General

I was talking to some one the other day. He was a young man of about 22. He had mentioned about how he had to go pick up his daughter. I had made a comment about how he had 10 years till he had to lock her up and throw away the key, I did say thios in jest. His comment was to the effect that if she was curoius about sex she could do what she wanted. He did not even take the part of the protective father. I know our values are slowly falling but has it dropped that low? Where are the values any more?

A dream

OK. If dreams are a window to the soul then I am going to give you a little peak inside of my soul. To start with I had talked to mom and dad earlier and they had told us how everyone was doing. I guess something they said about Cindy and Chase having challenges with Maren not sleeping at night must have reached into my subconscious.
In the dream Lisa and I seemed to live in the same apartment complex in fact they were 8 doors down the hall from us. Well I went down the hall and knocked on their door and asked if they wanted me to take care of Maren and the boys for a little bit so they could get some sleep. They had no problem with that and Maren when I asked if she wanted to come with me she reached up for me to grab her. It was really sweet. I hope you read this Cindy and Chase.

Catch up

Hello everyone. I know it has been a while since I last posted anything. I guess there has not been a whole lot to talk about. I did turn 42 since last I wrote. It was a simple affair. I received 2 work shirts, two old Mel Brooks movies and enjoyed dinner out at the Grand Sierra (thanks Mom and Dad). I also wnat to thank Tamra for the birthday call. Lisa has been doing great. She still enjoys her work. This week she was able to get an extra day of work in. I guess they were having a Job Fair at her work. I was also released from my church calling as assistant Ward Clerk. I am now the Elders Quorum Secretary.
As far as work goes it has been so-so. I am so far the only one from RNO2 who has not been written up for anything. A few are on attendence probation some are on a Performance Improvment Plan, aka PIP. Does it mean I am better then they are? No! Just means I ahve been lucky to keep my numbers up and to try not to make mistakes in quality or attendence. But I have my own complaints. I have been stuck doing the same process since I arrived at RNO1. Stowing after a while is not fun. I like variety in jobs it helps keep me motivated. I have tried talking to three levels of managment and all I kep getting was the same song and dance of, "oh well get you trained." I am getting ready to turn in a transfer request to another departmant. I am looking at the Inventory department, Shipping and Picking departments. I have had people there that want me. So stay tuned maybe the next news will be I am in a new department.

13 Years

Well 13 years ago Lisa and I were joined together. I am grateful to have her has a companion. The things I love about her is her patience with me. Her willingness to laugh at my crazy humor. But i most appreciate is her having agreed to be my companion. I know I got the better deal. Happy Anniversery Dear. 13 years and counting.

First Month at Fernley

Hi all. Sorry it has been a little while since my last post. The computer is starting to show it's age but so far I seem to have fixed it.

It has been almost a month since I have started a Fernley on the night shift so I though I would give a little bit of an update on that. I will start off by saying the first two weeks were a bit rough. It was more a matter of getting use to doing things the Fernley way as apposed to how things were done at the Red Rock FC. So had I tried to write anything about what it was like it would have been a negative review and not very balanced.

It was not major things that got me in trouble it was little things. Trying to reember to use my bin marker when I was stowing so I knew which bin I was stowing to. You have to have knee pads if youa re going to be resting on one knee when stowing to the bottom shelf and my two favorites, and this is becuase I am not tall, I can only stack totes two high instead of three so I can see where I am pushing (I can see over them but the top of the last tote has to be at the sholder even though I could see over the top of a three stack) and I need to use a step stool to stow on the top shelf. So I would say my first two weeks were not happy moments since I never really had those issues in Red Rock.

A month has gone by and I feel I can give it a little better porspective. I adopted to night shift a lot better. I even like it more then day's. I seem to sleep better and am not so tired by the end of shift like I was at Red Rock. The work is a a lot lighter there. The totes are not allowed to be over 23 lbs which is light for me. You do have to do more here since what they lack in Weight the make up for in volume. I need to be able to stown 220 units an hour and I am close to that now. I stow about 195 units so just need to get that last little bit in. I am also starting to get to know the people a little more. Most of them have eben really good at helping me feel welcome over there. We do have one "Interesting" person on my shift. Melinda is "her" name. I guess she use to be a he but had the surgery to change her. It was the adams apple that was the give away. Still trying to get to know the managers. One is a gent by the name of Dan and so far he seems pretty good. The other is Geir (pronounced gear) he is the one that seemed to always be walking by and helping "correct" my bad habits. Still getting to know him and I will not use his correction as a negative against him.

In other news I am having a great time getting to hang with Cade, Cael, Hunter and Meron. Cade has sure grwon as well as the others. Cael calls me his Best buddy. I try not to say good bye around Hunter becasue for some reason he starts crying when he knows I am leaving. Meron is a littl sweet heart. She crawls from the dining room to come over to me. She like it when I bounce her on my knee and sing to her. She even claps and it is just too darn cute.

Lisa is enjoying her new schedule. She is working Monday Wednsday, Friday and Saturday. It gives us some time together still so that a plus even if it is a little different since even on my days off I go to bed by about 3:30 to 5:30 in the morning. No sence messing with my internal clock since I am on this new schedule. Hope everyone is doing well. Brian out.

End of an Era

Hi all. Yesterday marked an end to an era for me. It was the last day for the Redrock warehouse. We were there for only half a day and then it was lights out. There was only about 15 of us left trying to get all the last mionutwe things done.

I was helping get things ready to be loaded on to trucks. Thursday was when we sent out the last package from the warehouse. Yesterday the last truck was loaded up with sellable inventory.

Monday I will start my new night schedule. For the first week it will be 5 days of training, from 6pm to 2:30am in various departments and then the week after I will go to my regular shift which is Wed-Sat 6pm to 4:30 am. I look forward to it.

Lisa received some good news earlier thuis week. For a long time she was cut to just two days a week for only 4 hours a day. She recieved a call on Monday from her work and it look like she will get two more days added. So her new schedule will be monday and tuesday from 10am to 3pm. She will still work her Friday and Saturday 12 pm to 4 pm. This will be good for her since those times will be whne I sleep for teh most part. It will give her somethign to do while I try to rest.

Friends

Hi. Just wanted to shae two pictures. The one on the far left is of me, Patrik (who will car pool with me to Fernley) and Eusabio. In the Picture on the right it is Enida(L) Anna(C) and Eusabio. Enida, Anna and Patrik are people I have really grown to care about. Patrik is from the Marshall Islands. Enida is from Mexico and Eusabio and Anna are from El Salvador. Enida and Anna will be on day shift so I will not get to see them as much. Eusabio is resigning from Amazon so he can go to Denver to be with his Wife and Kids and Patrik will be working with me on nights.

It really hit me today and I tried my best not ot tear up but I did have to say goodbye to three of them. Patrik. Like me does not start in Fernley till June 1st. But for the others it was their last day. All I can say is Via con Dios Amigos. I will enchar en falta de mi amigos. (hope I half got that right.

The warehouse is also emptying out. We are down to the last 50% of product that we have to transfer to the Phoenix Warehouse. We cleared our shelves out so there is abou 3000 sq ft open. I am also switching the last 2 weeks plus one week in fernley for training to the Monday - Friday. I hope to get at least one or two more pictures I can post. I wanted to get one of inside the warehouse but was told that was a no-no. The one I really want to get is of Big Jim. He is about 6'5 and has a peronality that is just as big. He always tried to make sure at least once a quarter we had a BBQ. The BBQ would have Shrimp, Chicken, Brauts, Hamburgers and Tri Tip. That is how things are going for me.

Lisa is doing well. She is excited and can't wait to everyone when they get here from Utah and Okinawa. I look forward to seeing everyone and seeing how the kids have grown. Bless you all.

My 3rd great Nephew

Hi all. I would like you to meet my Great Nephew Brian Adam Dobkins. I guess Calvin and his wife decided on Adam instead of Javec. He was born in Anchorage Alaska on 4/22/09 he was 19 inches and weighed about 7 lbs 2 oz. Welcome to the Family Brian

Follow up news to last post.

For those who read the last post You know they are closing down the warehouse I am at now. I was able to put in my transfer papers for fernely I requested as my first choice Wed-Sat dyas and I wanted to eb in the picking department.
Well today I recieved the news that I will get to transfer to Fernley but not great news. I will get to work Wed-Sat but it will be from 6 pm to 4:30 am and I am in the Inbound department, they do receive, stocking and consolidation. I was a little bummed but oh well I am still greatful that I have a job. For that I am greatful and hopefully one day I can get back on day shift.
I will work at the Red Rock Facility till the end of May becuase Big Jim, one of my bosses, wants me to be a team leader in one of the transfer projects. I will start in Fernley in June. ThAT is the current news. Hope everyone is well.

NEWS!

I just came home from work. We recieved news that the warehouse I am in is being shut down. It does not mean I will be losing a job but it does mean a longer cummute. I will be allowed to transfer to the Fernley plant. Not sure of where I will be put. The only thing I can be sure of is I will get the shift of Wed - Sat. The warehouse we were in was just not big enough and Amazon found a warehouse in Pheonix that was bigger then ours. Our wharehouse is only about 300,000 square feet. There were a lot of tears shed at the announcment. Some will be losing there status as lower managment. In my case I will be getting a raise since Fernley pays a higher rate then our Reno warehouse did. Some will quit becuase they do not like Fernley. I will try to be positive that I did not lose my job since the unemployment rate around here is 11%. They also set it up so people could transfer to any warehouse in the US. Pheonix sounded a little too hot for me. Also with Lisa she has a job even if it is only 8 hours a week. Other wise Dallas or one of the Kentucky would have been a good deal. Well that is the news sorry if it seems scattered. The news was a bit of a blow.

My Niece Rena has just e-mailed me the latest photos of my grand nephews and niece. I will start on the right side and that is Timothy, named after my brother, Christopher, who is named after one of his dads family members and Hilma, named after my mom (her great grandma. The kids are part Yupik. I also got news from my nephew Calvin that he and his wife are expecting a boy in April. Calvins wife is also Yupik. They both decided to name the boy Brian Javek Dobkins. So my name carries on.

Valentines day

Happy Valentines day everyone. I know it is mostly a commercial holiday . That is ok since I believe it takes just one day a year to celebrate our love for each other. That being said. Lisa and I gave each other a a card and later today we will go to Denny's where I will have a Grand Slam breakfast and Lisa will have whatever she wants. The Denny's tradition started our first year of our marriage. We wanted to go to this one restraunt but it was too crowded and after checking several others we ended up at Denny's and every V Day that is where Lisa and I go.
The Cards we gave each other were very funny. I would even say they were very well matched this year.
The one I gave Lisa said, "A Valentine for my wife", "Y'know. I've always admired that thing you do - that one special skill only you seem to have...I call it, the ability to put up with me."
The one Lisa gave me says, "Happy Valentine's Day to Brian, a husband who's loved for his kindness, good looks and intelligence...Oh, and ewirdness -- don't forget weirdness.
Hope these messages brought a as much a smile to your face as they did to Lisa and I

New Shedule review

In the last post I talked about my new schedule. Today i woudl like to give a little review of it. I must say I like it. I only need to work two days strait and then I have either a day or two days off. That is a big plus for me becuase when I was working 4 dyas strait I was feeling it by day three. This way a little break in the middle is nice. I also get to work with more people since I work through two regular shifts. It means I get to see different people from shift one as well as the manager from Shift one. Over all it is a great experience plus I still have one day during the week to get things done that I can't get done on Saturday. I give this new shift two thumbs up. :D

Latest News

Hi one and all. I know we have not posted in a little while. Things have not been exciting that is why. This week and last week have been about the most exciting. Last week Lisa started to get more hours at work.I think she is up to a 25 hour work week so she is happy. She is a little confused right now becuase they are trying to finalize what her schedule will be and what she will be doing but she is working more hours. I say Hurray for Lisa!!!
As for myself work is still going. I am working about 38 hours a week. THey have made some changes at work that has effected me. Since AMazon is not so busy on the weekend they created a third shift. I was asked to be part of that shift so now I work Monday. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. This gives me Wednsday, Saturday and Sunday off. I look forward to it. It is a nice little change. I also recieved a surprise. I guess when you have worked for teh company for 5 years you get stock that is automatically vested. I recieved more then a few shares. I am leaving them alone though as much as I could think of a few things for LIsa and I. WEll that is all the news keep blogging so I can see what you all are up to.