My New Career

After 45 years of working as an engineer and then sales guy, I'm starting a new career as an elecctrical techinician. From professional worker to tradesman. You likely are asking why?

First of all, I want to continue working. I've no interest in playing golf, or boating, or fishing. None of the hobby stuff. I thought maybe God would call me into ministry at the church, or with some non-profit but that hasn't happened, at least to any extent. I did start a new prison ministry thingwith Prison Fellowship (I'm facilitating an Academy class) but that's just Wednesday afternoon.

I've also realized recently, that working in a business matches up much more with my mind set, than working with in a non-profit environment. That's a whole other story and maybe I'll write a blog about that sometime, but right now, I'm focused on this new job.

I have to say that I'm a little nervous. Partly just in starting a new job.. what to wear, how to act, etc. What happens when I have to go to the bathroom after all?

But the biggest concern is, will I be able to work all day? I work around the house and in the woods and I can go at it pretty hard, but I haven't worked all day solid since I don't know when. So this is going to be interesting for sure.

I'm looking forward to the work. I'm looking forward to working the Terry and his company. He's a good guy I think. I know he really does serve his customers, and I like that entirely. I'm looking forward to learning new stuff too.

Lastly, I'm wondering if I should record my journy as video or if writing it is better. I think if you can make the videos interesting, the audience is potentially larger. People like to watch videos, but not many sit around reading blogs anymore I don't think.

December 7, 2022 - I had the first day of work yesterday. I was able to work all day with no problem. Some of the wiring bending (bending really heavy wire) was more than I had the strengh to do, but Ray was more than able. I feel so blessed to have this job. The guys are great to work with. Terry is a great boss and company owner. I'm proud to work for this company. Just an example, we pray at lunch time, with each man having a day that he prays. I'm thankful to God to be able to have this job.

December 13, 2022 - After the third day of work, I was not sleeping at night. I was hot. We had worked all day in the cold and I suppose my body adjusted. At any rate, I did fall a sleep for short while and had a vivid dream. I dreamt that I went to my grandmothers house. It was rather dark and old fashioned. It felt wonderful to be there. At home but not at home. I had no pants on, and I heard someone coming. I went into another room and struggled to pull my underwear up but it kept snagging or bunching. Finally I had it half on and then pulled my pants on. I went back into the other room and my grandfather was saying to two teenagers, "You aren't catching fish? Then you need to .... I don't remember his instructions). Then you will catch fish." He said this emphatically. They went away, assured that they would catch fish. Then he saw me and said, what's the matter? I said, "I was supposed to go to work, today but forgot and came here. I don't know how I could forget to go to work. Connie was driving me, but I can't blame it on her." I felt very embarrased that I missed work. then as I awoke, I imagined what I would tell Terry. I would say that I was embarrassed, but going to grandmas was wonderful. How long has it been since you went to grandma's house?" I thought about how speacial that was, and how it's usually only available to children. Sometimes a teen ager is able to go to grandma's house. But even so, it's special for a child. Leaving home, and going somewhere like home (safe, secure) that is not home. Grandma's is a special place!

December 20, 2022 - I got paid yesterday. Terry gave me a $2.00 raise in the first paycheck. I guess he thinks I'm doing OK. I do try to be productive, and contribute as much as possible. I try to demonstrate a possitive attitude. It's seems a little funny to be the new guy who needs to prove himself, but I also sort of like that. It keeps you on your toes. It brings out your best. And I really appreciate the raise that says the effort showed.

December 21, 2022 - Big winter storm coming on Friday. Wind, severe cold and some (who knows how much) snow. Will it result in generator service calls? Will I be engaged to help? The suspense is thick. ;-)

December 28, 2022 - A day of maintenance. It started out at 28 degrees and warmed up to 39. I am tired, but feel good.
Terry said he worked last Saturday from 9AM until 7PM on service calls. I will volunteer for such duty in the future. I think it will be fun and rewarding, even in the severe weather. People need help, and they will be glad you showed up to help.

January 2, 2023 - Had my first servce call. I knew this was going to happen, and warned Terry a few weeks ago. I told him someone is going to call me and ask, "Hey, can you help me with my generator?" I told him I was going to say, "Yes, but I work for Terry and he will send you a bill." It happened today. I didn't have the needed battery, so I'll be back there tomorrow testing and replacing the battery. And cleaning the whole thing up. Also, the customer said to go ahead and put it on the list for annual maintenance.

February 25, 2023 - Terry took me to the Generac Air Cooled class this past week. We passed the class and got our Air Cooled Certified Technician certificate. Whoohoo! I enjoyed the class, learned a lot and enjoyed traveling for business for the first time in a long time.

March 2, 2023 - We installed a generator with a transfer switch with distribution panel and were done by noon. The wire run was fairly short, but never the less, I was surprised at how quickly this went. We worked as a team and got things done. It was really enjoyable. Then in the afternoon, we replaced four eight foot fluorescent bulbs in a sign with LED bulbs. It was a bit of a puzzle about getting the bulbs out, but we eventually figured it out and got the job done. It was interesting, and challenging, The weather was fairly cold because the wind was blowing, but otherwise, it was enjoyable work.

March 23, 2023 - Terry bought a Chevy Express van the other day, and is getting it fitted out. I've spent a lot of hours the past two weeks looking at software packages. We need to do routing for all of the about 600 stops we make, and we want to collect information about the generators - what service calls have been made, where they're located on the property, etc. Finally today, I got a system built, or maybe more accurately wired together. It's not sophisticated. But being simple was a key requirement. It felt good to finally get something workable in place. We'll see how it works.

April 16, 2023
We finally got the truck all set up and started doing maintenance last week. The weather was perfect, but my coworker and I both got sick. We were OK on Tuesday, but on Thursday, we were not good. We pushed through and got seven generators done in spite of having a few issues. It showed what we are made of and what we are capable of.

On Friday and Saturday I was working to collect some of the final tools that we needed, and to refine some of the appointments in the truck. I think we now have everything about optimal. We'll see how things go the next few days.

April 29, 2023 - I've been doing maintenance for two weeks now. We've refined what we've been doing and are now checking machines to see if the valves need adjusted, and adjusting if needed. We saw on Thursday that 3 out of five machines we check needed adjustment. So I think we're going to be doing a lot of valve adjustments. We got better at it just doing those machines. We'll get even better.

I can't say that I enjoy the administrative part of the job, but it needs to be done, and I'm sure it will get easier over time.