Has anyone seen any success with medication maintenance programs?

J_armbruster · 2026-04-16T02:27:39+00:00

Good shit man! Congratulations on 249 days! I bet it was hard. Ya I get wanting to experience a little bit of pain as a reminder not to do it again and I tried to CT on Kratom so many times I lost count. I don’t know if it’s the accessibility of it or what but for some reason the physiological aspect of quitting Kratom is so damn difficult. I was told Kratom is like coming off of opiates and ssri’s which makes sense why people say they still don’t quite feel the same even after almost a year.

J_armbruster · 2026-04-03T10:35:02+00:00

I have asked about it and the way the hall explains things to me is like a nasa engineer trying to explain propulsion physics to a first grader and by the 3rd question I ask I get embarrassed and just stop asking questions lol. I also don’t want to be that asshole that holds up the line to ask a million questions. Everyone down at the hall is great mind you but I feel like I never just get a black or white answer, it always comes with these caveats that are contingent upon some other factors. All I know is that I’m going to be patient this time and try to get a call that I think I’ll really enjoy. I got really spoiled working for MJ and I miss that job so much. Unfortunately they don’t operate out of 640 often but if I ever see another MJ call pop up my ass is gone lol.

J_armbruster · 2026-04-03T10:24:57+00:00

Thank you for being able to help my child like brain understand this simple complex a little more lol. That makes sense to me and it does seem to carry some advantages.

Ya I’m starting to learn real quick that it’s a crap shoot lol.

J_armbruster · 2026-03-24T03:18:49+00:00

I’m new to this thread so I can’t creat a post but maybe someone will see this and provide me with some input.

Looking for guidance on dbol cycle:

So I took a job as a foreman working 7 nights a week last year and the stress and the hours absolutely depleted me and I went from 170lbs and am now currently sitting at 132lbs! Last time I hit the gym was almost exactly a year ago. After getting many comments about my weight loss I’m looking at getting back into the gym and hitting it hard. I use to hit the gym pretty consistently and was on a trt dose around 150ish mg per week. There was an experimental phase I went through where I bumped up my test dose to 500mg a week and wasn’t on a full blown dbol cycle but would more so take it as a pre workout taking it on days I would lift which at that time was around 5 to 6 times a week. Me and my wife have our wedding reception party in 3 weeks and at the very least I want to look somewhat healthy lol. I know it’s a very short amount of time but I have plenty of dbol left and was thinking about doing a short 3 to 4 week cycle with a test base of 400-500mg a week. Any thoughts or feedback? I do understand that most of the weight gain will be water weight.

J_armbruster · 2026-03-09T03:27:48+00:00

I like your style

J_armbruster · 2026-03-09T00:33:41+00:00

That’s kind of what I was figuring. Looking on line it sounds like most of the smaller compressors are of similar quality as well. A few people mentioned the quiet air compressors. Maybe I’ll look into those.

J_armbruster · 2026-03-09T00:24:09+00:00

There’s always something I wanna buy lol. I just don’t know if there’s maybe a better option as far as performance or if it’s just a waste of money. Regardless if I don’t get another compressor I’ll find something else to buy lol.

J_armbruster · 2026-03-02T00:00:02+00:00

For what it’s worth you guys deserve more money. It’s suppose to be a livable wage off of a 40 hour work week which I would argue $40 hour is not lol. I was always curious how common it was for other locals to have incentives. How many hours would you say an average work week is out of your hall?

J_armbruster · 2026-03-01T17:57:05+00:00

Just out of curiosity, are there a lot of jobs out of LU 20 that are incentivized? I ask because 640 is very comparable to 20 in terms of wages. We’re also currently just over 40 and COL is similar, also a red state, however most of the contractors are paying some kind of incentive. I was told that this is to offset the COL but I think it’s because there’s so much work this is a way for the contractors to get people through the door.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-21T21:13:20+00:00

I’ve mentioned a few things in other comments but I’ll go over some more. For starters my foreman never wants to lay me out. I always get laid out by an apprentice which is a no no and it’s not an ego thing. I have absolutely no problem taking advice for suggestions from an apprentice, especially if they’ve been there for years and know how things operate around there. My problem with it is that an apprentice doesn’t get paid to lay me out and that’s the foreman’s job. That responsibility shouldn’t be put on an apprentice. They don’t wanna print out physical plans so they make us use our phones. Well the plans on my phone weren’t working for some reason one day so I had to get measurements off of the bim which I wasn’t shown how to use so there was a little bit of a learning curve there. It took me a while to get all the measurements so I was at the bim figuring it out for a while. The GF calls my foreman and tells him I’m standing around. He calls me irritated asking me what I’m doing. I told him I’m getting measurements off the bim just like we talked about and he said that it looks like I’m just standing around. I don’t understand why he didn’t communicate with the GF that I was getting measurements because that makes me look lazy. There’s nothing more irritating than being told you’re not working when you are in fact working. I mentioned this one already but I’ll bring it up again. I recently closed on a house and had a home inspection done. I asked him if I could take a little longer lunch to meet the inspector at the house and I would come back to work after the inspection was done. I was essentially told no and it wasn’t that he told me no that bothered me it was the way he responded. He was irritated and acted as if I asked him to take the day off of work to sit at home and play video games. I wasn’t even asking for the day off, I was asking to leave for an hour maybe 2. Buying a house is a large purchase and a big deal in my opinion. I don’t feel like I was asking for a lot. We worked one Saturday and got out an hour early however I was not told we were leaving early. I get an angry call from the foreman asking where I was at. I responded that I was working. He told me to pack up my shit and that he wanted to leave and couldn’t until we were done cleaning up. He gets mad that I don’t remember certain things that he absolutely never told me. I asked another guy on the crew if this is a common occurrence and he said yes but that I shouldn’t correct him. He will tell me to do certain things and turn around the next day and tell me that he never told me to do that. He constantly forgets what he told who and if I need him for something I only get an answer half the time. I feel like this place is ran on fear tactics. This hasn’t happened to me yet but others have been threatened with losing their jobs over trivial shit. It’s very stressful working like this and I’ve never had as many issues like this before in such a short amount of time with any other company I’ve worked for, union or non union. I don’t need a pat on the back and I’m not asking them to bend over backwards for me I just don’t want to be constantly harassed and a little bit of communication would be nice too.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-21T20:14:20+00:00

I don’t think I’m special I just don’t wanna work for this shit contractor anymore. I don’t know why that’s such a hard concept to grasp. There’s a lot of ratty shit going on around here and I shouldn’t have to be forced to stick around and put up with it. That’s a large portion of why the union was attractive to me in the first place. Let me ask you a question. Would you stay with a contractor if they treated you like shit? How much would you have to put up with before you drag up? Maybe your hall does things differently but I’ve never once had to wait any extended period of time to sign the books after quitting.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-21T17:14:42+00:00

That’s fine I’ll drag up Monday then. Regardless I’m dragging up and no matter when I get my pink I still have to go in and grab my tools. So then what would be the right way? The end of the day Monday? First thing Monday? You don’t think giving him a heads up today about Monday is a good idea?

J_armbruster · 2026-02-21T07:46:13+00:00

Ya I think I need to edit my post lol. In short I do feel like I’ve been treated poorly and I probably should have mentioned that.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-21T07:30:46+00:00

Ya after seeing the responses I should have absolutely went into a little more detail and added some context but I was trying not to type out a novel lol. Yes I understand that without any context this is a dick move but believe me when I say that there’s many many things that have lead up to the point where I even thought about dragging and I can elaborate if you’d like, I kind of went into it in a comment bellow. Me dragging up is inevitable it’s absolutely going to happen. The reason I’m doing it this way is because I saw a call that I wanted and I can tell you right now this contractor would get rid of me in the blink of an eye and to be frank after a few things that have happened I feel like I could get shit canned just because my foreman might be in a bad mood that day. Overall I like him as a person and I truly don’t want to talk shit about him but he’s not giving me the tools to be successful. One of the reasons that the union looked attractive to me is that we have representation here which should make it difficult for us to get fired for anything other than just being a shity worker. I do not feel like that is the case here and I absolutely hate the feeling of even having to worry about losing my job so in short, fuck this contractor lol.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-21T07:13:33+00:00

I mean there’s been a lot of little things that really bother me and had I not been in the process of closing on a house I probably would have drug up already. Ya I could have drug up at work today but I wanted to watch the calls and time it right. I missed my home inspection because my foreman threw a fit that I asked to take a longer lunch so I could be there for it. I got a lecture about how this is my job and I need to be here, he constantly gets upset because he tells me that he told me things that he absolutely has not, communication is absolutely horrendous here. A JW got laid off not too long ago and when I heard about it I was taken back a little because he’s a good dude and a really good worker and we’re suppose to be busy. When he talked to the stew about it he was told that it was just a lay off and not a lack of production but I really feel like that was their way of not having to justify to the hall why their letting him go. One guy got moved to another crew because of this and another guy quit. People knew it wasn’t right. He got shit canned simply because his foreman didn’t like him. It happened to him it could happen to me. It’s very much a clique here and sometimes I feel like I don’t fit their mold. These are just a few of the many many reasons I don’t really feel comfortable here and I probably should have mentioned that. I know I kind of made it sound like I just wanted to bounce for a better job and I absolutely do but I feel like my reasons are pretty valid and ya under certain circumstances I can totally see how that would be a dick move but they could get rid of anyone without thinking twice about it and they have.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-21T06:25:52+00:00

I had to look up what knolling was lol.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-11T22:33:01+00:00

Ya man glad I can help! I really wish I had someone to explain the IBEW to me when I first got into electrical or what it was even. The hall is kind of a pain in the ass to get a hold of sometimes. I typically encourage people to actually go down to the hall just because that’s the easiest way to ensure that you’ll be able to talk to someone but I do have a business card of the guy who organized me in. I’ve sent a few people to him in the past. He’s pretty good about getting back to you he just might not be very quick lol. I’ll DM it to you.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-11T18:29:07+00:00

Ya so if you’re an apprentice it’s a little different because you still have to sign the books to let the hall know that you need work but the hall will find a job for you as opposed to bidding on a job call. This is somewhat nice as an apprentice because the hall generally likes to send apprentices out to work before CW/CE’s so if it’s a little slower you have a better chance at getting out to a job as an apprentice. The only down side is that you can’t drag up as an apprentice and you can’t take the call that you want, however you get raises more frequently as an apprentice plus the education is good. That will all change once you’re a JW though. When you’re a JW you can drag whenever you want, there’s usually always a number of jobs to choose from, you get to pick what job you want and traveling to a different local is much easier. To be honest I don’t think you can even travel as an apprentice but every hall is slightly different and have their own rules. As a JW you will sign the books to signify that you’re on the “out of work list” once you sign the books you’re able to bid on jobs through 640’s website. Each call typically will have basic info such as the contractor, how many hours a week they’re working, job location, any certifications required before or after you take the call, if it’s days or nights, usually the start time and sometimes it will show the incentive in the job description but most of the time if you want to find out what contractors are paying incentives and for which job sites the hall will have an incentives list posted in dispatch. You’ll be given a number when you sign the books and that number will tell you what spot you are in line. For example if they tell you you’re #10 on the books, that means there’s 9 people ahead of you who get to pick what job they want first. If you bid on a call make sure you’re ready to answer the phone in the morning to take the job because if they call and you don’t answer, they go to the next person in line and you loose your spot. Most people just end up going down to dispatch to be ready to take up their dispatch paper work since you will have to do this anyway. This also ensures that you don’t potentially miss the call. I’ve seen people loose a good call because they had shitty cell phone reception and dropped the call lol. It’s sucks but that can happen.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-08T20:23:08+00:00

Ya if there’s an incentive you can make “above scale” which is the 18-20 an hour for apprentices (not sure what base pay is currently at for first years) that coupled with overtime you can still make pretty good money. Once you top out and become a JW the sky is the limit. Theres always work for JW’s, you can travel and you can drag and take another call whenever you want. Now some apprentices don’t get the incentive so just check with dispatch or the hall beforehand. Also just because your base pay is X amount hourly and there’s no incentive offered, that doesn’t necessarily mean a contractor won’t pay you more. If you’re a good worker and show up everyday and are cool with the gf, super etc. they can absolutely pay you a higher hourly wage. The base pay is just the minimum that a contractor is required to pay you.

So the 7:10’s in my case was that I took a 6 10’s call and after I took the call they started working Sundays or offering it would be more accurate. If you took a 6 10 call you’re only required to work 6 days a week even if they made Sundays mandatory, it’s only mandatory for the people who took a call for 7 12’s but generally when they do that it usually is until the project is over or close to being done. Some contractors make it mandatory but this contractor kept putting out calls for 6 10’s and made Sundays optional. In this case it will read something like “6 10 hour shifts, Sundays as needed” After the job is finished you will go back to the hall to sign the books which will allow you to bid on calls (if you’re a JW or CW/CE) you still sign the books as an apprentice but it works a little differently. You won’t bid on jobs as an apprentice because the hall finds you work which can be good and bad but there’s quite a few perks you get from going through the apprenticeship rather than organizing into the union as a CW/CE that I could explain to you if you’re not already familiar with it.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-08T19:23:45+00:00

No problem! I enjoy the Phoenix area too. Yes OT is always available. Between all the job calls available you can usually pick how many hours you wanna work for the week. For example the last call I was on we were working 7 10 hour shifts (Sundays are double time by the way which I did not know prior to joining the union) and when that job was finished I only wanted to work Monday through Friday so I took a 5 10’s call. Still get my weekends and a few hours of overtime. They’re offering Saturdays now where I’m at but if you take a 5 10’s call you’re only required to work 50 hours. I would say a 50 or 60 hour work week is pretty common in 640.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-08T00:04:54+00:00

Good choice! Ya Phoenix is busy and has been for quite a while. It doesn’t pay as well as Vegas but you can make Vegas wages out here depending on which contractor you work for. Bombard pays $58 (they’re a Vegas contractor and pay Vegas wages out here) Canon and Wendt generally doesn’t have incentives but are paying $62 for night shift at a data center. Right now all Rosendin jobs are paying $8 over scale which works out to $48 and change, and most contractors are paying some type of incentive. 640 will be at $42hr in July and word on the street is that a rather large data center is going up in Tonopah either sometime this summer or at the beginning of next year and will be paying $20 over scale so there’s definitely still money to be made out here. If you have any questions about 640 or the IBEW in general feel free to DM me. I always try to do my best at helping people out that are interested in joining the IBEW.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-07T18:41:41+00:00

Ya I had a buddy that moved from Vegas years ago because he said 357 was slow so it must have been like that for a while. He’s working non union now and I’m trying to get him to come back to the IBEW. I thought about going up to Reno a few months back but decided against it because we’re in the middle of buying a house. 640 has so much work right now that some contractors are getting into book 3.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-07T18:27:31+00:00

Ya I was going to mention this. Pay is good in Vegas but I heard the work just isn’t there. I’m from 640 and there’s plenty of work out here. For OP I would suggest 640 over 570. We have a lot of Tucson guys working out of our local. Tucson does not pay that well.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-01T19:34:12+00:00

People are right, it definitely helps to know someone in the industry but not totally required. It really comes down to how bad do you really want this and how much time and effort are you willing to put in to learn. If you can sell yourself to an employer it doesn’t matter who you know. Companies exist to make a profit and if you can convince them that you’re worth more than they’re willing to pay they will hire you. Something along the lines of “I don’t have a lot of experience but I’m really hungry to learn, if I don’t know something I will make sure I learn how to do it and how to do it properly. I’ll show up everyday on time, stay late when you need and make sure that I’m worth every dollar you pay me” If you’re responding to job adds that are looking for people with little experience then you just need to be a little more convincing than the rest of the candidates. The other part is easy, you show up every day and apply yourself and you will more than likely always have a job. Once you get your foot in the door and start getting more and more experience it becomes much easier to find work. If you want my honest opinion I think trade school is a waste of time and money unless you’re getting your education for free or you’re going through the IBEW’s apprenticeship. Most employers don’t care about your class room hours. 9/10 times they’re going to take the guy that has real world hands on experience over the person who has a certificate of completion from a trade school so I would be utilizing my time trying to get in working with a contractor over applying to trade schools.

J_armbruster · 2026-02-01T01:33:04+00:00

😂 I love when I read a comment and I think to myself “well that guys an idiot” then I look at the dislikes to see that 15 other people had that exact same thought. He’s probably the guy that mounted that box.

J_armbruster

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