Daves new Job

After we got back from the river Dave found out that he had gotten a new job with a company called NALCO.  He had been operating a wirelining truck for the past few years which means that he would set off explosives on oil and gas wells and find out what they needed to do to produce better and also run diagnostic logs.  He here not knowing anything about oilfield work and planning on just doing something until I got through nursing school.  So he said a prayer and headed down to job service and found a job as a wireline operator about six months later he was an engineer and running his own truck and surprisingly totally enjoyed how challenging it was and all the problem solving that went into it.  But like a lot of oilfield jobs they are very physically demanding and after four years the strain of not having a consistent schedule job was taking its toll .  How many times can you get up at three in the morning and get home around nine or 10 at night and not want to shoot yourself.  In fact I think for about two years while the oilfield was booming he worked an average of 12-16 hour days 6 days a week.         

He was so patient all that time that he was practically on call 24/7 because his job did give him a lot of freedom like being able to take off for three weeks at a time but he could also be called out to a location at a moments notice.  One example was back in April this year when my family was headed down South we all were loaded up with the 4-wheelers and about 20 minutes before we left he was called to go up to Northern Idaho for a few days that kept adding on for a total of 23 days...so sometimes it was ridiculous and I was often getting worn down and feeling like a loser single girl half the time hanging out at her parents house.  We were also getting a little frustrated with how unpredictable his boss was and the company was as a whole when it came to salary, benefits and a lot of other things.  When a friend of his he had met at his job called him up and told him he had found the perfect job for his personality and that it was a sales position with a chemical company we were pretty interested, to say the least.

          Dave sent his resume in and got an interview along with 12 other candidates from across the country.  Out of those 12 he was called back to interview again with another guy.   After the interview he was still unsure about what would happen because the other candidate had two masters degrees one in chemical engineering and one in physics, so we really weren't really wanting to get our hopes up.  Well the end of the story is that all worked out and he got it!!!!   So we are pretty excited it means that he now will work 7-4 pm Mon-Friday with all weekends and Holidays off which will be something he has never had with any job he's ever worked.  He also got to pick out a new work truck and will be spending a lot of time in it driving around the oil patch selling chemicals.  He will get to do this for the most part on his own which means that he will be a one man show in many ways and his success will be largely dependent on how much he wants to put into it, which will hopefully bring more sanity into his life.

           Getting his truck all put together has been a big project and he has had a lot of fun getting it just to his liking, here are some pictures of how detailed everything is and believe me when I say that he thought everything through down to the very organized truck box, seat covers and tinted window.    

His co-worker Matt got this same truck but with the extended version, Dave wanted the extra truck bed space instead, he was pretty good at working a good deal with the salesman on the lot.  Things sure have changed over the years,  it's  funny to think about "little red", Dave's first Toyota.  I am sure my sister in law will never forget the three of us truckin down the highway in Idaho after a river trip with two raft frames on top of the pig hauler, no air conditioner, with it pinned at 55 mph and the three of us crammed in front with the gear shifter between knees.  Good Times

Plenty of possibilities for strapping things down, I am sure this will double for convenience on river trips I think the blue and yellow NRS straps will go nicely with the red