Today, I think I learned and used a bit of wisdom. My transportation problems lately have
become a matter of interest for the whole family. Of course no one is stepping forward to
HELP, but it's a topic everyone can point and stare and gossip about. Instead of telling the
woman who birthed me to mind her own damn business, I listened as she gave her opinion on
what I should be doing about transportation....even tho she partially caused it in the first
place.. No use fighting it if it's gonna happen anyway, right? Wish I could be this wise all
the time....but then, I'd probably be married...;)


I gotta update this thing more often....for posterity, if nothing else *smirk*
I gotta bend over and get my cable modem back. I can deal with anything else except the
not having internet at my fingertips. Real Life sux.
Teachers:
It takes all kinds, I suppose. My grandmother recently got a new teaching job after being
retired for 5? years or so. After being an educator for the past 30, she swore that she
would never go back. But, the retired life hasn't been fun for her either. I can understand
not having anything to do everyday. Makes you wonder how housewives and welfare folks
manage. Or the people way out in the country. In any case, she is happy to be working again,
but already people in our moribund educational establishment are getting on her nerves. I
have had one brush with office politics...a 2 year stint at WSU. I swear that I will never
do another office job again unless the pay is pretty damn outstanding. There is nothing quite
like realizing that most of your coworkers have nothing to do besides sit on their ass and
talk about other folks all damn day....all while doing as little as physically possible. And
complain. Let's not forget about complaining.
More on Teachers:
I used to think that my lifes goal was to teach: Helping others acquire knowledge and taking
pleasure in the fact that I am helping others was my main goal in life. Besides learning new
tricks and things to do with a computer, I couldn't think of anything else that could give me
such a sense of accomplishment. Now, after having been in the "real world" for a couple of
years, I have come to realize how much of a naive son of a bitch I have been. In this day
and age, teaching has become the lazy bastards new dream job. It used to be that someone
with no ambition would get themselves a cush office job...perhaps in low level management, as
I can truly testify from my own experiences. Now, the job of choice seems to be the teaching
field, especially since teaching salaries, nothing to write home about, are now equivalent to
what higher paid office staff used to be before the advent of the modern computer age.
Why do I believe this: Because if you look, teachers for the most part don't even try to teach any
more. They are more concerned with their salary, and not having that god almighty bulletproof
lesson plan shot down. Instead of helping others to learn and excel, they spend their time
trying to get the most recognition for doing the least amount of work. After seeing the dog
eat dog world of modern education, it's a wonder why more teachers don't become professional
politicians.
Friends University
Any college is in the business of making money. The administration of any college could really
care less about "higher learning", instead they worry about "higher earning" It has been said
that pursuing a college education is only for people that cannot or will not learn a trade. In the
real world, you have to prove to a potential employer that you actually know real world use of
all the book knowledge you have learned anyway, so what's the point of paying for college? Why
not just buy the books and learn on your own?
Friends University IS friendlier than most campuses. No stupid parking ticket scams, for one. They
make up for it by costing twice as much as any public university in the city tho. And they are one of
the more "tuition friendly" institutions. I knew I was in trouble when the adult education recruiter
for my computer information systems program knew less about computers than I do. I knew I was
really in trouble when, on the few occasions I have gone to that office with questions, I was shooed
out of there with brochures thrust in my hands like I was privy to some dirty little secret that they
didn't want new recruits to know about. Friendly, and with smiles, yes. But no diffrent than
any other college.
The thing that really hurts isn't that tho. I REALLY don't like these frickin' groups. We are
a tail end class, hurriedly assembled and started inbetween a change of curriculum. 3/4 of
my classes have had nothing to do with CIS in a real world environment as has been advertised,
instead it has been more of a computer science/business management type setup, cut down into 6 week
increment instead of traditional 16.. Again let me say, I HATE these frickin' groups. We are 1/3 of
the way through our program, and we are still made to get in these groups and do "group projects" and
introduce ourselves to each other like we are just meeting instead of having been dealing with each other
for the past 6 mos. I am so tired of all this group shit, that I can't BEGIN to tell you how tired I am.
I can't just up and quit or refuse to do work like I used to tho. I'm not 16 anymore. It helps that
all of my class are professional computer people, and they must all be as disgusted as I am. They just
don't show it. But DAMN I'm tired of groups. There is one guy in here that is from New Zealand, is
a professional programmer, and has had to sit thru our beginning programming classes with a straight face.
Here in the USA, none of his degrees or certifications are recognized, so he has to start over from scratch.
The only job he has been able to find is as a lowly tech rep for cablevision. With their turnover, I can imagine
how fun that job is. In fact everyone in class is some kinda professional in the field already, just without a
college degree. How they can keep going on without screaming or with a straight face is beyond me. The computer
field doesn't pay like it used to....although I still like it and am quite sure I can find a decent job if I MOVE and
keep trying, I sometimes wonder if I haven't picked a no winner just as bad as that of history teacher.