Sunday, April 22, 2012

Life in Texas

It's hard to believe it's been over six months since I updated my blog! And yes, I've been working. I received a job offer at the end of August, and started work the beginning of October.

For those that don't know, I'm working for an Electric Cooperative in North Texas. I'm not allowed to use the name of the company on the Internet, but suffice to say it's a great one.

The following is a photo of an accident that happened to break one of our poles. It was pretty intense, the pole was on fire, the engine was laying out on the grass farther to to the right of the photo, and where the pole is, that's where the cab should have been.



There seems to be a stereotype where I'm from (The Northwest) about Texas, and yes I was guilty of believing it too, where all of Texas wears cowboy boots and hats, spurs and chaps, and talks in heavy drawl. Let me be the first to say, not true. In fact I would prefer it to be true, living in a college town I see WAY too many hipsters, stoners and punks.

On the flip side, Texans don't really know about Washington state. Most think of Seattle, Liberals, and Starbucks when I talk of home. I try to communicate that, just like Texas, Washington has diversity also. I also keep hearing about "Texas Summers" to the point where I'm starting to get a little freaked out. A typical conversation will be,

"Where are you from?"
                                                                  "Washington"
"The Capital?"
                                                                  "No, the State."
"Oh, it rains a lot over there"
                                                                   "Well, I'm from the other side of the state"
-Confused look, "Have you experienced a Texas summer yet?"
                                                                  "No, but it can't be that bad..."
-Shakes head looks down  "Just wait"

                   ...So we'll see how summer turns out to be...

As I stated earlier, I'm working at an electric cooperative. I LOVE IT! When I went to school, I started out wanting to work at a coop. I was inspired in school by teachers who came up through the ranks of cooperatives, and now I work at one. My experience thus far in my career has been a blessed and exciting one. And I can't wait to see what the future will bring!