Philipblog

[Blastgirl]

That could be kind of intimidating heading towards you. I won't be taking that guy's parking space.

[Phil]

Today I have the plow on my truck because there's a chance of snow tomorrow so I want to make sure my driveway is clear so I can get around. If it doesnt' happen by tomorrow night I'll take it off Monday. The plow comes on and off that truck easy.

I bought some gifts today for the kids and wife. I got all of them wrapped before they came home for dinner. I have a few steaks cooking and we'll be eating in a few minutes that's about it.

[Phil]

The plow is back on the truck. We got quite a bit of snow yesterday and today.

I guess we're going to have a white Christmas. It's more fun for the kids not so much for me. But it's not so bad.

I was out lastnight for work.

Tonight I'm off. After 17 years on the job I finally get most holidays off.

I'm off tonight going into Christmas day but I do have to work Christmas night at 11pm.

There was a time I had to work as scheduled but I finally have enough seniority not to have to do that anymore.

[Phil]

I'm more rested than usual.

I did have New Years eve going to new years day off. I did work overnight coming into today though.

But the work load tends to be light unless there's a snow storm or a major accident the workload tneds to be light for the next couple weeks until they realize that all these higher ups who took days off f'd around and are approaching deadlines then they're like OMG we're under the gun.

But I am starting to grow immune to it because there's no point in being upset of expecting that to change.

[Phil]

The night before last sucked bad because I had to work on a repair crew on a water line break.
Cold and wet about 14 degrees.

Last night was easy.

I had to drive a van to Baltimore and they sent me back on a train. And I even got an extra 2 hours out of it to basically do nothing but ride home on a train. IT takes about 5 hours to get to Baltimore from here. Tonight I'm off.

[Phil]

I'll be on later, my daughter is crying.

[Phil]

It's about 10pm Pennsylvania time. I've already been informed I'm going to have an extended shift tonight/tomorrow. That's why I wasn't here earlier I got some extra rest to gain the strength to get through tomorrrow/tonight.

I have to leave in a few minutes for work but I'm here to let our good forum members know why I will not be online tomorrow afternoon as I usually am.

I should be back to normal schedule by Wednesday.

[Classicblast]

From the weather reports I'll bet this combo has been frequent lately too.

[Phil]

Yeah I did some plowing yesterday and today.

Oh well it's easier than a snowblower.

[Phil]

Allrighty lets have a blog post.

I got home today and I was unusually tired. So I went straight to bed. The phone rang off the wall. All stupid questions from people too.

I barely got the sleep I needed then I come down stairs abut 1/2 hour ago and logged into lewasite.

Jason will be home from school in about 45 minutes. Then we will go get the other kids from my parents house. Tonight we're going to have roastbeef for supper.

[Phil]

I got soaked to my skin. Come on summer this is getting old.

It rained all night and we're nearly flooded out around here.

Most of the snow melted and the storm sewers can only take so much. Creeks are hight right now.

[Blastgirl]

Some of us take it for granted when we get up in the morning and see things are up and running. We can easily fail to realize the guys plugging away all night long when the rest of us are asleep to put things in order for all of us.

[Phil]

Almost a year ago Thunderbird said that his company is going to be cycling out an old truck that has been in their service fleet since 1973. It is a 1973 Ford F350 dumptruck. Thunderbird says that this would be a fun last moment of glory for the old truck.

It turns out that the location is only about 2 hours or so from where I live. I agreed to it. we never got together on a day or time and then winter came. Today he e-mailed me that he would still like me to do that if I was still willing. I am.

I would like my son to come and film me because I think that would be great fun, but my wife is really against the kids on Youtube. So I will respect that until she changes her mind or they're old enough that she isn't as afraid. And her point is reasonable there are some weirdos and you never know.

I guess the fat 36 year old husband is less precious to her.

Well I could do 1 of a handfull of things. I can get there easy being a railroad employee, I could get a train to the general area and get dropped off. I could see if my work has a vehicle they need moved within 20 miles of there sometimes they do.
Or I could take my truck and have a friend or my brother follow me home in my truck. That might be a good idea since I'm going to drive a 35 year old truck that I have never even seen other than the pictures Thnderbird posted.

Thunder assures me it's inspected, has some new brake lines and is at least mechanically sound. And it's a hog on gas but it will have a full tank to start off.

So I'll do it but I don't know exactly when yet.

[Phil]

We're finally getting some sunshine. It has been possibly the coldest month of May I can really remember.

At work we kid about this all the time we say there's 2 seasons in the northeast, winter and roadwork.

I wasn't able to cut the grass the last couple days like I wanted to because it rained so hard for a couple days I couldn't. I got the chance finally today.

[Phil]

I had to work a double today. That sucks a giant fat 1.
Oh well. I just got home about 20 minutes ago.

I'm going to sleep for a bit eat something and leave for work at 10 tonight. For joy for joy.

Well unless there's a major problem I have Friday off. Thanks to 18 years with the company. It took about 15 to get holidays off but enough of the old guard retired to give me seniority to have holidays off. Baring tragic needs.

And I got double shifted today so I get an extra shift pay and a holiday pay for the 4th of July so I guess I should think of it like that.

[Phil]

I will do a video blog about this.
As most of you know my brother and sister are younger than me by nearly or over 10 years. My brother who is 27 had this friend from early childhood.

This friend was very friendly and outgoing. However he got into a lot of bad drugs, and alcohol. He would be drunk even before school.
For a period of time in the mid 1990s my brother was not allowed to hang out with this kid because my parents did not approve of his ways.

He tried to dry out a few times. He went to rehab and tried school, and jobs.
He did not graduate ontime as he was thrown out of school for bad attendance and having whiskey or vodka in his possession.

My brother was class of 1999. Yeah 10 years after me.
This guy was put out of school late in their junior year. He tried going back once or twice but did not work out.

I think he got a GED and then went to community college but never saw that through either. Meanwhile he did shortterm jobs but when you're not stable you don't keep those.
As soon as he gets paid he gets booze and as soon as he gets drunk he doesn't go to work. And the saga continues.

For a short time after I got married in 1996 I lived in a trailer until my wife and I bought this house about 2 years into our marriage. This friend of my brothers helped with some of the needed work like paint and whatnot.

For a short time in the early 2000s he lived in Florida but that didn't last either. His parents didn't want him back because he had let them down enough.

I allowed him to crash on my couch for about a month but my wife didnt' really want him as a house guest. I understood. He would begin to eat groceries and not contribute. We had Jason already and we both knew that we didn't need our son to be subjected to this kind of a lifestyle even if it ran a parallel coarse to our life.

So I politely told this guy he couldn't stay any longer and he understood. After a motel stint he lived with a girlfriend for a couple years. When that relationship ended he did manage to go to his parents home again where he has lived for about 3 years or more.

His lifestyle remained short term jobs, a semester of school attempts to rehab and back at it.

Last week Tuesday he was driven home from rehab after a 3 week period and no sooner did he get home as soon as his parents went to sleep he took his mothers car and went to the bar. The day he got home.

My brother and his friends bowl Tuesday night league and this friend knew they would go to the bar after bowling. So he went to see them and yeah he drank.

Friday morning he died. He just didn't wake up. This is just hard to take. I knew this guy since he was 4 years old.

He just never could pull himself together.

[Classicblast]

Everybody has bad news today. I'm sorry Phil. I realize there's nothing you can do about this guy but the guy went to the bar the day he got home from rehab. This is someone who didn't want to get on the wagon in the first place. He didn't fall off the wagon he refused to get on it.

[Blastgirl]

I'm sorry about that sad story Phil.