I worked the 6 PM to 6 AM shift at Rubbermaid last night, and do it again tonight.  I was depressed going in to work, but was cheered when I arrived and was told I was going to be hired permanently starting Dec. 18th – just in time to get paid for the Christmas and New Years holidays – I’m kind of surprised they would do that.  I’ll also receive a substantial raise in pay, but don’t know how much exactly yet.  It will still be low pay, but any improvement gives me hope.  I need to go in for a drug test tomorrow – will know more then.

I didn’t make it to church today like I had hoped.  I don’t know when my body will get used to this schedule.  A woman at work told me last night that she’s been doing the night shift for 3 years and has never gotten used to it – doesn’t sound promising.  But she’s got it a lot worse than I do – 3 small children that demand her attention during the day, plus she’s working on a college degree!  I don’t know how she does it.

I’ve learned some things about factory workers – at least in the case of Rubbermaid, and it’s probably not much different elsewhere – they aren’t stupid.  Many are foreign, as was the woman last night (she’s from Russia), and they just haven’t had some of the opportunities that are open to natural born citizens.  Others, like me, are just down on their luck.  As a rule, they are all very friendly and helpful.  I’ve noted that the maintenance crew, who no doubt make a lot more money than we press operators, are generally a cruder bunch – use foul language, etc.  Just goes to show that you shouldn’t make judgments about people.

I’ve even had a gospel discussion with a young man named Jodie.  I met him the first night and when I mentioned that I switched to the night shift partly so I could attend church every Sunday, he said he also tries to go to church, but found it very difficult.  I told a few things about my religion.  I was surprised that he’d never heard of Mormons.  Yesterday I gave him a couple “pass-along” cards with a free offer for a DVD I think and a website address.  I hope he checks it out.

I do believe that the workers as a whole smoke more than the average population, which is disappointing, but I’m sure it has more to do with the environment they came from than anything else.

Ruby, the woman I’ve had more interest in, has been difficult to reach as usual.  There’s a lot I could say about that – maybe later.

Amey, who I met while working on the Kirtland Conference,  seems to be interested – I’ve gotten a few message from her.  She really complimented me on my post about Sarah’s wedding – said I’m a “very articulate and tenderhearted guy”  That’s sweet of her.  Maybe there’s something there.

I think Jean, who I also met at the conference, is still interested, but I just don’t think it’s going to work – too bad – she lives so close.

Cheryl, who I also met at the conference, is still interested apparently.  I just got a note from her this morning on Facebook.  On an impulse, I sent back a message asking if I was still welcome to visit her next weekend.  We had talked about that a couple weeks ago.  She replied she is so I might just do that.  I need a little fun in my life.  We did get along very well at the conference, but I guess I felt we were moving a little too fast – getting things out of order.  We will just have to be careful.

I also wanted to mention that I received a message from Pieter Wouden, who served in Fukushima in the Sendai Mission with me.  He found me on mission.net.  It was great to hear from him.  I got a message a couple weeks ago from Ogawa Choro (Elder Ogawa), who was my companion in the mission home – great to hear from him, too.

I thought I was supposed to go into work at Rubbermaid last evening – I’ve just started the night shift – 6 PM to 6 AM, but when I got there, I discovered that only half the normal people were there, and no temporary employees like myself.  I guess I should have known – that’s what they do for the Thankgsgiving holiday.  So I went home, unsure of whether I should be happy or sad.

Since I hadn’t seen Emily (my daughter) on Thanksgiving (she didn’t feel like participating in the gathering at my brother’s house), I called her.  When she said she wasn’t doing anything, I offered to take her to a movie (the “dollar” theater, that costs $2.25 on weekends!) – seems to have become a standard thing for us.  So we did that (after I had already made 2 trips to Hartville and Canton yesterday to help Andrew (my son) purchase a truck.  He is so excited about that, by the way – has been wanting to get a Ford F-250 for ages.  Emily was also quite excited about it.  He even let her drive it.

I tried to stay up late in an attempt to get my body adjusted to this new work schedule, and made it until about 3 AM.  Then woke up a little after 8.  I don’t know how I’m going to make it all night tonight.

It is kind of nice to be able to get up in a more leisurely fashion, without the aid of an alarm.  The plan, generally, is to go to bed as soon as I get off work, and sleep until I wake up naturally.  There are a couple of problems with this. I have a tendency to stay in bed too long.  Another has to do with church.  One of the reasons I switched to this schedule is because I wanted to be able to attend  every week, but now it seems like I will have a problem going every week, not just every other week as it’s been – the work schedule is on a two week cycle.  I don’t think I’ll be able to stay up all night and not go to bed until 11 AM or so, which is about the only way to work Saturday night and get to church at 9 AM.  But this also presents a problem even when I’m not working on Saturday night because I need to get into a routine or I just won’t be getting enough sleep.  I guess I’ll just have to try sleeping both before and after church on those days.

When I woke up this morning, I was feeling depressed as usual, thinking about my situation.  I need a lot more direction.  I want to get married and out of debt, both of which hinge on increasing my income, but finding a good job has been such a struggle.  I’ve been trying for 4 years now and have kind of given up.  I keep coming back to the idea of self-employment.  That seems to be my only hope, and it’s what I’ve known for most of the past 25 years.

Andrea called me.  I need to talk to someone, and it helps a little to talk to her, but it seems we always end up in a debate, and I don’t feel very comforted.  She’s always been opposed to the idea of self-employment so we can’t talk about that.

Sarah was a beautiful bride, and David seems to be a great catch. I’m very proud of her, and happy for her. Sarah has always been a wonderful example to all those around her, and a near-perfect daughter. I’ve had some trouble giving her up and getting used to the idea that she belongs to someone else now, but I guess that’s a necessary part of the eternal plan of happiness for her – and me, too.

I’m a little slow posting this, but wanted to summarize highlights of the conference I attended Oct 23-25.  I was on the organizing committee and received the assignment to design the website (www.kirtlandsaconference.org) and handle registration.  It’s been very time-consuming, but rewarding.  We had 230 people in attendance – I believe the ratio was about 3 women for every man, which was good for us guys – not so good for the girls.

We had some minor glitches with registration, but no major problems.  I was fearing that we’d have a hundred people show up that were unregistered, but we only had about 15.  It looks like we made just enough money to cover all expenses so we’re happy about that.

I was fearing the dances since I don’t know how to, but somehow it was fine.   A few women wanted to dance with me and didn’t seem to care that I didn’t know what I was doing.  The most notable women I met were Jean from Stow, Ohio, Klixi from somewhere in Michigan, and Cheryl who lives close to Palmyra, NY.  I ended up spending the most time with her, and she was a lot of fun.  She talked me into skipping out on the final portion of the conference – a panel discussion, which I kind of regret.

We had some excellent speakers and workshop presenters.  The highlight was the Sunday morning service in the Kirtland Temple.  The weather was perfect – lots of sunshine which helped since there are no lights in the temple – just lots of windows.  It was quite different than being in any other temple or any regular chapel for that matter, because of all the sunshine pouring in.  I got to help pass the Sacrament.  I had stories (from my children) about the hard seats at the Temple, but they weren’t that bad.  They have cushions, actually, although the backs are straight and hard.  I sat with Cheryl after passing the Sacrament.  We were together all day actually, up until the time to go home about 4 PM or so.  She’s really nice, and fun, but not sure if I should pursue the relationship further at this point.

Here’s what I placed on the home page of the website a week or two after the conference:

We wish to thank all those who were able to attend the 2009 conference, held October 23-25.  We had 231 participants from 20 states and Canada.  Forty-seven donated blood as part of a service project.  We wrote 54 cards/letters to missionaries, and 58 cards to servicemen and women, as part of another service project.  We had 4 main speakers, 12 workshops, 2 dances, and 5 meals.  And let’s not forget the many volunteers – both single and married – who gave their time to make it all happen.  We thank you all!

The highlight of the weekend was the Sunday morning sacrament service & testimony meeting at the Kirtland Temple where we had 80 choir members and dozens bearing their testimony.

The numbers don’t tell the real story, however, of how lives were touched and testimonies strengthened.  If you were there, we hope you had a special experience.

Here are a few comments by our participants:

“A big THANK YOU to all  who worked so hard on the conference. It was really great; just the right mix of spiritual activities and fun. The speakers were all fantastic. The food was really good and the sack lunches were more than ample. Again, thank you.” Joyce

“Thanks for a fantasic conference. I hope to attend the 2010 conference. It was very uplifting and lots of fun meeting new people.” Marlene

“Thank you so much for everything. I really appreciate everything you did to make the conference so wonderful. Thanks again and blessings from above.” Gretchen

“You all did such a great job and I thank you for the experience.   This was my first conference and I enjoyed it immensely.  All three days were oustanding and the sacrament meeting at the temple was more than I could have ever imagined.  This was my first trip to the temple in or out and I was just overwhelmed with the presence of the spirit. I am praying for and looking forward to a working temple in Northern Ohio…Kirtland being my choice of where.  Thanks again.” Caroleanne

“THANK YOU for a great conference.  We were ALL so pleased, and so spiritually fed.  And it was FUN, too!” Pamla

“THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART — IT WAS THE BEST USE OF TIME AND MONEY SPENT ON MY PART IN A VERY LONG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!” Gloria