My Little Electrician

Travis is an electrician with his apprentice license. He started off in general construction, then he moved to residential electrician. Now he is working at an oil refinery plant as an industrial electrician. He made the decision to move to the plant because, one, he wanted to be able to continue to move up and he had plateaued at the family owned electric company and two, because he wanted to broaden his abilities. Throughout all of this he has been aiming at becoming a Journeyman, which is the next step up from apprentice. To get this license you have to have about three years worth of experience and you have to pass a written exam. Travis has been attending a 4-hour Wednesday class for two months now and I am excited to say he had his last class this past week! He still has to take the test, which he is attempting to set up right now. I'm pretty sure the test is only offered at certain times throughout the year, so it may be a bit before he gets the chance. I hope so so so badly that he passes the test because he automatically gets a raise at work. And then he'll have more opportunities to move up from there. I'm so happy that Travis is making the right steps to further his career. I just hope I'm doing as well as he is!

Travis normally works four 10-hour days a week. About four times a year, the plant shuts down so that the various workers can get into areas that they are not allowed while the plant is up and running. Because this time is limited, he usually works seven 12-hour days. I am sad that we don't get to see each other much during these periods, but the money is great. Unfortunately, it put us at the top of a tax bracket for 2007 and we had to pay the most taxes we ever have before. I know it is worth it in the long run.

This is a picture my dad took at Christmas time 2006. He is seriously admiring the organization put into this wall of wires:

Travis' handyman abilities have been very "handy" for us. The home we live in now is our first together. We bought it a year ago in February. It is the perfect house for us because everything was remodeled in 2003 except for the electrical. And we have that covered! We have rewired half the house so far, but decided to put off the other half until we were able to get our gutter and drainage system under control. Unfortunately for Travis, he had to bear crawl through mud the whole time. Let's just say he wasn't a happy camper: