While sitting around and watching it snow yesterday, we thought we should go out sometime during the day and get caught up on our grocery shopping. The snow never stuck - thank goodness - and the temperatures remained in the high 30's most of the day. In the early afternoon we decided to take the plunge and go out to do some shopping and also have a special treat that we haven't had in a couple months. That treat was another visit to the Philly Steak Restaurant in town. We look forward to eating there and don't go very often since the steaks, though big and super delicious, are high in calories. Anyway, it was a shocker as we pulled up to the place and saw that the sign was down, the place was being torn apart inside and they were totally closed. I guess there weren't enough people in the Campbellsville, KY area that appreciated a good Philly cheese steak sandwich. What a shame.
We ended up trying another Mexican restaurant - Panchos - to see how it compared to the other 2 Mexican restaurants in town. It was not quite as good as Fiesta Mexico or Garcia's. The bill was only $13, so we can't complain.
There is another job opportunity that we have been working on that is gaining steam. We aren't going to reveal too much about it yet as we still have some hurdles to jump and some tasks to complete, but we will say it is a major change for us. We had another interview scheduled for yesterday - a Skype video call - that was delayed until today as a result of the weather impacting the process. We are to have another attempt at that interview today, and if all goes well, we will take the next step which is close to being given an offer. It is an exciting change and we are anxious to wrap it up and tell everybody. Hopefully, we can publish a long blog entry, very soon, describing the change...
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Snow in the Forecast
We have had over 3 inches of rain over the last 2 days and it's probably good that we had to work during that time. Fortunately, the campground drains well, but there are still huge puddles around and the temperatures are dropping. The rain has just about stopped, but has been replaced by snow flurries. In looking at the regional forecasts, it appears that lots of snow is expected all around us, but not here. Right now it is 37 outside.
About 2 hours before ending the day yesterday, I was approached by one of the Amazon Administrators for the workamper program. It seems that many of the workampers are struggling and they have established a new position - Workforce Camper Scout - to try and coach the people who are not performing well to see if their productivity can be improved. I was asked if I would be interested in one of the slots as my supervisor had recommended me for the job. The job carries an increase of $1 per hour in pay, effective immediately, so why not. I'm waiting for an email to inform me of a meeting to take place within the next few days that will further outline the responsibilities.
For anybody watching the World News on NBC last night, there was a short segment on Amazon.com at the warehouse in Phoenix. It looked remarkably like our warehouse and we recognized just about everything in the place, including the hand held scanner that the employee was holding.
With only 2 days off this week, it will be difficult to schedule anything except rest. We do need to activate Josie's phone, so maybe, if we feel like going out and the weather cooperates, we may go to Louisville and try to begin some Christmas shopping. Gosh, only 25 shopping days 'til Christmas...
About 2 hours before ending the day yesterday, I was approached by one of the Amazon Administrators for the workamper program. It seems that many of the workampers are struggling and they have established a new position - Workforce Camper Scout - to try and coach the people who are not performing well to see if their productivity can be improved. I was asked if I would be interested in one of the slots as my supervisor had recommended me for the job. The job carries an increase of $1 per hour in pay, effective immediately, so why not. I'm waiting for an email to inform me of a meeting to take place within the next few days that will further outline the responsibilities.
For anybody watching the World News on NBC last night, there was a short segment on Amazon.com at the warehouse in Phoenix. It looked remarkably like our warehouse and we recognized just about everything in the place, including the hand held scanner that the employee was holding.
With only 2 days off this week, it will be difficult to schedule anything except rest. We do need to activate Josie's phone, so maybe, if we feel like going out and the weather cooperates, we may go to Louisville and try to begin some Christmas shopping. Gosh, only 25 shopping days 'til Christmas...
Monday, November 28, 2011
Looking at the End
We sent an email to HR yesterday asking to be one of the couples considered for early departure this year. Amazon asked people last year if they wanted to leave up to a week early and we wanted to make sure that our names would be on the list for this year if it is again offered. As long as there is no impact on the year end bonus, we would like to leave as early as possible. Working here since early July has more than fulfilled our commitment.
The HR people responded with an email thanking us for all the hard work, dedication and commitment we've made this year so far and indicated they will soon be planning the "ramp-down" for this year, and we would certainly be included in any offer for early departure. At the same time, we received another email from HR asking if people might be interested in staying beyond the December 23 end date to continue working, possibly into January. Yikes! The thought of even working one day beyond the 23rd makes us cringe.
We should have only 3 official weeks left on our commitment here following today. It hardly seems possible that the end is that close. Of course, there will be overtime days involved during that period, but we are thinking that we will try to minimize those.
There was nothing exciting at work yesterday and we hope that today goes quickly so that we can begin our break this week. The break is only 2 days since we have an overtime day scheduled for Thursday. The rain is continuing - 1.5" over the last day and a half - and the temperatures are dropping. Please keep the snow away...
The HR people responded with an email thanking us for all the hard work, dedication and commitment we've made this year so far and indicated they will soon be planning the "ramp-down" for this year, and we would certainly be included in any offer for early departure. At the same time, we received another email from HR asking if people might be interested in staying beyond the December 23 end date to continue working, possibly into January. Yikes! The thought of even working one day beyond the 23rd makes us cringe.
We should have only 3 official weeks left on our commitment here following today. It hardly seems possible that the end is that close. Of course, there will be overtime days involved during that period, but we are thinking that we will try to minimize those.
There was nothing exciting at work yesterday and we hope that today goes quickly so that we can begin our break this week. The break is only 2 days since we have an overtime day scheduled for Thursday. The rain is continuing - 1.5" over the last day and a half - and the temperatures are dropping. Please keep the snow away...
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Hint of Snow
It started raining last night and the forecast for the next 7 days is not looking real good. Actually, it is calling for more rain today and tomorrow with a chance of snow mixed in on Tuesday. The lows will be in the low to mid 30's the next couple nights and then, following the rain, it will dip into the high 20's for several days for the low. It is about time we see the winter weather arrive. We have been a little bit lucky, I guess, since parts of the country have already had a big snowstorm.
Work was about normal yesterday - tiring. Josie and I both worked in the same area for most of the day until I got called away to do more case stowing at the other end of the warehouse. It just isn't the same this year. The people are different - older, and not as nice as the group we had last year - and the company seems to have eliminated some the fun things they did last year. There are still no treats like we had everyday last year and the management doesn't seem to have the same "spirit" as the crew we had in 2010. We're hoping it changes soon.
Day 3 this week is today and we're really beginning to look more closely at the calendar now...
Work was about normal yesterday - tiring. Josie and I both worked in the same area for most of the day until I got called away to do more case stowing at the other end of the warehouse. It just isn't the same this year. The people are different - older, and not as nice as the group we had last year - and the company seems to have eliminated some the fun things they did last year. There are still no treats like we had everyday last year and the management doesn't seem to have the same "spirit" as the crew we had in 2010. We're hoping it changes soon.
Day 3 this week is today and we're really beginning to look more closely at the calendar now...
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Floodgates are Open
The real peak season has arrived. This is what Amazon.com plans for all year long. There are workers everywhere and yesterday there were over 240 Pickers working, versus an approximately 50 Pickers on a normal day. It looked like a marathon race all day long as these people were constantly in our way while we were attempting to stow product. Josie and I both worked in the HRV area most of the day and there is a special area set aside for these Pickers to prepare the merchandise for shipping. Yesterday, the Pickers were in each other's way as they all were vying for space in this area to finish their preparations of the merchandise. The rush is on, and Amazon is ready. They have more than double the workampers this year so it will be interesting to see the impact versus last year.
Our morning briefing before the start of work was attended by not only the workers on our shift, but by workers who are at the start of the overtime schedule from other shifts which added another 75 - 100 people. The one thing that is different already from last year is that there are no pies being given away - at least not yet. We'll see if some of the other goodies we enjoyed last year reappear, such as fresh fruit during breaks and drawings for gift cards throughout the day. So far, there is no sign of those. With the extra staff added this year, they may have discontinued those nice benefits from last year which would be a shame. That made it much more fun while working.
We'll just keep our noses to the grindstone and continue to do the best we can for the duration. Three more days for this week and another week will be in the books...
Our morning briefing before the start of work was attended by not only the workers on our shift, but by workers who are at the start of the overtime schedule from other shifts which added another 75 - 100 people. The one thing that is different already from last year is that there are no pies being given away - at least not yet. We'll see if some of the other goodies we enjoyed last year reappear, such as fresh fruit during breaks and drawings for gift cards throughout the day. So far, there is no sign of those. With the extra staff added this year, they may have discontinued those nice benefits from last year which would be a shame. That made it much more fun while working.
We'll just keep our noses to the grindstone and continue to do the best we can for the duration. Three more days for this week and another week will be in the books...
Friday, November 25, 2011
Great Thanksgiving Dinner
We hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday.
The weather cooperated for us as it was nice and sunny and comfortable with a high of 57. We picked up Rodger and Sue at 1 PM to go to Creek Side for our group dinner that was scheduled at 1:30. Our group this year may have been a little smaller than last year, but it was pretty close to the same size. We had the entire second level of the restaurant:
The pictures aren't the best, but you get the idea. The food line was in the other half from our eating area and is just behind where I took the above picture, so I had to be quick about it and move out of the way. Below is a shot of our table:
There was plenty of food and it was very similar to the spread they gave us last week at work. This restaurant does a fabulous job with the Thanksgiving buffet and our bill was only $25 which was, we felt, a steal.
It was a great time at dinner and we stopped at Rodger and Sue's place after we left to have a glass of wine before heading home. With the heavy overtime schedules we are facing the rest of the way, we probably won't have a lot of time to spend together outside of work. If it is like last year, the rest of our time will be mostly work and sleep.
I repaired another one of our day/night shades when we returned by restringing it with the cord that I purchased a couple months ago. One of our neighbors who was an owner of a blinds and shades business was expected to come over and help but he got tied up with other folks following our dinner. That was fine. I handled it myself, although it would have probably gone a lot faster with his expert help.
We're ready to launch the final 4 week push today. Our first overtime day isn't until Thursday of next week, so we have a grace period before the real rush kicks in. It has been a long road to this point and we are anxious to see it end...
The weather cooperated for us as it was nice and sunny and comfortable with a high of 57. We picked up Rodger and Sue at 1 PM to go to Creek Side for our group dinner that was scheduled at 1:30. Our group this year may have been a little smaller than last year, but it was pretty close to the same size. We had the entire second level of the restaurant:
The pictures aren't the best, but you get the idea. The food line was in the other half from our eating area and is just behind where I took the above picture, so I had to be quick about it and move out of the way. Below is a shot of our table:
There was plenty of food and it was very similar to the spread they gave us last week at work. This restaurant does a fabulous job with the Thanksgiving buffet and our bill was only $25 which was, we felt, a steal.
It was a great time at dinner and we stopped at Rodger and Sue's place after we left to have a glass of wine before heading home. With the heavy overtime schedules we are facing the rest of the way, we probably won't have a lot of time to spend together outside of work. If it is like last year, the rest of our time will be mostly work and sleep.
I repaired another one of our day/night shades when we returned by restringing it with the cord that I purchased a couple months ago. One of our neighbors who was an owner of a blinds and shades business was expected to come over and help but he got tied up with other folks following our dinner. That was fine. I handled it myself, although it would have probably gone a lot faster with his expert help.
We're ready to launch the final 4 week push today. Our first overtime day isn't until Thursday of next week, so we have a grace period before the real rush kicks in. It has been a long road to this point and we are anxious to see it end...
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Unplanned Trip to Costco
To start with, the new phones we upgraded to from Verizon for some reason won't activate in this area. Even though we get a fairly strong signal for conversations, the server, tower or whatever is in this area doesn't have the capability to do technical stuff to the equipment. We had the same problem last year with our new device we purchased in Gallatin, TN, if you recall. Anyway, the Verizon support tech on the phone suggested I take the phone to Walmart and pick up a new SIM card which is what he thought was causing the problem. Of course, the nearest Walmart is here in town, so that was easy. The problem was that our Walmart here only supports AT&T and Sprint and had no capability to help us with the Verizon problem. That was ok. We decided to drive up the road to another Walmart in a town called Lebanon, about 20 miles away. It was not raining and even though it was an overcast day, it was much better than what we have been getting the last few weeks on our days off. Hmm. This Walmart also had no Verizon capability - only AT&T. I knew the next best possibility would be the Sam's Club in Elizabethtown - another 50 miles to the west from where we were. Again, that was ok, since we thought we could check out some items while there. It turned out that this Sam's Club had only AT&T and T Mobile support. Now our day is getting a little out of control. What started out as a short trip to town at 10 AM to get a phone activated has now turned out to be day's journey. The nearest Verizon support was located at Costco in Louisville, or other Verizon Store locations within the city. By now, we were only another 45 miles from Louisville, so we made the trip. I went directly to the Wireless booth at Costco when we arrived and the gentleman was very understanding of my activation problem. He turned on my phone, waited for it boot, as I did, and suddenly - wa-la! - it activated. He didn't have to make any additional changes to the equipment or replace any SIM card. It just needed to be activated in this strong Verizon support area. Go figure. We decided not to attempt to activate Josie's phone - which we obviously should have brought with us - until we return to the Louisville area.
We returned home at around 5 PM and the day was pretty much shot. We had some dinner and watched the Dancing With the Stars finale which we had copied the night before. After a few other shows, we turned in for the night.
Today we pick up Rodger and Sue at 1 PM to have Thanksgiving dinner at the Creek Side Restaurant that I had mentioned before. We will enjoy our dinner with friends but will miss having the family around for this holiday meal. We hope everybody has a great day today...
We returned home at around 5 PM and the day was pretty much shot. We had some dinner and watched the Dancing With the Stars finale which we had copied the night before. After a few other shows, we turned in for the night.
Today we pick up Rodger and Sue at 1 PM to have Thanksgiving dinner at the Creek Side Restaurant that I had mentioned before. We will enjoy our dinner with friends but will miss having the family around for this holiday meal. We hope everybody has a great day today...
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Clearing for Thanksgiving
We had over 2" of rain the last 2 days and sometimes it was so heavy we lost our satellite signal. When the cloud cover gets thick during some storms, the TV reception disappears. That's when we turn on our shows and movies that we haven't seen yet from our DVR. It doesn't happen very often but is definitely a disadvantage of satellite TV. The forecast now is for a clear Thanksgiving day. The storm has been moving through the northeast and will be through New York in time for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
It was a day of continuing the recovery process from whatever I had the last couple days and Josie did some cleaning and reading and that was the extent of the day, except for receipt of new phones. We have been eligible for upgrades through Verizon for several months now but we wanted to wait until the lingering issue we have been having with them was resolved. We came close to dropping all Verizon coverage and going with AT & T, but they came through with a resolution. The more I read about the 2 companies, the more I was convinced that Verizon was still the best choice for us. Anyway, we ordered new phones and they arrived yesterday. Mine has not activated properly so we need to get a replacement SIM card today in order to complete the process. Right now, Josie has the only active phone. Fortunately, I can pick up a replacement at Walmart for about $2. We'll give that a try.
We hope everybody is preparing for the Thanksgiving Day festivities and we sure miss the family gatherings we were used to having on that holiday...
It was a day of continuing the recovery process from whatever I had the last couple days and Josie did some cleaning and reading and that was the extent of the day, except for receipt of new phones. We have been eligible for upgrades through Verizon for several months now but we wanted to wait until the lingering issue we have been having with them was resolved. We came close to dropping all Verizon coverage and going with AT & T, but they came through with a resolution. The more I read about the 2 companies, the more I was convinced that Verizon was still the best choice for us. Anyway, we ordered new phones and they arrived yesterday. Mine has not activated properly so we need to get a replacement SIM card today in order to complete the process. Right now, Josie has the only active phone. Fortunately, I can pick up a replacement at Walmart for about $2. We'll give that a try.
We hope everybody is preparing for the Thanksgiving Day festivities and we sure miss the family gatherings we were used to having on that holiday...
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Another Week in the Books
It was about midday when I began to feel better yesterday. The sore throat was almost completely gone - I still don't know what caused that - and we completed our 21st week at Amazon. Both of us worked in the Prep area for the first time in a couple weeks to end the day. It rained again the whole day and we have accumulated another 1.8" in just over 2 days. At least it stays a little warmer when it's raining as we have been around 60 degrees each day.
The voluntary overtime program kicks in this Friday after Thanksgiving. Since our work week doesn't begin until Friday, our first full overtime day will be next Thursday. This year, they have the overtime day at the start of the week instead of the end as they did last year. With 4 weeks left to work, we will be working (5) 10 hour days the rest of the way. That still gives us 2 days off each week and we feel we can manage that for a short time. Florida is looking better everyday.
Our plan when we leave here at the end of our work is to drive to Memphis to spend Christmas. Neither of us has been there and we want to see Graceland with all the Christmas lights and decorations. The Christmas lighting ceremony was held on November 18, but there is a link to a LiveCam of the mansion. It should be a lot better than spending Christmas in the Camping World parking lot in Chattanooga, TN, as we did last year. Then, it will be a straight shot to Orlando and the Thousand Trails campground. That sure sounds good.
We will enjoy our next 3 days off and look forward to the Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday at the Creek Side Restaurant with our friends...
The voluntary overtime program kicks in this Friday after Thanksgiving. Since our work week doesn't begin until Friday, our first full overtime day will be next Thursday. This year, they have the overtime day at the start of the week instead of the end as they did last year. With 4 weeks left to work, we will be working (5) 10 hour days the rest of the way. That still gives us 2 days off each week and we feel we can manage that for a short time. Florida is looking better everyday.
Our plan when we leave here at the end of our work is to drive to Memphis to spend Christmas. Neither of us has been there and we want to see Graceland with all the Christmas lights and decorations. The Christmas lighting ceremony was held on November 18, but there is a link to a LiveCam of the mansion. It should be a lot better than spending Christmas in the Camping World parking lot in Chattanooga, TN, as we did last year. Then, it will be a straight shot to Orlando and the Thousand Trails campground. That sure sounds good.
We will enjoy our next 3 days off and look forward to the Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday at the Creek Side Restaurant with our friends...
Monday, November 21, 2011
More Than Dust
Yesterday I mentioned that both Josie and I get sore throats and stuffy sinuses from work. Mine is more than dust, I believe, as I could hardly swallow yesterday and last night when we came home from work I had a fever of 100.6. It was the longest day at work that I can remember. I went to bed at 6:30 after taking some flu medication and this morning I still have the sore throat, but the fever appears to be gone. I'm not sure if I can make it through the day but I'm going to try. It is our last day for the week so I have incentive to stick it out.
Our plans for Thanksgiving are set. We will repeat the last year event of going to the Creek Side Inn for the buffet dinner. We had about 30 people last year and so far, according to Scott - the organizer for the dinner, there 22 people committed. I'm sure it will grow as we get closer to Thursday. Last year our party occupied the entire second floor of the restaurant and it looks like the same will happen this year. This is the same restaurant that catered our Thanksgiving dinner at Amazon this year that was held last week - it was excellent.
The rains have returned to Kentucky and we had over 1.2" yesterday with rain still coming down this morning. There is thunder and lightening this morning and it looks like another week of lousy weather for our days off - 3 weeks in a row. The best news is that after today, we only have 4 weeks left to go...
Our plans for Thanksgiving are set. We will repeat the last year event of going to the Creek Side Inn for the buffet dinner. We had about 30 people last year and so far, according to Scott - the organizer for the dinner, there 22 people committed. I'm sure it will grow as we get closer to Thursday. Last year our party occupied the entire second floor of the restaurant and it looks like the same will happen this year. This is the same restaurant that catered our Thanksgiving dinner at Amazon this year that was held last week - it was excellent.
The rains have returned to Kentucky and we had over 1.2" yesterday with rain still coming down this morning. There is thunder and lightening this morning and it looks like another week of lousy weather for our days off - 3 weeks in a row. The best news is that after today, we only have 4 weeks left to go...
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Business Picking Up
It is getting busier each day at work. Usually, the weekends are very slow and not many people work the weekend days, but it was noticeably different yesterday. The added staff was apparent and so was the increase in merchandise moving through the facility. There is a message board near our break room where management posts interesting statistics each day. The message yesterday indicated that 1.0 million items would be received on Saturday (yesterday) and the volume will build until the Friday following Thanksgiving when 2.4 million items are expected. Remember, that is only for our facility and for one day. Outbound is expected to meet or exceed those volumes for shipping. The combined totals for all of Amazon's facilities must be staggering.
How about a swing of 34 degrees in the low temperature between Friday AM and today - 24 vs 58 this morning. It's amazing how the weather is so unpredictable this year. Friday's high was 52 and today it is expected to go into the 70's.
We both are having some problems with the dust situation at work as we have sore throats and stuffed sinuses at the end of each day. At least we think it's the dust causing the problem. Having just gotten over a cold last week, it's not any lingering effects from that. Anyway, it's off to day 3 of work for this week - 1 more after today...
How about a swing of 34 degrees in the low temperature between Friday AM and today - 24 vs 58 this morning. It's amazing how the weather is so unpredictable this year. Friday's high was 52 and today it is expected to go into the 70's.
We both are having some problems with the dust situation at work as we have sore throats and stuffed sinuses at the end of each day. At least we think it's the dust causing the problem. Having just gotten over a cold last week, it's not any lingering effects from that. Anyway, it's off to day 3 of work for this week - 1 more after today...
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Job Fair Announced
The details for the Job Fair that Amazon is sponsoring were released yesterday. It will be held on December 6 (Tuesday, our day off) in the meeting room at our campground here at Heartland. So, from 1-6 PM there will be representatives from companies to recruit for openings in their organizations. If interested, we are to provide resumes to Amazon to place in a book to be presented to each representative. So far, representatives from 4 companies have signed up: Dollywood and Splash Country (from Tennessee), Yellowstone DNC Parks and Resorts, Air Photo, Inc. and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, none of those interest us. The Yellowstone openings are probably to work in one of the Park stores that we hear are sweatshops. Anyone that we've spoken to that has worked there has indicated they would never return. Air Photo is probably going door to door in high end neighborhoods selling photos of residences taken from the air. We've seen ads for that company. The Dollywood opportunity is working in the Dolly Parton (amusement) Park in Tennessee - not our bag. The only unknown is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which is in an area we don't particularly care to visit anyway. So far, the job fair doesn't present much new to us but we will probably attend anyway. There will most likely be more companies signing up before the day of the Fair.
The temperature sank to 24 yesterday at 7:30 AM after I reported it at 26 at 4:30 AM. It is warming up today as the low so far is 41 at 4:30 this morning. No more sub freezing temperatures are in the near term forecast.
We also signed up for voluntary overtime during the heavy business period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That means we have the option to work (5) ten hour days, (5) eleven hour days or (6) ten hour days. So, we could work 50, 55 or 60 hours per week if we want to really kill ourselves. We did that last year and worked 5 eleven hour days during the last few weeks. We've been working so long now at this very physical job that we get tired just thinking about those extra hours. We'll see what happens when the time comes to decide on a schedule which will probably be within the week...
The temperature sank to 24 yesterday at 7:30 AM after I reported it at 26 at 4:30 AM. It is warming up today as the low so far is 41 at 4:30 this morning. No more sub freezing temperatures are in the near term forecast.
We also signed up for voluntary overtime during the heavy business period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That means we have the option to work (5) ten hour days, (5) eleven hour days or (6) ten hour days. So, we could work 50, 55 or 60 hours per week if we want to really kill ourselves. We did that last year and worked 5 eleven hour days during the last few weeks. We've been working so long now at this very physical job that we get tired just thinking about those extra hours. We'll see what happens when the time comes to decide on a schedule which will probably be within the week...
Friday, November 18, 2011
Here We Go Again
We woke up this morning to 26 degrees. It was December last year before we had this kind of cold weather and we're hoping it is just another freak weather front going through.
The rest of Christmas was retrieved from our basement storage and Josie decorated the rig so we are ready for the "spirit" to set in for the holidays. This year, we did it much earlier than last except for the outside lights that I need to put out sometime over the weekend. It does seem like the time will go faster with the decorations reminding us of the Christmas season - mental thing, I guess.
Our dinner last night at Gatti's was so-so. The problem I think was that we went too early - 4 PM and there were not many fresh, hot pizzas in the buffet line. They showed up as we were finishing our meal at around 6 PM following all our conversation. Anyway, here are the shots from dinner. First is the sign as you may recognize from before:
Next is the shot of Rodger and Sue:
They just switched from stowing to picking so they had lots to talk about. They still prefer the night shift and, with their schedule being different from ours, only allows us to get together on Thursday nights which is our only common day off during the week.
Hey, folks - there are only 5 weeks to go. Yes, we can do this...
The rest of Christmas was retrieved from our basement storage and Josie decorated the rig so we are ready for the "spirit" to set in for the holidays. This year, we did it much earlier than last except for the outside lights that I need to put out sometime over the weekend. It does seem like the time will go faster with the decorations reminding us of the Christmas season - mental thing, I guess.
Our dinner last night at Gatti's was so-so. The problem I think was that we went too early - 4 PM and there were not many fresh, hot pizzas in the buffet line. They showed up as we were finishing our meal at around 6 PM following all our conversation. Anyway, here are the shots from dinner. First is the sign as you may recognize from before:
Next is the shot of Rodger and Sue:
They just switched from stowing to picking so they had lots to talk about. They still prefer the night shift and, with their schedule being different from ours, only allows us to get together on Thursday nights which is our only common day off during the week.
Hey, folks - there are only 5 weeks to go. Yes, we can do this...
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Our Days Off Must Be Jinxed
The total rainfall so far for the 2 days we have been off this week is over 2.5". This morning it is 37 degrees but at least the rain has now stopped. After thinking about the last several weeks, our days off seem to be filled with lousy weather while the weekends are terrific. We have to work inside during those days so as far as enjoying any nice weather this month, we haven't. It's the roll of the dice I guess, as last year we enjoyed some great weather on our days off.
All we did yesterday was get haircuts and have lunch at a neat place in town called Happy Days. It is a place we've heard about and seen as we pass by it on Main St in town, but never tried before yesterday. The atmosphere is, of course, like the Happy Days show. They have a soda fountain, tables, booths, 50's memorabilia and the best burgers we've had in a long time. I had a shake with mine, Josie had tea and we both had home made potato chips that were outstanding. The bill came to $14. We stopped on a spur of the moment decision so we didn't have the camera, but we will definitely return again.
There is another dinner with friends scheduled for tonight. Rodger and Sue will go to Gatti's with us us for the pizza buffet. They have switched their duties at work from Stowing to Picking for the rest of the season. That involves a lot more walking as they roll carts around the warehouse "picking" merchandise from the bins that have been ordered by customers. We feel that the outbound personnel will be the least likely to leave early at the end of the season. Amazon will be filling orders right up to Christmas Eve day, while the merchandise that we stow will most likely already be stowed and ready for "picking" by earlier in the Christmas week. Our plan is to leave here ASAP!
That's about it for now as we get ready to enjoy our last off day for this week. Maybe we will be able to get the rest of Christmas out of storage - if the rain and wind stop...
All we did yesterday was get haircuts and have lunch at a neat place in town called Happy Days. It is a place we've heard about and seen as we pass by it on Main St in town, but never tried before yesterday. The atmosphere is, of course, like the Happy Days show. They have a soda fountain, tables, booths, 50's memorabilia and the best burgers we've had in a long time. I had a shake with mine, Josie had tea and we both had home made potato chips that were outstanding. The bill came to $14. We stopped on a spur of the moment decision so we didn't have the camera, but we will definitely return again.
There is another dinner with friends scheduled for tonight. Rodger and Sue will go to Gatti's with us us for the pizza buffet. They have switched their duties at work from Stowing to Picking for the rest of the season. That involves a lot more walking as they roll carts around the warehouse "picking" merchandise from the bins that have been ordered by customers. We feel that the outbound personnel will be the least likely to leave early at the end of the season. Amazon will be filling orders right up to Christmas Eve day, while the merchandise that we stow will most likely already be stowed and ready for "picking" by earlier in the Christmas week. Our plan is to leave here ASAP!
That's about it for now as we get ready to enjoy our last off day for this week. Maybe we will be able to get the rest of Christmas out of storage - if the rain and wind stop...
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Rain, Rain and Rain
Once again it was a lousy weather day. Although still a little windy, the culprit yesterday and last night was heavy rain. In the last 12 hours we have had over 2.2" of rain along with the wind. It's still overcast this morning with some lingering rain. Thank goodness the temperatures are holding at a decent level - 69 for a high yesterday. It could be real nasty with colder temperatures.
Our dinner last night at Magic Wok was a lot of fun. In addition to Larry and "Tee", there was another couple - Dennis and Kathy - that were also at the last dinner we had at Betty's a couple weeks ago. They are the couple that own a Doubletree similar to ours and work with Larry and Tee. Below is a picture of the group:
From the left, that's Larry, Dennis, Kathy, Josie and Tee (Tee slid over to my chair for this picture).
As mentioned before, Larry and Tee are leaving Saturday to kick-off their new adventure with the Holiday Retirement Center in St Augustine, Florida. They will stop in Chattanooga, TN, to visit some friends this weekend then head to Ocala, FL, to have Thanksgiving dinner with her family, then head to North Carolina for their 2 weeks of training for their new job. Last night was the last time we would see them while here.
We started our inside preparations for Christmas - the earliest date we can ever remember. We placed some lighted Santas and snowmen in the side windows along with a large, lighted Merry Christmas sign in the rear window. Our tinted windows mean the details of the decorations can only be seen in the dark. That's probably the only time they would be turned on anyway. We will probably do some more today if the weather breaks enough for us to find the rest of our Christmas goodies in the basement storage of our rig. Day 2 of our days off will be enjoyable at any rate...
Our dinner last night at Magic Wok was a lot of fun. In addition to Larry and "Tee", there was another couple - Dennis and Kathy - that were also at the last dinner we had at Betty's a couple weeks ago. They are the couple that own a Doubletree similar to ours and work with Larry and Tee. Below is a picture of the group:
From the left, that's Larry, Dennis, Kathy, Josie and Tee (Tee slid over to my chair for this picture).
As mentioned before, Larry and Tee are leaving Saturday to kick-off their new adventure with the Holiday Retirement Center in St Augustine, Florida. They will stop in Chattanooga, TN, to visit some friends this weekend then head to Ocala, FL, to have Thanksgiving dinner with her family, then head to North Carolina for their 2 weeks of training for their new job. Last night was the last time we would see them while here.
We started our inside preparations for Christmas - the earliest date we can ever remember. We placed some lighted Santas and snowmen in the side windows along with a large, lighted Merry Christmas sign in the rear window. Our tinted windows mean the details of the decorations can only be seen in the dark. That's probably the only time they would be turned on anyway. We will probably do some more today if the weather breaks enough for us to find the rest of our Christmas goodies in the basement storage of our rig. Day 2 of our days off will be enjoyable at any rate...
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Two Days of High Winds
The high winds I mentioned yesterday continued all day and through most of the night. We cannot remember having two consecutive days and nights of such strong winds - 20 mph gusts with steady winds in the 12-15 mph range. There was a severe storm watch for yesterday evening but it appears that it just missed our area and went mostly to the northwest of us. It was a good example of the wild swings in weather we have been having. For the record, we had a high of 74 yesterday with a low of 65. It is 55 and raining outside this morning.
Amazon treated the employees to an early Thanksgiving dinner yesterday at our lunch break which extended our lunch break 15 minutes to a total of 45 minutes. The food was excellent and we are appreciative of Amazon's efforts to do something nice for the workforce. Speaking of work, we can brag a little about our performances. Josie and I both received notice and coins for over 100% performance last week. Josie also performed without any mistakes for the week which is very difficult to do. My notice was the 11th time I received a coin and notice for over 100% performance for the week. By the way, the coins are used in the vending machines at work and are valued at $1 each. It's better than nothing.
We will have another dinner out tonight. Our friends "Tee" and Larry will be leaving on Saturday for North Carolina where they will spend 2 weeks in training for their new jobs in Florida at a Holiday Retirement Center. It is an exciting time for them.
One of the activities we have planned for our days off is to take out Christmas from our basement storage and get set up for the holidays. We purchased a couple window decorations at Walmart last night to help us get in the Christmas spirit a little earlier this year. Wow! There are only 5 more working weeks before Christmas...
Amazon treated the employees to an early Thanksgiving dinner yesterday at our lunch break which extended our lunch break 15 minutes to a total of 45 minutes. The food was excellent and we are appreciative of Amazon's efforts to do something nice for the workforce. Speaking of work, we can brag a little about our performances. Josie and I both received notice and coins for over 100% performance last week. Josie also performed without any mistakes for the week which is very difficult to do. My notice was the 11th time I received a coin and notice for over 100% performance for the week. By the way, the coins are used in the vending machines at work and are valued at $1 each. It's better than nothing.
We will have another dinner out tonight. Our friends "Tee" and Larry will be leaving on Saturday for North Carolina where they will spend 2 weeks in training for their new jobs in Florida at a Holiday Retirement Center. It is an exciting time for them.
One of the activities we have planned for our days off is to take out Christmas from our basement storage and get set up for the holidays. We purchased a couple window decorations at Walmart last night to help us get in the Christmas spirit a little earlier this year. Wow! There are only 5 more working weeks before Christmas...
Monday, November 14, 2011
Amazon Treat Today
The signs of Thanksgiving being just around the corner are beginning to show. Work was extremely busy yesterday so evidently there were some freight deliveries that were not scheduled. Josie and I both worked our tails off all day and at 3:30 we accepted a 1 hour VTO to get home a little early and take showers and wind down. We expect the volume of work to steadily build now until the end in late December. That means that overtime hours are not far away.
Amazon has scheduled a catered Thanksgiving dinner for today. They have the local Creek Side restaurant - where we had Thanksgiving dinner last year and will go again this year - coming in to handle the meal. We will have an extra 15 minutes for lunch break to enjoy the meal which means we get 45 minutes instead of the usual 30. It still isn't a lot of time to eat a full meal. The good thing about it is we don't have to prepare our own lunch to take this morning. The other good thing is that it is our "Friday" and our work week ends today.
The last day and a half have been super windy here. We have had steady winds with gusts over 20 mph since early yesterday. It is still blowing and we can't remember it being so windy all the time. The fifth wheel rocks and shakes when it blows hard and we even put away our patio table and carpet when we came home yesterday. The table had already blown over and the carpet was all folded over from the wind. Temperature wise, it was 70 degrees yesterday with a low of 54. It's already 66 outside so it looks like another wild swing in the temperatures. As long as the swing is upward, and not down into freezing territory...
Amazon has scheduled a catered Thanksgiving dinner for today. They have the local Creek Side restaurant - where we had Thanksgiving dinner last year and will go again this year - coming in to handle the meal. We will have an extra 15 minutes for lunch break to enjoy the meal which means we get 45 minutes instead of the usual 30. It still isn't a lot of time to eat a full meal. The good thing about it is we don't have to prepare our own lunch to take this morning. The other good thing is that it is our "Friday" and our work week ends today.
The last day and a half have been super windy here. We have had steady winds with gusts over 20 mph since early yesterday. It is still blowing and we can't remember it being so windy all the time. The fifth wheel rocks and shakes when it blows hard and we even put away our patio table and carpet when we came home yesterday. The table had already blown over and the carpet was all folded over from the wind. Temperature wise, it was 70 degrees yesterday with a low of 54. It's already 66 outside so it looks like another wild swing in the temperatures. As long as the swing is upward, and not down into freezing territory...
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Another Dinner Scheduled
Our friends, Theresa "Tee" and Larry - the folks we worked with at Grey's Point and the ones that accepted the job at a Holiday Retirement Center - will be leaving for their new adventure next Saturday. Tee has stopped working at Amazon since they accepted the position but Larry will work Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Since we both have Tuesday off, we scheduled a final dinner with them at the Magic Wok in town. That is the place that has the great Chinese buffet on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, so it should be a good time.
Their plan is to sell their trailer following the training period of six weeks. The location they selected to work is very close to Tee's parents home in southern Florida. The costs associated with storing the trailer for the years they plan to work the job do not justify keeping it, and they feel they can purchase another following their commitment there. It is a great opportunity to save lots of money, get much needed health care coverage and build for a solid retirement. This all started when Tee was having a problem with the very physical demands at Amazon and they sent their resume on a whim in response to an ad they saw in one of our working couples websites that we use to locate jobs.
Speaking of locating jobs, we received an email from Amazon indicating they were holding a job fair in early December to help the workampers locate other opportunities for after the peak season, ending in late December. They have invited many companies to participate in the fair, and we will attend even though we have jobs lined up for most of next year. You never know if a job will be offered that you can't refuse.
It's day 3 of our work week today and we are looking forward to completing week #18 tomorrow...
Their plan is to sell their trailer following the training period of six weeks. The location they selected to work is very close to Tee's parents home in southern Florida. The costs associated with storing the trailer for the years they plan to work the job do not justify keeping it, and they feel they can purchase another following their commitment there. It is a great opportunity to save lots of money, get much needed health care coverage and build for a solid retirement. This all started when Tee was having a problem with the very physical demands at Amazon and they sent their resume on a whim in response to an ad they saw in one of our working couples websites that we use to locate jobs.
Speaking of locating jobs, we received an email from Amazon indicating they were holding a job fair in early December to help the workampers locate other opportunities for after the peak season, ending in late December. They have invited many companies to participate in the fair, and we will attend even though we have jobs lined up for most of next year. You never know if a job will be offered that you can't refuse.
It's day 3 of our work week today and we are looking forward to completing week #18 tomorrow...
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Dinner at Fiesta Mexico
It was cold again yesterday - 52 for the high and 30 for the low. We hope this doesn't indicate that a cold winter is on its way. I have to start up the car 5 minutes before we leave in the morning so that it gets warmed up and the windows are all clear before we leave. That's the biggest negative for working here this time of the year. Kentucky is still too far north to have southern, warm, winter weather.
The management at work actually tried to get volunteers yesterday for people to take voluntary overtime for the rest of the weekend. Wow! That's a first and we aren't sure how many people volunteered, but it's for sure we weren't going to be in that group. The work is slow and they do not have freight deliveries scheduled for this weekend, so that is what prompted the move.
Our dinner last night at the Fiesta Mexico was lots of fun. This time I had the camera along:
You probably remember that sign from last year when we also had dinner there, but with a different group of friends. This time, we had three other couples:
That's Pam on the left, Valarie and Scott, Jeff (Scott's older brother) and his wife Marsha, and Bobby (Pam's husband). Bobby and Pam are staying in our campground and this is their first workamping job after selling their Blinds and Shades business in North Carolina. We worked with Scott and Valerie last year and his brother Jeff and his wife are here for the first time. The waiter we had performed a balancing act we've never seen before while carrying out our meals:
He never wavered and the food was very good.
We spent a lot of time chatting following dinner and we got home after 8 PM, just in time to turn in for the night.
It's 43 outside this morning so once again it looks like a wide swing in the weather. It is so different from last year - so far - and we're hoping for at least one last warm spell before the real winter weather arrives...
The management at work actually tried to get volunteers yesterday for people to take voluntary overtime for the rest of the weekend. Wow! That's a first and we aren't sure how many people volunteered, but it's for sure we weren't going to be in that group. The work is slow and they do not have freight deliveries scheduled for this weekend, so that is what prompted the move.
Our dinner last night at the Fiesta Mexico was lots of fun. This time I had the camera along:
You probably remember that sign from last year when we also had dinner there, but with a different group of friends. This time, we had three other couples:
That's Pam on the left, Valarie and Scott, Jeff (Scott's older brother) and his wife Marsha, and Bobby (Pam's husband). Bobby and Pam are staying in our campground and this is their first workamping job after selling their Blinds and Shades business in North Carolina. We worked with Scott and Valerie last year and his brother Jeff and his wife are here for the first time. The waiter we had performed a balancing act we've never seen before while carrying out our meals:
He never wavered and the food was very good.
We spent a lot of time chatting following dinner and we got home after 8 PM, just in time to turn in for the night.
It's 43 outside this morning so once again it looks like a wide swing in the weather. It is so different from last year - so far - and we're hoping for at least one last warm spell before the real winter weather arrives...
Friday, November 11, 2011
One Day at a Time
While reviewing this time last year at Amazon, we were just in our half day training period. At that time we learned the stowing process and were working from 11:30 AM to 4:30 PM. We remember those few days and also wondering if we would ever remember all that was involved in the use of the hand held scanners. It didn't take long before we learned the process and also that it got very busy at work shortly after we started the full days last year. We are hoping it gets busy very soon as it has been a drag the last few weeks. We take it one day at a time and are waiting for the rush. The rest of our time here will go faster as it gets busier.
We appreciated the last few days off and doing very little of anything. It helps to have periods like that where sitting around is enough. We are well rested and ready to go again for week number 18. One thing is for sure (at this point, at least) and that is we will not be taking any voluntary time off this week. This year the bonus at the end of the year is $1 per each hour worked since August 14. So, we not only lose our regular pay by leaving early but we lose the bonus money for each of those hours we don't work. No more of that!
Another dinner is scheduled tonight with some other friends. The plan is to meet them at Fiesta Mexico which is an OK restaurant. It isn't one of our favorites but it is nice to be having dinner with friends. Scott and Valerie, and his brother Jeff and his wife Marsha will be there. Scott and Valerie were here last year with us and he talked his brother into joining them this year. Nice folks. Hopefully, I'll remember the camera this time...
We appreciated the last few days off and doing very little of anything. It helps to have periods like that where sitting around is enough. We are well rested and ready to go again for week number 18. One thing is for sure (at this point, at least) and that is we will not be taking any voluntary time off this week. This year the bonus at the end of the year is $1 per each hour worked since August 14. So, we not only lose our regular pay by leaving early but we lose the bonus money for each of those hours we don't work. No more of that!
Another dinner is scheduled tonight with some other friends. The plan is to meet them at Fiesta Mexico which is an OK restaurant. It isn't one of our favorites but it is nice to be having dinner with friends. Scott and Valerie, and his brother Jeff and his wife Marsha will be there. Scott and Valerie were here last year with us and he talked his brother into joining them this year. Nice folks. Hopefully, I'll remember the camera this time...
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Continued Quiet Time
Yesterday was even more quiet for us than Tuesday. We never went outside the whole day and the weather was nasty. It was windy, wet and cold, and there was no reason to go out. Josie baked some banana bread and I did some computer stuff and we sat around the rest of the day. It's good to have days like that once in awhile.
We received word from Aramark about working one of the stadiums for the Spring Training season in Phoenix. The choices were Tempe Diablo Stadium, Phoenix Municipal Stadium or Surprise Stadium. Of course, the one we would select is in Surprise so we will go forward with completing applications for that stadium and wait to hear about duties, times, pay, etc.
The biggest news and disappointment yesterday was the developing story of the Penn State scandal.What a tragedy, and we haven't heard the worst of it yet. It's a sad ending to a glorious career for Joe Paterno. The news this morning had him being fired along with the University President and the campus rioting overnight. It's shocking, to say the least.
We'll get on with doing some chores today - laundry and cleaning - and try to enjoy our final day off for this week...
We received word from Aramark about working one of the stadiums for the Spring Training season in Phoenix. The choices were Tempe Diablo Stadium, Phoenix Municipal Stadium or Surprise Stadium. Of course, the one we would select is in Surprise so we will go forward with completing applications for that stadium and wait to hear about duties, times, pay, etc.
The biggest news and disappointment yesterday was the developing story of the Penn State scandal.What a tragedy, and we haven't heard the worst of it yet. It's a sad ending to a glorious career for Joe Paterno. The news this morning had him being fired along with the University President and the campus rioting overnight. It's shocking, to say the least.
We'll get on with doing some chores today - laundry and cleaning - and try to enjoy our final day off for this week...
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Quiet Time
It was just a typical first day off yesterday. Rest and relax around the rig and catch up on missed TV shows during the work week. Even though we work Friday through Monday and most of the good TV shows are during our days off, we generally go to bed too early to catch them when they are originally broadcast. The real advantage to copying them and watching them later is that we can edit out the ads and watch just the good stuff. We are pretty much caught up on the shows now, but still have a few movies we copied that we haven't watched yet.
The weather has been taking some wild swings lately. We go from near freezing some nights to lows of only 55. Then we go from highs in the low 50's to a high of 72 yesterday. It is suppose to go down to the high 20's by tomorrow night, so who knows what it's going to be like from do to day. It is very different from last year's weather. It was constantly in the high 60's and low 70's every day and the lowest it went during November last year was 31 on the 26th of the month.
We're almost, but not quite to the time when we can count the number of working days before we leave for nicer weather and new adventures. This has certainly been an experience to remember and we definitely will not ever commit to such a long time working for them again. We just remind ourselves that the money is good and that's why we're here...
The weather has been taking some wild swings lately. We go from near freezing some nights to lows of only 55. Then we go from highs in the low 50's to a high of 72 yesterday. It is suppose to go down to the high 20's by tomorrow night, so who knows what it's going to be like from do to day. It is very different from last year's weather. It was constantly in the high 60's and low 70's every day and the lowest it went during November last year was 31 on the 26th of the month.
We're almost, but not quite to the time when we can count the number of working days before we leave for nicer weather and new adventures. This has certainly been an experience to remember and we definitely will not ever commit to such a long time working for them again. We just remind ourselves that the money is good and that's why we're here...
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Completing Another Work Week
Week number 17 is in the books. It was a normal day at work yesterday. We talked briefly with one of the workamper coordinators and he indicated that there was one class of 58 campers starting yesterday, and one final group of 48 beginning next week. The final total for workampers for the peak season will be around 650. That compares to 425 last year. We can't figure out what everybody will be doing as there appears to be too many people working now.
We also decided to remain at the main entrance for the time being. Some of our friends will use the rear entrance that we used last year, but we kind of like the front entrance since we can park closer to the door. That will be important when it really gets cold. We will see if that works out for us.
Dinner at Betty's in Columbia was fun last night. We met another couple that has become friends with T and Larry and it turns out they also own a Doubletree Mobile Suites like ours. Theirs is a 2005 model, similar to our 2008, and they also love their unit. We again rushed out of the rig to get to the restaurant and forgot the camera. Sorry about that. Dinner was great, and T and Larry are waiting to hear about a start date for their new adventure. They have accepted a position as co-assistant managers with a national retirement home company - Holiday Retirement Centers. They have homes all over the country and the package they are getting is food for thought. They get a furnished two bedroom apartment, all utilities paid, 3 meals a day, health insurance, 2 weeks vacation, matching 401K plan and $50K salary on top of that. The company paid to fly them to Salt Lake City for their final interview and provided a rental car in addition to a nice room in a hotel. It is obviously a full time, permanent job, so they will put their trailer in storage for a couple years at least. She is in her mid 50's and Larry is 63. They were given a choice from several different locations and it appears they will go to either Colorado or Florida where they have family located. It's a tremendous deal for them.
Nothing is planned for our days off right now, so we will just sit back, relax and enjoy the free time for the next 3 days...
We also decided to remain at the main entrance for the time being. Some of our friends will use the rear entrance that we used last year, but we kind of like the front entrance since we can park closer to the door. That will be important when it really gets cold. We will see if that works out for us.
Dinner at Betty's in Columbia was fun last night. We met another couple that has become friends with T and Larry and it turns out they also own a Doubletree Mobile Suites like ours. Theirs is a 2005 model, similar to our 2008, and they also love their unit. We again rushed out of the rig to get to the restaurant and forgot the camera. Sorry about that. Dinner was great, and T and Larry are waiting to hear about a start date for their new adventure. They have accepted a position as co-assistant managers with a national retirement home company - Holiday Retirement Centers. They have homes all over the country and the package they are getting is food for thought. They get a furnished two bedroom apartment, all utilities paid, 3 meals a day, health insurance, 2 weeks vacation, matching 401K plan and $50K salary on top of that. The company paid to fly them to Salt Lake City for their final interview and provided a rental car in addition to a nice room in a hotel. It is obviously a full time, permanent job, so they will put their trailer in storage for a couple years at least. She is in her mid 50's and Larry is 63. They were given a choice from several different locations and it appears they will go to either Colorado or Florida where they have family located. It's a tremendous deal for them.
Nothing is planned for our days off right now, so we will just sit back, relax and enjoy the free time for the next 3 days...
Monday, November 7, 2011
Changes at Work
All of last year we used the rear entrance to Amazon - Break Room C - for entering, exiting and lunch breaks. Following the busy season they closed that break room and have been using only the front entrance - Break Room A - for everyone. With the relatively small number of workers the rest of the year, it made no sense to keep both areas open. Signs were posted the last week indicateing that all "Inbound" personel would switch again to the Break Room C on Saturday, November 5. That should have included us but the sign said that Seasonal Campers would still use the "A" entrance and break room. The sign was wrong. It seems now that only seasonal campers that can use the A entrance are those that work in inbound but walk to work from our campground. We drive, so we should be switching to the rear entrance, which is what we are trying to figure out. Nobody really knows whether or not we walk or drive, and our friends still use entrance A, so we are trying to decide whether to switch or not. It would also mean getting a new locker which isn't a big deal. So, do we switch or not? We'll decide today.
My cold is improving nicely and in a couple days I should be rid of the nuisance. Today is the final leg for work this week. :) It's coming at a good time as this has been an especially tough week with the combination of slow work and dealing with the cold. For some reason, it seemed exceptionally long, even with the voluntary time off we took on 2 of those days.
We keep thinking about the nice break we will have in Florida which is getting closer all the time. All we know is that the time went fast last year and this is the time we began working in 2010, so the light is growing larger at the end of this tunnel...
My cold is improving nicely and in a couple days I should be rid of the nuisance. Today is the final leg for work this week. :) It's coming at a good time as this has been an especially tough week with the combination of slow work and dealing with the cold. For some reason, it seemed exceptionally long, even with the voluntary time off we took on 2 of those days.
We keep thinking about the nice break we will have in Florida which is getting closer all the time. All we know is that the time went fast last year and this is the time we began working in 2010, so the light is growing larger at the end of this tunnel...
Sunday, November 6, 2011
More Unexpected VTO
When the morning meeting started at 6 AM yesterday at work, it was obvious that there wasn't a lot of work to do for the stow-ers. Of course, that's us, and the indications proved to be true. I was assigned to stow cases again and there were no cases to stow when I reached my area and the people responsible for bringing in the cases said there would not be any until the afternoon. Josie was assigned in what we call "trans" where the stowing is from large plastic containers and there were only a few of those available when she arrived at her station. So, to make a long story short, we volunteered to leave at lunch time.
We were sorry we made that decision as some work showed up just as we were preparing to leave. The morning went very slow until about 45 minutes before our departure, but it was too late by then since new schedules had to be devised for the afternoon to allow for all the people that would be gone. We have decided that we will no longer volunteer for VTO (Voluntary Time Off) as we feel we have given up enough time without pay and other people need to step up and share the time off. The problem with us is that we feel guilty being paid to stand around when there is not enough work. It will get very busy, real soon, as we approach Thanksgiving and the Christmas rush begins. When that happens, no VTO will be offered to anybody.
The extra time did help with my cold treatments. It is on the downside now and will hopefully be gone in a few days. In the meantime, I have to deal with the effects - stuffy nose, cough and some aches and pains. We picked up more medication after work yesterday so I'm ready to go today.
There are a couple dinner invitations we received from friends yesterday so it looks like we will be having dinner at Betty's in Columbia on Monday night, and at Fiesta Mexico on Friday of this week. The couple we are meeting on Monday night are the ones we worked with in Gray's Point and they will be leaving before the end of November. Theresa - or "T" as we call her - is the one with health issues and they have found a spectacular opportunity which I will describe in a later post. Essentially, they will be giving up travel for awhile to co-manage an assistive care facility in Florida. Great package for them. The work here has just been too physical for her so the new opportunity will be perfect.
Only 2 more days to go for this short work week. We will definitely be working the full days today and tomorrow, and hopefully, the rest of the way...
We were sorry we made that decision as some work showed up just as we were preparing to leave. The morning went very slow until about 45 minutes before our departure, but it was too late by then since new schedules had to be devised for the afternoon to allow for all the people that would be gone. We have decided that we will no longer volunteer for VTO (Voluntary Time Off) as we feel we have given up enough time without pay and other people need to step up and share the time off. The problem with us is that we feel guilty being paid to stand around when there is not enough work. It will get very busy, real soon, as we approach Thanksgiving and the Christmas rush begins. When that happens, no VTO will be offered to anybody.
The extra time did help with my cold treatments. It is on the downside now and will hopefully be gone in a few days. In the meantime, I have to deal with the effects - stuffy nose, cough and some aches and pains. We picked up more medication after work yesterday so I'm ready to go today.
There are a couple dinner invitations we received from friends yesterday so it looks like we will be having dinner at Betty's in Columbia on Monday night, and at Fiesta Mexico on Friday of this week. The couple we are meeting on Monday night are the ones we worked with in Gray's Point and they will be leaving before the end of November. Theresa - or "T" as we call her - is the one with health issues and they have found a spectacular opportunity which I will describe in a later post. Essentially, they will be giving up travel for awhile to co-manage an assistive care facility in Florida. Great package for them. The work here has just been too physical for her so the new opportunity will be perfect.
Only 2 more days to go for this short work week. We will definitely be working the full days today and tomorrow, and hopefully, the rest of the way...
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Unexpected VTO
It started out as a fairly normal day yesterday at work with Josie working in the putbacks area and my working in the HRV (High Retail Value) area. We quickly ran out of carts to stow and were doing miscellaneous carts when we were asked if we would want to take VTO (Voluntary Time Off) at the end of the day. Since I am struggling with my cold - it has reached my chest - it sounded like a good opportunity to leave early and nurse the cold. So, we ended up leaving at 1:30 PM again yesterday. Josie went to Walmart and picked up some more medication and the extra rest time was welcomed. It is important now for us to stay the course and not leave early if we don't have to. It's an easy habit to form.
The extra people that are on board at work were obvious yesterday as we couldn't find a seat in the break area during the first break and had to walk to the other end of the building to use the break area at our entrance in the front part of the warehouse. That took an extra 5 minutes, so our 15 minute break was a short one. All of the workers that still smoke have to use that area all the time since they have to go outside to smoke and that is the only place to go. I'm sure glad that habit is gone - almost 13 years now - from my life.
I'm afraid the cold weather is upon us now. It is 37 outside this morning and our high yesterday was only 52. While looking at the weather from last year at this time, it has been cooler every day so far this year in November. It was very nice last year during the whole month of November, so maybe this is just a temporary cold spell. Where is the global warming effect?...
The extra people that are on board at work were obvious yesterday as we couldn't find a seat in the break area during the first break and had to walk to the other end of the building to use the break area at our entrance in the front part of the warehouse. That took an extra 5 minutes, so our 15 minute break was a short one. All of the workers that still smoke have to use that area all the time since they have to go outside to smoke and that is the only place to go. I'm sure glad that habit is gone - almost 13 years now - from my life.
I'm afraid the cold weather is upon us now. It is 37 outside this morning and our high yesterday was only 52. While looking at the weather from last year at this time, it has been cooler every day so far this year in November. It was very nice last year during the whole month of November, so maybe this is just a temporary cold spell. Where is the global warming effect?...
Friday, November 4, 2011
Watching it Rain
Our timing for the trip to Nashville Wednesday was perfect. It rained nearly all day yesterday - .63" worth - and it would have been a miserable and cold day to travel if we went yesterday. There really wasn't much to do except stay home and nurse my cold, which I did. I'm hoping that it doesn't affect my working today as I still need to take medication for congestion and cough. We'll see.
In checking the entry for this day last year I saw that we were still waiting to begin work at Amazon. Those last few days before starting were filled with fun things with our friends from Cody and resulted pretty much in the last time we were able to do things together as a result of different schedules at Amazon. Once the work schedules began, we barely had time to see each other.
There are only 7 weeks to go as we start week # 17 today. As far as we know, there is only one more group expected in to complete the workamping force for this year at Amazom. There will be some changes this week in the use of the entry/exit doors for the workforce. Last year, we used the back entrance - called Break Room C - which has been closed until the busy season begins and the workforce reaches the final total. All of us are presently using the main entrance - Break Room A - as our entry and exit point, and the use of the single room at this point is bursting at the seams with people during lunch breaks. It will be nice when the other room is made available.
That about sums it up for today...
In checking the entry for this day last year I saw that we were still waiting to begin work at Amazon. Those last few days before starting were filled with fun things with our friends from Cody and resulted pretty much in the last time we were able to do things together as a result of different schedules at Amazon. Once the work schedules began, we barely had time to see each other.
There are only 7 weeks to go as we start week # 17 today. As far as we know, there is only one more group expected in to complete the workamping force for this year at Amazom. There will be some changes this week in the use of the entry/exit doors for the workforce. Last year, we used the back entrance - called Break Room C - which has been closed until the busy season begins and the workforce reaches the final total. All of us are presently using the main entrance - Break Room A - as our entry and exit point, and the use of the single room at this point is bursting at the seams with people during lunch breaks. It will be nice when the other room is made available.
That about sums it up for today...
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
It was 8:45 AM when we hit the road yesterday for our visit to Nashville to see the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. What a great day it was.
Before reaching our destination in Nashville, we passed a milestone with our Jeep:
This is the first auto I have ever owned that has been driven this many miles. It must be a sign I am getting old.
We wanted to make sure we allowed plenty of time to do the Museum and Hall of Fame before the side trip to the RCA Studio B where many of the hits were recorded. It was near 10 AM when we arrived and we forgot that it was in a different time zone, so we gained an hour. That was good as it turned out. There was so much to see that we needed the extra time.
We parked directly across the street from the building:
and discovered that this nice park area contained rose bushes named after many of the C & W stars. One that I was standing in front of to take this shot was the Barbara Mandell Rose.
Our tickets were waiting for us at the welcome desk and the entry hall and foyer were very impressive:
The Museum was actually on the second and third floor, and the instructions were to begin on the third level which begins the chronological tour of the history of Country and Western music. One of the nice touches that was included in our ticket price was the use of a portable radio unit that described each exhibit in detail as we approached it. The shot below is of the two levels of the museum, taken from our start on the third level:
There were glass enclosed cases of memorabilia of almost all the country and western stars, including apparel worn by them, instruments they used and the actual Grammy award trophies they received. There were also videos along the way depicting the early years of C & W music. There was so much history and so much to see that we were worried we wouldn't have time to see everything. There were small, enclosed kiosks every now and then where you could walk in and listen to one of the historic recordings. Two of the more unusual displays were these two automobiles. The first one is an old (1962 Bonneville) that Webb Pierce paid $20,000 to have customized for himself:
There were guns for car door handles, silver rifles for ornaments on the outside trunk and hood, horseshoes for gas and brake pedals and a small saddle that was the console.
The second was the famous gold Cadillac that was used by Elvis Presley:
All of the trim was gold on this vehicle and the interior was done in gold fabric with gold amenities in the rear seating area.
Each level had a "Wall of Gold" where all the Gold and Platinum records were featured:
As our appointment for the Studio B tour was at 1:30, we stopped our museum tour after doing only the third level, deciding to return to do the second level following the Studio B tour. We boarded the shuttle bus:
to take us to "Music Row" where all the recording studios and offices of the producers and other recording executives are located. It was a very old, simple building that was used between 1957 and 1977:
Before reaching our destination in Nashville, we passed a milestone with our Jeep:
This is the first auto I have ever owned that has been driven this many miles. It must be a sign I am getting old.
We wanted to make sure we allowed plenty of time to do the Museum and Hall of Fame before the side trip to the RCA Studio B where many of the hits were recorded. It was near 10 AM when we arrived and we forgot that it was in a different time zone, so we gained an hour. That was good as it turned out. There was so much to see that we needed the extra time.
We parked directly across the street from the building:
and discovered that this nice park area contained rose bushes named after many of the C & W stars. One that I was standing in front of to take this shot was the Barbara Mandell Rose.
Our tickets were waiting for us at the welcome desk and the entry hall and foyer were very impressive:
The Museum was actually on the second and third floor, and the instructions were to begin on the third level which begins the chronological tour of the history of Country and Western music. One of the nice touches that was included in our ticket price was the use of a portable radio unit that described each exhibit in detail as we approached it. The shot below is of the two levels of the museum, taken from our start on the third level:
There were glass enclosed cases of memorabilia of almost all the country and western stars, including apparel worn by them, instruments they used and the actual Grammy award trophies they received. There were also videos along the way depicting the early years of C & W music. There was so much history and so much to see that we were worried we wouldn't have time to see everything. There were small, enclosed kiosks every now and then where you could walk in and listen to one of the historic recordings. Two of the more unusual displays were these two automobiles. The first one is an old (1962 Bonneville) that Webb Pierce paid $20,000 to have customized for himself:
There were guns for car door handles, silver rifles for ornaments on the outside trunk and hood, horseshoes for gas and brake pedals and a small saddle that was the console.
The second was the famous gold Cadillac that was used by Elvis Presley:
All of the trim was gold on this vehicle and the interior was done in gold fabric with gold amenities in the rear seating area.
Each level had a "Wall of Gold" where all the Gold and Platinum records were featured:
As our appointment for the Studio B tour was at 1:30, we stopped our museum tour after doing only the third level, deciding to return to do the second level following the Studio B tour. We boarded the shuttle bus:
to take us to "Music Row" where all the recording studios and offices of the producers and other recording executives are located. It was a very old, simple building that was used between 1957 and 1977:
It is ironic that the day the studio closed was the day after Elvis Presley's death in 1977.
He recorded almost all of his recordings in this building. We had a very knowledgeable guide - Anita:
who gave us all some good information about the studio, it's history and the little nuances that most people would not know - such as the colored lights in the studio were a result of a suggestion by Elvis to create a mood for the type of music being recorded. For example, he wanted red and green lights for recording Christmas music:
It was a very eerie feeling as Anita played some of Elvis' music as we were in the actual recording area. The studio was an excellent addition and we were glad we added that tour to our itinerary for the day.
When we returned to the Museum following the Studio B tour, we completed the second floor exhibits and ended up in the Hall of Fame Rotunda where all the bronze plaques of the inductees were located:
Next week is the CMA awards show for 2011, and already the plaques for the 2011 inductees, including Reba McIntire were there.
It was appropriate to end the day at the Museum Store:
where we each purchased a souvenir of our visit.
It was close to 8 PM when we returned home and we were very glad we decided to spend the day - beautiful as it was - on a trip to Nashville to see this significant place in the history of Country and Western Music.
There's no way we can top that day today, so we won't even try...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Dealing With a Cold
As mentioned yesterday, I was dealing with the onset of a cold. It was a day of performing all the cold remedies - plenty of rest, drink plenty of fluids and take medications for cold symptoms. This morning seems a little better. At least I can talk. I usually come down with one cold a year, and this seems like the time of year that happens. It is said that you don't catch a cold from the cold weather but rather you catch it from germs you contacted somewhere. Why is it that I only contact these germs when it's freezing outside? My mother always said that it takes 3 days to get the cold, 3 days having the cold and another 3 days to get rid of it. I'm probably only about 5 days into the 9 day cycle. Sheesh,
Our plan is to still drive to Nashville today. We hope to leave by around 9 AM so we can spend most of the day there. Since we've already been to the Grand Ole Opry, today we plan to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum with a side trip to the historic RCA Studio B where many of the Elvis Presley and other country and western songs were recorded. It should be a fun day. We purchased our tickets online and they should be ready for pickup when we arrive.
We hope to have some good shots tomorrow from our day in Nashville, so we'll close for now to make sure the batteries are charged for the camera, have some breakfast and make sure I have all the medicine I need for the day...
Our plan is to still drive to Nashville today. We hope to leave by around 9 AM so we can spend most of the day there. Since we've already been to the Grand Ole Opry, today we plan to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum with a side trip to the historic RCA Studio B where many of the Elvis Presley and other country and western songs were recorded. It should be a fun day. We purchased our tickets online and they should be ready for pickup when we arrive.
We hope to have some good shots tomorrow from our day in Nashville, so we'll close for now to make sure the batteries are charged for the camera, have some breakfast and make sure I have all the medicine I need for the day...
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Taking VTO Again
Once again the VTO (Voluntary Time Off) was offered yesterday, and once again we took the time beginning at 1:30 PM. It is only 3 hours early, but because it is the start of our time off for the week, it is a good jump start. The extra time yesterday was used for a shopping trip to Walmart to get some groceries and other items. It was also a good chance for me to treat a cold I am catching that revealed itself yesterday morning. This morning, I can hardly talk, and hope that I can get it under control before we return to work on Friday.
There were no trick-or-treater's last night which kind of surprised us since we had some the night before. We can't figure out what that was all about.
One of the things we talked about doing was taking a trip to Nashville on Wednesday. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive (140 miles), so it isn't too bad. If the weather is nice it will be a pleasant drive. We may take in the Bluebird Cafe or the Wildhorse Saloon where we had dinner last year. Both are famous more for their music than the food. It is a great town to just walk around and take in the country and western atmosphere.
I started with a spoonful of honey (Josie's remedy) this morning but my voice is still almost gone entirely. It's been awhile since we've had to deal with any kind of illness, so we are fortunate from that standpoint. If a cold is the worst thing we have to deal with, we'll be satisfied...
There were no trick-or-treater's last night which kind of surprised us since we had some the night before. We can't figure out what that was all about.
One of the things we talked about doing was taking a trip to Nashville on Wednesday. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive (140 miles), so it isn't too bad. If the weather is nice it will be a pleasant drive. We may take in the Bluebird Cafe or the Wildhorse Saloon where we had dinner last year. Both are famous more for their music than the food. It is a great town to just walk around and take in the country and western atmosphere.
I started with a spoonful of honey (Josie's remedy) this morning but my voice is still almost gone entirely. It's been awhile since we've had to deal with any kind of illness, so we are fortunate from that standpoint. If a cold is the worst thing we have to deal with, we'll be satisfied...
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