Author: kunefke

New Job – Are You Better Off?

About a month ago I started a new job within the company I’ve been working for over the last four years.  I guess I’ve never gotten into my career background on here, or maybe I have.  Either way, I’ve spent the last 4 years doing maintenance and support on the DCS at a few of the largest oil companies’ many sites.  I’ve gained experience with Honeywell and Foxboro control systems.  I believe I made a post when I first began, but it’s been a while.
I learned a lot while I was there, but the politics of large corporations get complicated.  I was ready to get out just under a year ago.  The funny part is that I did not really make much effort to leave.  About four days after an ‘incident’ occurred that caused me to look for new opportunities, I got an interesting email from a recruiter who had found me on LinkedIn.  I had pretty high hopes for the move, but it didn’t pan out.  I didn’t have experience with their specific brand of control system.  A few weeks later, I got another email from another company, but the move wouldn’t have worked for my family.  I had gotten back into the swing of things, and had gotten accustomed to the changes happening at work.  A few months later, I got a tip about a job that might have my name on it, but the company that was going to hire me didn’t end up getting the contract.  I got two other emails from other companies who found me on LinkedIn within the same few weeks that were for short projects in other states, but I’m not going to leave a semi-solid job for one that’s guaranteed to last only a month or two.  Then about a month later this company from Colorado emails me about a permanent position in a remote area of Wyoming.
I had a performance review about a month later, and was asked if I would be interested in another line of work.  This new line of work would allow me to work 4 10 hour days a week, and make anywhere from 25-45% more than I am currently making.  I had a class that taught the basics of the job, and felt that I could possibly succeed in it and said yes.  Six months later, I finally started the new job.  I don’t work in the plants anymore.  Christle said I’ve been coming home in a better mood after 4 weeks.  I’ve learned a lot, but have also brought a bit to the table.  My work is being done well, and I’ve been complimented on how quickly I’ve picked up on what I’ve done so far.
I have had no experience in this line of work, and they really took a chance on me by giving me this opportunity.  I really appreciate all of the trust they have in me to give me this opportunity.  Of course, this first project that I’m working is a test, so I can’t really make any solid assumptions yet.  I really feel that I’m exceeding their expectations of my progress.
On a similar, but completely different note…
I’ve heard a lot of people say that you can decide on who you want to vote for by asking yourself the following question… “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?”  Well, yes I am.  The problem with the question is that it gives the power to those in office.  They had nothing to do with what I’ve done in the last four years.  I live in Texas, a state that is insulated from the highs and lows of this nations economy.  A little over five years ago, a former boss told me that I had just about topped out in pay rate in my position.  I started going to school, got a better opportunity, and the rest is history in the making.  The Hand of Providence has led me to be better off than I was 4 years ago.
I’ll guarantee one thing, though.  Just like 4 years ago, I will not be voting for a Communist.

Stupid Nissan

Watching the game today, I keep seeing these stupid Nissan commercials. “What if everything ran on gas?”. Imbeciles! What do you think you’re charging your electric vehicle with? All this commercial does is make me want a motor installed on all my appliances so that I can burn a little more gasoline. Ok, I guess it also makes those morons who can’t think for themselves and are sitting on the fence about global warming fall on your side. I wont be buying a Nissan. I used to like you, but these commercials are utterly idiotic… worse than the recent Prius commercials.

The New Layout

I had a little trouble with it at first, but it really seems to be taking a positive direction at this point.  I still have some tweaking I’d like to do, but I’m happy with it so far.  We’ll see how much tweaking I’m allowed.

Bathroom Construction – Part 4

Well, I’m over the hump.  I now feel as if I’m getting closer to the end, and it feels much better now.  I have finished all the painting (except for the trim), and plan to install the tub surround wall tomorrow evening.  I still have a lot to do, but the bathroom actually looks like a bathroom now.
As far as painting tapes go, I have to say that the Frog Tape is much better than the well recognized blue tape that you see.  The paint did not stick to the Frog tape like it did to the blue tape.  Of course, I was using enamel paint, so that might have been the difference, but it was a highly noticeable difference.
I have to wait for the glue to dry on the surround, and then install the bath hardware and caulk it all up.  Then I have to finish installing the few tiles I have to cut, and put the hardware on the walls (towel hangers) and the cabinet doors on the cabinets.    I have to cut, paint, and install the trim, as well as replace an electrical outlet and light switch to match the paint.  They are currently beige instead of white, so they are sort of an eyesore.
Then I have to clean the house.  I’ve got stuff from the bathroom spread around so I could keep track of where it’s supposed to go when I finish, so the whole house looks awful, and I now realize the error in that plan because I’m gonna have to make several trips all over the house to get it back in order.  I would have been better off getting a cheap plastic shelving system to store everything temporarily, and then I could have used it in the garage.
Overall, I’ve learned that taking on any remodeling job is much more work than it first seems.  For such a small room, I did not expect this to take so much time and energy.  Again, thanks to Dad and Josh, I didn’t have to bear this alone.  I also want to thank Mom and Destiny for allowing them to spend so much time over here lending both their hands and a lot of sweat.

Bathroom Construction – Part 3

Thanks to Dad and Josh, I’m much closer to having a completed bathroom.  I’ve been burning the candle at both ends, as well as from the middle.  It’s absolutely amazing how fast time goes by when you’re trying to get something done quickly!  I feel as if I’ve still got a week’s worth of work to do.
I started laying the tile in the bathroom today, and I really only have a few more tiles to cut and place before I finish.  I just got worn out cutting the things.  I do feel more like I’m in a bathroom now, though, when I’m in there with an actual floor.  There’s really only a few more things to do, but they seem like they’re gonna take a while to complete.  Just a bit more painting, compared to what’s already been done, and then putting up the shower walls, and then trim work.  Once the paint dries on the cabinet doors, I’ll be able to put those back on.
As small as the bathroom is, I wouldn’t have expected it to take this long.  I am SO glad I had help with the biggest part of the job, though.  I would have had to take a week off of work to get this far if I had to do it by myself.

Bathroom Construction – Part 2

So, we skipped the part about sanding the walls.  We just replaced the ones that would have require sanding.  We’ve done a lot of work, but there’s still a bunch to do.  Dad and Josh have been here helping me all day for the past two days.
We got the tub replaced fairly early on Friday.  We’ve replaced all the necessary walls, except for one strip that we need to do fairly quickly today, gotten the mud and tape up, and textured the exposed walls.  I’ve primed the cabinets, cabinet doors, window trim, door, and door trim.  When Josh pulled up the floor tiles, we found a spot that needed to be replaced, so we took out the toilet, and began replacing the floor, but haven’t replaced it because we ran out of daylight to build it up under the house.
I’m sure there’s more that we’ve done, but we still have much more to do.  Here’s the current list:

  • Replace the walls (only one more strip left)
  • Paint the walls
  • Paint the cabinets
  • Paint the trim and baseboards
  • Install the surrounding walls around the bathtub (includes cutting holes for the shower)
  • Lay down new floor tiles
  • Caulk the tub and surrounding walls
  • Install the baseboards
  • Install the new curtain rod
  • Install new cabinet knobs
  • Install new ceiling light fixture
  • Testing (take a shower)

I’ll do my best to post an update tonight so that I can more accurately keep track of our progress.

Bathroom Construction – Part 1

Dad and I started dismantling our bathroom this afternoon… well, I guess yesterday afternoon now. We got the bathtub surround walls down… they were much heavier than I thought they’d be.
We found that there was more work than originally intended, but also found some positive things in the process. There was absolutely no indication of mold of any kind. There were a few problems with the original installation, such as a piece of wood resting on the tub behind the surrounding wall, which led to that piece of wood soaking up water.
We’ll get to work tomorrow by removing the tub, which we finally got to budge a little earlier. There’s no telling how long it’s been since it’s original installation. Hopefully, we can have the plumbing and base walls back up by tomorrow evening. I don’t want to plan too far ahead, so I’m not going to.
Here’s the basic list of things I know need to be done after that:

  • Sand the necessary parts of walls
  • Texture the necessary parts of  walls
  • Paint the walls
  • Paint the cabinets
  • Paint the trim and baseboards
  • Install the surrounding walls around the bathtub (includes cutting holes for the shower)
  • Lay down new floor tiles
  • Caulk the tub and surrounding walls
  • Install the baseboards
  • Install the new curtain rod
  • Install new cabinet knobs
  • Install new ceiling light fixture
  • Testing (take a shower)

I’m sure there’s some tasks I left out, either due to lack of effort or memory.  Hopefully Christle will be happy with our work.  I can’t begin to imagine how long this would take without Dad’s help.  Thanks, Dad.

Education

I completed my Associates Degree of Applied Sciences in Instrumentation and graduated on May 12, 2011 with a 3.907 GPA. As most people know, education does not end with graduation. I’m currently pursuing a few courses that will help in my current line of work, Process Control, in September.
I’ve also decided to get back into the art of creating, designing, editing, modifying media for consumption on the web and beyond. I’m participating in online training courses to build my knowledge of the capabilities and restrictions of certain media tools.
My decision to begin this endeavor began a few months ago, when Mom asked me to help her build a web site for her new photography business. I helped her find a designer, and she found a company to help her design a logo. When she got her finished products, they were good… perfect for what she needs. My decision was based on the fact that I knew I could do just as good, if not better, work. Add that to the extra income I could potentially make from it, I just needed to figure out a way to learn those skills with the greatest efficiency.
A friend of mine who is currently doing work in media directed me to a site that has hundreds of hours of online video tutorials for a cheap monthly rate. I’m currently in a 7-day trial period, but what I’ve learned in just the past three days is incredible. I’m not going to name them until I have at least finished one full course (over 15 hours of video in itself).
I’m going to do a little work to the root page of the site for some testing, and possibly create some wordpress (blog) themes to see how well they’re used, and what people think of my work before I start trying to sell anything. I believe I have a good eye for what looks good, and it has always disturbed me to find that I couldn’t find the exact look I wanted without paying for it. Apparently, that’s because you get what you pay for. Not a new concept for me, but not a concept I thought of getting on the other side of until now.
The best thing about getting into this type of business, is that I can build it on my own from the ground up, and not really risk anything but time, unless you factor in that it is all about furthering my education. Time must be a factor when increasing knowledge.