Turn Around Hiatus

Before you start yelling at me for taking 2 weeks to post something new, you have to let me plead my case.

I am currently working turn around. This started right after my delicious mint chocolate cupcake post. It’s not my fault, it’s a job. They send me a check regularly and as such I am obliged to show up when told to do so. Because of that I have been working lots of extra hours these last two weeks. This is bad for the blog for exactly 2 reasons.
1. During times like these, I have little interest in eating healthy or taking time to cook. So I haven’t made anything new. Come on, we’re lucky that I’m still kinda cooking at all during this time.
2. When I do finally get home, I crash on the couch, and I can’t even find enough energy to get up and sit at the computer even if I did have something new to blog about.

Now, for those of you that don’t know what it means to work a turn around (TA from here on out). Let me break it down for you.

TA – is when a plant/operating unit shuts down all its equipment, takes it apart, cleans it, improves it, modifies it, then puts it back together. Thankfully these happen infrequently (like every 5 years). The idea is that when the plant starts up again everything will be perfect since everything’s clean and peachy and fantastic. But in reality this isn’t the case. But that’s another story for another time.

What a TA means for me as an engineer – I get to run around (literally) and take care of a billion little issues that come up. I also get to do a lot of my normal type work, but I have to work it at an accelerated pace because my work can’t slow down the progress of the TA. (You do that and you make enemies for life). So in TA mode I have to do something in like an hour when in normal mode it could take me a week. The good thing about all this is that it makes the days go fast which means a TA seems to fly by. Sometimes though, sometimes I wonder about people. This is an example of an issue I took care of once:

I walk up to a group of guys who are working on a project
Me: What’s going on?
Lead guy: The new bolts won’t fit because they’re too long, so can we use these other bolts.
Me: Do these other bolts fit?
Lead guy: Yes.
Me: Then yes, use the bolts that fit.

Seriously – true story. I’m a problem solver I am!

All this running around and solving problems takes its toll. This is what happens to me during a TA. My knees and feet start hurting (please keep in mind that normally-not during TA-I spend a majority of my time at my desk). I become so physically drained that once I sit down it takes an enormous amount of effort to get back up – even when it means going home. On top of this, I actually become mentally exhausted as well. Not because of issues like the bolts above, but a lot of times I do have to think critically to help with something. On top of this I work extra days which means I have no weekend to recover and rejuvenate. Tough stuff.

All of this exhaustion results in no new recipes, barely making dinner (we had frozen pizza and breakfast for dinner this week) and just being gosh darn tired.  I also forget a lot of stuff and talk to myself in an almost insane manner.

But the end is in sight! I’m scheduled to be back to normal by Monday and I even get tomorrow off! Yay. This week I do plan on making goodness. So there should be one or two treats in store. Thanks for bearing with me!