Mike's First Post

OK, here I go for my first post. I'm going to try and catch everyone up from moving to California all the way until the present. My mom and I took 4 days to drive across the country and it was beautiful! I had no idea that the US was so pretty. We went from Durham through Tennessee. The car window got stuck 2 inches down so we stopped at a lowe's and got some screwdrivers. tore the door apart, and tried to fix it. When we took it to the dealer to get fixed the next day they determined that the window lock button was engaged. So we continued on to St. Louis and saw the arch. We drove through Nebraska, which had nothing but corn. Seriously, that's all there was there, corn, corn, and more corn. We ate the best BBQ I have ever had in my life in Independence Missouri. We drove over the mountains and down into Utah which was really cool. Then we saw the Bonneville salt flats. There was salt as far as you can see and it was dead flat. Maybe that's why they call it the salt flats. We stopped in the middle of Wyoming, which I think was my favorite state as far as scenery goes. We then tried to stop in Reno which was full because there was a National Rib cookoff and everything in town was booked solid for months in advance. So we stayed in Lake Tahoe and went around to see it the next day. Then we went to my mom's aunt and uncle Dave and Elaine's place the next day. Then we went to their daughter's house for a labor day BBQ. After that it was on to My aunt and uncle's house. We were finally at the end of our trip.
That is when there was a few days of scrambling. We determined that the car needed new tires and when the new tires got put on it was determined that it had a broken strut and needed new shocks. So my mom and dad took care of that expense (Thanks!) all while I was trying to find a place to live in the meantime. I was primarily looking on craigslist which had a bunch of places. Some people didn't want a winery intern. Some were too expensive, too dirty, or too far away. There was one property that was 2 miles down the road from my job but it was through a rental company. Dealing with them sure was fun. They wanted the name of every place that I ever rented, contact numbers for the landlords, personal references, bank account information, employment information, my supervisors names and numbers, and a whole host of other information. What it boiled down to was that they wouldn't approve me because I didn't live in California. They wouldn't even take all 3 months rent and deposit up front in cash. They wouldn't let my parents cosign either because they live out of state. I finally found a great place that's not expensive and close to my job without having to give blood and urine samples and I am really happy living there. I rent a small room in a 4 bedroom house shared by 5 people. The owner has his own business fixing computers. His girlfriend lives here and her parents own a pizza restaurant. Another roommate is at the Park Ranger Academy and another guy is from Utah and that's about all we know about him. We hardly ever see him.
So now that we have covered that let's talk about the winery. I really like working there. We start every day at 7am which you get used to after a while but somehow it's still early. It started out at 8 hours a day and has steadily ramped up from there. I do all kinds of cellar work. I have cleaned floors, filled barrels, racked juice and wine from tank to tank, done pumpovers and punchdowns, monitored fermentations with a hydrometer, and moved heavy objects. I have earned the nickname Andre the Giant. I think I will go into more detail about the wine work later because this entry is getting kind of long. Over the last 2 weeks I have worked more than I have ever worked in my life. Days as long as 13 or 14 hours were normal, with a few 16 hour days and even one 18 hour day! This has become a problem lately because everyone is getting tired and generally dragging. We have switched to a staggered schedule with 2 people starting at 7am and 2 starting at 10am. The paychecks sure are awesome though. This post is getting kind of long so I will go into more detail about the winery and the wine work later because that is pretty much all I do with my time.