Re-Unretired

As I'm on the verge of receiving my second paycheck (that's right, second), I thought I might as well let you all in on the bad news. I've come out of retirement. No more mid afternoon naps, mowing the lawn in the middle of the day, and shop time has been relegated to evenings and weekends.

I decided that as long as I was coming out of retirement I was going to go all the way. Instead of just getting one job I got three.


First: I got a job at the Nevada Northern Railway. This is a tourist railroad that runs steam trains. The rail yard and rolling stock is a national historic landmark. The entire complex was built during the very early part of the 20th century, and has remained virtually unchanged since that time. Any building that need saving or infrastructure that needs replacing becomes my project. The pay is very low (mostly nothing), but it's a pretty fun job. Come out some time. I'll try to get you a train ride. Just come and talk with the Project Manager.


Second: I'm the front office manager at a Dental Office. This is the job that pays the bills. The other office employees are fun to work with and the work schedule is fairly flexible.

Some pearls of joy from the dental office:

"Ely Family Dental, this is Nathan, how can I help you?"
"David?"
"No, Nathan."
"Well David I need to ask some questions about..."

A little while later, LTD...

"Ely Family Dental, this is Nathan, how can I help you?"
"Nathan, I was talking with David. Is he there?"
"No, he has stepped out?"
"Well, David told me that..."
"David is new and was mistaken, that isn't the case."
"Well, I'll call back when David is in."
"Fine."

The fun really never ends between the Medicaid patients and the kids who have never brushed or flossed (see the case of the 12 year old with the $14,000+ treatment plan).


Third: On occasion I help with some projects for a small engineering firm that a friend of mine runs. Helping usually entails holding the surveying rod or talking him into buying new equipment. He is also the Ely city engineer so I deal with him quite a bit on projects for the railroad. This job is mostly fun and pays for some car parts.

Currently, the plan is to work here for three years so that I can save up to return to grad school, but I've seen how plans tend to go. Only time will tell.

All I Need

What I've always needed is a garage; somewhere to put my cars and unpack my tools; somewhere I can turn on NPR while I let my hands marinate in dirty engine oil. Obviously, this need has become much more acute since my retirement.

Well, that dream has finally come to fruition. It's a nearly 20'x40' building located a few blocks from the house. Infact, this garage used to be owned by a retired diesel mechanic that helped me with my cars when I was younger. I've spent the last week cleaning it out and arranging my stuff. My new garage can easily hold four cars or comfortably hold three, but currently I only have two cars housed in it.


One of my favorite features, apart from the automatic garage door, is the work bench. The work bench is accessorized with an overhead light, a set of drawers and a peg board for hanging tools on. It still needs a vise and a chair to finish it off.

To round out my publicly uninteresting piece on my new man cave, here is a small excerpt from the champion of the shed, James May.

...all the best things in the world came out of sheds: the aeroplane, television, radio, the power loom, home-brew, blasphemy, potted hyacinths, the machine gun and, if we stretch the definition a bit further, Jesus... I've often thought that there is something about the ambiance of a shed - the way it liberates its occupant from the stifling conventions concerning decoration, function and acceptable behavior that apply to the rest of the house - that stimulates inventiveness.

James May - Telegraph, Feb. 2008

Expect great things.

Closed for the Season

For the last couple of weeks I have been out state. As nothing much has been happening with the job search--apart from me sending applications to people I am beginning to believe don't exist--I packed the wagon and headed off to the great white north (or somewhere near there). It was, needless to say, a very long drive. However, with the cooler weather and no one in my car to make comfortable but myself I opened the sunroof, rolled the windows down, and turned up whatever the hell I wanted to listen to. (I spent most of the trip flipping between NPR and the Beatles) It was a pretty nice drive once I got off the freeway.

The instigation for the trip was an invitation from the parents of the goddaughter who live in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. They were nice enough to show me around and feed me lots of Huckleberries, and a lot of other really tasty things. My goddaughter is closing in on her first birthday and is as cute as ever. I am miserable about taking pictures so you'll have to see pictures of her on their blog.


Some of the trip's events included a trip to Canada (Yes, it is every bit as weird as I had imagined), a visit to the Spokane County fair complete with an escaped criminally insane murderer and a deep fried Twinkie, Huckleberry picking, pie eating, nature seeing, football watching, Beatle's Rockband playing, muscle car driving, Food Network watching, apple picking, farmers market donut eating, copius amounts of laughing, and a lot of other things I can't seem to remember at the moment.

What made the drive so nice was that I just kind of took my time and stopped when I felt like it. I usually stopped at a rest stop which was always interesting. Most of these rest stops were there in conjunction with some kind of historic point. The best "historic point" that I saw was one regarding the pioneers on the Oregon trail. It read something like, "Outside of Indians, prairie fires, cholera, famine, cyclones, cloud bursts, quick sand, snow slides, and blizzards they had a tolerably blithe and gay trip." Really? Who writes this stuff?

In short, I had a great time. On the way home I stopped in Salt Lake and had a job interview. It went as well as I could have hoped for. In all honesty, he didn't ask many questions. I just sat there and listened to him talk about the job. Even though the interview went alright it was just kind of weeding-out interview. I think I'm still a long way from finding anything out about that particular job. Until whatever's next comes, bring on the next trip!

Who Needs Julia Child? (probably me)

Okay, I'll admit I saw the movie and I liked it. Really though, what's not to like about copious amounts of food porn and Merle Streep. So with that movie as the instigator, I've been playing around in the kitchen some. The pictured dish is, from scratch, "killer" tomato soup. It turned out pretty good and went well with the spinach salad and homemade rolls.

Thanks to some (i.e. A LOT OF) great pie while I was visiting friends, I worked up the nerve to try my hand at the keystone of the Thanksgiving Holiday again. The last time I tried to make pie the oven caught on fire, the crust was inedible and the end product resembled pecan based concrete. This time I attempted an apple pie and thanks to some moral support and a couple of good recipes it turned out 500% better than my first attempt. The crust wasn't the prettiest, but it was flaky and fantastic. Bring on the turkey season!

Now, who's for Dennys?

Okay, so the big news since arriving is that Ely got another stop light. We have been sitting at just three for a good decade or more due to one of our downtown lights being removed because it had become pointless. The day I arrived they had a big ribbon cutting and everything. Big stuff.

In other news: I spent some time this last week down at the Grandparents in Logandale, Nevada. It was hot, but nice. I went to Vegas with Grandpa one day and Grandma made me a batch of her dinner rolls that I pretty much consumed myself. They were even nice enough to turn the A/C up so that it was less than 85 degrees in their house. In fact, once you get past the unbearable heat and the scenery that resembles the inside of a giant dust bin, Clark County really is kind of nice.


I got cornered into sub-ing for the 12-13 year-old Sunday School class this Sunday. The kids weren't too bad and the lesson went okay. However, the room was a little warm (no a/c) so the window was open, and I found myself trying to talk over the top of this ->


The station is just a block from the Church and they were being very liberal with the whistle. I don't know how many people have ever had their Sunday School lesson disrupted by a 1910 steam locomotive, but I love it. Highly recommended.

In my spare time I mow the lawn in the middle of the day, glare at the neighbor's dog, and tinker with my car. I'm planning to head up to extreme Northern Idaho this week, and I've got a job interview in Salt Lake this Tuesday.

This, this is mine.

Be forewarned, this is going to be one of those posts.


Friday was my last day at work. I'd been slowly packing for the last week or so. The next morning I threw all my boxes in the trusty wagon and left. Leaving what is known and familiar is always slightly disconcerting. Nonetheless, if I was going to do this I was going to do it all the way. When I eventually hit the state boarder I took out my worn work shoes, tossed them over the "Welcome to Utah" sign, and peed on it. TAKE THAT!

However, my cathartic male euphoria may have been a little premature. I may have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. As my current plans consist of ____________________ I decided that I might as well head home to stow my crap, take a little R&R, and plot my next trip. While the sagebrush filled, rain-soaked air of northern Nevada is intoxicating I may have inadvertently become one of "those people". Let me just say, that I don't plan on staying, but on the other hand I really don't have a fixed date for my departure either.

I have been very hesitant to tell people that I've moved home. Locals keep asking,"How long are you visiting for?" and "Just stopping by at home before school starts?" I just smile and say whatever it is they want to hear to end the small talk rather than explain that I actually don't live in Provo anymore, I graduated in April and I moved home. Those who are aware that I moved home keep asking me why don't I go out and get a job somewhere--like I haven't been making 10 applications a week for the past four months. Now there's the quandary of whether or not to go out and just pick up a mine or BLM job (and wonder why I bothered going to college for five years) or just sit around and wait for one of my bazillion applications to bear fruit.

Thoughts?

In the mean time, I've had fun catching up with friends and spending time with my brother (he really is well behaved and a lot of fun when there isn't a crowd to impress)

Holy Ground

I've been talking about going for years (no, really this time), and last Tuesday I finally made it out to Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats. It was fantastic!

It was a cool, slightly hazy morning, but by 10:00am the sun came out with a vengeance. When the sun hit the salt my polarized sunglasses did little to keep me from having to squint.

All in all it was a gorgeous day. The cars were amazing and it was evident that participants had spent just as much time preparing their pit transportation as they had preparing their race cars. People were touring around the pits in everything from '57 chevy wagons to rat rod '65 Lincoln Continentals. (this picture is neither of the aforementioned models)



The best part about the event is that everyone is so friendly. We were able to get down right on the starting line to watch cars take off. Everyone in the pits was eager to talk about their machines and without a second look would invite you to kick the tires and sit in the driver's seat. Gear heads at their best.



If any of you are wondering what a Volkswagen enthusiast is doing at an event called "Speed Week"-- my people are everywhere.