The KIDS
Here’s a photo of my son Henry. (maybe not, I forgot how.) There’s only a little bit about him on this website as opposed to the numerous entries and photos of my daughter. The reason being that I was working 10 to 12 hours a day during the first year of his life so I wasn’t updating this web site the way I did when Lydia was born. Now it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten how to do anything on the web site. I don’t even remember how to add photos.
Both of my kids are doing fantastic. Keri and I really lucked out in the DNA lottery and somehow managed to produce kids that are smarter and better looking than both of us. Right now they need a lot of attention so much of my life is all about them. It’s tough to explain how all consuming kids are to people who don’t have them.
Kids change everything. I don’t have the fearless lifestyle. The days of the Probe were a different life altogether. I’m not even the same person.

The Job
I wrote an entry about my job that I never got around to putting on the site and now it’s obsolete. My job used to be a pain the ass because I took care of a lot of lagoons. It was pretty shitty work, rusted out leaky pumps in damp pits, spreading hundreds of pounds of harsh chemicals that burned skin and sinuses, putting on big waders in 100 degree heat to run a 200 ft. of hose out to some clogged fountain in the middle of a lagoon. I worked ten to twelve hours everyday, waking up at 3am and then getting home at the same time as the kids. It was miserable, never time for anything. I was always tired and irritable.
Then my lagoon accounts got sold, then the remaining ones went to a new company and that changed things altogether. Now I have and easy 8 hour day doing non-residential spas and pools with only one pond and lagoon. The great thing is that I’m completely on my own. My boss lets me do my own thing as long as the accounts are happy.
Dave Four Eyes said to me this weekend “Still got the job cleaning pools?” but that isn’t really accurate. During the winter I have to do a lot of cleaning because of the storms, but during the warm months I really don't spend any time cleaning. I vacuum each pool about once a month, but most of the job revolves around the pumps, filters and chlorinators. With spas there isn’t any cleaning. It’s all about maintaining a small but steady chlorine flow. In low income housing developments there may be 30 people using a spa every day so the chlorine flow is heavy. However, you have to be careful because, replacing a feeder tube, acid cleaning the tubing, or a new injector can have a dramatic effect on the flow and you can end up pissing people off if you aren’t careful. The guy that trained me burned some people. He was more of a fix it guy and not too good with the chems. A former semi-conductor repairman, he felt over-qualified for the job so he made some lazy mistakes and ended up quitting like every single other person that was hired while I was there. There were ten people in two years. I was the only one to stay.
Small, lesser used spas inside gyms and such use 50 times less chlorine and you have to treat them differently. If chlorine goes to zero the inspectors shut you down so you can’t just undershoot. Same with pools, unlike residential pools, you have to have a chlorinator. I’m only at an account twice a week so everything needs to be working. With 70 kids using a pool in 90 degree heat it only takes a day of no flow to turn the water into pea soup. The smallest leak can cause a massive problem. A dirty filter and low flow rate and even with chlorine the water gets cloudy quick. Anyway, like my boss said when he hired me. “None of this is brain surgery, but it will be two years before you really know what you’re doing.” I’m good at what I do, but I don’t like the plumbing aspect. I like trouble shooting until I actually have to take things apart. I don’t have that man vs. machine mentality. A good day for me is uneventful. I listen to books on CD to keep from getting bored out of my mind. I normally can go the entire day without speaking to anybody which is how I prefer it. I’m at the top of the pay scale for service so if I wanted to move up I’d have to get into repairs full time or get my own business. I don’t have much interest in that so I decided to follow Keri into the paralegal field.

The next job
The company Keri works for, the one that sent us on a Hawaiian vacation, got sold to a larger company in Vegas. The place has been going downhill ever since so she decided to look for an out. She found that Hayward State (now called East Bay State) has one of only two ABA approved paralegal certificate programs in the state. After she went there for a couple of quarters I decided to do the same thing.
It's a decent career choice. It's not like trying to jump on some wave. The jobs will always be there. I can do the work. The classes aren't difficult for me, but where I may have a problem is that I will always be working under someone else. Truck driving, sub-teaching, and my current job I've enjoyed being off on my own with nobody looking over my shoulder. Ill also have to get used to dealing with computers. I’ve never worked in an office of any kind. It will be a big adjustment so for the sake of my family I hope I don't choke.
The transition will be second nature for Keri.