2009 Physical Science Building

In June 2009, my BA sent me to a job at Cornell University. I think he figured I knew the campus so well I didn’t need directions to the job, or the name of the foreman. The trouble with that plan is that there are always multiple construction sites; some with the same contractor. Naturally I went to two wrong ones before stumbling onto the correct one, so that instead of being 30 minutes early, I was 15 minutes late. After parking my car illegally, I walked into the office trailer, and asked for someone who didn’t exist. Luckily Steve S, the GF who was from Rochester was a nice guy and welcomed me, despite the fact he didn’t know I was coming. After establishing the fact that I was in the right place, we drove my car to the parking area which is all the way across campus. I hadn’t been told we were being bussed to the site which is common at Cornell due to the limited parking available there. This was a very interesting building site. They had managed to tuck a building into a space between two other buildings. They managed to meld the two different architectural styles so that when we were done it looked as though this building had been here forever. Being a science building meant there was a lot of process piping in addition to the usual climate control and plumbing systems. Much of the piping was pre-fabbed in the company shop then shipped to us to install. Sometimes that works well, but frequently you have to re-work the piping due to onsite changes. Mostly this job was going well until in October, I was doing a lot of work up on ladders and a bone in my foot dislocated when I came down off a ladder and step on some debris. At first I just asked my foreman to let me work off the ladder to see if the pain would go away but he insisted I see the safety rep. This then led to a trip to urgent care and x-rays which they misread. I was told it was just a sprain and to stay off it for a week. Steve S. let me work light duty building hangers, but after a week every time I went up a ladder I was crying in pain. I finally insisted on going to a chiropractor, took more x-rays and correctly diagnosed the problem. Unfortunately the foot was so inflamed, I had to get cortisone shots so that he could manipulate the foot enough to get the bone back in place. After weeks I was given custom inserts for my boots and my bone seemed to stay in place even while on ladders. To this day, if I am on ladders for too long, my feet ache and I feel very insecure in my footing. The other rotten thing that happened during this time was that a fellow co-worker, a Sister, decided that I was a terrible person for working light duty. She would leave nasty notes, move my tools, and disparage my work. After confirming that my foreman had no issues with me, I confronted her about it, but she basically just denied any wrong doing and walked away. It could have developed into a very hostile work environment, but a family situation took me off the job. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After being on this job for 8 months, but had to leave to help my sister. Her husband had three kinds of cancer and was dying. She had been trying to do it on her own and was totally exhausted. Even though she is a nurse, 24/7 of patient care is too much for anyone. So I flew out to California and spent the next month doing what I could to ease her troubles. Russell and I had always seen eye to eye on most things. He was a warm, caring, passionate man who left us too early. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. But now when something is difficult, I just think, if I could handle Russell’s death I can handle this. When I returned home I hugged my daughters a little tighter. I also found that I wasn’t willing to put up with things that don’t make me happy. Life is too short for bullshit.

2008-2009 Nine Mile and Labor

At the end of 2008 I had one of those times that while I was laid off, I was still incredibly busy. I finished a shutdown just in time to work at Democratic headquarters for Election Day. Finally we had a winning season and had a lot to celebrate. My daughter brought all her politically minded friends down to the Election Night party to await results. What a treat to see their enthusiasm; knowing my daughter was seeing the importance of what I had been consumed by for so many months. I was so busy doing unpaid work and attending conferences, I barely realized I wasn’t being paid for four months. By staying home I was able to really experience my daughter’s final year at home in high school. We visited colleges as she made decisions about her future. I took a step back while she chose between Syracuse University and Emerson College. Both had great stage management programs, but ultimately she opted for the bright lights of Boston. That made me ecstatic knowing I was going to get to visit that fabulous city for at least four years.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In March 2009, I went back up to Nine Mile Point Nuclear Plant in Oswego, NY. As always it is old home week for me returning there. Not only did I go to college there, but I stayed after graduation to work as a veterinary technician at an animal hospital for almost six years. I will always treasure my time with the doctors, but I do like being paid decently, plus the challenge of pipefitting gets in your blood. This Oswego trip my friends had found me a great housing option—a furnished 5 bedroom house that usually held college students. A converted restaurant, it had a huge industrial kitchen, a bar room with a long oak bar complete with bar mirror and glass fronted refrigerator, plus the dining room had been divided into a living area with 4 couches. The dining area boasted a table that could sit 12 with ease. I filled it with my 267 brothers plus one guy out of Buffalo local. We all chipped in money to buy groceries, cable, and phone. After a few days of general nuclear training, I was put on nights doing LLRT (local leak rate testing). This is a procedure in which air pressure is added to one side of a valve. Then the pressure change is recorded on the far side to see if the valve is leaking by in a significant amount. A digital recorder, or black box, is used since the amount allowed is so small. That is the simplified explanation. It can become very complex depending on the system being tested. Because this is such a specialty, I had to undergo more training. We trained for two weeks before the shutdown, but on the day of the shutdown they laid me off! Apparently they had over-hired and laid off 30 people that day. While I had never been so angry, there wasn’t anything to do but pack my bags and go home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All hell had broken loose at the Labor Assembly. I had gone to a Blue Alliance conference in Washington, DC that was a great networking opportunity. It was designed to bring business, environmentalists, labor and government together to discuss green initiatives for the future. As president of the Labor Assembly, I felt this was really an important conference. I also was able to visit our new Congressman whose campaign I had worked on. That was exciting on a personal level. When I returned home, I started up a local committee in Ithaca to continue what I had learned in DC on a local level. At the same time, I was having problems with the AFLCIO organizer who was assigned to assist the Labor Assembly as well as the neighboring labor council. The president of that council and I felt she could use some additional training and some better direction as to her work duties. When push came to shove, she had more support from the delegates and I was asked to resign since I couldn’t work with her cooperatively. At first I was really hurt, but in the long run it was good for me. I was still involved politically, and I had so much more free time. I had been spending over 20 hours a week on Labor Assembly duties. It was time for me to step back and enjoy life with my kids more.