from pours to portland

oh.... what a week.

monday:
rainy day. prep for jv meeting. windy night. no power when i get home.

tuesday:
rain. big jv meeting.

wednesday:
quality presentation. no rain!

thursday:
at work from 12:30 AM to past 4 pm. slept from 6pm to 6am friday morning... straight

friday:
drive to portland to pick up stuff for work. back home at 9:30pm.

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this was probably one of the most challenging weeks in the office for me. tuesday was the jv meeting and there 3 district managers and our division manager were onsite. i had been prepping for two weeks for the opportunity to make a good impression on these company leaders, and i didn't really get any face time. oh well... next time... i did manage to get a "hi. how are you, rita?" from our district manager. that was a great way to end the day.

we also had our first major mass concrete pour on weds night/thurs morning. and we have another one of those this week. i went home on wednesday around 3:45 and really tried to get some rest. i even put up a '10pm wakeup call... please" status on my gchat. i ended up tossing and turning for a few hours... missed sytycd... and only got 2 real hours of sleep before i had a snack and headed back to the jobsite for the 12:30 am meeting.

the pour ended around 10:30 and for the rest of the day, i was trying to mitigate a potential issue and focus on the days work. after lunch, i went into my usual food-coma though this time there was also that sleep deprivation to work with. around 2pm, i got a second wind and finished up my concrete log. i was home by 5 and asleep by 6.

i arrived on friday in good spirits and headed out around 9:30 for a 4-hour drive to oregon. i stopped at jantzen beach in portland for lunch & left my phone at BJs. after picking up what i needed, i traveled 30 miles back up I-5 N to BJs to get my phone... it only took an hour and a half. sheesh. why is the speed limit 50mph in some parts of oregon?? i stopped for dinner and walked around a bit... hoping that the traffic would be lighter around 6:30. i got back on the road at 6:30 and entered I-5 at the bridge crossing the Columbia River. Washington state is on the other end of this bridge, and there was NO TRAFFIC the rest of the way home. from 50mph to 70mph... it was like ppl were being traffic metered into the state. really bizarre. caught up w/ becky a bit on the way home. i got a little tired around olympia and needed to chat it up. i think i sang along to "bleeding love" on the radio about 10 times.

sidenote: i enjoy driving trucks. it took some getting used to, but it has definitely grown on me... i hope i get a company truck for my next project. a company vehicle (and gas card) would be AWESOME!

i spent this morning back on the jobsite & then went to sami's bbq. he has a great view of lake washington & the eastern seattle skyline from his apartment building's deck. good food. good drinks. good ppl. and GOOD WEATHER! woo... oh how i have missed the sun. caught up w/ cathleen & jack & all berkeley/boeing/microsoft ppl

i'll probably head back to work tomorrow & i've got an appointment at gene juarez at 9:30. looking forward to trying out the bellevue location. alderwood is just too far for a haircut.

looking forward to another hectic week:
- another 1000+ yard pour on mon night/tuesday morning.
- month end accruals due monday
- hot pot city w/ cathleen & jack on wednesday
- back in the bay on thursday night for training
- Engineering: Volume 2 on Friday at the Concord Hilton
- Trip w/ PASAE folks from Fri-Sun
- Fly back to Seattle on Sun

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i miss my guys. =P
i cannot wait for the next 2 weekends to come.