NathanJefferson
Master
- Feb 16, 2010
- 1,506
- 38
Radio Broadcast: So far both New York and Chicago are being affected but garbage is really starting to pile up now that the strike is into its second week, and now there are talks of this strike moving to other cities as an act of solidarity. These are just some of the latest responses to the strain caused by the rampant inflation facing our country. As you are aware with the continuing oil shortage prices continue to rise, causing many people to make hard decisions on what bills to pay, if any.
The president has once again released a statement assuring that the shortage will be under control within a few weeks and that they are doing everything they can to stem the rampant inflation. They are working with the fed chairman to tighten standards and should have a decision on whether or not to raise rates.
"Do you really have to go? I don't want you to be gone with all the problems going on right now!" Margaret said as she started clearing the dinner table and loading the dishwasher. She was always vocal about sharing her concerns but with the new problems facing the country she was even more nervous than she was in the past.
"I don't want to have to deal with the grocery stores and gas stations without you, especially since I don't have anyone to help watch this kids now!" With the financial problems and oil shock facing the country traffic jams and lines at gas stations were becoming a common occurrence.
Normally Margaret's mother would come over several days a week to help watch the kids so she could run errands and have a little time for herself, she hadn't been able to make the trip for two weeks and it was starting to take a toll. Three kids with no breaks in sight since John was working at least 10-12 hours a day 7 days a week, not to mention the 4 or 5 days a week he was on the road. In addition to her being unable to catch her breath she had a special resentment for John's new job being a salaried employee and not getting any extra compensation for his time and effort, while the company he worked for, one of the largest oil drillers in the country was raking in more money than they ever did before all thanks to this gas shortage.
Since Margaret was let go from her job several months ago John had tried everything he could to bring more home for the family. He finally took this new job that had him flying across the country weekly, still being extremely busy on the days he was home. There was an increasing need for engineers to oversee and sign off on the work that was being performed all across the country. It was possible to run the heavy machinery and drill holes with skeleton crews or crews brand new to the industry but you could only go so far without the reviews and checks performed by certified professional engineers like John.
"I Promise it will only be for a few days and I'll be right home. It will be a whistle-stop tour of about a dozen different sites but I will have the crews work around my schedule and I'll be in and out faster than last time." John said, trying to make his wife feel better about his latest assignment to fly out to the middle of nowhere near the Montana and Wyoming border to approve the work on some new wells they were trying out.
He had been out to that same region a few times this year already, surveying and preparing the sites and now they should all be ready to go into full swing drilling and setting up the pumping equipment to start bringing up the oil that the geologist promised was there.
After a few moments of silence he continued; "You know its very important I get out there to help with this, every new well that starts producing helps alleviate part of the shortage problem. That and I'll demand a vacation or something for all my extra time, besides heaven only knows how much profit we are going to make this quarter and that is going to lead to a big bonus!"
Not satisfied Margaret replies tersely "Well I still don't want you going" as she slams the door on the dish washer and heads upstairs to start getting the kids ready for bed.
Alone in the kitchen john grabs his laptop, pops it open and shoots off a few emails laying out the agenda for the next week, trying to squeeze as much action into as short a time as he can. He thinks to himself at this rate he will have to find a driver to take him from site to site while he sleeps in the truck because there will be little to no time for him to sleep in a real bed. He then books his flights and sends the itinerary over to Joe his co-worker that he has been working with on these projects so he will know when to pick him up from the airport.
Just as he starts closing the lid to his computer he remembers what he told his wife about getting a bonus or a vacation for the extra effort and starts crafting up an email to his boss asking for a little something for the extra work and travel to help out at home, especially since gas, groceries and other necessities have gone up considerably at least by a double digit percentage since he got his last raise about 6 months ago. He hits writers block when he gets to the point where he wanted to suggest a number adequate but fair for his time, effort and expertise. With the almost daily changes in the price of most basic goods he wanted to be careful with what he was asking for. Not sure where to go he decides to sleep on it and shuts down the laptop and loads it into his bag and begins packing for his flight leaving early tomorrow morning.
At 3:30 am the alarm on John's phone started going off forcing him out of his half sleep. He reaches over hits snooze and begins muttering under his breath about not wanting to get up. Five minutes later the alarm goes off again this time he begrudgingly turns off the alarm as he slowly slides himself out of bed and heads to the bathroom for a quick shower. After getting ready he grabs his roller board suitcase, that was hastily packed last night, throws it in the back seat of the car along with his backpack and jumps in the front seat to begin his trip to the airport. About 45 minutes later he pulls into the parking garage and has to take a spot close to the end several hundred yards from the entrance to the airport, he thinks to himself how lucky he is that he woke up early and that there wasn't any traffic because he was already cutting his timing as close as he could.
Walking into the terminal stepping quickly he glances down at his ticket and heads towards the security line heading to his gate. The lines are extra short today, probably partly due to the extra fuel surcharge and higher ticket prices that have been imposed over the past few weeks, fewer and fewer people are flying. This is a good thing, at least for a business traveler like himself, short lines, better seats and not as much hassle getting in or out of airports. As he steps up to the TSA agent to have his boarding pass and ID checked he finally realizes that there is a soldier standing behind each agent at the front of the line. When he first came in he didn't pay any attention to them, there are always members of every branch of the military traveling in uniform, so they didn't stick out. But now he realized that there were about a dozen extra men and women wearing BDUs standing around in strategic positions in the security area.
"Good morning, how are you today" John said cordially as he handed the agent his papers.
"I'm pretty good, except for the fact this is going to be a long week, not looking forward to it really" the agent said as he starts ticking off details on John's boarding pass.
Not one for subtleness John goes on " What's with the army men all around here this morning, is everything ok"
The agent started to respond but the young man in camo interrupted him "Sir, we are from the National Guard, not the army and we are just here for a training and readiness exercise. The Governor has issued an order to call up all guardsmen and women for an additional training exercise. "
Slightly annoyed the agent rolled his eyes as he nodded his head " Yeah, just a training exercise. We've done this a few times in the past but this week it's going to be happening all day long for the whole week. Before they would be half a day at most."
"Oh... Ok. You guys have fun with that. Have a good week!" John quickly interjected as he takes back his papers as the agent hands them over.
"You too and safe travels."
After getting through security he had just enough time to grab a coffee before having to board his plane. The flight over to O'Hare was short and uneventful. When getting off the plane he wasn't terribly surprised to see more uniformed national guardsmen stationed at various places in the airport, as well as a few groups of Chicago police that looked like they were ready to handle a riot with black bullet proof vests worn over their uniforms. Some even had helmets and face shields and one or two even had large plastic riot shields that up until now he had only seen in movies or news clips.
Quickly running to his next gate he was just in time for his connection, this time the flight was about two and a half hours so as soon as he sat down he plugged some headphones in and went to sleep. Luckily he wasn't disturbed to turn them off, even though FAA regulations required it.
The president has once again released a statement assuring that the shortage will be under control within a few weeks and that they are doing everything they can to stem the rampant inflation. They are working with the fed chairman to tighten standards and should have a decision on whether or not to raise rates.
"Do you really have to go? I don't want you to be gone with all the problems going on right now!" Margaret said as she started clearing the dinner table and loading the dishwasher. She was always vocal about sharing her concerns but with the new problems facing the country she was even more nervous than she was in the past.
"I don't want to have to deal with the grocery stores and gas stations without you, especially since I don't have anyone to help watch this kids now!" With the financial problems and oil shock facing the country traffic jams and lines at gas stations were becoming a common occurrence.
Normally Margaret's mother would come over several days a week to help watch the kids so she could run errands and have a little time for herself, she hadn't been able to make the trip for two weeks and it was starting to take a toll. Three kids with no breaks in sight since John was working at least 10-12 hours a day 7 days a week, not to mention the 4 or 5 days a week he was on the road. In addition to her being unable to catch her breath she had a special resentment for John's new job being a salaried employee and not getting any extra compensation for his time and effort, while the company he worked for, one of the largest oil drillers in the country was raking in more money than they ever did before all thanks to this gas shortage.
Since Margaret was let go from her job several months ago John had tried everything he could to bring more home for the family. He finally took this new job that had him flying across the country weekly, still being extremely busy on the days he was home. There was an increasing need for engineers to oversee and sign off on the work that was being performed all across the country. It was possible to run the heavy machinery and drill holes with skeleton crews or crews brand new to the industry but you could only go so far without the reviews and checks performed by certified professional engineers like John.
"I Promise it will only be for a few days and I'll be right home. It will be a whistle-stop tour of about a dozen different sites but I will have the crews work around my schedule and I'll be in and out faster than last time." John said, trying to make his wife feel better about his latest assignment to fly out to the middle of nowhere near the Montana and Wyoming border to approve the work on some new wells they were trying out.
He had been out to that same region a few times this year already, surveying and preparing the sites and now they should all be ready to go into full swing drilling and setting up the pumping equipment to start bringing up the oil that the geologist promised was there.
After a few moments of silence he continued; "You know its very important I get out there to help with this, every new well that starts producing helps alleviate part of the shortage problem. That and I'll demand a vacation or something for all my extra time, besides heaven only knows how much profit we are going to make this quarter and that is going to lead to a big bonus!"
Not satisfied Margaret replies tersely "Well I still don't want you going" as she slams the door on the dish washer and heads upstairs to start getting the kids ready for bed.
Alone in the kitchen john grabs his laptop, pops it open and shoots off a few emails laying out the agenda for the next week, trying to squeeze as much action into as short a time as he can. He thinks to himself at this rate he will have to find a driver to take him from site to site while he sleeps in the truck because there will be little to no time for him to sleep in a real bed. He then books his flights and sends the itinerary over to Joe his co-worker that he has been working with on these projects so he will know when to pick him up from the airport.
Just as he starts closing the lid to his computer he remembers what he told his wife about getting a bonus or a vacation for the extra effort and starts crafting up an email to his boss asking for a little something for the extra work and travel to help out at home, especially since gas, groceries and other necessities have gone up considerably at least by a double digit percentage since he got his last raise about 6 months ago. He hits writers block when he gets to the point where he wanted to suggest a number adequate but fair for his time, effort and expertise. With the almost daily changes in the price of most basic goods he wanted to be careful with what he was asking for. Not sure where to go he decides to sleep on it and shuts down the laptop and loads it into his bag and begins packing for his flight leaving early tomorrow morning.
At 3:30 am the alarm on John's phone started going off forcing him out of his half sleep. He reaches over hits snooze and begins muttering under his breath about not wanting to get up. Five minutes later the alarm goes off again this time he begrudgingly turns off the alarm as he slowly slides himself out of bed and heads to the bathroom for a quick shower. After getting ready he grabs his roller board suitcase, that was hastily packed last night, throws it in the back seat of the car along with his backpack and jumps in the front seat to begin his trip to the airport. About 45 minutes later he pulls into the parking garage and has to take a spot close to the end several hundred yards from the entrance to the airport, he thinks to himself how lucky he is that he woke up early and that there wasn't any traffic because he was already cutting his timing as close as he could.
Walking into the terminal stepping quickly he glances down at his ticket and heads towards the security line heading to his gate. The lines are extra short today, probably partly due to the extra fuel surcharge and higher ticket prices that have been imposed over the past few weeks, fewer and fewer people are flying. This is a good thing, at least for a business traveler like himself, short lines, better seats and not as much hassle getting in or out of airports. As he steps up to the TSA agent to have his boarding pass and ID checked he finally realizes that there is a soldier standing behind each agent at the front of the line. When he first came in he didn't pay any attention to them, there are always members of every branch of the military traveling in uniform, so they didn't stick out. But now he realized that there were about a dozen extra men and women wearing BDUs standing around in strategic positions in the security area.
"Good morning, how are you today" John said cordially as he handed the agent his papers.
"I'm pretty good, except for the fact this is going to be a long week, not looking forward to it really" the agent said as he starts ticking off details on John's boarding pass.
Not one for subtleness John goes on " What's with the army men all around here this morning, is everything ok"
The agent started to respond but the young man in camo interrupted him "Sir, we are from the National Guard, not the army and we are just here for a training and readiness exercise. The Governor has issued an order to call up all guardsmen and women for an additional training exercise. "
Slightly annoyed the agent rolled his eyes as he nodded his head " Yeah, just a training exercise. We've done this a few times in the past but this week it's going to be happening all day long for the whole week. Before they would be half a day at most."
"Oh... Ok. You guys have fun with that. Have a good week!" John quickly interjected as he takes back his papers as the agent hands them over.
"You too and safe travels."
After getting through security he had just enough time to grab a coffee before having to board his plane. The flight over to O'Hare was short and uneventful. When getting off the plane he wasn't terribly surprised to see more uniformed national guardsmen stationed at various places in the airport, as well as a few groups of Chicago police that looked like they were ready to handle a riot with black bullet proof vests worn over their uniforms. Some even had helmets and face shields and one or two even had large plastic riot shields that up until now he had only seen in movies or news clips.
Quickly running to his next gate he was just in time for his connection, this time the flight was about two and a half hours so as soon as he sat down he plugged some headphones in and went to sleep. Luckily he wasn't disturbed to turn them off, even though FAA regulations required it.
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