So, I know nothing at all about diesels but I was thrown into the trial by fire way of learning. The second one in the same week was a much better experience for me. I learned what tools to use and I pioneered a little trick by tapering a bolt to get it to thread easier.
25% capacity. This was still unacceptable as 100% of the bills were still coming in. Now I am known for being a super positive guy and an extreme optimist, so enough of the negative back story, and let’s get to the title of this article. In a last-ditch effort to keep our business going, we made the extremely tough decision to not take personal payroll from our business and look for work somewhere else. This absolutely crushed my heart as I loved my life, and the way I was able to provide for my family. Like a piece of wood that we break in the martial arts during a black belt test, this too was just an obstacle I needed to conquer in order to move forward. My wife stepped up to the plate and used her degree in teaching to become a substitute teacher. She also worked in a friend’s car dealership part-time as a receptionist and helped him out as he was going through a crisis of his own with staff and the pandemic. I put the word out and took in as much work as I could in my shop. I even branched out and used my skills to fix boilers, plumbing and electric. I was doing my best to keep income coming in, but work was not steady enough. During this crisis, a few good people stepped up and offered me job opportunities. My dear friend Shawn put in a good word at an engineering company that specializes in robotic surgery. Unfortunately, it would require me to relocate, and I just couldn’t do that to my teenage daughter. (Plus, I love our home, property and MY SHOP.) So a major hug and heartfelt thank you must go to Shawn for being the first person to take a risk and help me and my family.
I welcomed this challenge as I am the guy who finds a way when there seems there is no way. I broke out the shop MIG welder and ran a bead on the tip of that broken stud and after heating that flange up, I used a set of vice grips to extract that little nightmare. I was able to do the same trick to a few broken exhaust manifold bolts that week as well.
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march 2021
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