The Big Bend

The big news came at 10:30 in the morning. Tristan (boss) called me up and said, "Have you heard the big news?" I replied in the negative and he informed me that we were all moving to Bend, OR. That set the tone for the day. Now you see, the last six weeks I have been working in the greater Portland area and fell in love with it. I had a great ward, amazing friends, and got to be in the picturesque Oregon that I know and love. That all came crashing down. So the big move.

The Majestic Oregon Mountains

I spent my last day in Portland with Cathrine Martell as we hit OHSU, Moonstruck Chocolates, Best Baguettes, and a few spots downtown. It was the perfect way to end my stay in Portland. I hit the road and the drive was incredible beautiful as you can see in the picture. I eventually pulled into the local Days Inn and was tickled pink that they had free breakfast and that I would be on the bottom floor. Luxuries I haven't had all summer. Then come to find out I had the option of sleeping on the floor or with another dude... I chose the floor. After the first initial day my heart softened to the whole idea of being in Bend. It sure isn't as green but it's basically Oregon's finest playground. There is hiking, biking, boating, floating, walking, talking, swimming, running, driving, fishing, and a whole lot of drinking. Bend is the outdoor place to be and happens to be full of local beer. I love it all minus the alcohol. After doing a few jobs and getting to know the people, I'm starting to warm up to it. 

Last day in Portland

The week went well and I got the numbers that I needed. I went to "Bite of Bend" where a bunch of local food vendors come out and sell food. There is live music, hippies, and a lot of drunk people. Funny Story. I came down with three of my co-workers and they decided to go down liquor lane. Basically you pay $10 and get to drink as much booze as you want. All the local breweries offer samples of their finest liquor.  I didn't want to just sit around and wait but I really don't care for the smell or the environment that surrounds alcohol. I asked if I could enter without paying or drinking. The lady just looked at me and picked up a name tag that said, "Designated Driver" and put it around my neck. I got a kick out of it. After walking around and learning all about hard liquor I had enough and headed back to the hotel. I of course got a snapshot before leaving. I realized that I had two bikes to ride home because my co-worker was too drunk to ride his back. So I rode mine and pulled the other one next to me. It was funny. Kinda. You had to of been there. Ha. I was hoping to be stopped and asked why I had two bikes, I would of loved to explain that one.

Proud to be sober

Anyway, that was the big Bend for this week. Supposedly I'm moving down further south to Medford this week but who knows where the wind will blow me. I feel the need to settle down and plant my feet but I do like getting a grand tour of the great state of Oregon.

Oh the Life of a Technician.

Technician's Week Off

Even technicians deserve time off right? Right. Despite still working over 60 hours this week, I took some time off. What a relief. I went on some great adventures to overcome the side effects of inhaling drywall dust, pinching my fingers, and choking from cat hair/cigarette smoke. It was brilliant, let me tell you about it.

I started off the week by taking a walking tour of downtown Salem which happens to be the capital of Oregon. I entered the capitol building and watched all the media/government/politic people wait outside of the House of Representatives room as bill 205a (Probably another bill to keep Oregon weird) was about to be passed. I walked among the suits and skirts with shorts and a casual button down shirt. I was a little out of place but enjoyed the excitement and chatter. I toured a nice university near by and my excitement for learning came back. The best part was the earthly Angel Moroni that sits up top the building. Ha, I got a kick out of it for some strange reason.

The next great adventure took me high above the Columbia River. I went hiking with my friend from the ward, Cathrine. We took a nice drive along the river and hiked to Angels Rest which takes you to a great look out over the gorge. It was incredible. The trail was covered by trees and there was so much green. I'd been dying for a real Oregon hike and this hit the spot. We also went to Multnomah falls which is this giant waterfall. We got some refreshing ice cream and picked up a few postcards from the gift shop. It was the perfect way to start my weekend. If you haven't seen the instagram photo you need to check it out... best one yet. Ha.

To top the great hike, my wonderful parents came into town. I got to spend the rest of the weekend with them and sure enjoyed their company. It's nice to see some familiar faces. Not to mention I had some real food. I forgot what it's like not to use a microwave. Thai food, Mexican food, and even a great Salmon. Ah so good. I took my parents to the Beaverton Farmers Market which was fantastic. Great mix of food, fresh produce and some of the worlds best tasting strawberries. What a treat and a half. The parents ditched me for the beach and I had to take care of some official technician business.

Sunday finally came and I was privileged to attend singles ward with my parents. It was great. I love my parents. And my ward. Just saying. We took a temple walk and it felt good to be with my dad on Fathers Day. Man of Steel. Great time.

So you know those 8ft clearance things that happen to be at the entrance of hotels? Yeah well I forgot my bike, Edward, was on the top of the car. I ran into the overhang and my bike flew off the top of the car. It sounded like a car accident. I dented the overhang and had a little freakout. I got my act together and wiped the tears as I inspected the damage. Long story short, I fixed Edward and still got my 10pm cruise on in Lake Oswego. Bike rack is broken.






Last little thing. So there are three smells that just drive me nuts. Cat, cigarette smoke, and bacon. I was on this job the other night and they had cats. Strike one. Then the wife was going to order pizza for dinner but changed her mind last second. Any guesses? Yep, it was bacon. Who in the world cooks a pound of bacon and eats it for dinner? Strike two. Then a co-worker comes in to talk to the customer and guess what he was just smoking? A cigarette. Strike three. I wanted to put on my gas mask but I left it in the car sadly. Ah man it was bad. But I guess technicians don't get everything they want now do they. Ha. Ha. No.

Back to the hammer and drill. Wire and glue. Problem solving and house protecting.
Oh the life of a Technician.

Weekly Happenings.

I'll give you a little something from this week.

I Installed a system for a Mr. Maskimov who is an underground Russian arms dealer. He told me about everything that he does and how he operated out of Portland. It kinda freaked me out but he played a nice cover with his Ukrainian wife and small kinds. He told me that if I said

anything to anyone he would have a nice surprise for me and my family. I swore to secrecy and got out of there. Just kidding. That didn't happen. I've been watching a spy tv show a little too much. But I really did install for a rich Russian guy and he was super nice. He even invited me back this week for some beers. I will politely decline. 

Because of the lack of install this week, I had a lot of down time. I did make it to the Portland temple for a session and it was beautiful. I love that temple. I also spent many many hours at a public park in Molalla, OR. I read books, practiced juggling, walked around, slept, and people watched. You'd never guess the things you see at public parks. Should of been a private park.... Geez. Anyway, I did eat the worlds greatest burrito this week from a Mexican joint called "Muchas Gracias". That's what I said to them after I consumed their "Oregon Burrito." It was comprised of steak, papas, salsa, and cheese all wrapped up in a warm, fluffy tortilla. Oh it was heavenly. The bonus is that is only cost $4.80. Didn't even break the bank. Who-ah!

Oh, this morning I made $60 in 53 minutes. Do the math and that is $1.13 per minute. Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Only wish that happened all day long.

Ok so the really good stuff. I shall relate the story of me failing at asking a girl out on a date. There is this really kind girl in the ward who I wanted to treat to lunch for being so kind. I didn't catch her at church so I resolved to call her that night on the phone around 8pm. I'm normally pretty cool about this kind of stuff but was getting nervous for some reason. I  made the call and she answered. Now the idea was just to ask her on a casual-get-to-know-you-better-slash-thank-you lunch. Nothing fancy. So she answers and I ask her if I could treat her to lunch sometime this week because of the kindness that she had shown. It's the least I could do. After about 4 seconds came the resounding and confident "No". I almost died. I didn't plan this far ahead and was speechless. She explained that her lunch breaks were short and gets gets caught up with other things during that time. I was set on eating something with this girl so I asked about dinner, even though I knew I probably couldn't do dinner because of my schedule. She looked at her calendar and was booked. Dang. At this point I felt like a loser and my mouth was completely dry. My brain froze up and I didn't say anything for like 20 seconds. (That's a long time on the phone.) She finally spoke up and said she was going to some activities this week and asked if I was going to them. I just said, "yeah I'll probably see you this week." Fail. I hung up and felt like an idiot. Ha, I haven't choked up on stuff like this since high school. I don't know what got into me but I didn't get the lunch. I settled for writing her a thank you card to express my gratitude. We'll see if I even give it to her. Technicians aren't as smooth as we all thought I guess.

Well, that's technician life for you.

The Oregon countryside is beautiful!

The Cookie Still Crumbles

You may believe that life is just peachy once you become a technician. That may be true but in the words of my co-worker Nate, "(Crap) still hits the fan." That happened to me this week. I don't want to be a downer but this week was one of the worst in all of my 1,036 weeks of existence. Lets break this down.
Most of America was relaxing and enjoying family on Monday to celebrate memorial day. Technicians were hard at work getting in the way at BBQ's, drilling holes, and trouble shooting technical problems. I had four jobs on monday and was constantly working from 10 am to 2 am. Long day. Didn't get invited to any parties but was offered a hot dog and vodka on my way out of a job. I passed. (They were on their fourth round of shots when I was teaching them how to use their system... haha I don't think they will remember a thing). Anyway, I got that little funny feeling in my throat about 6pm and knew that I was getting sick. Well it hit hard, and I was dead by tuesday morning. I had to wake up early and finish and install 25 miles away. My boss wanted me out working on jobs but I refused, drove back to the hotel and crashed hard. I woke up hours later with a pounding head, constricted throat, stuffed nose, and aching body. Ah man it was the pits. I was too prideful and cheap to go buy medicine and I'm living out of a microwave so nothing sounded good. I did some simple calculations and found that in the last 72 hours I had worked for 38 of them, slept for 17 of them, consumed maybe 1200 calories, and drank less than a gallon of water. I guess your body freaks out.
To continue onward... The rest of the week I had to play mini manager and do extra work duties because our real manager is 250 miles away. All while recovering from The Sickness. A light did burst as I was invited to a YSA Dance party in this wooded lodge on Friday night. I was excited to get some social interaction and hopefully get off of work a bit early. I lucked out by finishing early Friday night and drove the 50 miles to the lodge. I got there and didn't know anyone. Ever been to a huge party and not know anyone? Man, its rough. I finally found a few ward members that I knew but wasn't really in party mode. I couldn't talk and my nose was stuffed. I was a poor party guest so I took a little journey in the vineyard/woods. It was exciting. I received a call from a good friend and had a great evening chat. I decided to kick it in just before midnight and make the journey home.
That's when the final bomb for the week dropped. I received some information that broke my little heart. Bam. What made me even more upset was the way I reacted. I have been trying to do some self-improvement in handling situations. I had taken all that I had learned and developed and threw it out the window. It made me upset that I knew how to handle the situation like a responsible 21 year old adult but still reverted to my old self. Lame. I finally dozed off at 3 in the morning and now I'm here in Canby, Oregon sitting in the library on a floral print, plush, arm chair, writing about my week. (My comma usage is probably wrong in the previous sentence).

I don't say this so you can have pity on me and feel bad for poor little Jojo. Chances are you had an even worse week and are struggling with harder things. My point is that the cookie still crumbles even as a technician. Drilling holes, hammering in yard signs, setting up door locks, and configuring cameras make this technician life so fulfilling and rewarding. Even with all that, life can still get you down. Keep that in mind. The good thing is that Sunday is tomorrow and I get a new fresh week to Live The Dream!
#Techlife #Ifixit4u #technicianforlife

Oh The Life of a Technician.