Despite the fact that I can't spend all day randomly checking my usual rotation of web pages, I'm really enjoying the new job... it's fucking awesome... also, they ended up paying me $50 for the 2 hours of interview I did in the shop 2 weeks ago... fuck, that's $25 an hour....
So far, every day I've had at least 2 coffee's bought for me, the lunches have been enjoyable, the work is fun and I don't even mind working overtime (which I've done every day so far). My drive is so much shorter and it gives me much more time to make dinner and hang out with Pam...

Good times for Guns...

yep... today is the day me and Pam celebrate 6 months of enjoying eachother (emotionally and especially physically.... giggity).

I'm taking her out for dinner tonight and I bought her a nice present which I'll mention later just incase she checks my live journal.

Man I love her so much... her and I are such a perfect match. Our 'extravagant' personalities mesh so well together it's unbelievable. I always thought I would have to act different around a girlfriend, but with Pam I truly can be myself without having to worry... It's very nice [said like Borat].
And Pam has such an interesting and entertaining personality. She's so full of energy and is always up for some shenanegans. 6 months seems like a long time now, but I hope it's only a small portion of the time I will spend with Pam in the long run...

truly enjoying this girl...

Rawk,
T

2.5 more days left of hell... have monday off.... start new job on Tuesday....

Fuck it feels so nice to quit a job. And man is it ever nice to know that I won't have to keep coming to Brantford anymore.



Saw Little Miss Sunshine last night at Galaxy with Pam, B-Rad and his date Ashley (who's boyfriend was very mad that she was hanging out with Brad)... The movie was so depressing that it actually made you feel pretty good. I was wondering if Steve Carrel would be able to act or not and indeed he did a great acting job. My biggest concern was that I would keep thinking of his characters from the Daily Show or 40 Year Old Virgin, but he blew that misconception away right at the beginning of the movie with his performance... good stuff. The end of the movie was truly corny and too cute for my liking, but the the rest of the movie was great...

I'd recomend the movie if you were thinking about seeing it.... but it ain't no Borat...

Training people is tough when you know for a fact that they can not handle the job you're training them for. You can tell as you're talking to them that they're just smiling and nodding so they don't look 'dumb' (they're not dumb, just embarrassed to look confused). I'm training a person right now to take over my job and I feel so bad for her cause she just doesn't have the skills or knowledge to do the job. I had to create my job, all my spreadsheets, the CAD drawings, the p.o. takeoffs (receipts), all the custom drawings, the complaint forms, the inventory management program, the workorders and the relationship with the customer. It took me months to do all that and because of that I have a very intimate understanding of how it all works and why it has to run the way I set it up. I have to train this person in 1 week and I honestly don't think it's going to work.
On to that, my job is going to actually be split between two people and I don't think that's going to work either. A person has to understand the project as a whole... you can't split it. You have to take everything into consideration when running the project. This is a failure waiting to happen.

Even as I train I find myself ommitting certain key pieces of info just because I know she won't understand until she can comprehend the simple/initial parts of the project. Special cases will pop up when I'm gone and she'll have to figure them out by herself and I guarantee she won't be able to do it right away.


Oh well... I'll have a sweet, stress free job again.


Disclaimers Note: the fact that the trainee is female has nothing to do with her understanding of the project. I am not being sexist. A male would have the same amount of trouble.

This is just a journal entry to remind myself of the job I used to work.

8:30 - Arrive at work after just listening to this mornings "What's Wrong with You" or "What Happened".
8:31 - Go get coffee
8:35 - Sit at desk and drink crappy coffee along with Oatmeal Raisin Nut Muffin from Timmys
- Read headlines from commondreams.org
8:40 - Check out todays sunshine girl
8:45 - Check Fervid Whisper Message board
8:50 - Check out New Projects added to woodweb. Post some comments about peoples woodworking.
8:55 - Check for new posts on torontogolfnuts.ca
9:00 - Check for posts from friends on my live journal account
9:05 - Write an entry in my live journal account.
9:10 - Get ready for a hard day at work.

And that's an average morning for me. I guess i'm running about 18 minutes behind today. I was 10 minutes late and had a longer than average talk with a manager in the coffee room today about apprenticeships.

Yep.

So Friday night I had an odd dream. I dreamt the vp of production, Larry Valeriote, tracked me down at home to try to convince me to stay at Storeimage. Well, that pretty much happened this morning. Before I could even turn on my computer he had come up to my desk... I think he was lurking in the shadows. "Tom, can I have a chat with you in my office?"... yep, here it comes.

So I go to his office and he starts the schmoozing. He starts talking and asking me questions. But he keeps trying to lead the train of thought towards money. Every question had something to do with money and then he eventually says "So is it more money you want?". I'm like, "yeah, but no, but yeah, but no".... Money is a small part. So I'm trying to explain to him all the other shit that is pissing me off. I spend half an hour pouring my guts out to him about all this shit... and what does he say after that? "So, it sounds like there is two problems... 1 we have production issues and 2, you want more money"..

Wow, did I ever want to shit down his throat at that point.

So I basically had enough of that. I ended the conversation by saying "Yeah, you go see what kind of money you can free up for me and i'll talk to you later this afternoon" and then I left back to my desk.

Fucking people... and I know I will have to go through this like 3 more times before I leave.


In response to shab's previous question... the new place is just on the edge of Cambridge, off the 401. Takes me 18 minutes to get there.... Rock!!

It's hard to describe the feeling you get when you're about to quit. I just printed off my letter of resignation and when I picked it up it felt like a knife. You feel a little rotten knowing that you're going to tell the company you work for that they are now shit out of luck. It's not too bad when you're at an unimportant job, but when you know that a large majority of a company depends on you to be there you feel like shit when you jump ship.
I signed the letter of resignation and it might as well have been in blood. 4:30 will be the time I deliver it to HR. Luckily I won't be giving this directly to my boss as he is on vacation. Dealing with human resources will be a lot easier. My boss is going to have quite a surprise when he comes back on tuesday.

Anyway, that's the rant for now... this shall be fun.

Sweet... I just got the job offer to work at Novuz. They're actually offering to pay me more than what i asked for too (by $.50). Plus, I get another $.50 raise after my 3 months probation. I like it.

I had my second interview on wednesday and I actually went into the shop and built a cabinet to show off my skills. The best thing is, they are going to pay me for the interview time that I was in the shop.

I'm excited. It's a small custom shop. The owners aren't rich (yet), but they are very fair and kind. If we make this shop take off in success I have no doubt in my mind that they will make sure the workers are rewarded for the success. Current employee listing: 2 owners who work in the shop, my good friend Ian, a co-op student named Gart and 1 secretary. I will be added to the roster as well as a another guy that is going to fly in from Germany... German woodworkers are crazy!!!! ... Sweet.

8:45... 15 minutes into work... a shit storm is already brewing. Fuck.

Oh well, second interview tonight at Novuz. Should be neat... at this interview I actually do a bit of work in the shop so they can see if I'm good or not.

rock

Last night at about 2am I woke up to an unexpected surprise. Quite an uplifting experience it was. Surrounded by the love and warmth of the one I hold so dear to me, I was reminded of one of the many things that are good in my life right now. Though I was tired and drousy I was still able to embrace and become one with the energy in the room.
Yes kids, Pam woke me up with a BJ and then we fucked like crazy... She's so great. Just thought it'd would be good to book mark the day.

T

Blah blah blah, you have a job....where's all of the sexcapades and misadventures with beautiful women??? This is your libido, telling you to stop posting stuff about your job and start posting some interesting anecdotes of the very amusing life I'm sure you lead. Put Pam back into the story too. She's feeling left out.

Had myself a job interview today. Place called Nuvuz just on the fringe of Cambridge. Took me 18 minutes to get there which is much better than the usual hour drive I normally do. Small shop, but full of hard working, talented woodworkers. Good pay, semi decent hours. 7 to 4.. but an hour lunch which is nice. Only downside is that there are no benefits whatsoever... no dental, no drug plan, no more Message Therapy.... I know I should take a new job, but I'm not totally convinced that this is the place to be... sometimes I think it'd be great, sometimes I'm skeptical... I'd be giving up a lot of freedoms, but I don't really use the freedoms that I'd be giving up anyway. I hope I have time to talk to some of the other places that I applied to before a job offer is made.

Today's business report is on making quick decisions with no back up information. Today our customer asked me to give them a quote for a shipment from Kentucky to New York. I figured out the size of the shipment and the type of packaging it would need and then proceeded to call our US shipping department in Kentucky. Our shipper in Kentucky was in a meeting and would not be out for a while. Being the crafty worker that I am, I proceeded to call our shipping department in Brantford and asked "Hey Scott, could you give me a ball park value on a shipment from Kentucky to New York". Scott, without haste, replied with a lazy "No". Well, at this point I didn't care anymore and said "Okay" and hung up. I then proceeded to pull one of Canada's greatest inventions, the tooney, out of my pocket. I stood up on my chair in plain view of all the other cubiclized workers and in a confident voice exclaimed "Heads, three hundred dollars, tails, five hundred dollars". A flip of the tooney and the view of the shiny head of Queen Elizabeth II was all it took to deduce that this shipment would cost $300. I proceeded to call our customer and pass on the valuable information.

This has been the first of many installments of Business Solutions with Tom McIntosh. Check back next week when I give everyone tips about napping on the third floor.

TM

my job sucks... i should quit and become a full time woodworking machine.. maybe.. just maybe...

No time for updates, just about time to start partying like grownups. First marriage of the group means we have to set the bar high on the Stag and Doe party. Shaver and Heather are getting married and we need to drink our faces off to celebrate.

Details.....

June 3, 2006
Sol Mar Banquet Hall
248 Stirling Avenue S, Kitchener
$15 to party down.

You can aquire tix via yours truly, Thomas of Guns

Back from my Boston trip and holy shit was it ever awesome... too tired and lazy to go into details right now, but I'll fill in some details tomorow... the jist of it:

- First time flying is neat.
- AVIS is awesome because they pick you up in a bus and take you to your rental car.
- Planograms are neat
- Harvard and Fenway Park (Green Machine) are cool
- Own hotel room / topless jumping on beds = Jive-u-lar.
- 7:00 meeting at bar (all covered my company credit card) = hard to remember
- Dinner after bar with more drinking (big Guiness please) = lucrative
- My future position within the company was discussed. They are trying to get me to come into a much better position... it's not even like I have to try very hard to get the job... neat... (there are pro's and con's to this one though... TBD later)
- More hotel room shenanegans, then bed.
- Continental breakfast in the morning (Continetal breakfast consists of your choice of 3 different colored bagels, some poorly arranged fruit and a drink [coffee runs out quick and soon only decaf is available]).
- Meeting from 8 to 12 w/ a break in the middle. Then free lunch followed by demontration put on by AJ and sidekicked by yours truly)
- Trip over to Staples Headquarters (Holy mother is this some huge shit. Giant building with mega security in place... really cool... [cougar buys T-Guns a drink])
- AJ (one of my salesman) drops me off at Boston airport and leaves me with $40 for dinner and pre-flight beer(s).
- Had dinner at a Samuel Adams restaurant in the airport.
-Fly home to Cananda... (had fun in Boston, but so glad to be back)
- Drive home in record time (leave 9:06, back by 10:00).
- Make it home in time to see Pam and go out for more beers (this is one great girl)... so happy to make her the first person I saw back in Cananda.
- come back to apartment and catch up w/ Ashley and Ange...
- now I am typing.
- now I am preparing to post this message and go to sleep [gah, early to rise]

What a nice weekend.

Friday night Phils for Marks B-day. Predrinking at the house of Guns. Had some Cocasians (sp?) and some rough scotch. Got Mark a wicked scotch chilling device. it consists of 2 glass vase type dingies. One dingy holds ice and the other holds the scotch.. You put the scotch holding dingy into the ice dingy which then cools your scotch without having the ice melt into the scotch. We drank a lot and headed to Phils for an alcoholic slaughtering of Mark and Pam. Mark was cooked around 12 and I believe had to take a breather. Pam as well had outdone herself by 12:30 and needed a soft place to lay down which I provided at my place.

Saturday held an exciting trip to Niagara Falls (see pictures on my MSN space). I'm too lazy to go into details so I'll just note some of the hilights:
- Game of 3 man in which Gabby had about 9 hard ways within 15 minutes.
- Hallway being made the official change room
- Streaking
- Seeing more balls in one night than Richard Simmons.
- Shots by the falls with the shot glasses we won from the arcade.
- Killer glasses
- tailgate parties
- Hating Casino's
- Hallway (changeroom) Crazy 8 Countdown.

Sunday good too....
to lazy to write any more...
going to bed.

Was sick for the past two days... slept a lot... watch some Napolean Dynamite. Pam came over yesterday and brought me some really delicious soup to make me feel better... It worked a lot... so did having her company. We worked on her fooseball skils a bit. Yes, she has become my protege. I am teaching her how to be a grand master fooseballer. She is a good learner and already has a good feel for the table. Next year she'll be moving in with a bunch of people that are relatively good at fooseball. They'll also be all pitching in money for a fooseball table. So I'm going to train her behind everyone else's backs so that when she gets to play them for the first time she'll kick there ass. It'll be neat... someday she's going to get really good and kick my ass... it'll be like in Kill Bill when Ella Drive poisons the fish heads of Pai Mei... except Pam won't poison me... she just probably give me a crotch shot with the end of a fooseball bar or something... the irony will be delicious.


Anyway, as for tonight, didn't some cooking... then some 'baking'... them some eating. We made cheese filled tortelini w/ sundried tomato pesto sauce... it was awesome... nice and spicy just the way we like it. Hung out into the wee hours for the morning... like 12:30... [yes that is late for a man w/ a full time job]. Needless to say I feel pretty good.

Not sure if it's officialy Marks birthday now, but happy b-day any way you soon to be drunk son of a bitch. Looking forward to watching you fall to the clutches of Von-Alcohol.

Should be a good weekend.. booze, the lady, Niagara Falls... hell yeah.

It's really odd how much alike Pam and I are. I don't know what to think other than just don't think, sit back and enjoy the ride... and so I will.

Watched Naked Lunch tonight... seriously, if anyone can explain this to me or point me in a general direction I'd appreciate it. I'm going to give it another viewing because I know there was a lot of symbolism/metaphor's going on in this movie... I just couldn't piece the together. Although David Lynch is always messed like that. Mulholland drive took me a while to understand... Videodrome was a little easier than Mulholland Drive, but still just as messed up..

rock

A very up and down day.

Slept in (forgot to set alarm)[bad mood], go into work thinking it will be a great day anyway [hopes up], business dinner got cancelled [worse mood], rough day at work [not feeling good about anything], come home to house smelling like a hockey players jock strap [losing hope on this day], go out to Home Depot [feel relaxed], go visit Pam at work and drink coffee [feeling a lot better], go to Mongolian Grill for cheap pitchers [feeling really good], head to Duke for 20 minutes to hug all the men [just hilarious], drive Pam home and spend some good quality time before she goes into her house [big smile on my face]....

It's amazing how tiny things can change your mindset so easily. I suppose I just need to learn how to ignore the bad things as they happen and realize my mood will go back to being happy eventually. Of course, it's always nice to know that you have something to share your happiness with in your life.

G'night.