Today was the first day, officially, unemployed. Fine with me. I got alot done, chopped firewood, cleaned the garage, spread a brand new mulch bed, vacuumed the house, swiffered the floors, folded clean clothes, etc.

I also drove past Grayson Hyundai and stopped to say "Hi" to 10 or so AGI folks watching the pylon install. Great learning experience, I must admit. I stopped by the used tire place, but after 15 minutes of waiting around for someone to care that I was there, I left. Granted, the older lady inside chilling on the couch watching a rerun of City Slickers informed me of the movie's plot and the fact that the mechanics were busy on her car and would not have time to install a used tire on my front passenger side, oh well.

Chattanooga Trip 4/27-28

Friday was the last day at AGI, cleaned out my desk and headed home to collect Beth and head to Chattanooga. Dropped Reese off at Beth's parent's house (thanks) and hit the road. We checked into the hotel and I was quite surprised about the traincar rooms.

Can't say I have ever stayed anywhere quite so unique.

We walked to the Terminal Brewhouse and had dinner before walking over to Track 29 for the concert.

The Choo Choo complex was huge with shops and restaurants everywhere. Drew Holcombe and the Neighbors openned up the concert. The crowd didn't trickle in until about 9:30. Beth and I met a couple from Townsend that are neighbors of Chris Doody's parents (Chris play keyboard and a little bit of guitar in Dirty Guvnahs). Great concert by the Dirty Guvnahs, the new songs were awesome, so looking forward to the new album coming out in August.

Saturday morning we went to the Tennessee Aquarium. Saw a couple sleepy otters, an alligator, too many fish, a couple rednecks, penguins, and petted some stingrays and a sturgeon.

Great trip home, picked up the dog and still time to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Got some mowing to do, install brakepads on the Yukon, drop off pants to get drycleaned, and plenty of other things to do to get ready for the next few weeks.

Last day of work at AGI tomorrow, then a fun weekend in Chattanooga seeing the Dirty Guvnahs at Track29 and staying at the Choo Choo Hotel in a traincar. Bought UT football season tickets for 2012 this afternoon(thanks dad), which caps off a good day.

Finished all my paperwork for Barnhart last night and will turn it in tomorrow. Spoke to my soon-to-be boss, Chris and he will be getting my laptop ordered once I get the paperwork submitted. Looking forward to next week, but first a good weekend and a couple days off with Beth before I hop to it.

I had my "fit for duty" physical on Friday. Everything went pretty well. I am apparently not color blind, my hearing is at a supersonic level, and my left eye refuses to read letters past line 3 on the eye chart.

Hopefully since I do not plan to be operating a 180 ton crane with 100' boom, this will not be an issue. Did a bunch of 80lb. dead lifts to prove I am not a wuss and passed that test. Passed a pee test, turned and coughed, then I was done. My start date is now Wednesday, May 2nd and we will plan the travel arrangements at that point. Finishing up my last week at AGI this week, sad to leave a great group to work with, but looking forward to a fun weekend with Beth before I start the new job.

Thinking about possibly going to see the Dirty Guvnahs in Chattanooga at Track29 on Friday, April 27, and stay at the Choo Choo Motel in a deluxe traincar room. We'll see, stay tuned.

First posting: April 20, 2012

Starting a job with Barnhart Crane & Rigging, in their wind division, Barnhart Renewables out of the Knoxville, TN office. I got the offer letter this week, started filling out paperwork and the start date is Tuesday, May 1st. A couple days of in-office training in Quality Assurance, then the tentative plan is to fly out to Oklahoma and be on site for a total of eight weeks at Rocky Ridge Wind Farm, an installation of 93 wind turbines near Hobart, OK. The adventure begins in just a few short days. I will be back in Knoxville for a week in the middle, but I know I will definitely miss my beautiful and awesome wife, Beth, my dog Reese, friends and family, as well as CLC, all the folks at AGI and everything that I love about east Tennessee. My goal is to post every day or so, to keep folks updated. God has a great opportunity for me and I am looking forward to the challenges and the adventure.