A little about what I do

I probably should have started off with this post, but whatever. Just deal with it. I'm originally from Maryland, but about 6 years ago, I moved to the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Then, about 3 months ago, I moved to Charleston, the capitol of West Virginia. Growing up in an atmosphere where where WV was one of those states you always made fun of, I never imagined I would move there, but here I am, and in all honesty, I've grown to love this state. Yes, it has its flaws.... all states do, but it doesn't take much traveling in the state to see its beauty.

So, when I moved to Charleston, I took a job as a contractor for the local gas company. My job consists of installing electronic readers on the gas meters. My work routes tend to vary. Sometimes I'm in town, and others I'm in more rural areas... which pretty much make up the majority of the state. Having worked in warehousing for the last 15 years, being a field worker has been quite a change up. As cheesy as it sounds, some days are like an adventure, and every day has a story that's at least remotely interesting and funny. This is accentuated for me, being the selfie whore and social media junkie that I am.... Hey, at least I'm willing to admit it, right?

If you don't know, the photo above is a gas well, usually located in the middle of a field, and also usually pretty high up on a mountain. Some days at this job are easy, and some are hard. While it is more physically strenuous, I actually prefer the days on rural routes where I have to do a lot of walking.... even if that walking does often leave me out of breath, hating life, and kicking myself in the ass for being a smoker. #EveryDayIsLegDay

The photo above is a prime example. The red line is the road I was parked on, which was at the bottom of the hollow, or holler as we call it here. The red circle is where the meter I had to work on was. The walk was not a straight line, I followed that winding path you see up to the field, and then all the way across that field. Oh, and did I mention that field and meter were also at the top of a ridge? It kinda becomes like a scavenger hunt, and it can be fun. I probably put a little more effort into it than I should... occasionally looking at google earth and searching for a gas well or meter to make it easier for me to find it. You would honestly be surprised what you can see from a satellite image.

What can also be amusing with this job is that often, you deal with animals. Its mostly dogs, which range from ones that want to give you kisses, to ones that want blood. There are also times where you have an audience, be it horses, cows, or other farm creatures.

Animals aren't the only interesting part. I also run into some interesting people and see interesting places. Some of which I wish I had more pictures of, but going forward I will definitely document more. For example, there was one day I was doing a few meters in a trailer park near Sissonville... And no, I dont mean mobile home park. It was a trailer park. Campers, RVs, etc. The older fellow who ran the park with his wife was a very nice man, so as much as I wanted to take a photo of the sign at the front of the park, which read "Eden's trailer park" and below that "Let me tell you about Jesus!", I didn't. While I found the sign amusing, I didn't want to offend the guy, as he was very nice and helped me figure out where some of the meters I couldn't find were. Which brings me to another interesting aspect of this job. The notes on the work orders are often out of date, and have the old addresses before the 911 updates, which can be a struggle in itself.

This job definitely fits well with my odd sense of humor and the things that I find amusing. As I mentioned above, I've grown to adore West Virginia, but it's also fun to make fun of at the same time. For instance, one town I was working in was Poca. Yes, Poca, West Virginia; named after the Pocatalico river. Thier high school mascot is none other than The Dots. Seriously, you cant make this shit up.

There were two other things in this area that I found amusing. One being the huge power plant that is visible from most of the town, which I couldn't help but imagine as Chernobyl (despite knowing that the Chernobyl reactor didn't have the wide stacks.

Then there was the nearby area of Black Betsy, which only brought one thing to mind.

So, going forward, I plan to make more of an effort to document more of the musings and interesting things I come across while doing this job and seeing more of my current home state. I hope you enjoy it. If not, well, nobody is forcing you to read it. I'll leave you with this last little musing. One other thing I've learned in my time spent in rural country, it's not uncommon to see a road become a creek. Always fun to see as it either means finding another way to your destination, or just making the rest of your way on foot.

Yes.... that is a road.