Texas

Sunday afternoon we left the gorgeous city of Newark, heh, and headed down to Texas for our two day Outside Plant Safety Course. There were 8 of us traveling together.

By the time we got to the hotel and were ready to go out to eat that night, it was about 9pm local time. We went to Texas Land and Cattle. I always thought Cattle was a land animal, but perhaps I’m mistaken. The men all ordered drinks, so us ladies covered the appetizers. I’m glad we did, they were good. I ordered filet mignon for my entrée. Everything was really good, especially, you guessed it, the dessert! Imagine a huge chocolate brownie, all warm and gooey with caramel, chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream on top. X( I was the only one who finished the whole thing. I felt sick after, but it was worth it. We must had been pretty loopy from the flight because we all had way too much fun.

Monday morning we left bright and early for the first day of training. We were informed first thing that pole climbing had been canceled across all the locations because four people have fallen and gotten hurt. Most of us were a little disappointed. I had no intention of climbing a pole, but I at least wanted to see the other people do it. We still had to do ladder climbing though.

They took us outside and we learned how to secure a mini ladder to a mini strand. I was only on the second rung and I was shaking. The thing bounces, it’s a little scary. Then they had about half the class climb up the big ladders on the poles. Maryam went all the way to the top. I got pictures to prove it. She said the hardest part was picking up the heavy ladder. I’ll get more into that in a bit.

We went back to the hotel and took advantage of our free drinks downstairs. I was cranky from not exercising, and I guess it was pretty apparent because people kept asking me what was wrong. After I snapped at Maryam, I decided to go exercise for 10 minutes or so just to keep me from killing anyone :) It did help. I exercised some more after dinner too and was fine the next day.

14 of us went out to dinner at some fancy seafood pace. I wish I had a picture of the waiter’s face when we told him we needed separate checks. They put us in the back “boardroom” with this long table and swivel chairs. We were bumping into eachother with the chairs. We’re very mature business peoples. I ordered stuffed shells with crab meat and spinach. It was pretty tasty. I got the apple cobbler for dessert. It was goooooood.

Tuesday, oy, Tuesday. Well, they decided to take us out first thing in the morning and it was cold outside. Not extremely cold, but we didn’t have our jackets so we were out there shivering. The instructor said to us, “I thought you all were from NJ!” “We are! … We’re cold there too!”

Smita climbed all the way up her ladder and so did everyone else in the class but me and one other lady. Me, I got to about the sixth rung and started crying. I didn’t even feel that scared, but I started shaking which made me more scared. You know, if your body reacts a certain way, you mind will eventually catch up. I was laughing at myself while I was crying. It was pretty funny.

After ladder climbing, they took us over to the trucks for some ladder carrying. We had to take the ladder off the truck, carry it around a bit and put it back on. This is not as easy as the pictures make it look. For some unknown reason, they decided to give the smallest person in the class (me) the biggest and heaviest ladder. Needless to say, I had some trouble. I couldn’t even reach to get the damn thing off the truck. The guy kept saying, “higher! Lift it higher!” and I’m like, dude, this is as high as I go. I can’t spontaneously grow a few inches. He offered very little help and, as the other people in the class were saying after, they shouldn’t have had me do that. Not on the big ladder anyway. I could have gotten hurt. But I did it, and wasn’t nearly as sore the next day as I thought I would be.

The boys went to the rodeo that night, so us girls did what girls do best. We went to the mall. That was the most pathetic shopping sight I had ever witnessed. It was so empty! I don’t know what Texans do during the day when they’re not at work, but it aint shopping. Maybe because the sales people are so pushy. This one tiny little lady kept asking us if we wanted to see our faces and then asked if we were scared when we said no. …WTF???

We went back to the hotel for a bit. I went swimming and hung out in the hot tub downstairs while Monali did work. I was the only one of us girls who brought a bathing suit. I intended to use it.

We went to the lobby for our free drinks again. Well, none of the other girls drink, so I got my free drinks and they watched as i tried to prove I wasn’t drunk.

We wanted to go out for Indian food. The first place we tried, google told us it was .2 miles away. When we couldn’t find it, we called the restaurant and they said they were more like 30 minutes away. We tried another place, but before we got there, we called and they said they were renovating. The third place didn’t answer their phone so we just drove there thinking they can’t possibly be closed too. Wrong. They were renovating too. So we drove down the street and picked some random Mexican place. The food was OK. I was disappointed I only spent $27 for the day when our limit was $42. I did enjoy the dessert though :) Flan! Yippie!

Our flight left at 8:44am yesterday. I watched Changeling on my ipod. Good movie.

Maryam treated me to lunch at her house when we got back. I got to meet one of her daughters and her niece. They’re freakin’ adorable.

I got plenty of sleep last night, but I’m still exhausted and my damn ear hasn’t popped yet. I tried everything. It’s being awfully stubborn.

Ah well, so all done with training, though you wouldn’t know that by looking at my training records :-/ I don’t know why it hasn’t updated, but I can prove I went, so I better get credit. Actually, no, what would be better is if they said I didn’t complete it and couldn’t do strike duty. Yeah.

They did reach an agreement with the mobility people. Woo hoo! Hopefully things will go well with the other unions. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Oh, pictures here later tonight.