I found out some pretty cool news at work today. Apparently our company is trying this new 4-10's work schedule, starting at the end of September until the end of the year. Basically, half of the people will work Monday through Thursday, 10 hours each day, and the other half would work Tuesday through Friday. Which means 3 day weekends for everyone. Every weekend. Which sounds pretty good to me.
They're doing it to "improve work-life balance," but it's also part of a company-wide goal to lower their CO2 emissions (less people driving to work = less CO2).
....
I just discovered MGMT, thanks to the trailer for Sexdrive. Yeah, the title is kinda sketchy, but the movie looks really funny. The song playing at the end of the trailer is Time to Pretend by MGMT. Good stuff.
This picture doesn't do the actual scene justice at all, but it still looks kinda cool, I guess. Just ignore the dirty windshield...
What wasn't cool was how the sun was in my eyes for about 2 hours as I was driving... ugh. It did get me thinking though, how fast would I have to drive in order to prevent the sun from ever setting, and if that was even possible. I was going about 80 mph. It wasn't fast enough. But it did seem to take a really long time for the sun to finally fall below the horizon. And as I was trying to capture the moment with my camera, some lyrics came to my mind.
chasing the sun I don't want it to leave 'cause when it does I know what it means you will be gone gone away from me
chasing the sun I don't want it to go when the night comes I don't want to be alone so will you stay will you stay close
to me you are all that I need to be here is all that I need to see you next to me you're all that I need
chasing the sun is bittersweet it's so beautiful but so far out of reach and then it's gone but not for long for tomorrow brings
to me you are all that I need to be here is all that I need to see you next to me you're all that I need you are everything to me
why are You so far away? have I fallen from Your grace? I long to see Your face
enemies on every side I call to You every night do You hear my cries?
oh God of Israel I call to You for help I know You are faithful Your love it will prevail oh God come rescue me Your truth it sets me free
Lord, You are never far away come quickly to my aid oh, You are my strength
Lord, You never turn away even when I go astray You love me all the same
oh God of Israel You hear our cries for help I know You are faithful Your love it will prevail and You will rescue me Your truth it sets me free
oh God, You rescue me You are there for those who seek oh God, I will rejoice I lift my hands and raise my voice singing
oh God of Israel You heard my cries for help Praise to the King of kings You are Lord over everything I will always praise Your name because You rescued me
may Your words be on my tongue may Your breath fill up my lungs may Your love come like a flood until we are overcome
may my eyes seek only You may my mouth speak only truth may my life and all that I do be made brand new
by Your grace we are saved by Your mercy our sins are erased by Your power You conquered the grave and we praise Your name Jesus because You loved us we can do the same
may my hands help those in need may my feet go where you lead may my heart forever beat for only You
by Your grace
we are saved
by Your mercy our sins are erased
by Your power
You conquered the grave
and we praise Your name
Jesus
because You loved us
we can do the same
may Your words be on my tongue
may Your breath fill up my lungs
may Your love come like a flood
we're overcome
So I finished my first week of work. And thanks to my company's summer Alternate Work Schedule, next week I get Friday off! woo! I worked 44 hours this week, so I just have to work 9 hours each day next week... and then a 3 day weekend! With Sister Hazel on Aug. 2nd! It's gonna be sweet.
Anyway, things are going pretty well here, I suppose. It's only been a week, so even though I'm kinda lonely, it hasn't really set in. Hopefully this weekend I can make it to church and meet people and get involved somehow there.
Work isn't too bad so far. The time actually passes surprisingly fast. Maybe it's because they actually gave me something to do. It's not vital work or anything, right now I'm basically revising and compiling these old calculations into one spreadsheet, sounds really boring, but it actually is pretty involved and makes me think, so it's not totally mindless work, which is good.
I also have to take a bunch of training courses and online classes... including electrical theory, heat transfer, fluid flow, mechanical, civil structures, and nuclear physics.... man, I thought I was done with school. Hopefully it won't be too bad.
There's one other new hire in my area, so at least I won't be doing it all alone. He's pretty cool, he's from Puerto Rico and graduated from a college down there. I also found out today that he was pretty involved with his church youth group, actually leading it. And now he's looking for a church here. Unfortunately he's living in Champaign, so it's a bit far from me.
As for the rest of my co-workers... for the most part, everyone else is significantly older than me. It's weird thinking that eventually I will probably be friends with many of them, because I definitely feel like that under any other circumstances, I would not be friends with them. But only because we work together, it's like we're forced to become friends, or else just be a total loner... but I think I'd rather have weird friends than be alone. We'll see though.
Oh, and I'm driving like 80 miles a day. Yeah, you do the math. I also eat out almost every night for dinner. Or rather, get something to go and eat at the apartment. My day consists of waking up at 5-5:20, maybe I'll drink some orange juice, then drive to work... 40 minutes later, I'm at work, and I, uh, work... 8-9 hrs later, I leave... 40 minutes later, I'm back in Bloomington, get something to eat, go back to the apartment, watch tv, go online, shower, then sleep.
Yeah, real exciting. And real tiring. I never really feel fully rested. That's what the weekends are for, I guess.
Ok, well, this is getting pretty long, so I'll just stop. Sorry for such a random post too, I know it doesn't flow very well, I just kinda wrote things down as I thought of them.
