Alaska planning......

4:10 am - Friday - November 30th - Campbellsville, KY - 55º F, 93% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the west......raining, cloudy today with a forecast high of 58º F.

We had a brief few minutes Thursday morning where we saw the sun peaking through the clouds as it rose in the eastern sky (I posted a picture of this), but that was the last we saw of the sun the rest of the day.  It was not really very cold, it was just cloudy and blustery.  I went outside a few times, but I don't think TLE even ventured outside one time the entire day.  I puttered around in the trailer for about 45 minutes, but really had no purpose other than to putter.

Long naps abounded for me.....I remember at least three.....maybe there were four.....who knows for sure.  When I was conscious I spent a lot of time and rereading reading the blog entries of good friends Steven and Linda Dempsey (The Chouters...pronounced 'shooters') about their 2016 summer travels in Alaska.  I remember at the time of their trip I thought their formula for travel in Alaska was perfect and determined to try and duplicate most of their itinerary when we travel there this summer.  Of course, weather is a big factor in Alaska, and they were quite fortunate to have pretty much good weather wherever they traveled, especially in Denali.  They spent 5 days in Denali and had sunny days for three of them, so they were able to enjoy the spectacular scenery without cloud cover.  What we get will be left up to Mother Nature.  

We had planned to spend some time at Harden Coffee Thursday, but opted to just spend the entire day doing nothing, and girding ourselves for another 5 ten hour days.  Whether we work the 5th day, or not is in doubt as a number of shifts have had their 'MET' day cancelled.  Remember, MET stands for Mandatory Extra Time, and Tuesday is our 'MET' day.  It may be that our schedule of Friday through Monday (4 ten hour days) will somehow get all of their MET days, but that is yet to be determined.  Friends we have working on other shifts have had theirs cancelled.  One couple have had two in a row cancelled including this Friday for the second time in a row.  We will probably not know the fate of our MET day until sometime Monday around lunch time.

To be clear, we do not come to Amazon expecting overtime.  We make our financial plans based on 4 ten hour days each week, and then any overtime we get is considered a bonus.  In fact, we would be quite happy to just work our 4 ten hour days each week like we did at the Fernley, NV facility 4 years ago.  Many come here expecting to work 5-6 days a week every week, and garner a lot of overtime pay, then get disappointed when the MET does not materialize as frequently as they would like.  Overtime pay can be quite enticing.  For us it means an extra $400 (net) on our combined paychecks.  We net about $1,026 each Friday working the 4 ten hour days, so not really too bad, right?  But if we were to work two more days that would increase our weekly pay by almost $800.....quite a jump for just two more days!

It looks like we will have rain Friday, Saturday and into Sunday, but it will not matter much since we will be inside the concrete bunker close to 11 hours each work day.  The only change in our routine will be that we will probably go to work in the VW to avoid getting drenched on the way to and from work, otherwise it will be the usual......'wash, rinse, dry and repeat' for the next 4, or 5 days.

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What the Bissel?

7:37 am - Thursday - November 29th - Campbellsville, KY - 34º F (feels like 28º F), 72% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the south by southeast.......cloudy today with a forecast high of 46º F (much better than yesterday!).  Slept until after 7 am........it is so nice to be home when the sun rises.....

Just after I snapped this picture it began to sprinkle....and now it is raining once again

....we tried to sleep in Wednesday, but were wide awake at 5:30 am....we usually get up (on work days) at 4 am, so technically I guess 5:30 am is 'sleeping in', but it doesn't feel like it.  To me sleeping in involves sun coming through the windows of your home, not getting up when it is still quite dark.  It is the little things like that which make your life a little better on your 'off' days.

When I first got up Wednesday it was about 19º F, but it felt like single digits.  It was bitter cold, so the outdoor activity options narrowed considerably down to zero.  Wednesday is almost always 'black tank' day for us here at Heartland Campground, and since the forecast calls for rain Thursday I needed to do the deed Wednesday.  Around 11 am I set out to tackle the task and quickly found out that my the residual water in my tank flushing hose was frozen, thereby rendering it useless for the flushing task. Fortunately I carry extra hoses.....I think maybe too many extra hoses......so I retrieved one of those from the trailer and set about the task of dumping and flushing our black tank.  It takes three times filling it half full of fresh water before the water coming out is once again 'clear'.  Clear is a relative term, of course, but for the purposes of water coming out of a black tank 'clear' is good enough.  I've tried filling the tank completely full with flushing water before dumping it, but it still takes three times, so to conserve water I only fill it half full now and get the same good results. 

I was finished with the task about 11:30 am at which time I retrieved TLE's inside vacuum to take it apart to clean the fan.  Over the 7, or 8 years we have had that vacuum hair has accumulated on in and around the fan housing reducing the effectiveness of the vacuum.  I had it apart and cleaned in about 10 minutes, but discovered that one of the  screw anchors (there are 7 of them) had broken.  When I went inside to retrieve my LockTite super glue I found it had bitten the dust after 4 years.  I like LockTite because it does last so long, unlike other super glues.  So a trip to Lowe's was in order to complete the repair of the vacuum.  TLE needed to do some grocery shopping, and we needed to fill the VW gas tank......it's been almost 6 weeks since we filled the tank!  We get gas credits from Kroger each time we shop, and we had accumulated a 30 cent per gallon gas credit which needed to be used before the end of November.  We use Premium Unleaded gas in the VW Beetle (factory recommendation), and have been paying either just under, or just over $3/gallon.  With the recent collapse of the world oil market (crude oil is down to $50/barrel now from a high in the mid 70's) it is now much cheaper, and with the 30 cent per gallon credit our fuel only cost us $2.15 per gallon for 10 gallons.

We were back home a little after 2:30 pm, and after transferring the groceries from the Beetle to the Newell I went out to the trailer to finish fixing the vacuum.....

The Bissel Feather Weight vacuum all together and ready for use once again

.....I had the broken screw anchor glued and fixed in no time, then reassembled the Bissel and returned it to TLE.  This Bissel also had an long extension handle so it may be used as an 'upright'.....

The extension handle for the Bissel

.....TLE uses this for doing quick vacuum jobs, but for the really deep cleaning we bring in my ShopVac from the trailer.

After fixing the vacuum I headed back inside (it never got above 31º F all day) to the comfort of the warm interior of the Newell.  There were at least two naps taken as the day wound down to a close.  We streamed the two hour 'Survivor' at 8pm via our ROKU TV, and were in bed a little after 10 pm.  A very relaxing 1st day off work!

Thanks for stopping by!

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UPC, ASIN, LPN........

5:44 am - Wednesday - November 28th - Campbellsville, KY - 20º F, 75% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the west......mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 37º F.....got down to 18º F last night!

The weather is rather schizophrenic lately.....by Friday it will be in the 60's again for the next three days.  Of course it has to get freezing again on our two days off work.....😕

I don't mean to brag.....okay, well, maybe I do mean to brag, but all that aside Tuesday, our 5th consecutive 10 hour day I felt the best I have felt since we began working 5 weeks ago.  I'm almost sitting here wishing I wasn't writing about it, because I begin to think I will jinx it by mentioning it.  It is like I just turned a corner and went from thinking all the time about how tired my feet and legs were, to not even thinking about them anymore.  Now it is just me and the boredom walking side by side down endless aisles picking whatever.  

About 99.999% of what we pick is clothing, or some sort of clothing related apparel.  I no longer see the items as clothing, but just plastic bags with some sort of material inside.  All I care about anymore is that the correct UPC (Universal Product Code) code, or ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number), or LPN (License Plate Numbering (I have no idea why it is called that, so don't ask) number is somewhere on what I am picking, and secondly will I get the positive 'BEEP', or the scolding 'BEE-BOOP' tone?  Sometimes there might be, literally, 50 items in a large bin all completely identical in appearance, except that the one you are looking for is the only one with a slightly different ASIN, and you have to go through every single one of those 50 identical items to find the one correct ASIN that will scan properly and let you move on to the next 'pick'.  That happened twice to me Tuesday afternoon.

It began to snow just after we entered the concrete bunker at 6:15 am, and was still snowing when we took out lunch break at 11:20 am.  Thankfully it was not snowing when we exited the bunker a little after 5 pm to make the 1/4 mile uphill walk home in the 25º F, blustery remains of the day.  Fortunately for us very little of the snow stuck, and as I write to you this morning there is NO snow on the ground.

When we go to work on a cold day like Tuesday we leave the front portable fireplace running so it doesn't get overwhelmingly cold inside.  As soon as we get inside we turn on the other two heaters and usually within minutes our home is comfortable, but Tuesday we had to turn on one of the gas furnaces for a while to get to that comfortable state.  Eventually we were able to turn it off, but it took about an hour!

We tried to stay up until at least 10 pm, but by 9:30 I was asleep in my recliner, and TLE was trying to wake me up to go to bed.  I guess you could say I have officially switched over to going to bed at 8 pm.....at least for the next few weeks.  And speaking of weeks, we now hove 15 work days left, and by this time next week we will have just 10....time is flying!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.

What's the problem?

4:22 am - Tuesday - November 27th - Campbellsville, KY - 28º F (feels like 19º F), 79% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the west......cloudy today with a forecast high of 28º F.....low today will be 18º F.

Cyber Monday was anything but......we did not have enough work to keep all the 'Outbound' people busy, so VTO (Voluntary Time Off) was being offered every couple of hours. Our attitude is once we are in the building we are there for the duration.  We've already gotten up inordinately early to be at work by 6:30 am, and there is no way we'll cut the day work day short at that time.

We have two basic employee groups here at Amazon in which the bulk of Amazon employees are employed.....Inbound, and Outbound.  Inbound folk unload the product from the semi trailers, load the product on carts called 'U'boats to be stowed, which is then stowed in bins by the 'stowers'.  Then you have the Outbound folk like us......we pick the product, we pack the product, we ship bulk product (called 'Tranship') to other Amazon FC's.  Those are the basic classifications which 70% of the employees fit into.  There is a Safety department, there is AMCARE (in facility urgent care), the Career department, Administration department, the Training/Education department, IT department, custodial, mechanical, etc.  

There is also a small, elite group called 'Problem Solvers' who help both Inbound and Outbound folk fix errors they have made processing product.  I needed the help of a Problem Solver late Monday about 4:25 pm.  I had just put 3 totes on the conveyor to be delivered to the 'Pack' department.  I pulled three empty totes from the line to begin picking again, then I went to the bathroom.  I had hoped to make it to the end of my shift, but it became obvious that I was not going to make it, so I parked my cart, and made my way to the bathroom.  When I returned about 5 minutes later I picked up my scanner to scan the first tote, and got a message that I had 'Scanned the wrong bin'......hmmmm, maybe I scanned the tote before I went to the bathroom, although I never do that.  So I head to my next bin to pick an item, scan the bin, scan the item and drop it in my tote.  I'm still thinking about what happened when I realize I had not closed out the last tote I put on the conveyor before my bathroom run, and now it is gone, and I have another item that is supposed to be in that tote.....DOH!  I head to the problem solving desk on P-4-K (high) and using the two way radio call for a problem solver.  She arrives in about 3 minutes, and I explain what I did.  What I love about these people is there is never any judgement.....they just solve problems, and get you back on your way doing your job.  They appreciate it when you admit you made a mistake, and just want to fix it before it becomes a bigger problem.  Within 5 minutes she has fixed my problem, and it is now about 4:40 pm......10 minutes until the 'chimes' go 'DING DONG' and it is time to head to the front the building once again to punch the clock.

In between the beginning and the end of the shift we had an ice cream social for lunch.  We had all brought our usual lunches, but when we saw the ice cream being served we all opted for 'ice cream for lunch'......what a nice treat....and I did not feel one bit guilty!

Monday was my best day at Amazon yet.....I felt good physically and mentally at the end of the shift.  Sure, I was tired, but I felt fine for a change.....very, very encouraging.  Now to deal with the mind numbing boredom!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.s 

'Bee-Boop', 'Bee-Boop'........

4:15 am - Monday - November 26th - Campbellsville, KY - 40º F (feels like 29º F), 76% humidity, wind 25 mph out of the west by southwest......very cloudy, and very windy today with a forecast high of 36º F......WOW.....not getting any warmer today!

We walked to work in the fog Sunday morning, and exited the concrete bunker to threatening skies........the rain materialized around 8 pm, and then went away.  The wind, however, blew all night long, shaking the Newell from time to time.

So, how was work you might wonder?  It was fine.....I guess.  We continue to do well physically, but are all getting mentally tired by the 4th quarter (2:30 pm to 5 pm) and wishing we had a recliner in which to take a nap.  I notice each day about 4 pm I begin to make a lot of mistakes as to which bin I should be scanning, and that happened a lot on Sunday.  About 4 pm my brain reached the 'sensory overload' status and I couldn't seem to tell Bin P-2-C-67-45-A from P-2-C-68-45-A (the highlighted number is the Row number).  I'm scanning bin 45-A on Row 67 on one side of the aisle, when I should be scanning a bin 45-A on Row 68 on the other side, right behind me.  When I scan the wrong bin, or wrong item, or forget to scan the tote at the appropriate time I get this 'Bee-Boop', 'Bee-Boop' sound emanating from my scanner.  It is a very disconcerting sound which makes you feel as if you are being scolded.

For 10.5 hours your senses are being overwhelmed by the constant whirring sound coming from all the hundreds of fans, the clackity-clack sound of the conveyors conveying, and thousands of alpha/numeric combinations flashing across your scanner screen one after another, minute after minute, hour after hour.  At some point, usually around 4 pm for me, I begin to see alpha/numeric characters which are not there and  begin to hear that scolding 'Bee-Boop', 'Bee-Boop' sound way too often.  About that time it seems that time begins to slow down, and seconds begin to seem like minutes.  It seems that some unseen hand is grabbing the minute hand on your clock and not allowing time to progress.  About this time you begin to feel like you are the only person left working in the concrete bunker.....you are certainly convinced that you are the only one still picking on P-2-C, and that time for everyone else is still progressing as it should meaning they have gone home, and left you in your particular time warp to pick all alone.

Then, at last, you hear the loud (and I mean LOUD) 'Ding Dong', 'Ding Dong' (chimes) announcing that you may now proceed to the front of the building, logout off , and put away your scanner only to stand for a couple of minutes transfixed, watching the time on the time clock NOT change.....it seems to keep flashing 4:53 pm for way too long.   Finally, after an inordinate amount of time (probably 120 seconds) the clock changes over to 4:55 pm and you are now free to punch the clock and escape to the outer world once again......on parole for 13.5 hours before you voluntarily return to 'wash, rinse, dry, repeat' for another 10.5 hours.

In between 6:30 am, and 5 pm there are the wonderful breaks spent with good friends talking and laughing, with an emphasis on laughing.  It is those brief breaks from the mind numingly boring repetitive task job you willing subject yourself to 5 days a week that seems to make everything more bearable.  But, here we are, three fifths of the way through our 5th week of work.....only 17 more days of labor remaining before we will fly home for Christmas to see our kids and grandkids!  We will leave Campbellsville with our bank account brimming with new funds which you have already earmarked for next summer's adventures in Alaska.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.

Over the hump!

4:18 am - Sunday - November 25th - Campbellsville, KY - 39º F (feels like 36), 100% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 62º F.....there is a chance of rain.....again, sigh......after 6 pm today.

We both recovered quite nicely overnight Friday, and walked to work Saturday morning with great optimism.  We wondered if we had finally gotten over the proverbial 'hump' physically and mentally.    By the end of the day the question had been answered for me....yes!  I felt good physically, and my brain had not turned to much by 5 pm.  That is a first for me.  TLE reports she felt good all day long, also, but admitted to a couple of 'brain freezes' late in the shift.

The long workdays have really come down to visiting at breaks and lunch with good friends, and a lot of laughter, and that as much as anything else is what gets each of of through one 10 hour shift after another.  

Saturday was a continuation of Black Friday with lots of work, and a lot of people moving hither and yon throughout our one million square foot facility....each with a specific purpose without which it would all grind to a halt.  There are the mostly unseen people who keep the conveyors conveying, the large semis rolling, the air moving, and the computers humming sending out one 'pick' order after another.  Without these, and many others we are just a lot of people wandering aimlessly around the interior of a large concrete building with no purpose.

When we exited the concrete bunker late Saturday afternoon, the sun was just setting over the Campbellsville water tower reminding us that within a few days we will be walking home in the dark, just like it is when we walk to work each day.  

While I queued up a couple of recorded shows to watch TLE prepared Chicken Alfredo Fettuccine for dinner.....OMG!  What a great dinner!  The Alfredo sauce was to die for!  TLE never 'mails it in' when it comes to food preparation, and for that I am eternally grateful!  We watched 'God Rush', and then another English Premier soccer match between Tottenham and Chelsea with Tottenham winning 3-1....another great performance by Harry Kane and Dele Ali!  We were off to dreamland a little after 8 pm as is our custom each night during our work week.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.

Paint it black......

4:17 am - Saturday - November 24th - Campbellsville, KY - 47º F, 92% humidity, wind 11 mph out of the south.......very cloudy, and rainy....forecast high for today is 56º F.

As we walked to work Friday we were well aware it was 'Black Friday', one of the biggest retail days in the U.S. each year, so we knew it would be a busy day with 'All Hands on Deck' as they say.  Below is a picture of our DH-3 Shift folk......many of us are dressed in black in honor of the day......

DH-3 Shift just after lunch Friday

.....I think I know about 30% of them by name, but our group keeps expanding by the week, and it is difficult to keep ahead of the influx.  The DH-3 shift runs from Friday to Monday, with Tuesday at our 'MET' day......there will be, so far, an MET this week, so we will be working 5 consecutive 10 hour days.  We've done that twice before, but now we have, potentially, 4 in a row taking  us up to December 22nd.  My legs are 'barking' at me at I write that.

The day began with clear skies, but by the time we exited the building 10.5 hours later it was cloudy, and foreboding.  Eventually, as we went to bed around 8 pm, we could hear the rain hitting our roof, and it rained on and off all night long.  It seems to have abated as I write today's missive, but Weather.com says it will rain through the morning......enough with the rain already!

All of those in our inner Amazon Camperforce circle agreed that the time seemed to pass quickly Friday.  We all felt pretty good at the end of our shift, but I know by Tuesday afternoon we'll all be dragging just a little, and looking forward to our two days of recovery before we 'wash, rinse, dry, repeat' once again.

I had my highest quarter pick totals in the first quarter Friday.  I hit 302 picks for the 2.5 hour stretch, but not to be outdone, TLE posted an impressive 330+ picks.....I think she takes fewer bathroom breaks than I......😏....I think I've bested her just one time in the last 4 weeks!  The aisles were a lot more crowded with pickers Friday, and the stowers were out in force adding to the congestion.  Usually when we begin the day our manager will give us the 'workable' number.....'workable' refers to the number of picks which need to be made that shift. Typically that number has been in the mid to high 20,000 range.....Friday it was over 65,000!  That's just one shift at one Amazon Fulfillment Center!  Friday was also the beginning of the 20th Peak Season here at Campbellsville, KY.  Our FC was one of the first five opened by Jeff Bezos.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.