Routine News from The Hood

It's a rainy day in Sugar Land, but at least it's warm. We actually had four consecutive days where the temperature was below the freezing mark. This is the equivalent of 150 below zero in places like Minnesota. I covered some of the plants, but unfortunately there were casualties among our green friends. I also noticed that the freezing weather popped some of the bark off the big elm tree in the back yard. I'm not sure what that's about, but I assume that popping elm bark is probably not a good thing. Time will tell.

Yesterday I had my second interview at the South Texas Project (STP), which is a nuclear power plant south of Bay City. First there was a panel interview with three people, then a short meeting with the CEO, and then a two-hour conversation with the company psychologist (which was quite entertaining). Things went great, I liked the people, and the job seems like a good fit for me at this stage of my so-called career. Now all I need is an offer for some decent money. I'm still not completely sold on the 80-mile commute (about 90 minutes), but the four-day work week sounds really nice, and they have some van pools. I have a telephone interview next Tuesday morning with a Houston company that does HR outsourcing. Everybody said they expected things to pick up after the first of the year and so far it looks like they're right.

We met our new (since November) neighbors this past Tuesday. I was out working on replacing the 57 rotten pickets in our fence and new guy Rodney came over and introduced himself. He seems like a really nice guy. He works from home when he's not on the road. His wife's name is Heather, and they have three kids, ages 13 years, 4 years, and 18 months. I have no recollection of the kids' names.

I did my shift at Second Mile this morning. Today's task was taking an inventory of all the burned out lights, the missing and damaged ceiling tiles, and areas of the carpet that are in need of repair. After I finished the inventory I started on replacing the lights. It was so exciting to be on a ladder again, even if everyone who walked by felt compelled to come up with some type of lame falling off the ladder comment. I'm taking a wild guess that next Thursday I'll be replacing ceiling tiles. Oh boy - more ladder time!