Car Part School review

They will never forget the War of Northern Aggression.

This was not a bad road trip. The guy I traveled with, my Former Boss, is really easy going so no stress and we both talk easily, so very comfortable.

The learning how the car parts are made was fun and fascinating. These are new parts to me, so 80% was all new manufacturing lessons. This was no small plant but it was it in Moonshiner, BFE. There is nothing like a small town to take you back and crack you up. There was one section of the plant where the messiest part of the process occurs and I must admit, I would be hard pressed to do that job. And I do not think there was one woman in that department.

All my FB could talk about on the way down was the Belgian Waffle that awaited him in the morning. We were staying at one of those hotels that have the free breakfast dealy-wop and he had learned of the menu and was focused on that waffle. Me, I am a doughnut girl. The only doughnuts I ever see is when I travel. They are not allowed in my home and I would never go and buy one here at home.

Well, when I meandered out to the coffee pot in the morning I scoped out the food and there was not a doughnut to be found. Actually the food offerings were pretty sad. My FB was already disappointed in the hotel and I knew this was not gonna make him happy. Worst breakfast buffet ever, yep this was it. Even the pre-cooked and peeled boiled eggs looked sad and not quite sanitary on their little plate with no ice and no cover.

Well, the big moment arrived and here was FB waiting for the waffle to cook. He had the butter and syrup all ready, his juice was poured. The moment arrived and when I saw him picking at the waffle iron with his waffle removing device I knew this was not good. The top and the bottom of the waffle split and then those portions split and in the end he had about 6 or 7 pieces of waffle. Yum.

It pays to get an education

Tomorrow I am going to car part school. This company I work for is a tad weird so the going to school part is even weirder. My old boss is driving me to one of the plants and we will be educated together. Why this requires an escort/chaperon, I don't know. He knows more than enough about this particular car part. I know next to nothing. Oh well, part of the new position, which is really not a new new position. Just new to me.

Something I find odd about him and my new boss-they both do a lot of driving and driving travel. And they do not leave first thing in the morning. So when we get there it will be too late to see the plant and then we won't go to the plant until 9 in the morning. I guess we will get home around midnight. Shoot, when I used to visit the plants I left before dawn even if it was just to the airport and I was always in the plants by 6:30 at the latest. The plants hate it when corporate people come and don't get to the plant until 9, they think we are all dilettantes.

I am having some issues so I am on the high dosage Imodium. Let us hope this does not turn into an embarrassing moment. Also we are going into the hills with the moonshiners so who knows what we may find to eat. And I cannot eat any crazy ass crap right now. Tummy just will not go there.

Gotta pack, hopefully I can follow up tomorrow on the tablet. We will see.

Halloween

Alas and alack, once again no Halloween for us. We just do not know in advance if we can be home and the worst thing is to decorate up the house and have it dark on Halloween. Too much mischief .

But I do still love Halloween and remembering how to be scared.

My favorite scary things:

Ghost Story by Peter Straub, one of the scariest books ever.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, scary book and movie.

Fright Night, 1985 movie-funny and cute.

The original Dark Shadows. Loved, loved, loved it.

The Thriller Video with Michael, come on that is great.

At least I got to light the fire this weekend. Something new. And cozy.

Have 2 new books to read, The Heavens Rise by Christopher Rice and The Wolves of Midwinter by his mama.

Hooray, I did great

Had a doctor visit today and all is great. Now we have to wait for the bloodwork.

B/P was actually my normal 110/77 for the first time in forever in a doctor's office. Weight loss noted, everything looked good, flu shot did not hurt, blood work did not hurt.

Only 3 downers. Had to admit stress plays a big part in the IBS. This latest stress has really increased the IBS symptoms and problem. So what to do, we take Imodium once or twice a week. And no, on me there is no constipation. As I normally have my stress symptoms a few weeks after the actual incident this should start passing soon.

Biggest question is going to be the cholesterol-new news to me--as women got through menopause they lose the "whatevers" that give certain women the higher HDLs which I used to have. With hormone changes women can and do lose the HDL levels that made them "Gold". So we will see and we talked about different medication if that would be necessary.

The third issue is that on the way into the plant today I had the eye queer thing happen. In my right eye on the outer edges a portion of what I would call a Rubik's cube appears and seems to move around the outer portions of my eye. This lasted about 45 minutes and I felt slightly nauseated while this was happening. It was not making me happy though as this has only happened before when I was on the computer and not when I was driving. Doc looked at the eyes and did not see anything but said I need to see an eye doctor.

Talking about a new position in the company, this could be good. And really happy about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Life is good. And no I am not an appliance from Korea.

Sweetest Day

Yep, we have a stupid made up holiday here in Michigan known as Sweetest Day. So I ask Big Daddy what he is bringing me home for Sweetest Day. He was stumped and stymied as to what I was talking about and then he remembered. As he had gone to Mexico for 6 days and it was a made up stupid holiday I did expect something. He bought flowers and is trying to pass that off as a gift to me. He buys flowers about once a week anyway so that is not gonna fly.

I think I had/have a canker sore in my mouth. I do not know what they are but yesterday I had a terrible pain on the inside of my cheek and what appeared to be a painful bump. Really the whole side of my face hurt. Then it kinda went away and today there is nothing. Now I never really looked at it-nothing good would come from looking-but the bump and pain are gone.

I do have good news for me. The kids are staying in Portland for Christmas and Mama and Big Daddy are planning a trip to go see them and their new environment. It is so exciting. New hotels and restaurants and places to see. And we may be able to go first class as we must use up our miles before Delta declares them useless. And I get to see Punkin Head and The Bride. It will be so exciting. We have not spent Christmas with PH since either New Orleans or Montreal. I can't remember which was the last trip. We never did make it to New York City.

Second Shift

All I have to say, if the second shift operator does not want to put the part on the car correctly, who am I to tell her different.

She is one scary operator.

I have no problem with Da Boss fixing those parts once or twice a week. Uh huh, its all good with me.

Fat, fat, the sewer rat

I think I have used this title before and probably fit then as it does now. Even though I have lost 10 pounds and am still losing weight---I am still fat. This was proven by none other the the security picture taker at the plant. I have not been pushing for the badge as I am not sure I am going to be there long, but they got tired of coming and getting me every day.

Well, today I was approved for the badge at one of the plants and we happily went down to get the picture taken. And they found my old picture. And he put my old picture up next to my new picture and yes I cried like a baby. Not really, but I told him that was just plain mean.

It also means I can go in without fear of never getting out again on second shift. Be still my heart, the last damn thing I wanted was to go in on second shift. But there is an asshat on that shift that cannot put the part on and someone has to come in and fix the parts all the time, not me just can't do it. Maybe I will save my little bag of Better Maid BBQ chips for that visit.

The DIL had a birthday yesterday and I fell asleep and forgot to call her. Fie on me. And I forgot to send her a card. Worse Fie-ing on me. I am not a good MIL this year.

Random Thoughts

I have to admit I am very grateful to still have a job as the "little incident" was really very ugly. Tonight I sent out an email and my new boss sent back a Thank You, that makes me feel better. These plants will be nothing like I am used to. There is no place to take a break, sit and breathe, do a few emails. And there is no one else to talk to, not sharing confidences, just sharing the weather and traffic conversation. Just conversation.

I just saw on the television that a new sign of Alzheimers is to lose your sense of smell in your left nostril first. Now I have to walk around holding one side or the other of my nose trying to smell stuff and looking like a fool. And sure enough I just tested it and it is true, I cannot smell out of my left nostril. WTF.

My new challenge of the day was to measure a fitting on an assembly, I just measured them all until I found one close enough and then started measuring those. This job is gonna kill me.

Detroit's ex-Mayor got 28 years for being an asshat and being a crook. Does not seem long enough to me as he was also lying, cheating, egomaniac.

I just finished reading Empty Mansions, the story of Huguette Clark a copper heiress written by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr. An interesting tale and a good travel book if you don't mind carrying a hardcover. You read and are entertained and can put it down and pick it up again. Am now reading the trashy Catherine Coulter with a new author, The Final Cut. Not that great.

We are now on an austerity program as I went hog wild spending and we cannot sustain my wild ways. I really don't need anything. It was just so long since I could spend money I went a little overboard.

I got a new Sephora order with a new perfume sample from Prada called Candy, and guess what it smells like----Perfume. You know that perfume smell that is just perfume. No special scent, no hint of something, just perfume. Hmm.

Old friends and new challenges

How to describe a day that was just unbelievable. I was called in early for an emergency situation, my parts did not fit the vehicle. Matter of fact the plant believed they were the wrong part totally. Heres the deal, everyone has something they know nothing about. I could talk about for instance, eyelash curlers, and some people may not know what in the world I am referring to. Others may have a vague notion but not really know the particulars about the curlers, only that they are needed to perform the complete makeup job.

Well, I was called in about some parts that make the car go. Go as in move in a forward direction. My previous experience has involved more of the car looking good. Moving was never really a consideration. Now I need to be concerned about this moving forward thing.

There were a lot of really angry looking guys quite pissed off as the part that helped to make the car go was not fitting and none of the cars would ever go anywhere at this rate. They wanted me to look at the parts and tell them what was wrong. Yea, right, they did not understand that I had no clue as to what the part was supposed to look like, and 24 hours earilier I thought all those parts were one and the same.

Yes, with the help of many others I got by and made this work. I sent the pictures and sounded okay and my new boss is happy and the plant is happy and I am so damn relieved. This is gonna cost a bundle though.

Then my other plant calls and wants me to cut a smidge off a part cause they can't train the operators. Cutting a smidge off this part is like me telling you to slice fresh mozzerella in 1/8 inch slivers with no variation, they must all be perfectly the same. Yea, right. And who is gonna pay for this precision work?

I met 2 guys from my past today, got a hug and a hey. Made me feel good.

Adjusting to the new norm

That is what we have been saying since 2009, just an acknowledgement that things will never be the same. Times changed for sure and some of the changes are for the good really. People are no longer strapped to the "company" out of fear or for unrequited loyalty.

My big adjustment to the last plant was to change from my long time phone carrier so I could receive phone calls in the plant. I also went high tech for me with the Jet Pack and a Mophie, I had WiFi and charging capabilities anywhere-anytime. The good part about that is my cell phone now works pretty good at my house. But I am not gonna carry that laptop case over my shoulder into these new plants, too heavy for a very long walk,  and no place to leave them safely, so they won't be stolen,  in the plants.

So tada, Big Daddy is out today doing what he does best, finding me a new appliance for work. I am looking for a smaller tablet that will work with the Jetpack and can be carried in a back pack. Then I need the perfect lightweight backpack. BD has a free one he got from his company when he was in India, but I don't like it for long term. He is checking out the Nexus 7, the iPad mini, and the Samsung Galaxy. I don't need a lot of data storage or graphics, but I don't want to replace it every year either.

My haircut is spectacular. I was starting to love it as she blew it out and at the end one of the assistants wandered over and exclaimed it was fabulous and very youthful. And this gal rarely talks to me. You know she had me at the youthful, but it does look great and although it will take 30 minutes until I get used to it-it should last for 2 days minimum. And I have lost 10 pounds so I do look a little better.

Adding insult to already bruised feelings

I can't say much about what happened at work, after all I do want to keep my well paid job-and I have kept it. There were machinations in the works for a few months to accomplish the task of removing me from the scene. The customer wanted someone young and pliable to do their bidding-which is just not possible even if you wish it.

The problems started at 6:23 in the morning with crazy bullshit and continued until I was escorted from the plant by 2 security guards and 2 salaried personnel. Four people to make sure little ole me did not do something untoward on a Saturday afternoon. Obviously none of these people knew me well as I am just not that motivated to create havoc on a Saturday that I may not be paid overtime for.

A few days later my Mother-In-Law called with the scathing news that everyone in the family was furious with us for not attending our nieces wedding. Well, here is the deal, we were not invited-to our knowledge. We did not get an invitation. Yes, we had a lot more to deal with that weekend then a wedding, but if I had known I would have taken the day off. And been thrown out another day.

So here is a lesson for all the people that think the postcards and shit printed off your computer are "the new norm" for invitations sent by mail. They are not the same as expensive, engraved invitations as they can get lost in the bundle with the pizza circulars and the paid advertising crap. If you can't afford the invitations don't invite so many people.

As for my Mother-In-Law, you have just made me off the chart angry with you. (She does not read this and will never know) Big Daddy talked with his sister, everything is fine, they agreed on the post card thing, we are sending the ever important check, and I now have absolutely no desire to come and visit. And you know what, until we were sitting on the porch at the wedding in Vermont not one person in BD's family had a clue at what I do for a living, and have done for a living since 1998. WTF.

A very hard week

I only clocked in 16.5 hours and it feels like I worked one hundred.

Yesterday I walked 3+ miles and today 4.15 miles and it was not a busy day. Those are only work miles by the way.

My new plants are okay and I think this will work for a while. I think the Big Boss guy is looking for more opportunity and new plants, maybe I can be the Jack of All Trades, it could happen.

Everyone at my old plant is telling my old boss how much they like me and think I got screwed, that is very nice to hear. The  new people seem fine and I just need to remember it takes time to feel comfortable. I remember at the old place after a month or so people just got used to seeing you and started talking and that is how you learn the flavor of the plant and get some people to talk to all day long.

The traffic is much worse in this direction. Sammy is starting to act like a Diva in the mornings.

I need a haircut and getting one in the morning and if it all turns out horrible again, I just might have to take JoAnnes advice and cut the cord. And the vain part of my being wonders if I had blown out and worked on my hair if I would still be there. I no longer go to work with the witchy curly hair do.

Detente

Well, I am still working for my company-they shifted me to 2 other plants. They told my new boss that they really like my work and do not want to lose me. That is very kind, and kindness is not something common in the auto industry.

The nasty little asshats are indeed spreading scurrilous talk about moi, but no one is buying. I think that is hilarious. And I am trying very hard to take the high road here, as long as I have my job there are no damages and I would like to keep working. BUT in my mind I just keep calling the one lady a fat cow, and not just because she was fat (she weighed enough to anchor the Titanic) but because of her arrogant and nasty "holier than thou" attitude. She is the one who will never marry and complain that no good guys that are interested in a smart, intelligent woman.

So yes I have calmed down and back to working at 2 different plants. This should be fun as they have new parts I am not familiar with and my boss can use my knowledge of one of the major commodities we do ship into the plants.

And once again I have sticky shoes. Both of these plants use lubricants to put on parts. The one plant has a little spray bottle and uses it judiciously. The other one has a swabbing mop and slops this shit on like he is paid by the pint used. Woo Baby.

I will tell you one thing, if it is electric-over 80,000 US dollars and not Tesla, take a pass. Just a personal opinion.