You know you work in a factory when...

Well, as you all well know, I am spending my summer sweating my way through working in a factory. I thought i would let you all know some of the red flags that tell you that you are employed at a factory:

• The average temperature is 150 degrees even though the broken themometer is stuck at 65.
• Your co-workers look like they are walking, living exhibits at the American Tatoo and Piercing Museum.
• Since the radio is constantly blaring your local rock station, you have memorized every song that is played and every radio ad.
• The vending machines in the break room contain not only pop and chips, but cheeseburgers, chicken salad, and several other item that you would rather not eat from a vending machine...trust me they are pretty gross.
• During break, you sit at a table and listen to your co-workers discuss their illegal activities...prior convictions and drug use are the main topics.
• You know the difference between a multi-depth and a koozie box by sight...this might just apply to the place i work.
• You have mastered how to use a tape gun...trust me, they aren't the easiest.
• The tips of your fingers are burnt from taking extremely hot parts off the line.
• You have a line....
• No matter how much the clean, it is never clean...

Well, i guess that is enough for now. Actually, the factory hasn't killed me...yet. I only have about 18 or 19 more days of actual work.

So my church is building a fence around the "lake" that we bought next door. Since my factory is just down the road from my church, i have been walking down after work, helping with the fence, and waiting for Charles to take me home. It has been fun...my youth director is the one in charge of this whole fence thing. I haven't really been able to talk to him since i went to college. I don't know why there sometimes seems to be this line drawn between the college students and the youth director. I mean, just two short years ago i was in that youth group, and my youth director's family had a GREAT impact on my life. Anyway, we had a great time laughing and joking around. It is amazing to me how even though i was super exhausted after work, i was able to work for about 2 1/2 hours at the church. Well, i'm kinda sleepy...

Citizen of Reality

Ok, so it is 9am on a Monday, and what am i doing online writing a blog. Well, it is a long story that begins at 4am this morning. Well, at 4am this morning, i was rudely evicted from dreamland and forced to once again become a citizen of reality. Now that early in the morning, reality can be one cruel terrain. I couldn't find anything...i couldn't do anything right. I finally got out the door about 5 minutes later than I normally do...but still early enough to get to work on time. So i got to work, and went in and sat in the break room for a few minutes until i was supposed to start work. Well, at 5, i went out and talked to the lady that i normally talk to and she told me that they didn't have anything for me to do. She sent me to another guy, but he didn't have anything for me either, so i called my temp. service to see if i could go home, since walking out on an assignment is considered a voluntary quit. I called at 5:10 and the girl that got my call told me she couldn't page anyone until six (translation: sorry they aren't even awake yet, so you'll have to wait until they get out of bed and slip into their fuzzy bunny slippers). So i sat in a break room and waited until about 6:30. I was starting to get slightly steamed. I called my service again...once again the girl said she would page the guy i needed to talk to. So i sat and waited some more. When seven o'clock rolled around, i was ready to walk, so i called my service for the last time. The office was open so i was finally able to talk to the guy i had to. He told me what i knew he would the whole time...go home...he said he would call me back later.

Well, he has called me three times now assigning me to three different places, and it is only 9:15. My final assignment, and he has assured me it is my final assignment, is at the factory i worked at last year...no matter how much i complained about it this year (and i'm sure i will in the future) it is not nearly as horrible as the other places i have worked. Anyway, i am glad that my shift has changed. I now work from 11-7:30 (so church on wednesdays is going to be interesting...guess i'll be running and changing in the restroom...good thing the factory is right across the road from my church).

I have a ton of other things i could write about, but i think i am going to go get some sleep, since it feels like 4am was an eternity ago.

Mark- i know you love country fried steak (unless its chewy and served by a 98 year old woman who doesn't know how to discount a check)...but too bad you have to give up that plate of lard for your diet...either give it up, or eat nothing else for a week...maybe i wouldn't hate it so bad if Crown didn't serve their nasty version three times a week.

My mind is on break...check back later

Ok, so i found this cartoon online and though it was pretty funny. My friend and i were talking about turkey subs tonight...I know random topic, but as i said in an earlier blog, without the random things life would be so predictable. Besides, it reminded me of cleaning out the fridge at the end of the semester...but some of that stuff was there for FAR longer than three weeks. Turkey is my favorite...i have always loved turkey. I guess i was just never really into ham or bologna. I personally find most of it revolting. Sunday night sandwiches were never my friend when it came to having ham every single Sunday night (and don't forget that nasty cheese). Ick!! I may miss Crown, but i don't really miss those gag bags. And as surprising as it may be i haven't eaten a hot pocket in about ummm...since April. While i am on the subject of food, i have to correct something from a previous blog. In a previous entry, i commented that i would choose reese's pieces any day over reese's cups. Well, that has changed and i must admit that i am now a reese's cup fan. Now don't expect this to make me go soft on the milky way issue...i am hard core milky way...even though i haven't eaten a candy bar since april either, but if i did, it would definitely be milky way. Okay, so i just caught a glimpse of a plate of country fried steak on television...gag me. If there is one food i would rather die than eat...Country Fried steak would be it.

Today was blissful, wonderful, relaxing, glorious...etc. Why you may ask, well today was my day off. i love those words. i got to sleep in and just bum around all day. I now have a rule for my fridays off...no brain activity allowed. Now my job doesn't take much if any brain activity (or else most of the ppl working there wouldn't have lasted), but for my day off i prefer a nearly comatose state. Hopefully my mind will return from it's break sometime before September. Anyway, I have tomorrow and Sunday off too, but they will be far busier than today...however, rather than working i will be doing things i want to do!!!

Sore and Tired

So my first two days of work are done. Praise the Lord, two down and only 15 to go...i might work a few days of overtime, but not anytime soon. I am so sore right now, amd everytime i move i am reminded of the muscles that i forgot i had. Good thing i have off tomorrow. Let me give you a quick description of what i do. I get up at 4am...the only one who seems happy about this is my dog, who immediately wants to play. I then get ready and get to work by 5am...this is crazy. I start unloading "baskets" -large bins full of metal parts that have been dipped in acid. At first it wasn't that bad, and i thought, i can survive this. Then i spent 20 hours in two days moving metal. Imagine lifting about 15-20 lbs...not too hard, but now do about 8,000 repetitions. At least my arms will be pretty toned by the time i'm done with this job. When i am waiting for a new basket to come out, i grab a broom, and sweep the floor. I still haven't quite figured out why since the floor never comes clean. Of course there is the atmosphere...it is a factory. Some of you don't know what that means so let me fill you in. There are an unsual amount of women working at this factory...i have never seen so many manly women in my life. There is no end to the Nascar shirts and "man"ish haircuts. Then you go to the break room and see almost every one of these women reading harlequin romance novels...it is kind of creepy. I know you all find this side-splitingly (i don't think that is really a word) hilarious...but i assure you it's not. O by the way, i haven't worked with stove grates yet, but i'm sure they are coming.

There has been one bright spot...besides going home. I took my cd player in today (since i pretty much work by myself, i can listen to my own music). I took a pcc cd and Monica's cd and i was listening to them when the only semi-normal person in the factory walked up. He speaks Spanish primarily, but his english is really good. He started listening to the music and looked at me and asked me if it was Christian. I told him it was, and then he asked, "Are you a Christian?" I told him i was, and i told him that I am earning money to go back to Bible college. The idea of a Bible college seemed to shock him a bit and he asked me questions about it all day. He told me he goes to a Spanish church in the area. It was a real encouragement to learn that i am working with a Christian.

Wednesday night our church had service at a local park because our church is being renovated. It was awesome. Even though it was pouring down rain until about five minutes before service started we had about 150 people. I talked to some of my friends afterward, and tried to stay as late as i possibly could, but i had to leave, so i could get some sleep.

I hate stove grates

Ok, so i was going to blog last night, but i just couldn't think of what to say or exactly how to say it. Well, today has been pretty eventful. I got up, and started my day like any other. This afternoon, i called my temp. agency again. Now i know i said that i would rather sell an internal organ on ebay before i went back to working in a factory, but unfortunately i found out that was illegal. So tomorrow morning i start my second summer of factory work. I get to help make something really exciting...stove grates...ok, i guess they aren't that exciting, and i know that for the rest of my life whenever i see a stove, i will shudder involuntarily. My hours are kind of crazy...5am-3pm, mon-thurs. Yep, its ten hours a day...but i get a three day weekend. Just pray for me because i am really not looking forward to it. Anyway, i am also working on getting a job at the convenience store down the road from my house...i got to talk to the manager today and she said it shouldn't be a problem to hire me for a few hours a day. So all you people i talk to online...i prob. won't get to talk to you as much as i want. Give me a call...after 3pm...but don't worry i will be living online on the weekends. Well, i gotta go find some stuff for tomorrow, and get some sleep, so i can get up at 4am tomorrow. Pray for me cause i hate this...i just have to remember why i am doing this...so i can go back to school...Trust me its worth it.

A hundred things running through my head...

So i have about a hundred things on my mind right now. i don't even know where to really start. I guess a good place is to thank the Lord for my friends (i know i do this sometimes)...i just really needed to laugh tonight, and they really came through. I have learned this summer about true friendship. I have learned that a friend isn't someone who just tolerates you, or someone that will hang out with you if they have nothing better to do. i know some people in my life are like that, but i am truly blessed to have an abundance of good friends.

I went to a funeral today, and i guess it really made me think. I wasn't thinking about how short life is...she was older. I was thinking about what people would say about me if i was in that casket. Would i leave a legacy? Would people notice i was even gone? I mean, i know people might noticed i'm not hanging around, but have i really impacted someone's life? Maybe it is kind of prideful to think like that, to think how i will be remembered...i don't know.

So i think i am just going to change the name of my blog to the "Creepy guy chronicles." I seriously want to know why every creepy guy in this world has this GPS tracking system zeroed in on me. Ok, let me back up and tell you the story. So, after the funeral, Charles and i ran to Wal-mart. Charles had to run in for a minute, so i decided to just stay in the car. It was a nice day, so the windows were down. Here i was sitting in the parking lot, when this really creepy guy starts walking toward the car. When i say really creepy, i mean a man who is at least fifty years old, dressed head to toe in camo. Even his neon orange hat was camo. As he got closer, i noticed he had a nasty beard and some pretty scary teeth. To top is all off, he was carrying a dog. So anyway, he walks up to my car and just starts talking to me...well, talking to me and his little dog. I just sat there kinda stunned. I mean, what do you say to a guy who looks like he just stepped out of America's most wanted and is standing there talking to his dog? Anyway, the guy finally left my car, and walked over to the end of the parking lot. I kept my eye on him, since i couldn't really put the windows up since Charles had the keys with him. The guy started walking back toward my car, so i whipped out my phone and pretended to be talking to my roommate. I don't think i have ever been so happy to see my brother leave walmart in my whole life. Speaking of creepy guys, bubba is online. He hasn't said more than hi yet, so lets hope it stays that way.

Another thing on my mind. I read a blog tonight, and it made me think...do i believe what i believe just because someone told me to believe it, or do i believe because I know it's true. I know that many men of God know more than i do, but i believe that God gives light to anyone who is truly searching for it.

Man, i have so much running through my head right now, and most of it i just don't feel like i can share with anyone right now...some i don't think i will be able to share ever

Fireworks and Waterworks

So...Wow...i haven't blogged in a week. I guess i have conquered the addiction and proven that i can stop anytime. Even more suprising is that it isn't that i haven't had anything to say, i have just been really busy. I know...hard to imagine me busy, but it's true. I know it's shocking. Well, since i haven't blogged in so long, i just wanted to warn you that this might be a pretty long one.

On Saturday, my dad got shipped out to New York to help with the flooding. Well, as you all well know, my parents have been remodelling their bathroom for about....eternity. Well, Friday before he left, he worked on it for a while, but it is still no where near done. (**Tip: if you want to remodel a bathroom, save up your money and hire a professional that can have it done in a weekend**) Well, before he left there was a problem with a little leaky pipe, but they fixed it, and he was on his way. They obviously didn't fix it very well because Sunday night after church i got a call telling me that our house was flooded, and we needed to get home. This started a deja vu of a certain closet flooding incident from school. Anyway, Charles and i were supposed to go over to a friend's house, but we went home to see if there was anything we could do...there wasn't, so we were back on our way out. The guy that has been helping my dad fix the bathroom came and turned off the water to the whole house while we were gone. Trust me, not having water can be pretty nasty.

Well, on monday, the guy came over to fix it so Charles had to call off work so he could help. Normally, I wouldn't care whether or not Charles works, but i really wanted to go see fireworks in Conneaut with some friends. So i was glad he called off. We went to see the fireworks, and they were awesome. Pretty much the best fireworks display i have ever seen. And i had a blast hanging out with Charles, Krissy, and Tom. We stayed at Krissy and Tom's house and talked for about an hour after the fireworks were over. The only spot on this pretty much perfect evening was a super creepy guy that wouldn't stop talking to me the whole time we were watching fireworks. He had to be at least 40. When he found out i wasn't from around there he decided to give me a history of the town. We were hoping that once the display started he would be content to sit and watch the fireworks and let us do the same, but nope, he insisted on telling us pretty much every detail of the show. Why is it every creepy guy on this planet feels totally comfortable talking to me? We did discover that the more we talked amongst ourselves...the less he talked to us, so we did a lot of talking.

After the great show on Monday, we went to our church on Tuesday to watch the fireworks that are shot off nearby...and once again, they did not disappoint. It was again the worst fireworks display in all of PA. I mean when you have the same four fireworks shot off over and over for about 15 minutes, it is a little boring. And as for a "grand finale," they shot off about six fireworks at the same time, and then it was over. But it was fun hanging out and talking to people.

So obviously no one cares one way or another about mint ice cream!