An entry from my journal.

Thursday, November 24, 2005
6:50 PM
    Keith said to come to his office at about eleven and he would take me to the gate. I called his office at eleven and he wasn’t there. We figured he was at lunch. I called a few more times and sometime after twelve he answered. He asked if I was ready. I said I had to wait for Hoppy and that when he said yesterday if things are going good maybe we can get out of here at noon I thought he meant everyone. He said he thought I was just joking when I said that Hoppy and I had ridden together. He said he was waiting to hear if shelter two had passed. I went out and looked for Myron. They weren’t in the plant. I went out again and found him. He said it passed. When I got back to the trailer Hoppy was getting on his bike. Mike told me that Keith said we could go. I shook Mikes hand and told him I had fun, bye and thanks for everything. I went to Keith’s office and we locked my bike up and walked to the gate On the way he said you f**kers planned this. I laughed. He badged me out with my badge and he said good luck and he really hates to see me go. I said I had fun and we shook hands. Hoppy was waiting at the car. One the way home Hoppy talked about the Yokogawa analyzers a big part of the way home. I was thinking this might be the last time we ever talk to each other in person and he is talking about analyzers that I don’t care about. He seemed sad on the way home. I think he feels sad that he is stuck there and also I think he is sad because I am leaving. That might be in my head but it seemed that way. When we got to his house he told me good luck and we shook hands. I said one of us needs to get a boat so we can go fishing. He said it would have to be me because he works for a shitty company.
    On the way home it was a little sad but I was so happy about my new job, four tens, and four days off. Kibby had called me before we left to ask me if I would stop and get her some sage and ice. I stopped at HEB. They were out of a lot of things and there were about six people at the spice rack looking for things. There was a worker there to help and he went to get me some sage and restock. When I got home Kibby asked me if I was sad and I said a little but its hard to be sad when I’m so happy. Kibby was getting her cook on. I took Stevie out with me and got the creepy crawler started and mowed the yard, weed eated and blowed. I took my shower and Kibby sent me to HEB for eggs, milk and to take The Skeleton Key back. I got The Longest Yard. When Kibby got everything done that she was going to do we watched it and went to bed. The outside alarm went off at ten thirty.
   This morning we got up at about six thirty and got started cooking and cleaning. Kibby had gotten up at about five and put the turkey in the oven. Gary, Stacey, Kasey and Kelly got here at about noon. Mom and day got here about twenty minutes later. Kibby cut her finger by putting it in the dish water right when the birds got here. I had written a prayer working on it off and on while I worked writing and memorizing. Here is the prayer I wrote.

   Dear Heavenly Father, we are here to thank you for your abundant love.
   Thank you Father for loving your children even when we are disobedient.
   Thank you for our health and happiness.
   Thank you God for our redemption through the blood of your son Jesus Christ.
   Thank God for this day of Thanksgiving and this wonderful meal prepared by loving    hands.
   Thank you for being with us every moment and for the things you have done for we are    truly blessed
   In Jesus name we give these thanks Amen.

   I choked up towards the end so I was going to end it the best I could but I remembered. Dinner was so wonderful. Kibby is such a good cook. Stacey brought a pumpkin layer desert she called trifle. Mom brought two pecan pies and two pumpkin. It was very nice to have everyone here. Kibby really enjoyed entertaining. After dinner we all sat in the living room and the kids made their Christmas lists. Kibby asked me if I would go get her a news paper. I suggested that Mandy went. She did and after about thirty minutes Kibby asked me if I had my cell phone. A few minutes after Mandy called to say her car wouldn’t start. Dad said I could take his car and Gary, Kael and Kelly went with us. We found that the battery cables were not getting a good connection. Gary rode with Mandy. When we got home we visited more and at about five thirty or so everyone started getting ready to go home. Kalie rode with Mom and Dad so she could go to her Grandmothers. We cleaned up, I put the turkey in baggies, now Kibby is planning the morning shopping spree and I am sitting here in my chair. Mandy was having trouble with a video game so I tried to help. It is a playstation one game so I think there are compatibility issues. Stevie was of course the center of attention today. Everybody loves Stevie.
    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry. Also there are some details that will only be in the master copy.

An entry from my journal.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005
6:27 AM
    What a trip. The last day. The last time I come into the gate. The last time I unlock my bike and ride it to the office. The last time I sit here and write in my journal with this computer. The last time I sit here all day and play on it. That’s some of the things I have been thinking about this morning as I come in for the last time. Its kind of a trip. I am savoring every moment. I have loved this job and this computer and I may miss it. I will be glad when I know I am going to love my new job.
    I had asked Keith if I could have my bike when I gave my notice and he said no. I like that bike. It is a Summit Workhorse from. I might have to buy me one. Yesterday after my going away lunch I played like old times. The controls to my web sites were web sensed so I couldn’t do that. It changes from day to day. I ended up reading blogs for the rest of the day, which was only a couple of hours. Keith told me yesterday that if things were going good today we might get out of here at noon.
    When I got home yesterday Kibby suggested we go out to eat. I had anticipated it with all of the cooking she has been and will be doing today. We went to Hunan Gardens. I had General Tao's chicken and Kibby had Shrimp with Lobster sauce. Stevie shared with us. The food was very good. Of course it was too much to eat and Kibby said there was no room in the refrigerator so we couldn’t take it home. I made sure none got wasted. Then Stevie and I walked next door to Famous Footwear and Kibby walked to HEB to get some stuff she needed and a movie. Stevie and I got in the van and parked closer to HEB and went in to find Kibby. I pushed Stevie in a truck buggy all over the store and decided we must have missed her. We found her at the movie machine. We went home and started watching The Skeleton Key. At eight I had to go to the Wicks and get the table and chairs Kibby asked to borrow. The we tried some of Kibby's fudge, which is the best I have ever had, finished the movie and went to bed. The movie was pretty good. I am planning to not leave this office until its time to turn my stuff in and then to go home. I will certainly not put FRC's on this morning or do anything work related besides tuning in my stuff. I may not be publishing my journal everyday since I won’t be sitting here at this computer. I can’t see taking the time at home to do it everyday. The first three weeks at my new job are supposed to be training and orientation so I probably won’t be doing it there and I don’t know what kind of time I will have on my hands there.
9:50 AM
    I've made all my rounds telling everyone bye. Now I am just waiting.

    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry. Also there are some details that will only be in the master copy.

An entry from my journal.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005
6:34 AM
    One of the last two days I will sit at this desk. I am mostly feeling fortunate and favored. I realize that this job and the one I'm going to next was part of Gods plan for my career and that I really just followed my nose. Still I can’t help the feeling of accomplishment I have. Sometimes I wonder if I am addicted to that feeling. I don’t think I am someone that can work at one place for twenty years. I have never left a company without a reason though sometimes the reasons have been because I just didn't like my job. I love where I am now but I have been offered more money, better benefits and fifty more days off per year. I hope I love it there. I think I will. Stay tuned.
    Yesterday was like old times. I sat around here and did mostly nothing all day like I plan to do today and tomorrow. I did have to go out and prove the 7D51 moisture analyzer but that’s about it. That’s mostly what I have done the three years I have been here. I do some PM's and occasionally fix one every now and then when they break. I find lots of things to do on the Internet. I do my bills. Learn how to do things I am interested in. I work on my web sites and make new ones. I read. I hardly ever get board. The only reason we have been so busy lately is because of the seven day drift testing. Things will get back to normal around here. I can’t believe I am leaving this job. I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow. I am looking forward to the four day holiday but not to saying good bye to everyone here. There are some people I will probably keep in touch with for a year or so by email and then that will fade away like always. There is only one person here I believe I might see now and then after tomorrow. I'm hoping to give him and some others inside info so they might come too. I believe there are only a few that might have a chance though. I hope I see Dave again but he lives far enough away that it seems unlikely unless he comes where im going. I believe that’s a possibility.
    When I got home Kibby had beef and bean tostados made. They were so good. Then of course I had some ice cream. After that we went to Walmart to get some of the things Kibby needs for Thanksgiving dinner. I got a new alarm clock, two one dollar calculators and some batteries. When we got home I tried and failed to remember how to upload the recordings off of my voice recorder. I recorded people yesterday and I wanted to do it again but the memory is full. I made some phones and went to bed. The outside alarm didn't go off last night.
    This morning Dave brought in sausage dogs, chili and a cheese cake for my going away party.
    I took pictures Saturday and Sunday to supplement my memory.
    It feels like I'm working on a holiday. Man I wish I was at home with Kibby and Stevie.
    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry. Also there are some details that will only be in the master copy.

An entry from my journal.

Monday, November 21, 2005
6:33 AM
    Yesterday I baby sat the CEMS again and used Rubio's truck to bring some ultra zero gas to shelter one. Henry got here at around nine or so and set his lap top up on the table behind me like every day. One of the times when I came in and he was the only one here his eyes were super red and I said wake up and he said yea right. Later he asked me what I had been working on so hard all morning. I gave him a brief description and left to do something. When I got back I asked him what are you working on so hard at this lap top all day. We all suspect he is milking the overtime to the best of his ability. He said he was checking trends and looking for discrepancies. He showed me an excel chart and he was obviously playing and doing something to justify his time. He asked Mike if he would go to shelter three and retrieve the data from the ADM for him. I went down there and he was trying to figure out how to do it. I told him I would do it and he could go to shelter one and get the tests started. When I finished getting the data I bought the lap top to shelter one and no one was there. I left to bring the data to Henry and on the way there I saw Mike hauling ass on his three wheel bike back to shelter one with Myron behind him. When I passed Mike he shouted, "I f**ked up." I brought the data to henry then went back to shelter one. Mike had accidentally started a cal instead of a val. You can’t stop it without a password that is used just for that and a few other special purposes and if it finished the cal with out stopping it would mess up all of the cal values. Myron stopped it in time and got it back up in time. Mike called out the data and I entered it into the spreadsheet. There are twelve components of interest, nine eight hundred second cycles and three analyzers we are testing in shelter one. So over around three hours including preparation I have to enter data in to three hundred and twenty four cells while Mike calls them out. When we finished I left Mike to finish up. He said he was going to stay late.
    On the way home I stopped at Walgreen's and got me some cough drops. When I got home Kibby was making spaghetti. Kibby, Stevie and I ate. The spaghetti and salad was superb. After dinner we had some of the best banana bread I have ever had. Kibby has made it many times but this was the best. After dinner Kibby and Stevie walked and I rode my bike on the greenbelt. I showed Stevie how to ride a wheely and how to skid around in a circle on a bike. He and Kibby where impressed. Later Kibby told me she was impressed and that I am still a young man. On the way back I rode with Stevie on my handle bars and Kibby ran. When we got back Stevie and I started putting my stereo back in my truck. I got it back in easily with the butt splices I got from work earlier but when I turned it on it didn't come one. I pulled it back out and found that the yellow "battery" wire was dead. Stevie had gotten his candy cane that Kibby had bought him earlier in the day out of the van and had been eating it in the truck. He got it on the seat. That was ok but then he started not wanting to mind me. I took him back in and got my book out and started checking fuses. None were blown. I did a little trouble shooting then decided to just wire the power and the battery wire together and fix it later. So every time I turn the truck off the stereo looses its programming. Ill fix it on one of my Fridays off. Then Stevie and I watched part of a silent movie on AMC. It was cool. We both laughed. I especially liked it because of the real life background scenes of people in model T's , traffic, people walking… Stevie had gotten comfortable and seemed to be falling asleep on me. Kibby got out of the shower and he got up and went to her and she put him to bed. I was starting to fall asleep and Kibby called from the bedroom to tell me that Desperate Housewives was on. I turned to it and when a commercial came on I went to the bedroom and watched it with her. Then we watched Gray's Anatomy. I was getting ready to take my shower and Kibby asked me where I was going. We, well you know.
    The outside alarm went off at about three as usual. I didn't see anything but the other night I saw a raccoon go through the space in the little gate to the pool. When I am sleeping good I, this even seems weird to me, for some reason I like getting up to see what set off my alarm. It is really loud and I feel sorry for everyone else. I am going to take it off the door alarm and wire it into the security system. That way it will not be as loud, I won’t have to go as far to disarm it, just to the pad by my bed room door, and I will only have to disarm one thing. Also it will set off the door chime when someone pulls into the driveway at night when the alarm is not on.
    11:43 AM
    I called Keith to ask him if I would get paid holiday pay for Thursday and Friday. He said it was an HR question. I called the head of payroll and she said she was new and wasn’t sure but she thought I would have to work the next scheduled work day to get holiday pay. If that is the case or if we aren't working Saturday and Sunday anyway then Wednesday is my last day here. It was different thinking Sunday would be my last day, that seemed far away. Now I have two days left after today, four days off for the holidays and Monday I start the next step in my career. I have been talking to my friends more than I do in a typical day. I am going to miss some people here.


    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry. Also there are some details that will only be in the master copy.

An entry from my journal.

Saturday, November 19, 2005
10:25 AM
    Feeling better today. Not wonderful but better. Yesterday I did the CGA on the Frame 5. Then I went for my exit interview. When I got back to the office I saw that the HR lady had changed the time from two to two thirty. I went at two anyway to see if we could get it over with. She said she was sorry she had to change the time and that she had sent me a revised time. I came back at two thirty and she got there at about two forty two. It was an enjoyable experience. She asked me a list of standard questions and then asked some of her own. I was able to complain about some of the things that I and everyone I work with believes are not right. I'm not sure what it is but I have always enjoyed quitting a job. When the interview was over it was about three and my coworker and I left.
   When I got home Kibby was making taco soup. While she was cooking Stevie and I went out to check out the van. As I am writing this Kibby is on her way to the farm with the kids to leave them there until Thanksgiving. I checked the water and decided to put the stereo from my truck in the van so she wouldn’t have to make the six hour trip in silence. Hers was stolen a few weeks ago and I haven't gotten around to replacing it. I got started and Kourt came out to play. She was playing with Stevie. She was on Kael's scooter and Stevie was on Kalie's. She decided to go in and she told me so I was watching Stevie again. I have so far felt confident checking on Stevie every now and then when we are out side. I was working on the van and looked around for Stevie. It had only been seconds. I usually have the door to the pool from the garage closed but it was open. I ran back there and didn't see him. I ran into the house and called for Kourt. She was in but she said she didn't bring Stevie in. I ran out side and Kibby ran out calling for him. She looked in the pool and around the sides of the house. The girls went out into the street and started for the woods. I said he's not there. They turned around to come back and one of them saw Stevie on the scooter down by the Wicks house. That is about five houses down. They ran down there and got him. The reason I said he wasn’t in the woods was because I was under the naive impression that he would be too scared to go that far from the house. What a lesson learned. And what a blessing. Thank you God.
   After that scare I went back to working on the van and then it was time to eat. I love Kibby's taco soup. It is always excellent. Kibby bought new bowls yesterday. They are nice and luxurious. They have grapes on the side and came from Bed Bath and Beyond. After dinner I went back out and finished putting the stereo in the van. It was more of a job than I had planned. I have done it many times but it just turned out to be one of those jobs. When I got through Kibby took Kael to Walmart to get some pull-ups. When she got home I was ready for bed. I had another fitful night coughing and blowing my nose. The cat set off the outside alarm again but this time I chased him away and said get out of her in an angry voice. I hope he doesn’t come back for a while.
   I'm at work now. First thing this morning after sitting around for an hour Hoppy and I had to change the CPU card in the 4D7OH then I watched the CEMS validate and had to cal one of them. Hoppy and I are thinking about going to Grand Prize BBQ for lunch.

Sunday, November 20, 2005
7:04 AM
   Yesterday we went to Grand prize but they weren't open so we went to Papa's BBQ. It was really good but no better than Grand Prize and more expensive. One reason it cost much more than Grand Prize is because I bought this gigantic piece of cheese cake. Saweet! After that we started day four of the testing on shelter one. When we were about half way though Myron came over to tell us that the guy working with him didn't start the purge in time and caused one of the analyzers in shelter two to fail. A few minutes later Keith called from his hunting trip to ask how things were going. I bet he wished he hadn't even called. Keith will have to make the call but it looks like we will be doing testing through the holidays. That’s good for me though because if I don’t work after the holidays they won’t pay me for Thursday and Friday. Shelter one went fine. Today Hoppy is off and Mike and I are here. The testing doesn’t start until around noon but we have the opportunity to be here all day. They are planning to restart the testing on the failed analyzer this morning so if I do have to work Saturday or Sunday I will only have to be here about four hours.
   On the way home I stopped at Randals to get cough drops and beer. I called Kibby to see if she wanted anything and she said she would like some wine and something from the central market. I told her I was at Randals and she said just the wine then. They didn't have her wine, Jacob's Creek Shiraz Cabernet, so I went to Spec's. Then I went to HEB and got beer, ice cream, cough drops and over to the Central Market. I tasted a few of the things and bought Kibby and I a chicken Cordon Bleu, a chicken parmesan, and two servings of grilled asparagus.
   When I got home we ate. The chicken was good. It was chicken. I was a little disappointed in the Cordon Bleu. It had bacon in the middle and I was expected ham. The parmesan was good but I would have liked more sauce. I wouldn’t be so critical but the two chicken servings were five dollars apiece and the asparagus was about three. That’s not really that bad but my expectations were maybe a little too high. The asparagus was wonderful. I wish I had gotten more.
   After dinner we ate some ice cream and I started watching Discovery and she watched something in the bedroom. Then I watched The Wedding Singer and went to bed.
   I slept better last night. Instead of waking up every hour I only remember waking up a few times. The outside alarm went off at about two and I looked out and saw a raccoon walking away. I reset it and it went off again a few minutes later. I looked out the window for the raccoon but didn't see him. I went out and saw him over by the trash cans. I chased him away, went back in and reset the alarm. I guess I need to adjust the sensitivity.

    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry.

An entry from my journal.

Friday, November 18, 2005
6:51 AM
    Miserably sick. I haven’t gotten a good nights sleep in days. Working eleven hours a day and driving two. I am so looking forward to the overtime being over. I am so grateful for it though. We are going to have a good Christmas. So far I have worked 56 hours overtime in the last four weeks. My last check should have 35 hours or so. I'm pretty sure that is more overtime than I have made in the whole three years I have been here. Not that I haven't had opportunities, I just don't like overtime. I didn't have much choice this time.
    Yesterday I did the CGA (cal gas audit) testing on the Dehydro One CEMS. It took me until eleven thirty to remember what I could and figure out the rest and start the testing. After that it went pretty good. The Nox analyzer on the Feed Heater failed and I had to really keep up with the rest of the analyzers to get them to pass. I increased the timing on the one that failed and it passed perfectly. Today I am supposed to do the Frame 5 CEMS. It will be a so easy breeze with nothing to figure out.
    I am supposed to go on an exit interview today at two. The guy I car pool with and I are planning to leave at three today. What a treat. He asked our supervisor yesterday and he agreed. We will get paid until four.
    When I got home My wife had roast beef with potatoes and carrots. That hit the spot. I have been noticing that I say about the same things about Kibby's cooking. I am so lucky to be treated so well. I just went to some restaurant review sites and got some more words to use in the future.
Fantastic, Tantalizing, Excellent, Superb, Amazing, Lovely,
Delicious, Pleasurable, Outstanding, Dynamite are some words I may use in the future.
    I am almost always so pleased I thought might use some more creative language. After we ate I watched some of The Apprentice with Kibby until I started falling asleep. Then I went to bed. It seemed I woke up every hour until about four and I couldn’t go back to sleep. The out side alarm went off at about three and Kibby saw a cat running away.
    It is hard to do anything right now because I feel so bad. I have a hard time getting my shoes and socks on. Everything I do I have to figure out. My mind is working so slowly.
    I am looking forward to my first day at my new job. The last day here will be a little sad but I cant wait to get where I'm going. I believe it is going to be the best job I have ever had and will obviously be the right choice.

    I have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry.

    Oh and Duh. I figured out the next day no one is actually reading my blog. Someone has my blog on some kind of automatic thing that comments on every entry of my blog and then solicits me by email. They will try anything.