Upon a star

Our quest to have access to the internet at home is an uphill one. It still boggles my mind how a developer/ council can build a housing estate, let it mature for around 10 years and still not have every house hooked up to a phone line or not have the possibility of net access for every household. Its just beyond me. Also doesn't help that the national phone company seems totally useless at hooking people up. Just totally lost and frustrated on getting internet at home. How I wish SOOO hard that internet at home before Christmas will be a reality.

Also my 9 days off is fast approaching. Just this week at work to get thru and its time off for 9 days. YAY for no work and time at home but BOO for no income. Sadly cos its school holiday season here going further afield for touring is out of the question as every hotel seems to be fully booked. Such a pain being limited to day trips. Was looking forward to touring this country more thoroughly.

Oh well. best head to bed now, got 5 more days to get thru before I can lay in again. 5 days cos gotta work saturday. How sucky is that... work for 6 days in a week...

Still no surf

Starting to settle into work finally. Getting used to the "not doing alot" style. Used to, but definitely not in to. Still enjoyed that window job on Monday. Started the job 1st thing in the morn, and before ya know its time to go home. Wish most days were like that.

Should have cable TV soon, thanks yet again to "L". My tab of debt to him is slowly piling up. So its 1 outta 2 things done. Sadly the more important Internet at home is not really materialising. Dunno if its down to pure laziness of the ISP sales people or incompetence by the governing body who plans out this countries neighbourhoods. Doubt if I will ever truly know. But fact remains. Net at home seems a long way off...

Also nearly time to renew my work contract. Was told I have to take a 9 day break before I recommence under the new contract. A little unexpected. I have the choice to fly back to the UK FOC if I so choose but not really an option as I ain't leaving wifey home alone. So more than likely will spend those 9 days touring my host nation.

On a side note. finally managed to return my car to the rental company. Took 2 days and lots of incessant phone calls on my part to make them get their finger out and swap the car for me. But pleasant surprise when they handed me the keys to a V6 as they were fresh outta the bottom of the class model I had. First time driving a V type engine. No real impressions yet. Maybe in time. A bit of a shame its FF thou. But probably for the best as an FR car will probably be a precusror to ensuing silliness on my part.

MAN I just want Internet at home that will makes things here SO much better... When dear God will it happen?

La revolution

Car died this morning. Think the alternator is dead and thus not recharging the battery. Had to annoy "L" first thing in the morn n ask if he knew any guys staying in my locale who could give me a lift in. Cause he did... just that it happened to be my foreman who picked me up... by all definitions, my boss. Big thanks to "L" for the favour and "O" for drivin me in.

As for the dead car, rental company decided to do no more than just replace the battery... enough to last a week or so before it all happens again. Will call em up tomorrow n force them to give me a new car.

Other than that was a good day at work. Got put incharge of 2 cockpit window changes. Kinda amusing when I went to the parts store to pick up the 2 windows. Ask the guy at the desk for the items in question. He then moved over to have a look for it in a cardboard box around A4 sized. I then stopped him and reminded him a A330 cockpit window is pretty dam big... almost 1m squared. Also pretty dam heavy. He nodded and say he understood, then began looking thru bags of nuts, bolts and screws. He slowly walked back to me and announced... No sir... not there. Wow no shit, maybe if you tried looking in the box again, ya never know you might have missed it, might be under that lil packet of split pins...

When I did finally get it I set 2 of the trainee certifyers on it. Sitting there watching them working away at the window I realised my working life has come full circle. I started off this job sitting watching people work jobs, purely cos I was too clueless to be trusted. And here I am now, once again sitting watching people work jobs, purely cos I am not (supposedly) clueless and those doing the job can't be trusted. How Ironic. Well not totally true. The 2 trainee guys were pretty dam good. Heck alot better than a majority of the mechanics here. Few more of those guys around here, couppled with a 4 on 4 off shift and this contract would be lush.

Swings 'n round-a-bouts

Spent the past week at a different maintenance base. Came to the reality that it is just where I am stationed that is so frustratingly lazy. Out where I currently am it certainly isn't as busy as everywhere else I have worked. Thou, that can be a nice thing. But more pleasingly, the mechanics actually get a job and carry it out. Not at top speed, but its better than the whining, bitching and bickering I've been getting at my permanent base.

Only real shame is this place is nearer the center of the city so traffic is a killer. I spend twice as long on the commute and twice as much on fuel. Plus this current place has a shorter working day and expects you to work Saturday. So basically the hours are the same but you only really get 1 day off. BIG downer.

So here is the trade offs. Pig lazy mechs, annoying boss but shorter commute, 4 toll road charges per day but less working days and more hours per day. Or good working mechs, reasonably peaceful surroundings, no toll roads, but longer drive in, 6 day working week and less hours per day. Pros n cons. Annoyingly they are both pretty squarely balanced. So for now prob just easier to go where ever the wind blows.

Did realise recently thru a chat with "J" that. The essence of our job is essentially as it is now. Looking at an Aircraft and finding faults with it, find out how to fix it, order the parts and set the mechanics on it. It will be a once in a blue moon thing to pick up the tools again as I did. Don't matter where I go. My essential job will be as such. Great job for alot of people I know. Stay reasonably clean and get paid a good wage. But still maintain that nothing beats working with your own hands and your own tools. Some things money can't replace.

Ravin old fart

Well another year on this planet has rounded in my life. And now offically heading into the realms of being an old git. But flicking thru my previous posts, its abundantly clear I became a grumpy old man a long time ago...

Lately thou been grumpier than usual. Mainy due to too many hours spent at work and pretty much no hours on my Xbox. Thanks to it dying again for the 4th time. Yet again E74 message. All I wanted was for it to last out till Dec rolled around and wifey could pick me one up cheap when she goes home for a bit. As Xbox prices here are insane. Microsoft has slashed the price of them world wide but yet out here the price is above the odds. Added annoyance as I've just moved to a rather nice house. With a nice comfy living room for gaming. But I guess it's Gods way of telling me to work on all the DIY issues with the house 1st.

Got such a list of games to get & get thru. Dead Space, Gears 2, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Farcry 2, Portal Still Alive & Mirrors edge. List did include End war, Silent hill & Armoured core 4A. But thought it best to limit myself to games that scored above 9/10. Be too costly other wise. Not to mention not enough time in a day. Gonna be even less time if I manage to get onto Xbox live.

Still yet to unpack fully. On the whole its pretty much settled, just that there is alot of small things to iron out. Still yet to get internet and cable TV but those shouldn't as much of a problem compaired to the previous place.

Gentle words

Today was an eye opener as to how people can get. Well just 1 really. It was also a good case study on how not to motivate people. To be honest for all the faults this place has, it still has its own pace and rhythm. Not a very fast 1 mind, thou with the right strings pulled it can be sped up a lil. And conversely with alot of yelling and rudeness it can sure as hell run alot slower.

Last week and this week at work has been a how to do it right session followed by a how not to session. Last week guys pulled out the stops to get the plane fixed. Sure it departed a lil late but all the serious issues had been dealt with. And everyone left work totally knackered but that was pretty much it. This week issues are being dealt with rather questionably and people are leaving work frustrated and pissed off.

Saying classic quotes such as,
"I'm not forcing you guys to stay back but I want 1 of you here till its finished"
(while someone was helping out) " Come on HURRY UP, stop wasting my time"
"My plan is to get the plane for engine runs tomorrow, that is my plan. I don't want you guys fucking my plan up"
"if they finish late (2am) I still expect to see them in the morning (730am), minimum rest period, no such thing, get them in"

Being rude is 1 thing, doing a questionable job is something else. Quotes like,
"some sand paper and paint over the top and it will be ok"
"I don't care what you do, just get it done"
" (regarding the fault) don't raise a rectification task for it, just leave it"
"why did you raise a defect card, you aren't supposed to inspect that area"

I write my blogs assuming that they will be read. I'm not silly enough to believe that who ever I am blogging about will never read it. If you are reading, please take this a subtle nudge. A little courtesy and civil mindedness can take you a long way. You might be amazed what a lil please and thank you can achieve. Also when you start steering your actions to falling in line with the wishes of management and not the safety of those who fly on your planes, you have to start considering if you are really in the correct job. Aircraft manufacturer inspections and tasks are in place for a reason.

Useless lil shit

Feelin pretty shitty today. And for once, after a bit of introspection I kinda know why. Basically the overall feeling is... I suck, I am mediocre at best but on the whole not particularity good at anything. I rate myself as a pretty average mechanic and an O-K certifier. As a driver I am a "ride by the seat of my pants" kind of driver at best and on the whole pretty crap. As a gamer I suck. Either I play a game slow and safe, read as boring and dull, or I play reckless and get fragged by a bunch of 12yr olds.

The above is my default status. After many years alive I have learnt things about myself. 1 of them is that if left unchecked I can be a smug, cocky, gobby lil shit. So to avoid such things I keep myself down mentally. Constantly comparing against those I view as good at what they do. And at the same time dismissing any praise coming my way as some kind of mixup/ mistake. Thing is after so many years of putting myself down, it has become sub conscious, and thus a default. Only way I can keep myself off this self inflicted low is to, on a regular basis prove to myself that I am not that crap. It is also the way I try to make my lazy self improve everyday. Pushing myself to constantly be better.

Usually this involves completing some kind of personal challenge. The staples of which would be tackling a challenging piece of winding road or clocking a good lap while on the track. Or completing a game on its hardest setting in less than 24hrs. Or fixing a plane up to a good standard in a short time frame. And if its not 1 of those staples it would be doing something different in life, like a road trip or some home DIY, working on the car, building up a computer, you get the picture. Also my default state is self compounding. Meaning if I reach that state and instead of getting positive results put out, I start making mistakes and messing up, I am twice as hard on myself. In case you didn't guess today is 1 of those days.

Herein lies the root of my problem. Firstly I don't have a car here in which I feel safe pushing to the limits. Thus no way to mentally pick myself up that way. Also my xbox has died for the 4th time, so that avenue is out too. And as work is 5 days a week I don't have enough days off to try something different or do anything too taxing, so that won't do either. Only way I have left to boost my prematurely stunted self confidence is to essentially achieve a "good days work"

And that, right there is the problem. Everyday I leave work, I ask myself what did I achieve. Usually the answer is fuck all. Or at least fuck all compared to what I used to achieve. Ok so alot of that fuck all is due to factors beyond my control. But at the end of the day when my sub conscious gets that daily report and sees so little being done, it breaks out the mental bitch slap. It is actually starting to be quite a concern to me. Everyday I wake up and actually dread what I will encounter at work. The last time I had that same emotion in me I almost just stopped showing up for work. I say almost because, luckily I managed to get another job before I pulled a no show, so I handed in my notice instead.

With here, I keep telling myself its early days yet and to keep on, as things should take a turn for the better. But right now that shitty useless feeling is still there and with work looming just 7 hours away, its tough to see the bright side.

Do what, again?

Mixed feelings about the week past. But regardless of it all it was certainly busy. Just about everything happening at once. Had a huge load of work on this week, plus my aviation law exam, signing my tenancy agreement and moving house all in 1 week.

Working loads is good for that bank balance but side effects include being sick n tired of work. If it wasn't for a certain person, even the cash incentive would have clocked it's limit. I still can't figure my feelings for working here out. I suppose, if you were genuinely work shy and apt at shifting responsibility, while having a natural talent for putting on a good show, this is the place for you. For anyone else this place could start wearing thin. I genuinely dread the part where I have to hand out tasks for the day. Mainly because I know only 20% will be done if ya lucky. And simply handing out those tasks via the official channels means even less would get done. Not to mention handing out a task personally invokes an old Chinese saying of "making you vomit blood" Here is 1 such dialogue from this week, enjoy.

Me: Could you please precharge nitrogen for all the hydraulic resovoirs?
S : Which ones?
Me: All of them.
S: All of what?
Me: Hydraulic resevoirs.
S: What do you want done?
Me: Nitrogen precharge.
S: But I've done it, all those ones... and those as well.
Me: Those are accumilators, not resevoirs.
S: What resevoirs?
Me: The hydraulic ones.
S: So what do you want done to the hydraulics?
Me: Nirtogen precharge!
S: on the hydraulic lines?
Me: NO the resevoirs!!!
S: Ok, which one?
Me:$£&"*£$ ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!