First day of ... -- October 30, 2011

Fallon, NV: 
Back to school, bungy jumping, starting life in a fifth wheel: The first day of anything is exciting and scary. Today was our first day of work for amazon.com. We acted like enthusiastic kids getting ready do something new and exciting.

I got up at 4:15 a.m. to get ready for job start time of 6:30 a.m. Showered, ate breakfast, packed lunches, drove to work (which took 25 minutes). The road from our RV Park to Fernley is a very wide four-lane highway (U.S. 50) with a center turn lane. Speed limit is 60-65 mph most of the way!

At Amazon.com, the new hires were split into two groups; we were in the red group. Skills testing was our first activity, after which we moved to another room to complete our I-9 paperwork and show our I.D.s to HR personnel.  For the next three hours, we had safety training and learned all kinds of warehouse information dealing with pallet carts, safe lifting, conveyor belt gate safety, tripping hazards, different kinds of carts, etc. We then had a tour of the fulfillment center.

Lunch was on our own which we brought as per instructions.

After lunch, we had over two hours of HR information presented to us.

We found out we will be working day shift in the receiving department. We will find out our specific jobs on Wednesday. Apparently no work kampers will be "pickers," so we're pretty disappointed. But, as they told us today, things can change in an instant. 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous again today. The forecast is for an abrupt change to colder and stormier weather this week. Tomorrow night into Tuesday the temperature is supposed to drop sharply with highs only in the high 40s or low 50s. Overnight temperatures could be around 24. 

Must - get - insulation - for - our - water - hose! We do not want our water system to freeze. 

Does anyone out there know how to use a convection oven? Can I cook squash in it? I tried tonight, but the squash turned brown and stayed hard. I ended up steaming it.

So far no major mishaps with the RV. As part of our learning curve, we had the grey water back up into the shower because we didn't know our holding tank was full. Gauges in the unit show how full the tanks are getting, but we hadn't checked the gauges frequently enough. Now we look at them every couple of days.

We thought we would use the restrooms and showers at the RV park. How silly of us. Why would we want to go outside and freeze our behinds off when we can stay in our 5er and be warm and cozy? Not to mention that to use the park's shower we'd have to schlepp our shampoo, towels, etc., back and forth.

I am waiting to hear back on a job opportunity in Reno from January to mid-April. Tomorrow we plan to apply for summer jobs (end of April to early November) at Yellowstone in 2012. 

Bob is kicked back in a recliner reading "One Second After," by William Forstchen. Such an interesting book. The book is fiction, takes place in the near future, and deals with EMP (electromagnetic pulse) bombs. The book examines what would happen to our country if all electronics didn't work. Quite a page turner.

Speaking of books, some are calling my name, so I'm off to read. G'night all.