Suffering For My Art

Well, Craft...

I paid the price last night, alright! One hour of Nap Time does not a full night's sleep make. (Sometimes I think I'll never learn)

So here's how it all shook out...

As I trudged up the Shop Road I heard my guys exclaim: "Dave's here!" Strange I thought, I'm supposed to be here... as it turns out, the Boss gave me the night off...and forgot to let me know!

Cool I thought...my suffering will be at the DaveCave, fighting to stay awake while working on my music collection project! Swing Shift was still on the Mountain, so the Graveyard Crew chewed the fat while waiting...looking at the Situation Board, I noticed two of our cats were already down.

Swing Shift started arriving at the Fuel Dock, and they trickled in...every one of them looking crestfallen and stressed...Not Good...

As they spun their tales of woe, I reconsidered my plan to take the night off. My cat was on the Board as down, and I quizzed the operator who downed it. Same tiller electrical problem that's been plaguing her for the past two weeks.

The other cat on the Board had a life-threatening hydraulic leak at the stinger, and the Graveyard Mechanic was enjoying his weekend...so my fate was seemingly sealed...

OK, Spring wasn't false today, the Hero Snow had morphed into Swing Goo/Grave Porcelain...I had to stay...the Guys were starting way out in the weeds, I have the patience to keep ahead of the electrical gremlins with my tiller, and the crew needed me to edit the Work Orders into something realistic...and attainable. (Let me say here that my Boss is still in training...he means well, but there's no substitute for experience) The Work Orders were of the "Most Optimistic Ever" variety, and the Swing Guys let the Orders psych them a little too much...

I did a little mental inventory, and found a cat for everyone...provided I was in my BR350. I made a mental deal with myself...I'll run her long enough to get the Guys onto a positive plane, do all the leftover Special Projects, finish the Ramp Work, edit the Orders, and when I can't keep the eyes online...I'll call it a night...and the Sow's Ear will be as close to Silk Purse territory as possible.

So confident was I of my Plan, that I left my lunchbox and backpack in the Locker Room, and armed with my trusty iPod and MiniMag flashlight, rumbled off into the night. It took reality just twenty minutes to disabuse me of said Plan...and I returned to the Shop, fetched my stuff, refueled my steed, and got down to business.

The Psych had been in full effect apparently...more than an hour of details didn't get taken care of by swing...so I did 'em, and edited some more.

About an hour and a half in, my tiller quit. Less than five minutes of fiddling with the wiring, and she was good to go, and the problem was diagnosed a little more finely. It didn't even hiccup the rest of the night.

Now my real fight began...my eyes wanted to close so badly! I was almost delirious, and the hard snow wasn't helping...grinding along the Flats at Full Slow Ahead is the textbook definition of Highway Hypnosis...I was doomed...once the nodding off began in earnest, I pulled up and took a 15 minute cat nap. That did the trick...for about 30 minutes...then I handed off the Great Wide Open of the Flats and went to some North Facing Tree Trails for relief...not much there either...

About 0330, one of the BR275 utility cats gave up...auxiliary hydraulic leak...an hour later back-up cat number two goes down...coolant leak with overheating. More editing...

I caught a little relief when the pre-dawn color began to silhouette the trees, and we ended the show on time, and without further drama.

The edits of the Work Orders tallied out to about 25 percent of the list...just reality...I told the Boss to use the results to keep making the case for leasing our fleet to the Big Boss.

I had enough life left in me, that I did some grocery shopping on my way home. I got a full day's sleep today too!