The Adventures of Ash and Baby Taco

Day 35 of the shut down. I’ve have tried really hard to remain positive and stay busy but I slacked this past week. Some good news is that I started trying to walk/run 10k steps everyday. So that forces me out of the house. That paired with the gym and a good diet and I have lost 18 lbs.

BabyT is in the shop so I hope to get her back today but I am not sure where he is at with it.

Just ready to get back to work. It’s going to suck trying to play catch up.

 

If you need anything, again just let me know.

Sucks man. Tired of it too and it doesn't even directly affect me in any way.

 

Appreciate it! This is the first time that keeping 6 + months of bills in savings has paid off. We are doing fine, I would just like to get back to doing the work I care so much about. Sitting around the house trying to spend as little as possible has been quite the bore too.

The real stressor right now is our trip to Rome in early feb. If the gov is still shutdown, my approved leave is cancelled and I have to be around to report back the day after it opens. We already spent a lot of money on tickets and hotels so I am dreading the day I have to call my manager and see if there is anything I can do to make that trip happen. We postponed our honeymoon for months due to issues out of our control and I finally said “screw it, I am picking a date and we are going”. I’m not sure Lizzy can handle any more bad news.

 

ouch that really blows.

Hopefully it'll work out. At this point Id just call your boss and say "fuck this Im leaving. Will I still have a job when I come back if I do?" haha hopefully he says yes. Im sure he is pissed too..

 

Unfortunately I really like my office, the people I work with and the work I do. I couldn’t just give it up.

The good news is that Trump finally agreed to reopened the gov! For 3 weeks at least. But that covers our trip to Rome. So I guess I will work for a week, go to Rome and then come back and see if it’s shut down again.

 

haha awesome!

 

What is it that you do? Roughly or specifically. lol

 

Fish Bio with the BLM. To keep it simple I make sure any projects or activities on BLM land (timber sales, grazing, fire, new roads, mining, energy development, recreation, etc) does not impact (or find ways to lessen the impact on) threatened, endangered or BLM sensitive fish. I also do a lot of restoration/reclamation work.

 

@BabyTaco

Buy some lottery tickets!

One would probably be enough.

 

That is awesome. I just graduated last year with an associates in Natural Resources Management but I ended up behind a desk doing GIS work. Not what I had in mind but I actually love it and the benefits are great. Maybe some day I can utilize the natural resources part of my degree. I had an internship in 2017 with the NPS at Chatahoochee River National Recreation Area doing exotic plant work. Also not what I had in mind, because I typically fall on the more chem free side of things but that was pretty cool.

I looked into BLM, NPS, NFS, NRCS type jobs and most if not all required a bachelors or 5 years experience and the market is stiff and requires you to move every so often to advance. Same with State agencies. I wish I were out west, it seems like the job fields for natural resources are much broader than here in SC. It is a dead zone for anything within an hour of me...

 

I am actually considering pursuing an online masters in GIS/remote sensing since I still have some of my GI Bill left.

It’s a super tough field to break into. I am very fortunate to have found and landed this job with a bachelors and limited experience. My wife has a masters in wildlife and is struggling to land a permanent position. Lots of seasonal work though. I wish I was in a better position to move every 6 months because I think I would love rocking the tech life for a few years.

 

Got the truck back. Same issue with the chain. He pointed out that I had tons of blow by and said I for sure got screwed on the rebuild. Gonna drive it till it dies and then get a new engine put in. Fuck man.

 

Damn. Can you get any of it tossed back at the shop that screwed you?

 

That sucks. He couldn't fix it?

V6 swap!

 

Not sure, but with the shop being in Laramie and me in Idaho, I would imagine that would cost a pretty penny. They wouldn’t do it willingly.

 

Who knows what will happen. I had the truck for a year before it broke last time. Lots of time save and make a plan.

 

But that guy couldn't fix it? Sounds like new piston rings or something?

 

He suggests, for the cost and the effort, just pulling an engine and starting over. There is no telling what was done right or wrong and I would just be in for another full rebuild. At this point I would love nothing more than to toss it in the trash and move on. Well, I may keep it and take it apart myself to see if I can’t learn a few things.

 

Gotcha.

Well bummer.

 

I’m optimistic about it. It’s been a rough few years with the truck but things could be worse. It ran for a year last time and we beefed up the bolt that failed, put a ton of loctite on it, and welded the timing cover. Let’s see if I can get another year or two out of it haha. I will say this, the truck has never quit on me. I never had to get it towed (other than the time I was hit from the side).

I’m lucky to be coming into a more comfortable spot in life where I am not bleeding money every month (knock on wood). Lizzy and I both decided to not let 2019 play out like 2017 and 2018 did. This year is about enjoying life. As we all say, shit’ll buff out.