June 21, 2020

2020.06.15

My travels did not go that smoothly yesterday. It is mainly because I mistakenly understood that my project coordinator was arriving at 8AM, when he arrived at 8PM.

I arrived at noon, and I was surprised to realize that I can attend my elders' quorum video chat meeting. People thought that my airport background was fake.

I ate a container of pistachios for lunch. I am lucky that this age of Coronavirus enables me to serve myself the sacrament. I found myself a private place to renew my covenants with God.

After charging my phone, I called my family.

I played Pokémon until my project coordinator arrived.

He arrived after 8:30, and I arrived at my hotel after 10 pm. After catching up with Jessica and quickly putting away my luggage. I didn't get to sleep until after twelve, and my project coordinator was picking me up at 6 AM.

Work is good. I was somewhat productive making my two daily reports, but I was so exhausted that I could barely read the contract document well. Everyone at work is cool. B H, Inc rarely do Union work, so my coworkers should not be a revolving door. I like that the company self-performs most of their scope, meaning they don't subcontract everything out. It seems that I am working for the renewable energy division of BHI, which covers the whole United States. We have a lot of work in North Carolina and Virginia.

I signed up for Fresh n' Lean yesterday, but it will take a couple weeks to get their routine to accommodate me. It will serve the Fourth of July week. I might be able to visit home every three weeks based on how busy the project is, which coincides with the holiday. We will see.

This morning I got up early to wash clothes by hand, so I don’t get too behind on that.

2020.06.16

Today was good. I engaged more in my position. My role is plainly spelled out in the organization chart.

I followed along better in a general contractor meeting and our internal meeting. My project coordinator said that he will leave for Virginia tomorrow morning, and I will most likely not see him for about a month, but he will arrange for me to have quality control training next week in Virginia. My project coordinator is named Shan, and he took me out for lunch yesterday.

We worked on getting me my truck today. A coworker's truck needed to have his battery replaced. Driving a truck is interesting. The success rate of GPS is fifty percent, but it got me home after a long drive of trusting myself more than it. I did my first daily vehicle inspection today, leaving work about 6:30 PM.

2020.06.17

I caught up on my laundry this morning. I didn't have enough time to ring out my clothes well, so I had my clothes drip into my plastic suitcase. 

My first drive to work was scary. It was so foggy and humid that all the windows required defrost on both sides of the window. Defrosting with hot air did not work, and defrost with cold air did work, but the cold windshield caused the humidity to condensate on the glass, requiring me to have the wipes going like I'm in a storm.

After stretch and flex, my project coordinator took me out to look at an inverter. We decided to the stub up all the three inch PVC pipe to one side, since all the connections that we need are on one side of the inverter, and the second side would be extra.

We actually went to stub up the conduit ourselves. It was my first time actually in a real construction situation, helping out a master electrician. I gave them all the parts that they needed, driving to fetch what we needed.

I was asked to spot an excavator, which was another first until lunch.

After lunch, I worked in tracking quantities according to our bill of materials. I need to double check a delivery tomorrow to account for what we received in a shipment.

I called Jessica yesterday during lunch. She is engaging in her health through CrossFit, trying to figure out a good diet. She went to a 6 AM workout session. She was also proud to cook herself some rice.

I worked late because I got distracted by arranging my stay in Virginia. My superintendent reminded me that I had to get the information for my daily reports from the field.

My drive home was fine. Trevor called me right as I got my shoes off. I was having a hard time, trying to keep busy with my hands while I spoke to him. I need to get to sleep on time. I couldn't think of much. My dinners are too simple, so I just focused on the conversation. I realized the next morning that I could do laundry.

Since I am going to Virginia this weekend, I am eating my extra food; plus, a coworker, who lives across the hall from me, gave me a quarter of a small watermelon.

2020.16.18

I have been getting about seven and a half hours of sleep for the past couple days. I think that I can go to sleep on time today, so I can get all 8 hours. I woke up forty minutes before my alarm today afraid that I may have slept in. This seems to be an indication that I am getting more sleep. I use to get about six hours of sleep.

This morning I did my dishes and washed a bunch of socks from this whole week, catching up on all my laundry.

I didn't have trouble driving to work today.

I arranged my trip to Virginia first thing at work.

I finally got, the pdf editing software, Bluebeam today, enabling me to do some things that I have been putting off.

I put together everything that we ordered for the project while I was figuring out getting Bluebeam. Now I have to verify that we have received all the materials of our purchase orders.

I actually finished work on time, so I am getting my time management down.

I tried to get a haircut on my way home from work, but Great Clips wanted me to wear a mask. If I don't say that the rule is to abate the spread of the COVID 19 virus pandemic, people years from now would think this paragraph is crazy; hopefully.

I arranged with my coworkers some things because my Fresh n Lean food arrived almost ten days early. I should skip the next week, so I don't have a week’s worth of extra food. They said it was going to arrive June 27th.

I also asked my coworkers for a ride to the airport.

There was a black widow in the shelving.

2020.06.19

My day started well. I folded my laundry, did my dishes, and did my first laundry of only one day's worth by hand within 75 minutes. I hope that I don't get lazy after a few weeks like what happened when I used the Habitica game.

One thing that I forgot to say about yesterday is that I forgot my lunch, and I went to a local Mexican takeout place. It is ran by a resident, who made a makeshift drive through. I tried their picadillo taco. I like ordering things that I have never had, and this did not disappoint. It had a combination of meat and other stuff. It did not have the stereotypical taco shell. It was like pita bread.

One thing that I am concerned about is the tap water in Kenedy, Texas. It doesn't taste normal, and I feel that I have to spit out a speck of something or swallow it. Looking up the quality of the tap water, I found that it is ground water. I learned that the earth is actually a great water filter as the water comes down into the aquifer; however, a study completed last year stated that 15 EWG indicators of drinkable tap water were transgressed. I need to get a water filter when I return from Virginia.

When I began the day, I attempted to write submittals and a purchase order without guidance, and my project manager told me to hang tight until he arrived. I worked on my material delivery tracker, getting feedback from my superintendent and project manager. I also studied the contract.

As I was completing the submittal, I was receiving news from the field that the job site was shut down due to lightning. We waited and worked until 3 PM. I went to retrieve some shelving from the field, and we put it together while we were shut down.

A delivery arrived while we were waiting as well, and I logged it on the tracker.

I started writing my daily reports after everyone left, but I didn't feel that I should report more hours for myself than they had worked.

After work, I delivered my Fresh n' Lean food to my project manager's freezer, and I got a haircut on the way home. I was easily able to express how I would like it. I have struggled with it because my mother typically cuts my hair, and she doesn't ask me how I would like it. The hairdresser did well; although, it was unconventional. My hair looked like a bowl cut for about a third of the time.

I spoke to Trevor in the evening, and I was able to wash some laundry as I realized that I could do. I want to keep my hands busy rather than just focusing on the conversation.

I subscribed to all the podcasts that I like, switching to Pocket Cast from Spotify. Apple Podcasts was a transition app. My project manager really likes podcasts, and, talking to him about Apple Podcasts, I realized that I need to transition soon because their app is not designed well, and using the app doesn't really support any third party apps. Spotify is getting too dominant, and they are ruining the podcast scene, getting many exclusive shows, trying to monopolize the media for our ears. I don't even listen to music, so I am using Pocket Cast. I like it. The widget gives you a queue to control what I am listening. The widget is probably not the only way to use the queue. It just displays the podcast episodes that I have chosen to listen to.

I saw my first turtle in the wild on my walk to AT&T! Turtles 
are my favorite animal. Should I say whether it was dead or not?

2020.06.20

I got up at 4 AM without an alarm. I hoped to sleep in slightly. I did my dishes, and packed this morning before breakfast. I started preparing for my podcast with Trevor; then, I felt hungry, so I ate my traditional oatmeal.

My podcast topics were slightly depressing, talking about Spotify, killing podcasting, and augmented reality companies, dying; however, I spoke about the 5.8 Linux Kernel, being the greatest update for the operating system. Trevor has some interesting topics.

After recording the podcast, I went to get lunch and I purchased an Apple Watch series 5. I purchased the watch at a local privately owned AT&T store. They asked me to purchase an accessory because they don't profit from selling the watches as a private store. They said that another corporate store would be more accommodating. I told them I would rather support the privately owned store than the corporate store. I like the always on display of the series 5. I think that it would be annoying to need to angle it to my face for the screen to turn on. I haven't explored WatchOS much yet. I purchased my lunch at Subway with my Apple Watch.

My superintendent drove me to the San Antonio airport. He has family in the city. I think that I am developing a good friendship with my superintendent. I think that my friendship skills come from my mother, and I hope that I can develop a good friendship with the QC manager. I hear that he is hard to work with. Napping at the airport, I almost missed my flight. I am going to arrive at Virginia at 10:30, so I wanted to get some more sleep. I stayed up until 10 PM last night for some reason.

I am on the flight to Dallas currently. I played Pokémon for a few minutes until feeling slightly tired.

My Apple Watch just led me through a minute long breathing/meditation session. I think that it is good to meditate in a simple way daily.

I got an email from the quality control manager, saying that they are prepared for me. I need to get to work at 7 AM on Monday. I am thinking of waking up at 5 AM, so my sleep schedule aligns with Texas.

My layover in Dallas, Texas supposed to be less than thirty minutes, but it was delayed more than two hours. We are just taking off, and it is 9 PM. I bought a flight ticket to leave at 6:30 PM.

Staying at the DFW airport was odd, a lady was talking very loud on her phone, but the most outrageous thing is that a youth was skateboarding near the gate.

The accessory that I bought at AT&T with my Apple Watch was a screen protector, and it already broke in less than twelve hours. The company offers a lifetime warranty, and they better not require me to pay shipping for such a bad product.

Pokémon Sword & Shield is actually difficult. The Pokémon are high leveled and the battles are hard.

2020.06.21

On the flight to Virginia, I tried to sleep, but I didn't do very well. I mostly played Pokémon.

My access to a rental car was simplified as my company paid for it. I got a Jeep Wrangler. It drives well. I like that it is small compared to most trucks.

The drive to my hotel was difficult. I was pulled over because my headlights didn't automatically turn on, and the police told me that the road that I was on has a toll on it. Asking him how to avoid it, I was informed of a path, which made the drive more like a pretzel. I am happy that not many people were on the road; although, I was honked at once because the traffic light was not turning green. I arrived at my hotel about 2 AM.

I also previously made my arrangements for my hotel. I believe that the manager said that they would charge me a weekly rate of 50 dollars a night, but they are charging me 55 dollars. It is interesting that Indian people have ran the hotels that I stay at.

After unpacking my technology, I went to ask if they will have a free breakfast tomorrow, and they said that they quit doing that during the pandemic. I went to buy myself breakfast for Sunday and Monday. I bought myself a couple banana nut muffins and a few bananas.

When I got home, I worked on evolving my Pokémon Milcery. It is a strawberry cheesecake Pokémon, I thought that I had to battle a bakery/cafe owner a few days in a row. This shows my proficiency of speed reading. I actually had to get a sweet item, which you can obtain from battling the bakery/cafe owner. The Milcery needs to hold the item while you spin around in a circle; then, it will evolve after you do a secret dance. I stayed up until about 4 AM to battle the bakery/cafe owner, but I just evolved it a few minutes ago with the secret dance.

My first concern this morning was the quality of the tap water. I drink a few glasses of water early in the mornings. I asked management, if they would drink the tap water, and they said that they would not, giving me a bottle of water.

I served myself the sacrament. Again I need to say the pandemic makes life unique. People usually don't serve themselves the sacrament. Afterward I had breakfast.

I have to edit my journal and podcast today as well as call my father, since it is Father's Day.