Dave80C3

I do like snow. I just do not like living in it, or around it or shoveling it. I try to go up to MI once each winter when they have good snow, to do some snowmobiling with my brothers. About a week of snow is more than enough for me. I do understand the lake effect. My brother near Grand Haven MI has to deal with that. He gets twice as much snow or more as my dad does in the center of the state. Upper Peninsula of MI also does a big snowmobile business, several thousand miles of trail up there. I sure did not realize that up state New York had a big snowmobile business. I will agree with snow being pretty harmless compared to many weather types. Hurricanes are the big reason I moved off the Coast when I retired from the Navy. I was in Charleston SC for Hugo. I was in Jacksonville FL for Floyd. I hate those storms. Where I am at in TN, in 17 years we have had one tornado with in 50 miles of me. They do get some flooding, but it does not affect me, as the lake /river I am on is damned and the top of the Damn is 755 feet above sea level. My basement is 802 feet above sea level. With my boat raised all the way up on the lift the keel is 754 feet above sea level, so it can not even push my boat off my lift. Most on the lake if a flood comes, they have to get their boat off the lift, or it will go into the roof of the dock. Not mine.

The best think about working of LA, is the Cajun food! I still get told I have a mid west accent.

No doubt the guy driving was young or inexperienced. For the life of me I can not understand why they would use a Car GPS. They make very good ones for OTR drivers. Heck they even make special ones for those in RV's. With the over 24K miles a year on a motorcycle and my 625 mile drive one way to work, I see trucks doing some dumb things. Two companies seem to be the worst, J.B. Hunt and Swift. This year I have been run off the road twice by J.B. Hunt. Driver came right over on me while I was passing both time, once on a motorcycle, and once in my truck. I have a CB on my Motorcycle, so I let him know exactly what he did. A bunch of other drivers gave him a hard time about it. I know there is a very big shortage of drivers, especially ones with any experience. Not to long ago, OTR drivers were very professional, and very good drivers. Today they are about as rude as car drivers, and many have zero professionalism. I was stuck behind a Swift truck in the left lane for 15 plus miles while he tried to pass another truck. Other driver were on the CB telling him to move over, but he just camped in the left lane. I am sure all the rookie drivers are a big boom for the recovery business. I sure see a lot more trucks wrecked now than I did 5 or 10 years ago.

LuckyGuy

Actually Lake Ontario is smaller than Lake Erie

Slynky

Having retired from 42 years in the computer arena, I can honestly say I've never thought about oil platforms and their automation. LOL After reading about it, it sure seems like an important job and one that comes with a bit of stress. I hear workers on the platforms go out and stay for extended periods of time and, as such, receive pretty good pay.

Dave80C3

Most of us in Deep Water, assigned to drilling companies work 21 days on then 21 days off in the Gulf of Mexico. Overseas its usually 28 days on and 28 days off. Some times its 25 on and 35 off but not many do that. I'm on 21 rotation which is great. The 21 days I am at work, its 12 to 13 hours of work every day. That said, they cook my meals, they clean my room, make my bed, and do my laundry.

On the Drillship it can get stressful. You figure the Oil company pays a day rate of around 450,000 a day for the rig to be drilling. We get 30 minutes of maintenance time a day figured in that. So, if the Top drive breaks, for an hour, my company just lost 19,000 dollars. Most all the equipment on the drill floor is automated now days, the Drawworks, the Iron Roughneck, the Pipe Racker, the Pipe skate, and the top drive are automated, and must all work together. Then you also have to worry about drift off. The ship does not anchor, but rather use Dynamic Positioning to stay directly above the well. DP is 100% automated. Any of that breaks, and we get more than 50 feet or so off center, we have to EDS, which is Emergency Disconnect from the well. If the ship does an EDS, you can figure best case, 5 days before we get back to the same position we were in, so that's at least a 2.25 million dollar loss for the company. I'm the guy responsible for the maintenance of all this equipment. I have four who work for me maintaining it. The only way to get my job is to excel at their job. Most the time, the stress is not bad. A couple hours of down time, and they do not get real up set, a day of down time is another story.

Usually failures are not maintenance fault. Its usually an operator error that broke the equipment, which is why its not usually stressful for me. I honestly love my job.

TKgs2010

My bad, but Ontario is deeper and doesn't freeze, at least not on the east end. I stand corrected.

TKgs2010

Like I said, my shoveling is limited, I have my big Garden Tractor with 48" blower to do my dirty work, all I shovel is the brick sidewalk and steps. My favorite winter sport is driving to the Airport to get on a plane heading someplace warm and sunny, other than that I do have Season tickets to Syracuse University Basketball, so that keeps winter more interesting. That said, from years working out in every kind of weather you can imagine, the snow doesn't really bother me, but I'm not a huge fan of it, I'd much rather see 80 degrees and sun.

You'd be surprised how many of these rookies use car GPS, I guess it may be the fact that a good Truck GPS costs about double what a car unit costs, but it's a small investment to avoid issues like posted roads, low bridges and such. JB and Swift are definitely guilty of using minimally trained newbies, but they're not the only ones, the shortage of qualified drivers is not good, so they put pretty much anybody in the seat. They're lucky I don't do their driver evaluations, because there would be a lot of parked trucks, some of these guys are HORRIBLE. The reason for the blocking of lanes is some companies governed trucks. You'll see a pair of trucks side by side for miles, the driver in the left lane got tired of looking at the other guy's back doors for the last 50 miles and the guy in the right lane doesn't want too look at the other guy's for the next 50 miles. So, there they sit till the next grade, the guy that climbs the hill best gets in front. I like to call governed trucks the idiots way of saving fuel, in theory the slower you go, the less fuel you use, but there are other ways to get better fuel mileage and still run with traffic. If you spec and gear the truck properly you can still get good speed and have some in reserve, while getting good mileage. It makes no sense to govern a truck to 60mph when most Interstates are at 65-70mph speed limit, and traffic flows at 70-75mph, the trucks become rolling roadblocks and safety hazards. There are still a lot of good drivers out there, it's just getting harder to find them these days.

Dave80C3

I do understand you have the right equipment for dealing with snow. I understand the going South in the winter. We will be going to the airport in Dec to fly to Miami to catch a cruise ship farther south. Then I work most of January, in the South. First week of February its off to Phrump NV for the driving School and then Las Vegas for four nights. End of March we are thinking of Key West for a week. I'll probably go up to MI right after the cruise to see my dad for Christmas. I did more than my fair share of working in the Cold in the USN, North Atlantic in January is beyond cold.

With what an OTR diver earns, 400~600 for a Good Truck GPS is not much, and would save them lots of head aches. I know there are other companies using the rookie drivers fresh out of training. It just seems like those two are most prevalent or noticeable due to the shear number of them on the road, and their comical mistakes. I am sure they are lucky you do not do their evaluations. I some times wonder if anyone has evaluated them. I do understand some of it is governed trucks, and that is partly to companies fault, but the driver needs to take some blame when they have 20 plus cars pilled up behind them, and nothing in front of them. I fully agree with a properly speced truck, driving with traffic can get good fuel economy. I figured that out in the days when I pulled travel trailers with the family and kids. A truck near its limits for GCWR didn't get as good a mpg as a truck at 3/4 of its GCWR did. And the truck at 3/4 its GCWR was easier to pull with, and climbed grades better. I do know there are good OTR drivers out there. I know a few OTR drivers, one has been driving 37 years now, and never a wreck. He talks about the lack of experience out on the road all the time. He also talks about how much worse car drivers are today, then just ten years ago.

TKgs2010

We've been doing a lot of flying lately, but unfortunately most has not been for pleasure. My parents are in North Carolina and in January my mom died, then 4 weeks later my dad died, my mom was not well, but dad was completely unexpected. My brother lives ear them in Winston-Salem, and the logistics of things has been a mess, with getting their house cleared and sold, and then dealing with the Estate, which they left to each other with my brother and myself listed as Co- Executors, and a lot of things have to be signed and witnessed in North Carolina, so since January we've done 9 trips down there, so those JetBlue miles are piling up. They left a sizeable Estate, but I wish they had spent some on themselves, more travel, etc, but dad paid cash for everything and they lived well, but still pretty frugally. But, as of now pretty much all the Estate work is done, so the waiting game begins, I'm told likely mid 2019 before it closes out, and we make another trip there. The good thing, is that our cruise is coming up in 3 weeks, then in January we're going to Florida for the Daytona 24 Hours, then again to Florida in March for the Sebring 12 Hours race, so at least 3 breaks from the lousy weather.

Depending on the company, most of the new heavy trucks have the option of truck specific NAV as a factory option, large fleets likely won't spend the $$$, but smaller fleets or the really deep pockets fleets will. It's pretty sad though, some of these younger guys are stuck on stupid, and they're just plain lazy and irresponsible, probably why a lot of them have had 5 or 6 jobs in a couple years. I would hate to be an HR guy dealing with these assclowns on a daily basis, just makes you want to find a wall to bang your head on. My company had a lot of higher-ups that had no clue how to get things done, much less spec'ing out heavy trucks, but fortunately I was the guy that set the specs, so if I convinced them an option was for safety or productivity benefit, I could pretty much order whatever I wanted, welcome to the candy store. I think it is always better to over-spec, the key thing is to not be operating at the limit, but to find the sweet spot and not stress the machinery, better economy and fewer trips to the shop. In the trucking business the old saying goes "if the wheels ain't turning, the truck ain't earning" and that's true, downtime costs $$$.

Dave80C3

I am very sorry for your loss. I can't imagine loosing both parents that close together. I can only imagine the difficulties of being an executor of the Estate and living so far away. There is a lot to do and take care of. That is a lot of trips down to NC. That is a long wait for it to settled with all the paper work being already completed. I do under stand your wishing they had spent some of the Estate. About 15 years ago, for Christmas I bought my dad a plate for the front of their Motor Home which said "Spending our children's inheritance". He took it wrong at first, he thought I was upset he and mom were traveling a lot. Once I explained I hoped he had enough money to do what ever he wanted to do, and spend every bit of it. Just leave us enough to have the Funeral. My two brothers and I always knew dad would go first. He had had a heart attack at 45, then at 55 five by-pass surgery and at 62 a couple stints, and mom had never been in the hospital. 2 years ago, mom went in the hospital, she had lost most her muscle control over night. She spent a week in the hospital, then six days in Hospice before she passed. Luckily Dad is doing well, Turned 80 the end of Sept. Took us a year to convince him he could still travel with out Mom.

That is sad that the companies will not Spec a truck with Nav, especially if they are going to put new or inexperienced drivers in them. I guess with some of these younger guys, its the same in many industries, stuck on Stupid and lazy with Frequent job changes. HR does have it difficult now days. Not only the clowns they have to deal with, but the resume's these people submit, that its obvious its filled with bull crap. I have also wondered how people get to be the higher ups, that have no clue on what is needed to operate day to day, or how to get the job done. Seems Safety aspect is key to getting what you want now days in any industry. This sure makes sense "if the wheels ain't turning, the truck ain't earning" and down time does cost lots of $$$.

As a Maintenance Supervisor before I went off shore. Plant manager would more than once ask why my guys were sitting in the office looking at books. I would always ask " Would you rather they be out working on a line that is broke down? If they are looking at manuals in the office, the lines are making money, if they are on the floor working on a line or lines, your loosing money" Same thing out here off shore. If we are working on equipment, they are loosing about $18,000.00 an hour.

TKgs2010

Thank you for the thoughts. My mom had several issues, Lupus being the most serious, and it caused Kidney failure resulting in her death. At the time of their deaths they had already decided to move out of their home in a Golf Community and into a Senior Living Facility, and my brother and I had cleaned out their house, put in on the market and sold it. When mom died, we were there for the funeral and dad seemed OK, but even though he was a bit rough around the edges, we could tell he was missing mom, they had been married over 60 years, and I really felt bad for him, he was hurting. But the visit was a good one, I just never thought it would be the last time we ever talked with him, but he did share a lot of personal things that he'd never shared with us before. My mom had a DNR, but we never could convince dad to sign one, but a few weeks after mom died, he had a bad fall. It seems that when he fell, his head struck a table and at that point the on-site Registered Nurse called my brother and said he seemed OK, just a couple bruises, but when my brother called to tell me what had happened, I didn't like the sound of it and told him to get dad to the Hospital and have him checked out, turned out he had 3 broken vertebrae in his neck and quickly deteriorated in condition. Not having the DNR, he was put on a ventilator and a couple days later my brother got me on a 3 way call with the Doctor treating dad and he explained that there was no positive outcome to his condition, so the choice was left to my brother and I to turn off the ventilator. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, not a decision that should be left to a family member.

The specs are usually all about the $$$, but properly spec'ing a truck can actually save money in the long term, especially in a large fleet. I was fortunate to work for a large Telcom with basically unlimited resources once I was able to navigate through all the moronic upper level idiots. In a business like trucking or something like the oil industry, it's my feeling that people should move up the ladder, learning the job from the bottom up, thus getting a much better understanding of how things need to be done. Too many companies today just get some "plug and play" Einstein wannabe and put them in a job they know nothing about, and those under them will have absolutely no respect for them, and the productivity will take a drop. Few and far between are the ones that understand they're in the deep end and ask for help from those who actually do the job, but those are the good ones. As a Supervisor, I had a reputation as a bit of a loose cannon in my relationship with some of the upper level, but they could not dispute that I always got the job done one way or the other, so they pretty much left me alone, probably thinking that was the lesser of evils. Bottom line was I never did care what they thought of me, I was just focused on getting things done, and my crew supported me 100% because they all knew I'd always back them up no matter what, and if they had a problem they could always come to me. I'm actually amazed at how some of these younger guys come to a job interview, they're sloppy, most times late, have no command of the English language and basically try to avoid any job that may actually require some physical exertion on their part. They lie on resumes, and don't understand when they are told they will be subject to random drug testing. Great group, those millennials.

Perf n Restore

4 & 5 February at Spring Mountain ???

Could we PLEASE get back to the original post.
Please take your personal stories off-line.

Thanks

Dave80C3

Sorry to hear that the Lupus caused the kidney failure. I guess it was good they knew they needed to move to assisted living and had done so prior to death. I can only imagine how hard it would be to loose some one after more than 60 years of marriage. My parents were married 55 years when mom passed, Dad took it very Hard the first year. That really means something when you last visit was a good one. We never plan on it being our last visit. I was the last relative to see my Grand Mother, my dad's mom alive, and it was unplanned. My wife and I along with 4 other couples were on motorcycles riding to Key West FL. It was about 11:00 am going by the exit for my Grandmothers house, So my wife and I pealed off that exit, letting friends know we would meet them in Fort Myers at the hotel. Called Grandma from the exit, asked if she would like us to take her to lunch. She thought we were joking until I said I'll be at your house in 15 minutes. Spent a great two hours with her. She passed of a massive stroke three days later, the day before her 91st birthday.

It is really amazing the amount of damage a simple fall can do some times. You just do not realize how much damage it could do. Sorry he deteriorated so quickly. DNR is a big thing, My both my parents had it, dad still does. I am so very glad for that, as I would hate to be in your shoes and have to make that decision. I hate the idea of that decision so much, that 10 years ago when my wife became an avid motorcycle rider like me, I talked her into having a DNR, which I also have. Do not want our children to have that burden. It was difficult to convince my wife to do a DNR. 10 years Earlier she was very mad at me for doing a DNR.

In the past ten years we have been noticing the big change in management in the oil drilling. Use to be all upper management especially Rig Managers, Operations Managers and Contract Managers and come from the rigs, and worked their way up to management jobs. Then they started Fast Tracking College engineer graduates. They spend 3 months on the rig, learning it. Then they become the Rig Manager, telling the Offshore Installation Manager how to run his rig. The OIM usually has 25 plus years working his way up from the bottom. About the second or third stupid the the Rig Manager tells the OIM to do, there is zero respect. Then the VP comes out to the rig to figure out, why a rig that had been a high performer for 10 years is suddenly under performing and having increased down time. We have the paper work, and records to show why, the parts requests unfilled because the Rig Manager thinks we do not need it. So that rig manager is moved, and we get a new one, with no experience. Makes no sense they keep repeating this. When for years, the good OIM got promoted to Rig Manger, not some 24 year old college kid that knows nothing about drilling, heavy equipment or supervising people. From what you have said, seems like many industries are going that way.

If you take care of your crew and have their back, they will support you 100%. To many today, will not stand up to management. They will also let management walk on their crew. I agree on these kids who show up for interviews, late, not well dressed, and not prepared. I have only ever hired one guy who showed up late, and I got in a huge argument with my manager over that. This young man applied every six months for 2 years for the position he wanted, an automation technician. He was working 3rd shift at another plant. He called me and said "We have a major break down on a line at work, I need to fix it before I leave. Can I please reschedule for tomorrow" So I interviewed him the next day, he was what I wanted. Plus I figured a man willing to risk the job he really wants, because where he is working has a break down. He wants to quit that place but still takes care of them. I got him hired, and he is now a maintenance supervisor there.

TKgs2010

Roger that, sorry to bother you.

Dave80C3

Why thank you for your only post on the thread I started. Sorry to bother you.