2002 thru 2004 Part 2

The rest of 2003 was very interesting. In the summer, I took a short job at home at the Diesel Plant for Corning Glass. They were installing a new line, so there was lots of new piping to do. When that was finished, I started a Medical Gas Installers class. I figured the more you know the more helpful you are to the contractor; and the more employable. The day before I was supposed to take the exam my BA sent me to Lynchburg, VA for a training/job. This was probably one of the sweetest gigs I ever had. I was being paid for 60 hours weekly plus $100 per diem daily. We were doing some specialized training to replace nuclear workers who were getting close to their dose limits. The area was so beautiful and rich in history. While the rest of the guys were going to the bar and go-cart track, I was exploring the hiking trails and local sites. Thomas Jefferson had a home nearby called Poplar Forest that was fascinating. www.poplarforest.org The only part I didn’t like was the other guy from my home local, Mike F. The first night he had nowhere to stay, so I told him he could have the other bed in my room. I found brand new 1 bedroom efficiencies for $125 weekly. He was so cheap he wanted to share that too, but no way! I don’t share rooms when I am on the same shift. I need my privacy. He decided he was going to be my protector, as if I needed one. He would take tools out of my hands, follow me around when I was talking to the other guys, and just generally be annoying. One day I had a little cold and didn’t feel well, so he told the boss to send me home. I was furious. I told him in no uncertain terms that was unacceptable. I am a professional. It was definitely not up to him to tell anyone anything for me. He then proceeds to tell my BA that I didn’t want to go to another job after that one. I cleared that up right away. In the end, they didn’t need us after all, and I was sent home after two weeks with very fond memories of the area. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I had another shutdown at Toshiba over Christmas, but then nothing until 2004. In the spring of 2004, I was once again sent to Nine Mile Point. This time The G’s had found me a great house to rent. It was a converted bar/restaurant. It had a full commercial kitchen, a huge living/dining area, a bar/bathroom downstairs; five bedrooms and a large bathroom upstairs. I quickly filled it with brothers from my home local. We all chipped in and bought groceries. After in-processing I was put on night shift. Most days I would wake up, make dinner for everyone, then pack some food for myself and head to work. I was being trained to do Leak Rate Testing which involves pressuring one side of a valve, then measuring the pressure difference over a specific time period. It isn’t extremely difficult physically, but you did have to be very precise, learn to read the schematics, and to run the machine properly. Unfortunately they had over hired so I was laid off the day the outage started. I was really mad but there was nothing anyone could do about it. It was just the luck of the draw. In future times it was others that were let go while I stayed. For the next six months, I starved at home; working only two week long shut downs. By the Fall I was desperate, so I took a job in Glen Falls at a paper mill. I have never been so miserable. The conditions were filthy, the air was filled with particulates, and the other workers and boss simply didn’t know what to do with a female fitter. They actually asked me if I knew how to climb a ladder. By the fourth day I was calling my BA begging for another job. He sent me to Oswego to work a shutdown at the Steam Plant. My Foreman, Omar D, was great. At one point he told the other guys to watch me to see how it was done. We were disassembling 48” valves that had bolts holding the tops on that were humongous. The only way to loosen them was to take a wrench prop a hydraulic jack against it using that to turn them. It was all about brain not brawn. I was able to come home after that and finish out the year with two local shutdowns at the Polly-O Cheese factory on Campbell and Borg-Warner in Ithaca. That’s where I met a really good guy, Dave W. who was my foreman. He was very encouraging and even kept me longer than the other fitters on the job. For the past three years, I had worked less than 6 months annually. It was barely enough to pay my bills and I kept running out of medical insurance. I was thinking seriously about changing careers.