Two weeks in, the new job kicks ass. It's cold some days, warm others, and good honest hard work all the time. The first week was spent building a steel structure for a roof to connect some portables to a school out in Kanata, and that only took a few days. As soon as we got that done, we started work on the steel framing for a garage out by Moodie and Fallowfield. It's quite exhilarating to be up on the decking two stories up (3 if you're talking residential stories, which we're not). Most of the decking is done and welded to the joists, and the building looks like something resembling a building rather than a bunch of giant steel sticks all stuck together. The most aggravating part of the job is something really minor and something we can't do much about: The placement of the column mounting points in the foundation aren't always exactly where theyr'e supposed to be, which means that when the girts and beams are made to spec, they don't always fit in practice. Luckily most of the variances in length are minor enough that the columns can be pulled into alignment with spud wrenches (a wrench with a pointed handle designed specifically for the purpose of joining girts/beams/columns together) and a lot of brute force.
I'm sore in places I haven't been sore in a long time, and because I'm up at 5:15 to bus to my boss's place so I can catch a ride to the site(s), I'm exhausted by 10 PM. Quite the change from my old habits of staying up until 2 AM and not working until noon or later. I think I like this better, though. When summer comes around, there will be lots of overtime, and likely 60 hour weeks. The main thing to keep in mind then will be hydration. 35 degree (Celsius) days up on steel decking, with the sun beating down (and reflecting up) on you... Water is very important then. It's not such a concern right now, though I still manage to work up a sweat with a lot of the stuff I do. Besides, running around in snow is much like running around in sand, and just moving quickly can be tiring enough if you're not in shape (which I thankfully still am, for the most part).
I need a car as soon as possible, partly because it means my wages will go up a dollar immediately, and partly because it really sucks having to get up at 5:15 and not arrive at the jobsite until 7:15-7:30... The plan (that I thought about, but am going through with now that my mom has suggested it to me independently) is to talk to my grandparents about it and see if they're willing to help me out. If they are, I might be able to get my hands on a reasonable car that's pretty reliable in the near future. Not sure what I'll get yet, though I'm looking at Honda/Acura and Mazda. Or a truck of some sort. Preferably a Dakota with an extended cab and 4x4 (because no 4x4 means it'll be easy for me to get stuck in some of the jobsites - not all of them have paved parking lots...).
