Pushing tin

The server we've been playing on in Darkshore has been getting a bit soggy and boring of late - plus, we haven't been able to play with our friends and family (many of whom started out, or re-rolled on, Orgrimmar).

A while back I applied for character transfers to a couple of different servers, and I found out today that we've been approved for Winterspring.  While it's not quite Orgrimmar, it's a lot closer, and it gives me access to a wider variety of trainers.

Since I'm the senior paladin and 2nd most experienced raider on Darkshore, the guild master has forbidden me to transfer my character until March '09. In the meantime I'll be filling my regular spot and teaching the n00bs what I can.

Ksena is - of course - ecstatic.

That is all for now.

The following memo was taped to the console at work Friday.

Our future FLM originally came here with her husband and two children a year or two before I arrived. Soon after I showed up, she began an affair with a pilot from [local air taxi operator].  Since she was having the affair on her closing shifts and the pilot was hanging around the tower when she was working, it was no secret to us - in fact, one of our coworkers, who was a good friend of her husband, told her if she didn't let her husband know she was having an affair, he'd tell him what was going on.

At some point she moved in with the pilot and divorced her husband. Later she married the pilot (who, at some earlier point had divorced his own wife).  Her husband applied for custody of the kids (which she didn't fight, because in her words, she didn't have the means to take care of them) and moved down to somewhere in Washington.

Some time later, she decided that she wanted to be back in her kids' lives, so she applied for a hardship transfer to be near them.  Instead of trying to get into (in her words) "a hole-in-the-wall facility" which happened to be close to her family, she asked for and was granted a transfer to Great Falls, which she perceived was a "better facility to work in".  Strangely enough, it was eight hours farther away from her kids than the "hole-in-the-wall facility" she could have transfered to.

When the significantly better-paying FLM job opened up here in Juneau, she applied.  My manager said she wanted to get back here because "they want to be closer to [her husband's] kids."

Disclaimer: Since I'm only going off what she told me and what I heard from her angry cellphone conversations with her ex-husband while working on position, my portrayal of the timeline may be a little off.  However, none of this was confidential, since she definitely was not shy about bringing her personal life to work and hanging out her dirty laundry.

She was here during the the OIG/OSC investigation, and we were not on speaking terms when she left.  She blamed me for putting her job, family, and lifestyle in danger by playing power games and betraying her and everyone else in the tower.

She was also instrumental in getting [coworker who she didn't like] slapped with a letter of reprimand for talking back to her when she was being an ass as CIC (the "controller-in-charge" position we take turns working when we don't have an FLM.  It carries the responsibility - among other things - of assigning work rotations and breaks and approving certain types of leave, but offers no real authority).

When she was here, it was all about her...doesn't look like anything's changed.

Whee.

We just discovered today that GWB signed an executive order excusing federal employees from work on Christmas Eve.

Except for those of us who, "in the judgment of the head of the agency, cannot be excused for reasons of national security, defense, or other essential public need," that is.

I'm off work that day anyway (regular day off), so in interests of fairness, they give me a "holiday-in-lieu-of" on December 22nd.

I am curious why we need to declare the 24th a holiday.  Perhaps it's because no work gets done anyway, so why bother having people work?

Who knows.

I found out something interesting today at work.

Yesterday, while I was enjoying my day off, one of my coworkers stopped by the manager's office and turned in her resignation.

She is:

directly above me in seniority,  and

the last of the hostile co-workers.

Four and a half years into this job, and I'm #2 on the totem pole.

The gal below me, who is leaving for Paine Field next year, is #3 after 8 months.

83% of our workforce has less than a year's experience in Juneau.

In other news, it was 4 degrees this morning.

Our density altitude at the field was a whopping -4200ft.

Soon I will post marvelous pictures from my office. *evil laugh*

That is all for now.

Two new coworkers started their upstairs work today, and one more begins classroom training on Monday.

My boss informed me that we're slated to get eight more trainees before summer.  We have 9 (plus four trainees) now.  That will bring us to a total of 21 controllers.  Minimum staffing, IIRC, is 10.

One of the new folks (who's fully certified) got a job offer today at Paine Field Everett.  She's probably going to take it.  That'll leave us with 20.

Freaky.

Steve Wilson died Monday in a plane crash near Arctic Village.

I knew him only as the voice behind N6255H, one of the nicest pilots who flew around Juneau. Never a harsh word, even when we needed him to do weird and crazy stuff to fix the messes that we occasionally found ourselves in.

Nope, just a "Cleared to land, thanks, Five Five Hotel."

I'm going to miss you, Cessna 55H.

Why are unions like onions?

1. They both are kind of pungent on the inside, but look good as long as you leave the paper on.

2. If you hang around them for any length of time, it takes forever to get the smell off your hands.

3. They don't get better with age.

4. No matter how much you like them, you still end up with heartburn later.

5. You can't divide them without causing a bunch of tears.

With that in mind...

Onions generally believe that people should be rewarded based on how long they've been employed - certainly not on merit. Heavens, no. That would be unfair. Some of us worked a crapload of overtime this summer and shrugged off the "no vacation" policy without complaining. Others dumped their overtime on others and weaseled their way into their planned vacations by "twisting an ankle" or "ZOMG, family emergency".

I'd made a commitment to one fellow that I'd work a shift for him. Then Grandpa died, and I missed the funeral because they needed me for staffing. The fellow whose shift I covered told me he'd already made plans and couldn't change them. Later, I discovered he'd said he would have taken his shift back so I could go to the funeral, but I didn't ask him convincingly enough.

Some of us made some sacrifices this summer. Others...well, freeloading would be complimentary. Thanks to the onion, everyone received the same cash bonus today, regardless of their actual attitude towards the events of this summer.

Hey, I'm pleasantly surprised and thankful. My boss really appreciated our overall efforts. Funny, though, he said as I left this afternoon, "I'm going to be a lot happier when (three ringleaders of 99% of the trouble) are gone next month."

In other news, the cold I've been fighting has settled into a nagging sinus headache.

Skor's avoided getting it, but has been tired lately.

Two more early shifts, then the weekend! Yay!

I was very much looking forward to having a two-day weekend this Thursday and Friday. Skor and I planned to attend a youth group function at Eagle Beach on Friday night, and I hoped to spend at least one of the two days catching up on sleep and finishing some projects that have been dragging on. Besides, I've worked overtime the past six Fridays since management failed to properly plan staffing for the summer, and while I usually like the extra money overtime provides, it's nice to take a break once in a while.

Unfortunately, my coworker Darrin broke his ankle today playing a particularly aggressive game of softball. He's out for at least the next four days due to pain medication, and possibly longer since coming to work involves climbing four flights of stairs.

So he's basically screwed at least four of us out of a day off, and three of us had plans for the weekend.

I hope that softball game was worth it.

Angry Coworker (AC) was working with "Trainee A" on local, and I was monitoring "Trainee K" on ground. Present in the tower cab were: The Manager, "Trainee J", and "Coworker B." By the way, the tower's kind of crowded with seven people.

AC and "Trainee A" weren't very busy, so AC had kicked back and was relaxing. My flight instructor (W) was doing some touch-and-goes with one of his other students in Ghettotastic, and AC was demonstrating his superiority by sharply criticizing W's flying skills.

We were using runway 26.

I noticed that W and the student were having a bit of trouble on the landings, so I took a look at the wind instruments. They indicated 070 at 5 knots, which is a 5 knot direct tailwind for runway 26.

I waited until AC finished his sentence and said, "Hey, the wind's switching to favor runway 8, do you want to swap runways or stay with 26?"

AC said, "Aah, we'll stay with 26."

Trainee K taxied an Alaska 737 to runway 8 (requested due to his company departure procedure).

A Wings Cessna 207 called for departure taxi. K issued a taxi to runway 26 at intersection E. I said, "Look at your wind," which had increased and was indicating 080 at 12 knots.

K issued the wind, and the pilot hesitantly accepted a downwind departure.

A Skagway Cherokee called for taxi. K told him to taxi to runway 26 at E, and gave the wind. He asked for runway 8 at C. I asked AC if we could issue an 8 at C departure, and AC reiterated that we were using runway 26.

I keyed up and told Skagway that we were using runway 26, and he responded with, "Sir, I'm requesting runway 8 at C. My company policy will not allow me to accept more than a five knot tailwind, so I need runway 8 at C."

I relayed this to AC and got his OK for 8 at C. By this time AC had stood up and was starting to pay attention. His trainee was working like mad, trying to get Ghettotastic to do what she wanted him to do, while trying to launch other aircraft opposite direction and work in a hole for the jet departure. AC was having his trainee bringing all her inbound traffic to runway 26.

Another Cherokee asked for departure taxi. Against my better judgement, I told K to send him to 26 at E, since AC was getting pissed because I kept asking him for 8 at C departures. The Cherokee took 26 at F with the remark, "We need a bit more room for takeoff with that kind of tailwind." AC was still insisting on using runway 26 for arrivals, and the 8 departures were getting in his way.

Then, of course, AC must have finally taken a look at the wind, because he burst out with a bunch of crap about how we shouldn't be giving opposite direction departures with a tailwind and stop asking to depart 8 at C, because duhhhh, of course we're going to give them 8 at C, because we're not going to give them a freaking tailwind, geez... "and you guys need to be paying attention to what's going on!"

I responded, "I've been watching the wind for the past ten minutes, and that's why, five minutes ago, I told you the wind was changing directions and asked if you wanted to switch to runway 8. You said no."

It was pretty quiet for a while after that, and the boss was kind of eyeing both of us for a few minutes.

I'm just glad I wasn't flying. I wouldn't want to be forced into doing something unsafe because a controller's ego got in the way.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day.