F.U.C.K. IT!

Life is not all rainbows and fucking unicorns! This world comes with so much stress and so many expectations. Sometimes you just have to say FUCK IT. For me, the word FUCK is empowering.

Free
Under your own code
Cut the bullshit
Kick it. If it isn't allowing you to be you. Kick it to the curb.



I think it's important to be bold with who you are and what makes you happy. Feel good about the life you are living folks, because this is it. Now is all you have! Ruffle some feathers if you have to. Don't worry about what some chump has to say about the way you live your life. Stand up for yourselves. Don't hide who you are for the comfort of others. Fuck them. If they don't accept you than it's their loss. It's important to take pride in who you are and what you represent. There are tons of negative Nancy's out there, when you find them, kill them with kindness. That's all us lovers can do.

I encourage you to Push the limit.

Matching is overrated. Red and green together isn't always Christmas. Stomp out social norms. Make your own COOL. Be honest with yourself.

Imagine your life in a snow globe and if you wouldn't want it on your mantle... Change it!






.... AND

Dandelions are flowers too!!!!



My cat, (Lucy in the sky with diamonds) is displaying her FUCK IT attitude here, by laying on our fruit plate!!! (YES!)

It'll just take a minute, but IT WILL matter!

As I sit here writing, I am in a pair of yoga pants, a pair of sweatpants over top of the yoga pants, a t-shirt, two flannels and am lucky enough to have a blanket on. My heater is broken in my trailer and I am freeeezing my buns off. As I sit here thinking of ways to get warm, I cannot help but think about all those people out there that are cold, like this, night after night. I think about how lucky I am to be fortunate enough to have two pairs of pants and two flannels to put on. Not everyone is as blessed. I am writing tonight to start something small that I hope will affect at least a few cold human beings out there. We all know we have a giant linen closet full of like 20 old blankets that we hardly ever use. I am writing to encourage you to take one of those blankets, in the next week, to someone in your town that needs it. Whether it be the guy you see on your way to work, that is asking for change, or the woman who you work with that is having trouble paying her electric bill. Look into their eyes and offer them the wonderful luxury of warmth. We take too much for granted. Let's not.


Please share your experience

and

Thank You!

Thanks for stopping by San Diego.... Stay classy San Diego

So... I recently have stopped using social networking sites and began blogging. The one thing that I don't like about it, is it's one sided. You get to see what I am doing but I do not get to see what you are doing, or that you even stopped by my blog. I encourage you to leave me a little note on here when you stop by. In fact I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
Thanks and May the Force Be With You

"What exactly is it that you do here...."

 I am a Wind Turbine Inspector. I have three primary tasks within my company. My first and favorite task is check on mechanical completion. Once the turbine is considered "mechanically complete" I climb the turbines and do a "walk-down" with the people that are putting them together. I go through the whole wind turbine and check to make sure that everything is in fact put together correctly and is ready for commissioning. If there are parts of the turbine that need attention, I make a "punch list" of the items that need to be fixed and give it to the mechanical completion crew.

The second task I have is during the construction phase of the project. I watch the main crane put together the turbines. I enjoy this part of my job as well because I get to hang out with all of the iron workers and make sure everyone is working safely and efficiently. I also check all the components before they fly to make sure that they are in mint condition.

The third task I have as an inspector, is to be in charge of receiving. This is done prior to either of the first two tasks. I make sure that all the wind turbine components come in in good shape and I document every missing or broken component.

I love my job and look forward to coming into work everyday!
I challenge you to find something that you LOVE doing! It makes work more of an adventure!

Sommersby's Art

My little sister, Sommersby, painted this picture of me. My wonderful family mailed it to me this week and it made my whole week! Thank you Sommer!

OklaHOMO

Here is my new little home!( notice my cute little gay pride flag) Currently, I am working in Davis, Oklahoma helping build 75 turbines. Everyone in Oklahoma is so nice. When I found out I was coming here I was.. less than pleased. I figured people would judge me for having dread locks and for my alternative style. I was extremely wrong. Turns out I was the one being judgemental. Everyone here has been warm and welcoming. (Most people get a kick out of my dreads too!) It's hard to show up in a new situation without expectations, but I think I end up having more fun when I check my expectations at the door. I am working on not judging people for who they are or their decisions. Traveling is helping me a lot with this. I still have a long way to go, but I feel I'm on my way.

 

I am about to finish up in Oklahoma and I believe I will be in Texas next. One fun part about my job is you never really know when or where you are going. You just have to let the wind blow you wherever it damned well pleases. I love it! What a fun way to see the U.S. I hope one day to work on turbines all around the world. Dream big folks. Might as well

Supermodel Documentary Hour

Sometimes we get to play

 

 

 

 

Me and my friend Carolyn striking a pose!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ironworkers

Urban Dictionary's definition for an Ironworker:

The craziest mother fuckers you will ever meet on a construction job.... They are the ones that put the steel up for buildings and bridges... They are the first to go where no man has gone... We don't go to the office.. We build it!!!

It seems like a little much but you get the general idea.

My definition:

Hardworking member of the union who shows little to no fear about any dangerous situation.

Something that gets overlooked when the term ironworker comes up is the incredible community that is present amongst them. It is difficult in words to depict the camaraderie shared between ironworkers. Most of these guys are away from home, their wives, kids, dogs and really their lives. Most of them have been working construction for years. Day after day they pull 12-16 hour shifts, 7 days a week for months at a time. Most of the time they don't even take breaks to eat. The other day I saw one of the guys I work with carrying around a grocery bag full of cold pizza that he was handing out to his buddies, that was as close to a lunch break as I have seen an ironworker take. Some of them do this to support their families, but I wonder about those that haven't made families yet. Will they take time to? What drives someone to want to work this hard and this much? Is it the money, is it the thrill? Is it the brotherhood? I may never know why these guys continue to show up day after day but what I do know is that it is inspiring. Their work ethic is incredible. The way these guys stay positive and watch each other's backs is amazing. There is something special about an ironworker.

When I asked one of my ironworker friends, that had worked over a month in a row, if he needed a day off, he replied  "Days off are overrated" HA!

                            Ray Ray                                  Sam                                       Jerry

                                                                         Ray Ray

Wind on a Whim

A little bit about myself.
I enjoy going places no one goes and doing things no one does. I do things on whims and sometimes, it even works out. Other times it turns out to be an awkwardly fun story or a good learning experience. I was going to school to be a elementary school teacher. Loving community college and my job flipping pies. Go to school. Go to work. Drink beer. Laugh. Play. Stay up into the wee hours of the night. Sleep in. Repeat. I was adventurous and had plenty of time to explore Portland and the many wonderful things it has to offer. What more can a girl want? I had been doing this for 4 years when I had this realization that I was going to school just to turn around and go back to school to teach. The thought seemed exhausting and quite frankly, boring. I thought back to all the great teachers I have had over the years. One of the main things that they all had in common was that they had all had crazy life experiences. They had really lived, traveled and learned from the world before settling down and becoming a teacher. Don't get me wrong, I loved my pizza job and all the experiences it lead me to but i knew I had not really lived yet. So I knew teaching would have to wait. But what would I get into now? During this period in my life I was experiencing a great deal of anxiety. I felt that I needed to listen to my anxiety and instead of dealing with it I needed to figure out what my sixth sense was telling me. I needed to do something just for me. I needed to take a leap that would hopefully pull me out of this spin.
At one point in life I had this friend that didn't really have a goal or direction for his life. When talking to my dad about it he mentioned this wind turbine school in Vancouver, Washington. When I was trying to decide what sort of change or adventure I needed to embark on these turbines kept popping in my head. I went to a seminar to learn about the school. I imagined standing on top of a turbine, 300 feet in the air with the wind on my face. I had to do it.
I signed up later that week.
When I called my mom to tell her she sounded astounded at my random idea to fix windmills. She asked hesitantly "Do you really think you will like it? Or is this just a Sam Whim?" She was asking a good question because I wasn't exactly the most handy person ever. I replied " Yes, I think I will like it and of course its just a Sam Whim!"
When I expressed my excitement/hesitation to my dad he told me that the school was only 6 months and once I got into industry if I didn't like it I could pay off my loans in a year and wash my hands of the whole situation. What a beautiful piece of advice and what a wonderful world I am a part of that that is an option. I was so lucky to be in a position to take this risk. I couldn't have done it without the mental/emotional/financial support of all three of my parents and Kendall my bestie.
So November 2013 I began Wind Tech School.


If you get one thing out of this post I would like it to be this.
Life comes in waves. Ruts come in stages and often time we are so distracted by life that we forget to look deep inside ourselves and check in with our souls. Our body reflects our soul and often times I think that we forget that. Anxiety is something that is more and more common these days. I challenge you to not get bogged down by your anxious feelings or thoughts but to dive into those and discover what your sixth sense is telling you. We check in with our loved ones to make sure they are okay, why not check in with ourselves?

Sam I Am

My name is Sam Ray and I work in the wind industry. I am 23 years old and I'm pretty sure I'm living my dream. I have a wonderful girlfriend that lives back home with our three cats and dog. I grew up in North Idaho however, today I claim Portland as my home. There are many reasons I have decided to blog about my experiences away from home and in the wind industry. One is that I am a woman in an industry primarily consisting of men. I would like to inspire woman everywhere to dive deeply into their dreams and figure out how they can live their lives to the fullest, and to dare them to push boundaries set by society. The second reason is because I like to make people laugh and keep them informed of my, what I think of as, very amusing life. The last reason I decided to blog is because I am far away from everyone I love and for the first time learning how to stand on my own two feet. I am LEARNING HOW TO FLY. Join me on my adventure!