I know I have told Dad this story already, but I might as well tell it here instead of calling everyone.
Everyone knows last year I threw my back out days before going to see Alice in Chains play in Milwaukee. Within a few weeks of that problem, I found that my insurance was all messed up and the insurance company wanted to take back all the money it paid for services that were done 18 months before then.
Well, the hospital was going to work with me and negotiate a new price once everything was taken care of. I called in the spring and early in the summer to see what the status was, and the lady said nothing has come through yet, but will get to it so my credit will not be screwed up by this situation.
Last week I received a phone call from the hospital saying the system crashed recently and as far as they are concerned, I do not owe anyone any money. So because of a computer crash, I saved a few thousands of dollars because I could not get my insurance correct in the first place. Good news for me. Bad news for the hospital.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Been awhile....
Well, it has been awhile since my last post, so here goes the happenings.
I have placed another $35 in that account and downloaded more than two songs since the last time. Thanks to John, I went had to get the entire catalog of Spoon songs and discs. (You owe me $10.)
I went and visited my sister, BIL, and nephew James (who will know my name one second, and then call me Uncle Dave the next but I still love the kid) over a too short weekend. It is always great to see my sister and her family in KC or wherever I would need to go to see them. While there she was not able to talk me out of standing in the rain to try to get Alice in Chains to sign a poster. However, we did get to the see the following:
a. We got to see a guy who sells Alice t-shirts play four songs and only one really being good;
b. We got to see Alice in Chains play a concert and have her best brother take her to a REAL concert with REAL good music. (Dave took her to see Poison, case closed.)
c. We got to hear a plethora of people complain about how tall the Clark/Kugler combination is in a general admission show.
d. We got a complimentary disposable rain poncho compliments of security working the Alice in Chains show while standing in said rain.
e. and We got to see the driver's of the Alice in Chains buses wave as they drove past us while standing in said rain heading 900 miles to the next concert which was according to the security, in Buffalo but was actually in Denver, CO.
My nephews are super smart. While one is in Indy thinking he is standing in Berlin talking German, the other one in KC is able to do word math problem/logic. When Karen and I were about to head to the concert, James was all excited to be going to the show too. When I told him they were sold out, he was not happy. But, he was able to figure out that if I had two tickets and I was going to use one of them, he could easily use the other ticket for his own personal use and also see the show. How does a 3+ year old know this? This should not be. Now I need to try to be smarter than him again.
Another interesting nugget I have found in the past month:
Parking at Wrigley: $20
Parking at Midway airport: $12/day.
Parking at a concert in KC: Free.
Parking in downtown Indy parking garage while eating dinner than walking 8 blocks to the show and walking back 5 hours after parking: $3.
Does anyone see the differences in prices? I parked at Navy Pier once and think I just made my last payment from that time 10 years ago. A 5 hour stay at Navy Pier cost me $25. The Chicago public school system needs to get there money by buying valuable parking spaces in the town and then just charge people to park there. That would solve a lot of problems.
Last night I went and saw Tori Amos play a concert. This would be considered a little different from seeing Alice in Chains play twice in the past month. She was awesome as I would have expected. She can do things on a piano that I know I would not be able to do just like I witness with the great guitar players I have seen over the past 15 years. The only glitch is when they had problems with her microphone for her voice and the piano for about 30 seconds and then all was good after that. The one thing I have noticed is that I don't know all the names of her songs (or any of Spoon, Meat Puppets, Modest Mouse either) because I placed my iPod on shuffle and never really learn the names of the songs, just know this is a Spoon song or Tori song by the sound and keep working or whatever. I had to go to her website to know which songs she played.
The other change that has happened since the last time is that I barely go to sleep before the sunrises in the morning. Since my last post, the second shift scheduler quit working for Pratt to get a job closer to his house, more money and more responsibility. Since then, I have started my shift exactly 12 hours from when I began my shift before. I am usually working until 2am and going to bed about the time I would have woken up to go to work before. We transferred another person in from inside the plant and he will begin his training this coming Monday. I would have to guess I will be working second shift through the remainder of the year until he is trained and can handle working by himself at night. He should probably begin working with me the following week to get the handle of working at night and the responsibility of it all. It will be hard for me since I am also still learning the position, but it will have to work or I will be working nights still.
We had a great month at the company production wise and set records in total tons of paper consumed (20000 tons), total square foot produced, the lowest trim percentage ever for a month (2.74% between two corrugators), the most square feet produced in a 8 hour shift (4 million), and total boxes made within a day (10.5 million square feet). We are the biggest corrugated box producer in the country. 99.9% of the paper we use is recycled except for a few customers that require virgin paper.
I was stressed out with this new job 4 short months ago and was nervous about the choice I made leaving the last place for here, and now I think I made the best choice. I could not have been able to do it without family for supporting me and talking me through the whole process. It took about a little over two months, but I really am starting to feel more comfortable in the position.
I might even take some classes in excel, powerpoint, and access. I know a lot of little things in excel and can figure out how to make a spreadsheet work for me, but I always could learn more about the tools. I introduced my boss to a macro for the first time this past week and he mentioned that I have a job as long as I want. I created a macro to do a couple of things which will take a total of 1 minute which took him 30 minutes to do before.
After being in downtown Indy this past weekend, I really wish I was able to find a job in the area because I like being close to the city and seeing shows while still being in a small town atmosphere. It is great leaving for a show and not having to leave 2 hours ahead of time because of the possible traffic problems on the expressway. That is because you do not have to take the expressway to get around in the town.
That's it for now. If you don't hear from me in awhile, please host the Dundees for me. Think of Stanley.
I have placed another $35 in that account and downloaded more than two songs since the last time. Thanks to John, I went had to get the entire catalog of Spoon songs and discs. (You owe me $10.)
I went and visited my sister, BIL, and nephew James (who will know my name one second, and then call me Uncle Dave the next but I still love the kid) over a too short weekend. It is always great to see my sister and her family in KC or wherever I would need to go to see them. While there she was not able to talk me out of standing in the rain to try to get Alice in Chains to sign a poster. However, we did get to the see the following:
a. We got to see a guy who sells Alice t-shirts play four songs and only one really being good;
b. We got to see Alice in Chains play a concert and have her best brother take her to a REAL concert with REAL good music. (Dave took her to see Poison, case closed.)
c. We got to hear a plethora of people complain about how tall the Clark/Kugler combination is in a general admission show.
d. We got a complimentary disposable rain poncho compliments of security working the Alice in Chains show while standing in said rain.
e. and We got to see the driver's of the Alice in Chains buses wave as they drove past us while standing in said rain heading 900 miles to the next concert which was according to the security, in Buffalo but was actually in Denver, CO.
My nephews are super smart. While one is in Indy thinking he is standing in Berlin talking German, the other one in KC is able to do word math problem/logic. When Karen and I were about to head to the concert, James was all excited to be going to the show too. When I told him they were sold out, he was not happy. But, he was able to figure out that if I had two tickets and I was going to use one of them, he could easily use the other ticket for his own personal use and also see the show. How does a 3+ year old know this? This should not be. Now I need to try to be smarter than him again.
Another interesting nugget I have found in the past month:
Parking at Wrigley: $20
Parking at Midway airport: $12/day.
Parking at a concert in KC: Free.
Parking in downtown Indy parking garage while eating dinner than walking 8 blocks to the show and walking back 5 hours after parking: $3.
Does anyone see the differences in prices? I parked at Navy Pier once and think I just made my last payment from that time 10 years ago. A 5 hour stay at Navy Pier cost me $25. The Chicago public school system needs to get there money by buying valuable parking spaces in the town and then just charge people to park there. That would solve a lot of problems.
Last night I went and saw Tori Amos play a concert. This would be considered a little different from seeing Alice in Chains play twice in the past month. She was awesome as I would have expected. She can do things on a piano that I know I would not be able to do just like I witness with the great guitar players I have seen over the past 15 years. The only glitch is when they had problems with her microphone for her voice and the piano for about 30 seconds and then all was good after that. The one thing I have noticed is that I don't know all the names of her songs (or any of Spoon, Meat Puppets, Modest Mouse either) because I placed my iPod on shuffle and never really learn the names of the songs, just know this is a Spoon song or Tori song by the sound and keep working or whatever. I had to go to her website to know which songs she played.
The other change that has happened since the last time is that I barely go to sleep before the sunrises in the morning. Since my last post, the second shift scheduler quit working for Pratt to get a job closer to his house, more money and more responsibility. Since then, I have started my shift exactly 12 hours from when I began my shift before. I am usually working until 2am and going to bed about the time I would have woken up to go to work before. We transferred another person in from inside the plant and he will begin his training this coming Monday. I would have to guess I will be working second shift through the remainder of the year until he is trained and can handle working by himself at night. He should probably begin working with me the following week to get the handle of working at night and the responsibility of it all. It will be hard for me since I am also still learning the position, but it will have to work or I will be working nights still.
We had a great month at the company production wise and set records in total tons of paper consumed (20000 tons), total square foot produced, the lowest trim percentage ever for a month (2.74% between two corrugators), the most square feet produced in a 8 hour shift (4 million), and total boxes made within a day (10.5 million square feet). We are the biggest corrugated box producer in the country. 99.9% of the paper we use is recycled except for a few customers that require virgin paper.
I was stressed out with this new job 4 short months ago and was nervous about the choice I made leaving the last place for here, and now I think I made the best choice. I could not have been able to do it without family for supporting me and talking me through the whole process. It took about a little over two months, but I really am starting to feel more comfortable in the position.
I might even take some classes in excel, powerpoint, and access. I know a lot of little things in excel and can figure out how to make a spreadsheet work for me, but I always could learn more about the tools. I introduced my boss to a macro for the first time this past week and he mentioned that I have a job as long as I want. I created a macro to do a couple of things which will take a total of 1 minute which took him 30 minutes to do before.
After being in downtown Indy this past weekend, I really wish I was able to find a job in the area because I like being close to the city and seeing shows while still being in a small town atmosphere. It is great leaving for a show and not having to leave 2 hours ahead of time because of the possible traffic problems on the expressway. That is because you do not have to take the expressway to get around in the town.
That's it for now. If you don't hear from me in awhile, please host the Dundees for me. Think of Stanley.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Early nights, earlier mornings and survery
A buddy called me the other night around 8 and I was already in bed. I told him I could talk for a bit, but would need to get off the phone soon. He said, "Oh yeah, you get up at the crack of dawn for work now. I forgot."
I responded, "Well, she is still sleeping when I am leaving the house."
So far, I have downloaded a plethora of songs via my cd collection, stealing from siblings, co-workers, and friends. I found a website where I could find a lot of music for very cheap, like $.18 a song. Well, I am running my account very low and have $.44 left in my account. I have enough money for two songs and need some help in picking the remaining songs with the money left. Any thoughts?
I got John down for saying Underdog by Spoon, but that is not available on this site yet. They are sometimes a couple weeks behind releases.
As of right now, I have downloaded 1168 songs from the site for a whopping 15,331.78 MB. I believe that is equivalent to saying 15 gig. I have almost 4500 songs on my iPod and once Dave transfers the songs I requested onto my flash drive, I should be up another 50+.
I am kicking myself for not seeing Alice in Chains play their acoustic show in Milwaukee last week and have actually looked up plane ticket prices to fly to Austin, TX to see their next show at the end of the month. My hopes were dashed quickly when I saw that they cost a little over $150 each way right now. I tried every air port in the near area, Indy, Ohare, Midway and the busiest one, South Bend. (Priceline.com took over 2 minutes before it could even quote a price before I ended the request.)
Oh well. They are rumored to be working on a new album which would be the first since 1994 when they released their self titled album.
By the way, Dave, I have downloaded the show Pearl Jam played about a week before we saw them play in Grand Rapids, MI. I can get you a copy whenever you like. They open with Release and include Wasted Reprise, State of Love and Trust, Jeremy, Black, Whipping, Indifference, Better Man, Man of the Hour and Go. There is 30 songs in total.
I responded, "Well, she is still sleeping when I am leaving the house."
So far, I have downloaded a plethora of songs via my cd collection, stealing from siblings, co-workers, and friends. I found a website where I could find a lot of music for very cheap, like $.18 a song. Well, I am running my account very low and have $.44 left in my account. I have enough money for two songs and need some help in picking the remaining songs with the money left. Any thoughts?
I got John down for saying Underdog by Spoon, but that is not available on this site yet. They are sometimes a couple weeks behind releases.
As of right now, I have downloaded 1168 songs from the site for a whopping 15,331.78 MB. I believe that is equivalent to saying 15 gig. I have almost 4500 songs on my iPod and once Dave transfers the songs I requested onto my flash drive, I should be up another 50+.
I am kicking myself for not seeing Alice in Chains play their acoustic show in Milwaukee last week and have actually looked up plane ticket prices to fly to Austin, TX to see their next show at the end of the month. My hopes were dashed quickly when I saw that they cost a little over $150 each way right now. I tried every air port in the near area, Indy, Ohare, Midway and the busiest one, South Bend. (Priceline.com took over 2 minutes before it could even quote a price before I ended the request.)
Oh well. They are rumored to be working on a new album which would be the first since 1994 when they released their self titled album.
By the way, Dave, I have downloaded the show Pearl Jam played about a week before we saw them play in Grand Rapids, MI. I can get you a copy whenever you like. They open with Release and include Wasted Reprise, State of Love and Trust, Jeremy, Black, Whipping, Indifference, Better Man, Man of the Hour and Go. There is 30 songs in total.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Back to the mornings
I just completed the last of nights for awhile. Now I will move back to the morning shift and it could not come at a better time. There is nothing good to watch during the morning and early afternoon. How many times can you watch the same highlight on ESPN's Sportscenter?
And when coming home from work and trying to unwind before going to bed, there is nothing on but informercials. And most of them are for Girls Gone Wild which apparently is all done because they will receive a free shirt.
I am supposed to start at 7 tomorrow, but I think I will get in around 6 so I can help get my boss up to date on some things. But as far as now, I feel pretty comfortable in everything that is happening. I even had my first confrontation with a coworker yesterday. The supervisor for second shift's converting department (takes the sheets we make and then run through another machine to form the box with the print) has been told to get some big numbers in converting.
Well, yesterday, as I was walking out to the floor to hand them a new lineup schedule for the day, I see the converting supervisor walking away from the corrugator. So I asked the operator what did he want and what is he trying to move ahead in the schedule.
They pointed what he "we" were going to do instead. So I asked them to hold on before doing that. I confronted the guy and basically said it was pretty disrespectful to take a schedule we are making and then decide without our knowledge to move things in a different order. We have notes and instructions for our boss and things cannot be moved without our approval. I ended up having to work a little longer yesterday because he came up to apologize for that and said he would make sure it would not happen again. He said he respected that I stood up for myself and all future conversations will be coming from the scheduler.
I got to play cards last night with my friends and of course lost every time I had a better hand then someone who moved all in.
I got beat with KK v AK (got a straight). Lost with JJ v 97 after the flop was 10, 7, 7.
I lost with A8 v KJ. And then I was knocked out of the tournament with AK v AJ and they flopped the jack.
Sometimes, I hate this game.
And when coming home from work and trying to unwind before going to bed, there is nothing on but informercials. And most of them are for Girls Gone Wild which apparently is all done because they will receive a free shirt.
I am supposed to start at 7 tomorrow, but I think I will get in around 6 so I can help get my boss up to date on some things. But as far as now, I feel pretty comfortable in everything that is happening. I even had my first confrontation with a coworker yesterday. The supervisor for second shift's converting department (takes the sheets we make and then run through another machine to form the box with the print) has been told to get some big numbers in converting.
Well, yesterday, as I was walking out to the floor to hand them a new lineup schedule for the day, I see the converting supervisor walking away from the corrugator. So I asked the operator what did he want and what is he trying to move ahead in the schedule.
They pointed what he "we" were going to do instead. So I asked them to hold on before doing that. I confronted the guy and basically said it was pretty disrespectful to take a schedule we are making and then decide without our knowledge to move things in a different order. We have notes and instructions for our boss and things cannot be moved without our approval. I ended up having to work a little longer yesterday because he came up to apologize for that and said he would make sure it would not happen again. He said he respected that I stood up for myself and all future conversations will be coming from the scheduler.
I got to play cards last night with my friends and of course lost every time I had a better hand then someone who moved all in.
I got beat with KK v AK (got a straight). Lost with JJ v 97 after the flop was 10, 7, 7.
I lost with A8 v KJ. And then I was knocked out of the tournament with AK v AJ and they flopped the jack.
Sometimes, I hate this game.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Long days
In the past 3 weeks, I have been working solo at night since the other schedulers have been taking vacations. And in the past two days, I have not got out of work until 4 in the morning each day. I think about everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong. It must be a baptism by fire.
It looks like we are working this weekend also which stinks. I would have prefered to work last weekend on my birthday so I could see my sister and her family on this weekend. I am waiting to see how he schedules this weekend and maybe I would see if he will work the Saturday and I can get out of Dodge.
I will say that I have done more in the first two months at this place than I would at Caravan for the remainder of the year. I have had to make more decisions without having a boss ok the decisions ala Rick. At first I was weary about this new place, but I have adapted well to how things run and how all the programs work. I do not think I would leave to go back to Caravan even if changes were made to the management personnal in Dolton.
I am about 2 weeks away from seeing Alice in Chains and Velvet Revolver. And I should be getting my tickets to see Tori Amos in Indy soon. That concert is November 2nd. I got really good seats for that show, 8 rows up on the left side of the center on the floor.
And now I am looking at houses again. For the first time in a long time, I feel as if I could see myself working here for awhile. The other places, I just never felt was the place I was destined to stay at. I would have preferred getting a job offer from a company near Indy because I think I wanted a change, but this will do just fine as well.
The only thing that is going to be tough is the fact that I am getting home from work at the time next week when I will be starting work. That is going to be a lot of fun getting use to immediately.
Spater.
It looks like we are working this weekend also which stinks. I would have prefered to work last weekend on my birthday so I could see my sister and her family on this weekend. I am waiting to see how he schedules this weekend and maybe I would see if he will work the Saturday and I can get out of Dodge.
I will say that I have done more in the first two months at this place than I would at Caravan for the remainder of the year. I have had to make more decisions without having a boss ok the decisions ala Rick. At first I was weary about this new place, but I have adapted well to how things run and how all the programs work. I do not think I would leave to go back to Caravan even if changes were made to the management personnal in Dolton.
I am about 2 weeks away from seeing Alice in Chains and Velvet Revolver. And I should be getting my tickets to see Tori Amos in Indy soon. That concert is November 2nd. I got really good seats for that show, 8 rows up on the left side of the center on the floor.
And now I am looking at houses again. For the first time in a long time, I feel as if I could see myself working here for awhile. The other places, I just never felt was the place I was destined to stay at. I would have preferred getting a job offer from a company near Indy because I think I wanted a change, but this will do just fine as well.
The only thing that is going to be tough is the fact that I am getting home from work at the time next week when I will be starting work. That is going to be a lot of fun getting use to immediately.
Spater.
Friday, August 3, 2007
I told you, call me Bronco
Moving on from the last link
"Come on, all the long distance lines are down? What about satellite? Is it snowing in space? Don't you keep open a line for celebrities? I'm both. I'm a celebrity in an emergency."
"Well, it's Groundhog Day.... again."
"I like to say a prayer and drink to world peace."
"There is no way this winter is ever going to end, as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow. I don't see any other way out. He's got to be stopped. And I have to stop him."
"Hey Phil, if we wanted to hit mailboxes we could let Ralph drive."
"It's the same things your whole life. 'Clean up your room.', ' Stand up straight.', 'Pick up your feet.', 'Take it like a man.', 'Be nice to your sister.', 'Don't mix beer and wine, ever.', and oh yeah, 'Don't drive on the railroad tracks.'"
"Have you ever had deja vu?"
"Didn't you just ask me that?"
"Do you think it's going to be an early spring?"
"I'm predicting March 21st."
"Not bad.... Mr. Connors, you say this is your first lesson?"
"Yes, but my father was a piano mover, so..."
"Do you ever have deja vu, Mrs, Lancaster?"
"I don't think so, but I could check with the kitchen."
"Come on, all the long distance lines are down? What about satellite? Is it snowing in space? Don't you keep open a line for celebrities? I'm both. I'm a celebrity in an emergency."
"Well, it's Groundhog Day.... again."
"I like to say a prayer and drink to world peace."
"There is no way this winter is ever going to end, as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow. I don't see any other way out. He's got to be stopped. And I have to stop him."
"Hey Phil, if we wanted to hit mailboxes we could let Ralph drive."
"It's the same things your whole life. 'Clean up your room.', ' Stand up straight.', 'Pick up your feet.', 'Take it like a man.', 'Be nice to your sister.', 'Don't mix beer and wine, ever.', and oh yeah, 'Don't drive on the railroad tracks.'"
"Have you ever had deja vu?"
"Didn't you just ask me that?"
"Do you think it's going to be an early spring?"
"I'm predicting March 21st."
"Not bad.... Mr. Connors, you say this is your first lesson?"
"Yes, but my father was a piano mover, so..."
"Do you ever have deja vu, Mrs, Lancaster?"
"I don't think so, but I could check with the kitchen."
Thursday, August 2, 2007
When I think I'm out.............
They pull me back in.
Yeah, I one a sit and go tournament on PokerStars over a week ago and since then I have been playing more online then I did the previous 16 months. So far I have taken $50 and grew it to $150. Not bad. I like playing the 9 person sit and go's. It fits my style of play better than anything else available.
I have just completed my third night of working entirely by myself while the regular second shift guy is taking a vacation. I have two more days of this, and then I have to do it again beginning next Thursday because the first shift scheduler (my boss) will be on vacation for 7 days. Not too many problems the last couple nights. I just need to get a good feel for when I can schedule a big problem. I hope to get more and more feedback this week on everything I am doing.
I am debating if I want to travel to Rockford to see a Shinedown show or not. It would be on the Friday after the Alice show. We will see how everything works out. It is a festival type of event (like Taste or the Porter County Fair) so I might have to sit and wait in the hot sun with general admission tickets so I could get a good place to stand.
Is it too early for flapjacks?
Yeah, I one a sit and go tournament on PokerStars over a week ago and since then I have been playing more online then I did the previous 16 months. So far I have taken $50 and grew it to $150. Not bad. I like playing the 9 person sit and go's. It fits my style of play better than anything else available.
I have just completed my third night of working entirely by myself while the regular second shift guy is taking a vacation. I have two more days of this, and then I have to do it again beginning next Thursday because the first shift scheduler (my boss) will be on vacation for 7 days. Not too many problems the last couple nights. I just need to get a good feel for when I can schedule a big problem. I hope to get more and more feedback this week on everything I am doing.
I am debating if I want to travel to Rockford to see a Shinedown show or not. It would be on the Friday after the Alice show. We will see how everything works out. It is a festival type of event (like Taste or the Porter County Fair) so I might have to sit and wait in the hot sun with general admission tickets so I could get a good place to stand.
Is it too early for flapjacks?
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