The world of HVAC

My main adventure these days is WORK! and oh boy, it really is quite an adventure.

I don't really consider myself a "dumb blonde" until i get to work, and then it's like a go into "stupid" mode. Now, I think I should be given a little leeway because honestly how many woman do you see working HVAC or any kind of construction job that is? And I've recently found out it's probably for good reason :/

The first and most detrimental downfall to being a woman and working in HVAC is having pretty much 0.000 muscle. Now I consider myself a fairly built gall, and by that I mean I'm not a complete wimp, but when you work in HVAC fairly built or not wimpy doesn't cut it. It's not just the power tools, those are actually quite easy because the machine is doing all the work for you. It's the digging trenches, pounding out brick from the side of a house, lifting furnaces down the stairs, the constant cutting motion with your hands, holding up coils for a billion minutes while the boys do this and that.... course this does also have it's positive side, I have bigger hand and forearm muscles than i've ever had!

The second downfall to....well just being me and working in HVAC, a lot of the stuff that you do has specific orders or else pretty much your screwed and it can literally cost you hours of work! one of our favorite sayings at work

"measure twice, cut once"

for some reason i seem to forget the important and usually very obvious step that costs us hours and hours of our day. This week wasn't TERRIBLE but I did have quite a lot of mess ups. Usually i'll be rock'n it and put in a run by myself or do the gas line perfect, my self confidence on the rise and then plop, there it goes again because I : drew on the wall with permanent marker and measured wrong so it's very noticeable, buy the wrong tape...TWICE, drop an entire bucket of screws down the stairs, cut a line completely crooked...

Luckily I work with family, very kind and patient family. Of course they tease me like crazy about everything I do wrong and make fun of the fact that I have to lay down my entire body on the snips just to cut some sheet metal but i know it's all out of love:)

I mostly work with Jordan where we have established that my job title is "The Bitch". Pardon my French but it's true, and pretty much the best way to describe what I do. He orders me around and I do every thing that he says which includes A LOT of running out to the van to get supplies which includes A LOT of....

running up and down stairs such as these.
Michael made fun of me for taking pictures and told me I should say "I sit around and take pictures while my brothers do all the work hehehe" which is so not true!

this is what I look at everyday, or something very similar.
This is what i got to look at today! We're doing a new construction job up in Heber and i've officially decided i wouldnt mind living there! It really is quite a pretty place, not too small and not too far away from real civilization.

One thing that has been kind of interesting for me to find out is how men treat woman in a work environment like this. The majority of the time they stare for a bit and then get on with their work but occasionally when I go to supply stores to pick things up I have been treated down right rude! It's almost like they are trying to say "excuse me?! you think you can do a job like this? how about you go back home and do my laundry". Men! men! they are soooooo rude, slimy,smelly, perverted, conceded, jerks! I have been pointed and laughed at, some guys wont even help me when i walk up to the counter. And something about the way they "help me" has this attitude. I've never felt discriminated because of my sex before I started this job.

Now of course I must add that there are the guys that are WONDERFUL! Mostly it's because they are the guys that know my dad. They help me out, smile, ask me how i'm doing, talk TO me not down to me.

Also if you're a Dearden, in the HVAC world you're a bit of a celebrity. EVERYONE knows my dad, and so there for everyone knows me. It's kind of interesting to go around and have people be like "hey! you're Dans daughter" and say it with pride. I'm pretty sure most everyone in the HVAC business has a lot of respect for my dad.