Stay in Houston

Stay in Houston

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I didn't get a 'return' from General Stevedores as no barges were due in for the week of March 10, but got an assignment with Burrus Contractor Supply to make up for the yard supervisor who is away on vacation for two weeks. Here is a picture of their adminstrative/sales office (front section) for Houston (they also have a facility in Beaumont, TX) and main warehouse area. They specialize in supplies for pouring concrete so have loads of rebar (steel rods) and other cement accessories.
Here is Mr. Pope loading a customer's order onto one of Burrus' trucks for delivery. Mr. Pope and I put together most of the orders with him running the forklift and me doing much of the counting and banding. Mr. Pope is 54 and nice to work with. I was told to ask for 'Mr. Pope' in the yard when I checked in and so continue to call him 'Mr. Pope' though we are really quite friendly. He asked me what my name was and I answered 'Brian', so he calls me Brian.
This is Jane as I interrupted her lunch (lasagna, they often order out and pick up from local places). She is the person I report to and the manager of this Burrus facility. She is very nice to everyone, customers, help, etc. and seems to be a very good manager. They have had a location in Houston for two and a half years and Jane left another similar company to take over here at that time. Many customers came over with her and I can see why they are happy.
This is Jeremy finishing off assembling a picnic table. He started the day after I did, replacing Chad who was fired as he wasn't showing up. Jeremy also helps out and is working part time while he goes to school at San Jacinto Community College (I use their libraries). We often assemble picnic tables, wheel barrows, etc. that come in unassembled and then are assembled when a customer orders them.
Behind the main warehouse is the second warehouse which mostly has lumber. Behind it (closer to the fence) they have asphalt expansion joints (out in the open) with stakes and chamfors in between the two warehouses.
Further beyond the second warehouse is the area where they custom cut and shape rebars (steel rods put in place before pouring cement to provide extra strength, especially to minimizes cracks from tension). Three people work in that area.
Here is the lead person in custom ordered rebars, Jose. He was lived in the U.S. for ten years, but only recently started trying to improve his English. His English is better than my Spanish, but we help each other with pronunciation and such. The three people in this area are all Hispanic and work pretty much as a team and on their own, so I don't see them much during the day. However, they bring their lunch (as I do) and so we eat lunch together in the break room after heating it in the microwave. It gives me a chance to work on my Spanish.
The office people mostly order out for lunch and eat at their desks. This is Nesto. He is the latest addition to their team and still works for Labor Ready. His English is about as good as my Spanish so I didn't have much opportunity to visit with him.
This is the youngest member of their team, Iladio. He is 29 and isn't married as yet, but is considering it. His sister in law often makes him nice lunches so there doesn't seem to be any pressing need for him to marry. He is the youngest of the team, but speaks English very comfortably, so I suspect that he was raised in the United States.
Burrus also has several trucks and truck drivers to make delivers. Here is one of their truck drivers tightening the straps on a load before leaving the yard. He has been married 22 years (and so is older than he looks to me) and is an ex-marine. He seems impressed that I graduated from West Point and now calls me Captain, the last rank I had before I left the Army.
Here is a 5 second video (120K, about 40 second download) of Nesto feeding rebar into the machine that bends it into different shapes. They have lots of gears and attachments so that it can bend different shapes. The low resolution of these web videos really loses too much here as I could either focus on the machine, or the people. You get the people. What to do?	If your browser is not set up to show movies you will get an error dialog box instead of a player and can just press cancel.
Here is a 5 second video (120K, about 40 second download) of Jose and Iladio feeding rebar into the machine that cuts the rebar. That is several bars being cut at one time. Wow!	If your browser is not set up to show movies you will get an error dialog box instead of a player and can just press cancel.
This is another picture of Mr. Pope inside the main warehouse where he is operating a standing up fork lift. With that kind of forklift you can't pick up as heavy a load (it doesn't have the depth), put it can maneuver with narrower aisles. March 22 was my last day with Burrus as Dewey, the yard supervisor was due back from vacation. As always, it was sad to leave my new friends.