Life updates

[10sun]

Tomorrow I leave for a two week trip starting in Dublin Ireland, ferrying over to Southport UK, HQ'ing in Edinburgh, seeing the sights, then flying back to Dublin -> Philadelphia -> CMH.

[Menelvir]

Congrats, Gyps!

Have a good and safe trip, 10sun!

[Jay]

Grats Ash! Proud of you!

I've settled down finally north of Seattle. The house is good and my new job is awesome. Well, maybe it's awesome or maybe I'm just happy to be back at work after a year and a half of not working.

Family's happy, I'm happy, in-laws are 2 states away. Health good. Financials stable.

No complaints.

[Zanchief]

I'm in your neck of the woods this week, Jay. I'm in Vancouver until Monday and may make the trip south of the border for some shopping. Might be a bit of a headache with the kids though.

[Jay]

You're about a 3 hour drive away.

[Velocity]

Completely forgot I had this account, last time logged on was 2006!

no one knows me anyway but updates none the less:
Married, baby making in process but not at this current moment
Brand new house, same town as Jay no less
3 years in at Boeing, barely dodged the layoff bat and should be in the clear.
Just got back from first time trip to Maui, the "road to Hana" is a must drive if you love cruising

game wise.. Playing mostly GW2, bit of D3, and P99 when feeling nostalgic though low level and no gear/time to play much.

[Drem]

whoa, yeah i don't remember you (sorry) but nice to have a new name around!

have fun with baby making. it's a trip

[Spazz]

Ive been out of the hood a few days over a year. Im gettin fat and stayin out of trouble working on some family expansion. Swed is still a lifestyle but ive switched to vapin. Ive started going to and hangin out at shows again. Feel like I see the gutter ghouls every weekend. Life is pretty alright for me now days. HAppy Happy

[Jay]

Yeah I drive by Boeing all the time. So many dispensaries in this town lol.

[Xaiveir]

/wave again all

Grats Gyps!


Hey Jay, I am an hour south of you. Welcome to the NW m,an.

[Jay]

Thank you sir! My company has an office in Battle Ground as well so if I go in that direction we should get together for some drinks.

[10sun]

Ireland / UK was good. Not enough time in Scotland.
Decided to buy a Golf TDI as a result of the trip.
Dealer has a certified pre-owned for $22.5k with 7k miles on it coming in on Tuesday for me to look at.
Might have a new (to me) car by the end of next week.
Which means my girlfriend gets my 13 year old Passat and her Jeep sits in the garage until the winter.

[10sun]

Got it last Friday.
Took it for a road trip today.
8h and change to cover 525 miles.
Averaged 64mph (highway & country roads mostly).
46mpg.

1.3 pounds of beef jerky purchased for my sick brother.

All worth it when he realized what was in the bag I tossed it in his lap, started smiling and tearing into it while complaining about how bad the hospital food has been.

[Menelvir]

Similar color to mine, nice choice!


Mine only gets about a quarter the fuel economy, though.

[10sun]

GTI - Stage 1 or something?

I got the TDI... mostly because I wanted to be difficult.

[Gaazy]

Hows everyone doin? Havent been here in a couple months.

I had to resign from job underground. Swing shifts were reeeeeeally uucking me uo with my medications. Everytime id level out, shifts would swing and id be fucked. Up again for a couple weeks. So had to let the 2000 per payday bonuses go got another job lined up yhough as the operations manager of the companies big rebuild shop though, doing what i know best, building and revuilding equipment amd managing.

The company, my cousins, Foresight Energy, is the new IPO on Wall Street, so its been interesting. Got a hell of a stock package, i know that much lol...helllooooo retirement taken care of
http://new.livestream.com/NYSE/Foresigh ... s/54307398

[Gaazy]

On another note (dont know why ill babble about this here, but anyway), ive talked to alex and arlos about it, and like anything, it makes me feel better to get it off my chest.

So as i said, a couple months ago, i had to shut our company down before we had to file and all that, cut our losses before it got worse, so to say. The hardest part of this for me was having to tell a few guys that had been loyal to me for 10+ years, that they no longer had a job or insurance. Larry, who was our shop foreman all those years, has a wife in the middle of cancer treatment. I cannot even explain how hard it was to tell him that he wouldnt have insurance now, i cried like a baby every night for weeks. I had NEVER felt like such a failure before. Ive said it before, but the promise i made when we started was they would have insurance til the day it was over. I dont know if one of our downfalls was being TOO good to our employees (mych higher wages than the same job at other companies, hundreds of thousands in health insurance even when there was no money, great bonus plans, ect) but i always tried to be the best i could with them, more than just treating them like an employee or an asset, but a person and a friend.

So what gets me, is that nice guys finish last once again. Companies like wal mart that treat employees like human garbage, rake in tens if billions and prosper like never before, while i do my absolute all to be more than fair and good, and its like im being punished for it. It just baffles me and reminds me how unfair shit is. But i guess thats the world and the way it works. Compassion for people = failure ive learned.

So ive been struggling with bouts of severe depression lately. I just more than anything feel like i failed everyone, and more than anyone Larry's wife, who deserves to be treated and have a chance. I just feel like a failure, and it hurts.


But, to cheer me up a touch, i got a call this morning from an old business associate and i found Larry a job, with insurance. He wont make but 11 or 12 an hour, but who cares, he will have insurance and his wife has another chance. Huge weight lifted.

[Jay]

That sounds rough man and I'm sorry you had to go through that. Having owned my own businesses for so long I found it difficult to deliver the tough news because I always wanted to be everyone's beacon and provider. End of the day, I think what it all means is that we have have to help ourselves first. That mind sound selfish, but all my life, I've always wanted to be a leader and to really help people. When I sacrificed things for myself to help others, I could only help so many before my resources/patience became exhausted. When I took care of myself, I took care of 10 times as many people unintentionally. Ultimately this taught me that a pure sacrifice without a return is useless. Investment is the better way to go. No reason for me to lose so that they can win cuz I'm nice. Why don't we both win?

[Gaazy]

It just sucks because i feel pike i failed them. I dont really care about myself, i am young and can find work elsewhere. Larry is pushing 60 and who wants to hire a broken old man that didnt even go past 10th grade? All that matters now i guess is that i found him something else so his wife isnt screwed, thats ALL i care about.

I have 0 wualms about firing people. 0. But firing and laying off is conpletely different. Laying good men off hurts deep. Especially guys that have been loyal and steadfast for 10+ with ya.

Found out this worthless idiot i fired last year for coming to work drunk died this morning. He went to the mines after i told him to GTFO, and his dumbass got into a huge power center somehow and didnt tag it out (again, a fucking fool) and it electrocuted him. They said it fried him so hard it blew his knee caps out.

[Gypsiyee]

Wonder if he was drunk at work this time too..

I'm sorry you had to go through that, Gaazy.. small business is rough sometimes, those people become your family. I'm glad it all worked out and he's back in there again, though!

[Tuggan]

They said it fried him so hard it blew his knee caps out.

for some reason the visual of this made me lol.

i doubt i could ever own a business because of the problems you're facing now, but i don't think you should be too hard on yourself man. i've had a lot of shitty bosses that only care about themselves and not the people that work for them. you're one of the good guys, it's just unfortunate how things work out sometimes.

[Lyion]

So what gets me, is that nice guys finish last once again. Companies like wal mart that treat employees like human garbage, rake in tens if billions and prosper like never before, while i do my absolute all to be more than fair and good, and its like im being punished for it. It just baffles me and reminds me how unfair shit is. But i guess thats the world and the way it works. Compassion for people = failure ive learned. .

Hey Gaazy, I'm sorry about your old work situation, but I don't think compassion equals failure. I do think there's an issue with our culture and countries priorities, but I think by and large most people are good and do help others.

Public corporations remain by and large fucked up as they focus more on stock price and share holder value, but we've come a long ways from the days of the Robber Barons and Banks literally owning people. In some ways we have gone backwards but quality of life here remains high, and there is opportunity.

I remember the 70s when we had severe gas shortages and there were real concerns of mass starvation. I was in college in the 80s when there were real fears of nuclear annihilation. There's always gloom and doom, but we keep advancing as a country technically and materially.

My issue with our country now is this pretty much...

[Harrison]

Lots happened in the past year but, nothing too exciting.

Tore my meniscus in my knee twice at work, insurance company for my employer refused to pay for an MRI/treatment the second time claiming it didn't occur at the workplace. I got a lawyer, fucked Liberty Mutual in the ass, and got full coverage, back wages for the time lost, and a hefty settlement to close out my WC case. I have full medical coverage for my knee for life, for any reason now. (I saw an orthopedic specialist and it's 100% healed after the physical therapy I went through.)

I'm in the Computer Science: Networking class this fall. (transfer program to Umass to complete the BS in Computer Science)

That's about it, really.

[brinstar]

nice!

[leah]

my life isn't exciting, but fun things are happening for mr. husband: he quit his factory job at the beginning of the year to go back to school, delivered pizzas for a while, then got a sweet telecommuting gig contracting for our friend bill's cloud architecture company in NY doing helpdesk-type stuff... then this week he got offered a real full-time job with benefits at that company, so we'll have sweet NY-style benefits and he's getting a really good starting salary. yay yay yay. someday we may move to NY but for the time being he can just work from home and keep going to school in the evenings and whatever. complete 180 in his life compared to working at the factory. so much happier and more fulfilled and proud of himself. it's great.

otherwise the only thing new/exciting is that we adopted a black lab from the pound. her name is june and she's kind of an asshole (she's still pretty young, so just hyper and mischievous) but she's a sweetheart. peanut is at full health, and april has continued being awesome. the end. OH wait, also, downstairs dan moved to seattle so now mr. husband and i are loners. it's weird but kind of nice. THE END.