What a weekend!

This weekend, I washed the outside of the RV, did two weeks' worth of laundry, shampooed the carpets, washed down the walls and ceiling, serviced the air conditioner, and waxed the cabinet doors.
Today, I'm bathing the dog!

We start working nights this week. I tried to stay up late so that I would sleep in. That didn't really work out like I had planned. I still woke up at 6:30 this morning. I'll try to take a nap today. We will be working from 4:00 pm to 2:30 am.

So far last week, we built out the CMR and cored the 7 penetrations. Then built the 8 penetrations downwards onto the ladder rack. We've pulled the 3/0 copper halfway - it's very heavy and hard to pull. Today we'll finish that up.

Every firewall penetration has to be logged and labeled. There are tons of them.
But the job is coming along just fine.

I need to call the office and make sure everything we need is added to Mike's truck this morning. I'm also getting my new laptop battery today, yayy!

You have a great day.
MsAmber

...and the project begins.

Mike and I did our walk-through yesterday. This job is going to be as perfect as I can possibly make it.
There are requirements for inspections and random testing. I have to keep a log of all wall penetrations. Ten-foot service loops at each end, support every 5 feet, a drop density of three cables per 60 square feet, complete clean-up nightly, split the bundles and terminate from left and right, perfection, perfection, perfection. I love it. If I have a good crew, this should be the acme of installs. I've made my notes of subjects to discuss, and written down today's goals.

I do have a spot of great news:

Yesterday morning, I went and met with my neighbor Ernest(with the dogs), and asked him for a dog-whistle. I mentioned that I wouldn't mind helping him to train them not to bark, as I will be working nights and sleeping days. He seemed fairly receptive to the idea. When I walked Megabyte, they went into hysterical barking, so we just stood there and let them wear themselves out. I went to work at 10. When I arrived back home at 3, I walked near their cage and they barked, so I told them to hush and they did. I was really surprised.
This morning, Ernest knocked on my door, and I told him that the dogs are doing great, I told them to hush and they did, and I was happy about that. He told me that at lunch yesterday he bought a barking-trainer. It's a birdhouse that hangs from the tree and when the dogs bark, it emits an annoying sound. It works great, the boys have stopped their incessant barking. I thanked him and told him it was working wonderfully. I'm so happy! That was so nice of him. The problem is solved and Ernest and I aren't enemies. Isn't that cool?

The only obstacle left to peace-and-quiet is the shrew with the toddler. It turns out that the toddler isn't the noisy one, it's his mother. She has such a grating, loud nature. She hollers at the kid like she doesn't like him. Quit! Stop! No! Don't! --- Just like a shrew. She's pregnant, and smokes cigarettes worse than me. You should hear her coughing and hacking in the morning. Ugh!

Oh well. C'est la vie.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

Sometimes, everything is hilarious.

So I called around at the three rv parks here in Altus. Only one seemed to have plenty of space, but the lady didn't know. She walked around and called me back. She said she and her husband just bought the place and was still quite new at it.
I got here and took a look at the two spaces she had thought of for me.
I decided on one with a big tree, got permission to cut a branch off, and wiggled my rv into the spot.

My sewer line runs over to my front yard, the water is located at the front right corner, only the electricity is in it's proper place. I got set up, and only then did I realize that the two gigantic barking dogs next to me never shut up and the family right behind me have a screaming toddler. This will be fun! We will be working nights and sleeping during the day.
I shall invest in ear plugs, I'm sure.


Today, Mike and I will go get our badges and do our walk-through. He is the PM, but he's still obligated to another project, so I'll pretty much be running the thing. He stopped by my rv last night and we sat out on the patio and discussed important matters such as: fill ratios, working hours, the location of the nearest Wal-Mart, etc.
I am really very glad to be back on a project. I was getting a little stir-crazy.


It's 6:00 am, I was awakened by the cacophony of hundreds of birds singing in the tree that overhangs my bedroom. Now that it's starting to get daylight, they seem to have simmered down a bit.

I think I will invest in a dog-whistle. It seems the best solution to the barking dogs next door. They spend the day in a 10X10 chain-link kennel, and they are huge black labs. Their owner didn't show up until 9:00 last night. I'll just train the damn things. Wish me luck.

Well, today has begun, you have a wonderful one.
MsAmber

I'm feeling hopeful again.

The boycott of Amber is officially over. It was silly to begin with. They've put me back on a project, I'm headed to Altus AFB down in the Southwest corner of Oklahoma. I know I'm not everybody's cup-of-tea, but goodness, it seems once you get on somebody's shit-list, it takes a while to get back off of it. In this case: it took seven months. Meanwhile, I had to stay stubborn and pretend I didn't care. Grovelling wouldn't have improved the situation, and with these guys: you can't show weakness or they'd have eaten me alive. The pecking order is restored, all is right with the world.

It's a cold, rainy Saturday in Blanchard Oklahoma. It's been rainy and stormy for a couple of days. I'm drinking coffee this morning, playing some Bob Dylan, simmering some cinnamon oil, have the door open and the heater on. I like living alone. No-one to nag about my wasting electricity or annoying me about being in a Bob Dylan mood. Megabyte doesn't seem to mind.

My agenda for today is to get the propane tank filled, re-organize the van, and start securing the floatation in the rv. I have to meet Rusty some time today to pick up a Lucent Partner processor. Monday morning first thing I have to do a quick service call to Frederick USPS. Their phone system took a lightning hit. I have to rig up tomorrow and drive to Altus, run the service call on Monday, then go to the AFB to start the project. I should be on the project for two months, but I'm not the PM this time, just the lead tech. They wanted to keep me freed up so I can leave the project if another comes through.

I finally ordered a new battery for my laptop. It should be in next Friday, I'll pay for it over the phone then send my boss to pick it up and transport it to me. It was actually only $108. If I'd have known that, I would have bought one sooner.

The big knuckle on the pointer-finger of my left hand has hurt for three weeks now. I'm not sure how I bungled it up, but it is really annoying. I told my Dad about it and he gave me a roll-on bottle of a supposed horse liniment: DMSO Dimethyl Sulfoxide. I'm a little wary about it. It's only indicated as a solvent, and the instructions declare that any use other than as a solvent is strictly the responsibility of the end-user. Hmmm. Several people swear by it, I'll give it a try; I'll try anything if it will help this pain. The laughable part of it though: whoever heard of a roll-on solvent?
It's not really a stretch, I've heard of people using WD-40 for arthritis, and it reminds me of the Greek father in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" who declared Windex as the cure for everything. That still makes me chuckle.

I borrowed a really neat old book. The 1946 edition of "Pauline Bonaparte - A Woman Of Affairs". She was the youngest sister of Napoleon. I'm pretty enthusiastic about reading it. It's a fragile old book. I just love old books.

Well, I should hop in the shower and try to get my task list knocked out before I have to go get that processor. You have a great day.

MsAmber