Things are still going fairly well. The long work weeks do not seem to be having much of an effect. At least I do not feel like they are having an effect. I just show up, hang out for however many hours, then go home. But not directly home. I go hang out first.
As a result, I spend less time at home than anywhere else. And more time at work than anywhere else.
But no matter. It is all good. Work is not exactly difficult.
And now for the good part. The "health plan". Work offers a "plan" that pays me directly. Sounds good on the surface - but it really sucks. It is not much of a plan at all. If you happen to already have insurance, then it would be cool. You would get paid more than enough to cover most out of pocket expenses.
But if all you can afford is the work plan, it sucks. You see - if you need treatment you have to go to a hospital as a self pay patient. Meaning you are charged the highest rates. So the $750 per day you get paid for intensive care will pay maybe 1/2 of the cost - which means you pay the rest. But if you have existing insurance where your co-payment is say $500 per day for intensive care, you will get enough from the other plan to cover that.
On what I am being paid - there is not really a good way to afford an actual insurance plan.
So I do not know what I will do. I am thinking of taking some of the coverage - but not all of it. I can pick and choose what I want. I am still calculating the cost/benefit thing.
Other than that - this weekend is another sailboat race. I think I will be involved in this somehow. So that is how most of my day off will be squandered. Either on the power boat or on the Waverunner - doing sailboat race support stuff.
So today is my 1/2 day off. Meaning of course that I only have to show up for 6 hours, as opposed to 12.
It is not so bad really. I have time to do shit. I do not have to be anywhere till after noon. So I can squander my 1/2 day by sleeping, or I can arise at the usual time and really get shit done.
Or I can split the difference. Sleep in a little bit then still do something.
Today I was supposed to pay a ticket. But this involves driving all the way to Broward County. I can not do this shit over the phone, the bastards in Broward County are too stone age to manage that. They are so stone age they make Fred Flintstone's record player seem like a blu-ray DVD player.
You see, the ticket is for not having a "valid registration". Which is bullshit. There are these things called "computers". Using one of these devices, one can easily run a vehicle tag and drivers license info and the magical device will tell you things. Like if the tag is in fact valid, if the tag belongs to the vehicle, if the tag is stolen, and if the tag tax sticker (and vehicle registration) is valid.
It was.
But I still have to go in person and show them the stone age slip of paper to prove what is in the computer is correct.
And now pay a late fine. Because I sort of forgot about the whole mess.
I was to take care of that today - but screw it. Since I already owe the late fine I might as well just milk it. Hell I can put it off till I have to renew my registration - in January.
TAKE THAT BROWARD COUNTY!! Wait in line for your money. Trust me, you at the bottom of a long list. Well really the list is not so long, but you are still at the bottom of it. You will be the LAST to get the money. If there is any left after all the higher priorties are taken care of, then consider yourself lucky.
Your gestapo like force can not touch me here. I am safely outside the limits of Broward County. SO THERE! HA! Patrol your streets all you want - I shall not be there. I will taunt you from the Dade County side of the border however. Whats the matter?? Cop cant cross the street to arrest me without mommys premission?? AWWWWW! Aint that sweet!
Any nightsticks you throw will be kept by me. Ill sell them on e-bay and the proceedes will go to pay the fine. OH WAIT! That was a lie! Any proceedes will be used to pay off things higher up on the list! Like for example going to see a movie!
Yes Broward County, movies are higher on the list. When I said you were at the bottom - I meant it. I will put this off for as long as possible.
As for my schedule - I have expenses. And I assumed more expenses. So I will need to keep working extra overtime. 6 day weeks may become normal for me. I may even have to see what 7 day weeks are like. Burnout risk is minimal, as it turns out the job is not really that difficult. boring sometimes - but not difficult. And on top of that I have to do what I have to do in order to make various financial situations work out.
The problem is that right now overtime is free for the taking. I can get as much as I want. So what happens when I get used to the overtime bonus and then the overtime dries up because more staff are brought in? Well Ill cross that bridge when I get there.
Ill have to either inquire about getting paid more or else seriously consider packing up and moving on to somewhere else that offers more. Various things are happening here, and they will happen rather quickly. Using newly accuired experience in the right manner could work out nicely. But if I screw up and choose the wrong path - well I could screw myself.
So like the giant squid, I shall reach my tenticles out into the inky blackness. Feeling around for stuff. Plotting. Calculating.
But for now the 1/2 day off is only about 1/2 over.
I am the master of overtime. Next week I nabbed 24 more hours. And there will be more. It all depends on what I want to do.
Which is not really a bad deal. The extra money is good I suppose. And by working so long, in theory there is less time to spend money.
Of course that is pure theory. And not exactly true.
And really I have nothing else better to do.
But the week after next week will be different! I have better things to do. Something about using the Waverunner Sunday, to kick off my three day weekend.
Yes three day weekend. Every week is a three day weekend, assuming I do not get greedy and exchange a day off for money. Which I have been doing.
And this is a bit strange. You will notice I scored high on "greed" and very high on "sloth" on the seven deadly sins test. But it seems to me that the two sins are in conflict. Sloth makes me not really want to work the overtime. Too much effort. To hell with it, just sleep in late.
But the greed gives me motivation to work extra time.
There will be much time for sloth later however. Right now I need the greed a lot more.
It is the number of hours I am scheduled for at work this week. This works out to six shifts, each one lasting for twelve hours.
My normal week consists of a 42 hour week. One six hour stint, then three twelve hour shifts. So the 72 hour schedule is really not so bad all things considered. Two days off become days on, and then my 1/2 day becomes a full day. That is all it takes.
And I also get an extra 30 hours of overtime. This is nice.
Things at work are starting to come together. Operations are still not at 100%, but they will be soon. There will be more opportunities for overtime. I do not know for how much longer, but they will be there at least for the short term. So I suppose Ill grab it while I can get it. Strike while the iron is hot. And so on.
This week I had one actual day off and two alleged days off.
But how is this possible? It is only Wednesday! And this is true. But you see I never have a normal job schedule. Never happens. So my day off was Sunday! Monday and Tuesday were also days off.
Only I was called in Monday and Tuesday. Hey no big deal. I was just going to piss the days off anyway. So might as well get called in for extra money.
But I made the best of the deal. I was out on the bay Sunday. On the Waverunner. That was nice.
Today is my first regular day on. And I have to go in early. You know what that means! MORE OVERTIME!!
Hey like I said - works for me. I am making myself useful as part of the team. Helping out the department. And so on.
And making some extra money as a side benefit.
All things considered, it is all working out OK.
In a side note, I have to HAVE TO get a ticket cleared up. I must remember to do this. It is of a very high level of importance.
Work has me fairly busy. There are 12 hour shifts. Well one shift is only 6 hours, but there are three 12 hour shifts in a week. It is only 42 hours total - not so bad really. But the distribution is a little non-standard. Three days back to back of 12 on 12 off, then one day with 6 hours.
The nice thing is the three days off.
When there are three days off. Right now things are slightly frantic so I have to go in for 2 of my days off. No big deal, it is just more overtime. I am sure I can find something to do with the extra money. I have a couple of ideas already.
The extra days on will only be 1/2 days, so I will get out in the early afternoon. Ill be able to get things done, because I will not be able to get lazy and sleep in late.
Oh yea, one more thing about the 12 on 12 off thing. It is a little bit strange. When I get ready to leave, certain people show up to start work. This is normal when you do shift work.
But when the same people are still there when you are showing up, it throws you off. It feels like you never really left for long. Almost like you just left for lunch or something.
And then there is the time warp thing. You have to really budget your time well. You have 12 hours before you have to be at work again. OK - what now?
Well lets say you want 6 hours of sleep. OK now you have 6 hours left. But at least 1.5 of those hours are for waking up, getting dressed, teeth brushing, and driving to work. Lets throw in another .5 hours for a shower (it does not take that long but whatever).
Now we are down to 4 hours.
What if you want more time? Well you have to take away from somewhere else.
But I am not complaining. Far from it. I seem to be doing OK with things the way they are now. At least as far as the complexities of shift work go.
