End of an Era

End of an era

Sorry for the long silence, excitement has been plentiful but sadly it was not the excitement of open horizons and wonderful friends.  Quite a bit has changed in the last couple months, and it all started with a Monday morning surprise meeting on the wind farm where management informed us that AES was leaving Wyoming and selling the contract to another wind company in a month.  Now getting laid off on a Monday makes for a shitty day, especially when you have 30 friends and coworkers who suddenly became your competition for a job that may not even exist for you anymore.  Needless to say morale on the hill was about as low as a pile of cow shit and managed to get lower as the “Transaction” (ie, the end of our job) date got pushed out farther and farther.  For 3 months all of us showed up for work not knowing if we would actually have a job that day.  As I was the newest wind tech it was initially said that I would not even be offered an opportunity to interview with the new company…  

I had to laugh at the thought of all the work and effort I had put into rejoining a civilized society that apparently wanted nothing to do with me.  I gave up Africa and lived in a horse trailer for 4 months so I could work in an industry I believed in just to have it all crash down on my ass.   It was only aggravated by seeing the wonderful pictures and hearing the epic tales from my friends still living the dream. 

It all accumulated in one horrid week.  Management had cut all the budgets they could limiting our pay, my car used a gallon of antifreeze in 5 days (leaking into the transmission even) and the summer had ended with snow locking out my mountain sanctuary into which I retreated for solitude.   Behind every problem was the thought that I had given up the horizons of the world for a broke down car and a job working for a company that viewed me as an minor expendable asset, a mere number buried under pages and pages of larger corporate concerns.  I was seriously wondering if I had molested a pope in a previous life and royally pissed off fate/karma/heaven.

Then one week it turned around, not completely, but after months of getting worse and worse some good luck finally came my way.   I heard of a job opening on another wind farm about 30 miles farther out, newer company and newer turbine, and was surprised by an immediate return call and interview offer.  I met with Seth and had the best interview of my life.  After months of working in a horrid environment with low morale I was surprised by his drive and will to accomplish something.  We shook hands and I received an offer letter a week later.  I literally signed on and gave my two weeks to my boss the day after my old company finally decided to hire me on full time (although they would still lay me off any day…).  

That being settled I rattled the old car into town one last time and bought a shiny new red pickup.  All the used cars I found were over priced and I really liked the thought of having a warranty for the next 6 years.  And it’s pretty :).   And so I have been driving my new pickup to my new job and have really enjoyed the reliability of both.  Work has been great, I haven’t laughed so hard at work since an eventful night in Atlantic City, NJ 4 years ago.  And the newer turbines truly showcase how far the technology has come in 15 years while the new company is awesome in the fact it has superb training and is willing to invest in me as an employee. 

And to cut the last tie to my wandering life, despite the silent protest of my camera and backpack, I signed a lease today.  Luckily I found a 6-month one; I still feel that a full year lease is too big of a commitment, especially with the cold wintery weather coming down off the mountains.  Last Monday it was 136 degrees warmer in Cairns, Queensland than it was where I now live…  Needless to say I have some misgivings to settling down and leading a normal life.  Despite the luxuries of civilization, hardly a day goes by where I don’t wish I wasn’t off swimming with sharks.