In The Nick Of Time?

After my last post I heard the company I used to work for has laid off 12 employees. There is no way of knowing if I would have been among those unfortunate people but at least I wasn’t left high and dry, like I imagine some of them would have been.

Changing Jobs – Again

Made the hard decision to move on to another job yesterday. I started to put feelers out for other work a few weeks ago and got three offers in that time. It wasn’t “serious” job hunting when I started but as time progressed it became more obvious that “these hard economic times” where having an effect on my employer and I began to worry about their ability to continue to carry the staff numbers they currently have. I finally made the decision to go before I was shoved (and while I still had money in the bank!) after I was asked to extend my rostered week long break by using my accrued holidays or taking unpaid leave.

After agreeing to use up my holidays, I weighed up the situation overnight and spoke to one or two people in the company, then rang them back the next day telling them I had I job I could go to immediately if they where prepared to let me go on the spot. I wasn’t all that surprised when they agreed as I had heard several people where already told their jobs no longer existed. Whilst I had done my job satisfactorily and had not received any black marks against my name ,apart from that YouTube video that met with frowns of disapproval, I still felt happier knowing events where under my control and that I wasn’t faced with an unexpected and ill-timed mass retrenchment when the rest of my workmates could be competing with me for whatever jobs where available at an unknown point in the future.

I hope the company does manage to come out the other side intact and that my (former) workmates do not lose their jobs, but I don’t envy the uncertainty they will be feeling for a while yet. I’m also VERY glad I didn’t decide to buy that new car I wanted several months ago – I think my old car will do me for a while yet. (It might need a bit of work though…at least I won’t have a loan hanging over my head).

Cheers, Mike.

Animoto.com

New slideshow of pics taken at work while setting up a 400t Liebherr crane.

Animoto.com

Found this site (Animoto.com) which makes some pretty cool slide shows.

IPod Touch and WordPress

Just discovered an app that enables me to blog from my Touch. Seems pretty cool, using it to write this post. But I will keep it short because typing on the Touch isn’t that quick.
The app is in iTunes app store and is free-may be worth checking out. Just look for the “WordPress” app.

Cheers, Mike.

Ah, The Luxury!

Three days into my week off on break and I’m just starting to wind down from full-on “work mode”.
Catching up with family and friends, stocking up on reading material to take with me when I go back to work and buying more jocks and socks. Can’t have too many jocks! Also, loading up my new iPod Touch with heaps of audio and video content to keep me occupied during my 4 week shift when I head back to work.
I have a list as long as my arm of other things to do while I at home but, realistically, there is only so much you can achieve. The best I can hope for is to take care of the important things and let everything else ride. Banking and paying accounts I can take care of over the net but it’s the personal contact things that present a problem. Being a truck driver it’s really hard to remain in contact (face to face) with my friends in the industry – given time time we all end up in the same place eventually. But eventually can be a very long time!
I have been lucky enough to spend the last three days with my daughter, although it has seemed to be one expense after another. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining. I look at it as an investment in the future : when I get old and decrepit she will be obligated to pay for my catheter bags ; )
Every parent has their revenge on their offspring!

Cheers, Mike.

Whoa Back!

I recently changed employers. I put it that way because it sounds better than saying “I chucked in my job”.
My main motivation for “changing employers” was money, money, money! I have to say I was quite happy at my last job. I liked the boss, I liked the work and while the pay rate wasn’t fantastic it was in line with other drivers doing the same job for other companies.
The new job is a Fly In/Fly Out (FIFO) driving position for a crane hire company. Still driving roadtrains but carting all of the crane associated equipment such as counter wieghts and lifting gear. It’s a real change of pace, believe me!
At first I couldn’t adjust to the change of pace. Twenty years of working for frieght orientated companies is hard to override when I start working for a crane company and the trucks are a minor part of the operation – not the focus.
Hanging around the yard for 10hrs straight isn’t much fun. Even after the truck has been washed, polished, Armorall’d, greased, etc, etc. (How much can you do to keep busy?)
The upside is the pay for sitting/waiting. A lot of jobs come in with short notice. To mobilise a crane takes a support crew and to recall the crew from off-duty usually presents problems. If they want to pay me to sit around playing with my…um, yeah – just waiting, I’m cool with that. I just have to develop strategies to deal with doing bugger all, to keep me sane.
On a slightly different note : my last flight back from Newman. I really feel sorry for the young bloke sitting next to me on the Quantas Boeing 717 last trip. The poor fella started getting a bit flustered even before we began to taxi onto the strip. I wasn’t wearing my Sunday best but I didn’t fancy getting puked on, let alone having to travel the whole way home smelling of someone else’s puke. Luckily he he did the right thing and kept it to himself.
At the moment I am enjoying a week of R & R. Catching up with family and friends, getting a good supply of books to take back out with me. I lashed out and bought a iPod Touch and I’m loving it! My 4yr old 30Gb iPod classic is starting to fail (it’s had a hard life) and I’m stocking the Touch up with plenty of content before I fly back out to work.
Got to go and fire up the BBQ now so I’ll catch you later.

Cheers, Mike.

Change Of Pace

Last week I took the plunge and switched jobs. I am now driving trucks for a crane company (who it is I will keep to myself for now ).
It is a change of pace for me! In the past I have always worked for transport/freight orientated companies and this company is a crane service, first and foremost. Transport is an integral part of their operations but not their prime focus. I am, basically, here to ensure that all the extraneous crane equipment is onsite when they need it. The equipment includes all lifting chains, counter weights and outrigger “bog mats”.
It might not sound like much but when you consider that the current “largest” crane is a 400t slew crane – the counter weights’ required for a heavy lift can occupy several triple roadtrains when a major relocation is needed. Rumour has it that a larger crane is on it’s way.
So far I have been “bored shitless” between crane jobs. The company flew me into Leonora (Western Australia’s Goldfields) for my intial introduction to the company. When I arrived there I found my self to be the third truck driver onsite competing for the sole truck still running out of the depot. Usually there are two trucks running out of the Leonora depot but one truck had blown a turbo and was slated for a new gearbox while the second truck had a driver already in it. (Since then, the first truck is back on the road – the driver in the “operational” truck has left, but the driver on holidays has returned so it leaves us back where we started).
Several days after I arrived the company sent me 1000km north to the Newman depot where they where one driver short. The first two days I was here I washed whatever vehicle was in the yard (just to keep myself occupied) because there wasn’t any need for me. It is really, really hard for me to adjust to hanging around the yard! I am so used to being busy or simply going home if there is no work. Up here I am about 1200kmk from home so I don’t have that option. Also, all of the staff are expected to hang around in case a rush job comes up and they have to mobilise straight away. Right now I am running out of stuff to do and I am finding it really hard to look busy, let alone BE busy!

Cheers, Mike.

What Is It With Bigpond!?

Ever since I bought my Bigpond aircard, so I could access the ‘net with my laptop while I was on the road, I have had trouble viewing my useage on the “My Bigpond” accounts page. For the last few days I have been getting the “Technical Error” page (above), whereas, in the past, the page used to eventually load.
I have tried viewing the page using two different computers on two different internet connections and tried two different browsers on both.
I have tried contacting Bigpond by telephone but I gave up after I became so frustrated with their automated phone system that I nearly threw the phone through an LCD monitor.
I tried their online chat available on the webpage, but after sitting there looking at the screen telling me I was second in the queue and had 11 seconds to wait for about an hour I came to the conclusion that Bigpond doesn’t really give a shit about their customers. Their website seems more geared towards getting new customers, not servicing the needs of existing customers. I mean, the ads on the page load quicker than anything else I’ve seen. I can load overseas websites (constantly refreshed pages-not cached pages) quicker than I can load the Bigpond website using the Bigpond/Telstra network!
Now that Bigpond has introduced shaping for the plan I’m using I don’t have to worry about going over my monthly download limit and getting charged huge excess fees, but, to regulate my useage for the whole month to ensure I don’t end up at 64kbs down speed half way through that month I have to be able to access my useage meter on Bigpond’s site.
I resorted to sending an email complaining about the matter, using a link on their page. I’m not really expecting a reply – given the content of the email (not obscene-just prickly). Probably my email will be “water off a ducks back”, just like everything else “Bigpond” related.

On the edge, Mike.

Scum Of The Earth

Break And Enter

You’ve really got to love the people in this world that think because some people have something they don’t, they are entitled to come along and just take it.
Ok, the truck isn’t mine ( I just drive it ) but the contents of the truck belong to ME! I work hard to EARN the money I use to buy my stuff. I spend long hours putting up with all sorts of shit and idiots to scrape together a living. I spend many nights away from home and family so I can enjoy some of the little luxuries that hard work brings me.

Subtle

Then along comes some prick with a brick – probably never done an honest days work in his life – and he decides that what’s mine should really be his. So, to get at it, he causes nearly as much dollar value in damage as the cost of the equipment he steals.
I was pretty lucky. Two trucks where broken into at the yard. The other truck was stripped of stereo/speakers and other equipment inside the cab. I lost a GPS ( the most expensive item ) and phone charger/ipod charger and a jacket. The GPS was over two years old and I was looking at updating it but I really loved that jacket! Shitheads.

Really pissed off, Mike.