40 hour week for a livin

Only because the Alabama song came to mind ...lol.
Three years ago, I was in my 16th year of food service, and decided i had had enough. It was really grinding me down and going nowhere ...so i quit. A new direction, completely different. A change of careers. I had already served 7 1/2 years in the US Air Force, so i wasn't afraid of work or change, and was ready to learn. What was out there that is completely different and ready for me. Glazing ...YES!

No, i don't glaze doughnuts at krispy kreme. A glazier is, by Wikipedia definition, a construction professional that selects, cuts, installs, replaces, and removes residential, commercial, and artistic glass. Glaziers also install aluminum storefront frames and entrances, glass handrails and balustrades, shower enclosures, curtain wall framing and glass and mirror walls. And thats what i got into. MAN, i wish i would have done this a long time ago.

Three years ago, i got into this trade; today i am the initial interim supervisor of a new entity where i work, tempering glass for our sister company and for customers in a three state area. Tempering glass is basically the same idea as tempering steel. Where steel is cooled by immersion in water in most cases, glass is cooled rapidly by air (in all cases). Its the rapid cooling after reaching a furnace temperature of 1100 to 1300 (roughly) degrees Fahrenheit. I am so glad when i was taught how to spell in skewl ...there is actually a use for spelling that word.

Back in December, i believe, my boss and i were talking while in his truck at a job site two states away. The discussion was about his purchase of a tempering furnace that will be arriving soon. In our discussion, I made the comment, " what will it take to be a part of this. i want to learn this." In what i had learned in the prior 2 1/2 years, i knew this was huge and REALLY wanted this. His reply was, "i wanna learn this too, so we'll see."

From the moment the 'boxes' arrived, i have been involved in the entire process, because the boss called my name to be on this project. Driving the forklift and the torque wrench assembling this machine and all its faculties, to include a 'helicopter landing pad' to support the enormous blower engine. The assembly literally pushed us out of the building. Good thing we're a glass company. We built a sun roof where the blower fan broke out the roof, of which we had open anyway when we lowered it by crane into the building. But all of that might be another story. No room here ...lol. Long story short, we now have an addition to the building roughly 30 ft by 100 ft, and expanding operations inside to include this new entity into the flow. Yes, we're looking for another building ...lol.

Since the onset, i have stayed dedicated to this operation and the learning process, along with going out on the field when needed, or even learning how to make insulated glass units (IGs) and cutting glass. I've also assisted in fabrication ...this entire glazing thing is AMAZING! Anyway, i digress ...i must mention that i was not the only employee assigned to this process. There are two of us remaining in the operative status with this machine. We went from steadily have from 6-10 workers every day to 4 for a while, down to the technicians from the supplying company and the two of us left. i even got to take two of the technicians out on the town one saturday in May.

Anyway, i guess to kinda sum this blog up ...
There are things in life one just has to do. And i have found that usually the right thing is the most obvious, and usually looks the most difficult. Really, the most obvious is the right thing, and its only harder physically. just a little labor. so, to get somewhere is to get off one's ass. i can do that! In less time than it 'by the book' takes to get to the next level in glazing is four years, i'm running a new division/entity at the fourth glass company i've worked for: three years (well, almost ...3 yrs in august). I'm not saying I'm the shit, I'm saying all it takes is just to get off ur ass. This career has literally changed my life. In a few months, I will have learned enough to just about go anywhere in the world with this job ...and make it.

As a nation, we all used to dream of things being better. Not afraid of hard work. Remember shoveling the driveway (before snowblowers were everywhere) only to still have to push the car past the pile the street snow plower left behind. And it was done because you HAD TO DO IT. What happened?

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