5 Men Retire

Last Friday, I went to a retirement party for five Local 38 wiremen.  I hadn't seen these guys in several years, and it was great to see them all in good health, great spirits, and retiring with hopefully years and years of enjoyment. 

Bobby Tomsik, the guy on the far right in the orange shirt, is doing what I've always seen him do:  smiling, laughing, and he's probably busting someone's balls.  He's one of the best men I've ever worked with.  My favorite story of working with him was on a job where he was the foreman, and I was there for a few days to help with a hot job.  We had some rooftop work to do on a large building.  Bobby instructed me to stay in the electrical room, and that he'd go on the roof.  Unbeknown to me, while he was on the roof, and I was in the warm, dry electrical room, it started to rain.  When he came down, he was soaking wet!  Every guy in the place gave me shit for making the old man go up on the roof while I stayed inside, nice and dry.  Finally, since we had to get that part of the job done that day, we both went up top.  We brought an umbrella....we wore rain suits....it didn't matter.  The rain wasn't coming down, it was coming sideways!  We got the job done, laughing and joking the entire time.  Bobby Tomsik is one class act, and I hope I've learned a few things from him.

Next to him is Mike Pilange.  Though you can't tell by the picture, Mike CAN actually smile when he wants to.  I only worked for Mike for a few months, and there was another level of management between us, so I'm sorry Mike, I don't have any cool stories about you.


In the middle is Dave Stretar.  Dave was my first partner down at the tandem mill.  Our first job together was under the mill, in a maze of electrical, hydraulic, and water pipes.  Everything was covered in either grease, or oil.  We had to weld a bracket onto the structure to support a conduit we were running.  After I got in there, got covered with oil, wiped all the grease off the steel I could and welded the bracket on, I asked Dave, "This was a test, wasn't it?  A test to see if I'd climb in here and do the job or not, right?"  He just smiled a big shit-eating grin and nodded.  Well, Dave, it took some digging, but I finally found it, in a hall closet at my parents' house:

Remember that day?

Next guy in is Brian Stadtler.  He's one of my favorite guys to work for.  He was always laid back, in control, never yelled or got angry.  He was always smiling and laughing.  He had a knack for being able to needle you when you made a mistake, which was good-natured, but let you know you needed to fix it.  When the job needed to get done, he expected you to bust your ass to get it done, which happened often for the customer he took care of.  After that he'd take care of you. 


The fifth retiree is Nick Sivik.  I've worked with Nicky time and time again over the years.  He's one of those solid electricians who could do anything, whether it was terminate a panel, like he's doing here, or run banks of 4" pipe.  He's a true mechanic. 

The local is going to miss these guys, and their centuries of combined experience. Good luck to you all.

Oh, I need to mention Turtle too! He retired from Local 38 a few weeks ago, but I haven't gotten any pictures from Bruce yet. Some people call him Earl Coe, but I don't know any of them.

I got my Turtle pic.  He's the guy on the left, while his best friend, Lenny, is on the right.  Over the years, I can't count the times I've heard Turtle say "Me and Lenny....."  It used to be a running joke to see how early in the day it would be before we heard a story from Turtle about him and Lenny.  Rick and I would laugh and say "We have a 'Lenny'!"

Galaska and Son, Splicers-r-Us

As Union Electricians, you never know who you will run in to on the job.  This is a father (Dr. Bob) and son (Junior) picture.  Dr. Bob works for Lake Erie Electric, while Junior works for the same contractor that I do, Call Henry.  Dr. Bob came out to do some splices and terminations on a contract job that Lake Erie won.  Since he may retire sometime in the next few years, Junior wanted to get a few pictures with his old man on the job. 

This is an Instructor/Student picture.  A little over a decade ago, Junior and I took the NJATC course in Medium Voltage Cable Splicing and Terminating.  Dr. Bob was the lead instructor and the bohunk on the far right, Bruce Marek, was the other instructor.  Bruce is now the shop steward for Call Henry.  It's a sad state of affairs that Junior and I will be taking the reigns over when these two men retire, especially since we never listen....

I even got to see my old buddy and splicing partner, Casey again.  He was assisting Dr. Bob with the splices and terminations.  Casey has been splicing for about 8 years now and will probably take over as lead splicer for Lake Erie when Dr. Bob retires.  I know, the sunglasses make me look like, well, a total dork.

One more picture to round out the post.  (Emphasis on "round"!)  Here are the Galaska family splicers.  On the left is Dr. Bob's brother, Kenny.  We call him "Unc" since he's Juniors uncle.  Well, to his face we call him "Sir" because he's also our foreman.  I'm probably gonna be cleaning out manholes for a year for my "round" ballbust, but it was worth it.  Crap, I gotta work with Junior tomorrow too!

Memorial Weekend

I had such a fun time last weekend! On Saturday, I went hiking with S. in the afternoon, then went to the dance that evening. On Sunday I went to my parents' house for a graduation party/ Memorial Day cookout.


We started with 4 on 4 volleyball. My niece took the pictures. Nice action shots, Shellyo! Anthonie goes up for the spike!



We sometimes pretend that we are real volleyball players, you know: bump, set, spike. It never really works out that way though. I ended up with a lot of sand in my butt crack before the day was over.


We took a break from V-ball to play some corn hole. Why it's called "corn hole" is beyond me. We had horseshoes, but never got the stakes driven in the ground. I guess corn hole is a suitable substitute. Bean bags don't clang though.


Anthonie is the young fella my niece had the graduation party for. He's a good looking kid. Pretty damn strong too. He's helped me around the house before. I just realized that I maybe should have kept my t-shirt untucked.... My dunlop disease is showing.


Dad couldn't sit still for too long before he had to get out in the garden to plant something. This is a great picture, Morg! Behind that stand of trees is where the quonset hut used to be.


That is one awesome row of prickers there Dad! Good thing you used that twine to make straight rows. I guess you'll be hoeing any sweet corn, tomatoes, or beans that accidentally pop up nearby. Well, good luck at the fair this year, maybe you'll get a blue ribbon for Best Weed. At least they are bigger than your watermelons....


Morgan and I have to play frisbee every summer. It's so much fun! Yes, I caught it.


Anyone else notice Morg's legs? I think he shaves his ankles. Nice catch, bro!


Remember that sand from earlier....

Bohemian Dance Night

I went swing-dancing Saturday night at the same place I went the first time. This time, I wasn't nervous at all! I had a really good time. I only danced with S. once, because there were so many guys asking her to dance, and I didn't really want to spoil her fun since I don't know what I'm doing. I shot home after the first lesson to get some ear-plugs, because the band seemed too loud. Maybe because I was right next to the speakers. Anyway, when I got home, my neighbor, Patty, expressed an interest in going, so I waited for her to get ready and we went. She had a lot of fun dancing too. I ended up dancing with 4 or 5 women, for about 10 dances, which isn't bad for me. I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing, though. There's another class starting up at the end of June with the folks who sponsored Saturday's dance. I'm planning on checking that out too. Everyone keeps telling me that I have to go out on the floor and "just do it", but if I don't feel that I've got a rudimentary understanding of what to do, I won't have as much fun. I think I'll ask S. to work with me while I wait for the next classes to begin. I am determined to learn how to do this, even if it takes forever!

Cedar Point

I went to Cedar Point yesterday with my friend, S. We had an incredible time! We rode all the cool rides that have come along since the last time I was there, 20 years ago, and a few of them twice. We jogged from ride to ride and only stopped long enough to eat a sandwich and for me to get a season pass. She already has one. I can't wait to go again!