A Day In The Life

Or maybe a week, rather. I thought I would walk you through a day and week of my life so you can have a better understanding of what it is like to be on house arrest/ISR. I also wanted to take this opportunity to describe as best I can what it is that I do for a living. So, without further adieu, this is a day in the life of Vince.

Monday through Friday all start the same. A terrible noise comes out of my phone at 6:20AM and I fumble my usually backward arm over to the table next to my bed and make it stop. I'm not a snoozer, so I'm up for the day. I spend fifteen seconds staring at the empty space where I hoped I would have messages, (I actually had one this morning) and I verbally and physically get out of bed. Coffee, breakfast, make my lunch, and maybe a little time with the foster kittens if they're here, and I'm out the door at 7:30 to start my commute to work.

It's not a long walk, but it starts with most of the Ramsey St. hill and those stairs near the top. Ugh. I catch the bus at Selby and Western and take it to University where I wait for the train that takes me to AMG Laminating off of University on Prior. It's about a quarter mile walk from the train which might suck come winter time. When I arrive, I have about twenty minutes to kill so I make more coffee and play games or see if anybody likes me on Facebook.

8:30 hits and the fun begins. I'm the newest guy on the staff so I'm sort of just a general worker although only the owners really have a title: Owner. A make a quick round to see what needs doing. Strapping and wrapping skids (pallets) is one of the things I do most often. Once a job is completed or a skid is full, it needs to be banded with a steel strap that secures it. Paper weighs a lot, and it is expensive to replace any printed and laminated paper so we don't want it falling all over in a truck. So, after I strap these things down tight, I put it up on a small hydraulic lift and begin the wrapping process. It spins around and around while the clear stretch film is layered on tightly. Up and down the film goes, around and around the skid goes. There's a short video I posted on Google+ that shows it.

Other than that, I do some cleaning up which is usually just sweeping piles of plastic off of the floor into the trash. And I also do a lot of catching which is unloading finished product on to a skid from a machine. Sometimes I do this with two or three machines at a time which can be fun. All the while I'm keeping my eye out for trucks to load or unload, that's part of it all too.  I like to keep busy and I prefer to keep moving.

Currently we are in the middle of a rather large job. 100,000 sheets of store shelf talkers for the brand Malt-O-Meal. They are the things that show you a picture of the cereal and the name with a little splash of milk or whatever they have on them. They are U.VV. coated which is not your traditional laminate. It's a liquid coating that goes on via a roller then is cured under a very bright ultra-violet light. We can move them through very quickly. 50,000 since Monday.

Ok, that's about all my brain can handle writing about work. Moving on, at the end of the day I do the reverse trip from the morning. I'm gone from 7:30-6PM. Last night and tonight I leave from 7:30-9:30 for AA meetings. But generally, I can't leave the house. I'm also allowed four one hour blocks of exercise per week which I used to use for running, but now use for walking, and I want to use in a gym. I need to get a membership.

Saturday and Sunday are different. I get to go shopping from 9-11, which turns into about an hour after you figure in public transportation. And I will get to use my eight hours of weekly free time from 1-9 this Saturday. And Sunday I do community service at the Goodwill Outlet, hours vary. II do look busy on paper, and I do get to be out of the house a fair amount. But keep in mind that before and after I do anything, I have to start from home. And relying on the bus definitely takes some time away.

It's only for 3 and a half more months. I can make it through this ISR without going crazy, right? Yep. I'm on it. I hope I was thorough enough without being boring.

Until next time....