How does anyone make or keep friends when you work odd schedules? What about making friends outside of work period?

When I was in the navy I never really had problems making friends with different people I met, but lost touch with pretty much all of them once I got out. Now that I am working a mostly normal job here in Utah, I have a good working relationship with my co-workers, but that mostly ends once work is over. Has anyone ever dealt with this before? I would like to meet new people with interests that mirror my own. I work 50-55 hours a week on a compressed shift schedule which makes it hard to get out to meet people; if I even knew where to start since I really only have ever met people while working.

I'm 28, M, and married with two kids =). I work pretty much from Tuesday to Saturday which might be part of my problem. How do/would you go about making new friends in my situation? I will be honest, i'm not the most outgoing person, but I am very loyal to the few friends I have kept in touch with. I love my wife to death, but I feel I am missing a connection with a person that I can confide in that isn't her (in a friend way obviously lol)...which sounds kinda weird once I type it, but I'm sure there are people that feel the same I think. I dunno what else to add to this really so I guess I will see where this post takes me. Thanks for reading if you made it this far, If anything It made me feel better typing it. Life definitely can get repetitive at times and having good friends can help you deal with the monotony.