Work... that's weird

Day 94
​Baytown TX

It's 0545 and my eyes pop open to check my phone. Almost time to get up. Guess I'll sit here for a few more minutes. Nope. Time to get up and get ready for, wait for it.... work. Oh yes my friends. Today is the day that I start doing things for money once again. Fortunately for me I have the advantage of going to work for a friend. 
Tony and I worked together a decade ago in past lives back in St. Louis. Fast forward ten years and he decided to open up his own custom metal fab shop that specializes in making CNC way covers. It turns out that he just happens to be at the stage where he needs some help in getting things put together in order to make the business operational and can't quite do it alone. We are on the road traveling the country looking for a place to stay in the south for the winter and I want some work. What are the odds?

That's a 80 ton press brake sitting in the corner.

It's a small shop with just enough room for us to get the job done.

I haven't seen this guy in a year, and it's been ten since we have worked together. We get to work within the first half hour of my arrival. Things start to click and the shop comes to life. One of us is cutting steel and the other is on the floor laying down some beads. We both shake the rust off and get into a groove of knowing what the other is doing in no time flat. Just like old times.

Tony burning some metal with his MIG welder

The steel rack gets laid out and put together in quick fashion. A few tack welds here, a couple of pieces of metal there and voila! Big ass metal rack on wheels. I'm able to get back behind a welding mask and I like it. Our project gets wrapped up earlier than expected which is always a good sign for a business. We'll call it an early day today and start making plans to prep for next week. There is some real cool stuff coming to this blog and I can't wait to share it.

I go home and catch up on the day with Katie. This is the first day in two months that we have spent a full 8 hours apart from each other. It's a nice change of pace for both of us. We decide to head out for some shopping and on the way I see this badass truck off to the side. It's a full size old school Kodiak work truck that has a bunch of money put into it for some inexplicable reason. Southern Texas weather allows people to drive hotrods year round. Lucky Bastards.