Goings on

When I was in 8th or 9th grade at Beaumont Jr High, I was on the basketball team. We loved to play this game called knockout. For those not familiar, this game entails everyone lining up behind the free-throw line, the first two people have a ball. The first person in line shoots, if they make it they go to the end of the line. If they miss, the person behind them shoots and attempts to make the shot before the first person makes their follow-up shot. And so it goes through the line like this until the last person standing knocks out the second to last person. Sounds simple, just make your free throw. But when you've got numerous teammates standing behind you, taunting you, and you know the person behind you can knock you from this game, you're a little freaked out, and tend to rush things. I will never forget the first time I played this game. I was so stressed about missing my shot, because I am uber competitive and didn't want to be the loser who can't knock out the rest of my team. Of course, my stress caused me to miss my shot, and I was knocked out on my first shot. I remember standing to the side watching the rest of the team go through the line, and thinking if I had just taken a minute to breathe, get my shot off correctly, I would eventually win.

This lesson still sticks with me, as it did yesterday when I took the test to be an ICC Commercial Building Inspector. It's a timed test, 80 multiple choice questions in 3-1/2 hours. Sounds easy enough, especially since it's open book. But I used the ENTIRE 3-1/2 hours, not a second less. And I passed.

The picture is indicative of how I felt afterwards - drained. One of the hardest parts was convincing myself that was plenty of time, not to rush and answer just because I didn't feel like I was going to make it in time. Especially at the 2-1/2 hour mark when my brain went foggy and my eyes were screaming at me for a break. I pushed through, and actually finished answering all the questions at the 3 hour mark. I spent the last half hour going through the questions I had marked as ones to go back and double check. When the clock ran out and the computer closed me out of the program, I felt good. They don't tell you your score if you pass, so I don't know how well I actually did. But I felt wonderful that I passed. So now I can officially look at a building and tell someone if it's built correctly or not. Kind of scary.

This is a good thing for me in two ways. One, the job I took a few weeks ago was conditional on me passing this test. While my company didn't seem to care if I did this or not, because this is a temp job, our Corps team bugged me about it several times a week. So now I can make them go away. Second, there is a position open with the Corps that I think this may help get me a leg up on the competition for. So we'll see.

Speaking of my current job, I took a temp job with the company I was laid off from in May. They have me contracted to a general contractor as a quality control manager on a project at Fort Lewis. The company is based in Alabama, so you know I had to decorate my desk with my UK stuff :-). Anyway, it's their first foray at Ft. Lewis, and this base apparently operates differently than others they've worked at. So I am having to hold their hands a little to get through things. This company also does not have any kind of quality control or safety program, which amazes me that they are getting theses contracts with this. So between me and the safety guy that was also just hired, we are establishing the programs out here. The job for me is only suppposed to last till October, when their permanent guy is supposed to come out. From what I've heard about what he's currently doing, it will be later than that. In the meantime, I'm still keeping my ears and eyes open for other opportunities. Permanent ones.

Other than job stuff, it's been quiet around here. Karl left on July 4th, and headed back to Maine. I took the rest of the holiday weekend to clean up a little, go for a ride on the motorcycle, and relax. That's a weird thing to wrap ones mind around fully. It's been interesting, I'm definitely glad the job came up when it did. I think I would have gone a little loopy if I had to sit at home and dwell on things. We still have not had a single call on the house, I'm convinced there's a reason for that. When things settle down, the interest will come. In the meantime, I go for at least one ride a weekend, even if it's just a short one, and hang out.

The last crazy thing that has happened, that I noted in my last post, is I have finally found out what is wrong with my arm. I have a pinched nerve in my neck. So off to an orthopedic doctor to get that addressed. The pain has pretty much subsided, but I still don't have feeling in my right thumb or index finger, and my right arm is a little weaker than usual. Makes for a fun time when typing or trying to pick things up. The best thing to come out of this was getting out of an exercise in my CPR/first aid class last week. We were practicing the heimlich, and had to act like we actually fainted for our partner to practice letting the person down without dropping them. The guy I was working with was huge. The teacher offered to let me switch, but I said no thanks, mentioned my arm, and he let me off the hook. The lesson there, if you pass out around me, plan on hitting the ground hard :-).