Busy busy busy

We are currently swamped at work, I am on call and I am tired. That is all you are getting right now. I had a subject in mind but I am just not in a writing mood right now.

Sudden sleepiness

Well I was planning on blogging last night but around 21:00, I realized I was simply too damned tired and went to bed.
Well I got my holiday schedule, I got the actual holidays off. Sadly because we are so busy and understaffed right now our standard practice of being "closed" for the week between xmas and new years. I don't thing I will have much of a chance for a decent road trip, I will try and get out to the ski hill though even if just for the day at Mount Holly.
On the bright side we have hired a new guy at work and he starts on the December 22. I hope he is good. We also get back two guys who have been away at trade school, the new year should start out much more relaxed. Another good thing our on call schedule will work differently for 2011. Currently we start our week on call on Monday and finish the following Monday. I had suggested starting Friday instead, that way when you are done you get to enjoy the week end to relax. We discussed it and agreed on Thursday as the switch over day, apparently that is how most other companies do it. I am just happy to have some time to chill out after a stressful week on call.
Well that is all for now, until next week.

Road trip

Well the holiday season is fast approaching and I am in the mood for a road trip. Actually I have been in the mood for the last few months. The problem right now is we are understaffed at work so I might not get much time off. I am still unsure where I would go. Skiing is certainly on the list. I am also considering a road trip to visit some MINI friends, not sure what we would do but I am sure we would have fun. The traditional family visit is always the standby. I will keep you updated as soon as I know what I have off. I am also taking suggestions.

EDIT: Forgot to add I just officially requested time off for MOTD9. If you are interested in tagging along let me know.

Changes

Well things at work have changed. My manager is no longer my manager. He will now be what they are calling technical manager, basically he is in charge of dealing with the most complicated equipment we service, quote large jobs and help us out when we need it. He did however take this as an opportunity to take a leave of absence until late January. So we are even more short on staff for the next while.
The new manager is one of the owners. I think he will do a good job but only time will tell, we are told to expect lots of change. First priority though is hiring some experienced people. This is good news, things are very busy right now which can be quite stressful. Currently I am on call, technically it is a switched week, so that means instead of 6 weeks break before my next time on call it will be 2. I had not thought of that when I agreed to switch. Ah well, I just hope we get some decent time off at xmas. It's not looking good though.

Thinking of skiing

Sadly the skiing season is still several weeks away. I say this every year but I really hope to get on the slopes more this year, actually if I go once this year I will have beaten my score for the last two years. 

I really like to go but since the closest decent resorts are about all about a four hour drive it makes for a very long day, and makes for last minute trips almost impossible. 

I will look into getting some of the MINI people together for a week end trip that could be fun, and if we all cram into a cabin it could actually be quite affordable. 

My biggest concern and one of the reason I have skipped the last two seasons is my knees, they aren't that bad but do hurt me somewhat regularly, I do try to avoid kneeling so much at work but it comes with the job. Skiing can be hard on the knees and I really don't want things getting worse.

I am late.

I apologise loyal readers, I missed my deadline last night. Frankly I was tired and really had nothing to say, or at least nothing I felt like getting into. Work has been rather busy lately.
I do have a tip for you though, if you have a machine, what ever it may be that isn't working turn it off. Yes this seems like common sense but it may not always be apparent. This week a convenience store have issues with their main cooler. Basically it was not cold.  There were no obvious noises or anything so the left it as is until I arrived much later to fix it. I arrive and realise the condenser fan motor has failed. Nothing major here happens all the time. I get it replaced, no easy task in this particular application. I turn the system back on, the compressor will not work. Many checks later, yep it done. Maybe it was a fluke, but without a condenser fan motor the pressures and heat get quite high this causes the compressor to overheat and eventually trip it's overload. Technically this should protect the compressor repeat this cycle over and over as the overload cools and damage will occur. So had they shut down the system once they realised it was not working they could have saved themselves a compressor, especially since this one was only four years old.

Back at work

Well I am done with school and I am happy to report I passed. Back at work, things aren't as different as I was expecting since the loss of my co-worker. We are rather busy though kinda hard to get back into the grove when it's this busy.
In a few weeks I get to write the test for my refrigeration license. Once passed I really don't know what I will do. I am likely to keep things as they are for a while but as a licensed mechanic it opens allot of doors. No actual plans on bailing on my current company but change is not a bad thing. I guess we will have to see.