Ever Struggle To Fit In ?

One of the difficult aspects of being on the road is trying to "Fit In" . I currently have room mates which is nice as it keeps the loneliness level down but at the same time can be difficult as our only common interest is providing a living for our families . Thus there is a struggle to fit in here .

At work the same can be said as most of the folks we work with are new to us on every job . Every time you move somewhere its a new bunch of folks . Unlike working in an office or even in your home local where you see the same people day in and day out , you are an outsider . Some view you  as taking away their work which can lead to animosity on the job .  Most folks know that you are a book 2 hand and as such not worthy of the same consideration as their Brothers and Sisters from that local .

At home you are a part time guest . You lose synch with members of your own family due to the fact that the day to day interactions you once took for granted are no longer there . It can be a struggle to communicate with your children or spouse as the majority of your interaction with them is either brief snippets on the phone or viewing their social networking sites . When I am home I feel somewhat like an outsider who is only slightly relevant to the day to day goings on of the real inhabitants . Heck even my Dog seems to consider me a bit of a stranger .

The wheel keeps turning

One more minute , one more hour , one more day , one more week , one more month , one more year of surviving the "New Normal".

2 years ago at this time I began my descent into traveling . I arrived in Las Vegas with nary a clue of what the future might hold . The plan was simple , make a bunch of money , finish my apprenticeship and then go home and wait for work to pick back up . To bad the plan didn't take into account that work wasn't gonna be picking up any time soon .

Oh Well , there's always next year right ?

Year in review

So the year is almost over and I have lived in my trailer for about 3 months this year and another 3 in a cheap apartment . I have worked about 29 months this year and all told I have put a decent run together . 50K a year does buy a lot of beer but I look at it as an investment in my sanity for the most part .
    The time I spent in Arco working at the INL was a great learning experience and showed me that living in the trailer wasn't a horrible experience and the work was interesting . The real learning experience was figuring out  how the government wastes our money ;)
   After the INL I got to spend a little time hanging with my family and taking a brief vacation in Wallowa lake to see my cousin and her family . It was  great vacation in a beautiful part of the country with my cousin and her beautiful family . While I was there a bunch of calls started coming in for a job in Pocatello called HOKU .
   Immediately after returning from Wallowa Lake I caught a call in Pocatello at the HOKU Polysilicon plant . After hearing the horror stories I half expected to get laid off a week or 2 after showing up . Little did I know that I was gonna spend the rest of the year right here .

Tales From The Road

As the economy has spiraled downward I have found myself spending my time away from my friends and family , living in my trailer or a crappy apartment just to put together a living for my family . This is just a place to hold my thoughts of what life on the road has been like and hopefully provide a cathartic release for my emotions . Hope you don't mind me using this little place in cyberspace to vent things good or bad . It just seemed cheaper than therapy ;)