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 |  Writings about things that have occurred in my life. Not in Chronological Order |
| Things that have happened in my life, good or bad. The entries will not be in Chronological order |
What is something people get wrong about your occupation, gender, community, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, medical condition, etc. that you would like to clarify? This is nothing major, nor a real eye-opener for anyone who knows me. But doing what I will write about here gives people the wrong impression about me at times. I quit using most four-letter words when I left the Navy. I figured (hoped) I would be getting into a career, work shoulder to shoulder with people completely unlike my Submarine shipmates, and thought they would probably not cuss like a sailor. So I made a conscious efforft to not cuss. In the early days of my retirement from the Navy, I struggled to find a job with decent pay. I worked in a restaurant, worked in retail sales, drove a taxi-cab, went to school at night just to draw GI Bill Benefits (at the time, $700 a month, more than I made each payday) and have extra income for the family. It was 1993, imagine having 6 children, the youngest is 3 months, the oldest is 13. You make $8.00 an hour, working 40 hour weeks, and have a retirement income from the Government of $1300 a month. So yeah, we struggled. I worked at a Red Lobster as an Alley Coordinator (kitchen, arranging food on plates/trays to be taken to tables), and one day I cussed, using a word that starts with S. (I remember this incident distinctly) A young female server was nearby, and gasped, "Jim, what did you say?" I responded, "Nothing, nothing important." She came back at me and said, "No, you cussed!" I couldn't believe it, I'd just spent 20 years in the Submarine Service, and she was surprised that I would cuss? We talked about things a little bit, and at one point she said, "You have to understand Jim, you not cussing made me think you were a priest or something." That's when I realized I'd been successful in removing four-letter words from my vocabulary. This same thing has occurred on at least 3 more occasions since then. But heck, if you know me, you know that's far from being true. I started writing in 1995 or so. My first efforts were centered around Erotica/Porn; there were reasons for writing that genre that I will not go into here. Let's just say I was unhappy with my life, the direction it was heading, how I was living. That's all behind me now. No, I have not changed to become a Saintly person, nor am I a eunuch or anything like that. I'm just me, someone who has finally embraced his golden years, accepts himself for who he was all those years ago, and who he is in today's world. What I find a bit humorous in all of this entry, is that I 'quit using four letter words' in 1993. Yet in working at Motorola, I probably say one or two more often than any of my co-workers! So no, they're not really gone, just on the back-burner if you will. Along with all this, I've had to learn to not be too judgemental about those who freely use F bombs and more all the time (another JAFBG prompt). That was easier said than done. That's all for now. Aren't you glad? Till next time, y'all be good, take care of yourselves, and love those who love you. And of course, keep on writing! |
What I Did With My TWO Weeks 'Off' I want to tell you about the 'fantastic' two weeks off I had. I do hope you hear a level of sarcasm in my writing here. Over Christmas and New Year's, we have two weeks of off time, except I never take those two weeks off. Don't get me wrong here, most instructors do take PTO these weeks, which I heartedly encourage everyone, including myself, to do. But this is always such a laid back time for us, why 'waste', errr, spend 2 weeks of your vacation time on it? Back in the ancient days, before we moved to the old Corporate Tower, before I moved to Bloomington, and we worked out of the office, having these two weeks off was nice. We all had cubes in cube city there, but still, it was a laid back lifestyle. That's why I never took the time off. In today's world, I work from home as you might know. To me, when I'm not teaching, it's a week off. Most weeks I do put in 40 hours, sometimes more, sometimes less. But still... These two weeks I have worked, but not eight hour days. Our manager sent an e-mail that essentially said to not worry about putting in 40 hours, relax all we can, etc, etc. But, I have a class sometime this year, maybe. It's not on my schedule yet, that's why I say maybe. For this customer, we are not the Prime Contractor, and everything will go through them (the Prime Contractor). They want to review the course materials before the delivery. I was asked about preparing them back in September, but with the health issues I had going on, doctor's appoinments, and my delivery schedule, the only time I could get it done was over the holidays. So I planned on working these two weeks. I haven't worked 8 hours each day. But, I have worked some on weekends and holidays (Christmas and New Yeas Eve for example). I could not complete the preparation of the course materials though because the information I asked for has not been received. It's okay, I'll have it ready in a few days. Then we'll see what the Prime Contractor has to say. What I am doing is taking three courses, and tailoring them for this customer. I've looked up their Logo (The customer is the Mass Transit Authority, Long Island Railroad) and used it, I've removed almost everything they won't need, and really tailored things to their needs. The course that needed the most work was the Networking course. That course is built around a 'Trunked' Radio System, where specific IP's are used by every customer. This customer is not doing that, nor is their system a 'Trunked' radio system, they are Conventional. Yes, we do have specific IP's for Conventional Systems, but they are not even using those. So I changed a lot so their addresses are used during slide discussions, in the hands-on activities, everything. It's the other two courses that I need info on their system, and have not received. I'd say that overall, I'm about 80% through with things, and a lot of that 20% left to do is waiting on that info. I have a few things to 'tidy' up on the Powerpoint slides, I will review everything again before I say it's ready for the Prime Contractor. So there you have it, how I have spent my 'two weeks of off time'. Due to the upcoming surgery, I now have plenty of free time in January, and yep, you guessed it, I will spend that time working on course materials for other courses. It's what I do. Besides teaching of course! That's all for now. Aren't you glad? Till next time, y'all be good, take care of yourselves, and love those who love you. And of course, keep on writing! |
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