Jimmy Harmon

We started core drilling again this morning. The core actually got stuck in the hole and it took almost 30 minutes to get it unstuck! The Walmart Maintenance guy stated talking to us and informed us that he core drilled quite a few holes in the building. He said he was surprised that we had to go so deep. He suggested that we try another hole and maybe even skip one. So we did…

This is when things got very exciting! About 9 1/2″ deep, the water disappeared! That means the water must be draining through the bottom! Yes, we finally made it through to the bottom of one of the cores! I was so happy, I literally started running around trying to find something to pull the core up with! We actually decided to leave it in so we would have something to run the big saw over. I’d hate to have it sink in the middle of an 8″ hole with the 48″ blade halfway through the cut! That wouldn’t be good at all!

The other crews only worked a half day and took off. It almost seems like we get more done when it’s just the two of us working alone… with 800 other Walmart employees watching our every move! Not really. I don’t even think they know we exist unless we’re checking in and out! We called it a day so we could leave the job on a happy note.

The big saw finally arrived around 3:00 PM. We made saw cuts until about 7:30 and called it a day. Spent most of the day trying to figure out exactly what it is we’re supposed to be doing.

The worst part about planning for this job is not knowing what it is we’re doing. Having never done dock levelers before or even seen one, it’s been hard to plan on the equipment we need. The guy we’re doing the job for is an old customer of mine who offered us the opportunity to do the job. As much as I appreciate the opportunity, it’s hard to get proper information out of him. Originally, we were supposed to go to Williamsburg, Virginia first. There are 48 dock levelers to do there. They’re also the big dock levelers too. The levelers in Cullman are pretty small.

The bottom line is he’s probably not giving me the information I need because Walmart is the one to decide what happens and when. Just like when we first got here Tuesday morning. It would have been nice to start work immediately, but we weren’t allowed to start until Thursday. Not a major ordeal, but it probably cot me $200 for meals and hotel extra. I just thank God that we have the money to stay an extra 2 days.

God, I sure do miss my wife and girls! I’ve been able to video chat with them a couple of times each day, so that helps a little bit. Nothing, and I mean nothing can take the place of a kiss or hug from my girls! I thank God for the opportunity, but I sure miss my family!

Finally have the OK from Walmart to start work. Trust me when I say you can’t do anything until they give you the go ahead.

We went to Decatur, Alabama and picked up our saw. Once we got it back, we unloaded and started cutting. We quickly found out though that our saw, which cuts 9 1/2″ deep wasn’t enough. I called the rental company to see if they had a bigger saw. They have one, but it won’t be in until tomorrow and it’s coming from Clarksville, Tennessee. It should cut to a depth of at least 15″.

I have my core drill, so we started core drilling only to discover that our core drill, which goes to a depth of 15″, you guessed it, it isn’t deep enough! I’m having to get a core drill extension overnighted to me, ut I can’t get it until Wednesday of next week. Now we’re just helping Randy Edwards, the general contractor, and Rick, the steel guy. Now we’re just plain bored! Can’t really do anything.

Well, my concrete work seems to have taken me to Cullman, Alabama. We’re doing Dock Levelers for a Walmart Distribution center. I look forward to the challenge, as well as the opportunity, but being away from my family will undoubtedly be the worst part of the experience.

We left on Monday the 8th, 2010. I had to wait on some saw blades for my new cut-n-break saw, so we got a late start. We finally got on the road about 4:00 PM. I was taking both Lee and Josh with me, but last Friday, Josh said he wasn’t going to be able to go. Girl problems, I think. At any rate, Lee and I can handle just about anything we have to do on this job.

We drove through snow for most of the trip, and then the big problem became the temperature and ice. We had to stop about 2 1/2 hours from Cullman in New Albany, Mississippi.

Once we got to Cullman on Tuesday, we went to the Distribution center. We wanted to take a look at what we’re up against.

Basically, we have to core drill 48 holes and remove the concrete in 24 spaces. No problem!

Now, I think we’re gonna sleep for the rest of the day. It’s been a hard 2 days so far. Mainly because of the amount of driving we’ve had to do. As I expected, I miss my wife and girls tremendously!

I ask my wife if she plans on going to some of the sales on Black Friday this year. “What fun would it be to go by myself” she says. “Who said anything about going by yourself”, I tell her boldly!

For me, Black Friday has always been me and the kids sleeping in while my wife and her sister get some good deals on a few Christmas presents. Since moving to Arkansas, we’ve managed a few times to go to Houston for Thanksgiving where her sister lives, but this year, it just didn’t work out that way, so Black Friday shopping took on a sense of responsibility this year.

We made arrangements for the girls to stay with Grandma while my wife and I went looking for a few deals. After getting stuffed, we went home and got the girls ready for their sleepover with Grandma, then my wife took them to Grandma’s house. The plan was for my wife to come back home, we look online at some places we wanted to go and then then get some sleep before heading out for some fun shopping together.

The first part of the plan went great! The kids were gone, my wife and I were openly talking about presents for the girls, which is something we usually have to do by text or email, but one thing we hadn’t really planned on was happening… time! It was starting to get late and we were watching a Christmas movie before going to bed.

We were faced with a decision… wanting to be at Best Buy by 3:00 am on Black Friday, we needed to leave no later than 2:30 am. It was already after midnight, so staying up or getting an hour of sleep was really starting to become a debate. Needless to say, we decided to lay down for an hour and 45 minutes. I hit the snooze once, so it was really closer to 2 hours. We didn’t make it by 3:00 am, so we decided Target was our best bet.

We drove by Best Buy and, as expected, the crowds were already lined up with more people running to join from at least 3 different parking lots. It was almost 4:15 am, so people were really starting to make their moves now. We just kept heading to Target.

The parking lot wasn’t as full as Best Buy, but trust me, they were starting to come pretty quick by this time. We sat in the truck for a little while waiting to decide if we wanted out in the cold, and it turns out, another 200 people probably landed in line before we finally got the desire to get out in the cold. Not the biggest mistake, but a mistake none the less. We should have jumped in line as soon as we got there.

Standing in line for 45 minutes is always fun when there are people involved. Some of them were in pajamas still. Some looked like they just rolled out of bed and went straight to the car… It was interesting to say the least!

Once 5:00 am rolled around, it took about 3 minutes for us to make it in the store. It was awesome! I’ve never seen people running in a store before! Next time my wife and I will probably forget about the shopping cart and sprint directly to what were looking for. Maybe I can wear some type of fuzzy slippers that will allow me to slide on the floor, adding a little drama to the already dramatized store! For fun, of course.

We went to the toy section via 20 different isles and finally found what we were looking for. VICTORY!!! Or was it? Upon closer inspection, the scooters we were looking for were actually all gone. The ones we had in the cart were $35.00 and the ones we wanted were $17.00! So to justify getting the more expensive scooters, we established the fact that they had more options than the cheaper ones. At least we got something out of it.

After looking and purchasing a few more items for the kids, we stopped at Best Buy and Walmart and headed home for the day! After getting some much needed sleep, my wife picked up the kids and the rest of the day went pretty smooth. After reflecting on my first Black Friday, I have to admit, it was pretty wild.

Can’t wait until next year!

I’m reading an article in the Arkansas News online addition, and I notice something that most of us would consider a little strange.

Let me explain something first. As I’m sure you know, Wal-Mart recently laid off between 700 and 800 employees. The normal logic to this would be for us to assume that Wal-Mart is having financial difficulties, right? I mean, why else would you lay off that many employees if you weren’t losing money?

Now I’ll explain what I was reading this morning. It seems that Wal-Mart topped over $400 Billion in annual sales.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit fell to $3.79 billion, down from $4.1 billion in the year earlier period. That’s a loss of $310 million for the same period last year. Quarterly revenues rose, however, to $109.1 billion from $107.3 billion a year ago. This means they made $1.8 billion more during this quarter than the same quarter last year.

For the full year, the world’s largest retailer saw its revenues top $405.6 billion, up from $378.5 billion one year ago. Full year net income jumped 5 percent to $13.4 billion compared to $12.7 billion in the previous fiscal year. That’s an increase of $700 million for the year.

On February 1, 2009,  Mike Duke assumed the title of CEO, replacing longtime leader Lee Scott. Were the layoffs some type of power trip? Were the layoffs even needed? Was this a way for Wal-Mart to boost an already huge profit? Is this a way for Wal-Mart to lead the country in the bounce back from the recession? After all, if Wal-Mart starts showing huge profits, then the United States economy must be doing pretty good, right?

Here’s the way I see it.

Wal-Mart didn’t have to layoff anyone at their corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. I can’t predict the future of Wal-Mart, but I can predict that people will always need food, clothes and the many other items they sell. It wouldn’t seem normal to me if my wife didn’t tell me two or three times per week that we needed something from Wal-Mart. It’s a fact! Who knows, maybe their outlook for 2010 looks so bad that they had to start laying off people now in order to keep up. I honestly doubt this is the case.

Here’s another fact for you. Wal-Mart’s full year net income jumped 5 percent and they still laid off almost 800 corporate employees. What does this actually mean? Was this just an opportunity for them to cut a bunch of employees who didn’t make sense for the company? If that’s the case, as much as I hate to say it, it should make us all feel a little better. Why? Because it shows that Wal-Mart layoffs weren’t because of the economy after all, and it’s not as bad as it seems here in Northwest Arkansas.

I’ll probably do a couple of follow-ups on this. It’s got me interested in exactly how our local economy is doing. It’s also got me interested in seeing just how corporations are trying to play the American people by using the current economic recession to their advantage.

You know things are getting pretty bad when Walmart starts to lay off employees.  CEO Mike Duke announced yesterday that Walmart would lay off approximately 700 – 800 employees from the Walmart home office in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart has always been a stronghold here in the Northwest Arkansas area and I’m sure it’s one of the hardest decisions CEO Mike Duke will have to make.

With 2.2 million employees worldwide, 700 – 800 seems like a small number. When you take into consideration what it does to the local economy, it takes on a whole new meaning. The most recent economic reports indicate that the 3rd quarter of 2008 saw a slight decrease in Bentonville’s unemployment rate to 4.11% from 4.52% in 2007. The Walmart layoffs will have a definitive impact on both the economy and the unemployment rate.

Even with the layoffs, Walmart spokesman David Tovar says the company plans to add employees at retail stores across the country, according to the Associated Press. Since most of the layoffs are coming from the home office in Bentonville, the skill level of the newly unemployed is probably a little higher than that of a retail worker. Nonetheless, I wonder if Walmart tried offered the jobs to the ones they’re letting go. It would be at least somewhat of an initiative. I wouldn’t expect many of them to take jobs in a California or New York Walmart, but it would be an excellent gesture.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see what it does to our local economy. Northwest Arkansas is a strong community. I believe that if there’s one community in the country that can beat the odds, it’s Northwest Arkansas!