Animoto.com

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

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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.

Hurry Up And Wait

I am currently sitting in a yard in the Karratha Light Industrial Area (LIA) waiting to unload. I left Perth yesterday with a 39t concrete block on the float that is destined to be used in the construction of the new LNG wharf at Dampier.
After an uneventful trip up here I am stuck while the mechanic works on the crane that will be used to unload me. Last trip up here (about 5 days ago) they had the same trouble with the crane and I fully expected it to be fixed for this trip. The crane runs for a short time before shutting down – unfortunately it doesn’t run long enough to complete the lift and let me get out of the way.
Luckily I’m not in a rush this afternoon. I have to be in Port Hedland (200km north) tomorrow morning to reload used conveyer belt to take back to Perth, so as long as they get me unloaded today I will be happy.
Might have a sleep though ; )

Cheers, Mike.