Priorities

A couple of weeks ago the lab renovation job wrapped up and along with that came reassignments and lay-offs. If you're aware of the current economic situation in the US of A then you may have heard that construction is grinding to a halt all across the land. Yup, here too. With the seasonal slowing and the financial woes there's not too many job sites going at present here in Local #159. As a 4th year apprentice I'm waiting on a different roster than the Journeymen, but it may be 4-8 more weeks before I get a call for work compared to the Journeymen's wait of at least a year. When I started my apprenticeship 4 years ago there were ~20 guys "sitting on the book" and all the apprentices were working. Most of those 20 were "hall trash" or rather they were guys who didn't want to work(lazy), couldn't work(injured/medical issue) or had pissed off enough contractors nobody wanted them it they were that last electricians on earth. We were even hiring off of "Book 2", guys from outside our local, as recently as 18 months ago. Now we've got 160 journeymen(JW's) and over 20 of the 100 apprentices unemployed. When more than a handfull of apprentices are sitting that should be an economic alarm. Apprentices are cheaper labor than JW's. A 1st year gets 45% of the JW rate, 2nd year 55%, 4th year 75% etc.. so when your cheap labor pool is sitting, well, it's not good.

So...

I promised myself I'd finish ALL the home improvements before spending significant time on the bike.

Those projects as of today are:

1-Bathroom remodel. I have to cut in the hall closet, tile the shower, install radiant heat flooring & tile and paint. Then I can install the Vanity, toilet and light fixtures and doors(prehung).

2- Repair kitchen water damage in ceiling from bathroom. Almost done there, just a couple more layers of mud on the new drywall, then paint.


3- Living Room. Once Karen selects a paint for the living room I can get that done. The entertainment center needs a stand-alone piece of furniture so I'll have to make that.



4-Basement Bathroom- Build a shelf and drywall around the plumbing next to the toilet.


5- Dining room ceiling- Repair water damage in plaster from bathroom.


6- Basement stairs- After replacing the the door I just have the trim to install and paint. Plus some trim around the window would be nice.


All that work means I won't be training as much. I'll still do some of the remaining 'cross races, but I expect to have more pictures of a fat guy racing appear. Like these...



Props to DJonnyMac for the artistic expression photos. I did actually ride the bike, I might have been moving too fast for that though...