Ok so, new year, new me. I resolve to drink more water, write more, eat less bacon, blah blah blah... oh the lies we tell ourselves. The last few years I actually have been making progress on my yearly resolutions. I have managed to stop drinking energy drinks, I do drink less soda (actually gave it up for six months) and have been drinking more water.

My goal for this year was to give up bacon.

I ain't doing that. Nope, sorry, not happening. I honestly don't eat it that much, with last month being the exception. Why? Well let me spin you a tale.

See this last year I started a new job. Yep that's right, I am once again gainfully employed. I work for ALK Source Materials. ALK-Abelló A/S is a Denmark-based pharmaceutical company which specializes in the development and manufacturing of allergy immunotherapy products for the prevention and treatment of allergy.

I'm a HDM Separation 1 Production Lab Technician. Sounds fancy right? It kinda is, in the same way one is a master of the custodial arts (or janitor if you want to be a dick about it). HDM is short for house dust mite. Separation 1 is process called Drying and Sieving. I'm considered a Lab Tech because I have to were a lab coat and work inside of a controlled environment.

But really all I do it dump cans of whole mite culture into a giant hair dryer, then shake them with a sieve till I separate the bodies of the mites from their... feces. Yeah, that's right I collect mite caca, doodoo, poopoo, and turds. I am a poopsmith.

It's not as gross as it sounds. It's a dried powder at point when I have to take samples and weight it. Looks a bit like... chocolate drink powder. Let that sink in the next time you make hot coco. We also collect the bodies and process them as well. But that's a different team, Separation 2. But I digress.

So in late November two of my coworkers and I were informed that we need to go on a newly formed

NIGHT SHIFT

We three, my supervisor and our team lead decided to called it Beta Shift, since it was BS. So for the month of December I worked nights, 5:00 PM to 3:30 AM, Monday thru Thursday. At the end of the first week, we went to Denny's to celebrate the end of the week. And we made it a weekly tradition. So every Friday morning after work I get eggs, bacon, toast and coffee.

And since Beta Shift will continue until it stops, I'm looking forward to my weekly Denny's visit. But maybe I'll get the turkey bacon instead.

This last year has been a bit of a ride, what with the new job, the boy starting pre-K, and mild knee infection that nearly required surgery. I do hope to try to write more, so hopefully it wont be months before I post again. Til next time!