tanjou-bi omedetou to me

tanjou-bi omedetou to me. It is now official. I am now 23 Years and 23 Hours Old. (WEIRD! Or is it even weirder that 23 is one of the lost numbers. Oh Well!) I have had a interest past week. Starting with CHRISTmas when we opened our presents. I mainly got a pair of hunters gloves (for working with telephone wire in the cold), Insulated Jeans and Rosetta Stone in Japanese. FUN!!! Then yesterday we all went out to eat at Famous Dave's. I opened my presents and got a Bilingual Japanese and English Bible (Last Years Present I never got), the last three books in the manga series Yotsuba&! and a how to draw manga book.


I never realized how many people I'm friends with on Facebook until I get about 13 Happy Birthdays on my wall. A little note to you people who read my Blog Posts though Facebook should really read it though my blogger site at http://blog.joelgreene.ws/ in which you can see my full blog and see the little extras like Pictures and Videos I embed in my posts. Which unforchently Facebook takes out.

Happy CHRISTmas?

CHRISTMAS is tomorrow and everyone is my house is excited and can not wait until its gift opening time. I'm at a complete lost on what I can expect to receive since I never made any requests but I am more excited about what I got other people. In which I will post a complete list afterwords.

Well, couple weeks ago I found out that I had been taken off of Christmas day and instead had the day off. That is good news for me since my family enjoys Christmas together. Today I discovered that Best Buy now has a Anime Section. Which I guess that is a sign that Anime is becoming more and more popular everyday. On that same subject I want to let people know that I have decided to start my own website dedicated to reviewing Anime & Manga with a christian point of view for people who want to have a better understanding of a titles content before blindly watching or even buying a title. My new website is http://www.getpluggedanime.com. I know the address is very similar to the http://pluggedinonline.com that reviews American Media from Focus on the Family. So please if you are a otaku or any type of anime fan please visit it. I'm also interested in finding volunteers to assist me with reviewing title. If you are interested please contact me.

So here it is

Happy CHRISTmas

Update 7

At the beginning of this year when I decided this would be my year of growth in which I was correct. In this year alone I have got a new job that's paying me more then any other I have ever had. I also got a brand new(USED) car. I'm still wondering about next year though.

In three days I will have OFFICIALLY hit my official 6 months and my boss can finally drop that silly excuse of why I can't do or have things and I will have my first week of vacation available for my long desired JAPAN TRIP. My Union Stuart said I have a total of 13 days off (7 days vacation, 3 floating and 3 personal. I think!) So I had her project them into June. It still is not set in stone but if June works then I will take all that time off in June before June 12th and then I will immediacy take my next set a vacation days off right after that. So I will have a total of 26 days available to enjoy Japan. I better have enough money saved up. $5000 Minimum... I guess I will stop hoping for other people to help me out in my quest for Japan and I not talking money. I'm talking Support. Yes, My parents, Grandparents(Dot and Gary) have been the most supportive but people like my Grandparents on the other side sort of disappoint me with their WHY JAPAN??? attitude. They ask why not just settle down with a American Wife and exceed in your job till they put you in the grave... NOOOOO... I have never been normal nor am I willing to accept normal. If something is normal I make it abnormal on purpose. I have a bumper sticker in my car window that says "NO NORMAL HUMANS ALLOWED" in both English and Japanese with the outline of one the most abnormal characters from one of my favorite Animes to show some flare. So please every one who reads this just accept me for my DREAM and just accept that is what I want to do. My BIG dream is to get it to Japan and meet a VERY CUTE Japanese Christian Girl and get married and possibly one day follow my dream of Japanese Ministry. And I'm not talking the preaching on the stage stuff. I talking work that will help someone else expand their ministry by giving them IT support. It surprises me some people still just do not believe I will carry out this DREAM. I fell like they are calling me loser and a failure before I can have the chance to decide for my self.

So I back from Florida and it went fine. I got a short breather from the craziness of work but yet I'm return to it yesterday. I fount out that my schedule it super crazy this month start with yesterday when came in expecting a 7:30 or 8:30 shift but no I got scheduled for 11:30 super surprising since I never had the chance to see the schedule before hand. At least my boss let my start earlier since I was there. But Wednesday though Saturday I will start at 11:30 like now I'm waiting for that magic 10:30 to come around so I can leave. Then I got to work Sunday for the first time ever at AT&T. then I have Monday and Tuesday off. I scheduled to work 11:30 the week of CHRISTmas including working CHRISTmas day. This is a insane month so please wish me luck.

I will post video of my Florida trip very soon. Stay Tuned!!!

Sayonara,
C3

December Already!!!

I know I did not post before letting people now this but I am in Florida... My brother and I came down on Wednesday December 2nd and returning on Monday December 7th. I found out I had three floating holidays I needed to use before December 12th and so I decided to take a long weekend trip to Melbourne, Florida to see my grandparents. I will post a much more extensive post soon. But in the mean time here is a video by me and my brother we recorded at my uncles new laundry facility in St. Petersburg, Florida yesterday.

November Update

It always amazes me how fast the year can come and go. Before I know it I've worked 5 months at AT&T, Got a new used car, It's getting cold outside and I'm almost 23 years old. (Most scary of all.) As I mentioned before my union is filing a grievance over the whole suspension thing which was approved. I got my paycheck and was only paid for two of the three days. Will let them know. Our stewards said that our garage almost never fills grievances and not because we have no problems it's just a lot of employees are ignorant. They said if a manager says your BAD numbers out loud or you work more/less overtime then everyone else on a regular basis then that is a grievance. Yesterday I was on 111th street and at 4pm (quitting time) my manager sent me to the other side of our area for a simple 1 box install. Over a 111 blocks away. Took me an hour to get there and once I got there a text message went out saying all AM tech could go home. Something was wrong when he said that there was still tons of jobs left. I did not get home until 10 o'clock and yes I do get paid for it but I really don't care about that.

The weather is awesome but we have rain scheduled for tomorrow.

This morning I heard the news that the house on Saturday at 12am passed the Nancy Polosi Health Care bill the most radical of them all with the public option and more!!!. The government is now one step closer to controlling all aspects of your life. You may ask how Socialized Health Care controls our lives? Well, Once the government is paying for all your health care bills they will use that as a excuse to dictate what you eat plus how and when you exercise. Imagine going to Wendy's and ordering a Baconator but given a salad instead and when you ask why they say you failed your health exam "It's The Law!!!" or how about getting a letter in the mail say you have been automaticly scheduled for a routine Health Exam. It's bad enough getting a drivers exam or jury duty. This is just one of the several reasons why Socialized Health Care is not the way to fix the Health Care Issue. We could cover the uninsured for far less then a trillion dollars. At least the Senate has not passed it yet. Watch this cartoon I found from 1948 about government take over of the private sector.



C3

Tim Hawkins - A Homeschool Family

Update 6.2

So last Thursday (10/15) I came into work and was given the news that the Suspension was canceled and was not suppose to be delivered. So yes my Union is filing a grievance to get me paid for those days. This is so far the only reason I like having a union. It is complicated but there is other reasons I don't like unions. This week I tried requesting two days off so I could possibly join my family in Tennessee for our last weekend out of town before the SUPER COLD gets here. But I had TWO not ONE Managers come to me and say we can not approve your request because... BEATING AROUND THE BUSH... Stuff about my seniority is the lowest in the garage and I'm under 6 months. What BS. The only reason they should bring up seniority is if someone else requested that time off too but NO they did not and why is the stupid 6 months so important. Most companies do 90 days but not AT&T... I so need to get a transfer to a different garage. I do not want to miss the possible upcoming preference...

I got my paycheck the other day and I got my signing bonus and retro pay since we renewed our contract the 1st. I had a over $3000 dollar paycheck before taxes. I hope the put a lot of the money away. This is a big stop to saving up for JAPAN...

[OLD CAR]

[NEW CAR]

Here is the LONG awaited picture of my new (used) 2002 Toyota Rav4 I bought a couple months ago. The thing is fun to drive and gets good MPG. I'm getting 21 to 26 MPG. I got the OIL changed today at the dealership since I have been doing a ton of driving and also today I received my IPASS in the mail. I'm so happy because now I can drive the toll roads without borrowing my dad's IPASS. I also included a picture of my old 1993 Ford Mustang.

C3

Update 6.1

To continue my last post. I last said that I was delivered a suspension notice for a so called preventable vehicle accident but was put on hold for the week until the suspension is approved my my Union but I was redelivered the notice last week on Oct 7th. But this time they changed the dates to the 8th, 13th and 14th. I asked my Union Stuart if this suspension was approved but so far she dose not know. But she said that if the suspension was unjust then they will file a grievance that will get me paid for the three days of suspension.

We have two employees in my garage who like to mess with each other. Yesterday I found that one of the employees had wrapped a reel of coax around the others truck. Just a little funny side note I thought I would share.

As I also mentioned in my last post I was attending a Japanese Christian Outreach Conference last week on Oct 10th. I went and had a great time and learned a lot of new information. If I had to pick one thing I learned it was that we christian need to let Japanese Know when reaching out in Japan that they can honor there Japanese Culture and use it to worship god. Most churches in Japan are very Westernized. Most Japanese view Christianity as a "western" religion but it is not God had his hand in Japan from the very beginning. Many christian researchers believe that even though the Japanese believe in Many gods and spirits (also know as "Kami") but wall scrolls in two of the oldest temples in Japan show that there is three gods who created everything with no begin nor end. Christian researchers believe this is reference to God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost. This conference gave me a positive encouragement for Japan but the side effect is it just made me want to go even more.

I also met a guy by the name Paul who has a passion for media creation to outreach to Japan. He has made about 8 short movies filmed in Japan in Japanese but none of them have been released due to distribution problems he said hopefully you will see them out in 8 to 10 months. The cool thing is these are not your typical christian film with bible verses and strong christian morals no these films are mode to be accepted by the main stream media and so far they are. One of the films has been running in film festivals for the last 4 months and has gotten excellent results.

Sayonara,
C3

Update 6

Well September has come and gone now it is time for upcoming Fall Fun to begin.

I regret to inform my blog reader that on September 26th I was rear ending in my AT&T Truck. As much as I was trying to be a good little tech bad things just seem to find you and I know what you all are thinking "But it was not your fault you got read ended". Well, Even though the cops say the other guy is at fault. AT&T does not care and is out to get me. I will summarize what has happened so far. That afternoon around 2:30 I just got done with a Install on Pershing in Cicero (For all you direction savvy people) and tried dispatching for work but our system said no work was available well I was very hungry since I had not eaten breakfast nor lunch so I figured I should take the opportunity to get something before I call dispatch. I drove to a place called Freddies on the corner of Pershing and Harlem. Unfortunate for me the parking lot was very tight and all the open spots were to shallow for my truck. So I decided to find some where else to eat. I ended up driving south and since I needed gas I stopped by the gas station south of Archer and Harlem. On the way there I noticed the Arby's on the left side of the road so I decided to go there on the way back north. I made a left out of the gas station heading north. Immediately after Archer I changed lanes into the right lane after knowing that the lane was clear and the car was truly at least 100ft behind me. (During all this I did use my turn signal) As I slowed down and start turning right and as I was half way though my turn BANG the guy behind me hit me in the driver side bumper pushing me 10 ft forward. We pulled in the lot ahead and waited an hour for Chicago police (Yippy, For all places for a accident it was in the tail reach of the city of Chicago.). The other driver told the cop I cut in front of him. I have the feeling that he did it on purpose since at first he claimed that he was aware I changed lanes. The guy barely spoke English and called some other people to the scene. At first he was asking me "DO YOU HAVE INSURANCE?" I told him it was none of his concern. Then later he asks me "DO YOU DRIVERS LICENSE?" by that point my manager showed up and told him we were going to exchange information with the cops not him. When the cops showed up and asked us for Driver License and Insurance I handed it to them and who ever this lady was he called asks the cop "Does he have a Drivers License?" What is this mexico? Is this reverse racism. (OH YAH!!!, Thats right Obama said we were a Muslim Nation so I guess you can now question if a Natural Born American is legal. OK, I'm done with that. And yes that is what he said please don't try to justify it. He said what he said.)

So now fast forward to the next morning as I am told that Monday I will have a meeting with our safety manager. I come in Monday and man that guy questioned everything I did that day for hours before the accident. The come to this morning when I am delivered a 3 day Suspension Notice for the accident. (WHAT?) My managers beat around the bush as they claim the accident was preventable that is why and this is really the only reason why Unions help is my Union Rep disputed the suspension and asked how was it preventable? And they claim I was 2.8 miles out of route. My Union Rep asked "Put a paper in front of me and show me where it says he can not go 2.8 miles to get lunch. All it says is he has a 30 minutes for lunch if he is their and back within that time." So he disputed it and got to put off until next weekend. He said he will not agree to it unless he sees indisputable proof that the accident was preventable. So soon I will find out if I really am suspended.

On a litter note a friend of mine told me about a Christian Conference next weekend at a Evangelical Church in Arlington Heights about reaching the Japanese for Christ. I CAN NOT WAIT. I requested it off so I am going. Please if anyone what to come with me it is October 10th, 2009 at 8am. Registration is $35. Details Here: http://rjcmidwest.wordpress.com/conference-info-1/.

Sorry for not uploading picture of my Toyota RAV4. Hope to add some soon!!!

Sayonara,
C3

Update 5.4

Nothing much to report. It is hard to keep productivity numbers up at my job. But yesterday I did 2 installs hope it gave me a good number. Asakichi told me that just being a friend in America is worth it exchange for sending me gifts. I do wish I could think of something to send him. I told him I would make it up to him someday. He did finally told me what he likes other then rakugo. American Cooking. I should of guessed. Most Japanese like American Food.

Update 5.3 - 2 of 2

This day was crazy. First I got a job to install service I called and went to the premise with no answer. So I had to JEP (Skip, Cancel, Return. You Pick your favorite.) the job for NO ACCESS and pickup a new job. So I ended up getting two repairs which I hate repairs. You never know what the install did and you have to hunt for a problem. But I believe tomorrow will be better then come Thursday is my day off and my mom and me are going on a date to Mitsuwa (Japanese Grocery Store) and IKEA. I'm staying in my sisters room until we refinish my old room aka the basement. So we are going to IKEA for some decorating ideas.

C3

Update 5.3 - 1 of 2

I am 10 minutes away from leaving for work. I am so excited because today I officially go LIVE. More details to come latter.

Update 5.2

It is official September 1st is my go live date. I am excited to announce I finally got a new car. It is a 2002 Toyota Rav4 (Silver) (Built in Japan). I bought it at Planet Honda in the Matteson Auto Mall. I do regret to say that because I still have no Credit the bank would not let me finance the car not even with my dad co-signing and even when my dad signed by him self we got a some what of a OK deal. Bummer, Speaking that I owned my mustang in my name. The car has 67000 miles on it and the only know problem is the power steering is a bit tight when sitting still. Other then that I love the car and now all I need is to find a new home for my old 1993 Ford Mustang Convertible. So yes please let me know if you are interested. My paychecks will be a bit tight for the next 3 weeks since I had to put $1500.00 down and all I had was $800.00 so I owe some people money for my down payment. I regret to say I still have not figured out a present for my dear friend Asakichi in Japan. He sent me Matcha about a month ago and I can not think of a single gift for him.

Sayonara,
C3

Update 5.1

I think I finally found my new car. Friday my manager called me and asked if I wanted Saturday off. So since I was not felling that great I decided to. So that morning I asked my dad hey can we go to the Matteson Auto Mall and look at some cars. So we did and this time we went to Planet Honda and looked around. They were very nice and up front about the price they even put a price quote in front of us WITH THE PRICE THEY PAID FOR IT ON IT. I recommend them to anyone who is looking for a new cars. Lets continue since I am done with advertisement. So we walked on the lot and test drove three cars. I have been looking at the Hyundai Santa Fe but after driving a Santa Fe, CRV and a Toyota Rav4, I just loved the Rav4 (No, I am not getting it since my Aunt has one.). The dealership did not push us nor insist on running our credit. In the end we ended up taking the Rav4 home on loan til Monday without any trouble. After driving it more I am going to get it for sure. We are going back after I work to make an offer tomorrow. They paid only $8500 and the asking price is only $9988. What a steal being in perfect condition and only 67000 Miles on it. I never realized that I would fall in love with a car that I was not looking at in the first place nor even planing on visiting the dealership. The best thing is it is a JAPANESE CAR. I opened the door on the Rav4 this morning and a Japanese Beetle flew out and I made the joke a Japanese Beetle in a Japanese Car. It must be a sign??? Just joking.

As far as my job goes I finally got an answer when I start and my manager said September 1st. I can not wait.

C3

Update 5

Back to my usual updates and like always for the last several days there has not been much new developments in my Job. First I still am not live. I am under new management as of August 1st. He was transferred from a different garage and he says nothing gets done around our garage. He really wants me to go live but Justin my old manager says THE MANAGERS HAVE TO HAVE MEETING TO DECIDE. What? A Meeting? AT&T Corp thinks I'm live already. Ever since I moved up stairs people have been using my Computer and TV like it is theirs. So since it seems someone spilled something StIcKy in my keyboard which is giving my arms a work out to push the buttons I will make this short.

Job: Still not live.
Health: Got hit in the eye with a rock from the lawn mower on Tuesday. Better the next day.
Politics: Still Corrupt.
Paycheck: Shorted Travel Pay for my last week of training in Westmont.
Latest Anime I'm watching: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Today at church I talked to someone about my job and I ended up getting on the subject of my love for Anime and Japanese Culture so after talking to him I find out his Son and Sons Friend love to draw Anime. I saw his sons friends work and I was very impressed I encouraged him to pursue his dream and after his dad came up to me and thanked me for encouraging his son. That makes me fell good that I can help influence someone.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 44 of 44

WOW... I can not believe it was 7 weeks ago that I started my job at the American Telegraph and Telephone Company. According to what I hear from my manager starting Monday the eight of us trainees will do one of two things either finish our tests (No it is not part of our training because all the other techs have to do it.) or do a two team ride together on the road.

Tonight we are going to a restaurant in Chicago to celebrate my new job. Also today I moved into my little sisters room since she does not use it much and because for the next month or two my room in the basement is under renovation because when it rains I get water. My next update will be next week sometime.

Sayonara,
C3

AT&T Training - Day 43 of 44

Tomorrow is my last day of training. Then Monday I should be going live. But not if I don't get my tests done. This morning my IFD (Laptop) would not boot. I waited almost an hour yesterday getting on the phone to fix it. Turned out to be a bad hard drive. The person 24 to 48 hours until a replacement drive will arrive. Bummer!!! Yesterday and Today I drove my truck instead and followed another tech. I tell you those truck fell bigger once you drive them and I mean big since I had driven my dads truck before. My last training update will be tomorrow after that I will update every week, okay?

C4

AT&T Training - Day 41 of 44

I feel a whole lot more official now because I GOT MY TRUCK TODAY. I got my tools also all I am missing now is my IFD (Laptop) and JDSU (Tester). There is 8 new techs at my garage and they all but me and one other guy got NEW TRUCKS. So is a bit a disappointment because as so as I got in my truck I almost chock to death because the previous guy was a smoker. I hope I can get some air fresheners for my truck. Well Monday is my official start day. YEAH MAN!!!

C3

AT&T Training - Day 40 of 46

Today was a hand full. Tomorrow I might be getting my Truck which I hope will not be disappointing. Example: Broken Printer, Missing... Things... Anyways. Something will happen for better or ...... better. (':

Today I got a package from Asakichi in Japan. He sent me some more green tea and some green tea cookies. They are awesome. I need to send him something real nice since he goes out of his way to send me gifts. I'm still at a lost what I should send him. But I am sure something will come to mind soon.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 39 of 46

I am done with class room training. I am so happy. So Friday was truly canceled and I went to my garage. I went to my garage on Friday and found out that I am getting a different manager again effective August 1st. That will be interesting.

TATA for now.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 37 of 46

Day 37... Well still no word about Friday. Today we did Inside Wiring the stupid thing is what we are doing is basically the same thing as earlier this week. It is a real bummer that the other techs have to do this for a whole week. If nothing happens for Friday, I'm thinking of asking my manager if I can just have Friday off.

Out of the blue I have gotten two orders on my JMPetProducts website. One was for four copies of a book written by Jack. (A vet my family has know from church for the last several years.) and other order was for some bracket for a fish filter which I can not find of my drop shippers website. I raised the price on book after this order because this my third order for it and I am not making any profit from it.

Asakichi-san emailed me and said he was sending me some more green tea from his grand mother. I need to think of a gift to send him in return. I like making this connection with Asakichi because I hope if I visit Japan one day we can meet up and he can give me a personal tour.

Sayonara,
C3

AT&T Training - Day 36 of 46

8 days remaining... Thank god. Today in class we finished up the second day of Voice over IP training. Tomorrow we will learn Inside Wiring which seems it could be merged with Week 2 Wiring Week. Today we found out that our instructor switched with tomorrows instructor. So he will be teaching Inside Wiring tomorrow instead of Frank. I also found out the they are not sure if we are suppose to do Pole Climbing on Friday. Seems that some managers say we do but the instructors say there is no Pile Climbing scheduled for Friday. They know this because there is no instructors scheduled to teach it on Friday. I guess we will see.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 35 of 46

As you know this week is my last week of class room training. I hope this week will not be that bad since I only have 4 days instead of 5. Tomorrow will be the second day of VOIP Training. Wednesday and Thursday we will learn Inside Wiring. Technically we already learned this but according to our instructor some guy in who knows where drilled into a water pipe and he claimed he did not learn how to drill in class so that is the only reason we have to take this IWing class. Then Friday we will return to our garage. Part 1 of this week we have Nick as our instructor, He is only 26 years old. Then in Part 2 we will switch with the other class that going on at the same time and our instructor will be Frank.

I have adjusted my total days of training to 46. Day 46 would fall on Friday July 31. Now Deduct the two days for this weekend and that means my remaining days of training is "9".

On Saturday my dad and I tried replacing the one of two coils on my car to try to make it run better. My dad saw on a forum someone suggested to unplug each coil. One at a time and the one that give you problems most likely is faulty. This has halped a bit but my car still stutters from time to time.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 32 of 49

OK, OK, OK, I know I forgot to post yesterday. The last two days have been tiring. Going from working 5 hours a week to 11 hours in a single day really takes a hit on me. So yesterday I rode with someone named Thomas he was finally the person I needed to ride with he had me do so much. As soon as my manager Justin said to ride with Thomas, Thomas put his IFD (Laptop) in my hands and my first though was "OH Great, He is the type of guy that makes you carry all his stuff" but then we got to his truck and asked if I wanted to drive. At first I though he was joking, Me drive? What an offer. But, I declined because I felt I was not that confident to take the wheel just yet. Then he told me dispatch our first job. I was like okay where is the camera? Whos playing this joke on me. So far no one has offered for me do so much of the job. So I dispatched our first job which then resulted in getting a two STB, VOIP and Internet Install. On our way he even told me to call the customer. We got to the job and he had me do everything except install the STB boxs. Which is no big deal the previous guys I rode with had me install plenty of boxs besides he needed to do something too. I wired the Gateway, NID and COAX Backfeed. I was so excited.

Today the guy I rode with (Which I can not remember his name.) had me do a lot but not as much. But I did not care after yesterdays ordeal. Today we did two repairs and one install. I coordinated the install and upon arrival found the customer tore down their old house then built a new one on top of it. the DROP was cut from the house so we had to call INR to come install a new one. That took two hours then we installed the service and that took another two hours. Fours hours for a install is not good since all the customer was getting was VOIP and Internet.

So next week is my last week of Class Room Training. Two weeks left then its my turn to go LIVE. That might be fun.

My garage is so close to Midway Airport that every time I see a plane take off I day dream that plane is heading for Japan with me on it. I can not wait until that day comes. One thing my dad has always told me "A lot of people believe god is calling them to someone but when they magically get from point A to point B without any pain or labor then I believe they were not truly called.". Not to say miracles will not happen but the whole should not be a miracle. Look at me I have then desiring what I believe is my calling for more then 3 years now but yet I know old friends from my childhood who just decided "OH, I want to go to Japan" and suddenly half their family seems to come up with more then 3/4 the money for them to stay there for more then 6 months. But yet if I want to do it I need to earn at least $5000 just to visit Japan for two short weeks. I was always jealous of those people. But now I believe I am really being called to this since things are not coming that easy. This road I travel is a long and dirty path. Continue to pray for me please.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 30 of 49

Today was officially was day 30 of 49. So I have 19 days left or 2 1/2 weeks. Today I rod with someone named Ralf. He was ok but he also smoked and made me suffocate. I asked to him if I could be more hands on as possible and yes he did allow me to be more hands on but he gave me the tidiest work starting with having me replace all the coax ends while he connected the gateway which I first asked he if I could do. I'm not complaining it just the point is that I will not learn anything if he has me replace coax ends which I already know how to do. I need to do stuff like the NID and Gateway.

I really can not wait until I have my own truck and tools. My old supervisor said she has a IFD (Laptop) and SecureID Tag but she said she is not giving it to me yet. I think because of the pending strike but according my last several instructors I need my IFD to finish training next week. Again I will not learn how to use my IFD until I can personally have it in my hands.

I can not wait until this job becomes a permanent job then I can focus on working and not dealing with training or these annoying ride alongs. Down the road I want to go to Japan with two weeks of vacation and one day buy my first rental property. So get it together!!!

C3

AT&T Training - Day 29 of 49

AAHHHHH!!!!!!!, I got stuck riding with Mark again today. Not that he is bad to ride with. But one he smokes like a chimney. I asked him to ease up on the smoking but he just ignored my request. I come home smelling like smoke and my lungs burn. I was with him three weeks ago. The one thing I hate is he gets mad at me for any mistakes I make or lack of knowledge. I ask him a question to reinforce my knowledge and he treats me like crap.

Today was the second day I drove my car and it works fine but the engine skips and stutters. My dad says it is a advancing issue but since my car has two distributors my dad is unsure how to fix it.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 28 of 49

Today I did a ride along with someone named Milton. I got in my garage today and found out they changed my Manager Again. This time from Angie to Justin. Wonder Why? Today was the first day in a while I drove my car to work. On my way home I stop at the same traffic light that it stalled at a couple weeks ago and I prayed my car would make it home. Thank god it did.

One Sunday we did a couple things to my car like install the new alternator and top off the transmission oil which fix the main problem. On Saturday we looked at a couple cars but because I have no credit no one will approve me without a co-signer and my dad does not want to co-sign. I guess I'm stuck with my mustang for a couple more months. I'm looking at two cars I like Ford Mustang Convertible 2000-2004, Camero w/ T-top and Hyundai Santa Fe. Yes, I for some reason like that little SUV. I was thinking the Santa Fe would be nice because it is a somewhat large car so transporting stuff will not be problem. It gets 21/25 MPG. Which is what my Mustang gets already. I figured I should wait to get a new car but I hope my mustang holds out until then. Pray for my car to continue to run.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 25 of 49

Hurry, I'm done with this week and PASSED the silly test.

I going to do some car shopping tomorrow. Hopefully I find something. I have been driving my families cars for so long I'm not ready to drive my car again. If anyone
wants to know my personal website is JoelGreene.com and JoelGreene.ws.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 24 of 49

Well, Again not much happened just watched more TV.

We did get out early at 12:45 on good behavior, Just Kidding!. But yes we did get out early. Our instructor said he has done about 25 classes on week 3 in Chicago and he said our class is in his top 5 favorite. He said we were so far always on time and we listened and did not think we known everything. (If I did not mention before our instructor is from Indianapolis.)

I watch a movie called "Knowing" today. Most of you know what this movie is about. It was not a bad movie but I hate movies where in the ending everyone dies even the Hero. "I am legend" ended like that. You should read the review from pluggedinonline.com here.

This morning I drove my dad to work since my car has been out of commission for the last 4 weeks, I think. We left the van at home so the rest of the family could go see "Monster VS. Aliens" at the discounted rate. So we got out early and I all of sudden realized I will have to wait to pick my dad up from work but then I remembered I need to get my hair cut so I went to the Trend Setters School in Tinley Park. (If you are on a budget this is were you should go.) I still had to wait for my dad for 45 minutes but at least I got my hair cut.

I had two funny things happen today first I was driving down the road and noticed a construction sign on a bridge and since the medium was so thin someone had ran into the sign and cracked the corner off the sign. Then at Trend Setters I got my hair cut and the girl who cut my hair was so nice and did such a good job I decided to give her a nice tip of $8. Well, when I paid I noticed a lot of the girls had ice cream and I said "Yum, Ice cream sounds good right now." and the lady said "Go in the back the Ice Cream Truck will give you some for free." even though I did not work there. So she walked me though the building and the class rooms then out the door. After I got some Italian Ice I walked back in the door and noticed the girl who cut my hair was standing on the over side of the room talking to some girls and hold my tip envelope in her hand. As so as I walked in she said "I don't maybe he though I was cute!" then she saw me then blushed and broke eye contact. I left the place with her embarrassed and thinking I gave her such nice tip because she cute. Not to say she was not cute. She was very cute and I will leave it at that.

So I got to get tested tomorrow. So pray I have no problems and remember the steps perfectly. Our instructor said he has never failed anyone so this should be a snap. But I still need confidence. I have always had a bad case of shacking when nervous. I'm slowly fighting to not to shack but since I was young I would always shack when nervous. I had one time someone wanted to ask me about a situation that happened between me and someone else and I known I was not in trouble but I shock rapidly because I was nervous. Last week during my last test I was shacking and my instructor asked me why I was shacking and I said "I usually shack when I'm being tested". Then he embarrassed me in front of the class by saying "You are not being tested."; Because he was asking me as a customer. But I would never shack in front of a customer put on the field and I will be your best in customer service. For crying out loud I worked in Customer Service since the being. I was always the top Customer Service rep at Radioshack.

Sayonara,
C3

AT&T Training - Day 23 of 49

Not much to report. Just watched more TV all day.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 22 of 49

I'm two and half days away from half point but as far as class room training goes I'm over half way though my 4 weeks of class room training. Next week is ride along then I come back for 2 days of voip and 2 days of inside wiring. Then one more week of ride along. Our new instructor is awesome and the most interesting thing is he is Japanese. But he dose not know very much about his origin because he was adopted at a young age. Like expected he can't make out the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Korean even since hes Japanese.

As per the screenshot above this week is all about the internal portion of U-verse. We have to learn how to customize the AT&T Yahoo! Homepage for the customer and teach the customer how to use the remote and TV. This is our last Pass/Fail test and then we are official employees. In a few months we will have to come back and take a advanced trouble shooting class which sounds fun and not. This week is super boring today I watched nothing but 6 hours of TV. The purpose of this part of the training is for the non-Uverse subscribing employees but this dose me no good since I have U-verse. My instructor said to bring in a DVD and that still was not long enough.

My parents will be home tonight after 9pm and I have few things to do. Well, I have chicken in the frying pan let me attend to it and post tomorrow. HERE IS TO MY FUTURE!!!

C3

2009 Tennessee Weekend

Already my three day weekend is up and I feel like a million dollars..... Well maybe not if I had million dollars I would be living in Japan by now.

I had some fun it was bummer I had to return only after one day. The drive was long and things almost kept going wrong. first I get stuck in a traffic jam around Louisville, KY that took me 15 minutes to get 1 mile to a exit and then took a detour around. Then only 50 miles from home another traffic jam that took me 45 minutes to go 5 miles that got off at the exit and went sort of a long but nice way around. It seemed to go way fast to me. I got home at 8:40 and had to almost instantly got o bed. I really wanted to do it because I know if I did not do it then I might never get out of town for the next year. I hope Japan is worth the pain of all this. Like I have said before people ask me "What will you do you get to Japan and decide you hate it their.". Well..... The answer is easy. "I would kick my self so hard my kids will feel it.". I have invested the last 4 years and more to come to making it to Japan so all the pain and troubled it has brought will drive me crazy. Like I said before I can not explain this passion for Japan I really think I could live without it. But I feel fueled to pursue it.

I took my old dish network satelite hopping to get signal but I think my dish is to broken to work the plastic adapter for the LNB is cracked. I hope to get a different dish so to see if it works next time.

Funny as it is. I would wondering if my grandpa could get DSL at this farm house in the middle of no where and according to AT&Ts website yes he can. Which is a surprise. But not washburn which is a small town only 5-10 minutes away can get it.

Click Here for my Tennessee 2009 Pictures.

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AT&T Training - Day 18 of 49

I am so happy today to over. Now I got a three day weekend to enjoy Fireworks. I can also take a brake from updating this blog every day...... Now don't get me wrong I love typing my blog I just am not use to posting this often.

Tomorrow at 4am will be leaving for Tennessee. I can not wait. Bummer I only have one whole day down their. We are/I am taking Megan Car so I can drive back on Sunday night to be back in time for class room training on Monday. I sort of wish this strike would happen over the weekend so I could at least get one more day in Tennessee.

So here is the test results for todays test.
Brian 94
Dan 95
Chris 96
Demetrius 97
Me 97
Joe 98

My install was perfect except for I forgot to DRESS my wires in the crossbox which I lost a whole 3 points over. one point for each wire end. stupid. I did not even remember him say dress your wires. According to him he said couple other people did it so they set the requirement other wise he would not care. Everyone else lost points over small things at the install like scraped wire and lose connections. But at least no one failed.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 17 of 49

One more day of this torture. But I am proud of one thing. For the last day we have practiced our hands on test. I feel a bit more confident because the build I did today my instructor said would pass with flying colors. So now I know my method and knowledge is not flawed. But can I build something just as good tomorrow in a different design. Our instructor said we are almost like artists making a design with wire.

Our classroom with a messy table. The night class
mess this room up too but at least we clean it up.

This is the back side of the modal homes we install the U-verse in.
It is a pain having to wear hard hats up their.

I sure hope no installer will ever come into your house and install a router like this.
But maybe if they are a comcrap installer. It just needs to pass not look pretty.

I was not to happy with this job but my instructor said I would have gotten a perfect score for this work if we really were testing not practicing. Look how bad the wiring next to mine looks for the night class. What are they thinking?

C3

AT&T Training - Day 16 of 49

Our instructor does it again. We had a customer service test today and several steps of greeting the customer we had to do. I say I got a perfect score but he dinged me on two stupid things. First he said at the end you did not ask me to turn on my TV's. That was not even on the test as a required step he said to say it two hours earlier. How am I suppose to remember that. He said follow the steps. Then second he dinged me for shaking during the test. Come on I was hungry (All I had was bagel that morning) and nervous because this is a pass/fail test. Of course I would be nervous. This is a one of one chance not a typical one in hundreds of customers that I would really deal with.

The one hard thing to this do-it test is we have to wear all the safety equipment and I tell you who is going to wear a hard hat in someones house and second who will where safety glasses well making coax cable or almost anything. They fog up and you can not see a thing.

Who ever invented the Telephone Company's names for equipment and parts must of had a job at a gentleman club or something because there is a ton of words that sound like they relate to sexual or drug things like 1. Butt Set (Say it 10 times fast and see what end up saying.) 2. Then there is POTS (Plain Out Telephone Service) and more but I can remember then right now.

Two good reminders for inside house wiring is tip-top and right-red-ring. The tip wire is on top or left and the ring wire is on the right or bottom. Also red is a ring color since it is the first color in the column.

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AT&T Training - Day 15 of 49

AHHH!!! This is driving me crazy. Our instructor tells us one thing then another. A good example is yesterday and today he says bring your thumb drives and laptop so he can give us the powerpoint files so we can follow the modules easier and easy access for out tests since the test later this week is open book. But then yesterday someone in my class walks up then offers to hand him his thumb drive for the files but then he says we will take care of it tomorrow. So I ask him today if I get the files and he says I will give them to you after class so I ask again after class to hear him say after class meaning the end of week. I do not know about you but to me saying END OF CLASS means when we are ready to go home. Besides what about him saying it will help us with out tests. I claims if he gave us them we will take them to AT&T's competitor and say this what they are teaching. Truly that logic is flawed. First would we do that. For how hard it was to get into AT&T and how intense the background check was being a double agent for Comcrap would be a major operation plus all the cover up and LARGE pay for risking getting sued. Later this week we also have a PASS/FAIL test he says you fail you are gone. NO SECOND CHANCE. WHY? He says you must know this but then says it take you a year to remember this. This say one thing then another and this contradiction thing he dose really messes up our expectation of the week. At least we found out he will not be teaching next week. Someone named Bruce will teach us. Well, Three days left then we will be going to Tennessee. No word on the strike but they keep on talking. I do think it would be cool if they strike well I'm gone. I know it would be tight but it would be cool to get a day or two more in Tennessee.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 14 of 49

Today was day 14 (Week 2) of my 49 days of training. I can not wait till this is over. I am not to happy with this new instructor. It seems like he dose not jokes and he is very serious about the tests. I know and hope he is joking. Last weeks instructor is is building training modals like the one below at a different center. Hope he will be back next week.

AT&T Westmont U-verse Premise Wiring Class Room. Live U-verse Feed in Class.

I finally got my paycheck yesterday. We had the biggest problem finding my check because it had my managers name on it with my name in the corner. Because she had me work Saturday instead of Friday and I am not going to drive 45 minutes just to pickup my check. But because my bank closes at noon I have to wait until Monday. It is a good thing my mom offered to take my check to the bank. I have a few things I need to pay for. 1. Ties. 2. Almost $100 for Gas owed to my Dad. 3. Food/Lunch for the next two weeks. 4. Cell Phone. 5. Razers and Body Wash. 6. Upgrade to the new iPhone 3Gs. 7. Build a new server. (Maybe next check).

I went to the AT&T store and was able to get my 18% discount on my cell phone bill. I said something to Joe my class and he says you can not get any employee discounts until 6 months but I got it and my Manager says I can get my U-verse discount after my 6 months of after I signed up. So I have 2 months left. Maybe he is getting that mixed up.

Hope this week goes quick.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 13 of 49

I finally got my paycheck today and it is big. Much bigger then I expected. Yesterday my dad upgraded to the iPhone 3G and yes I know its the old one but it can do the same thing as the new one except for the specs. I now know I want to upgrade to the iPhone 3Gs. I know I will do that with my next paycheck.

Training again next week.

Today by accident we left a traffic cone in front of the truck and ran over it. Once we noticed the cone missing we went back and found the cone in the middle of the road with two teens poking at it. The guy I was with went to get it and there was a LARGE tire track on it. LOL!!!

I rode with Anthony again we did two installs and one repair. My mom put my referral cards on doors in my neighborhood. I made a deal to split the commission with my mom. Things are looking up.

They took the vote and yes we are going on strike if the contract is not renewed by monday. The drivers have to return there company issued belonging to their lockers every night. What a pain. More details to come. I can not wait till next year let along end of July!!!

I just watched a few episodes of a Anime called Chobits and I think its a real funny Anime. I love the theme song. I'm thinking of buying the series on DVD but it is over $100 for all the episodes.

I'm trying to include pictures with my post again but I would like to insert videos down the road.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 11 of 49

It sounds like a strike it quite possible. People are getting fired up and saying AT&T is being greedy. Everyone wants to get paid more and yes I believe we should get paid a bit more. But I believe it should be between $17 and $20 an hour but not this crazy $28/hr. You got to remember we Uverse installers have no education and most of us have to experience. The first thing I hear out of the typical mouth is "Well, AT&T made 4 billion in profit last year they can afford it.". That is not a good reason you got to remember AT&T is not keeping that money they role it in to next year and use it to expand there service. Profit is progress without profit things fall apart and never work.

I heard the rating results from the Obama Infomercial today and it got 4.5 million viewers. Not do blame me. I'm just the messenger but 4.5 is not that much for how much advertising ABC and WLS had. I'm am so glad the American people are starting to wake up on how much of a bad idea this plan is. Yes, I am not the only Conservative to say the current Health Care system is messed up but there is a better plan then what the Liberals want to do.

The installer I road with todays name was Anthony. He was cool and I basicly got to do my first installer almost all by my self. I gave my input and he let me go to town and do about 90% of the install. We had no choice but to run the wires around doorways and though the wall it was a apartment with no basement access. They had a old punch down block that was not labeled so I had put a wire tracer at the cross box and find the incoming wire.

One thing I will be pushing in the next several days in my ability to get paid for referrals. I got a couple hundred door hangers I will hang on some doors in my neighborhood. If anyone is interested in signing up for Uverse please call 1.877.827.5288 or visit http://att.com/uversereferral and use the referral code "JG092M".


Almost everyday I see a airplane leave out of Midway since my garage is so close to the Airport. Every time I see a plane take off. I track it in the sky and pretend that I'm on that plane going to Japan. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. Pray for me that I can get though all this training and that this job WILL WORK OUT and I will make it to Japan. I believe I get to Japan SOON!!! My wish for the next two years is. 1. Get a nice new car. 2. I save enough money by June 2010 to take my 2 week trip to Japan. 3. By June 2010 own at least one property and collecting income by renting it. 4. No later then late 2011 have to ability to leave AT&T to pro sue rental properties and follow my dream of Japan by taking frequent mission trips in Japan... 5. By 2015 get married. (Hopefully my dream Japanese Wife.) 6. By 2020 build or live in my dream home that looks just like or is just a Modern Traditional Japanese House... LIVE ON!!!

As you can see in the Image above that North Korea is so close to Japan and if war brakes out between Japan and NK making travel difficult I would be so upset.

Sayonara,
C3

AT&T Training - Day 10 of 49

I have finally reached the big double digit day of my training. I just got home and I am tired. Since I have not worked a full time job in so long this job is taking a lot of energy plus the heat did not help. Today I found out that we trainees are off Friday have to work Saturday. WHY!!!.

Today I worked with someone named Mark he is cool and I found out he is conservative like me and believes the union is corrupt and he dose not trust that the union will fight to get us the best deal. The only two downsides is he is a chimney smoker and I did not like his training methods. My shirt smelled like smoke and the strong smoke smell made my insides burn. I asked him is he could smoke outside the truck but he did not care. Plus not to mention company policy prohibits smoking inside the truck. Today we did two installs and then one repair. It was pouring rain and the tornado warning were going off for an hour but stop and the HEAT returned.

Also some employees were doing some prestrike before work this morning. So I thought something happened and I was in the not suppose to be their.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 9 of 49

Well, Not much to say about today. Today I had some guy by the name Marcus. He was cool and seemed to have better control over the situation and was able to give me a whole lot more to do well plus not to mention a 8 Set Top Box Setup...WOW. So far the last 2 crossboxs I saw had 1/3rd new wire code (yellow/black) meaning 1/3rd of the people in that box were on U-verse already. The lady was real nice she keep offering us food but because of company policy had to turn it down. At one point she ask how we worked for 9 1/4 hours with no food. But after that Marcus went to a deli on Archer and Charleston in Willow Springs and they had some really good sandwiches. I got a three meat and two cheese sandwich on wheat and man it was good. This place looks like it been there for 100 years. Hope places like that never close. Willow Spring looks like Cape Cod.

The guys at my work keep telling me that we will be one strike next week and are so worried. I'm not worried about it. There is nothing threat until the 27th is here. I heard though the grape vine that the Union dose not pay you for going on strike but only expects you to show up one day a week. I think to many follow way to close to the Union they act like they work for the Union but they need to realize that its AT&T they actually work for. Mostly these are new guy who get the job and they run around shouting "I'm in the Union you ****** ******". (Yes as you can guess the people at my work use words like that all the time. Surprised they can hold back around customers.) It will be quite interesting if we do end up going on strike and because of it I get to go the Tennessee the whole time my family goes.

I found out a new guy yesterday had an accident and fell though the customers attic ceiling. he scraped his sides falling between the rafters and was rushed to the hospital. No word on his condition and in other news my paycheck will be coming this Friday...YAY!!! I keep telling myself the prize for doing this much work is JAPAN next year.

まにかかる　まろ　あす (menikakaru maro asu),
C3

AT&T Training - Day 8 of 49

Today was my first right along day and it was not so bad. My manager is nice and get along with her so far. I was a bit disappointed the guy did not let me be more hands on then I wanted to be. Like our instructor said these guy was not care less if you sat in the truck all day.

I asked to do stuff but he kept denying. Today we had a large install of 6 Set Top Boxs, Internet and VoIP. AT&T Allocated 8:53 (9 Hours) to this install we got it done in 7 1/2. We got 3/4th the way though and the installer got a phone call the person on the other end told him his Uncle Died (He called him his god father.). We were done before quitting time which would mean we would go on to a second install at 3:30. (he said there was still 25 installs left in the pot.) He called his manager who said he could go home early and she sent me home to. But I could be getting over time the rest of this week.

I NEED A NEW CAR!!!. I was on my way home and out of no where my car quit on me 3/4th the way home. Plus I got me self stuck in the turn lane. Finally a cop came and called a car with pusher bars. He activated the emergency signals on the traffic light and then was about to pushed me into the wendy's packing lot down the road then the cars in the right lanes tried to go since the light was green but the jeep cop (The first cop) ran up in front of the cars honked his loud horn at them. (Sounded like a ambulance horn.) The cop pushed me in the parking lot then drove off.

If anyone has some good leads on a newer Mustang Convertible for under $5000 please let me know. My dad and me went to a dealer in Calumet City on Saturday and they had a 2005 Red Ford Mustang Convertible. So it had the new body style for $12997. It was over my budget but if I was approved for a good payment I would have taken a deal like that since I am making good money with AT&T. I should be getting a $500+ paycheck on friday. SWEET!!!. The dealer said I did not even score but he said they use TransUnion but Experian came back on my credit check with a 643 score.

Sayonara,
C3

AT&T Training - Day 5 of 49

I am now officially certified by the American Red Cross to administer CPR. I am glad today is over with and done. Now I got a two day weekend off. Then report on Monday to my garage for my first week of ride along. Today we got to play around with some Uverse Systems for about 1.5 hours in a different class room since CPR was all we did today. It did not interest me to much since I have Uverse and Know most of the ins and outs. The training center had a iMac to show installers what they look like but my instructor said most installers must ignore mac. He said they had two macs but for some reason one of them has gone missing. Plus a computer........and.......All the HDML Cables...I think they need to look into that....YEP!!!. So any who the mac had Mac OSX 10.4 and had almost two gigs of updates to download. I wish I was done with training since it sounds like the rest of my training is going to be stuff I already know about Uverse.

Sayonara,
C3

AT&T Training - Day 4 of 49

Well again another day in the can. Tomorrow I will be dropping by blockbuster after class to pick up my last paycheck. Bummer it will only be about $100 about that allow me to buy a lunch all next week during my ride allongs at least and renew Rush 24/7 (I am dying to listen to Rush Limbaugh after class.). Today as you might know was about Customer Service and we finished Electrical Hazards and Asbestos. We had two test and I believe I passed them both. The thing I like about this job so far is the potential for growth is hugh plus in the past the government required AT&T hire only people with training for telecommunications but AT&T went to court and said that first Comcast (The Largest Midwest Cable Provider) and Time Warner (South Cable Provider) is allowed to hire people without training and the government was allowing them in get into the phone business taking away customers from AT&T. So according to my instructor don't surprise if in 5 years AT&T takes a lot of us good Uverse installers and promotes us to installing Uverse for Businesses and High Rises or even better. Uverse lets people like me without training to get our foot in the door and clime the ladder as high as most of there usual employees like INR (Install & Repair). We are currently on a separate contract but in the future we might be moved to the AT&T CORE contract which would double our pay since Uverse is becoming the backbone of their service.

Sayonara,
C3

Chicago Teaparty

Today I got this (Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Re: Fwd:, You know what I mean.) email from my grandmother about the Chicago Teaparty. Look at how many people gathered in Obamas home state, a democrat state. The state run media will not report this because it reflects negative things about Obama. Insist on limiting all politicians to two terms. Copy & Paste this post into a Text Document, add your comments, print and then send it of to your congressman, White House or whoever. We would like to see more people join in this July 4th in Chicago for even larger protest.

AT&T Training - Day 3 of 49

So another day another $100's. I have made about $400 since Friday so my paycheck next week will be nice quick nice when it gets to about $600 before taxes. Today was my driving test and my instructor was quite laid back. You could tell he was tired from the last two days. He said he is used to getting in for 8am class but they changed it to 6am on him. The driving test was easy since the only requirement was drive about 3 miles and don't die or kill someone and you basically past. Me and one other guy went first out of 6 people and when we got back we joked with the next two and said how hard the test was and how the instructor was yelling at us and they believed us. We were laughing like crazy. We also practiced making coax and cat5 cables for almost an hour that is why a say it was laid back. I already known how to make both (actually all my cat5 don't like to work.) but the cat5 refresher was good because he gave some pointers that helped me a lot. So now I can make a perfect cable. So tomorrow is just around the corner.

AT&T Training - Day 2 of 49

So today was day two of my 7 weeks of training. I am sort of depressed/tired (or what ever you would call it) because even though class was fine driving home was honorable. I decided to take 355 home this time and as soon as I entered 55 south a traffic jam for 6 miles. I wish they could put electric signs at the entrance to expressway to let you know if there is a traffic jam. I hoping to hear the traffic on the radio before I entered the highway but it was to later they finally said it as soon as I was on 55. ("A BIT LATE!") It turned out some guy flipped his semi over on 55 as I drove by it was a massacre. The semi was in 4 many be even 6 pieces. Plus it started raining as a waiting in traffic. HEAVY.

Then traffic was clear on 355 but when I got to 80 it was backed up too because of the semi scale. After the scale the highway was clear. So I just got home and I am ready to take a quick nap.

Today I got my schedule for the remainder of class this week. (And for the heck of it here is today and yesterday.)
Monday - Tool Safety
Tuesday - Ladders (Hard Test for just Ladders)
Wednesday - Driving
Thursday - Customer Service
Friday - CPR (I'm going to become CPR certified)

Then coming Monday is my first ride along (That sounds fun.)

As I mentioned before the union contract expires on June 27th, So I also found out today that every time in the past the employees have ended up going on strike. And it lasted as long as 3 and half weeks. But if you got to work you got to work. My instructor said that if you past the picket line the union will charge you a 1000 dollar fine you got to be kidding me. So there is no point to working he said. He also said this will be most boring week by far because it is the only one with so much lecturing and testing. Bummer he will not be here for week 3 and 4 of training.

I heard a rummer that 3 weeks after the 7 weeks training when we get our trucks and tools we will be partnered with someone. So basically two installers will visit one install with two trucks.

Sayonara til tomorrow.

AT&T Training - Day 1 of 49

I tell you waking up at 4:30am sure makes you tired later. I almost to tired to type this post but I can't sleep or else I might not be able to sleep tonight. So anyways I got up and ate, got dressed and then drove there. I missed my exit for the Stevenson expressway as stupid as it is the next exit is ogden and so I ended up heading down ogden then backtracking south because I overshot 61st Street buy almost 20 streets.
Then got out of class and realized I left my headlights on and drained my battery. I wish my car would ding when the car is off and the headlights are on. I can not believe how many people rely on roadside assistance. I asked 50 people and no one had jumper cables. finally on of the instructors know where a old pair were in workshop. Then I drove home and my car was acting funny and got stuck behind a guy waiting till the last second to accelerate to highway speeds and left my car stuttering because I need to slowly speed up this made my car act funny for miles after. I'm doing it again tomarrow. I calculated 35 miles one way so that would mean I will burn a tank of gas every 3 days. I guess I will have to barrow money from dad again still 10 days till paycheck.

Update 4

So now I am officially an employee of AT&T. The orientation was from 8am to 4pm. Now I got 7 weeks of training. I got to attend class 6am to 2pm and then ride along between 7:30 - 4?ish. I wish the class room training was set at the same time. So here is my training schedule.
Week 1: 6/15 - 6/19: Class Room
Week 2: 6/22 - 6/26: Ride Along
Week 3: 6/28 - 7/02: Class Room
Week 4: 7/06 - 7/09: Class Room
Week 5: 7/13 - 7/16: Ride Along
Week 6: 7/20 - 7/23: Class Room
Week 7: 7/27 - 7/ 30: Ride Along
Because of the 4th of July the training is pushed back one day and we get Friday thru Sunday and I will be going to Tennessee for the 4th in my own car. After the 7 weeks I will be officially done with training and will have my own (company-issued) AT&T truck, laptop and tools. Sweet. We don't get GPS devices so I think I will buy one my self in a few weeks to make things easier. The contract with the union is up in 14 days (June 27th) and AT&T still have not come to an agreement on a new contract and the employee are seriously going to picket if it is not renewed. The AT&T Teachers gave us 30-minutes to read the Code of Conduct and had us sign it. Then they had the Union come in between 11:30 - 1:00 and they feed us pizza. (LOTS OF PIZZA) I even took home a whole pizza. One of the high lights of the orientation was the Union came in and basicly said that AT&T will try to screw us over but I don't think its that serious. The guy said "They will ask you to sign a Code of Conduct soon and make sure you note by your signature that you were instructed to sign without reading." and when we told him we already signed it he freaked out and said "If you do anything they don't like they will hold that signature against you." maybe they did try to rush us to sign it before the union stepped in but I don't blame them after the AT&T people came back half the class was in a riot thinking they had been had. One guy asked "Were we tricked into signing something?" I can not believe people anger. I read the Code of Conduct and it was typical stuff like smoking, drivers license and benefit rules. If you are doing everything right you have nothing to worry about.
I will get my first pay check June 26 for one week and one day. That is a nice paycheck since I made about $100 dollars alone yesterday. The guy was not sure but he thinks we get 50% off our Uverse service. AWESOME!!! There was 19 people in the orientation but only me and two others were going to the bedford garage. I see some of the other people in westmont in one of the three classes. Two in the morning 6am to 2pm then one at 3:30pm to 11pm. We get 6 company shirts every year and we get a jacket in 6 months. There is so much I could say but there is so much.Well down to the last thing first we all got to the training center at 7:45am and enter a buildings waiting room on the AT&T grounds (The building had the address on it they gave us.) We waited and waited then at 8:00 we were wondering why the door was unlocked and no security on duty at the front door. I called the lady in corporate and she said the teacher was looking for us. At 8:05 a lady with a AT&T shirt on came walking in and ask if we were there for the orientation. She said for the last year they have been doing the orientation in the main building. (Still wonder why the door was unlocked and no employees were in the building.) She walked us almost a half mile to the main building. Weird!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOO...

Pray that my car will continue to run for the next few weeks as I drive almost 40 minutes every day and it will cost me almost 10 dollars in tolls a week to drive there.

THIS IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!

Quick Update 3.1

Well, I have decided to hold out as long as I can with getting a new car. I got an email from Sylvia instead of a call and it said I had some new hire forms to fill out online. I thought that was something I was going to be doing on Friday but I guess not. I got to be in Hoffman Estate on Friday at 7:45am sharp. It is a 1:10 drive away up on the north side near by Mitsuwa (Japanese Grocery Store) in Arlington Heights. Then After that I start training in Westmont a 45 minute drive start Monday at 8am.

Quick Update 3

I will be hearing from Sylvia from AT&T next week with details on my Friday (June 12th) orientation. My dad and I will be going car and boot shopping this weekend. I just put in my letter resignation on tuesday and..........oh, I originally said someone asked me to work monday though wednesday help close a store but she called me monday morning and said she made a mistake and no longer needs me. So I ended up working wednesday night only no Friday either. I was a bit nervous about training but someone at my church on Sunday give me some good advice and said her experience with company training is they want you to pass so they trying to make it as easy as possible. That made me feel better about it.

Hey, I said it was a quick update.

Update 2.5

So this will be the last post of May 2009. Some interesting things have happened the last couple weeks but the most interesting was Friday around 1pm, Sylvia from AT&T left me a voice mail letting me know........................ I GOT THE JOB. Exciting.

By the time I got the message it was to late call her but monday I will call and hope to get more details. I am scheduled the start June 12th but she did mention there is an opening for June 5th if I wanted it but I think it is a bit late to do that. If I had known a week or two ago I might of done it. First off I still need to let my work know and buy some boot that my dad will need to lend me the money for. ($150 is a lot of money for me now.) I am a bit nervous because I'm getting mixed input on what the 7 weeks of training will actually include. I hear all textbooks and tests or very little books and more ride-a-longs or a bit of both. So I ask for more people pray for me to get though my training. I am working Mon, Tues and Weds closing down a blockbuster store in chicago 10-6 and then close Friday in my normal store then I'm DONE!!! But I will offer to work a day or two early in the week after.

So here my summary of what my plans for the next two years. (Subject To Change)
June 12th: Start my job and get a new car soon after.
July 31st: Finishing Training
Around March to April 2010: Have the money and use my two weeks vacation for my dream trip to JAPAN.

Thats It. See how unpredictable my life has been the last few years.