or activities for me. I do have Mother Nature and by great bike, Edward, to hang out with. Bonus.

Funniest thing I heard all week from a customer. Picture this. This old 70 guy with only one tooth left in his mouth. He's All-American and has eagles all over his home. He is proud to be a racist and hates anyone that isn't white. While I was installing, he was cracking jokes the entire time and talking to his dogs. He was watching the news and the following dialogue happened.

News Reporter: "California woman attacked by a bear in her own home."
Arlyn:"Oh just tell her husband to put his shirt back on and behave himself."
Joseph: (speechless and laughing his guts out.)(Created a mental picture that I couldn't stop laughing at)

I don't know why it was so funny. Ah you just had to have been there.

Technician life is just great...

The First Week.

I made it. The first full week as a Technician! Things are going well. Just like moving to a new area in the mission, I've adjusted. (This may be a little scattered because the McDonald's customers sitting next to me won't stop talking about a new saw that has great new safety features to prevent chopping your fingers off.) I can't multitask. Anyway.

The first few installs on my own went great. After shadowing a few experienced techs, I arrived at my first job and did the whole thing by myself! Wahoo. Only a few problems occurred but I played it cool and had a sweet victory dance in the street when I finished.  I've done eight installs now and every one brings something new to the table. It's kinda like the gospel. I study something and think that I understand it completely, and that there is no more to learn about it. Then bam, the Lord presents me with a new idea or challenge and I learn even more. That's how this job is, and I learn more and more every house that I enter. So thats the great and dandy fluffy news.

You never know what your going to get/see/hear when you enter into someones home... Now keep in mind we are working in small agricultural/industrial towns in eastern Oregon and Washington. Lower income families and people that have lived their whole lives in these little towns. My first install these two sisters talked about all the girls in the town that are pregnant or who have gotten pregnant in the last month. I know them all now! Ha. Then one of them decides to start breastfeeding right there in the living room. They talked about teen pregnancies almost the entire time we were there. Interesting. One guy had a cat-hair infested house and 5 minutes into the install, my throat closed up and I wheezed the rest of the way. It was bad. He was creepishly watching us the entire time. The pale white skin and thin mustache didn't make me feel any better. Then I helped on an install where this  family was obviously protecting their weed garden. They dedicated their garage to growing beautiful marijuana plants.  It was pretty nice, I'm not going to lie. They went all out with special lights, fans, and the whole bit. There were plants by nearly every window as well. Then the teenage son came home and was bragging how he had a gun that he could protect the family with. It was a pellet gun hanging up on his bedroom wall. Nice one. Then, last night, I made a boo boo. I ran into a nail when drilling a whole into a door jam. So I routinely grabbed my drill bit that cuts through metal. I tried cutting through the nail but it wasn't working. I tried to pull part of the bit out but it was stuck. So I pulled a little harder and fingers slid right along the bit. It hurt. My brain said, "Owe, that hurt!" I finally looked down and found my hand full of blood. Oh crap. It was dripping on their back entry way floor. I freaked out about spilling blood on their floor and didn't want to call it to their attention. Luckily my manager Tristan was there helping me with the job. I called for him and he came over and exclaimed a four letter word. I asked if he had a band-aid. He politely and calmly asked the customers if they had a band-aid and they came rushing over. Luckily they were more concerned about me than the floor and grabbed some paper towels and band-aids. They helped me wrap it all up and then I apologized. A lot. I sheepishly kept going and finished the job. I left there and felt like an idiot but luckily I still have my fingers! I felt I deserved some tacos after that and stopped at a taco truck. Good deal.

So that's the life of a technician. I love this job and work with some great guys. I shall talk about my social/church life next post... It's almost as exciting as life on the job. Ha.

That's the Life of a Technician.

Pictured above in my roommate Travis. Good guy.

Here we go.

And so the journey begins... life as a technician. I heard that blogs are really for girls but this is a man blog. Suitable for men, women, and children. I'm doing this to keep my sense of humor so keep that in mind. I hope you get a great picture of what my summer is like and all the great fun that I have! Ha.

I decided to take a summer job installing security systems for a certain company that uses a lot of orange. Take a guess. The location of the job is in the Tri-Cities, Washington area. (South Eastern Washington along the Columbia River) I went to a few trainings during school semester and then packed up the '98 Forester and caravanned up yesterday. That's when it began. Nine whole hours sitting on my bum driving up through Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. I'm not really a big fan of caravans because I feel obligated to stay up or behind. Having 250,000 miles on my car, I wanted to take it easy... But being behind the three other guys, I was obligated to stay up. Lame. But to make a short story even shorter, we arrived. Now, i've been living in different apartments with dudes for the past two and a half years and I'm kinda used to it. On that note, you might be thinking that when I got into the apartment that it was terrible! Well, you are wrong. It wasn't that bad at all, besides the unswept/unvaccumed floors, empty beer cans, and smell of cigarette smoke that filled the bathroom. Haha. It's a six-man apartment with 3 bedrooms/bathrooms, kitchen, and living room. Great setup. Luckily I scored an empty twin size bed in the "Master Bedroom" and the kid behind me grabbed the queen in the same room. In answers to my prayers, that kid happens to be a returned missionary from Vernal, Utah. He speaks spanish and has one heck of a sense of humor. We unpacked our stuff and had some pillow talk to start off our summer together. Bromance. Not. Later that night I found out the smokers/drinkers were moving up to a new area and would be leaving the apartment. Yahoo. So we went to bed, melting in the six man apartment, exhausted, and ready for the first day of work. Perfect start to my summer life as a technician.

That brings me to today. I woke up, cleaned the place, and went to the store to purchase a broom and food. I brought it all back and was called in to the office to meet with my boss. I drove the 8 miles to the office and got my official orange polo and learned how to install some pieces of equipment. Oh and then I discovered a oil leak on my car. So I have to now go the Subaru Dealership to get it fixed at one. Oh and did I mention we don't internet. Yeah, I'm at McDonald's using their Wifi. It's slow and I have to go... That rhymes. Well thats about it for my first 16 hours here in Washington. More to come as the summer progresses! That's the life of a technician.