INTENSITY²
Start here => M.O.-Introductions => Topic started by: McGiver on May 20, 2006, 02:43:06 AM
-
decided it is about time to take some pictures and describe what a longshoreman does.
the other noght i picked up my usual: heavy lift, and got elevated to a hatch boss.
i took some pictures aboard the container ship.
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__05-13-06_1959.jpg)
the crane's spreader using the guide rails to go down into the hold to pick a container laod.
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__05-13-06_2000.jpg)
hooking on to the load.
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__05-13-06_2001.jpg)
hoisting.
notice that in this case it has picked twin 20 foot containers
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__05-13-06_2002.jpg)
another discharged container.? heading out towards the hi-line to an awaiting UTR (semi-tractor)
Last night i picked up a heavy lift job rehandling chassis.? the following picture is the lift i was using and a hoisted chassis.
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__05-19-06_0036.jpg)
and this is how we stack them in huge rows.? the reason for the stacking is because of space.? there is not enough space available in a typical container yard so they stack the chassis and containers, since space is a scarce resource.
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__05-19-06_0038.jpg)
i just like heavylift jobs because i am generally 'turned to' and left alone.? i don't have anybody watching over me, calling me on the radio, or trying to be my friend.? i get left alone, to do what i have to do.
also, chassis are my least favorite heavylift jobs.? i usually take general cargo jobs.? which is taking cargo from the ship in bulk.? no containers.? the cargo is generally bundled or loose pipe, steel coils, other forms of steel, lumber, tires, etc...
in the future i will take some pictures of this process and add to the container discharge operation, as well as the dockwork portion.
-
Do you prefer working day or night?
-
nights.
first off i have always been a night person.
and secondly, its like giving yourself a 33% pay raise, since nights pays 1/3 more than days.
also days are a hell hole in the summertime.
-
i like the docks, it's my fave part of town here. We do woodchip and wheat shipping - get some cruise ships in summer and occasionally navy. We had some huuuuge cruise ship come in, like seven stories high or something and half the town turned out to watch, lol. not much else to do here.
-
yes the Queen Mary 2 recently made a stop in san pedro. and the place was like a freakin zoo.
Long Beach owns the oringinal Queen Mary and they can't even pay people to see it.
whats the big deal with large cruise ships and public interest?
-
You're not in any of the pictures! :o
-
what's the deal with large cruise ships and public interest?
well they disemark here usually a half day thing, and they spend lotsa money on tourist stuff, snacks, taxis, wineries whatever, so it's like money docking in the harbour!
-
ah, i see.
it is a small profit for our fair cities as compared to other revenue sources.
the qeen mary and queen elizabeth 2 both take two full work shifts to load.
Quirky Carla,
i am the one taking the pictures. remember i enjoy jobs of solitude. i will have someone take pictures with me in them next time the opportunity arises (so you have new avatar selections). :laugh:
-
So you must be really good at those claw machines where you have to pick up stuffed toys and other assorted prizes?
-
the trick is to be the crane.
you've got to visualize and beeeee the crane.
anybody can do it.
-
sorry i haven't updated my little saga.
but i haven't been to work in 5 days.
no one cares, i am not missed.
in 2004 i simply chose not to go to work for 3 months. and there was a job waiting for me when i got back. the nice thing is that you don't have to ask permission not to work. if you don't feel like it, you just don't show up. clean, simple, efficient. freedom is great.
i will go back to work tomorrow. i have been doing some work around the house:
*simplifying my electric schedule from the panel to the point that it enters the home.
*installing a timed delay switch in the bathroom for a new vent fan i just put up
*other household odds and ends that i have been putting off for far too long.
-
Are you proud of and satisfied with your job? Do you feel that you've done an honest day's work when you get home?
-
yes.
yes.
and i feel oft times that i have done more than an honest work for my pay.i feel that perhaps too much work done is screwing someone else out of a good job with benefits.
-
i picked up a transtainer job last night. it is a mobile crane that strads a row of containters and you can pick them up one at a time or dig one out to get the desired one for delivery.
we put them on chassis to be taken to some central freight station at an of dock location.
here is a crappy picture that i took last night. its the blue structure.
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__07-07-06_0109.jpg)
it was highly nerve racking at first. these are huge structures and have run over and maimed and killed several people. after a little time up there i got comfy and actually did a pretty decent job, for a virgin.
this is a picture of my feet, looking down, from inside the cab of the trans.
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__07-07-06_0220.jpg)
the thing between my legs is the spreader, which actually hooks onto the container below with locking pins in all four corners.
-
So why do You like being a Longshoreman?
-
freedom
-
Freedom to be a pawn to government and big business.
-
aren't we all?
-
To an extent, but i claim dole and buy fair trade. I feel im doing my bit to take from the rich and give to the poor. We should all consider living an AMish lifestyle until we get a communist government in.
-
freedom
Freedom from what?
-
i purposefully scam walmart and take my family to disneyland with the profits.
lesser of two evils, not likely, but they have really fast rollercoasters.
-
i purposefully scam walmart and take my family to disneyland with the profits.
lesser of two evils, not likely, but they have really fast rollercoasters.
How do You scam WalMart?
-
freedom
Freedom from what?
i dont view freedom as restrictive. Â i view it more as in personal options.
i get to pick what i do, where i do it, and when i do it.
i don't have to report to the same place. Â i get to work or not work, as much or as little as i like (i only get paid to work, sadly) Â and i am not told what to do, i choose what job i want to do that night.
there are 20-30 different companies i can work for and over 100 different job discriptions to choose from. Â if i select a job, report, and decide i don't like it i can call a replacement, and go home.
freedom.
-
Of course your freedom is restrictive. You are lucky enough to have unusually generous employment terms but you have to pay taxes, submit to searches if the cops decide, etc. Like it or not, as long as you remain a citizen your freedoms are restricted.
-
I see. But Eamonn is right too. So what is True Freedom then I wonder. How do We truly live Our little Lives that We Live in the end.
-
you take freedom wherever you can.
there is no better offering of freedom in the workplace than at the docks
-
Still, you're not as free as an amish person or a tramp.
-
or your catman video guy
-
financial freedom is ok.
in the past five nights i have actually been at work for 20 hours. five nights of pay $2,400.oo
i am not sure if doctors make that much an hour after you factor in all their liabilities.
bou-ya.
-
Still, you're not as free as an amish person or a tramp.
moreso.
how can you equate freedom as something simply associated with and individual and government.
Time is an impotant issue of freedom. Don't you think that the omish would rather be doing something else with their time like reading the bible, playing with their kids, digging a new hole out back, whence they taketh their shats?
and a tramp is the lamest example that you could have brought up. do you think that a tramp wouldn't rather have a greater freedom of choice. having a choice is the best measuring stick for freedom.
a tramp would rather be eating at a five star restaurant with fine scotch and cooked meat, rather than eating out of your garbage can. a tramp is by no means free. they are completely and utterly limited. if they want freedom they would be more free, if they were dead.
-
So your less free than a richer person then, without a wife and kids. And before you say you enjoy catering for your kids, have you thought that maybe an Amish person enjoys working off the land (and some tramps actually choose their lifestyle) and at least their not a governemnt wage slave sending income tax for Bush to decide on what to do with it. You're a pawn like everyone else.
-
money is freedom if you desire such things.
that is why i used the example of time for the amish.
a nice healthy balance of opportunity to act out on your desires is my best definition of freedom.
i am limited for sure. i asked before, aren't we all. i am more free than the examples you provided. yes.
-
money is freedom if you desire such things.
that is why i used the example of time for the amish.
a nice healthy balance of opportunity to act out on your desires is my best definition of freedom.
i am limited for sure. i asked before, aren't we all. i am more free than the examples you provided. yes.
No you arent. You are more of a governemnt pawn than them.
-
i thought this was about freedom. you used government pawn as an example of my lack of freedom.
just because you are dillusional to the fact that government is under the thumb of a global economy (Big Business, and Old Money), does not make you any more immune to the whims and desires of your overlord than me.
government is a lame example as well. that is unless you are interrested in standing up to them, IN ALL THEY DO. then you and everybody, including the amish and the tramps, are beholden to the wishes of the ruling elite.
-
Yeah, sure whatever your ego tells you. I bet you have done more for the poor man than Bob Geldof, are more of a rebel than Ned Kelly, and are free-er than a bird, now fuck off. You bore me.
-
Yeah, sure whatever your ego tells you. I bet you have done more for the poor man than Bob Geldof, are more of a rebel than Ned Kelly, and are free-er than a bird, now fuck off. You bore me.
i could if i wanted to Eamonn, that is freedom.
Do i?
Freedom is an individual choice. if i choose to do more for the poor and can then i am free. if i want to be a rebel and do so, then i am free. i am by no means freer than a bird, thats simply rediculous.
as for your other points, they are aff target.
-
This thread should be entitled long-bore-man.
-
yes we often use boring machines. but i am not long, alas, my shortcomings/
-
a better picture of a transtainer.
i took this one tonight from the catwalk of the transtainer that i was operating.
(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/snakeskowren/CID__07-19-06_0030.jpg)
-
Great picture!
Did I tell you I used to work for a maritime law firm in SF, and got to tour the Port of Oakland? It was cool. My job was to get money back for the insurance companies when cargo was damaged in transport. Sued all the big shipping cos, including Hanjin. The worst company to deal with was Hyundai. I would NEVER buy one of their cars, after years of lousy experiences with them.
-
Great pic, I'm glad you are doing your part in flooding cheap chinese goods (some made by slave prison labor) into the USA.
-
I thought you were a right-winger Teejay, and thus in favour of free trade? ;)
-
Do you ever know what's in the containers?
Do you get to sit in the little white booth at the top of the cranes and move the containers?? Now THAT would be an awesome job.
-
Great pic, I'm glad you are doing your part in flooding cheap chinese goods (some made by slave prison labor) into the USA.
its inevitable. however, we are taking our share back and spreading it around the community. i have averaged $48 per hour this year. and i am a big timer consumer.
today i worked on the passenger ship.
loading luggage and food and beverages.
-
I thought you were a right-winger Teejay, and thus in favour of free trade? ;)
I think I did another lousy attempt at saracstic humor.