Official Tennessee Thread

I don't know haha

 

Hey guys I know some of you know me and have met me. But I'm trying to get advice from some people on my job. I'll leave you this letter I wrote a good friend and mentor of mine.

I find myself needing guidance and advice on issues that I'm having trouble figuring out.

Since being in North Dakota I have been in the field 33/40 days. I've slept in truck seats and occasionally the back sleeper of a semi truck if I'm lucky. I've had to work jobs where I have been awake 62 hours straight and have now hallucinated because of lack of sleep twice. I was told this is as bad as they have ever worked a new hire engineer.

I miss my family and miss my wife, Haley incredibly. I have almost no time to hang out with anybody seeing as how I'm in the field so often. I haven't had off time to even go to church even though it meets on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

I have broken down and cried more up here than I have ever in my life. The exhaustion and loneliness seeds that the devil plants are so hard on me right now.

Because of these things I worry that I am not making the best decision for my family. I know that we have to make sacrifices for our family to make ends meet and sometimes have to work long hours and hard jobs to get ahead and life. But at what point do these sacrifices become to overpowering. I don't what to be a slave to work, for it to be almost a second wife if you will but I feel like that's happening.

I was told I have to put in about two years up here and then they will move me to Denver assuming the field stays as active as it is right now.

So that's the background I guess you could say and now here is my dilemma.

I'm not sure what to do anymore. I want this job for the benefits it can provide my family but with what's happening to me I can't decide if it's God telling me that this isn't his plan for me or if it's the enemy trying to corrupt me and my wife.

My other issue is that I want Haley to move up here but with me gone from the house so much I wonder how smart that decision is. I don't want her to feel the pain and loneliness that I do. I would give up everything that I have to keep her from feeling this way. I know that in Memphis I would be able to fly home as I work a 15 on 6 days off schedule to see her. At least if she stayed in Memphis she would have family and friends surrounding her so that she is not alone. But I also worry this could hurt our marriage.

Any advice or prayers are appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian Bullock

 

It's street friendly. It has a design that incorporates a center piece and 2 outer pieces. All the pieces have teeth on them that either lock them together or release them and free spin. With none to very little torque applied, the pieces won't come together and just free spin, thus creating an "open diff". With any significant amount of torque applied, they come together and the teeth lock in place, thus giving you a full locker. When turning, the inside wheel spins less rotations then the outside wheel so when the locker is locked, to compensate for the different wheel speeds, those outer pieces separate momentarily and duplicate that motion until the wheels are spinning together again. Thus creating a ratcheting effect from locking and unlocking the teeth rapidly

 

That's really rough. I'll be praying for you man.

 

Does anyone in the Nashville area know anything about hooking up a sub and amp that may want to help/teach me to do it?

 

God dam man! I wish i knew what to do for ya... Is your marriage rocky? Or stable? Or what? I think you need to sit down with your wife either in person or on the phone and have a serious conversation with her on either changing her life or changing yours man.

My relationship is awesome. We haven't been married long but we have been together for four years and living together for three. Shockingly my wife has been my rock and been so awesome through all this. I am the one that is having the issues.

Things to consider...

How much does your job pay a year?
<100k, and the promise of over 250k in six years. In addition my company offers some of the best benefits in the country. I pay $60 a month for full coverage, no co-pay, dental, health, eye doctor and life insurance. I pay $7.00 for a three months supply of any prescription generic or not. They also have an unlimited amount of money they will spend on me at any health care place in the country so if heaven forbid I got cancer or something I could spend millions at the best hospitals in the country and the most I would pay out of pocket is $5000.

How will you make that same amount if money or even more in a different job type? I will probably never make the kind of money that I am now in any other job for at least twenty years.

How will you find another job? Looking now. I can get an internship from my step-dads company if I decide to leave.

What will you do next to get away from this field of work? I would work in almost any Civil or Environmental Engineering job offered in almost any location in the country including travel up to 35% of the time

How much money do you have to survive on if you quit tomorrow and couldn't find a job within a month? We have six months of rent and bill payments saved up currently if we both lost our jobs. Luckily my wife makes enough that we could get by if we had to on her salary alone.

How important to you is your health over your money? Pretty important. I am worried about getting seriously injured from being tired. In fact I was just on a job last night where that happened but luckily he wasn't injured although he should have have a broken leg from what happened. That being said I get full workers comp and am allowed up to five months off for any accident.

If you died tomorrow or a week from now or a year from now from this job (which looks pretty fucking promising with your lack of sleep) what would your family be left with? If I die on the job then $2,000,000 after taxes. If I died any other way then 1.5

Would you rather build memories or build up your pockets? Honestly this is the answer I struggle with the most. We are only given one thing in life that we can't make more of and thats time. I only have to give about six more months of living like this before it slows down a little and then in 18-24 months I will be given an office job where I work a sweet schedule.

What the FACK will make YOU and YOUR FAMILY better off? If I stayed in this job track my family will never want for anything. We can take trips to other countries. I can pay for their schooling and any emergencies. We can have all the nice things of life.

Do you have kids? If so how many? If you don't how many do you plan to have? I have no kids now. We want two kids. I do have a black lab that my wife spoils like an only child.


If it came down to it for some god awful reason would you or your wife or both want a divorce? ( in your state you can just seperate and not actually get a divorce until you want to remarry I believe...) We will not ever get a divorce. We have very Christian ideals about this. Divorce isn't a word I allow at our house. Not even in jokes. It isn't talked about or discussed and is no option.

What would make you happy? I'm a simple man. I can deal with a lot of stuff in my life and a lot of hardship but the one thing that makes me happy is being with my wife. And right now I'm not getting that obviously.


Why does your boss overwork you? Can you change this or are you just fucked? Nah its not really my bosses decision. Its the companies decision on how I'm worked. They were upfront about how bad it sucked, but to be honest this is at least twice as bad as they told us. I'm averaging 100-120 hours a week right now. But my boss has been really cool and allows me to work 15 on and 6 off so I can fly home to see my wife. I haven't seen her in five weeks due to some bad scheduling problems.

There is PLENTY MORE I can think of but they are not coming to me now... These are all things to consider... I think you need to think about this career choice you took and either change the path completely or stretch the path out to take it slower...

When you get time answer some if not all these questions here so we can further help you man!

And I think you need to show your wife not only what you posted but also ask her some of the questions I posted...

I wish you the best of luck my friend and I will pray for you!!!

I think I answered those fairly.

 

Hey man, it seems like you're in a pretty rough situation. I'm young and I don't think I have much valuable input, but I will say that I'll pray for you and that I hope that the best comes out of the situation for you and your wife.

 

If you are doing engineering, decisions you make on the job affect equipment function and reliability as well as safety of people and environment. Talk with your manager about the need for more rest in order to be more efficient overall in performance of your duties.

That is a nice benefits deal if you can work something out to get more rest. But I also can't imagine being away from family that much. Really tough spot.

 

Anyone have front lift you'd be willing to trade for OME885s?

I've had them on 11 months and just to stiff for access cab prerunner with no armor.

 

Having worked 18 months with 13 on 1 off 12 to 15 hours a day after Katrina came through I can relate somewhat. I was married for 5 years no kids. And it was rough I cracked at two years and took a transfer to a Tn. My wife and I sold our house and moved to the cabin that is in our family up here. I had worked enough to pay for 3/4 of my house that we live in now. Now that I have 15 years with the company I look back an think about the time that I put in to better my family now was worth it. I have a 4 year old son who I can spend time with and my wife. Some times God puts things in our reach while we are young to better ourselves when we are older. I would talk to the boss about having some time off up there and fly the wife out every couple weeks to spend time with her. I would say safety first and think about your actions before you do them. Only you can decide your future. As far as safety goes there are OSHA ruled that the company has to follow to keep you safe might want to look into some of them, but don't bring them in unless you are ready to fight. They are the big dogs that bite. Hope this helps and will be keeping you in my prayers.

 

FUCK MY LIFE!!!!

 

Papa Kurt is a smart man...

But for real Brian, I hope everything works out for you man! Definitely praying that you're mind gets settled and you can make some clear decisions that's best for you and your wife!

 

This page has the longest posts ever!!!!!!!!

 

Brian, I just can't sit here and type all that has been talked about but here's how I feel ...... Divorce isn't a word that is banned around my house so I'm gonna use it. Unless you and Haley reach a point where divorce is envititable, don't leave your job. EVERYTHING should be about family. How you go about achieving that is up to you, whether that be in the long run or the short run. You have to have money to live. You don't have to have money to be happy. Having said that, I still say don't leave your job.

My reason being that you took this job for a reason right? You knew what was at stake and the risks and rewards of the job right? You new it would be challenging both mentally and physically right? There was no sugar coating it from the beginning. Yet you took the job with 1 goal in mind ...... Making it 2 years through hell and coming out a badass on the other side. So why quite now?

Your mind is a very powerful tool in controlling anything that happens in your life that can be controlled by you. In a friendly way ....... MAN THA FUCK UP!!!! Yes ... They seem to be fucking you and putting you in dangerous situations .... So do somethin about it. Yes .... You are away from your wife .... So see her when you can and keep those moments close.

You already seem to have something that not a lot of people have (I think Kurt might have it to) .... The mental strength to take a risk, knowing that the outcome could be great, and invest yourself in a long term situation to achieve an even longer term goal. I don't have that characteristic. I only live in the moment. I plan nothing ahead and don't care to. Is that bad? Depends on what you "think" you have planned for life.

God works in mysterious ways. When you put yourself through pain and suffering, especially with someone else in mind, you think he doesn't notice that? He does and he waits for the right time to reward you for it. Not with money but with happiness. Stay strong dude. It's a mental battle. Just remember that NO ONE can defeat you except for you. All those tears are just building blocks mixed in with the sweat and blood you lost while striving to reach your goal. Ultimately when you conquer and overcome your obstacles, you will look back at those times and stand tall and proud with a feeling that's greater then any amount of money can give. The feeling of success and happiness.

Don't quit. You ain't a quitter. You didn't take the job to be a quitter. Your wife doesn't need a quitter. Your future doesnt need a quitter. IT NEEDS A FUCKIN BADASS!!!!! Do what you can to work out this bullshit on the job and to work out you and haleys time together but don't quit.

I too will pray for you. I pray for god to give you the strength to keep striving for your goal and to let no man stand in your way. In the end, he will reward you for all your sorrow. Believe that!!!!!!



Aight I'm done. Now I'm all depressed and hyped up at the same time. FUCK!!!!! Gonna hit up my Kill Switch Engage playlist and punch holes through a wall while day dreaming about little white bunnies hopping through meadows of bright yellow dandelions. Aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww!!! Back to work my friends

 

Oh ....... And before I go ............ Cool headlight mod Taylor

 

best mod he has ever done to that mall crawler!

 

We need to see a how-to on that mod.

 

Hahaha that's awesome

 

Drive to Memphis and I'll teach you.

Or I can "teach" you on here

 

And being in Memphis, he can show you how to remove one in under 10 seconds .