My supervisor, Aki, called me into his office the other day and asked if I would move locations and take over responsibilities for someone they would be "letting go" (he ended up quitting first).
I'm now typing from a new desk in the company warehouse in North Orem. I still have the same basic responsibilities as I had before, but now I'm learning some of the warehouse functions and I'll be doing more work dealing with the receiving/shipping aspect of things.
I think this is ultimately a good move. It will give me the chance to do real full-time work and give me more experience in different aspects of the company. I'm not working in the main office anymore but I'll still drop by a couple of times a week and they guys there still need me to do some things no one else knows how to do.
I'm working with a couple of interesting characters. Bob is the de facto "manager" of the warehouse and the idea is for me to basically learn all of his responsibilities. He seems to have some mild ADD, though. I've never seen the guy sit still for more than about five seconds at a time. He sits at his desk with music playing and is always making some kind of noise.
There's some older woman named Gloria who works here as well. Apparently she's been a warehouse worker for more than a year and does most of the manual labor with the packages. She has been showing me the system for receiving and shipping. Gloria is the type of person that makes me tired within about five minutes of talking to her. She speaks with a voice moderately above a whisper, very slowly, and it's painful watching her work. She'll show me something that theoretically is supposed to be complex (like how to measure the cubic inch volume of a box and divide it by 166), but then spend the next five minutes showing me how to accomplish such a task at an excruciatingly slow pace.
Apparently Gloria wanted to take over for the guy who got fired/quit and learn the managerial responsibilities. Bob told Aki that he didn't trust her enough because anytime she starts doing things with the computer she completely messes it up and causes him more work.
So, this is probably where I'll be for the next year or so. I'm trying to determine exactly what my job title is. I think it's something along the lines of Account/Logistics Manager. I have to talk to Aki about getting company benefits, and I'll probably ask for a raise since I've been here more than a year now.
Assuming those things fall into place I'll be happy to stay here for a little while after graduation. It offers me the scheduling freedom I need to fully pursue my refereeing career this winter, and also do some newspaper work on the side if I need to.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Off the Grid
The last two weekends I spent "out in the sticks" so to speak. Last week I spent Thursday through late Saturday night at our big family reunion up Spanish Fork canyon, and the weekend before that Annette and I were at a cabin near Cedar City with a friend and her husband.
Neither of these places had any cell phone coverage and, although they're not exactly isolated, it's a significant change of pace from even the hamlet of Utah County. I think the division between places with and without cell phone coverage is significant in our modern society.
Both weekends were really fun. I like all the camping, swimming, and hiking in appropriate doses, but it's also interesting to notice how seldom I checked to see what time it was, worried about being late for something, or thought about what time I needed to wake up in the morning.
When you're out in the sticks, you go to sleep when you're tired, wake up when it's too light outside to sleep anymore, eat when you feel like it's time to eat, and go about the day at your own pace without worrying about matching everybody else's.
In his book "In the Eye of the Storm," John Groberg talked about being a missionary in Tonga and what the tiny island he was on called "boat days." This is when a ship would arrive periodically with news, mail, etc. Those days were big events and he described how it was a community experience with everyone sharing the joys and sorrows of the news and letters they received together.
Later in the book he talked about going back home to California and being impressed with the incredible hurry everyone seemed to be in. Groberg commented that perhaps heaven would be more like "boat days" back on his remote island than the frantic world we spend most of our time in.
I imagine there is no need for cell phones in the life beyond, but I also wonder if the times we spend out in the mountains with family and friends, unmolested by 24-hour news networks, voicemails, supervisors, and the unyielding demands of schedules are more a reflection of the society we'll have in heaven.
Neither of these places had any cell phone coverage and, although they're not exactly isolated, it's a significant change of pace from even the hamlet of Utah County. I think the division between places with and without cell phone coverage is significant in our modern society.
Both weekends were really fun. I like all the camping, swimming, and hiking in appropriate doses, but it's also interesting to notice how seldom I checked to see what time it was, worried about being late for something, or thought about what time I needed to wake up in the morning.
When you're out in the sticks, you go to sleep when you're tired, wake up when it's too light outside to sleep anymore, eat when you feel like it's time to eat, and go about the day at your own pace without worrying about matching everybody else's.
In his book "In the Eye of the Storm," John Groberg talked about being a missionary in Tonga and what the tiny island he was on called "boat days." This is when a ship would arrive periodically with news, mail, etc. Those days were big events and he described how it was a community experience with everyone sharing the joys and sorrows of the news and letters they received together.
Later in the book he talked about going back home to California and being impressed with the incredible hurry everyone seemed to be in. Groberg commented that perhaps heaven would be more like "boat days" back on his remote island than the frantic world we spend most of our time in.
I imagine there is no need for cell phones in the life beyond, but I also wonder if the times we spend out in the mountains with family and friends, unmolested by 24-hour news networks, voicemails, supervisors, and the unyielding demands of schedules are more a reflection of the society we'll have in heaven.
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