Raffles and Appreciation

It's peak season at Amazon. You may have heard....Cyber Monday is just a few hours away.

Amazon has several different things happening to motivate workers to show up, work hard, and put in extra time. Most of these are in the form of raffles. A couple times per week there will be a "power hour" where there is some goal for us to reach as a team and if we do, we all get a raffle ticket.

Chris and I got our first tickets and eagerly went to peruse our options.

A 50" TV---where would we put it? I know...your house.
Playstation---nope
Airline and hotel vouchers----maybe, but we live on the road.
Kindle---all set there.
Camera----doesn't everyone just take pictures w/their phone?
KitchenAide Stand Mixer---we barely have room for a couple whisks.
Bose Sounds system---got one. 

Which leads to (by default) the one item that we are attempting to win

Beats Headphones By Dr. Dre 


So far, I think our tickets are the only ones in the box.

Which leads to a nice story about raffle tickets and appreciation.

A very nice man named Greg is our manager. I'm not sure of his official title, but he seems to be pretty high up the food chain. He's in his early-mid 30s and a very nice guy. We both enjoy talking to him, though we know he's very busy.

The other night, Greg sought us each out while we were stowing and gave us each another raffle ticket to show his appreciation for our hard work and good attitudes.

Totally made my day (night). Chris too. It's not so much about the raffle ticket (though we now have four in for the Beats...) but the fact that he acknowledged our efforts.

P.S. We are far from the best stowers, but we might be the most fun.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

We have much for which we are thankful, particularly our friends who follow along (and cheer us on) as we continue our adventure.

Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving.

Life Without TV

I'll admit that when I realized we wouldn't have cable during our stay in Tennessee, I imagined Chris staring at the TV screen, gently rocking back and forth, weeping quietly.

Turns out, he's done much better than that and I'm proud of him.

To be honest, I think that not having a TV has helped us because when we are home, we are mostly sleeping. If we had cable, we'd spend time watching when we should be sleeping.

We do get one channel: ION. It has some of the worst cop shows ever, but after a few episodes, you become numb to it all and it's not so bad.

There's also the RedBox which he visits a couple times every weekend.

Fortunately, the wifi is good enough that we can stream online videos through Youtube and Amazon Prime, so he's been able to keep up with The Blacklist. We've also been watching the Sopranos on Prime. Still a great show all these years later.

Confession: once we finish up here, my dream would be to move to a nice campground a bit further south and spend about a week just sitting in front of the TV.

Maybe Chris isn't the only one with a problem.

Time Clock

I've never had a job where I punched a time clock. I might have written my time down on some time cards at a restaurant or two back in high school, but being governed by the time clock is new to me.

At Amazon, there are specific rules about when you can and can't clock in. Everyone stands around and waits until exactly 4:30 am to clock out. One day Chris walked to the front of the line and clocked out at 4:28, figuring it was no big deal.

Turns out those people waiting in line weren't just creatures of habit. They knew the rules. I think Chris got docked for an hour or two of work for clocking out early. We haven't checked our paystubs, but I got paid about $20 more than he did that week.

At the end of the workday, a couple hundred people pile out of the innards of the warehouse and punch the time clock before heading home. I've become one of them and each time I'm in the line of people leaving the mods, it reminds me of this: 

Yabba Dabba Do!

Lean Mean Stowing Machine

I'll admit I was apprehensive about the physical demands of this job. Years ago, I walked several half marathons and was in pretty good shape. But...that was years ago.

The description of the job of stower is that you will walk 2-4 miles per shift, plus going up and down stairs, bending, lifting and squatting. But, I was also optimistic. This could be just the thing to help me get into shape. Plus, I heard of someone who lost 40 lbs while working at Amazon. I was psyched. In fact, it reminded me of this classic scene from one of my favorite movies.

(Watching this made me sad to realize that both John Candy and Harold Ramis have passed away.)

Three full weeks of work in, how is the weight loss going?

First, when paring down our possessions, the scale didn't make the cut. Darn. So, no actual numbers to share.

But, I have noticed the following:

• My thighs are rock hard. 
• My butt isn't rock hard, but it's improving. 
• My jacket that used to be too snug around the hips when zipped, fits nicely now. 
• When I go to the third floor, my calves are complaining before I finish the two flights of stairs, but my heart isn't pounding. 
• It's possible that I am developing some arm muscles. Not enough to make up for the flappy part at the bottom, but an improvement.

I don't mind the walking at all. In fact, the worst part is when I have to walk slowly (looking for bin space) or standing still. That's when my feet and legs start to ache.

I'm excited to see how buff (haha) I get before we leave in a few weeks. 

Unique Items I've Seen

At first, I paid attention to each item I stowed. What was it? How much space did it need? How many did I need to stow?

Over time my focus shifted to "how big is this and where am I going to put it?" Many items are boxed or covered so unless I take the time to look, it could be about anything.

However...one toy caught my attention. In part because it was in a clear plastic case, so hard to miss.

It's sort of creepy with those big eyes. I wondered why it came with extra diapers.

Then I read the description. 

• Feed your Lalaloopsy Babies water, press their belly "button," and check their diaper for a surprise
• Magically poops charms                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Yes, Magically Poops Charms. As you might imagine, I had a few thoughts about that, but my minimal sense of decorum has stopped me from posting them here.  

We've Got Mail

One of the challenges of life on the road is getting our mail. We can deal with most things online or by phone, but still, you need a mailing address and we'd rather not have our mail forwarded from place to place chasing us around the country.



Most campgrounds will accept UPS or FedEx packages, but they do not want campers to have their regular mail sent to the campground office. Plus, even if we stay in one place for 3-4 months, that still gets to be a pain to change our address that often.

 What's a full time RVer supposed to do? Fortunately, others have thought of this already. We have signed up with America's Mailbox, a mail forwarding service located in SD. For a fee, we get a post office box there and they will send our mail to us every week or two, depending on what we request. We've paid a bit more for to have them discard the junk mail so we don't have to pay to have the garbage forwarded. We've also deposited money to pay for the postage to have our mail forwarded. So, it's a bit more expensive than just having a mailbox on your front door.

Just in time for all the Christmas cards you'll be sending us! 

Where's My Water Bottle and Other Funny Things

As stowers our job is to get a U-Boat which is a cart of 12 totes full of merchandise. We push the U-Boat through the aisles crammed with stuff and find places to stow our items. At break time and lunch time, you leave your U-Boat to go to the break room. I finally figured out that not only are the rows numbered but they also have different sections which I try to remember so I can be reunited with my boat. After breaks it's not uncommon to see people wandering around peeking into the different boats hoping to find theirs.

If you lose your boat, you have to go to the Problem Solver and they drop your totes and you can start over. Not a big deal, other than going to the person (they are all very nice) and saying "I can't find my U-Boat", which is a little embarrassing.

During our first two weeks, Chris lost his water bottle twice (the second time appears to be permanent) and his U-Boat twice (the second time he lost both at the same time which seems to have lead to permanent loss of the water bottle).

Of course, I mocked him over this and considered putting up missing posters for the water bottle. Did I mention the water bottles were $8 each?

And yes, on the next break I lost my boat and water bottle and had to do the walk of shame to the Problem Solver.

In my defense, I think I made the mistake of parking my nearly empty boat near the area where the people who gather the empty totes work and blame them for moving it.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So....our new plan is to buy a case of water and refill our bottles each shift, then start over again next time.

The other funny thing. The big deal at Amazon is your rate, which has to do with how many items you stow on your shift and were you are in relation to expectations. The goal is to be at 100. Each day the rate sheets are posted, there are about nine of them with small print and several columns and everyone crowds around to try to see how they did. Those of us with older eyes have to get closer to read.

A few days ago, my rate was 19. Yes, 19!  I was shocked. I hadn't been breaking any records, but still 19? Yikes!

So I kicked it into gear and stowed my freckled heart out. The next day...29. An improvement, but still a failing grade as far as I was concerned. How much were these other people stowing if I was busting my ass and still not even halfway to my goal?

When no one else was around, I went back to look at the sheets more closely....turns out I was reading the hours worked column and not my rate. No wonder it went up by 10 each day.

Hahaha! 

Another Recipe Review

I've become a big fan of The Simple Veganista. First there was the mashed chickpea salad then I tried these cookies. Click here to go to the blog for all the details.

Here's the recipe: 

Chocolate Chip + Banana + Oatmeal Bites 

Ingredients

• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed 
• 1 cup oats, rolled or quick (I used GF)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• small handful semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli or Enjoy Life mini chips)

Optional add-ins:

• dash of vanilla extract
• shredded coconut
• chopped nuts
• dried fruit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a medium size bowl, mash bananas fairly smooth, a few small chunks is ok. Add oats and cinnamon, mix well. Add in chocolate chips, mix again.

Grease a cookie sheet lightly with coconut oil. Using a tablespoon, scoop mixture and place on cookie sheet. I left mine in a dome shape, you could flatten it out a bit with your fingers to make a flatter shape. Should get anywhere from 12 -16 depending on the size you scoop out, if it was a heaping tablespoon or not. 

Bake in oven for 15 - 20 minutes. If you make your scoops dome shaped and on the larger side together, bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes before eating.

Store leftovers loosely covered and eat within a day or two.

Notes: The riper the banana, the sweeter your end result will be. I've used rolled oats (like you see here) and quick oats, both with great success. Also, I've had batches come out looking lighter than what you see here, usually when using quick oats, so your coloring may vary. They may also darken a bit overnight due to the banana.

**** We had one really ripe banana so I cut the recipe in half. That made about 8 bite sized cookies or enough for a treat for Chris and me. The oatmeal got a little crunchy for a nice texture and the bananas and chocolate chips were a nice combo. A great way to use up those super ripe bananas without going to the hassle of making banana bread.

Dare To Dream

Long before we ever met, Chris and I each had dreamed of traveling full time in an RV. Periodically I'd indulge in reading blogs by full time RVers, but I had no idea how to go about really making that dream happen.

In fact, it was more a fantasy than a dream. I once read a quote that went something like this: Your goals and dreams are just fantasies unless you are at least taking some action (no matter how small) to make it happen.

At that point, I was in fantasy mode.

Then I met Chris and it turned out he'd wanted to do the same thing. He'd cruise RV sites on his iPad while we watched TV and show me different models. They all looked the same to me. Or I'd look at the price and freak out. But he was at least taking some action (gathering information) about making the dream a reality. He believed it was possible. I wasn't so sure.

Events in our life took some sudden turns and we found ourselves on the road. Most people plan seriously for about a year before hitting the road. Some keep their jobs but live in their RV to see how they really feel about living full time in a small space.

Not us. We hit the road in about two weeks. It was crazy and not well thought out, but if we'd stopped and thought about exactly what we were doing, maybe we would have chickened out. Postponed our dream, maybe indefinitely.

I"m not suggesting that living in a motor home is everyone's dream (or fantasy). But everyone has a dream. Even if you say you don't, I bet you do. You've just forgotten about it. Put it on the back burner.

Maybe it's time to get that dream out and dust it off a bit. It doesn't have to be a huge life changing dream. Maybe you've always wanted to learn to bake pastries. Or run a mile.

Or maybe it is a giant dream. Good for you. Now, do one thing today toward making that dream happen.

Recipe Review

It's been awhile since I've done a restaurant review. I guess that means we haven't been eating out much or at least not at any place interesting. We've been cooking more. The weather is cooler so heating up the RV is an advantage rather than a discouragement. Plus, we need decent food to take with us to work since there's not time to go out.

I did an internet search for lunch ideas and found this recipe. Seems healthy, high protein and it's easy to have all the ingredients on hand. This is from The Simple Veganista. Lots of good recipes there so check it out. 

Mashed Chickpea Salad

Ingredients

• 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup celery, sliced 
• 1/2 cup carrots, diced
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup scallions, sliced 
• 1/4 cup or so hummus or tahini (any vegan mayo works too)*
• 1 - 2 tablespoons mustard (stoneground or dijon)
• sea salt & cracked pepper, to taste
• dash of garlic powder
• juice of 1 lemon, optional
• small handful pepitos (pumpkin seeds), optional
• paprika/smoked paprika, garnish

Drain and rinse your chickpeas, place in medium size bowl and roughly mash with a fork, potato masher or pastry blender. Add the remaining ingredients and combine. Add more hummus if you like it creamier and taste for seasoning.

Serve however you like...make a sandwich, serve on a bed of leafy greens or scoop up with crackers or sliced vegetables like cucumbers, bell peppers, celery sticks, etc. 

Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Notes:

If you find your hummus is a bit thick, thin it out with a tablespoon or two of water. This will make for a perfect consistency to use as a binder without being overly thick and/or drying as well. 

 

*** This was very tasty and I'll definitely make it again. We didn't have Dijon mustard so I used regular yellow mustard and probably used a bit too much (measuring spoons are for babies), so I added more hummus to balance it out. We ate it on crackers or straight from the container, but it would also make a good sandwich, maybe with some avocado or tomato. 

 

 

 

People Of The Night

We chose to work the night shift at Amazon for a couple reasons. First, it pays a bit more per hour. Second, and possibly more important, it's a time that suits us both better.

I'm not much of a morning person so getting up at 5 am to be at Amazon for a 7 am shift would not be ideal for me. My energy tends to be best starting around 4 pm. Chris is similar, though he's learned to be more adaptable due to different jobs he's had. So, for us, going to work at 6 pm is working out well.

Here are my random thoughts: 

• The time at Amazon goes quickly and often when our shift is done, it doesn't feel like an entire night has gone by.
• Going to work one day and coming home the next is a bit strange.
• Sleeping during the day is a challenge. When you sleep at night, you can anticipate the house getting cooler as you sleep. The opposite is true during the day. 
• When you wake up during the night and think of something you need to do, you can tell yourself "It's night. No one is going to respond to my email/phone call now anyway. It can wait until morning." But when you sleep during the day and wake up with those thoughts, you are more likely (at least I have been) to get up and deal it. 
• When do you eat breakfast? At 4:30 pm when we have our first meal of the "day" or at 5:30 am when we get home? Fortunately, we like breakfast any time of day. 
• Since there are no windows in the warehouse where we work, you can't tell if it's day or night anyway. 
• What do you say to someone at the end of the shift? Usually at the end of a work day, I'd say "good night". "Good day" hardly seems appropriate. Mostly I just grunt and wave. 
•  It's hard to sleep for long stretches during the day. Hopefully that will improve with time. 
• I like having an hour or two of awake time before going to work which would never happen if we were on day shift. 
• We are here for a short period of time with the goal of working and saving as much money as possible, so we can make these adjustments. I'm not sure that I'd want to live this way indefinitely.